| Author: Starving Wind | Original Source: Joara | Word Count: 3229 characters |
| Translator: Anonymouss | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2091 words |
| Editor(s): Silva | ||
“Front line, halt!”
As we finally reached the point where we could clearly see the Castle of Edinburgh, I gave the order to the frontline. Just as I thought, the enemy forces were preparing to defend against our siege on their castle.
Though it may have been different if it was a small castle, in Edinburgh’s case it was one of the eleven largest cities of Britain1 so it didn’t seem like it would have much difficulty in keeping around 20,000 troops inside of the walls.
“Frontline, ordered to halt!”
“Frontline, please come to a stop.”
Since there were thirty-five thousand users all moving at once, my shouts didn’t reach that far towards the frontlines, and when the officers noticed that, they immediately began to relay the order forward, and soon the frontline troops came to a stop.
“We shall now change our longitude formation to latitude formation. All platoons, please move to the correct formation!”
Our troops were moving in a longitude formation as that was how large armies marched forward, but this formation wasn’t good to head into a siege battle with, so I quickly ordered the troops to change their formation.
“1st platoon, line up!”
“2nd platoon, line up!”
Hearing my order, each of the platoon commanders shouted their orders as the platoon changed their formation.
Seeing 35,000 soldiers all calmly re-organizing themselves to the proper formation in front of my eyes made my chest swell with definite emotion. Those emotions were definitely delight as well as heavy pressure.
It was because I had a strong feeling in my heart that I had become a famous general who was leading the army back in the Medieval Ages. This strong pressure of knowing that I had to win on this expansive battlefield, and this self-confidence made me feel like I could take on the whole world. These feelings kept intertwining with each other and created a powerful sense of aspiration in my body.
Though the desire to immediately tell them to charge in was extremely high, we still needed time before the preparation for the siege was complete. Since we are moving into a field, we haven’t prepared for the siege battle ahead of time.
[Mr. Lucas!][Yes, what is it that you whispered me for, my lord?]
[It seems like we definitely need some siege weapons for this battle. Please send some guild members that specialize in crafting.]
[Craftsmen that specialize in siege weapons, understood.]
Lucas who was on standby back in the Liverpool base answered my whisper immediately. Since they worked like reserve battle forces while on standby, they were able to help right away since they were always ready to assist and support.
[Thank you.]Though users who usually specialize in crafting do not participate in battles, there was no other way in this case. Soon they would leave Liverpool to arrive in Glasgow, and until they arrived, we needed some time to arrive there first and fully prepare for the siege battle.
That means attacking the enemy before then was impossible. Looking around me, I saw that the formation had already been settled. The backline of the army currently looked slightly messy, but it looked like they’ll be complete soon.
“I guess there’s no helping it.”
“Hm?”
Hearing me suddenly speak, Katalina who was standing next to me asked, wanting to know what I was talking about.
“Since it will just be a waste of time to stand here like this. So I was thinking of using that tactic.”
“Aha!”
Understanding my intention, Katalina nodded her head as if she agreed with me.
[Mr. Knuckle.][Yes, Miss Artoria! Just give us the order.]
Knuckle replied right away as if he was just waiting for the word.
[Have you received the goods that have been prepared?]The goods I was talking about were the underwear that I requested Jasmine to make. A unique tier masterpiece that was made out of black Mythril, as well as a cape of the same quality and tier.
Honestly, it was no different from underwear when looking at it, but it was actually armored cloth which has quite a strange design. Of course, it was a revealing unique armor set that was impossible to craft unless you were a Grand Smith like Jasmine was.
[Yes! Hallelujah and Tattoo who are standing here next to me also received it as well. Though the shapes are slightly different, the colors are all the same unifying look.][If that’s the case, can you please come out to the frontline of the troops now?]
[R… right now?]
[Yes. Right away.]
Knuckle stuttered a little bit when hearing that they had to leave for the frontline right away. However, since they had already come to this point, they couldn’t do anything else but step forward.
“You three, why are you breaking away from formation?”
The relevant commander saw the three of them pushing past the formation of troops and asked while pointing at them.
“8th platoon commander, I’ve ordered them to come to the front myself.”
“Ah, understood my lord.”
In the end, I had to tell the commander myself that I had called for them to get to the front.
And because of that, everyone’s gaze turned towards them. Under the gaze of thousands of soldiers, the three of them hesitantly came towards me.
“Hmm, so you haven’t changed your equipment yet?”
It seems like they hadn’t changed to the equipment we gave them, since they were still wearing normal equipment.
“D… Do we need to wear it now?”
“No, not yet. Well, I won’t mind if you just keep on wearing it though…”
“Then we’ll wear it later.”
“In any case, I believe it’s the first time we’re meeting you two. Nice to meet you.”
