Chapter 3 – Story 95: Battle of Caliraya 3 – Taking Flight
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“Drummer! Hit that drum of yours!”
First Darius ordered the big drum’s player.
“O-Okay! What is the beat!?”
“It’s not a message! Just barrage the drum loudly!”
Upon Darius’s order, the drummer went all out on his instrument as if the make its drumming reach every corner of the battlefield. The atmosphere trembled from the deep, bassy thuds.
And because of that, Holmea’s soldiers turned around, wondering what was going on, just to doubt their own eyes. Even the soldiers, who were trying to quickly run away while the headquarters was under attack, stopped and blinked their eyes repeatedly, making sure that their eyes and ears weren’t playing a trick on them.
But, the instant they realized that this was reality, they cheered in delight.
“”Uuoooooooooohhh!!””
What the soldiers saw while shouting at the top of their lungs with red faces was the flag of the golden lion on black ground fluttering next to the kingdom’s flag that indicated Holmea’s camp. This was the flag belonging to General Darius, the man hailed as Holmea’s strongest general.
Moreover, this flag also delivered a deep shock to Romania.
“He’s coming out now after all this time!?”
King Doldea said while baring his vigilance.
“Inform the whole army: the enemy from now on will be completely different from the enemy we fought thus far.”
Marshal Daraios had messengers spread out to the whole Romanian army.
“Ooh, His Excellency Darius finally takes the stage!”
And Piarta revealed her excitement.
With the attention of the entire battlefield gathered on him, Darius first took a look across the situation on the ground from atop his chariot.
“Tell Earl Prenas to fall back. Inform Baron Pilgrid and Baron Charlmare to flank the enemy troops which will follow Earl Prenas’s unit as they pull back.”
Darius began to hand out orders at a blinding speed. Soon many of Romania’s army started to be astonished. No matter how much momentum Holmea’s army had had up until now, it was basically a reckless charge. However, the second Darius began to take the helm, the movements of Holmea’s army changed.
Just when the Romanian soldiers believed they’d be able to rout the enemy in front of them, new enemy forces arrived from the sides, getting in their way. Just when they thought they’d be able to apply some pressure by pushing, they were pincer attacked from the right and left flank. And whenever they retreated while unable to endure, the enemy matched their movement, stepping forward. Even so, the enemy would never fall for their lures.
Knowing that he had to change this state, Daraios attacked Holmea’s army together with his personal guards once more. In front of Daraios who brandished his fury again, Holmea’s army moved back without engaging.
However, while chasing after the retreating enemies, Daraios roared at Darius in the distance, “As always, you make some annoying moves, don’t you Darius!?”
It seemed to Daraios as though he’d be able to rout the enemy, but in reality Holmea’s soldiers devoted themselves to defending, and whenever his side attacked, they’d simply pull back, losing only few soldiers.
Watching this play out, Darius muttered, “Daraios is an unparalleled spearhead. It’d be the height of folly to try to block this with a shield. It’s much better to receive this spearhead softly like cotton, and keep doing it like that to break the spear’s handle.”
As if having waited for those words of Darius, Holmea’s soldiers pushed in from the sides so as to cut off Daraios’s unit, which had penetrated deep into Holmea’s lines. If they managed to cut off the following Romanian soldiers, Daraios and his guards would be isolated. If this happened, even Daraios wouldn’t come out unscathed, no matter how much of a war god he might be.
Voices full of admiration escaped the lips of the surrounding officers due to Darius’s precise commands. This was how the strongest general of Holmea fought his battles. Just like Daraios was a marshal of bravery who would inspire his troops by standing at the frontline, Darius was a commanding marshal who would move his allies with precise instructions from the rear.
Possessing a viewpoint as if overlooking the whole battlefield, Darius not only saw through the flow of battles, but also possessed the power to create a flow by moving his soldiers. But this was only possible because of Darius’s high level of commanding ability, the experience in real battles he had accumulated thus far, and the deep trust of Holmea’s soldiers which he enjoyed.
Yet, Darius frowned.
The unit following after Daraios didn’t break as expected. While leading his personal guards along, Daraios scattered Holmean soldiers by wielding his halberd, and yelled, “I prepared my own 『Blue Cavalry』 in order to pierce through your 『Black Wall』. I can’t tell how things would play out with the 『Black Wall』 as our opponent, but don’t think you can break us with these riff-raff soldiers, Darius!”
Daraios’s personal unit 「Blue Cavalry」 tried to copy Holmea’s 「Black Wall」. It was Romania’s top-elite unit that only allowed hand-selected elites from within Romania’s army to join after a thorough screening.
But, they had a different task than the 「Black Wall」. Just like Darius’s 「Black Wall」 was the best shield to pulverize all enemies clashing against it, the 「Blue Cavalry」 was the best spear with Daraios as its spearhead. Daraios would keep the hole in the enemy line open and the 「Blue Cavalry」 had been trained to become a spear handle that would keep extending. For the sake of meeting Daraios’s expectations, the 「Blue Cavalry」 not only brushed the pressure of Holmea’s soldiers aside, but they even pushed back.
Darius bit on his own lip as he watched this unfold.
Right now he was able to encourage Holmea’s soldiers by taking the command, and the soldiers were resisting hard. This allowed him to somehow return the flow of the battle which had been on the verge of completely favoring the enemy, but the numerical advantage of Romania’s army was undeniable in the end.
