Hey, you're late.
　'It can't be helped. The river was swollen yesterday, and it took us a while to get around.

　Rosward cowered his shoulders.
　Leaving a thousand troops in Ron's care to protect them, Rosward and Gram led nine thousand troops to join Bartolo.

　On the way there, there was a problem with the river increasing in volume due to the rains, and they had to bypass the river, which is usually crossable, but they arrived safely after a half-day delay.

　"Build a bridge on site and cross it.
　That's an outrageous statement...

　Gram smiles bitterly, but Bartolo is supremely serious.
　It's obvious, but only Bartolo can or will do such a thing.

　''How is the Zordias Army doing?''
　They're moving in from around the border. Tomorrow morning we'll be fighting. I'm sure they're in a big hurry to get there.

　The region that Ron and his men invaded had long had a close relationship with King Zoldiers' country.
　King Zoldiath's country had a low self-sufficiency rate of grain and imported grain from the surrounding small and medium-sized countries.

　But the friendly countries were destroyed or annexed one after another by the country of King Loseys.　
　We are losing face.
　There is no choice but to move.

　But there's no choice but to move. But I'm not so naive as to allow that kind of ingenuity.

　Bartolo laughed inappropriately.




　As Bartolo had guessed, the two armies faced each other on the relatively wide plains of King Evil's country.
　Near the border with King Zordias' country, exactly on the border between the mountains and the plains.

　Both sides are facing each other across the river.

　''General Bartolo, if you don't want to die, I suggest that you disband your army quietly.
　'You're the first to disband. I will not tolerate any more of King Evil's wickedness to his country.
　What's going on here? You're an invader!

　A messenger goes back and forth between King Zordias and Bartolo.
　

　Because both sides have no intention of giving in from the start.

　''Let the march begin!

　It was almost at the same time that Bartolo and King Zordias gave the order for the entire army to march.
　The two armies collided almost in the middle of the river.

　The water is only about halfway down from their feet to their knees.
　Action is somewhat hampered, but not greatly affected, and the conditions are the same for both.

　The Rosais soldiers are battle-hardened, battle-hardened soldiers.
　The Zordias soldiers are well-trained in the mountainous region.

　In both cases, the quality of the soldiers is the same.

　The ability of a commander to give orders, at least in terms of tactics there is not much difference in the abilities of Bartolo and King Zoldias.

　If there is no difference in both combat and tactics, then the superiority of strategy will greatly affect the war situation.
　In other words, the number of soldiers.

　Rosais's army, which is superior in number of troops, is gradually pushing Zordias's army to the brink.
　Both wings slowly close like a snake tightening its gains.

　''........It's about time. Retreat!

　King Zoldias orders his entire army to retreat.
　Zordias' army begins to flee at once.

　'Let him go!

　Bartolo doesn't empty out and gives the order to all the troops to charge.
　The sound of the whistle echoes in the sky and Rosais' army gains momentum.
　But their movement stops for a moment. The Lord of Zordias' army stops and prevents Rosais' army from pursuing it.

　In the meantime, the Zoldias army is running away in pieces, as if to say that there is no formation or hindrance.
　Seeing the situation, the thousand-man commander of the Lossies army laughed.

　''What the hell, those guys!''　
　"You're a brave man, a weakling who turns his back on the enemy and runs away.
　'You didn't have to fight this carefully!

　The thread of tension in the entire Rosais army loosens.
　Still, Rosais's army did not loosen up its attack, trying to defeat the Lord and eat into the back of Zordias's army.

　Every soldier and general in Rosais's army was convinced of victory.
　Except for Bartolo, the only one.

　''It's ... strange, it's too feckless.''

　You can tell if you are a great general or not by the retreating battle.
　The retreating battle of a great general is seamless, and if you chase after him poorly, you may suffer losses.

　Generally speaking, King Zoldiers' reputation for military talent is high, and his military talent is also evident in his defeat of King Evil, who could not be called a fool.
　Bartolo himself knew from the handful of fights he had actually fought that he was not an opponent to be reckoned with.

　An ordinary general would not be able to hold the battlefield for so long after the first clash.
　King Zordias did his best despite his small army.

　

　King Zoldias is a great general.
　However, King Zoldias' abilities in front of him and Bartolo's estimate of King Zoldias' abilities do not match up.

　Bartolo is lost in thought.
　Suddenly, Bartolo's eyes caught sight of the surface of the river.

　The water of the river is so shallow that there is no impediment to the battle.
　........despite the fact that it had rained.

　Ron and the others said that they had to divert the river because of the heavy rain.
　.........then the water level in this river is strange.

　One possibility comes to Bartolo's mind.
　If it was correct........

　"All forces are ordered!　Retreat!
　So you're retreating?　Shh, but....
　Just get on with it!

　Bartolo yells at the messenger.
　The soldiers, unaware of the reason, run around to tell all the troops to support the retreat as they are ordered.

　'You don't have to prepare, Lord. Run with your backside at once!

