Chapter 3 – Story 93: Battle of Caliraya 1 – War God
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Holmea and Romania’s armies faced each other on the plains of Caliraya. This plain could be found alongside the main road heading straight for the royal capital of Holmea from the eastern metropolis of Holmea, Gatzen. You could describe it as being situated on the borderline between the central and eastern regions of Holmea.
If they allowed Romania’s army to pass this point, Holmea would henceforth carry the stigma of having permitted Romania to invade deep into its heartland. Because of that, they wanted to hold back Romania here, no matter the costs. Moreover, quickly repelling the invaders and returning the dignity of the royal family in an attempt to bring some peace and stability to the nation was yet another reason. Because of that, they were adamant on meeting Romania’s army in this place, even while being aware of the disadvantage for armies with inferior numbers on open fields.
And Romania’s army had no objection about settling this quickly since they were worried about their supply lines in enemy territory, even though they had plundered towns and villages on their way to these plains.
This was the background for the plains of Caliraya becoming the battlefield.
First off, small delegations consisting of Holmea’s king Warius on the one side, and Vulitas, who was calling himself the true king of Holmea stepped in front of their respective armies with small retinues. This was the usual war of words before the start of a battle.
In this era, leaders would advocate the justice of their own cause and rouse the morale of their armies while trying to lower the morale of the enemy army by blaming their opponent. It was something like a ceremony that would be carried out before a battle.
The one speaking up first was King Warius.
“Little brother of mine――no, at this point I won’t call you brother anymore. Vulitas, you vile, filthy pig who sold your motherland and your own soul to the Romanian brutes, if you understand even the slightest bit of the meaning behind the word of shame, prostrate yourself on the ground and apologize to your ancestors, before quickly killing yourself!”
Vulitas answered, “The one in dire need of an apology to his ancestors is none other than you, Elder Brother――no, Warius! Your incompetence and tyrannical rule are inexcusable! Because of that, Holmea has been thrown into chaos and I’m now forced to get King Doldea’s assistance to fix the mess!”
It was only at the beginning that they confronted each other with claims like that. Gradually both became heated and the claims became insults, quickly changing this into a mudfest of cursing and slurs.
“I thought you were just a disgusting, fat swine, but now I see that even your character is that of a swine! I’m sure a pig like you must squeal in joy when being given some food scraps by Doldea! I will turn you into ham!”
“If I’m a pig, it makes you a monkey, doesn’t it!? A monkey who wears a crown while exposing its teeth and squeaking around! A monkey should go back to the mountains where it belongs!”
At last, the two started to give off weird screams and the mudfest deteriorated into a childish shit show.
King Doldea had deliberately left his headquarters in the rear to listen to this war of words, and was now revealing a big, derisive smile on his lips.
“Oh my, what is going on here? I showed up in person to watch a war of words, but all I can hear is the howling of beasts?”
Revealing a just as derisive smile as King Doldea, King Cesar answered, “I suppose it’s a nice side show to the final act of Holmea’s downfall.”
“Fair point,” Doldea admitted with a laugh.
King Cesar being present in this place was exceptional. Whenever nations would clash on the battlefield, foreigners, even if they were kings, would never be allowed to come this close to the supreme commanders of the armies. After all, it’d be a huge issue if King Cesar were to use the chaos of war to his advantage to assassinate King Doldea.
But, after he had persuaded Vulitas and even allowed Romania to cross the river in such a flashy and ingenious way, not only King Doldea, but also the officers of Romania’s army acknowledged his outstanding abilities and accepted this special treatment as given.
The sole exception to this was Marshal Daraios. He had nonchalantly went around to the back, intending to kill the eerie king without any questions asked, if he showed even the slightest, suspicious movements.
However, King Cesar seemed to be aware of that as well. Every once in a while, he’d look back at Daraios and show him his usual, reptiloid smile. As if saying that being put to the sword would just be another amusement.
Even Daraios couldn’t stop goosebumps from appearing on his arm due to that.
In the meantime, King Warius and Vulitas had run out of slander to throw at each other and had returned to their respective armies after ascertaining to each other that they’d settle the rest on the battlefield.
While King Doldea greeted the returning Vulitas, praised him for his great work, and went back to the rear with him, King Cesar secretly summoned his chamberlain.
“Where’s Darius?”
Hearing his master’s question, the chamberlain, who had already heard the spies’ reports, immediately replied, “He’s stationed behind Warius’s headquarters.”
Apparently King Warius still is trying to shun Darius, even after all this time. With this, Darius won’t be rewarded either, King Cesar laughed scornfully just as the drumming of large drums resounded from both army camps as if they had arranged it in advance.
At last, the battle began. As if competing by making noise, both camps hit their drums hard, making the whole plain tremble. Accompanying the drumming, both armies began their advance.
