Volume 1, Chapter 4 – War Maiden Part 4
Volume 1, Chapter 4 – War Maiden Part 4
(Well, I doubt she can be persuaded.)
Aura may be stubborn, but she’s probably also possessed with a strong sense of duty. Hiro smiled bitterly and took off his uniform and threw it in the basket.
(Even so, I’m surprised they have a bath here.)
A bathhouse existed in the basement of the central tower of Berg Fortress. It seems to be mainly used by the officer class. Moreover, surprisingly, it seems to be springing from the underground, so it appears to be a hot spring.
After washing his body and submerging himself in hot water, Hiro let out a sigh of admiration from his mouth, and then――.
“Wow, there’s a lot of steam.”
“It looks hot.”
He heard some familiar women’s voices. Hiro shuddered his shoulders and looked back behind him. It wasn’t just Liz’s unclothed figure; Aura was there too.
“How’s the water? Isn’t it hot?”
Liz approaches happily.
“…..”
Aura’s cheeks twitched as she noticed Hiro, and her face was red from shame.
“Yes, it’s just right. We need to pour some water on our bodies first~.”
Liz bent down, put her hands in the tub, and started pouring hot water over her body happily.
“Why are you here?”
“I just wanted to take a bath.”
“No, that’s not what I’m asking. I’m in it now.”
“Yeah. So I thought I’d go in with you.”
He felt like having a hunch that she no longer thought of Hiro as a man, but that was not the case. When he looked at Aura, unlike Liz, she desperately tried to hide her body with her hands while her face was reddened.
“Hello… Aura wanted to take a bath, too?”
He tried to call out to her, but there was no answer. Out of the corner of his eye, Liz was dipping her body into the tub.
“Mmm, it feels so good~.”
And when she came up next to Hiro, she poured the hot water over him, saying, “Eiii, eii.” No matter how much steam there was, he could still see what he could see.
“Come in, Aura, you should come in too. It feels so good.”
Aura looked at Liz with a look that said she couldn’t believe it, but she decided to make up her mind and jumped into the bathtub with a long jump.
“Hey! You have to pour hot water on your body first!”
Liz’s misplaced attention is flown.
(If Liz is a cat, then maybe Aura is a dog.)
Hiro thought as he splashed by the water.
＊＊＊
The next day――As one would expect… Aura could not be persuaded, and Hiro and the others gave up and were on the roof of the Berg fortress’s central tower.
This place is where they can get a full view of the battlefield, but the hot sunshine is a drawback. They are sweating whether they want to or not. To distract his mind, Hiro looked down from the rooftop to the central square and saw three hundred cavalry horses and seven hundred infantry lined up neatly near the main gate.
If anything happened, they would be on standby to come to the rescue at once. On the other side of the iron gate―there was an army of two thousand led by Aura in a strange formation.
“Hey, is everything okay…?”
And then a worried voice sound emanated from next to Hiro. When Hiro turned his face to the side, Liz looked down at the ground with an anxious face.
“I still think it’s best for us to stay in the city.”
“No, that’s a bad idea. This fortress is hardly robust from the outside. It could easily fall off if exposed to enemy fire for too long.”
“Can’t we wait for the Fourth Imperial Army to arrive?”
“It’s a difficult point. In the first place, we don’t know if the Fourth Imperial Army is really coming. You shouldn’t expect too much.”
“I see~…”
Liz’s face fell down in disappointment, but she immediately looked up.
“Well then, can’t we fight with Aura together? I think it’s better to give them a little bit of a win probability.”
“Margrave Grinda’s soldiers and Aura’s soldiers have different skill levels. If they fought together, they could be a drag on the battlefield. But if they fight separately, they will only be destroyed individually.”
“It’s complicated.”
“Not so much when you have the same number as your opponent, but this time, as you would imagine.”
But it would be extremely difficult to defeat twelve thousand with just two thousand. If the commander were incompetent, they would be wiped out instantly.
But when Hiro looked at Aura’s strange formation below him, the corners of his mouth hung up and a smile formed on his face. The two thousand soldiers were all made up of heavily armed cavalry. There were five in a horizontal line with one hundred men as one, and three behind them, including the main force of five hundred as one.
It would be a fool’s errand if they charged at this point, but…
(I see… “Trident” formation, huh…)
Seeing the old formation, Hiro felt that he was indeed back in Alethia. The battlefield began to move as the first wave of troops began to act.
＊＊＊
From north to south, two thousand black horsemen were slowly advancing. They are the “Imperial Black Knights” led by Aura, who is claimed to be the most elite of the Third Imperial Army.
The horses are wrapped in armor that raises dust. It was completely wrapped up to its head in strong iron. The bodies of the knights wearing heavy black armor on top of them are all huge like bears.
With the wind blowing, the sword and shield emblem flags fluttered on the purple ground.
A battle cry filled with tension was delivered from the enemy’s position. It was not unreasonable. At a young age of seventeen, Aura is the Chief of Staff of the Third Imperial Army and is known as the “War Maiden.” There was already no one in the Central Continent who didn’t know of her existence.
