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“Now then, I now open Congress. I think everyone now knows…….what the topic for today is. Just how much reinforcement should we send.”
I say as I look around the great clansmen.
Peace negotiations are out of the question. There’s no option like that. Since the enemy number 9,000, our forces on-site still outnumber them.
If we immediately send reinforcements, then we should be able to win reliably.
The first to speak was a great clansman from the former DeBell Faction.
“The enemy is about 9,000 strong. Our current soldiers on site number 10,000. If so, sending several thousands of soldiers and additional supplies and bomb spears won’t be a problem, yes?”
“Let’s also request reinforcements from the Equus tribe…..If our cavalry force gets strengthened then victory is sure to be ours!!”
It’s a strong proposal.
I also agree with such an opinion.
“Let’s see. I think 2,000 men……….should be enough as reinforcements. If I directly lead them then morale should also probably increase considerably after all.”
While saying so, I survey and confirm the expressions on the noble’s faces. There seems to be no opposition.
Alright, it’s a speedy decision, huh.
“Now then, those in favor…….”
Just as I was about to say that.
Sounds of hurried footsteps reverberate from outside.
Then, the door opens forcibly and a soldier shouts with a loud voice:
“Excuse me, Your Excellencies!! I have an Urgent Report!! The Belvedere Army is marching towards our border!! They are 5,000 men strong!”
My heart felt like it would jump off me.
Let’s calm down….everything’s alright.
The most our country can mobilize at present is barely around 15,000. 3,000 of them are currently assigned to construction works while the remaining 8,000 are mobilized in the DeMorgal Kingdom.
Therefore, if you do the math, we should be able to mobilize around 4,000.
Although Bartolo’s reinforcements would have to be put off, it’s not like we won’t make it in time even if we mobilize after attacking Belvedere.
Sufficient measures should be possible.
Yes, that was what I thought. However, the sound of hurried footsteps again reverberates from outside. Then, just like before, a soldier, drenched in sweat, shouts loudly.
“Excuse me, Your Excellencies!! Urgent Report!! The Eville Kingdom is marching towards our border!! They are 5,000 men strong!!”
Shit…..The enemy grew to 10,000 soldiers, huh.
However, relying on the Equus tribe should solve our problems. Although we might get taken advantage of by them…….it’s a much less objectionable fate than getting the country destroyed.
“My King!”
“I understand. Immediately send envoys to the Equus tribe! Someone get me some paper!!”
As I shouted, the sound of hurried footsteps again haunt or congress.
I don’t know who you are but you’ve got good ears.
The soldier throws open the door even without asking permission. He has in his hands a letter……which had already been opened.
“Excuse me, Your Excellencies!! I have an urgent report!!! A civil war has broke out in the Equus tribe!! Prince Ledus has raised soldiers in rebellion! King Equus and Prince Methys have already died in action! Prince Muzio is requesting asylum from our country for himself and some 200 of his followers!!”
My vision literally turned to black.
I personally welcome Muzio and the others at the gates of the capital.
His clothes are all tattered, his body covered with wounds. You can see the exhaustion in his eyes.
The messenger told us there were 200 but……there’s 400 her, huh. Two-thirds of that were women and children.
Muzio steps forward.
He’s wearing an extremely down expression, something you can’t imagine from the usually happy Muzio.
He advances before me and smiles self-deprecatingly.
“Hey, please laught at me. My friend……I’m a pitiful man who had his father, brother, retainers, and friends killed and got his wife and country stolen from him……”
……..
I lightly pat Muzio on the shoulder.
“We will grant you asylum in our country. For the meantime……have a bath, eat, and take a rest.”
“Have you rested, Muzio?”
“…….Yeah, I feel much better after a little rest.”
After letting Muzio take a nap for two hours, I called out Muzzio into the noble council. Although I truly want him to rest more just like the others from the Equus tribe……we really don’t have much time.
“First, regarding what happened……”
“We’re up to speed on that. We heard from the others.”
While we were letting Muzio rest, we heard the story from a relatively energetic influential Equus clansman.
It seems they had received a surprise attack from Ledus in the middle of the night.
Ledus’ men numbered a hundred while the Lord Equus and Prince Methyl’s forces numbered a thousand.
However, for some reason, 40 percent of the horses on Lord Equus’ side were in horrible condition. Furthermore, several commanders had repeatedly fallen ill at the same time.
As such, Ledus managed to kille Lord Equus and Prince Methyl to seize the chiefdom.
Muzio only barely managed to escape with his life.
However, if you think about it, all these occurences are not natural.
