Day 169 of the Otherworldly Summoning [Defense Battle] Part 1:

'Good! From now on, you will follow the instructions of the mercenaries to build a defensive facility. The performance of these will be our lifeline! I hope you all realize that and do the best you can!

The sun was shining in the middle of the sky, and the cloudless sky was clear as if it was promising Ryojin's victory.

''Woohoo!''

Countless fists were raised to the heavens in answer to Liang Shin's words.
In front of him stood 2000 knights entrusted to him by the princess and 100 mercenaries led by Rionne, lined up in front of him.
After successfully crossing the Thebes River as planned in just three days, the advance party led by Liangma was to set up a defensive facility on the eastern bank of the Thebes River.
The reason for this is to ensure that the main force of 20,000 men led by Princess Lupis, who will appear on the west bank of the Thebes within the next four days, can cross the river safely.
And in order to survive until the main force arrives.

"The enemy must have sensed our movement and is coming to attack us! Time is limited! But if you can build a moat and a fence before their attack, no matter how many men they have, no matter how many times their number is thirty, your best men will surely survive!

""Woohoo!"

A yell goes up again at Ryoma's words.

(Huh, morale is fine for now. Now it's just a matter of how far you can prepare according to my instructions.

After Ryoma's speech was over, the platoons dispersed to their posts, and a man stood in front of him.

''Mikoshiba-dono. Then I will lead my knight 500 to reconnoitre.

Ryoma nodded lightly at Mikhail's words.
It's quite painful to split a quarter of the entire force into reconnaissance, but it's much better than overlooking the enemy's movements and taking them by surprise.
Ryoma decided that.

''Yes, again, it's just reconnaissance. If you encounter the enemy, do not return fire and retreat.

There's no point in reconnaissance if they don't find the enemy.
However, the mission of reconnaissance is only to gather information.
There is no need to fight the enemy.

I'm sure you're aware. I'm not a knight, and I don't like to show my back to the enemy, but that's part of the plan.

Mikhail replied with an expression that said how regrettable it was.
I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more to say about it.

I'm not going to be able to get the best out of it. It's not too much to say that the success or failure of this operation depends on you.

Normally this would be a heavy role for the thoughtless Mikhail, but there is no one else who can move it.
The only way to do this is to leave it to Mikhail.

I understand. Goodbye!

With that, Mikhail turned on his heel.
Ryoma could only look at Mikhail's back.
It was an inevitable choice since there were no other personnel, but Ryoma would later regret this decision deeply.


''Alright! Just do what you're trained to do! Calm down and do it!

Spirit, who governs the earth. Receive thy blessings, and transform thyself at my command!

Following Bolz's voice, the mercenaries begin chanting in unison.

''Earth Sinking!''

A low-grade spirit law technique that interferes with the earth.
At the end of the chant, a hand is slammed into the earth, and the earth sinks in unison from 1 meter in front of the chanters.

''Alright! Fine, the first group of chanters will dig the hole again after a fifteen minute rest, and the second group of chanters will deal with the areas outside of the jutsu's area of effect!

What do you think? How's the work progressing?

Someone called out to Bortz, who was spearheading the construction, from behind.
The sun was just starting to dip in the west.
Bolz and his team have only been working on it for about 3 hours.
But already a moat 20 meters wide and 5 meters deep is beginning to appear in front of Ryoma's camp.
For a construction project to build a moat of about 500 meters in length, this was an unusually fast speed.

''Ah! Young!

Bolz replies while keeping his gaze forward.

''But.........Young man is really amazing. That you could come up with a method like this.

Bolz's praise is not exaggerated.
In the earth 《Earth》, the Dharma technique was nothing more than a weapon.
It's just a tool to win a war.
It was treated the same as a sword or a spear.

It's not that big of a deal.

Liang Zhen lightly brushed off Bortz's praise, but in reality, Liang Zhen's idea could be said to have brought about a major revolution in both the military and economic aspects of this world.
The idea of taking a legal technique that was only used as a means of direct attack against an opponent and applying it to other uses, especially construction, has resulted in overwhelming efficiency.

