Translator: Sick'NboredCadmar

1/1 chapters

Chapter 267 - The Food Situation of a Large Army

"So that's the Memento family's army... Quite a lot of troops, eh? Must be over 40,000." (Ars)

"That estimate has to be true. But, well, it was said that they had mobilized 100,000 troops." (Payne)

"100,000? That was indeed an exaggeration. It doesn't seem that large to me." (Ars)

"Of course, they must be exaggerating to flaunt their influence more. I'm sure Fontana's done that type of stuff before, too." (Payne)

"I suppose. It's true that just hearing an army of 100,000 is coming your way is enough to scare off many people." (Ars)

"By the way, do you know about the reputation of your army, Ars-sama?" (Payne)

"Eh? What? The Barcan Army? Come to think of it, we've never made any claims about the number of our troops have we?" (Ars)

"No, in fact, the Barcan Army's reputation is already well-known. As for the recent battle against the Arbalest family, it is rumored that you defeated 30,000 of the enemy troops by yourself."

"... Wait a minute. How was it enlarged to that number? Didn't Arbalest only have 8,000 soldiers out on the battlefield at that time?"

"......Well, even defeating 8,000 soldiers would be a great feat, I believe. The blown-up numbers have helped to spread your reputation farther and farther, so you should be happy."

"I feel like someone in a high position is spreading this misinformation. Knowing you Payne, you should know who that person is. Tell me, who's manipulating this information?"

"Oh, that has to be Leon-sama, no? It's your brother-in-law who's been circulating everything around. Incidentally, it's not just limited to that particular battle. All the results achieved by the Barcan Army led by you, Ars-sama, up to now have been publicized with greatly exaggerated figures."

"So it's his doing, huh? And since Leon's doing that, he has been up to something, I presume?"

"Of course. The most important thing is to make people think that Fontana has such a strong person. You, who once destroyed the Keema Cavalry of Uruk all by yourself, one who leads a mighty personal army, someone who has unfathomable strength — the nobles and knights who hear this information will naturally hesitate to attack."

"... If some truths have to be bent to reduce risks of unnecessary fighting, little white lies shouldn't be a problem."

　I went on a reconnaissance mission by airship and continued to fly south.

　And now, I succeeded in catching sight of the army of the Memento family, which was my objective.

　I thought to myself as I watched from above, "How slow."

　Well, that's what happens when 40,000 people are walking one after another.

　But the Mementos seemed to be claiming that their army was about 100,000 strong.

　As Payne had said, this was done with the intention of making their army look bigger by daring to exaggerate it.

　Besides, it is difficult to actually take a glance at the army and immediately grasp the total number of troops.

　Frankly speaking, there were doubts as to whether the 40,000 estimate Fontana had obtained was even accurate.

There was also the presence of an entourage accompanying the army.

　Basically, the larger the size of the army, the more problematic some things become.

　One main problem is the required food.

　To fill the stomachs of tens of thousands of people, a considerable amount of it is needed.

　However, it would be very difficult for the soldiers to carry that food by themselves, considering the situation.

　Even if they loaded the food onto a cart attached to some sort of Familiar, it would not amount to much.

　In fact, they would need to feed the Familiars who were carrying food, which would require a larger amount of food.

　One of the easiest ways to transport large amounts of food is to use a boat or ship.

　As long as the ship stays afloat on the water, the burden it would put on the army is reduced.

　However, there was no river conveniently flowing toward Fontana.

　In that case, the best way to procure food would be to get it while on the march.

　In other words, it is necessary to receive food from noble or knightly territories along the marching route, or to purchase food brought by merchants.

　Therefore, when the army moves, it is sometimes accompanied by people who do not belong to the army.

　Although these merchants with food do not belong to the military, it is difficult to distinguish at a glance who is a merchant and who is not.

　In other words, denying the existence of the exact number of soldiers told of is difficult. There may have been 50,000 soldiers, but 1,000 merchants mixed in and we wouldn't know. The army would be able to get away with saying they had 51,000 soldiers.

"Food is definitely a massive problem when you're talking about this size of an army going into action. Not securing a solid means to feed the soldiers is a threat to the stability."

"I agree. If you seriously try to transport food so that the soldiers do not starve, you will have to allocate almost half of the army to the transportation corps if your route is over land."

"When the battlefield is near, it's easy to sort out stuff. Yet when it's farther and you have to march on expeditions, you have to know the territory beforehand and gain an understanding of the places you can secure food from. Honestly, it's hell."

"Fufu, Kyle-sama had a hard time when you entrusted such heavy duties onto him, Ars-sama. If he were here, it would have been a good learning experience."

"Yeah. I want Kyle to have a position where he commands from a safe place instead of leading soldiers in the battlefield. Anyhow, the Mementos are one of the two noble families of the Three Noble Alliance. If possible, I'd like to see Fontana make peace with them and have the Alliance mend their bonds. Do you think it's possible at this point in time?"

"I honestly don't know ....... It would be a delicate point. They may think it is quicker to win over Fontana here and secure the custody of the king than to reconcile within the Three Noble Alliance."

"Right. Then, let's delay their march a little longer to buy more time.

　I have my own territory and a standing army, so I am well aware of how expensive it is to move so many people and creatures.

　I wonder if it would even be possible that we could settle the matter through discussion and they would turn back after having mobilized so many troops.

Besides, the knights in their army may be looking for glory in war and want to fight.

　They may not retreat quietly.

　Thinking of this, I decided to make a small move to delay the advance of the Memento Army.

CadmarLegend

Hello, hello, all. Thanks for sticking with the story this long even after I had to go on a hiatus with the translations for a while. I was busy and sick. Well, I am still busy and sick. Maybe not the busy part, though. So... I guess I'm just sick? And because I'm sick, I'm off work and not busy. Yeah.

Enough of the chitchat and blabbering. I will confess something... I thought I posted this chapter quite a while ago. Really. Like, 2 weeks ago. Apparently, I scheduled the release wrong (you can schedule when a chapter should automatically be released on Scribble Hub) by a year. What was supposed to be released on "May 17th, 00:00 UTC, 2022" was set for "May 17th, 00:00 UTC, 2023"... so... uh, I guess I'm lucky I noticed it?

Anyhow, I'm sick and bored and decided to pick up the translating again for a while as I don't have a headache. As soon as it appears, however, I will bolt and sleep. Those were the main reasons for no releases for a month-ish. If possible, I would also like to scanlate the manga for this series, but that would be rough at the moment. 

Have a good day.