If I had to describe the military character of Kepka Barca in one word, it would be 'bold in strategy and solid in tactics.'

　Alexios said that in front of the Allied commander I, Bartolo, and the great families who lead the armies of the nations.

　The most important thing in war is information.
　We know very little about Kepka Barca.

　That's why we asked Alexios, a former member of the Barca family who had just crossed paths with Kepka, for information about Kepka.

　'Kepka will try to take a strategic position of advantage, even at some risk. To be more specific, he prefers to focus on speed to catch the enemy by surprise. This is exactly what happened in the previous situation is a reflection of Kepka's character.

　I've never commanded a navy, and I don't know much about it.
　But I can imagine how risky it would be to cross the sea.

　If we were to play it safe, we would prepare carefully and drop the entire island of Trisichelia before crossing into Adelunia.
　But Kepka flew directly from Trisichelia to Adelunia to exploit the gap in southern Cilicia.

　Apparently Pofenia had already seized two-thirds of Trisichellia Island...
　Conversely, a third of them are the enemy.
　If the base on Trisichellia was destroyed by a third of the enemy, supplies would be cut off and Kepka would be isolated on the Adelian peninsula.

　But Kepka knew that risk and went in.

　It's a high risk, high reward strategy.

　But the tactics were low-risk, low-return, and when Kepka's forces showed up, he withdrew from the area like a receding wave.　

　Even in the siege of Rezad, no surprise tactics were used.
　It seems that this was a very common and textbook way of fighting.

　It's just like 'strategy is bold, tactics is steady.

　'So ... I can't say for sure, but Kepka Barca will want the battle to take place on the plains. He would prefer a place where there are no rivers, forests, or other obstacles, and preferably small hills with little difference in elevation.

　Well that should help us identify most of the battlefield.

　I ministered.
　The terrain is well detailed thanks to the maps submitted by Rezad, Gehenna and Nemeth.

　There are plenty of plains themselves, but few places with no obstacles at all.

　'You say the tactics are solid but tell me the composition of the enemy forces. And what tactics they prefer.

　Bartolo asks Alexios.
　If we know the composition of the Pofenian army and information about their tactics, we will have the advantage in the battle.

　If it becomes a large scale battle, it is a decisive battle.
　We can't afford to lose. Especially for our country, which has less national strength than Pofenia.

　It's basically a head-on collision with no tricks. After all, each soldier is a mercenary of a different nationality, so we can't do anything too advanced. It's just........

　Alexios cuts off his words once.

　''Because we are mercenaries, we have a variety of military branches. And although morale is low, all of the soldiers are experienced in war, and each soldier has a fairly high fighting ability. Although the coordination of the whole group is delicate, the unity within the small unit the mercenary unit is strong.

　At best, they're flexible, and at worst, they're not very cohesive.
　If the war situation worsens, they'll probably run away with the entire mercenary corps.
　It's probably easier for everyone to escape than for one person to escape alone.

　The military branches........as far as I've confirmed, they're 'throwers', 'long archers', 'spearmen', 'long spearmen', 'swordsmen', 'phalanxes', 'axemen' and 'cavalry'. In addition to that, there are also the mercenary corps and slave soldiers who are in effect the private army of the Barca family. Unlike the other mercenaries, they have excellent overall coordination and high morale. Though their role is to choke the rear and deal with fleeing mercenaries.

　From what I've heard, it's like a salad ball of military families.
　With so many branches of the military, complex tactics would be difficult to pull off.

　It would be a challenge to lead each and every one of them.

　However, no matter what kind of armament and formation the enemy attacked, as long as you can make the most of the abundant branches of the army, you'll be able to advance in the battle to your advantage.


　''The number of troops was thirty thousand.......This one is over forty thousand.

　Bartolo is mumbling and thinking.
　His face is uptight with alcohol, but his eyes are serious.

　'Land is good, but the problem is the sea.

　I'm going to tell you the biggest problem of the war.
　The Pofenian Navy is currently blockading the waters of the southern tip of the Adelunian Peninsula.

