Hakai no Miko

"The northern marquises, with the Marquis of Appius as their ally, have raised their soldiers with the recapture of the king's capital and the liberation of Princess Wallina on their flag!

Ethereal horses raise suspicious voices to reports from soldiers who were letting them monitor trends in the northern marquis.

"Why, now...?

Six months have already elapsed since the Ethereal Horse was transferred by the Holmeer State. Recently, I had been warned by Joash, who had asked me to negotiate with the Marquis of Appius, that the negotiations had not come together, along with words of apology, that the Marquis of Appius was really afraid to march. However, it is the reward of marching under the banner of the recapture of the King's capital and the liberation of the royal family after this stage. The Ethereal Horse was stronger in suspicion than surprise.

It is a time when we still rely on people's feet and horses to communicate information. It would have also taken some time to develop cooperation between the Northern Marquis, but I nevertheless felt six months slow.

But I can't just hang on to my neck.

In addition to urgently summoning the founders of his camp, Aoima told Bird General Pipi to deploy his troops "nets" to the north to deal with the situation.

In the meantime, one commander after another comes to the Ethereal Horse.

According to this, the Marquis of Apius proclaimed the recapture of the king's capital and the royal rescue in the city of Rahban, and together with it, the Marquis of the Holmeer Nation issued a proclamation to raise soldiers to fulfill his duty. In response are the Lords of the frontier farther away than the King's Capital, which focuses on the Northern Gorges. When they led the soldiers into the city of Lough Ban, where the Marquis of Appius is located, they called themselves the Border Marquis (Henki Gingugung), whose total force is nominally as high as 10,000 or 20,000.

However, there is no way to pelican the nominal strength of the Border Marquis Army. In these days, it is common practice to brag about the dominance of your army, atrophy your enemies, and multiply the total number of your army to keep those who try to ride the winning horse on your side.

So the Ethereal Horse first turned to those who had gathered, and asked him whether any enemy might be expected.

In response was Adomius, who was the former commander of a regiment of elite units of the Holmea National Army, the Black Wall.

"Perhaps I know the Northern Marquis best of all. - Do you mind if I answer?

It was the man general Marcronis who was turned to the second half of the word. There is a risk of discord if the newcomers, who have not yet joined under the pale horse, push the others to speak. Worried about it, Adomius wasn't just an officer by force when he first asked Marcronis, who became his immediate superior officer.

Marcronis also nodded naturally to Adomius, not in such a narrow amount that he did not think well of the sudden rise of the new subordinates.

Adomius, who gained recognition, opens his mouth.

"Previously, when we responded to King Walius' insistence on crusading Master Soma, we heard that the Marquis of Appius led approximately a thousand soldiers. This will also have some increment, but very different from the actual number of soldiers, it would have been a false offer to the king. For this reason, you may consider the number of soldiers at this time to be roughly the same or slightly higher than the actual number."

Taking into account the pale horses who were neglectful of the internal affairs of the Holmeer country, Adomius explained his assumptions in turn.

"And from the Marquis of Appius, this march will wager all his wealth and throw a race, but the battle will be as good as ever. Then we should gather more soldiers and hire mercenaries. But I don't think that's going to double the number of soldiers all of a sudden. For this reason, it is considered reasonable that between a thousand and a thousand and five hundred soldiers mobilized by this Marquis of Apius. And if we think the same of the other marquises, the total number of the border marines that put them together would be from five thousand to seven thousand."

Adomius' explanation is well-reasoned and trustworthy, the Ethereal Horse decided. The Ethereal Horse nods one and then asks Adomius.

"So what's the soldier's level of practice?

"You may say it's low"

Adomius affirmed.

"There are only ten marquis of Apius, called the Alliance Lord of the Northern Marquis, and not many knights under him. Plus, as a knight's lesson, there are two to five squire per knight. These people move soldiers as troop leaders, but the majority of the soldiers they move are conscripted peasants. At best, we cannot hope for advanced military action. And so will all the other lords."

So Adomius slaps one on his chest, then says confidently.

"It is not to be feared that there are seven thousand armies of such a gathering. If you take our Black Wall as your backbone and keep all three thousand of our soldiers, you can easily kick them in."

That is the officer of the "Black Wall", known as the strongest army in the Holmeer Nation. That's what I said, along with strong pride.

But soon Adomius laughs bitterly.

"- And I just want to say, please, I care"

I said to the Ethereal Horse, "What?" Adomius replied when asked.

"It's a bad move on the part of the people who call it the Border Marquis."

Adomius turns his gaze to Garam, who is listening to his conversation. "We now hear that many of Zoan's warriors, who are the main protagonists of Master Soma, are returning to the plains?

And Garam nods heavily before answering.

"That's right. There are about five hundred people left in this king's capital, and the other warriors are sending them home."

