Torose fortress, meeting room.

Count Rikat Guiscard and his surviving aristocrats stood along the right side of the long table. On the right side, reinforcement leader - Leonheardt, Myla, Irijina, Sekrit, Mirai, Suzy, Gheyna an me.

"Now then, I’ll explain the current state of battle."

A map was spread out and coloured tokens representing enemy and ally were placed on it.

Leonheardt would like this method.

Denzel started to elaborate.

"The Saxon-Fanoss army has a total of approximately 3,000."

The enemy was split up into three armies, 1,000 in the west, 1,000 in the south, 1,000 in the east, with the east army close to the newly annexed Florence port city state.

Hm, did I do the math wrong?

"Why have they pushed so far――"

"The enemy has a high-speed vanguard consisting of pure cavalry――"

Myla and Denzel were exchanging comments.

Apparently Saxon-Fanoss used a vanguard of 1,000 cavalry to throw the Guiscard army into confusion.

Guiscard was not able to respond to being crushed and surrounded, leaving them with less than 1,500 forces to work with.

"About the enemy’s supply――"

Leonheardt spoke up and then Barat replied.

Ooh, it’s a battle of the gloomy staff officers.

Leonheardt asked if any resources were left when they retreated and Denzel affirmed it.

Jim suddenly shouted out how they would never take any goods from the citizens.

As I thought, Jim had a personality that’s easy to understand.

Why was he snapping at me even though we’ve never met before?

"They made a forced unloading at Florence――"

"Saxon-Fanoss had a large transport ship――"

The supply discussion continued. I should had brought Casa Brankovic here from Castall.

"The enemy charged with the large transport ship――"

"Half was sunk, but the attack from land on our naval base――"

The mood seemed heavy, let me lighten it up.

I wrote “I love you, my beautiful Myla” while pretending to take notes on a piece of paper and showed it to her.

"――!?"

She turned red in embarrassment and then got angry. Nice, it was worth doing for that reaction.

Leonheardt should learn from her example.

"Despite experiencing an unprecedented economic boom, Saxon-Fanoss had that many ships in such a short time......"

"Judging by the design, they used the Florence’s......"

"And their source of money......"

Next is Gheyna.

"――aau."

Gheyn blushed a little and then writes “don’t tease me” on a piece of paper. Her dalish long ears moved up and down as if could not contain her happiness. 

I got a nice reaction on this side too.

"Sacrificing the expensive large ship――"

"That’s the enemy’s strong will to invade――"

How about Irijina?

I wrote “freshly roasted bone-in meat”, “beef stew with pumpkin and tomato”, “piping hot apple pie” and then showed it to her.

"......muu."

Irijina’s stomach growled loudly, halting everyone’s conversation briefly.

For her stomach to rumble just by looking at a few words, that’s impressive.

"Could you let us know the status of your army so we can keep our coordination tight?"

Leonheardt started his explanation, 

"We had reinforcement from Monfort faction and Doucy faction of 600 men..."

I drew a picture of a dick for Suzy. The slutty girl simpered and leered at me.

"The ultimate goal is to push them out of Torose, but first let’s protect the current defense line and take the opportunity to recapture or destroy Ilkhanate, the enemy’s supply base. Move according to that plan."

Count Rikat Guiscard closed the meeting with that.

It’s over at last.

Honestly, there’s no use worrying about why they lost or what they did with the supply.

We could leave that for after since the only thing that matters now was fighting and winning.

The enemy had more cavalry than us and would use them to disrupt us.

Knowing that was enough.

"If we get 10,000 reinforcements―― no, 5,000, we could make a counterattack."

Barat mumbled.

It’s not like I have a say on that.

"Monfort-Doucy coalition is considering additional reinforcements. I’m sure they’ll send more soon."

That’s what Gabriel Montfort told me to say.

There was still a chance that they dispatch more so I was not lying.

"Goodness...... this great count will also gladly welcome the great marquis’s army."