The earth-sinking technique creates a pit 5 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep.
However, it is only a hole.
The general usage is to drop the opponent by making it appear at the enemy's feet, but most of the surgeons never use this technique in actual battle.
It is hardly useful in a real battle though the range of effect is felt to be so big if it is called 5M in diameter.
Because the opponent does not stay still in one place.
It is difficult to determine the action of the opponent to move, and to express the jutsu at the foot of the opponent.
Moreover, it is not so deep as to be able to kill a fallen person for sure, though the depth is not shallow as 5M.
There are many techniques that are easier to aim at and more deadly than the Earth Sinking, not just for the earth system, but for any system.
But how about using the Earth Sinking as a moat instead of a pit?
In the blink of an eye, a hole 5 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep could be made for every surgeon.



'No. You don't understand your value, young man!

The earth-sinking is only one of the techniques that cannot be used in direct combat, which is the value in evaluating conventional techniques.
But if you don't care about defeating your opponent, the Earth Thinking has a whole other set of possibilities.
It's not surprising that Bortz's praise was justified, considering that it was Ryoma who found that possibility and made it happen.

''Is that so?

Ryoma twisted his head.
As a modern man, Ryouma couldn't help but think that his ideas were exceptionally great.
On the contrary, it was more of a question of why no one had noticed something of this magnitude before.

''That's right!

Ryoma smiled bitterly when he saw Bolts nod emphatically.

''Well, it depends on the results of the reconnaissance, but I don't think we have much time. Bolz-san, I'm counting on you.''

''Hee! I'll take care of it... You need to measure the distance accurately to trigger the jutsu, otherwise it's useless! You see! The holes we've made in the earth-sinking are supposed to be lined up in a row! If you're not careful, you'll get yourself killed! I'm sorry, young man. I'm sorry, sir.

It seems that he was closely monitoring the situation at the work site even while talking to Ryoma.
It's just a matter of time before you get to the point where you'll be able to see the results.
I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more to say.
I'm sure you'll be happy to know that this is one of the reasons Ryoma came here, along with the construction of the moat.

Where is Sarra now, by the way?

Is it little Miss Sala? ...Oh! There. I'm sticking to it just like you said.

The golden hair was swinging in the direction of Bolz's pointing.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this.

Hey. That's right!

Ryoma's gaze pierced to the dark-haired woman working beside Saara.

''Don't worry, Miss Saara is sticking around perfectly for now!

Yeah. Because if that thing outsmarted us, we'd be in pretty bad shape.

Hey. I'm well aware of that!

If the situation gets out of hand, don't be too greedy and take care of it.

At Ryoma's words, Boltz showed a somewhat surprised expression.
This is because making good use of that guy was also part of this strategy.
I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on.

'It's true that I'm letting him swim with the intention of using him, but it could be a trap. If you think it's a bad idea, you can use your judgment, Bolz-san, to take care of it.

Yes, sir. Just let me do it!

Bortz bowed to Ryoma with that and returned to directing the work again.

"Well, now we have to see how Rionne is doing...

Muttering that, Ryoma walked away from the scene.


''I'm mostly ready to go along with the plan!

Lyonne quickly spotted Ryoma and shouted loudly, waving her hand as she spotted him.
Ryoma laughed at the sound of her voice and came over with a light wave of his hand.

"So the fence is all ready to go, huh?

'Yeah. You can find plenty of wood for the materials in the forest.

Lyonne turned her gaze to the mountain and the stacked fence behind her.
The trees already cut out have been worked to a certain thickness and put together using ropes.
The only thing left to do was to put it up as soon as the moat construction of the bolts was finished.

'How is the bridge made?'

We're supposed to be ready for that. Right now we're cutting out the wood for the material.

Men are coming back from the forest one after another, carrying the wood back to the camp.
They must be following Ryoushin's instructions and using the Dharma technique to strengthen their bodies.
They are lightly carrying a thick piece of wood on their shoulders that normally wouldn't be able to be carried by one person.
Liang Shin nodded.

''Keep it durable enough for a cavalryman to cross, okay?

I'm fine! Yes, I know. We're going to have some experienced carpenters among our mercenaries to lead it. After all, that's an important part of this mission!

Lyonne showed him one eye as she said this.

''Ah, I'll leave it to you.''

I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more to say about this.
I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more than you think.



While Ryoma and the others were frantically working on laying out the defense base, Mikhail was on the high ground about 5 kilometers from the camp.
You may feel it's too late for him to have already left the camp for three hours and he's only advanced 5 kilometers, but that's not the case.
Since his mission is reconnaissance, it's only natural to move carefully to avoid being discovered by the enemy.