The ones moving in the very front of both armies were the light infantry units where archers played the main role. They made use of their light equipment to quickly move into the range of their arrows. And once their subordinate soldiers had formed a shield wall, the archers hid behind those and started to shoot their arrows at the enemy army.
An amount of arrows so huge that the sky was filled with them flitted about while filling the battlefield with the whistling of the arrow feathers cutting through the air.
Although Holmea was overpowered by the number of Romania’s archers, they kept exchanging arrows with the enemy from behind their shields. As long as they weren’t unlucky to get hit by an arrow just as they peeked out from behind the shields or got hit by an arrow passing through the gaps in the shield wall, it was quite hard to kill the archers. And even though they suffered some injuries and losses, the archery exchange continued without either side being able to land a decisive blow.
Meanwhile, the slower main forces were catching up to the light infantry units.
“Archers, retreat! Heavy Infantry to the front!”
Following the frontline commanders’ orders, the archers on either side stopped shooting their arrows and retreated. In exchange, the heavy infantry stepped forward. All of them were equipped with long spears and shields while forming a dense formation.
“Advance! Pulverize the enemy!”
The heavy infantry units of both armies clashed violently while still being in a cluster. With frantic expressions on their faces, the soldiers thrust their spears and bashed their shield as if mad. With each passing moment, blood spurted into the air and screams could be heard all over.
At first, the power distribution between both armies was in an equilibrium. Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, Holmea’s soldiers were fighting to protect their own homeland. If they failed to repel the invaders here, their hometowns would be ravaged and destroyed. Not only their land and valuables would be stolen, but their elderly parents would be slaughtered, their wife and daughters would be raped, and their sons would be sold off as slaves.
Unwilling to let that pass no matter what, the fighting spirit of Holmea’s soldiers compensated for their lacking numbers.
But, watching their hard struggle from the rear, King Doldea sneered, “They sure are as tenacious as bugs which are scavenging for trash, but that’s all there is to it.”
No matter how hard Holmea’s soldiers struggled, their stamina wasn’t inexhaustible. At some point, their flesh would give up before their spirit.
“Devote yourself to defense for now. Competing with an enemy, who is highly spirited, is the height of folly. In a little while, they’ll run out of their insignificant amount of stamina, resulting in their momentum waning. We’ll wait until then.”
But, before King Doldea’s order could be passed on, a new military force started to move from within Romania’s army. It was a unit wearing all blue, which made them easily identifiable even from a distance.
Due to that, King Doldea told his officers to withdraw his previous order, before sighing and muttering, “Good grief, my marshal is as impatient as ever.”
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The one fighting hard in the center of Holmea’s forefront was Viscount Gattos, a noble known for his bravery even among the lords of Holmea. He had lost his father and grandfather in battle against Romania and thus was known for his utter hate of everything related to Romania.
Exactly because of that, his fervor in this battle was remarkable. He had personally asked King Warius to be stationed at the very front of the army, right in the middle of the heat.
Moreover, many of the soldiers he was leading were men whom he had recruited while straining his own funds after they were driven out of the eastern regions of Holmea by Romania’s army. For this reason, they too were burning with the passion to slaughter all of Romania, down to the last soldier.
Thanks to Viscount Gattos and his brave men fighting hard in the cruelest place on this battlefield, Holmea’s army could maintain its frontline despite their numerical disadvantage.
But then a cavalry unit accompanied by infantry suddenly appeared from in-between Romania’s heavy infantry, aiming for Viscount Gattos’s unit. All of them were muscular soldiers clad in blue armor and helmets. And the one leading their charge was a big man holding a long halberd with his only arm.
The subordinate soldiers following the cavalry unit were hitting drums and announcing, “Prick up your ears and listen! Tear open your eyeballs and watch! Raise your voices! The one in front of you is Romania’s great hero! Marshal Daraios!”
As soon as Daraios thrust his halberd in the air, he was enveloped by loud cheers from the Romanian soldiers all around him.
In an era where passing orders to soldiers was limited to oral commands, it wasn’t unusual for a unit commander to appear at the frontline. Not only would a commander miss good opportunities if they relied on messengers for everything, but it’s also be difficult for them to fine-tune their attacks to reach the intended goal. Hence, standing at the frontline in person would allow commanders to catch good opportunities and send the soldiers to the places they wanted them to be. Moreover, the peasant soldiers with their low proficiency and morale, after being recruited for war service against their will, wouldn’t move, if the commanders didn’t do as much.
But, there were limits to that as well. If a commander stood at the frontline, they’d naturally be targeted by the enemy soldiers. And if a commander was taken down by an enemy, their unit would collapse. Not to mention that Daraios had been entrusted with the entire army as marshal.
If Holmea could take Daraios’s head, it’d impact all of Romania’s army. Or to be more precise, Romania’s army would fall onto the path of defeat in such a case, even if they were winning in numbers against Holmea’s army.