He was a Zoan warrior who was also the main force of the Ethereal Horse, but we have our own lives with them. Now that the battle was over and Ethereal Horse's rule had slipped out well, most Zoan warriors were returning to the Sorbiant Plains.

"Regardless, if you summon them, the Zoan warriors who are now on the plains will also run to the king's capital for support."

It was Zug who slapped himself in the chest and undertook "naturally" to this Adomius word.

"I already beat the drum of the convocation. By now, it will reach the ears of the warriors on the plains. Five days for the earliest. In ten days at the latest, there will be warriors from 5,000."

Adomius was surprised by this.

If this is the Holmeer country, first of all the commanding soldiers must go around to the Lords everywhere to convey the orders for conscription. Then the lord begins to gather soldiers from the villages within his territory. Then, after all the recruiting of soldiers, we get dressed and finally head to the designated place. Naturally that march is slow because it has to go with the slowest foot infantry.

As a result, it may take more than a month for all soldiers to gather together.

Compared to that, the speed at which Zoan's warriors gather can be described as stunning.

"I can't help but be surprised. But for Zoan, that's for sure."

Marcronis, who tells Adomius so, is also one of those who was initially amazed.

While the speed of drum transmission has increased, the weapon is shaken by a mountain knife, a piece of fur for bedding and rain gear, and the figure of Zoan's warriors who gather on their own to designated places without guidance, saying that if there is no food or dried meat to hunt along the way, it will be fine.

Adomius, who finally returned to me, says one cough and then goes on.

"This way over time, this one will be ready for battle. Though it is the northern part of the rich Holmeer country, it is only part of the country. It's not the same force that we can mobilize as most of the others we have. It will appear with clarity over time."

Adomius affirms toward the pale horse.

"The Marquis Apius tends to be imprisoned by immediate interests and is an indefinite jen of his hips, but he is never an idiot. At least he couldn't have been a fool enough to read my difference."

Even the Ethereal Horse could understand Adomius's suspicions if he was so told.

"Sure, that would be too bad for the Border Marquis."

To draw concessions from this one, but the Northern Marquis should have been ready to march at any time. Then it is better for the Marquis of Apius to pronounce himself and march toward the king's capital.

Yet once we have gathered all the way to the city of Loughban, we will be wasted. Besides, the bigger the army, the slower its legs are. With that in mind, I find something suspicious, as Adomius put it.

Doverine, the ground general, says as he rubs his long jawbeard there.

"If we were to defend the King's capital, which has a strong wall, we would not want to attack it. Instead, aren't you trying to provoke this one and make him attack you?

It is a dwarf-like statement that has a reputation for the well being of cage castle warfare.

And the city of Rahban, with its border marines, is a fortified city with high city walls and strong protection. If more than five thousand border marines were to be caged there, it would be difficult to defeat this.

But besides, Zoog speaks differently.

"You don't have to go all the way into the den to hunt a wolf stuck in a nest hole. I'd smoke it out with smoke, or I'd just relax and wait for it to come out hungry. Unless Appius and the others are stupid enough, we'll see about that."

You don't have to bother attacking the city of Lough Ban directly with a strong guard. It is only a matter of turning down the food route and using it as a food attack, and then raising the roots and discussing it and intercepting where it came out.

Everyone nodded to Zug's opinion, which likened it to Zoan style.

Furthermore Adomius denies the possibility of a caged castle.

"The Marquis Apius hates his territory badly enough to be hurt. Even when entrusted to the General of the Crusading Army according to King Walius' obituary, it was still enough to ask Master Soma to pay first by mentioning the possibility of being attacked by the territory. I can't imagine that the Marquis of Apius is trying to make his territory a battlefield."

Neither did the Ethereal Horse, who heard those opinions, think that the Marquis of Apius was about to set up a battle for Cage Castle.

But at the same time, it looks like Marquis Appius' movements are trying to provoke this one to attack us, as Dvarin says.

Then the aim of the Marquis Apius is to meet in the plains after dragging this one out of the royal castle?

The Ethereal Horse, who thought so, made him prepare a map of the Holmeer country. Then, first place the seven thousand pawns that will be the maximum force assumed in the position of the city of Rahban, where the border marines are located. Then in the king's capital, where we have ourselves, we thought a little, and then the Ethereal Horse laid down seven thousand pawns as well.

It was the army of Ethereal Horses, which greatly increased the number of soldiers by absorbing the debilitated soldiers of the Holmeer National Army, including the "Black Wall", after the earlier Battle of Holmeer, but had returned some of the existing soldiers, mainly the Dwarves working in the workshop, to the city of Bornis. In addition, the bulk of the increased number of human soldiers has fallen mainly on war disaster reconstruction and policing in the eastern part of the Holmeer country.

