“Interpreting the Empire’s request in a positive light, and taking all of that into account, it would probably be something like that… I figured,” I said.
Not that I could have been sure until I’d talked to Jeanne. But after talking to Jeanne, I was certain.
The Gran Chaos Empire wasn’t an evil empire, like the ones that show up in stories, or even a prideful superpower. They were just another powerful country, desperately trying to maintain themselves.
“That’s why we can’t let our guards down,” I said. “When facing an earnest opponent, there’s no room for carelessness or pride.”
“True,” said Liscia. “We need to face this with resolution.”
Liscia and I both nodded, grave looks on our faces.
I would be tomorrow that Jeanne Euphoria would come, accompanying Julius, Crown Prince of Amidonia, as an envoy to negotiate the return of their territory.
21st day, 10th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — The Walls of Van
“Oh, what a view! What a view!” I cried.
Looking down from the castle walls, there were a little over 50,000 troops from the Elfrieden Army in formation around Van. Opposite them were, at a rough estimate, over 50,000 troops of the Imperial Army in formation, with roughly 5,000 more from the Amidonian army next to them, for a combined total of somewhere around 60,000. There were an even greater number of troops here than during the last engagement.
“Is this the time to be impressed? What if that army attacks us?” Liscia asked exasperatedly. She was standing beside me.
“There’s pretty much no question that we would lose,” I said, then looked over at Hakuya, who was also standing beside me. “Yeah?”
“Indeed, that is correct,” he said with a nod. “In number of troops, number of commanders, equipment, training, morale… no matter which of those you choose to look at, our country is behind the Empire in all of them. If it comes to war, our forces stand no chance of winning.”
The flow of war is said to be decided by the heavens, earth, and people. That is to say, the temporal advantage of heaven, the territorial advantage of the earth, and the harmonious unity between people.
The temporal advantage lay with the Empire, lead proponent of the Mankind Declaration, while the territorial advantage lay with the forces of the principality. If I were asked whether the kingdom had a harmonious unity that could stand against those two, I would have had to say no. It had not been long since the Army and Air Force had pledged allegiance to me, so while they might be motivated to fight the Amidonian invaders, it would be difficult to maintain their morale against the far superior Imperial forces.
In short, we were not superior to the combined forces of the Empire and Amidonia in any of those three categories.
“I wish we could have at least had the equipment advantage…” I said.
One type of troop the Imperial force had that I could see from here was rhinosauruses carrying cannons. I had heard of rhinosauruses being used as siege weapons, but it seemed the Empire was using them as mobile artillery platforms.
In fact, I’d had the same idea, but before we could load cannons onto the rhinosauruses, they needed to be trained not to startle when they heard the sound of them firing. Our rhinosauruses had been gathered with Tomoe’s negotiation skills, so with no timetable for when the training could be done, that plan had been shelved.
It was frustrating to see that a type of troop I’d come up with was already being used by the Empire, but, well, it was something a military amateur would be able to come up with a little thinking. If there was a demand for them, most ideas like that would have been put to practical use already.
Well, anyway, with things as they were, we couldn’t fight.
I’d never intended to fight to begin with, but if we’d been in a position where we could, it would have been one more card on the negotiating table. Put the other way around, the force spread out before my eyes which could easily defeat us was a card in the other side’s hand.
While I’d known this would happen, it was still a tough situation to be in.
“Sire, there is a type of troop I am unfamiliar with,” Aisha, who was surveying the enemy forces from a distance, said.
“A troop type you’re unfamiliar with?” I asked.
“There is a group clad all in black full-plate armor!” she declared.
“All in black?” I asked. “…Wait, wow, I’m amazed you can see that.” The people looked as small as grains of rice from this distance.
“Dark elves have good eyes!” Aisha puffed up her chest with pride. “That black armored group are carrying rather long weapons of some sort.”
“That is most likely the ‘Magic Armor Corps,’ I believe,” Hakuya explained.
Now there was an unfamiliar word.
“Magic Armor Corps?” I asked.
“You could call them the anti-magic version of the heavy pikeman, I suppose,” said Hakuya. “That black armor endlessly produces a barrier that blocks any and every type of magic. When they form ranks and advance, it’s said that every step they take is another step that the Empire’s territory expands. They are the treasure of the Empire, which is fiercely proud of them.”
Hrm… if I recall, pikemen are a unit with long spears meant to be used against cavalry, right? I thought. My knowledge comes from playing war simulation games, but they’re a troop type that forms up a phalanx against charging cavalry, sticks out their spears, and counters the charge. If I recall, they can stop cavalry, whose mobility is their life. Depending on the situation, I think they can be a powerful type of troop, but because theirs is primarily a waiting tactic, they can be hard to use well.
“Even if they can negate magic, are they really a treasure?” I asked.
Hakuya looked at me with dismay, then in turn asked me, “Do you remember the reason why gunpowder weapons never developed on this continent?”
“Since magic is more powerful and has better range, they weren’t necessary, right?” I said. “That’s why the only cannons developed were for use at sea, where magic is weaker, or for during a siege, where they can still do good work.”
“Yes,” said Hakuya. “There is also the fact that the skins of creatures living on this continent are hard and tough, so an ordinary gunpowder weapon couldn’t even hurt them.”
In other words, the fact that they couldn’t use them for hunting was another reason gunpowder weapons had never developed.
If people here had developed the rifle, which increased the penetrating power of the bullet by spinning it, things might have been different. However, that was an invention that had come about because the musket (Japan’s hinawaju matchlock was equivalent to the early musket), which simply fired a bullet, had already spread. They didn’t have the basis for that research to happen.
Just as I was thinking that maybe I should develop the rifle for them, Hakuya said, “On top of that, we have attachable spells in this world. Some defensive items are better than others, but they have a spell that reduces damage attached to them. The reverse is also true, and a weapon will normally have a spell attached that increases its damage to break through that defense.”
“What the heck?” I said. “It sounds like a game of whack-a-mole…”
“With all due respect, I believe that is the way technology advances,” said Hakuya. “And for the spells attached to weapons and armor, the greater the item’s mass, the more powerful they can be. In other words, in this world, the bullet is weaker than the arrow and the arrow is weaker than the spear.”