That said, Neia was a girl. Even if it was true, and even if people had said it enough that she had become used to it, having people say her face was scary still hurt.
“Now then, Baraja-sama. A messenger came from headquarters. Our pioneers have sighted the demihuman army. Their numbers are estimated at 30’000. Therefore, we will be taking formation here. The messenger returned to headquarters after relaying that message. What do you make of this?”
“That’s fine. If you feel it needs to be done, then it should be alright.”
Beldran was doing very well as her executive officer.
“Still, do the demihumans really want to fight a field battle…”
The demihumans had a mere third of the Holy Kingdom’s numbers. While each of them was a superior individual combatant, surely they would have no chance if they fought on an open field. If they defended a city instead, they would be able to make full use of the city’s defenses and make up for the shortfall in fighting strength.
In any event, it would be extremely difficult to win once Jaldabaoth recovered. The demihumans’ best strategy ought to be buying time.
Either that, or setting up areas inaccessible to cavalry and limiting the scope of the fighting.
“So we’re set to fight in an open field, then?”
“Yes. Just so. There are no woods nearby where the enemy could hide ambushers. Rather, there aren’t even any hills, so surely they would be squabbling over where to form up.”
“…Why in a place like that?”
Beldran prefaced his response to Shizu’s question with “It’s most likely that…”
“They’re preparing to run away, I think?”
“Running away?”
“That’s right, Baraja-sama. Just like how the Zerns betrayed him, not all the demihumans are devoted to Jaldabaoth. If they want to flee even if it means betraying Jaldabaoth, then the people who want to live would not hole up inside a city but choose to fight on open ground. That’s because disengaging will be difficult if they’re defending a city.”
Beldran’s eyes trembled as they went dark, and it made Neia shiver.
Just as Neia wondered if she ought to use the ability she had recently developed, the darkness gradually ebbed away, and his eyes regained their usual shine. Since the fighting was about to start, maybe it might be good to quell the hatred inside him.
“…I see.”
Shizu nodded in approval, and Beldran simply replied, “That is probably the case.”
Beldran’s words made a lot of sense.
Not even Jaldabaoth could know for sure if they were planning to die in a field battle or run away. If that was the case, it might be better to wait until nightfall, which would afford the demihumans a chance to flee, and thus reduce the amount of people who would die for nothing.
Neia knew this, but she did not say it.
The demihumans had caused too much woe to the people of this nation.
While the demihumans under His Majesty could probably be forgiven, they’re going to kill all the other demihumans besides them…
There had even been rumors that people who advocated coexistence with demihumans or spoken up for them had been secretly killed or openly lynched.
In truth, when the Sorcerer King had brought her along to liberate prison camps, where she had witnessed several human corpses which looked like they had been lynched. They had apparently been people who had tried to suck up to the demihumans.
“Baraja-sama. While I do not know how headquarters intends to deploy us, shall we gather all the unit commanders first?”
“No, I just need a rough idea of where they’ve been allocated. No matter where they’ve been assigned, I believe everyone will know what to do.”
The position of Neia and the others would be determined by how the Holy Kingdom’s leadership wanted to deploy Shizu, who was hugging Neia around the waist.
If there were strong foes among the demihumans, then Shizu would be sent to the frontlines in order to make use of her. If she was to be used as a normal archer, then she would be positioned in the middle of the formation, or perhaps she would be stationed with the other archers. If they did not want to let Shizu — a subordinate of the Sorcerer King — achieve too much, then they would place her all the way in the rear.
Neia predicted that they would remain into the rear until they had made contact
Three hours later, she realised that this was the right answer.
In contrast to the demihumans’ fish-scale formation, the humans had chosen to divide into two columns. The left flank was composed of 30’000 men from the South and 10’000 men from the Liberation Army, for a total of 40’000. The remaining 55’000 members of the Liberation Army made up the right flank, and together they formed something like a crane-wing formation.
Since the humans wanted to exterminate the demihumans in this battle, they had chosen to encircle the enemy and slowly draw the noose closed.
The demihumans, on the other hand, had chosen a formation that emphasized penetrating power, though whether it was in order to break out of the encirclement or to slaughter as many humans as possible in a melee remained to be seen.
Finally, Neia and the others were placed in charge of protecting the engineers who were setting up camp for them, in a detached unit that was some distance away from the battlefield
This was less an order from Caspond than a request, which meant that they had practically been allowed the run of the place. They could even neglect their duty to protect the engineers with no consequences, which meant that the leadership of the Holy Kingdom had essentially relinquished all command authority over them.
Surely enough, the reason for that was because of Shizu’s presence.
While Neia was nominally in command, the fact that she travelled with Shizu — who was practically a citizen of the Sorcerous Kingdom — meant they could not order her around as they wished. A member of the Holy Kingdom’s royalty issuing a command to a minion of the Sorcerer King might end up becoming a casus belli.
Neia very much wanted to ask why they were doing things differently after Shizu had done so much during the attack on Kalinsha. However, the arrival of the Southern nobles had changed the reception she had gotten. This was because they could not simply consider the present, but future events in mind as well.
As Neia and the others formed up, they watched the distant battlefield.
That said, they were far enough away that they did not feel the tension of being on the battlefield, because the bloodlust from there could not reach this place. The sound of the engineers pounding stakes with their mauls sounded very tranquil.
“…Are they still looking at each other? When will it start?”
“The situation grows worse for us as time passes. While I feel we ought to make the first move…”
Beldran had answered Shizu’s question.
The darkness of night was the demihumans’ ally. While one could see clearly on a plain as long as there was moonlight, the sky was clouded over. There was no doubt that the demihumans would be a very tricky opponent if they attacked under these circumstances. That was because the camp they were building now was not very sturdy.
Therefore, the humans should have made their move before nightfall.
Besides, they had a massive advantage in numbers, so if they could achieve a complete victory here, they might be able to ruin Jaldabaoth’s scheme. In other words, the Holy Kingdom would be freed from this long torment. There was no reason not to advance.
Neia also hoped that the fighting would end here. That way, nothing else would bind Neia. She could throw her full strength into searching for the Sorcerer King.
Neia looked up.
Her keen hearing had picked up a mighty shout and the thunder of many people running. Beldran seemed to have heard it a moment later, because he quietly said, “It’s begun.”