Chapter 3 – Story 96: Battle of Caliraya 4 – The Watcher
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Every single soldier of the Romanian army flooded towards Darius’s unit, the sole force among Holmea’s royal army that stood its ground and fought. The heads of those soldiers, who were certain of their victory, were already filled with the rewards for their meritorious deeds afterwards. If they were able to achieve some great feat here, they might even be given a piece of Holmea’s land as reward by King Doldea.
With such thoughts occupying their minds, it was only natural that they tried to achieve those meritorious deeds, even if they had to push down the comrades with whom they had cooperated on this bloody battlefield until just recently. And the quickest way to the biggest meritorious deed was getting the head of Darius, the one called Holmea’s strongest general.
Darius, who had previously repelled King Doldea’s westwards expansion in its entirety, was the sworn enemy of Romania. The number of soldiers Romania had lost because of him had already reached several ten thousands, and ten fingers wouldn’t be enough to count the decapitated heads of Romanian generals who were defeated because of him.
As such, all the soldiers of Romania, be it officers or common foot soldiers, made a beeline for Darius’s flag. And the one who had closed in the most to Darius’s flag was Daraios. While scattering the Holmean soldiers who blocked his way with frantic expressions, trying to defend Darius to the bitter end, Daraios harbored doubts.
Now that their defeat is set in stone, he has volunteered to take the rear guard in order to allow as many Holmean soldiers as possible to get away by restraining the pursuit of Romania’s army. That seems like something Darius would definitely do. But, even so, this way of fighting is too crude for that man.
If it’s him, he should have known that Romania’s army would flood towards him, aiming for his head. In that case, he could have chosen to fight while retreating towards a different direction than the fleeing Holmean soldiers, or he could have made a last stand in a much narrower valley or something like that.
Yet, he’s holding his ground while simply raising his flag. This is weird, to say the least.
Suddenly Daraios stopped.
“I can’t sense or see Darius anywhere!”
Darius’s presence, which had been covering the battlefield like a wind, was gone. But, he didn’t run away. Even now, Daraios could still sense Darius from somewhere on this battlefield.
Just where did he go?
Surveying the whole battlefield, Daraios spotted a group of soldiers, which was pushing forward and scattering Romanian soldiers, diagonally ahead. It was a small force of merely 200. But, Daraios couldn’t tell who they belonged to for a moment. After all, they weren’t hoisting any flags.
During the wars of this era, the lords would gather and lead their own soldiers in response to being summoned by their king. Because of that, they ran the risk of not having their achievements acknowledged, or even worse, getting attacked by their own allies, if they didn’t make clear who they were. For this reason, the lords would lead their soldiers while flying big, conspicuous flags which could be identified at a glance.
However, that unit had no flag.
Just who are these people?
In front of Daraios who was unable to act as he couldn’t tell whether they were friends or foes, that flagless unit passed Daraios’s blue cavalry by the side. At that moment, Daraios was hit by a surprise.
A huge chariot pulled by six horses was galloping in front of that unit. Even under normal circumstances, a chariot pulled by six horses was already strange. But, even without taking this into account, Daraios would never mistake this particular chariot.
He shouted, “Darius! You bastaaard!”
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“Forgive me, Daraios. I’m a bit too old to take you head-on,” Darius bitterly smiled at Daraios’s angry roar, audible from behind.
Darius himself wished to settle his score with Daraios once and for all, too. But, right now, he had a golden opportunity.
Currently Holmea’s army was fleeing and the battle formation of Romania’s army had fallen apart as they were pursuing Holmea’s army, granting him a final chance.
Even if he tried to charge with his chariot, it’d be hard for him to break through a tight battle formation as the soldiers would set up their shields. But, those soldiers would only challenge the charge of a chariot because their war buddies were standing next to them, getting injured as much as they would, while they protected their friends behind them.
However, currently the ranks of Romania’s army had crumbled apart because the soldiers were chasing after Holmea’s army. As all of them were trying to chase after the fleeing enemies to finish them off, it turned into a competition over who could run the fastest.
In such a situation, there was no way the soldiers would be able to stop a chariot pulled by six horses. Romania’s soldiers opened a path out of fear towards the energy of the six, raging horses.
Moreover, Darius having discarded the idea of using a flag played a big role as well.
Naturally Romania’s army also included soldiers of Holmea’s lords who supported Vulitas as they saw him fit to be the king of Holmea. And because they were dressed as Holmean soldiers, it wasn’t as easy to identify Darius’s unit as enemies. As the Romanian soldiers couldn’t judge whether this small unit, which was heading towards the troop headquarters while avoiding battle, was hurrying there to relay important news or charging there as enemies, their response was delayed.
