Chapter 3 – Story 112: Holmenia Battle 5 – Craze (Beginning)
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Souma trembled with a start when he heard the dispute going on right below him. Even though his eyes were pinned on the battlefield on the ground in front of the wall, where the zoan were just launching a pincer attack from the right and left flank, he couldn’t help but turn his senses to what was going right under his feet.
After a while, the voices below fell silent. Yet, Souma’s body remained frozen in tension, constantly quivering, as he expected that someone might storm up the stairs, shouting angrily, at any moment. Because of that, he didn’t notice how Shyemul, who was standing right next to him, wrinkled her nose and raised her right arm.
In the next moment, the dull sound of flesh being slapped could be heard. A wild scream escaped Souma’s lips from the pain suddenly assailing his back and the sound accompanying it.
“W-W-Wha-!? What are you doing, Shyemul!?”
He raised his voice in protest. The zoan warriors who had been assigned as guards, and Morad who had been waving the big flag, blinked their eyes in surprise as well. But, as soon as they realized that it had been Shyemul hitting Souma’s back, they lost all interest and pretended to not notice anything, thinking that it was the usual again.
Meanwhile, the target of Souma’s protest placed a finger on her chin and scrutinized Souma from head to toe.
“Hmm, mmh, you seem to be alright.”
While rubbing his tingling back, Souma was about to complain that he was anything but alright. However, faster than he could open his mouth, Shyemul added, “I worried that you might have turned into a stone, but it looks like you can still move properly.”
In response to that, a yelp of surprise came out of Souma’s mouth. Now that she mentioned it, his previous tension, which had caused his body to freeze, had completely vanished the moment Shyemul hit his back.
In front of Souma, who was groping for words to express himself, Shyemul proudly folded her arms and announced, “I am here with you. Do you really think I’d allow them to hurt my Navel Master, assuming someone really came here? In the worst case, I’d pick you up, jump off this wall, and run away while carrying you.”
Currently they were quite high up. No matter how tough a zoan body might be, Shyemul definitely wouldn’t come out unscathed if she tried to jump down while carrying a person. However, Shyemul reassuring him like that with a haughty attitude somehow managed to calm Souma down.
After confirming that the last traces of tension had disappeared from Souma’s body, Shyemul rebuked Souma, her eyes half open, “In the first place, why are you being so nervous after all this time? Wasn’t it you who insisted on coming here against everyone’s warning?
Souma immediately was at a loss for words due to Shyemul’s remark.
◆◇◆◇◆
Back when Souma suggested that he’d enter the capital with just a small number of guards during the war council they held beforehand, the one taking the lead in protesting against this idea was no one other than Marchronis.
“That’s way too reckless. I think it would be best to refrain from doing that.”
Even among Souma’s generals, Marchronis could be counted as the one with the firmest grounding in common sense. Being well aware of Holmea’s internal affairs due to his personal background, he rejected Souma’s idea as ill-advised and rash.
“It’s like the fish entering the pot with the water supposed to be boiled as soup. If it was me, I’d take advantage of the chaos when Romania’s army tries to retreat and stab you in the back.”
“I agree.”
The one supporting Marchronis was Eladia.
“For some reason, those of high status who call themselves nobles believe that it’s only natural for others to serve them. Those people have a tendency to often belittle promises they made with people of common descent.”
Eladia was smiling gently, but her words were spiked with poison. But, considering her personal background, it was reasonable for her to react in such a way.
The others didn’t say anything, but they seemed to back Marchronis and Eladia on this.
As he had expected that his suggestion would very likely get rejected, Souma didn’t panic and instead pointed at a part of the map depicting Holmea, which had been spread out on the round table.
“Seeing how we accepted Holmea’s surrender, we must defend Holmenia and repel Romania. On top of that we have another problem. Namely, the northern lords.”
Souma’s finger was currently pointing at the northern parts of Holmea.
“Many influential lords reside in Holmea’s northern region, correct?”
Being the recipient of that question, Marchronis answered, “It is as you say.”
Even though Holmea’s south touched on the Benes Bay, the coastline was cut apart by steep cliffs, making it next to impossible to build a larger port. This in turn meant marine transportation and fishing on a larger scale were out of the question.
In contrast to that, the north possessed many mines such as the Marven Copper Mine, which allowed it to develop economically. The south also possessed a much bigger population than the north. All of this was the reason why the influential nobles of Holmea had gathered in the north.
“Most importantly, Margrave Apius, who’s hailed as leader of the north, possesses enough influence and power that he had been assigned as the supreme commander of the previous subjugation force, which later broke apart. If the northern lords centered around Marquis Apius gather soldiers to raise an army, they should be able to field close to 5,000 troops.”