The enemy forces had left their archers on the front line, waiting for the Imperial Black Knights to approach. A sneer appeared on their faces. Naturally, their enemy was made up of the only cavalry. Moreover, they were heavily armed cavalry with no mobility.
A large number of arrows shot out from the enemy’s bow and instantly covered their vision. There was no way to know what scene appeared in the other side’s mind, whether it was the enemy dying, or the arrows that were being blocked by armor and shields and breaking off cruelly.
Aura smiled. She thrust her left hand up. A drum beat, and the entire army came to a halt. Arrows rained down in front of the soldiers in the front line. Surprisingly, none of them hit.
“Now is the chance―vanguard.”
She raised her right hand to the sky and swung it down. Three drums sounded, and the front line galloped out of the wilderness, kicking their horses in the belly as they raised their steel shields.
The five units stretch vertically to form five lines. Bows were fired from the enemy, but their aim was poor, most of them piercing the ground, and if they did hit, they were blocked by the shields.
Then shoot the horse. But the horse is also covered with armor. If so, there is no other way but to aim at the eyes or feet, but the enemy squad leaders are confused, and their attacks are lackluster.
“Aura-sama. I’ve passed on instructions to each squad leader.”
Next to Aura, who listened to the roar of the horseshoe, it was Spitz who pulled his horse up next to her.
“Then advance without being noticed by the enemy.”
“Ha!”
Spitz held up two fingers and waved his arms to the side. Each squad leader made sure of that, and the rear line began to advance. The fact that they are wearing horse armor and are heavily armed doesn’t mean that the arrows won’t hit the soldiers.
They would inevitably hit if they took a few strikes. A few of the advance teams fell to the ground and became targets for enemy arrows. Seeing this, Aura sniffed unhappily.
“We’ll make our next move. Prepare the drums.”
“Ha!”
Spitz raises his right arm, and the cavalrymen in the rear prepare to drum.
“We’ll take the initiative before they regain their composure.”
Aura spread her right arm out to the side. Two drums were struck twice, and two flags were raised. Then the two units joined together and began to run in a circle to the edge of the enemy’s left-wing.
If they could distract and confuse the attention of the enemy soldiers to the right-wing――.
“Next.”
Aura spread her left arm out to the side. Two drums struck twice, and four flags went up. Two more units joined together, and it headed for the edge of the enemy’s right-wing.
“The end.”
The long sleeves swam in the wind as Aura clasped her hands together. Five drums were drummed, and five flags were raised.
“Take them.”
The last unit charges into the center of the enemy. At the same time, the attack began from the left and right flanks. The enemy forces tried to lower their archers, but they could not do so in time and fell prey to the spears of the heavily armed cavalry.
Aura sees an opportunity in the confused enemy lines.
“The whole army charge.”
She pulled out the sword at her waist and released it and raised it high in the heavens. The spirit weapon is reflected in the sunlight. It looked so beautiful. Seeing the figure of his goddess, Spitz pulled out his sword and unleashed it.
“All troops, charge! Victory to our War Maiden!”
“Uooohhhh!!”
The heavy-armored horsemen replied by striking the hilt of their spears against the shield. Hearing this, Spitz rushed to the front of the line, and the five hundred horsemen followed from behind with an overwhelming sense of intimidation.
The rear and left and right wings, like the front line, were distanced from the main force in a circle to make a pincer attack. The front line met up in the enemy’s ranks and pushed forward towards the enemy’s main line like a single spear.
One thousand five hundred horsemen are approaching; the enemy soldiers on the front line will be aware of it. Still, with a large army of twelve thousand, the transmission of information will be delayed.
――Clash.
Many enemy soldiers show their backs, where the jaws of the five hundred of the main force bite into them. An enemy soldier is crushed and dies with blood splatter. It’s as if a muddy stream washes away the trees, quickly destroying the walls created by the people.
It’s just a matter of thrusting forward on the path cut by the vanguard, and the wings on either side were also kicking out the enemy to join the main force.
“Keep pushing forward to the enemy’s main line like this――huh!?”
Spitz shouted and then looked next to him with a surprised face.
“Lord Spitz, there’s no room for error. Do you want to die?”
This was because Aura, who was supposed to be in the main camp, was peacefully straddling the horse. While lightly waving her spirit weapon and slaughtering the enemy soldiers, Aura was getting ahead of him.
“What are you doing! It’s dangerous here!”
“I have a spirit weapon. I’m stronger than Lord Spitz now.”
“That’s true, but! We don’t know what’s out there! You have to turn back now――.”
Spitz looked back and noticed that it was already filled with enemy soldiers, not very many, but it wasn’t enough to break through by Aura alone. The left and right flank had already joined up, and all that was left was to join the advance team and overrun the main enemy line.
“Don’t ever leave me, please don’t ever leave me!”
Having come this far, he has no choice but to go through with it. Besides, at least their morale will be boosted.
The War Maiden is with us; there is no way we can lose. The joy from the soldiers could be felt. At that time, Aura’s cheeks were drenched, and she looked up at the sky with her eyebrows raised.
“…Not good.”
The sky had turned black. The sun, which had shone so brightly, was beginning to erode. The lukewarm wind carried the scent of the enemy’s death as well as the signs of rain.