Chapter 7: Sacrifice the Plum Tree to Preserve the Peach Tree (part 2)

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—The same day, a few hours later, in the city of Randel in the Carmine Duchy.

There was a relaxed atmosphere on the castle walls surrounding Randel, the

central city of the Carmine Duchy. The Army and Forbidden Army were engaged in

hostilities, but that battle was being fought entirely at the fortress the Forbidden

Army had built near Randel.

Because of that, there wasn't so much as one arrow flying over the walls of

Randel.

"Sure is boring..." one of the Army soldiers muttered to himself.

One of his fellow soldiers happened to overhear and looked at him with a frown.

"Hey, we're at war with the Forbidden Army right now, you know."

"That's what they tell us, but... all the fighting's going on over by that fortress,

isn't it?" he complained. "Is there any point in us being on guard here?"

When he said that, another of his comrades laughed heartily and said, "What's

wrong with boring? Would you rather be on the front line against the Forbidden

Army?"

"I-I never said that."

"If anything, I'll bet the guys on the front line wish they could trade places with

us," the other soldier continued. "If they resist the Forbidden Army, suddenly they'll

be being called rebels and part of a rebel army. On top of that, I hear there are a

number of Army soldiers being led by Sir Glaive Magna, who parted ways with Duke

Carmine, mixed in with the enemy. Who would want to fight against men they once

ate from the same pot as?"

"You've got that right," another soldier said, joining in on the grumbling. "I've

heard talk that the Amidonians are on the move down south, too. What are the king

and Duke Carmine thinking?"

"When you look at it that way, nothing beats guarding the castle walls," the

second soldier said.

"...You could be right," the soldier who had been complaining at first said, starting

to sound convinced. That was when it happened.

"Hey, look at the sky in the east! Something's coming!" someone shouted.

Hearing that, they all turned to look at the eastern sky.

When they narrowed their eyes, it was true, they could see what looked like a

swarm of mosquitoes in the sky to the east. For a moment, they thought it might be a

flock of birds, but there were too many. There had to be close to a thousand of them.

As the swarm closed in, they realized it was the Air Force's wyvern cavalry.

As soon as that became clear, a wave of relief washed over the soldiers.

"...Good. Duke Vargas is our ally."

"The Air Force is coming to support us!"

"If they are, then the battle's already over. That fortress of theirs will fall easily

under aerial bombardment."

Everyone nodded sagely in agreement.

...Yes, the end of this battle was most certainly near. However, that end was to be

precisely the opposite of what those soldiers expected.

The Air Force passed over the fortress built outside Randel where the Forbidden

Army were holed up, then dropped barrels filled with gunpowder on the anti-air

repeating bolt throwers on the walls of Randel.

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The wyvern cavalry flew over the walls of Randel. Their leader Tolman looked

down as an explosion rang out, flames flew around, and black smoke rose. Their

targets, the anti-air repeating bolt throwers, had been blasted away without a trace,

along with chunks of the wall where they had once been.

The gunpowder barrels used by the Air Force were similar in design to the fire

arrows pirates had used during the Sengoku Period to sink enemy ships. To explain

it quickly, they were like firework shells.

The time it took for them to explode could be adjusted with the length of the oilsoaked rope used as a fuse. Once the fuse was lit and the bomb dropped, it would go

off after the set amount of time. They weren't like incendiary bombs, which explode

with the force of the impact, but the Air Force could adjust their fuse length based on

the altitude they would be dropped from, so they could be used in a similar manner.

Incidentally, because the gunpowder from those barrels that failed and impacted

the ground would scatter, then be set off by the gunpowder barrels that succeeded,

the extent of the damage inevitably grew.

How many Army soldiers have died in that blast now... No! Tolman shook his head,

forcing down the depressing feelings that were welling up inside him. I will not ask

for forgiveness. This is for my master and the princess.

In order to lighten the situation Castor and Carla would both surely find

themselves in after the war, he needed the Air Force to achieve as much as possible

here. As if trying to raise his own morale, Tolman shouted orders to the rest of the

Air Force.

"The bolt throwers have fallen silent! We will now begin the bombardment of

Randel Castle! Do not, under any circumstances, allow your bombs to fall on

residential blocks! By the pride of our Air Force, we cannot allow any more needless

deaths!"

"""Yeahhhhh!"""

The men and officers cheered in response to Tolman's words.

And so, a formation of wyvern cavalry began the aerial bombardment of Georg

Carmine's castle in the center of Randel.

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—At the same time, outside Randel.

It was around the time that the wyvern cavalry being led by Tolman began their

bombardment of Randel's castle walls.

A wyvern carrying a gondola containing Liscia, Aisha, the captive Carla, and

myself descended to the fortress where Ludwin and the others were holding out. It

was dangerous to land at a fortress that was under attack, but the Army had

withdrawn in surprise when the bombardment at Randel had begun. Thanks to that,

we had been able to enter the fortress quite easily.

When we stepped out of the wyvern's gondola, Ludwin, Hal, and Kaede were

there to greet us. While they all showed signs of exhaustion, I was relieved to see

they were completely unharmed. While they had only been defending themselves

against a siege for a day and a half, I knew unexpected accidents could always occur.

I bumped fists with Hal. "I brought the Air Force, just as planned."

"Well, we held out against the Army for you, just as planned," he said.

We both proudly boasted about what we'd accomplished.

"It was only a day and a half," I said. "If you hadn't been able to hold out that long,

I wouldn't know what to do with you."

"You idiot," he snorted. "The enemy even brought out cannons, you know? If the

dark elves hadn't come to support us, we might have taken serious losses."

"I see... I'll have to reward those reinforcements after the war," I said. "Anyway,

I'm glad to see you're doing fine."

"You, too, Souma," he said. "You're weak, so don't push yourself too hard."

"And you, Hal, you're strong, but you never think. I worry you'll charge in blindly

and get yourself killed."

For some reason Hal and I went from crowing about our own achievements to

pointing out each other's faults.

Liscia, Alicia, and Kaede watched us, rolling their eyes.

"What're those two doing?" Liscia muttered.

"Well, perhaps you could call that a kind of manly friendship?" Aisha suggested.

"It's just Hal's burning sense of rivalry towards His Majesty, you know," said

Kaede.

The girls just said whatever they wanted to about us. Carla was the only one who

didn't know what our relationship was like, so she just stood there blinking.

"That man... He's a little too friendly with the king, isn't he?" she asked.

"Officer Halbert has been given permission to treat him like a friend. Basically,

he's the same as us," Liscia explained to her.

Then Ludwin knelt before me and gave his report. "Sire, we have successfully

constructed and defended the fortress, as ordered."

"You have served me admirably," I said. "I will see to it that you and your troops

are duly rewarded for your effort after the war."

He addressed me in a formal tone, so I responded in kind. Seeing me suddenly

shift into that self-important tone, Hal and the others grinned, but I did my best to

ignore it. Time was precious right now.

"Ludwin, get the troops together and prepare to move out," I ordered.

"Yes, sir! Then, are we attacking Randel?"

"No... The battle here is already over."

"Huh? What do you..."

"I have a report!" The next moment, a soldier of the Forbidden Army was rushing

up to us.

He looked incredibly flustered. He came at us so fast that Aisha and Ludwin both

nearly drew their swords.

The soldier practically threw himself to the ground in prostration before me,

then raised his voice to say, "The white flag has risen over Randel! O-Our forces are

victorious!"