The Broken System - Chapter 18 Resolution To Change

Kinoya opened his eyes but there was no sky above. The view was blocked by the ceiling of the tent and the tent was different and bigger than the one his squad members had set up.

The next thing he had noticed was his vision. His range of vision had shortened quite a bit. Without moving his neck it was impossible for him to see the things on the right. He moved his hand to find the right side of his face was wrapped in cloth bandage.

Kinoya groaned in pain, “It wasn’t a dream after all.” The fatigue had stripped off his strength and along with the wounds it was hard for him to move. He looked down to find some places on his body was still wrapped in the cloth.

He moved and put on the armour that was at his side, put the shield at his back and the scimitars at his buckle. It was painful but was not enough to stop him down. He came out of the tent. The sun was about to kiss the horizon. The sky was turning red with blood.

“Where are you going?” The guard outside the tent asked. He was curious about the result but finding his squad mates was more important. Even if they had no hope, at least he had to find the bodies.

“I am going to find my squad mates.”

The guards wanted to say something but didn’t. Their hesitation made his heart sore but, Kinoya bowed and moved towards the plane. Many people were already moving in the field, recovering usable arrows, armours, even the bodies of their friends. It was hard for them to recover the bodies of all the fallen one. So these fallen bodies become the steps to victory. That is the fate of a soldier.

Kinoya moved towards the centre where the battle had taken place. The place was closer to the enemy camp than of his own. He just stood there looking over the sea of dead bodies. Those incidents started to flood his mind.

‘The one was able to our strategy to the last detail and used it against us. The adaptability of the person was not something to laugh at.’ But what surprised Kinoya more was the ruthlessness. He sent 50,000 just as bait if the plan was to fail they would have lost 50,000 after losing more than hundred thousand after the first day. ‘But the term like ‘if’ have no use in reality.’

Little did the man had known that how deep the result would be on Kinoya. During today’s battle, something inside Kinoya just clicked. He had no attachment to the empire, to begin with, his only aim was to survive and move up on the ladder. But…

‘It is just like military chess. The only problem is I am too weak to play. Rather I am just another pawn on the board.’ Putting his path of survival on others hand was the last thing he wanted to do after what happened to him before.

Kinoya steeled his resolve as the sheet of darkness soon enveloped the world. Kinoya was looking around the ground for the bodies. As a result of old man training the darkness possessed little to no resistance in front of his eyes. But his search cut short by the movement in the enemy camp. Kinoya quickly laid down on the bodies.

‘The amount people was far too many to be a scavenger party’. Kinoya stayed close to the ground and followed them in silence. He could hear each and every word of them clearly. Their words were shocking but it put a smile on his face.

‘I had never thought that the chance will come so soon.’ He moved around the field little more before running toward the camp.

Kinoya closed in on the Akai’s tent and was greeted with a concerned shout from Akai.

“Listen general I have some important information to give you. Please listen to me first.” Kinoya’s serious voice took them by surprise. They followed him inside the tent.

“They are aiming to raid our camp. Our food supply station is one of their aim” Kinoya’s words fall like thunder but Kinoya continued, “Right now they are scavenging the dead bodies of our army and using the armour they will get into the camp.”

“You are joking. You are unconscious some time ago how could you know? General this boy is bluffing.” It was the acting general of Kinoya, who spoke. Kinoya didn’t know why his own acting general had some kind of prejudice against him. But not that he cared, he looked at Akai without hesitation.

On the other hand, Akai was in the thought but soon left the spot “Let’s see the commander-in-chief.”

Kinoya nodded and said, “But before that general, we need to put some guard at the supply station.”

“Korai, do it. Anything else?”

“Get all the cavalry and the archer ready to roll out any moment,” Kinoya said without hesitation.

The silent general nodded even before Akai looked at him. That was an absurd request. But Akai was more concerned about the impending attack than that.

The tent of commander-in-chief was bigger but the number of the people was lot less. There was the lady general and another general. There was another one standing just behind the commander-in-chief, the general of the west.

It was Kinoya’s first time seeing him. The pressure he was excluding was much stronger than Akai though he was younger than the red general.

“What is it?”

“They are planning to attack the camp.” Before Akai could respond Kinoya answered without hesitation.