　The retreat whistle sounds.
　The sound of a whistle that I had known in training, but had never been used in a real battle.

　An emergency retreat order.
　An urgent order to retreat, without forming a formation for retreat, without preparing a lord, and in some cases, even throwing out weapons to escape.

　The soldiers are baffled.
　Why should they be in such a hurry to retreat when they are winning now?

　They can't believe their own ears.
　But the sound of the whistle continues to play.

　The soldiers are puzzled, but they begin to retreat.
　This is because of their training, because they trust Bartolo, and because they, too, have doubts deep in their hearts about the haplessness of the enemy.

　For some reason, the soldiers of Zordias's army did not pursue them either.

　When about two-thirds of Rosais' army had risen from the river.......
　A strange sound echoes through the battlefield.

　It gradually grows louder and louder.

　Bartolo shouts.

　'Run!　Move to higher ground!　Soldiers in the back, drop your weapons!

　I don't know what's going on.
　But something good is happening.

　The instincts of the soldiers sound the alarm.
　Rosais' army moves to higher ground at a glance.

　Right after the entire army has finished moving to higher ground....
　Flash floods washed away the battlefield.

　"They dammed up the river just to be nice about their country being upstream...

　Bartolo wiped the cold sweat off his face and drank his drink with shaking hands.
　The liquor spilled out and stained Bartolo's clothes.






　''Quintessential Bartolo Pompeius, I should say........''

　King Zordias muttered ruefully.
　If he had just a few more minutes, he could have washed away ten thousand of Rosais' army.

　''They were a terrible opponent. If we had struck poorly, we would have been surrounded and destroyed by the time they broke the weir.

　That's why I regret not being able to beat him here.


　''What do we do now?　King Zordias. The same trick won't work twice, will it?

　An aide of King Zoldias asks with concern.
　The gods gave King Zoldias extraordinary military talent, but not political talent.

　Therefore, it is this aide who is in charge of all the politics of King Zoldias' country.
　But in times of war, his aides are useless.

　We must stay indoors. Fortunately, our country is like a fortress and if we have the advantage of land, we can win this war. Whether they're 20,000 or 30,000, that is.

　But do you want to come up the mountain?

　King Zoldias nodded to his worried entourage.

　''They will come. It will be very difficult for Lossies to maintain an army of 20,000 men for a month. Unlike our country, Losais is an agricultural country. ...Then they can't keep their soldiers on the battlefield forever. ........King Rosais will certainly sit up.





　Welcome back, Bartolo.

　I worked on Bartolo when I returned.
　This time the war with King Zordias' country ended in a draw.

　However, the Zordias army also returned to the depths of the country and I sent them home temporarily.
　It was in the form of a natural truce.

　''For now, the 20,000 troops are to be disbanded. .... we will replace them.

　The soldiers had been fighting for a month until today.
　But they were farmers at the same time.

　If they are tied up on the battlefield for a long period of time, their farmland will be destroyed.

　...It would be nice if we could create a standing army like Nobunaga, but we don't have a status equivalent to a warrior in our country, and a standing army is expensive, and we can't prepare a large army.

　There is nothing we can do about this.

　Well, I personally think that conscription is a better military system than a standing army system.

　If a standing army is defeated and wiped out, it takes time to regroup, but conscription can be resupplied as much as the population allows.

　What we need for war is not an evergreen army.
　It is an undefeated army.

　You can lose ninety-nine times tactically, but if you don't lose strategically, you can win for the hundredth time.

　What do you have in mind, Bartolo?
　I can't say for sure. I guess we'll just have to wait for them to come down.

　But you don't know if you'll be down next, so....
　You still want to go after them?

　No, short-sightedness is not a good idea.
　Well it's just that it's not a good idea to...

　Call Alexios. Let's hear what he has to say.

　Something that might offer a different perspective to Bartolo's plan.




　'I've heard the story, General Bartolo. That was a close call.
　'Quite so ... one more step late and everything would have been swept under the rug. It's a double entendre.

　Bartolo tells Alexios with a sigh.
　Then he looks at Alexios.

　'That man is dangerous. ....it's best to avoid invading the country.
　Oh, well, I haven't said anything yet.

　Alexios smiles a fresh smile.
　Then he turns to me.

　'I've read the report. Besides, I've done my own research and I've done my own research, but we can't win a decisive victory if we view this as an ordinary war... as well as the enemies and nations that His Majesty and General Bartolo have confronted and defeated until now.

　Well that's an interesting thing to say.　
　What do you think this is then?

　'This war is a castle attack. King Zoldiath's country is surrounded by high walls and traps inside the castle, the strongest fortress in the world. .... so...

　Alexios laughed inappropriately.

　''Surrounding the perimeter, cutting off information and supplies, attacking from all sides, applying psychological pressure on the enemy, and attacking at once where they are weak... If it's a royal strategy for attacking the castle, King Zordias' country won't have a pause.