You can call them now and collect them, but that takes time. Also, in the soldiers of the former Holmea National Army who absorbed it, it would still be difficult to fight the Border Marquis Army, a fellow citizen of the country. Nor was there necessarily anyone among them who would be in tune with the Northern Gorges.

When that happens, what the Ethereal Horse can actually move quickly is the calculation that the five thousand Zoan warriors and two thousand human species that will gather together will be roughly seven to eight thousand, plus the Elves, Dwarves, Dinosaurians, and Harpurans.

He was a pale horse who looked down on the map for a while, but first he pushed much of the seven thousand pawns he had placed in the Wang capital all the way north.

According to Adomius, even the less skilled Border Marquis Army could beat 3,000, but that's why I honestly didn't want to fight for 3,000. We should hit all the power we can to make sure we win and minimize this damage.

But then I wonder about the perimeter of this soldier's pawn opposite the border marines and, above all, the King's Capital, where the pawn is almost gone.

That is, the fear of a blackmail behind or from the sides of this army opposite the Marquis of Apius, or an ambush on the vacant King's capital.

But in any case, it takes a lot of troops to do it.

But I don't see that army.

When the Ethereal Horse raises his face from the map, he speaks to Setius, whose Buddha top surface is no longer stuck on his face.

"Hey, Mr. Setius. Any disturbing movements in the east?

Setius, deputy general of Marcronis, was engaged in the reconstruction of the east, where the Romanian National Army was heavily damaged, along with those who were mainly defectors of the Holmea National Army. For this reason, he is the person most familiar with the situation in the east on this occasion.

"The East is still full of hands in reconstruction. Of course there is not enough food to join the Border Marquis and everything with weapons and horseback riding. Even if it were enough, a people who still can't forget the brutality of the Romanian National Army would refuse to allow soldiers to go north."

Soldiers now engaged in war disaster reconstruction, but at the same time they are also preparations for the re-invasion of the Romanian National Army. The Romanian National Army, which was painfully wounded by the great rebellion of the Ethereal Horse, would not be re-invading any time soon, but it was nevertheless not something that could be moved, just in case.

When that happens, the next thing I see is the western part of the Holmeer country, where there are many friendly lords against the Ethereal Horse, such as former Count Mutos, lord of the city of L'Oma. I didn't think they'd wake up any more soldiers now.

The last remaining south, but the northern and southern queens have to go through the Wang capital in the middle of nowhere to connect, which takes time and effort. That's all, if we want to keep in touch with someone important enough to start a revolt, we have to send messengers to and from (Hin) every so often. That makes it even harder to keep secrets. Yet it is unthinkable that such rumors have never reached the ears of an Ethereal Horse before.

Then the Ethereal Horse turns its eyes outside the Holmeer Country.

But the western maritime state of Jeboa has just promised further friendship the other day, or is unwilling to invade another country into Jeboa itself in the first place. Conversely, the Romanian nation of the east is full of willingness to invade this one, but now that the painful hands of the battle of Holmea are not healing, I didn't think that pushing that impossibility would bring up soldiers.

But then I see no army anywhere in tune with the Marquis of Appius.

Says the Ethereal Horse in a heartfelt perplexity.

"Now, why did Marquis Apius march?

The Ethereal Horse had no idea what the Marquis Apius was thinking.

I dare say that even if I buy time, I don't have the forces to synchronize with the Border Marquis, and instead my troops open up over time, but I do have the mane to buy time. It's too radical a hand to withdraw this concession. If they fly that far and move the soldiers, this one has to be dealt with quite a bit. If we do, all we have to do is bump the soldiers into each other.

"So you think you can beat us?

He was a blurry horse with a bitter smile, but his chronic heart rose.

"That's what the people of Holmeer thought when you led us to the battle."

It was Shemr.

To her exact point, the Ethereal Horse clogs her words.

Looking back, the Ethereal Horse has always been stronger than himself and fought against a large number of enemies. This is the first time, however, that the soldiers are less skilled and less numerous opponents than they are. As a result, they were unconsciously sweet.

realizing it, the pale horse says shyly scratching his own cheek.

"Right. Look sweetly at the enemy. There's nothing good about it."

"That's why you're under my umbilicus," the Ethereal Horse retightened, glancing at everyone's face, turning back Shemr, who nodded satisfactorily over and over.

"Let's assume here that the Marquis of Apius has marched with some secret ploy. - Then what the hell is that? I don't care if it's small. If you notice anything, don't hesitate to say it."

When everyone is groaning with a difficult face at the inquiry of the Ethereal Horse, a beautiful voice rings the bell.

"May I say hello?

It was Eladia who said so and asked for permission to speak. And then the Ethereal Horse said, "Something?," Eladia asked, "I have something to worry about," and then cut it out.

"Recently, rumors have been spreading in this capital of kings that Master Soma is wearing Princess Wallina."