“It’s an honor… Miss Artoria. Though my chat name is Tattoo, my ID is Uruk.”
“I didn’t think it would really be the real Miss Artoria… It’s an honor to meet you, I’m Hallelujah.”
The man called Uruk had a slightly chubby body but gave the impression that they were very young, and the man named Hallelujah had quite a stocky body. But on the first impression, he gave off the feeling of being naive.
“I will believe that both of you will keep your promise which you must have heard again from Mr. Knuckle. Now then, I will provide each of you with additional 900,000 gold that is separate from the equipment that I am supplying to you. How is that for you?”
“… I- it is embarrassing, but we will endure it.”
“It was just a wager, but if you are willing to give it to us then we will gladly accept it.”
I believe that they must have heard the finer details of what they had to do from Knuckle already so I suggested they carried it out, and they had accepted my compensation.
“My plan was originally to have you all attacking the frontlines once we begin the battle with enemies in the plains, but it seems like it will end up as a siege battle, so I will tell you about my new plans.”
Hearing that I had a new plan, they all started to focus on what I had to say.
“Right now, it will take quite a long time until the siege weapons arrive here. Since it is likely that we would be out of energy while waiting for the siege weapons to arrive, I will go ahead and request a one-on-one duel with the leader of the enemy guild. It would be great if they do accept my request, but the probability of them not accepting it is quite high. If that’s the case, you shall all act as the 2nd group of people requesting this duel with the enemy guild leader.”
“A one-on-one duel?”
Just as the name implied, a one-on-one duel would mean that there would only be one person on each side. Of course, there won’t be a circumstance in which they would immediately surrender if I were to win against them in the one-on-one duel like last time, but we’ll be able to fight against them in an advantageous position psychologically, and it would be very effective in raising morale.
Even if the morale factor isn’t represented clearly in number form, it could bring a powerful effect in an epic scale battle like this.
“Yes. I’m pretty sure that once the enemy forces see how you look, they wouldn’t be willing to send out a high ranked user to fight against you. Even if they aren’t willing to send anyone to fight against you, it wouldn’t matter. You all simply need to tease and make fun of the enemy forces for doing so after all.”
“And if they do send out someone?”
“They would think that you are all weak since you are just wearing underwear and charge at you with overconfidence. It would likely be some small fry who wants fame or higher position that would be battling against you. You simply need to cut them down with your true power.”
“But what if another enemy is to come out?”
“If they do send out a high ranked user… then all you need to do is just buy time.”
They seemed to understand my intentions as they nodded their heads. Though it is not set in stone that things will go as planned, it was still worth a try2. We’ll be back to square one even if it fails anyways.
“Then let us begin.”
“Yes my lord.”
As our conversation finished, I asked Katalina to support me from behind and stepped out to the front. Though I would have looked cooler if I was on a horse as I stepped onto the field, it wasn’t possible to bring it to the battle due to the fact that I was still not proficient in riding. I’m sure that once more time passes, I’ll be able to ride into battle using horses.
But at the very least, it didn’t seem like I would be able to use horses for this battle.
Whoosh.
An arrow flew towards me. It seemed to be fired by a high ranked ranged user, seeing as how silent and quickly it approached. But…
Grab!
Timing it perfectly, I grabbed the arrow from the air rather than dodging it perfectly. If I were to have failed to catch it, I would have ended up extremely embarrassed, but as long as it wasn’t hitting my vital organs, I wouldn’t have any problems being hit directly with an arrow or two.
“Quite a polite greeting right from the beginning. I am Artoria, lord of Camelot and I wish to teach you all how a real greeting is supposed to be. Is there anyone here willing to learn how to do a proper greeting?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?!”
A shout from someone came from the castle.
“It is not nonsense, as I am trying to request a duel.”
“Don’t make me laugh. Why should we send out someone to duel with you?”
“It seems like I’m just hearing that you are all just too scared to come out and face me.”
“Urgh…”
The conversation was obvious and predictable. Even if enemy forces try their best to provoke me, since they were the ones who were too afraid to accept a duel, their morale would have definitely fallen and I enjoyed that fact.
The arrows that flew at me from time to time were nothing but a joke to me. In truth, the enemies had already lost their morale even before the battle began because of me.
“Tsk, seems like only cowards are there, in the Chaos guild…”
There was no need to try and provoke the enemies anymore since they weren’t willing to respond in any way. They knew that even at the cost of their morale, this was the best decision they could currently make. Therefore I decided to enjoy the fact that the situation was turning out just as I expected.
[It’s time.]As I slowly stepped back to my side, I sent out a whisper. And soon, the three men who were already completely in underwear exchanged places with me and stood proud towards the enemies.
With their black cape and underwear, they looked like Zorro, the… well, not really.
“Wh… What the–?!”
Both the allies and enemies had the same flabbergasted reaction on seeing the three of them3.
