It's good that we won, but it wasn't a complete victory.
　"I'm sorry, sir, but it's not in my power.
　No, it's not your fault.

　I comfort Bartolo, who looks frustrated.
　I mean, why is this guy so frustrated that he won?

　'We won by that much cavalry?　The average general can't do that. In fact, it's the norm. Your opponents are just too weak. That's all. There's no general in the world as good as you.
　I hope you're right.

　And Bartolo says........
　You still look frustrated.

　What can I say....
　I've been too used to me, Bartolo, or even all the Romans, getting used to the 'perfect' victory.

　That's not a good trend.
　Winning a war is hard enough by nature.

　When it's perfect, even more so.
　So that's normal. We should be celebrating.

　At least we'll give them a drink tonight. We're celebrating a victory. We should celebrate. After this, there's still time to celebrate.

　





　How far has the enemy fallen?
　We've sent out scouts to investigate and it looks like he's been holed up in a medium-sized city up north for three days from here.

　Rosward will give us the scouts' report.
　The damage done to the enemy is about 30,000.
　That means we have around 30,000 infantry left. And the cavalry is alive and well.

　"Baltoro, can you hold them in a siege?
　It's hard to take down a castle with 30,000 enemies. If it's in an isolated area, it's not impossible to feed on them, but...

　Hmmm ... that's a tough one.
　I turn my gaze to Alexios.

　'Do you have a plan?'
　'I don't know. It is not an enemy that will come out to provoke you. It will be a steady offensive, after all.

　In short, the best thing to do is to do it steadily.

　The only question is, when will the enemy reinforcements arrive? What do you think?　Bartolo.
　''We don't know much about the total military strength of the Roselle Kingdom... from what I've heard, the infantry is around 300,000 and the cavalry is around 60,000... but I'd say it's about two months?

　What do you think it will take?
　When our country invaded, it was pretty quick...

　No, wait?
　 In Gaul, there are clans and Germanis who are opposed to the Rozelle Kingdom.

　The 60,000 troops sent out this time to respond to our invasion must be cutthroat in terms of Roselle's kingdom.

　If we want to send new reinforcements, we'll need to allocate some of our frontline soldiers.
　Its reorganization, personnel, moves ........
　With all that in mind, two months is about right.........

　Well, I'm just speculating.

　Can you drop it in two months?
　That's impossible. If you give me a year or two, I'll make sure that I'll give you food for thought.

　One year, two years...
　It's gonna be a long story.

　"Your Majesty.

　Bartolo is staring straight at me.

　"How long can you fight a war?
　'I'd like to see it done within a year I would say. Our country's soldiers are mainly self-made farmers. We can't leave the farmland alone for long. .... but the bottom line is that we just have to take turns. If we set up a rotation, we can fight for one year, two years, three years.

　The total strength of our country is 160,000, not including the Federation.
　If we turn that around about 50,000 each, we can continue the war.

　And we have some spare capacity in the treasury.

　Then you're okay with our policy of moving to a siege?
　Yeah, we'll go with that. And I don't want this victory to be in vain.

　The first thing we started to do was to bring down the surrounding cities.
　In order to create a siege, we are going to crush the cities' satellite cities and villages one by one.

　First, we will place ten thousand troops in the medium-sized cities we've already dropped as bases.
　I will be in charge of this one.

　Next, the remaining 50,000 troops will be divided among the five Ron, Rosward, Gram, Bartolo, and Alexios.
　With 10,000 troops each, we'll drop the satellite cities one by one.

　Can we distribute the troops........
　You might think, but the scouts are unleashed on the perimeter, and all the legions are closely communicating with each other.

　If Balthazar had thirty thousand men and tried to move to destroy each one........
　The remaining four legions will head straight for the empty city.

　And now, a month later, we've dropped all the satellite cities and taken possession of the villages.
　We have allocated 10,000 to defend those satellite cities....

　With the rest of our forces, 40,000 men, our army began a siege.

　A siege, and a thorough siege at that.

　We dug shelters around the perimeter, erected fences and set up stakes to prevent cavalry.
　Then we built simple fortifications in key places.

　It was a perfect siege that wouldn't let even a baby ant escape.　
　The only problem is that the thinly veiled siege is breached.