“Who are you?”

“I am Sergent Kinoya Arviga. But that is not important right now, they will be attacking soon.”

“Impudent, is this the way you talk to your superior?” The man behind the General shouted as a huge amount of pressure crushed down on Kinoya. But the general of West had no intention of helping Kinoya, he looked at Akai and asked again, “Who is he?”

Before Akai, the lady general answered, “Kinoya Arviga, have high enough intelligence stats to be admitted in the Royal Magic Academy. Assisted the Moon Legion during the invasion of Penia. Recommended by the moon general himself.”

Akai started where the lady general finished, “He was the one who assisted me to complete General’s strategy.”

For the first time, the general looked at Kinoya, The Moon general was just a three-star general but wield as much as the power as any of the four cardinal generals. There was no one in the empire who could argue about the authority of the Moon general. On the other hand, according to the report, Akai submitted yesterday he suggested that he was greatly assisted. It was just hard for the commander-in-chief to believe that a child who was in the formation could find out the plan even without knowing what the actual formation looks like.

“What do you want to say?” The man stopped pressuring at the signal of the general.

“We can win the war tonight,” Kinoya said without hesitation. Surprised wasn’t the right word to express the emotion of the people in the tent.

“Go on.”

Kinoya explained the whole plan of the enemy, that he heard.

“And how we are going to win it?”

“There are three things that we need to do. First is to infiltrate their camp. Second is to capture all the one who came inside our camp. The third is to move the cavalry and archer.”

“Explain.”

“We are short on time, we need 30 people at most who will infiltrate the camp.”

“Why 30?”

“Because they will send about 50 people out. And I am sure that other than those, and the upper echelon of the enemies there will be very few who would know about the attack. So if the number is too many they will suspect something. And the cavalry will wait outside the camp, along with the archer.”

“How many cavalries you are talking about?” General Vorn who was sitting silently asked. Nobody will believe that with just 30 people one can take out the army that was over a hundred thousand strong.

“I don’t know how much cavalry or the archer we have but we need at least 20,000 cavalries. It would be good the number of the archer is same. But 15,000 would be the minimum.”

“That is a huge number, the enemy will notice it.” The guard intervened, but Kinoya answered “There is a fork route on our way here. 2 km before, the route is good but can’t be used by carriage so the merchants generally avoid it, but there is no need for the cavalry to do that. Each cavalry could carry one archer with him, one quiver of the arrow, no need for the armour or anything that create noise. The lighter they are the faster they will be. The will wait for the signal of those who entered the camp.”

In the war, the map is an important asset. Knowing the field and using it in one’s favour is winning the war. After their posting was announced Kinoya spend his last few days in the military library studying the map around the area. It was not surprising that he validated the map on the way here.

“When will we strike?” But the female general had a different question in mind.

“They will give us the signal. The upper echelon of the army will be anxious about the attack, the moment the attack succeed those who know will let their guard down and those who don’t will be surprised. That will be the time when we will attack. We will burn the horse stable, the armoury, the canteens and the general’s camps if possible. The moment fire lit up the cavalry will charge through the camp, but only once. Followed by the arrow rain. Archer will carry about 10 arrows, 3 fire arrow and 7 normal one. And the infantry will march at the fastest speed, whether day or night after all the arrows were shot.”

“So you are saying we should let them succeed?” The tone of the Guard’s voice was totally different but there was no mocking.

“Of course not, but we will lit a proxy fire, and create controlled chaos to let them believe that the attack is successful. The time will depend on the timing the Cavaliers.”

“Why not attack the supply station?” For the first time, the commander-in-chief asked something. It was common knowledge to attack the resources to maximize the effect. That is also the reason why the enemies were aiming for their food supply.

“We can’t block their supply route so it will be better if we able to use that food as our supply. We are the one who is fighting outside our country and food is something we can’t waste.”

The whole tent drowned into silence. They were thinking the same thing.

‘Can this child really thought of such a brilliant plan?’

But their thought was cut short by Kinoya. ‘In the battlefield one had to show his assets, to be valued.’ The expression on everyone’s face proved that Kinoya was successful. With a smile in his heart Kinoya put down the last hammer, “General, we are running out of time.”