''Huh.......no enemy soldiers so far?

"Ha!

With the grasslands below, even if soldiers were to be released from Heraklion, they could be sure of their movements.
Mikhail sat down on a handy stone lying at his feet once he was sure there were no enemy soldiers.

(This preliminaries will determine the future course of events........

Ryoma's melancholy expression never disappears from Mikhail's mind.
Nearly three months have already passed since Ryoma and Mikhail met.
On the surface, it looked as if he and Ryoma were becoming more relaxed with each other, but in reality, Mikhail was dissatisfied and couldn't help himself.
It's not only because of the failure of the assassination mission and the fact that most of his subordinates were killed by Ryoma's plan, but also because he feels that Princess Lupis trusts him more than the old-timers, because he feels that Ryoma, a drifter mercenary, has no idea where he came from.

(What does that guy think knights are in the first place! ...knights are fighting men! You've got me doing carpentry work like a peasant!

For Mikhail, who was proud of being a strong knight, Ryojin's strategy this time was not something that he could endure very well.
It would certainly be efficient.
That's something Mikhail himself doesn't have to admit.
But that doesn't mean that a knight cutting down trees and digging a moat using the legal arts is something that I can't agree with.
As a matter of fact, there are many knights in Roselia who have that kind of awareness.
It is possible to say that almost all of them.
It's not just the fact that they were entrusted with command by Princess Lupis, but also that they couldn't come up with any other good plan to overturn the overwhelming difference in military strength.
The reason why Mikhail volunteered for reconnaissance duty is because he thought that reconnaissance is better than carpentry, even if it's the same lowly job.

His misfortune would be that he himself understood the effect of Ryojin's policies and ideas, and was capable enough to understand that Princess Lupis's trust had shifted to Ryojin.
And his intense knightly pride creates a strong jealousy in his heart for Liang Shin.

His own loyalty to Princess Lupis is unmistakable.
It's as good as Mertina's.
But it's not his loyalty that makes him useful to Princess Lupis at present.
I'm sure he would have kept his pride intact if he were still a knight.
But in reality, it's not.
And he himself understood that he was unable to imitate Ryojin.
That's why Mikhail is jealous.
He cannot forgive.
Because he understood that he had no justification for himself, his heart fell into darkness.

''Master Mikhail! It's a cloud of dirt ahead. Probably an enemy scouting party!

A subordinate's cry echoed in Mikhail's ears as he was lost in thought.

''What! Enemies?

'Ha! I can't confirm the number of troops yet, but it doesn't appear to be that many!

What's that report? Let's get it right!

Mikhail's shout and his men go to check on the enemy.

(Not many enemy soldiers?)

Mikhail was still calmly aware of the importance of his mission at this time.
It was to reconnoiter the enemy and keep the wear and tear of his own soldiers to a minimum.
Especially regarding the wear and tear of his own troops, he had received a direct and persistent warning from Liang Shin's mouth.
Currently, there were only two thousand of them.
It was only natural that avoiding the wear and tear of one's own troops was more important than reducing the number of the enemy.
However, this awareness is blown away by the report of the subordinate who came rushing over again.

"Mikhail-sama! We've got it! About 100 enemy soldiers!

A hundred? Are you sure about that?!

A smile appeared on Mikhail's face.

They must have crossed the Thebes and sent a scouting party to scout it out in a hurry...)

'Master Mikhail! Ordered to return to the main camp at once!

The second in command, who was standing by, advised Mikhail.
It is true that what he says is not wrong.
But that doesn't make it worthwhile.
Such a thought came to Mikhail's mind.

(The other party is only a scouting party. (This is only a scouting party, and this is a knight 500, so there's no need to compete. But if we can reduce the number of enemy soldiers even a little here, we'll have an advantage later on...)

At this stage, Mikhail had only his own accomplishments on his mind.
He could only give credit for the battle.
Mikhail stood up quickly from the stone he sat on and shouted loudly.
His face was filled with the killing spirit characteristic of a soldier on the battlefield.

'No! All hands to battle stations! An enemy of that caliber, he can crush you with a single blow!

Mikhail's heart was uplifted by the air of the battlefield.
And the uplifted mind mingled with his sense of merit to derail his judgment.
He forgot.
His mission and its importance.
And his judgment would put Ryoma in a difficult situation.