　"The enemy can only exit through the gate. That means the enemy can only attack around the gate. Then that's all we have to do is to fortify it. That's all there is to it.
　'I still don't like the idea of a siege. Siege battles are a pain in the ass but fortification battles are more daunting.
　I agree. I don't want to play a defensive battle either. It's easier to attack than to defend.

　The defense is done if you lose.
　But in offense, it doesn't matter if you lose.

　The weight of the pressure on them is different.

　''Well it's been two months since we began the siege and the enemy's reinforcements are...''
　According to our spies, they've only just been formed a short time ago, so they won't be here for another two weeks.

　Yes.　
　The Kingdom of Roselle is moving more slowly than we expected.

　They seem to be in even more trouble than I imagined.
　And the number of reinforcements is forty thousand.......not much. There's no room for error.

　Hey, Bartolo.
　What's going on?
　'In a good way, what do you think if I told you that all this preparation for the siege would be in vain?
　Well I suppose it would be best if we didn't have to do it.

　Okay, okay.
　All right, well....



　"His Majesty King Almus, what we're about to discuss...
　No, I know exactly what you mean.

　I interrupted the pudding diplomat's words.

　After discussing it with Bartolo and the others, we have sought peace with the Kingdom of Roselle.
　There are two reasons for this.

　One is that, after all, we don't want to fight a siege either.
　I'm not sure if the Kingdom of Roselle can afford it, but it seems that they can't afford it.

　Hopefully, we'll be able to find our feet.

　That's why I sent a letter to the Kingdom of Roselle and showed them an offer of peace.
　And then.....
　Thus, a pudding diplomat was immediately dispatched.

　The pudding diplomat immediately began his accusations against me, but....
　I can see it.

　The blame game is just talk.
　The truth is, I'm just dying to make peace with you.

　Well, it's not that simple...
　If left unchecked, the Kingdom of Roselle would lose a medium-sized city and 30,000 troops.

　If we succeed in rescuing them, that won't happen, but.......
　If the relief force is defeated by Bartolo, they will lose an additional 40,000.

　Thirty thousand already from the previous battle.
　And after this, 70,000.......100,000 in total.

　What passes in the mind of the Roselle Kingdom is the great defeat that happened a few years ago.
　We lost a lot of territory, a battle.

　If the same thing happened again, the Kingdom of Roselle could fall apart.
　That's why the Kingdom of Roselle is so timid.

　If they wanted to fight us in the first place, they wouldn't have sent their diplomats in this situation.
　All you have to do is say, 'We won't come to the negotiation table until we win.

　The reason we don't do that is because we don't have the luxury of time.

　'I don't want to fight the Kingdom of Roselle much. What monarch is going to fight a battle that we don't know if we can win or not?''
　....
　So let's make peace. We will miss General Balthazar and his 30,000-strong Roselle army. In exchange, the Kingdom of Roselle cedes this whole area of territory to us. What do you think?

　Is it too much to ask?
　All of a sudden, you take someone's land and then say, "Let's make it a handful here! Isn't that reasonable?

　I need you to promise me one thing.
　What is it?
　"You will sign a two-year non-aggression pact. Let's maintain non-interference with each other. And unless one of us abrogates it after two years, it will be automatically renewed. ...How about that?
　Yeah, no problem. I'll make peace with that.

　Thus a non-aggression pact is signed between the two countries.　
　Neither our country nor the Kingdom of Roselle will be able to invade each other's territory for two years.

　But does the Kingdom of Roselle not want to go to war by cutting off its territory.......

　It's a thing.
　It's not just a hostile environment.

　There is definitely a spark inside.
　And it is a spark that could destroy the Roselle Kingdom if things go wrong.

　...maybe I should scythe him a little.

　How is General Clieu doing?
　What's going on with you all of a sudden?
　'No, Bartolo was concerned about it. They were like rivals. He was disappointed that he couldn't fight. We couldn't fight...
　'Well General Clue is doing well. He will be pleased to know that General Bartolo thinks so, too. I will let him know.

　The pudding diplomat returned aloof, but....
　I didn't miss it.

　I saw his eyes shake.