After our country had just lost to the Rozel Kingdom, two country declared war on us at the same time. The speed of the spread of information is too fast. In addition to that, an allied country changes government. It’s stretching it to say that these are mere coincidences.”
In other words, Rozel had been scheming behind the scenes.
It’s natural to think so.
“Hey, Muzio. Is there any sorcerer in your country with a Gallic accent?”
“Gallic accent? In other words, a native gaul? I think there was quite a few of them. Our country is lacking sorcerers in both caliber and number. That’s why it’s pretty common to have foreigners appointed as one. So that’s……No…..wait….it can’t be…..”
He couldn’t deny it anymore.
Sorcerers are also doctors. It’s suitable to say that doctors can do medical examinations of horses so it’s not that difficult for them to perform some tricks on horses the other day.
The disease too……with sufficient and constant preparation, it’s possible to poison and curse people to death too.
“However, those bunch had entered service for Lord Equus and the Crown Prince pretty much ten years ago? To be able to plan something like this from up to ten years ago……”
“That country’s goal is to subjugate the Adernia peninsula under it’s control. Therefore……. it’s not particularly strange for them to make advance preparations and the like.”
The Rozel Kingdom has a lot of cavalrymen. In other words, it’s a country that understands the importance of cavalry. Therefore, it isn’t strange for them to spend a long time on an operation to include the Equus tribe under their suzerainty.
Furthermore, that country has a person that has lived for more than 500 years.
They should be able to handle these kinds of patient and drawn out operations.
As Muzio and I were talking, the door suddenly opens.
“Please excuse me Your Excellencies!! I have an urgent report! We have a handwritten letter from Prince Ledus himself who had taken up the title Lord Equus.
I read the letter I took from the soldier.
First, I revoke the alliance between my country and the Rosyth Kingdom.I demand the extradition of Muzio and the fugitives with him.If you don’t give in to our demands, my country will declare war on your country.The deadline is in three days.
I also let Muzio read the letter after I had finished.
After Muzio had perused its contents, he crumples it and tears it into pieces.
“Don’t fuck with me!! Don’t speak as if the chiefdom you seized with cowardly means the whole of the Equus tribe!!”
Muzio then looks at me and says:
“King Rosyth. I wish that you’ll lend me soldiers. I will take back the chiefdom of my tribe.”
I look around the assembled clansmen.
Raymond raises his hand.
“Your Majesty. I’m against this. Right now, our country is in a dangerous position. There’s no way we can increase our enemies under these circumstances.”
That is a sound argument. Even though two countries is already enough of a problem, there’s no way we can add another one to that.
However……
“Our country has pledged to Lord Equus and is duty bound to give them aid. In accordance with our alliance, not helping with their retaliation would be an infringement of our alliance.”
“However, the current Lord Equus is Ledus. And he has proclaimed the dissolution of our alliance.”
Exactly. That theory also has ground.
In other words, it’s become a problem of which choice would be more convenient for our country, Ledus or Muzio as chief of the Equus Tribe.
And according to the present information we have, recognizing Muzio as king carries huge demerits.
However, what’s necessary are the merits Muzio can offer us.
“If I become chief, I will preserve the alliance between our nations. I will expand trade between our nations even further than before. In addition, if Ledus becomes chief, the Equus tribe will become a puppet of the Rozel Kingdom. Wouldn’t that be a huge security problem for your country?”
“The problem would then come down to whether or not we could win if we battle Ledus. Two countries had just declared war upon us, you know?”
If this were a purely Equus tribe issue then I would have made Muzio chief no questions asked.
“Things won’t be over with Ledus seizing the capital. The Equus tribe is scattered amongst their respective areas. With Methyl dead, the next chief would be the strongest person. There are still a lot of Equus tribesmen weighing which one is so. Therefore, the most Ledus can mobilize is around 3,000.”
“Isn’t 3,000 cavalry something not to be taken lightly? Besides, infantry can’t win against cavalry.
“As long as I’m still alive, that guy won’t be able to unite the Equus tribe. If I show myself on the battlefield, then that guy is sure to give up. If I manage to draw in the Rosyth Kingdom, even with their cavalry, there won’t be any place to escape.”
In other words, my country’s participation in the battlefield is necessary, is it?
Honestly, with the bomb spears, victory should be easy to come by, plus I think it’s good to support this guy.
However…
“Your Majesty! I am unable to support running our country down to the ground for the defence of another!”
Raymond shouts his objection. As for those of the same opinion…….a lot of the clansmen bordering the Equus tribe’s territory are nodding.
