Count Granero turned to look at Shizu.
“…I can’t beat Jaldabaoth… Buying time would be hard too.”
“Still, if you fought alongside Captain Custodio, you might be able to buy some time.”
His suggestion made a lot of sense. They would need someone to hold Jaldabaoth in place while they carried out Caspond’s plan, in any event.
However, that would essentially be sending them to their deaths.
“…Hmm~” Shizu tilted her head to look at the ceiling. “…This is a problem…”
“How about it? That way, we can deepen the relationship between the Sorcerous Kingdom and the Holy Kingdom.”
“..Hmm… hm!”
“Is that a yes?”
Should I interrupt now? Neia thought as Shizu answered.
“…No.”
“May, may I know the reason why?”
“…No reason.”
“There’s no reason?”
Shizu nodded to Count Domingues, who was frozen in place.
“Is Jaldabaoth really that scary!?”
“…Hm?…That’s the reason then. He’s scary and I don’t want to do it.”
“Guh.” Count Domingues was at a loss for words. Now that she had said as much, he had no response for her. If Shizu said, “If you’re not afraid, then you go buy time” he would be finished. If she had rejected the proposal based on some kind of argument, then all he would need to do was pick that argument apart, but since she had refused based on her feelings, getting past that would be very difficult.
As silence returned to the tent, one of the Liberation Army’s top brass, a person who commanded thousands of soldiers and militiamen slowly said:
“Why don’t we run before Jaldabaoth fully takes command? I don’t think we can beat a monster like that. We used to have the Sorcerer King in the past, but he’s not here any more… does anyone know of anybody who can defeat Jaldabaoth? No, right? If we fled to the South…”
Beside him another commander quietly said,
“…There’s no guarantee that Jaldabaoth won’t chase us to the South, right?”
With a loud thumpof the table, the previous speaker bellowed:
“In that case, all we can do is follow the Prince’s suggestion and kill the demihumans! If we can’t run, then we must fight! It’s just that simple!”
“That’s right. That’s the only way we can go on living. I don’t want to bow down and go through that hell again. Let’s start by putting a formation together-”
The tent flap was forcefully pulled open, and a soldier who reported directly to Caspond rushed in.
“Your Highness! The demihumans are moving! They’re reforming their lines!”
They did not have a proper formation in the previous battle. Did they have one now because of Jaldabaoth’s command?
“Is that so… Gentleman, the enemy will be attacking soon. We need to prepare for battle as soon as possible!”
After Caspond finished, all the people who had been called here stood up as one. Neia and Shizu did as well.
The others rushed out of the tent first, eager to save time.
The final ones remaining in the tent were Neia and Shizu. Neia’s unit was already together, so there was no need to go gather them.
Neia suddenly felt that something was amiss about the grim expression on the face of the messenger who had barged into the tent, but there was nothing she could do about it, and so she and Shizu returned to their unit.
“Now then, I believe there’s still some bad news in store?”
“Yes! My Prince! Is it really advisable to let these gentlemen return?”
“That will depend on your report.”
Caspond had once told his subordinates that they must never speak of information which was not common knowledge in the presence of third parties. That was why this man was the last to remain in the tent.
“…Your Highness, the demihumans are advancing on us from the east. At this rate, they’ll reach us in one hour.”
“Im…possible…”
Caspond struggled to keep himself from raising his voice. It would be bad if someone outside the tent heard this.
“Kalinsha is to the east. Why hasn’t the city contacted us yet? Even if they did make a big detour to circle around us, how did they avoid our patrols’ eyes?…Or are they few in number?”
“No, they’re estimated to be over 10’000 strong… what should we do, sire?”
The Holy Kingdom still had the numerical advantage even if one added 10’000 men to the demihumans forces. However, the fact that they were coming from the east was disastrous. When a smaller force attempted a pincer attack, normally one would simply defeat each arm of the pincer individually. However, this time, they were facing Jaldabaoth.
In other words, their escape route had been cut off.
“…Alright, listen closely. You must not tell this news to anyone, got it?” Caspond coldly told the surprised scout. “This news is very dangerous. If the army learns of it, they’ll sap their will to fight and we’ll lose a battle that we could have won. Also, a lot of people might end up dying. We must not tell anyone about this for the sake of unity.”
“Your Highness…”
“…Don’t worry. All will be well if we can win within an hour. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“…I understand.”
“Also, do your best to keep the scouts from investigating the east. If things go badly, they might let the news slip, and then we’ll splinter and end up defeated in detail. You must keep this secret until the last moment, understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
While he did not seem quite comfortable with it, the man probably felt that Caspond’s logic was sound as he left the room. Alone inside the tent, Caspond palmed his face.
The palisade they had built was very simple. The west and north sides were complete, but the south-side was only half-finished. Meanwhile, there was nothing on the east side. It would be better to take formation on open ground rather than try to fight in such a cramped place, so they abandoned their camp and spread out over the plains.
They had chosen to form a long line.
Any unit that made contact with Jaldabaoth would be lost. Therefore, the other units would abandon it and attack the demihumans. They had taken this formation because they were prepared to make that sacrifice. Amidst all this, Remedios would lead the paladins on hit and run attacks, so she had no fixed position. This was so that she could head towards any location where Jaldabaoth appeared.
Neia and her unit were also free-roaming. She understood the two implications of that assignment. The first was that it would be easy for Shizu — as a subordinate of the Sorcerer King — to escape. The second was that if Shizu wanted to fight Jaldabaoth, putting her in an immobile unit would result on a hole being torn in the line of battle.
Neia’s unit had already discussed what they would do if Jaldabaoth showed up.
Would they hunt down the demihumans, flee to a safe place — or perhaps, would they fight Jaldabaoth?
Their answer was unanimous.
They would defeat the demihumans.
All of them deeply hated Jaldabaoth, the source of all evil. However, they knew their place — what good could they do, if even the mighty Sorcerer King was no match for him? In that case, it would be better to focus on slaying the demihumans, in order to bring them just a little closer to victory. Of course, part of that was also because they did not want to let Shizu die, being that she was a subordinate of their great benefactor, the Sorcerer King.
Neia mounted up on her horse, and studied the enemy.
The demihuman formation had been full of openings in their previous battle, but now it was immaculate. What had once been a motley grouping of demihumans by racial types was now a neat line of battle that looked like a veteran army.