　Even if we succeed in eradicating the Pofenian Army, with the navy still intact.
　If the sea blockade continues, it will have a profound effect on the economies of the southern countries, and it will spread to the entire Adelian peninsula.

　It would be a matter of life and death for our country, which makes its money from the paper and spirits trade.

　If I recall, there are 300 ships in the Pofenian Navy, and if you round up the ships of Rezad, Gehenna and Nemeth, they number 100.

　On top of that, there are still some ships left in the home country of Pofenia, and they have the spare capacity to manufacture them.
　You won't win if you fight properly.

　''If we win on land, the navy can be dealt with through negotiations, His Majesty King Almus. This war shouldn't have been the intention of the Pofenia Senate in the first place. There are two competing factions in the Pofenian Senate: the Coastal Party, which says that maritime expansion should be aggressively pursued, and the Plains Party, which says that military spending should be reduced and that the country should be cultivated and focused on farm management in the unclaimed lands. The Senate has strong enough authority to recall generals from the war zone. Right now it's going well, and the Coastal Party's momentum is strong, which is why Kepka is here, but if they are defeated on land, the Plains Party will have more say and Kepka will be forced to turn back.

　Abraham opened his mouth to counter Alexios' statement.

　'I am of the same mind as Lord Alexios. We in Gehenna have been sending spies into Pophenia for years to gather information, but the Senate has never planned an invasion of the Adelian peninsula. The Pofenian invasion of Adelunia was probably planned by Kepka on his own.

　........I see.
　It's good if we can make peace without winning the war outright?

　If that's the case, it's best to capture Kepka alive.

　On the other hand, it would be better to keep our navy scattered and preserved instead of gathering them together.

　'Alright!　Let us wait for the response of King Evil's country and King Belvedil's country before we set out. We will drive these invaders out of our homeland!

　When I raise my fist, the delegates of each country raise their voices as well.
　........Well, we're the invaders too.







　King Evil's country and King Belvedil's country sent me a letter of intent to officially enter the war.
　There's little to show for this war in return but it's probably more to show that they have no intention of disobeying me than to ingratiate themselves with me.

　Our two countries and our nation's military strength are now far apart.

　The armies of Nemes and Gehenna will not participate in the war.
　This is because if they are not careful, they could be destroyed individually.

　Above all, their naval presence is putting pressure on Pofenia.
　It has served them well enough.

　Once the will of the entire Allied forces was clear, we began our march.
　Pofenian troops are raiding and pillaging the area around the capital of Rezad.

　An army is harder to maintain than it is to organize.
　It is even more so if it is in enemy territory.

　However........that may not be the case with the Pofenia Army.

　The reason is that armies like ours, like Lossies, go to war to control the land and the people who live there.
　So we avoid looting as much as possible.
　If we provoke bad feelings in the inhabitants of the land, it will be difficult to rule afterwards.

　But Pofenia only wants the land, not the people.
　The people of the land they control are either enslaved and sold off, killed, or driven out, so it doesn't hurt or itch to have the local population feel bad about their plunder.

　In fact, they are said to be killing old men and children and keeping young men and women alive.
　To use an analogy, it's a swarm of locusts.

　You never know when they will move into Nemeth or Gehenna.
　We have to get rid of them before they loot all over Rezad and start moving in.


　A while after we marched in, we saw what used to be a village, (...) a house, the door of which was destroyed.
　The door of the house, the house, was destroyed, the fields were trampled and the crops crushed.

　Chunks of meat that would have been moving a few days ago have fallen in various parts of the village.

　'It's terrible...'
　'I've been at war for a long time myself, but it's rare to see battlefield sites this bad.

　Bartolo phases in.
　'You really don't care about people, Pofenia's army, do you?

　'Let's hurry up a bit,'

　All of the soldiers felt the same way I did, and the speed of their march became just a little faster.





　The Pofenian army was on the plains about a day from Rezad.
　I could see that they had established a strong position in the middle of the plain.

　''This is quite a formidable opponent.

　Bartolo looked at the enemy's position and muttered.
　'Honestly, I don't know what it is,' he said.