But, Daraios deliberately went out in front despite that. That was owed to his absolute belief in his own military prowess and his achievements which caused his surroundings to recognize that prowess of his.
“Over here is the cornerstone of Holmea’s front row! Smash it!”
Following Daraios’s order, the heavy infantrymen and heavy knights, who had dismounted their horses, drew their swords all at once and assaulted Holmea’s army.
The spears of Holmea’s heavy spearmen, which had been built to be longer than Romania’s to not allow the enemy to draw close, would immediately become a liability thanks to their length, once the enemy managed to enter close combat.
In no time, the heavy spearmen led by Viscount Gattos suffered breakthroughs at several places, and roused by this progress, the other Romanian soldiers started to attack more violently as if to follow the lead of Daraios and his men.
Viscount Gattos, on the other hand, hesitated after seeing this. To begin with, no one could deny Holmea’s numerical disadvantage. They had somehow maintained the front thanks to their morale, but he didn’t know how long they’d be able to keep it up.
And at this point, the enemy marshal had entered the stage. This had riled up Romania#s soldiers, who had been retreating until then, causing them to push back. It was clear to anyone that this was a bad omen for Holmea.
However, at the same time this was a perfect opportunity. The enemy marshal was right in front of them. If they could take down Daraios here, they might be able to win against Romania.
Of course, it wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Daraios’s bravery was so famous that even the people of Holmea knew about it. Viscount Gattos suspected that it’d be an extremely challenging undertaking to defeat such a man.
Yet, he believed he should brave the danger and attack Daraios here. Besides, Viscount Gattos considered himself to be the strongest warrior, too.
He dismounted his horse and headed towards Daraios while carrying his spear.
“I am Gattos Rahgen, lord of the Rahgen Viscounty! Marshal Daraios, I request a duel with you!”
In response to his yell, Daraios glared down at him from atop his horse, before nimbly getting off his horse while holding his halberd. Thereupon, the guards in blue armor around him knowingly parted to the sides, creating a dueling space for their lord.
Viscount Gattos stared at the halberd in Daraios’s hand as he swiftly headed towards him through the newly established space. Halberds were weapons capitalizing on their weight and length. That alone made it necessary to possess extraordinary strength to use them. However, Daraios possessed only one arm. Viscount Gattos couldn’t believe that he’d be able to handle that long halberd with just one arm. And even if he could swing it, he considered it impossible to keep attacking for long with such a heavy weapon.
First I’m going to dodge Daraios’s attack and stab him with my spear when he shows an opening!
Viscount Gattos made up his mind like that, but then his eyes flew wide open.
Huge!?
He had known Daraios to be a giant from the start. But, for some reason, Daraios’s huge frame became bigger with each step he took in his direction. Daraios’s body kept growing at a mind-boggling pace and when he finally arrived in front of Viscount Gattos, he had become so big that he almost covered all of the sky.
“Youngster, know your place!!”
Viscount Gattos shuddered from Daraios’s rebuke, which had rumbled like thunder. Daraios raised his halberd high up and swung it down at the viscount. Even though the gigantic halberd fell like a meteor, Viscount Gattos reflexively tried to block it by holding his spear sideways. However, Daraios’s halberd split Viscount Gattos from the head down to his nether region in one swing alongside the spear’s handle.
The battlefield was instantly wrapped up by silence. And then, in the next instant, Romania’s soldiers broke out in explosive cheering. Meanwhile, Holmea’s soldiers could only stare dumbfounded. To them it looked like Daraios had bisected their own commander by just swinging his halberd down.
Due to the all too sudden conclusion of the duel, their excessive grudge against Romania was blown away and their fighting spirit was utterly crushed.
Daraios thrust his halberd at his dispirited enemies, and ordered, “Scatter them!”
Following his command, his soldiers started to assault Holmea’s soldiers.
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“What do you think? That’s my marshal Daraios,” King Doldea said to King Cesar, as if bragging about a precious treasure, after having watched the battle progress from the rear. “All those who confronted that man on the battlefield say they learned their own insignificance in light of his military strength. I don’t know whether that’s true or not. But, so far I haven’t seen Daraios launching a second attack against his opponent in the last dozen years.
Just as Darius was Holmea’s strongest general, Daraios was Romania’s strongest general. But, Daraios wasn’t a man whose only redeeming trait was to be found in his bravery. He had the discernment to identify Viscount Gattos as a cornerstone of Holmea’s frontline. And he had the decisiveness and ability to take action, allowing him to immediately kill that person in order to accelerate the collapse of Holmea’s frontline.
As might be expected of the general whom even Darius avoided to face directly according to hearsay.
King Cesar also expressed his admiration of this.
“I see. That’s Romania’s war god, huh?”
That was the alias of Daraios, allowing him to stand next to Darius who was referred to as Holmea’s guardian deity.
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