The barbarians are preparing to attack the North again.
Their scouts are constantly roaming, and their vanguard will arrive soon.
Before long, once the main force arrives as well, the full-scale assault will begin.
‘But in the end, the places those barbarian bastards can attack are already decided.’
The North does not have vast, stupidly wide plains like the East.
There are flatlands, but hills are scattered here and there between them.
On top of that, there are quite a few mountains, and if you look around even a little, you can find dense forests.
They are natural barriers. Even a regular army would have difficulty breaking through them.
It would be fair to say that it is impossible for the barbarians to force their way through such places.
And most decisively, the reason the barbarians strike the Empire in the first place.
They do not come to seize land permanently, like conquerors.
They come to plunder the supplies and manpower they need.
Strike quickly. Loot quickly. And then run quickly.
If they come through places that are not roads and get bogged down, they will be slaughtered to a man.
Even if they win, they cannot carry off much in the way of supplies and people.
In the end, the barbarians will always enter through the routes they have always attacked.
Those places are easy to move through, have plenty to loot, and are good for escaping.
From the North’s perspective, that means they only need to block those few places well.
“Of course, even that is difficult.”
Sedrun, who had approached beside me, looked out over the northern lands beyond the defensive wall.
“Though they do not possess any great siege weapons, it is also difficult for the North to build high walls. We lack both the resources and the manpower for it. And since those barbarian bastards are so rough that the walls are often taken from us, we could not simply raise them recklessly.”
“Besides, our side can counterattack at any time as well. Walls that are too high tend to rob people of the courage to advance, and instead make them sit down where they are.”
“An excellent insight, Inspector.”
At some point, the smell of alcohol no longer came from Sedrun.
Instead, that empty space was filled by the scent of harsh training and the North’s characteristic ash.
At present, Sedrun had been temporarily dispatched together with me, the inspector.
Therefore, he did not possess the legal authority to command the army.
Here, Elder Peruca’s ability shone once again.
With the help of the local notables, we secured a certain number of riders.
A kind of volunteer militia made up not of regular soldiers, but of men of the North.
They say that in the North, such private organizations are tolerated because of the barbarians.
They also say the reason the notables hold power is because they can take actions like this.
Sedrun trained with them and prepared to harry the vanguard.
If the gunpowder that Hessen, Polia, and I were preparing shattered their front line,
he intended to seize that instant, bite into them, and smash them completely.
“Are you truly not going to involve yourself in the battle, Inspector?”
“Do you know what the hallmark of an incompetent person is, Sedrun? They interfere and meddle for no reason when they don’t even know anything properly.”
Battle is not my field. It is even less my strength.
What I have to do is the part related to gunpowder. And overall coordination.
That is exactly as far as it goes. Anything beyond that would be no help even if I tried.
“You truly are different from the other people of the capital. I think I understand why His Highness the Crown Prince has his eye on you, Inspector.”
“His Highness the Crown Prince does? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
“It is the first time I have seen him send someone here and there like this. Does it not mean that he trusts you enough to entrust you with matters in distant lands?”
I was about to speak a little more with Sedrun when someone came running over.
“Lord Sedrun. Barbarians are visible beyond the horizon.”
“So it begins. Inspector. Let us hurry to our respective positions.”
“Let’s. I wish you good fortune, Sedrun.”
“Let’s finish this quickly and have a drink.”
After seeing Sedrun off, I climbed atop the defensive wall, and as expected, I felt it immediately.
It was not high. At this height, one could even run up the wall and vault over it.
For the barbarians, crossing this gateway would not be particularly difficult.
It was possible that the vanguard might break through and plunder us.
That was precisely why we could not cling only to this defensive wall.
I was close to a layman when it came to war, but I had common sense.
I had learned that every battle was ultimately a struggle for initiative.
In defense. In offense. One must hold the initiative.
For the defender to hold the initiative, they must first occupy the high ground of time.
Unfortunately, the barbarians had eliminated even their internal moderates.
Thus, time was not on our side. If anything, it was on theirs.
If we only blocked them, they would eventually break through. We had to shatter their momentum.
*
The barbarians approached the vicinity of the imperial border with great vigor.
They were the vanguard. At most, their numbers amounted only to several hundred.
Yet they approached the defensive wall without the slightest sign of intimidation.
It was a battle of momentum. The side that showed fear would lose.
And barbarians were born gifted at hiding such things.
“Chief. The imperial bastards are curled up just as expected.”
“Mm. That won’t do. Send a few men to provoke them as much as possible.”
There needed to be at least one battle involving a few dozen men.
It was necessary in order to lower the morale of the imperial bastards even further.
At the vanguard commander’s order, several of his subordinates ran toward the front of the defensive wall.
Then they poured out insults, provoking the imperial army.
At first, the men on the wall remained quiet, but as the intensity grew worse, their reaction changed.
In particular, when the barbarians began hurling abuse at the Founding Festival, angry shouts immediately flew back.
