Dragon’s Bloodline - CH 61

That Manesh’s ally had been groundlessly invaded by Cordova was immediately brought to the royal palace via various routes.

And when the rescue request comes, the preparations for the first corps’ reinforcements would be completed. For things like this, the young country moved quickly.

“Two army corps of twenty-four thousand and a supply convoy have moved.”

What the intelligence chief said corresponded to Asuka’s news.

Perhaps, the Cordova army would invade the country. The allied forces could mobilize ten thousand troops at most.

Manesh had also prepared to mobilize an army of around that size. Then, a messenger departed towards ogre village.

Alone, an ogre had the same war potential as ten trained soldiers. If even one hundred of them came, they would very likely gain a considerable increase to their forces.

There was a child sitting in the conference where people were discussing that seemed out of place.

It was Serge. As a future staff officer candidate, Guinevere had him sit in.

That Serge timidly raised his hand.

“Umm~… it’s a simple question, but…”

Urged on, Serge continued.

“Is using Carla-sama’s magic to annihilate them no good? Can’t it do it?”

Right then, the generals stopped moving.

It could do it. However, it mustn’t be done.

They mustn’t let Carla do it.

“Due to political reasons, that is impossible. Even so, if it truly comes down to it, it isn’t a time to cast away our last resort.”

(Political reasons? I don’t understand the details, but it’s probably bad to use it in a war. I somehow get it.)

“Carla is our last resort. Since it hasn’t been cast away, it has value. For if something like a group of assassins attacked in the one in a thousand chance.”

(Well, we wouldn’t die even with that though.)

Serge thought that, but didn’t say it.

Even if she was very talented, even Ria might find being hunted by assassins year-round being unpleasant.

“More importantly, I want you to take charge of logistical operations.” [1]

Guinevere appointed Serge. This was likely because she knew about Serge being able to use space-time magic.

“How many days’ worth of provisions and horse fodder would you be able to move for ten thousand infantry?”

“What would the size and weight for thirty days’ worth be?”

A secretary calculated it on a piece of paper. It was an amount that Serge would be able to handle with his ability.

“In that case, I could transport around one year’s worth with some extra.”

The attending generals stared in shock. After Guinevere, who also stared momentarily, recovered, she let out a joyful laugh.

Serge’s ability to transport things. This would become the key to their war. She understood that.

“Spreading information about this child’s magic is strictly prohibited. You have a duty of confidentiality.”

Even if he didn’t directly enter the battlefield, his ability was immense. Everyone understood this.

Just, the person himself was a little late in understanding it.

“Serge will be defended by Irina and Maal. With those two, there’s no problem so long as their opponent isn’t a dragon.”

Ria also comprehended just how great Serge’s ability was.

As the nominal supreme commander, Ria would appear directly.

There was a political goal for this. First of all, for Cordova, this would be a threat that said that they would be opposing Casalia. And for their allies, this would be the announcement of the being known as Ria.

“But really, an army’s march is slow…”

Ria muttered as she swayed on Matsukaze’s back.

“Since we don’t need to match the speed that cargo would move at, this is considerably fast.”

Next to Ria, Carla was also riding a horse as they proceeded forward. Her horse was a good match for her, dapple-grey.

The army was marching forward on a one-week journey that would have taken three days had they gone their fasted.

In order to wait for the ogre and beastkin reinforcements, they weren’t going at their fastest speed.

Being able to march faster than the enemies’ expectations could allow them to choose the battlefield in a war.

Cordova’s army held absolute confidence in itself on the battlefield.

Of course although this also included castle sieges and defensive battles, they could easily defeat enemies that doubled their numbers in a battle.

“Still, we can win with you here.”

Before they departed to the front, Guinevere said that.

Anyhow, Ria had the Divine Protection of the War God Gift. From the position of taking command of a battle, it would demonstrate its absolute potency.

Looking over the battle formation plans, Serge and the others said that they didn’t have any more to say about it.