Some officers with a quick mind started to order their soldiers to stop Darius’s chariot, but faster than those soldiers could form into lines, Darius’s group broke through.
Just like that Darius plunged towards the headquarters of Romania’s army at full speed.
However, even that steady advance would continue forever on end. Of course, Romania’s army was well aware that their victory would go up in smoke, if their supreme commander was defeated. In order to avoid such an outcome, King Doldea’s personal guard unit was permitted to execute anyone, who approached the headquarters without permission, on the spot.
As soon as the guards saw that suspicious unit of unknown affiliation heading towards them, they quickly got ready to meet the enemy.
“As long as they oblige our demand to stop, it’s fine! But, if they approach any further, show no mercy! Slaughter them all!”
The captain of the guards declared in high spirits and not only formed a bulwark by lining up the shields of the elites in the guard unit, but also called out to nearby Romanian units, forming a sturdy defense layer.
With this, a chariot won’t break through, no matter how big it might be. I don’t know whether it’s an ally, who’s gone mad, or an enemy general who launched a reckless charge, but I’ll tear them off that chariot and take a good look at their face, the guard captain thought.
However.
Suddenly, Darius’s chariot changed its course. Because of that, everyone thought Darius’s unit had become scared of that impregnable defensive bulwark.
But, that wasn’t the reason.
The one realizing Darius’s aim at once was King Doldea.
“No good! They’re aiming for Vulitas!”
Darius’s chariot was now heading for Vulitas’s camp which was set up close to King Doldea’s headquarters.
Daringly standing on top of his chariot, Darius shouted, “Everyone! Our sole aim is to relieve His Highness Vulitas of his head!”
The 200 soldiers loudly confirmed that in a chorus.
Now that all the nearby units had swarmed around the headquarters upon King Doldea’s call, there were almost no soldiers left close to Vulitas’s camp. Moreover, no matter how much Vulitas might be collaborating with King Doldea, in the end he was still of Holmean origin. It was unthinkable that the Romanians would allow a big number of people from an enemy state to stay close to King Doldea during a crucial battle. Vulitas was only permitted to have a few soldiers around him, so that they could be put down at any moment, if it was necessary.
And even those few soldiers were already fleeing. No soldier of Holmea would be able to mistake Darius as he stood on his imposing chariot. The marshal, to whom they had looked up in the past, was now charging them with the intent to kill. It was only natural for them to be confused in addition to their feelings of guilt over having betrayed their motherland.
In this state, those few soldiers weren’t able to hold back the 200 soldiers with Darius in the lead.
“No god! Someone rescue Vulitas!”
King Doldea yelled frantically.
If Vulitas were to be slain here, his western expedition would lose its legitimate cause. After all, Romania’s army was advancing through Holmea in order to place Vulitas on the throne as the rightful king. Or so they claimed.
The Holmean lords currently cooperating with Romania were doing so under the pretext of backing Vulitas as king.
If that reasoning was gone, those Holmean lords would return to being mutual enemies with Romania’s army as it had been beforehand. Or in other words, Romania’s army would be suddenly housing treacherous friends in their own camp, and the Holmean lords would find themselves in the perilous situation of being stranded smack down in the middle of the enemy.
Naturally, they wouldn’t start fighting each other right away. But, they would need to enter negotiations right away in order to establish each other’s respective positions.
And the problems wouldn’t stop at that either.
Doldea had planned to install Vulitas as puppet king after taking the capital Holmenia, and rule Holmea through him. With Vulitas’s death, he’d need to go back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan on how to handle the post-war era.
Romania’s officers also understood as much, but even after hearing King Doldea’s order, they couldn’t move at once. As soon as they considered that Darius’s unit might change course and switch back to attacking King Doldea if they moved in order to save Vulitas, they were rooted to the place.
Everyone present in this place believed that this would spell the end of Vulitas.
But, at that moment Daraios, who had been watching Darius’s unit from far behind them, mumbled, “Darius, your miscalculation was that you didn’t notice the existence watching you at all times on this battlefield. There is someone who has been watching you more than me or anyone else.”
Darius didn’t know about Daraios’s remark. He had already closed in on Vulitas’s camp so much that he could tell apart the single faces of the soldiers over there.
Charge! ―― just as he was about to give that order, someone raised a loud voice from his left side faster than he could.
What Darius saw when he turned there to see what was going on was a cavalry unit about to plunge right into them from their left flank. They were flying a flag depicting a wolf and white lilies. It was Piarta’s Hundred Flowers.
Galloping at their head, Piarta yelled while holding a throwing spear, “Attack the chariot in front!”
The throwing spears, released alongside the force of the mounted charge, assaulted Darius from the side.
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