Seeing that it was working, the commander urged his subordinates even harder to raise their voices.
If even a few dozen of them came out from behind the wall, it would be the best result.
If they saw even a few dozen defeated and their heads rolling on the ground, their morale would plummet.
Then the vanguard would have fulfilled all its duties before the main force arrived.
“You damned barbarian bastards!”
As if they could no longer endure it, dozens of riders came charging out.
Judging by their attire, unfortunately, they did not seem to be regular imperial troops.
Those who appeared to be commanders were still standing atop the wall.
If anything, they even seemed to be trying to stop them from going out.
The barbarians welcomed it instead. That made them easier to eliminate.
They were not men affiliated with the imperial army, but people who had gathered among themselves.
They were filled with will, but once that will was broken, they were weaker than deer.
At once, upon their appearance, the barbarians quickly fled backward.
Even so, they kept their distance, as if telling them to try and catch up.
The riders immediately spurred their horses and pursued the barbarians.
The moment the distance narrowed, the entire vanguard moved like lightning.
They closed the range in an instant and stole away the space in which the horses could move.
Those who had charged in out of anger at first began to panic.
With shouts telling them to retreat quickly, they headed back toward the gate they had come from.
“Now. Chase them!”
The moment a gate is most vulnerable is that instant when it opens and closes.
If they open it, the enemy may immediately chase their way inside.
But if they do not open it, it means abandoning dozens of men.
Either they take the risk, or they lower their own morale.
It was a method the barbarians had used every so often since long ago.
The North had such a deep grudge against the barbarians that even if they did not want to fall for it,
it was hard to endure without taking the bait of their provocation.
“There’s no need to force our way inside! It’s enough if we make them close the gate! We just have to deal with the ones who fail to get in!”
“Chase them!!”
The barbarians charged wildly while making bizarre sounds.
Their appearance was designed to breed even greater fear.
Fear paralyzes the opponent’s reason even further.
The riders, approaching the gate in a daze, shouted for it to be opened.
But the gate did not open immediately. Time dragged on.
Were those inside discussing whether they should open it or not?
Even in the meantime, the barbarians continued closing the distance.
Now they truly had to decide. Any later would be too late.
In the end, the gate opened. The riders tried to enter.
In time with that, the barbarians charged forward with savage cries.
Arrows flew at them, but they could block this much easily enough.
The defensive wall was not high, so there were not that many arrows flying either.
“There is no need to overdo it! Just cause as much confusion as possible and…”
—Pababababak!
A familiar sound reached the barbarians’ ears.
It was the sound of arrows. They were tearing through the air as they flew in.
They quickly raised their shields and reduced the area they exposed.
Soon, arrows poured down and began striking here and there.
But perhaps the distance had been miscalculated, for they did not reach.
A few men were hit by arrows, but that was all.
Rather, the sight raised the barbarians’ morale.
Arrows they could not even shoot properly. Was that not laughable?
The arrows even looked strange, as if they had done something to them.
Something had been tied to them. Had they perhaps written letters?
A few of the barbarians even tried to collect the arrows outright.
Since steel was precious in their lands, even arrowheads were worth gathering.
On a battlefield, even a single spearhead or a single sword was too valuable to waste.
If they were arrows, they were worth picking up even while taking a risk.
“This is enough. We must not push any further and give the imperial bastards what they want. Slowly fall ba…”
The next moment, a roar they had never experienced before filled the surroundings.
—Kwaaang!! Boom!!
—Bababoom!!
“Aaaaargh!!”
“Wh-what is that!!”
“L-lightning?”
Aside from thunder, there was nothing that could make the world shake to such a degree.
Or perhaps rocks falling and shattering in a vast mountain range.
But what had just happened was neither lightning nor rock breaking apart.
Right before their eyes, crimson flames were billowing.
“Wh-what happened!?”
“Aaaaargh!”
“F-fire rose up! Fire suddenly rose up!!”
Was it a fire attack by the imperial bastards? But they had never seen any oil.
At that moment, another group of arrows began to fall.
This time, they were a little farther back. And immediately afterward, the roar began again.
—Kwaaaang! Bang!!
“Uwaaaagh!!”
“Haaah!!”
“What is it? What is it!”
Everyone was so shocked that they could not close their mouths. This was truly the first time they had seen anything like it.
Flames were suddenly spreading in all directions along with the sound of thunder?
What kind of magic had the imperial bastards used? What on earth was that?
—Dudududu!!
Not missing the moment, the imperial riders began their charge again.
What was different from before was that all their earlier clumsiness had vanished.
At the front, Sedrun was commanding them in perfect order.
“Kill only the ones standing there in a daze! Leave the ones who run!”
It was a pity. It would have been truly wonderful if they could have pulled this off in a real battle.
But he was satisfied. Since something like that had appeared, change would come to the North as well.
Feeling relieved, Sedrun blew off a barbarian’s head in one stroke.