“Isn’t it overwhelming? Mine army.” [1]

Ria immediately slammed her fists down.

Manesh’s army had set up camp on a slightly elevated hill.

Merging with their allies that had retreated towards here, they had twenty thousand troops.

Ria was making a long spear inside the command tent. It was just so that Carla and Serge could see it.

While creating the spear with her hands, Ria looked over the topographic map spread out in front of her.

“The cavalry will be a bit of a pain…”

“Have you lead an army before?”

Carla asked the question out of curiosity, so Ria told her about when she battled alongside the village.

“That’s absurd… or not. Certainly, with those conditions, the only way to win was to make use of their individual bravery.”

If Carla was there, she could have annihilated the enemy’s backbone with offensive magic from a distance.

Although that couldn’t apply to this situation, there was one thing in common.

With their army using this high ground, the enemy will attempt to encircle them.

She’d heard that although Cordova’s cavalrymen leveraged their mobility, their physical capability wasn’t that much.

It was essential that they avoided being encircled so that they wouldn’t be attacked from every direction.

On the afternoon of that day, a force of three hundred beastkin joined them.

Ria believed that still wasn’t everything. There wasn’t very many.

Then in the evening, the ogre army arrived and merged with them. They numbered two thousand.

That night, officers gathered in the tent.

The beastkins’ forces would examine it in the daytime. They were currently entrusted with going out on reconnaissance.

“Since a strategy that goes too far into the details is bound to fail, I give a rough explanation.”

So, Ria explained things regarding intended enemy movements and behavior, as well as important terrain.

“Disregarding the fine details, does anyone have any questions so far?”

With that, an old general began to speak.

“I think the strategy is adequate, but be that as it may, your highness, did you study military tactics in your native country?”

“No, at most I only have knowledge concerning wars from secondhand sources.”

That is, she often saw programs on public broadcasting from her previous life.

Although she had read about Sun Tzu, that was closer to political theory.

Even so, she found it to be somewhat relevant now.

The strategy meeting finished without any interruptions. The faces of the officers who returned from the tent were filled with a sense of victory.

They couldn’t win. That’s what Ria had thought.

The general that commanded the whole army as well as the staff officers thought that they couldn’t win. Carelessness and pride leads to imprudence. However, for people in the position of directly commanding soldiers, it was necessary to have faith that they would definitely win.

“Your highness, you…”

Remaining behind in the tent, Carla spoke spontaneously.

“Who in the world are you?”

“You didn’t hear about it from Guinevere?”

Ria and Guinevere were already at the point of calling each other by name.

Guinevere’s Dragon Eyes were sure to be able to see all of Ria’s Gifts.

“Hime-sama doesn’t speak much about what she sees with Dragon Eyes.”

(I see. If she were to just talk about the information she obtained, other people would find her eerie. Apart from childhood, has she just been using the information herself now?)

Ria thought to herself.

(What a scheming woman. In a good way, of course.)

“Right, it’s probably fine to tell Carla…”

About her Gift, and the conversation with Valis. And the story of her previous life.

(She’d probably never betray me. Well, even if she does, it’d be myself at fault.)

“When this ends, maybe I’ll tell you. It’ll take a while to explain. And…”

While laughing with a bit of embarrassment, Ria spoke.

“Won’t… won’t you call me by name? That’s… l-like a c-couple… is it no good?”

“No, I understand. Riana-sama.”

(No, that’s not it.)

“Ria. Don’t use ‘-sama’.”

(Ooh.)

(That. So good.)

Ria rapidly drew near Carla, drawing her lips to her ears. Naturally, Carla’s lips also neared Ria’s ears.

“Ria? What’s wrong?”

(Fuoooooh.)

Ria desperately attempted to stay standing as her waist instinctively tried to give out.

But just in time, she gripped Carla’s shoulders with both of her hands. As though she was presenting herself for a kiss.

However, her reason somehow regained itself and she separated herself from her.

“Tomorrow will be the decisive battle. Let’s rest early.”

Leaving Carla behind in a stupor, Ria departed from the tent.