Souma nodded at Marchronis’s added information.
“Despite having such military force at their disposal, they only watched the battle between Holmea and Romania without making any moves. But, recently the communication between the nobles has increased. ――Right, Pipi?” Souma addressed the Bird General Pipi.
She answered while making only one of the cobalt-blue, shining feathers on her head sway.
“They haven’t sent forth any armies, but there’s no doubt about the lords gathering their soldiers. Moreover, we confirmed messengers racing back and forth between them. Moreover, several northern lords left their own territories while leading a limited number of troops. Guessing from the route they took, they’re very likely headed for Marquis Apius’s territory.”
Everyone exchanged looks after hearing this. It seemed obvious that the northern lords were about to move. But, at this point it was way too late. Looking at the way Romania’s army handled things thus far, it was hard to believe that they’d allow the northern lords to surrender. But, if the northern lords had intended to fight Romania, they should have departed to the battle of Caliraya long ago.
While everyone appeared confused as they didn’t understand the motive behind the northern lord starting to move at this stage, Souma mentioned a certain hypothesis.
“Maybe they’re trying to become heroes who have saved their country in its biggest crisis.”
Maybe the northern lords stayed quiet for so long because they predicted the defeat of King Warius in the battle of Caliraya and the encirclement of the royal capital. And with their motherland in such grave danger, they’d strike the besieging Romanian army from behind or sever its supply lines. If they managed to drive away Romania in such a manner, the influence of the northern lords would grow even stronger, granting them an unshakable hold on the kingdom’s fate.
If something like that were to happen, Holmea would likely fall in the hands of the northern lords with King Warius dead, Prince Alexius gone missing and the young Princess Warina being the sole successor of the royal blood.
Everyone present at the council groaned at Souma’s hypothesis. But, Souma’s assumption was based on a big misunderstanding.
As a matter of fact, the northern lords didn’t participate in the battle of Caliraya because of King Cesar’s scheme. Having only recently learned of the outcome of that battle, the northern lords fell into panic and started to get in contact with each other to salvage the situation as much as possible.
But, it was impossible for Souma, a mere mortal, to know the current state of the northern lords as that would be a feat only an all-knowing god could pull off. Moreover, the same applied to the others present in the council. For them Souma’s hypothesis sounded rather convincing.
Speaking for the others, Garam folded his arms in front of his chest, nodded, and said, “I see. Even if we tried to attack Romania’s army from behind, it’d be troublesome if we ran into those northern lords trying to do the same.”
It was unthinkable that the northern lords, who hadn’t surrendered to Souma, would overlook the zoan acting within Holmea. And Souma couldn’t afford to silently watch his troops getting slaughtered, if they got attacked by the northern lords, either. The one gaining the most without having to do anything in such a situation would be Romania’s army.
“Yes. But, having said that, it’d be an even worse plan for us all to hole up in the capital to defend against the siege. If the northern lords were to attack Romania’s army from behind and rout them successfully, they’d likely say the following――” Souma put on a grim expression and continued in an arrogant tone, “――We are the ones who rescued Holmea. There was no need to surrender to the likes of slaves!”
Very likely many people, who were unhappy with the surrender to Souma, would agree with the claim of the northern lords. Once that happened, Souma and his friends would be attacked from inside and outside the capital.
Shyemul cocked her head at Souma’s speculations.
“Is capitulation something you can call off so easily?”
In Shyemul’s eyes, this would be a disgraceful behavior. Eladia answered Shyemul’s question, her voice dripping with venom, “With all due respect, Lady Shyemul, but if the humans turn out to be such noble creatures, I promise you I will cut my hair, become a nun of the wind god, and spend the rest of my life apologizing and reflecting on my failure to not have recognized their true nature.”
In short, she was implying it was impossible. Once Souma revealed a bitter smile as one of those humans, Eladia cast a sweet smile at him and added, “Of course, you are the sole exception, Lord Soma.”
Souma was scared by her sudden change in attitude, but decided to leave it at that and instead continued with their discussion.
“For this reason, I prefer for the battle over the capital to conclude as quickly as possible.”
Zurgu clapped his hands together, sympathizing with that notion, “So that’s how it is. If we can wrap up things before they show up, we can later simply shut them up by saying that they didn’t do a damn thing, no matter what they might try to use as an argument.”
His words were rather crude, but since his point was valid, Souma confirmed it and continued, “Because of that, we will strike Romania’s army in an open field battle, where we can fully use the mobility of the zoan, the strongest military force I can currently move.”
Accompanying his words, Souma slammed a fist down on the table, near the location of Holmenia on the map. In response to the bang and impact, the figurines, which had been placed on the map to represent Romania’s army, floated up for an instant.
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