　'They're solid and not at all interesting, but therefore solid. A safe guy like that is the most troublesome. If they'd just do one or two bizarre tricks, I'd be able to fry them.''

　A strength can be a weakness at the same time.
　No strengths means no weaknesses at the same time, which means no weaknesses.

　.........?

　'That's what I mean. The Phalanx, for example, sacrifices mobility at the cost of increased striking power. Cavalry, in exchange for increased mobility, is limited in where they can march. On top of that, they are vulnerable to loud noises and obstacles. That's why they are able to respond. But the enemy doesn't have that...

　Bartolo looks more difficult than ever.
　Are you okay?

　Perhaps it was because he saw the expression on my face that Bartolo smiled.

　''Don't worry, Your Majesty, I'll be sure to show you the victory you deserve.

　I'm counting on you. I know you'll win.







　We, the forty-three thousand of the allied forces, had lined up on the plain with three thousand troops in the main camp.　
　In response, the 30,000 Pofenia army also left 2,000 troops on the plains.


　The allied forces, in the center, about 10,000 phalanxes of each country.

　On both wings, about 30,000 heavy infantry of the Manipulation system of the Army of Lossies.

　On the farthest flank are the cavalry - Rosais's Kingsguard and the cavalry of each country, the Equus cavalry led by Muzio and his men, and the Germanic cavalry led by Alexios.

　They catch the enemy in the phalanx and crush both wings with their heavy infantry and cavalry.
　It's Bartolo's favorite tactic.

　The enemy, on the other hand, was a nondescript flank formation.
　Neither the center nor the right flank was any different in thickness.

　It was so ordinary that it was uncanny.

　"Looks like there are a lot of people in the enemy's main camp.
　'Probably a Cilician captured during a slave hunt. With so many on the battlefield, it is safe to assume that a significant number of them are trapped in the harbor. We must find them before they are transported to Pofenia.

　That's right.
　The more we rescue them, the higher the stock in Rosyth's army will be.

　The face of an invading country will be hidden.

　''Your Majesty you look bad.
　That's original.






　The sound of gongs and whistles and drums echoed across the battlefield.
　Banners of all kinds shelved in the sky.

　A total of 70,000 troops met in a frontal assault on the Great Plains.


　The formation of the Allied forces was concave, with both wings thick and thin in the center.
　The Pofenian army's rectangular flanks collided with it, and the Pofenian army's shape became convex.

　Normally, the center would collapse, but the Phalanxes would protect the center.
　The phalanxes are weak on the flanks, but their frontal assault and defense are very strong.

　The flanks are the heavily armed infantry of the Rosais army, which are highly mobile.
　They use their flexibility to gradually squeeze the enemy's flanks.

　Then the two most powerful wings of cavalry fight each other.
　The Allied cavalry was 3,000 and the Pofenian army was 7,000, a difference of twice as many troops.

　At first, they expected to be at a disadvantage, but as it turned out, they fought a surprisingly good battle.
　The main factor was the presence of stirrups.
　Stirrups were already becoming commonplace in the Adelunian countries, and more than 80% of the cavalrymen were equipped with stirrups.

　The stability on horseback made up for the two-fold difference in troop strength.

　'It's not so bad. If we can keep pushing, we can win.

　...No, Your Majesty. Let's get out of here.

　Hmm?
　I look back at Bartolo's face.

　Bartolo had a bitter look on his face.

　''The enemy's flank is surprisingly strong. And the assault force in the center is stronger than expected. If this is the case, there is a risk that the center will be breached. We can retreat without disturbing the formation now, before we go deeper. ''Your Majesty, your wisdom.''

　.........
　All right, all right. If you say so.

　"All troops, fall back.

　The sound of a gong echoes across the battlefield, and the Allied forces begin to retreat like a receding wave.
　Along with that, the Pofenia army also begins to retreat.

　''........Are they tough?''
　It's tricky. .... but today's fight gave me a general idea. We'll win tomorrow.

　But Bartolo's declarations of victory were hollow, and on the second, third, and fourth days of the battle the two armies ended in a painful split, with only a mischievous waste of troops, time, and food.