Day 180 of summoning other worlds [Decisive Battle] Part 7:

"Then, Your Highness! Give the order to march on!

Mertina urged Princess Lupis, who was standing in front of the entire army, to march on.

As a result of Liangzhen's plan, all the aristocratic armies that were stationed around Iraklion have returned to their respective territories.
And now that Gerhardt has been revered by Princess Lupis, only 2,500 knights directly under Hodram remain.
In contrast, Princess Lupis's army has a total of 25,000.
The princesses, who had been overwhelmingly outnumbered, had somehow turned their forces around.
The knights standing in front of the princess were now waiting for her order to come too late.
It's only natural that their morale would be boosted by the fact that they are 10 times stronger than the others.

But in contrast to the high spirits of the knights, Princess Lupis' heart was dark and gloomy.
She was overwhelmingly outnumbered, and she was on the verge of victory.
She could not rejoice in this situation, which was no wonder she was in a frenzy.
Fear of a man cast a shadow over her mind. ,

(This is the power of that man the man who overturned such an inferiority complex I'm afraid of that man, Ryoma Mikoshiba. And that's fine that was our agreement in the first place. But ... what if he turns against us? But I'm not going to be able to match him because there is no one else in the world that can match him. What if that guy turns against us?
I knew that from the beginning, no, I thought I knew that.
The anxiety that she should have understood came from deep inside her mind when she reached the stage of defeating Hodram.

But she shook off those worries.
(No ... that can wait until later. For now, eliminating Hodram is the first thing to do!
As I nodded lightly back to Mertina, Princess Lupis' eyes looked forward.

''Yeah! All hands on deck!

Nodding at Mertina's words, Princess Lupis' sword was drawn and pointed at Iraklion.
It's all about winning against Hodram now.
(All because ... we've fought for this war!)


""Ooooooh!"

Once again, the cheers echoed and the knights began to march in unison.
The goal was the head of Hodram Arleberg.
There was only one.


''Ryoma-sama is that alright?''

A group of knights led by Princess Lupis raised a cloud of dust and headed for Iraklion.
I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

The fact that we are participating in the attack on Iraklion is meaningless.

Ryoma answers Laura's question lightly.
There are a total of about eighty mercenaries and the Malfist Sisters, led by Rionne Voltz.
They are all ready for battle and ready to face the battlefield at any time, but Ryoma, the commander, does not move from that spot.

''But, young man.......if we don't attack Iraklion, won't this war be over?

Bolz put the question into words.
It was a question that was on the minds of everyone present.

'? The war won't end if we don't invade Heraklion?

Everyone present nodded at Liangma's question.
As long as Hodram doesn't move his army from the town of Iraklion, there is no other way than to attack.
Even if Gerhardt is already reverent to the princess.

Ryoma understood the meaning of Bolz's words, and a smile appeared on his face.

''Then I have a question. There are only 2,500 knights in Iraklion right now, led by Hodram. I'm sure you'll be able to see that Gerhardt's obedience to the princess means that they are the only ones who can be called enemies at this stage. You understand that, don't you?

All of them nodded at Liang Zhen's words.

The rumor of the burning that Ryouma had spread had caused the nobles to return to the defense of their own territory.
Because of that, the soldiers had disappeared from the vicinity of Iraklion.
That was why Princess Lupis had decided to fight a decisive battle.

As long as Gerhardt was being reverent, the only enemies of Princess Lupis were Hodram and his men.
All of them were well aware of this.

''How many troops does Princess Lupis have?

That's about 25,000.

'Sarra's right, what about Hodram then?

That's 2,500!

Bolz shouted quickly.

'Yes, indeed, by a factor of nearly ten, but do you all think Hodram will be holed up in Iraklion?

Ryoma's gaze looked around at everyone in turn.
Everyone could guess what Ryoma was thinking by his words.

'Then you don't think the boy is going to be holed up?

Rionne puts her thoughts into words.

'Ah. Well, the odds are five-fifty... as far as I'm concerned, General Hodram is an arrogant and unprincipled father, but at the same time I see him as strong and resigned.

What do you propose to do, then? What about General Hodrum, who has given up so badly?

You can't expect any reinforcements if you stay indoors. The aristocrats, who have given up on Hodram once, won't send out troops for him again. I'm not sure that Hodram will choose to be crushed, but I don't think Hodram will choose to be crushed.

So that leaves us with no choice but to run away but to do that with a strength difference of ten times that amount?

Hearing Ryouma's words, Rionne's reply was skeptical.
Having experienced many battles, Rionne fully understands the difficulty of the retreat battle.

It's easy for an army to advance, but when it comes to pulling back, it becomes instantly more difficult.
Moreover, while the knights are skilled in their individual skills, their power drops when it comes to group cooperation.
But in retreat, it's not the individual's strength that matters, it's the power of group cooperation that matters, which is the knight's weakness.
If you can follow each other, your chances of survival increase.
On the other hand, if individuals ignore the cooperation and retreat, the remaining people will have no choice but to die.
This is a fact proven by history.

In a retreat, which the knights were not good at, and with a tenfold difference in strength, the chances of survival for General Khodram and his men were almost zero.

I think that's true. Well, I've made a lot of little tricks to make that happen... but that means if Hodram leads his army into a retreat... I'm thinking about the possibility that the worst thing that could happen is that Hodram will abandon the knights under his command and run away. There. With only a small entourage and his family in tow.

Ryouma nodded at Rionne's question.
But at the same time, he thinks it's possible if the military unit doesn't try to retreat.

''No way... no way... how much is that...?''

'Young man! It's any number of things....

Ryouma's words made everyone cringe.

