“It was bait…?! Then what was his real target?!”
Seeing it beginning to dawn on the wyvern cavalry, Carla nodded gravely. “Most likely, it was my father back in Red Dragon Castle.”
— One hour earlier. As seen by Souma Kazuya.
Castor’s opposition was not something we had expected.
Georg had been making unsettling moves, and Castor had left his wife and child with Excel after she’d tried to persuade him. However, even if he took a rebellious attitude up until the last moment, I had thought Castor would side with us in the end.
However, that was a naive hope. We had underestimated Castor’s sense of chivalry.
I’d never thought Castor would side with the enemy, ready to martyr himself for his friendship with Georg. It was a small respite that out of concern for his subordinates, he had only taken himself and one hundred of his personal troops. Still, when Excel’s spies had brought that information to us, both Hakuya and I held our heads in our hands.
That was because it meant we were going to have to change part of our carefully formulated plan.
When it was confirmed that Castor would oppose us, the biggest problem was that I had no forces to send to Red Dragon City.
Of the 15,000 troops I could move, the 10,000 from the Royal Guard and Forbidden Army had to go to the Carmine Duchy, while the remaining 5,000 had been dispatched to the south of the kingdom where the armies of the Principality of Amidonia were. While I had managed to secure Excel’s cooperation, I had other orders for the Navy.
So the problem was, I had almost no troops left on hand.
Even though Castor only had one hundred of his personal troops, they were all wyvern knights, said to be equivalent to five hundred soldiers from the Army. If I sent anything less than a proper force, they wouldn’t be able to take Red Dragon City.
With this lack of manpower, Hakuya and I chose to befuddle our opponent with scheme after scheme, then try to take Red Dragon City in one quick strike.
First we remodeled the Forbidden Army’s battleship, the Albert, to be able to operate on land.
In order to put pressure on Red Dragon City, which was halfway up a small mountain, we absolutely needed to have long range weapons. That was why it had occurred to me to use the Albert’s cannons. The idea had come from the railway gun I had seen in a war manga.
By putting wheels on the ship and having it pulled by the rhinosauruses that Tomoe had managed to gather for us, we were able to make it so it could run across land.
…Though, after a crazy remodel like that, we’d probably never be able to make it back into a ship again. It meant that I’d thrown away the Forbidden Army’s only battleship, but hard decisions had to be made.
Using the Albert as a mobile artillery platform, the first thing I did was bombard Red Dragon City. That must have surprised the enemy. I mean, there was a ship running across the land and firing on them.
At the same time, I used the jewel for the Jewel Voice Broadcast to contact Castor. When I did that, it made him think I was on the Albert.
Plans that took advantage of human psychology like this were Hakuya’s specialty.
Castor was sure to lead his hundred personal troops out to attack the Albert. Wyvern cavalry were a type of troop that had both power and mobility. Even though cannons could destroy castle walls, it didn’t matter how powerful they were if they couldn’t hit them. Since all we had done was drag the Albert up on land, it would probably be destroyed by the wyvern cavalry in a matter of moments.
In order to prevent that, we loaded a wyvern killer, the anti-air repeating bolt thrower, onto the Albert. If there were anti-air repeating bolt throwers aboard, the wyvern cavalry couldn’t approach it easily. At the very least, it would buy time.
By the way, the Albert’s cannons and the anti-air repeating bolt throwers were being operated by dolls I controlled with my Living Poltergeists. In other words, the Albert was unmanned.
Then, once Castor and his wyvern cavalry went to attack the Albert, I thought we would take Red Dragon City while it was lightly defended.
Because Excel had sided with us, we knew that there was a series of escape tunnels under Red Dragon City, just like the ones in the capital. By using those tunnels, if we sent in an elite unit led by Aisha, no matter how firm the castle’s defenses were, they would be able to easily occupy it.
Once Red Dragon City was taken, the city’s anti-air repeating bolt throwers would be used to attack Castor and his troops as they returned. Besides which, once his own castle fell, Castor would finally have to admit defeat… or so I thought.
However, this was where something we hadn’t planned for happened.
Castor had remained in Red Dragon City.
When we came up to the castle walls to seize Red Dragon City’s anti-air repeating bolt throwers, we ran right into Castor. Standing behind him was a middle-aged man who looked like the family steward.
When our eyes met…
“…Castor Vargas.”
“…Souma Kazuya, huh.”
Like that, Castor and I each said the other’s name. This was our first time meeting face to face.
Meeting him in person, Castor was both large and looked younger than he had when I saw him on a screen. While he had red hair, dragon wings, and a tail, he also had fine features that made him look more like a young man than a general.
I didn’t have the luxury of time, but I chose to give my name as a show of respect. “I am the one serving as the provisional king of the Elfrieden Kingdom, Souma Kazuya.”
“I am General of the Air Force, Castor Vargas.” When I gave my name, Castor responded in kind. Then, Castor cocked his head to the side and asked, “If you guys’re here, does that mean the battleship putting up a big showy firefight over there is a diversion?”
“Yeah. The plan was to take Red Dragon City while it was lightly guarded, but, well…”
“Ha ha ha, too bad for you that I stayed behind,” Castor laughed jovially.
When I saw Castor acting like that, I grew suspicious. “Sure, you stayed behind, but it’s just the two of you, right? I don’t think you ought to be laughing right now.”
“Whoa there, I’m the only one who’ll fight you,” he said. “Leave Tolman here out of it.”
“I am Tolman, steward to the House of Vargas,” the middle-aged man behind Castor turned to me and bowed. “I also served as Duke Vargas’ second-in-command in the Air Force.”
“Tolman has nothing to do with all this,” Castor went on. “If I lose, you can have him lead the Air Force. He ought to make a fine General of the Air Force.”
As he said that, Castor slapped Tolman on the back vigorously.
He had considered what would happen after his defeat, and he was making recommendations for his successor, huh?
“…If you’re going to be that good a sport about it, why don’t we just call this off entirely?” I asked. “You must realize it by now, right? This battle is pointless.”
“It’s not pointless. You can become the man who bested me,” Castor said and then grinned. “Besting ‘General of the Air Force Castor Vargas’ will earn you a lot of prestige. Duchess Excel already follows you. Now, just try defeating Duke Carmine. If you do that, I’m sure all of the nobles who are acting like fair-weather allies will be stumbling over one another to come serve you.”