“Muzio. One push is still necessary. Once you become king we will take all the cavalry you have except the bare minimum necessary for your country’s defense. For free. And after that, whenever our country mobilizes forces, we’ll also have your country, without fail, mobilize yours. Furtheremore, the one who would put the crown on your head would be me.”
“In other words, we’ll become a vassal state?”
“We’ll merely become friends.”
When I answered such, Muzio smiled with a grin.
“That’s fine with me. It’s not like tribute is necessary, right?”
“Friends don’t take tribute.”
When I answered so, Muzio puts his hand on his heart.
“I understand. I, Muzio Equus Sulpicius, and the Equus tribe, vow to forever be friends with the Rosyth Kingdom.”
Alright.
I look around the great clansmen.
Judging from their expressions about 30% agree, 50% oppose, and around 20% are neutral.
“Gentlemen, it is true that it might be strange for our country to shed blood for the sake of Prince Muzio. However, Ledus has killed his father, the chief of the tribe, and his brother, the successor of such tribe, through cowardly means. Will you stand idly by and permit such atrocity?”
In the Adernia Peninsula, patriarchal rights are strong. Adernians are a people that hold family in high esteem.
There is no greater sin than patricide and fratricide.
“Handing over Prince Muzio to Ledus would mean we would be folding our knees to a coward! Would you be fine with that, gentlemen? Would you disdain bloodshed to the point that you’d bow your heads to a coward?”
First, we’ll stimulate the pride of the nobles, of the Adernians.
On top of that…
“If we help the Equus tribe now, they will help us in return. I think everyone knows the strength of those cavalrymen. With a thousand of these cavalrymen, we will be able to repulse both the Belvedere and Eville Kingdoms with ease.”
The risks are high. But the returns are also high.
A huge gamble is necessary to destroy this coalition.
“Listen, this is the Rozel Kingdom’s evil design. They had resorted to these means in order to pull apart the friendship between our country and the Equus tribe. The Rozel Kingdom is afraid of the cooperation our country maintains with the Equus tribe. Abandoning Prince Muzio here would mean we’d just be meeting Rozel’s expectations. I think that Muzio, and the Equus tribe’s power is indispensable in order to overcome this crisis.”
I conscisely but firmly make my point.
Now then, will anyone else still say something?”
“Now then, I think it’s time we make the decision. I’ll be saying this beforehand, but I intend to respect the decision of this council no matter what it would be.”
And the result is……
70% Support, 30% Objection.
As such, the outbreak of war with the Equus tribe had been decided.
“The problem would be how to stop the Eville and Belvedere Kingdoms while we’re fighting with the Equus tribe.”
The Equus tribe is 3,000 strong. We’ll be meeting this force with infantry so at the minimum we need the same number of men.
The number of soldiers we would be able to immediately mobilize is 4,000. Assuming we’ll use the 3,000 against the Equus tribe that would mean we’ll have a thousand left for the two kingdoms.
Using a thousand men to stop ten thousand would be stretching it.
That’s why……
“We’ll call off construction works. We’ll make the 3,000 men take up arms. With this, the number of men we’d send to face the Eville and Belvedere Kingdoms would reach 4,000.”
With 4,000 men, holding back the ten-thousand strong enemy army will now be not that difficult.
We should be able to make it happen if we mix scortched earth strategy with fortification tactics.
In addition to that……
“Contact Yal. Tell him to negotiate with King Zoldias. However it’s not like it has to be King Zoldias’ army. However, while we’re negotiating with them, the Eville Kingdom would be scared for their rear and won’t be able to move freely. Next is the Belvedere Kingdom but…..we’d be requesting Lezzad for reinforcements.”
This’ll be quite expensive, however.
Sigh…..
“My King. Aside from Lezzad, shouldn’t we also be requesting reinforcements from Gehenna? Isn’t the despot there the grandfather of Lady Tetra?”
“……..You’re right, huh. Let’s also ask reinforcements from Sir Abraham.”
Although I don’t like letting that old man intervene, huh.
I can’t have that old man grumbling about everything.
“Now then, send out envoys immediately! Bring me paper!”
After writing handwritten letters requesting reinforcements from both Lezzad and Gehenna as well as requesting neutrality from Nemes, I ordered that the soldiers be gathered.
If we don’t move swiftly, the Equus tribe, Eville Kingdom, and Belvedere Kingdom will get here first.
“Your Majesty, it’s horrible!!”
The noble I had ordered to gather the soldiers shouts with teary eyes.
What now…..
“The men engaged in construction works are refusing to take up arms!!”
“Haaaa!?”