If they abandoned their subordinates and ran away by themselves, they might be able to escape.
But is that what a knight who has risen to the rank of general of a country would choose to do?
I'm sure you'll be able to find a great deal more to say about it.
Of course, there were many knights who discarded mercenaries and peasants, but how could the supreme commander of the army.......

Well, that's just a possibility, and it's not going to change the fact that we'll have to attack Heraklion. But even if a few of us don't participate in the attack on Iraqi Kurdistan, it won't have any effect on many people, will it? That's why I asked His Highness Lupis to allow us to separate.

Ryoma never made any assurances.
But everyone present had a feeling that the probability of what Ryoma said was a future that was almost certain to happen, let alone 5:5.
It is true that the situation is overwhelmingly favorable, so even if Ryoma and his team did not participate in the attack on Iraklion, it would have no effect on the victory itself.
But if you still take into account the post-war bounty, then your decision not to participate here will not work to your advantage, even if it is disadvantageous.
Even with that in mind, the fact that Ryoma is here means that there is an extremely high probability that General Hodram will escape.

''You still not convinced?''

All of them shook their heads at Liangzhen's words.
If they explained this much, they had to agree.

''Well........now we just have to wait for Gen'o and the others to return.......''

Is it Lord Yan'o?

At Ryouma's words, Laura looked around.
Certainly, she couldn't see Gen O and Sakuya.

''Hey... I asked those guys to go get the connection with those guys who are hiding in Iraklion... oh! Speak of the devil, two of you are here how did it go? Gen O, Sakuya.

From the other day, mercenaries disguised as merchants have been dispersing around Heraklion to carry out espionage activities.
Most of their mission was to spread rumors about a man named Ryoma Mikoshiba to the farmers, but they have also been given the task of infiltrating Heraklion and investigating the movements of the enemy.
And now that Gerhardt has been revered, they are monitoring the movements of General Hodram with all their might.
The two liaison officers, Gen O and Sakuya, had infiltrated Iraklion.

Ryojin's eyes caught sight of the two figures as they rushed in from Heraklion.

''Sorry to keep you waiting. Mikoshiba-dono.

I'm sorry I'm late.

They bowed their heads lightly to Ryoma to apologize for taking so long, and then proceeded to report on the main topic.

It's a good thing that Mikoshiba-dono's premonition was right, because according to the people who were watching the Hodram residence, the merchants of the town were summoned to the residence yesterday and it seems that some kind of business meeting was held.

Negotiations... are you sure you understand?

At Yan Ou's words, Liangma nodded lightly and asked.
His report was to be expected for Ryouma, but it was dangerous to assume it was just that.

''Yes, I questioned one of the merchants who came out of the mansion, and it seems that he sold off whatever clothing and deeds he had, and he wanted to cash in on it.

Ryojin nodded at Yan Oo's words.
Cashing in his assets could only mean one thing: Hodram was thinking of fleeing the country.

''Well, I suppose we should look at it as raising funds for his escape...''

And then there's the story of the purchase of preserved food.

Preserves.........you're cutting off my men....

If you're going to take your men with you, there's no need for Hodram to buy food himself.
There is a unit in the army that manages the food supply.
Hodram, the commander-in-chief, doesn't need to buy food from merchants.
That is why he called the merchant to buy it.
That means he doesn't want his men to know what he's doing.

Perhaps.

Yan Oo nodded at Liang Zhen's words.

'What about the escape route? Do you have any idea what to expect?

'No, not that much, indeed. It's just....

'What? Is there something that's bothering you?

With a family, they would never go on foot. Even though I saw them loading their carriages, they would have taken the city streets.

'Ryoma-sama! Here.

Quickly, Saara spread the map she was carrying in front of Ryoma.



Ryouma's eyes quickly caught the seven city roads extending from Iraklion.
Three of these roads must pass through Princess Lupis's sphere of influence.
There is an option to deliberately go through the princess's sphere of influence in order to outwit her, but it's too dangerous for a family to do so.
Ryouma narrowed down his options considering that Hodram's face is widely known in the Roseria Kingdom.

''The four roads are the southeast, south, southwest and west.......If you're bringing your family, I think we can exclude the road to the west that leads to the kingdom of Zaruda.

Ryojin nodded lightly at Laura's point.
(Indeed, the Kingdom of Zaruda, which has the name of the Iron Kingdom, has many steep mountains. ) The terrain is too harsh to flee with your family in tow.

'Then I guess we can rule out the southwest for the same reason... the rest is southeast and south...'

The south and southeast both lead to the southern region.
It's the biggest battleground in the western continent where the small countries are in turmoil.
But in a way, it's the perfect place to hide.

''Two choices........now what do we do......''

Liang Zhen's eyes looked up at the sky.
He had approximately 100 troops on hand.
All of them are top-notch warriors with top-notch strength, but their opponents will also desperately resist them.
It's best to think of them as being on par with each other in terms of ability.
Then, it's the number of heads that counts.
Although Hodram is not thought to have a large number of people, he should have about 50 knights with him as guards.
(It's a foolish plan to divide them into two hands but we can't let them get away.........................what to do?
If I'm thinking about the future of the Kingdom of Roselia, I really want to kill Hodram here.
Besides, he has a promise to Elena.
Various ideas came and went in Ryoma's mind.
No matter how good he was at scheming, there was a limit to how far he could go.
There was no way he could make up for his physical deficiency with a plan.

''Ryoma-sama.''

"? What is it? What's wrong?

Ryojin Saara, who was lost in thought, gave an earful.

''We just received a report that there are troops coming towards us.

Enemies?

Saara shook her head at Ryoma's question.

'No, it's Elena-sama.'

Elena?

Yes, I expect them to be arriving in the next few minutes.

All right, all right. Bring me in here.

Saara nodded at Ryoma's words and moved away.