Jim’s words had so much spite.

I didn’t think he would be the bad-mouthing type. I wondered why he had so much hate.

I was not going to bother improving a macho man’s impression of me.

It’s more important to prepare for the fight.

When I stood up, Suzy and Malty follow me, taking the documents and my hat and cape respectively.

I felt Jim’s hostility until the end.

***

A Few Days Later. 

"Is it about time for the enemy to come?"

I stretched on top of the walls of Torose fortress.

"Yessir! We will definitely destroy the enemy and display Orlais’s prestige!"

I have a commander of the Montfort army corps beside me, err Norta...... Norto...... North...... something barto Ken.

I’ll just call him Ken.

"I made sure to tell the soldiers not to show Mister Hiro a disgraceful fight!"

This guy seemed to be overly serious and maintained his straight posture in my presence.

It’s not exactly a bad thing, just a little tiring.

"According to the scouts, the enemy is roughly over 3,000 strong and advancing at us in a straight line with their siege weapons."

I’m sandwiched between two men, Leonheardt and Ken.

Please stop, I felt four times more tired.

Torose was a mid-sized city to the west of the central region connected by a wide road.

Even a child knew that the enemy would aim for this city first before going southward.

Holding such strategic importance, the city had an appropriate level of defense with gates and walls even more sturdy-looking than Baron Jim's fortress.

The walls were made of durable stone and ranges from 5 to 6 meters in height.

"Enemy spotted. They’re approaching from the west!"

The lookout yelled and then alarm bells got rung throughout the city.

Soldiers moved with a sense of urgency while the Guiscard guards help evacuating the citizens to more robust buildings.

"Everyone, to your positions! Archers to the ramparts, infantry divide yourselves among the fire extinguishing personnel in front of the gates. Cavalry wait on standby in the city!"

"It’s time......"

"We have Mister Hiro with us. We aren’t going to lose."

The soldiers didn’t seem unnerved.

It’s reassuring since this was the royal army infantry’s first battle and also a demoralizing siege defense.

"This is actually my first siege defense. I’ve always been on the attacking side."

"I’m skilled in defense so allow me to assist you. I won’t let you down."

Myla proudly puffed out her voluptuous chest.

"Of course, I’m going to be counting on you." I pressed my index finger repeatedly at her spongy breast.

"Yes! If you poke my chest with that finger, I’m really going to get mad though."

I cleared my throat and folded my arms behind my back.

The fight had begun.

"Commander Hiro, I have something to say."

Who is it now, at such a time.

Oh, it’s the mayor of Torose, Baron...... He greeted us when we came in, but I forgot his name.

"When the enemy begins their attack...... I believe that you and your countrymen will win, but the citizens are still in the city."

Despite Torose being a mid-sized city, it housed several thousands of citizens.

Evacuating all of them would take too long and it wasn’t safe for them outside the walls.

"If the walls get demolished and battle breaks out in the city, there will be major casualties...... when that development is likely, if you could surrender as soon......"

"Come on now."

Don’t be thinking about what to do when we lose before the fight even begins.

"I know a commander has responsibilities, but I’m responsible for the lives of the citizens."

"Everything is progressing as planned. There is no need to worry at all."

When Leonheardt answered calmly, the mayor reluctantly stepped down.

"So what’s the real answer?"

"In the worst case scenario where we have to conduct urban warfare, we can still force our way through the center of the enemy and escape in the chaos."

I knew it.

That’s the kind of guy you are.

"Let’s fight well so it doesn’t come to that."

The enemy advanced slowly from the west.

They’re in a standard siege formation with shieldbearers fortifying the front, archers following behind them, spearmen forming a neat line in the center, and then cavalry and light infantry deployed on both wings.

As reported, they had over 3,000 soldiers.

"A formation by the books without any openings. It’s likely they will stay away from any clever schemes."

Like Leonheardt said, they would try engaging first.