But in the end, the fight didn’t happen.

Cordova’s army arrived on the plains in the morning and began to set up camp, but they just lined up and hadn’t attacked yet.

“Well, Cordova will do it.”

Ria said that lightly.

Cordova’s army had few in it that were able to immediately enter battle after nearing the enemy. First they would look to scout out the state of affairs, build a strong camp, and examine their strategy. It was their combat procedure done by the manual.

However, that didn’t mean that Manesh and its allies’ combined forces didn’t see this. Taking a sufficient distance, they rained arrows down on their enemies while they worked, but since the soldiers in charge of their defense defended them by holding their shields up, it was ineffectual.

Therefore, Ria decided to strengthen their encampment.

“Holes…?”

“Right, they don’t need to be that deep. The holes would remove the horses’ mobility, so dig a ton of them around here on the map.”

Ria issued the instructions while showing the map.

The combined army’s soldiers weren’t reserve soldiers. They were comprised of volunteers and mercenaries. She was using them as military engineers.

“But with their cavalry’s mobility wouldn’t they just detour around?”

“Of course. In short, it’s good as long as they can’t move together with the infantry that act as the enemy’s main war potential.”

Along with that, by momentarily weakening the cavalry’s charge, they could take advantage of them there.

For keeping morale up, there was one challenge.

Even though their was an enemy before them, they couldn’t attack their encampment. Performing engineering tasks helped with that.

Ogres, which were natural-born soldiers, had many hot-blooded people that seemed like they would rush out and attack at any moment. Stopping that from happening was Ria’s job.

Anyhow, she stopped them by sheer strength. She ended their useless questions. When that repeated several times, the ogres that didn’t know about Ria’s strength obediently fell into line.

General soldiers turned to Carla for solace. With this number of people, there were people whose physical conditions that would worsen even if they did nothing, so Carla would cure them.

“All things considered, their troops are well regulated.”

Ria felt admiration as she stared into the distance, looking over the enemy forces’ movements.

Their sentries didn’t look away. Their duties were being perfectly carried out.

“This isn’t the time to praise the enemy.”

Although Carla seemed calm on the outside, this was her first time in a war. In truth she was thinking about a variety of things.

“What, you think we should move?”

“No, the side that has to go on a long expedition is at a disadvantage if it turns into a war of attrition, but I wonder why they don’t attack.”

“Right. Although their supply lines definitely stretch on… maybe it should be expected considering Cordova’s reputation for its supply train?”

Although the two were speaking relatively peacefully, thinking about it from the enemy’s point of view, Ria realized it.

“No, that’s their goal. They don’t know that we have Serge.”

Right, if they didn’t know about the megalithic amount of goods Serge held, when they scouted out their supplies, they thought it was better to turn it into a war of attrition.

“That’s annoying. It’s turned into a quiet war…”

Ria’s ideal development would be to finish the battle in one go.

Even politically, magnificently surpassing one’s enemy gave a huge propaganda impact. Of course, just winning against their opponent, Cordova, that so far hadn’t lost a battle, would be amazing.

“For the time being, let’s increase the smoke from cooking rice. We’ll not show them that we still have a lot to go.”

Then, the tenth day passed.

In the middle of the night, the skies to the north were dyed in red.

The beastkin tribe’s forces were immediately sent out to scout what happened.

The report came back the next morning. The enemy’s supply base seemed to have exploded in flames in two places.

“What army did it?”

Although the officers inclined their heads in thought, Ria had an idea about it.

Attacking in the middle of the night, overcoming their defenses and burning their supplies, there weren’t many with those skills.

The vampires and dark elf.

They were hostile towards Cordova, and moreover if those two didn’t feel the need to go easy, they could probably destroy an entire base with just their fighting power alone.

“Don’t idle now. Their supply base has been destroyed, the enemy will come out.”

The officers ran toward their units in a hurry.

Seeing that, Ria laughed brutally.

“Finally. It’s finally time to start this fun war.”