No matter how much the soldiers struggled, it was like forcibly mustering the tiniest amounts of stamina through drugs. If they were to fall into disarray due to some sort of event, they wouldn’t be able to rally back anymore.
And Daraios’s charge, which could even be described as reckless, was trying to become the trigger for Holmea’s army to fall into chaos.
We have to either defeat Daraios or stop his attack as soon as possible. But――
Darius tightly clenched his fists.
“My Helmet Holder isn’t here…”
That murmur was picked up by the ear of a messenger who stood next to Darius.
“If it’s your helmet, I can carry it for you, if you wish?”
Darius immediately answered, “I was just making a joke. Don’t mind it.”
Darius revealed a self-mocking smile at the complaint he had allowed to escape his lips, but he immediately breathed out deeply as if to get rid of those thoughts and then stared at the battlefield once again.
Although I’ve deliberately pulled in Daraios, he has the force to break through the center of our battle lines. Very likely Holmea doesn’t possess a unit capable of holding back Daraios, who is trying to break through the trap with brute force, anymore. If I had taken command of the whole army at a much earlier stage of the battle…
It wasn’t as though he didn’t think of it. But, he rebuked himself for having taken part in this war while being well aware of that while bitterly smiling at his own regrets.
Darius looked up to the flag planted on his chariot. This flag, which he had continued to use since his first battle, was washed out quite a bit on a closer inspection. The black had become faded and the golden thread used to depict the lion was visibly frayed out at several places.
Just how many soldiers have lost their lives underneath this piece of cloth since I created it?
For an instant the sceneries of the countless battlefields he had witnessed flashed through Darius’s mind. Feeling as if his chest was stabbed by this, Darius held his chest with his left hand while tightly clasping the flagpole with his right hand.
And then he raised his voice towards the soldiers in front of him, “I will have you die!”
In front of the soldiers who widened their eyes, Darius continued, “I killed too many Romanian soldiers. Romania’s army will undoubtedly rush towards this flag to topple it over. As such, you will defend this flag to the last, stalling for time! But, I won’t force you! Those wishing to flee, do so! Even if you run away, I won’t blame you. Even if I wanted to blame you, I won’t be around by that time anymore!”
Once Darius said so as a joke, all the soldiers laughed cheerfully. But, not a single one of them tried to flee the place.
Darius smiled at that.
I thought that I’d been deserted by the gods and all sorts of luck, but it seems as though I’m at least blessed with good soldiers.
Afterwards, Darius looked at the officers, who were staring at him with surprised faces, and said, “Royal guards, return to the capital while protecting His Majesty! And give the signal to retreat to the whole army!”
◆◇◆◇◆
At the same time as the headquarters with Holmea’s flag began to move backwards, the sound of the large drum thundered across the battlefield while the soldiers of Holmea sighed simultaneously.
The drum’s signal meant retreat. The instant they heard it, the fighting spirit, which had somehow been overflowing from Holmea’s soldiers up until then, quickly faded away.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
The officers shouted from all over the ranks as if screaming. Accompanying that, the soldiers’ battle lines immediately started to fall apart.
“They broke!”
Watching the battle from Romania’s headquarters, King Doldea squealed in joy.
“Holmea has collapsed! Have all troops charge and beat those blasted, retreating Holmean mutts into the ground!”
Upon King Doldea’s decree, the big drum began to signal a general attack of Romania’s whole army, including the reserves. And alongside the drum’s noise, cheers of delight and excitement could be heard all over Romania’s army as they attacked Holmea’s army.
Piarta and her Hundred Flower Unit, who had been gauging the right moment to charge once more from a corner of the battlefield, saw this happening as well.
“The outcome is decided with this, huh…?”
Just as Piarta muttered this, the fate of Holmea’s army was sealed. The general attack, which was added onto the collapse of Holmea’s army, acted like an axe that beheaded a criminal on the gallows. At this point, the battlefield had transformed into a crucible of mania.
Holmea’s soldiers were trying to run away after having thrown away their swords and spears. Meanwhile Romania’s soldiers were trying to pursue them, even charging through the crumbling enemy battle lines. Thus enemies and allies were jumbled together and it became unclear who was where.
However, despite being smack down in the middle of such chaos, one unit didn’t move from their spot, apparently trying to act as rear guard for Holmea’s army.
While gazing at the flag with the golden lion which was towering in the center of that unit, Piarta murmured, “Even that man is unable to overcome this difference in military force, huh?”
Piarta looked as if she was disappointed, but that was premature of her. As she was gazing at Darius’s flag, Demetoria’s voice reached her.
“Lady Piarta! We have an urgent message from Lala!”
“What!?”
Piarta quickly turned the neck of her horse around and brought her horse close to Demetoria. As Piarta moved, a girl with a lovely face fixedly stared into the sky in front of Demetoria. That girl, who had her head fully covered by a big cloth, was sitting on the back of a horse, steered by a knight, while grasping her knees. But now she had half risen to her feet while supporting her body with her knees.
“What is Lala saying!?”
As if to answer Piarta’s question, the girl slowly started to speak some intermittent words. Piarta and Demetoria looked at each other in response to that.
“Your Highness, this is…!”
Piarta nodded at Demetoria, “Yeah, as might be expected of that man. ――Follow me, Hundred Flowers!
With that yell, Piarta spurred her horse into a gallop.
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