Into the Fray

It was an uphill battle even from the start.

Even during their long march, the forces of Dietrich fief knew the battle ahead would not be an easy one, but it was only now as they crashed upon the wall of enemy soldiers that they understood the magnitude of what they strove to accomplish.

Armored soldiers pushed desperately against one another, each side struggling to gain purchase against the other. Unlike the war being waged in the north, Revelo duchy’s civil war was not a theater for the glorious heroics of knights, but a bloody battlefield that was drenched in the sweat and tears of common men, all of them fighting for the ideals that they believed in whether that was simply duty, money, or what they thought was right.

“Forward!” Marilyn cried as she cleaved a path through a stream of soldiers, her sword slicing through flesh and steel with equal ease as she tore apart the battlefield. She fought recklessly, diving through the men brave enough to stand in her way without pause, her mind focused solely on the thought of avenging the duke, her former lord.

Emboldened by the carnage the senior knight wrought, Dietrich fief’s soldiers followed in the wake of Marilyn’s bloodstained trail, her bloodlust fueling their own. Though the Castellia Unit’s march had been slow to start, they had gradually caught up with the main force throughout the next two days and now descended upon the enemy together with the baron’s main army.

More than accustomed to wanton bloodshed, the criminals and vagabonds comprising the Castellia Unit felt at home in the chaos of the battlefield, wielding their panoply of weapons with a great deal of effectiveness. While there was certainly a benefit in the standardization of equipment for permanent large-scale forces like a fief’s private army, the unpredictability of the unit’s weaponry composition allowed them to sow mass confusion in the enemies that they engaged, tearing through their ranks before the trained soldiers quickly began to adjust to the unfamiliar weapons.

Meanwhile, Medrauta and Riku sat in the rear with the archers, watching the scene of bloody pandemonium unfold before them. With both their noblewomen shoring up some much needed numbers for Dietrich fief’s small unit of ranged infantry, the two were relegated to guard duty despite their burning urge to fight on the front lines in an effort to hasten the push toward Revelo Castle.

As it turns out, Bastiche had been prepared for their imminent attack despite Medrauta and Viviane managing to intercept Henri’s missive. If anything, Medrauta was willing to bet that Bastiche himself was capable of seeing through the eyes of Amelia’s familiars as well, allowing him to stay informed on the movements of Dietrich fief. Because of that, the other junior knights like Trianna and Pamela had been assigned to the supply column as guards in case Bastiche decided to send a mobile strike force to cut off their support during the siege.

“Y’know, I never thought you’d be wearing heavy armor with the way you fight.” Medrauta remarked as she glanced at Riku. This far back from the front lines, she didn’t have much to pay attention to, especially with Marilyn and Dietrich’s few but fierce knights laying waste to the enemy formation.

Riku simply shrugged in response. “I didn’t think I’d get pushed to the rear. This is the first real battle I’ve fought, but during simulations, Lady Sakura is capable of maintaining her Crest on me even from the rear. I thought we would be doing the same here. And you? Do you not wear armor when you wade into battle?”

“My mobility is my lifeline,” Medrauta answered, shaking her head. “I’d probably do a lot worse in heavy armor.”

Riku nodded, recalling how the silver-haired knight fought during their match. “I suppose so. I’ve not seen you participate in mass combat, but I gather it must be a lot more difficult than in the arena.”

“Not particularly. I just have to—” Medrauta frowned as her gaze drifted to the left, sighting an anomaly appearing on the battlefield. The silver-haired knight watched as blood and men flew through the air as if a geyser had erupted from underneath their feet, the sudden disruption causing their left flank to retreat rapidly.

Narrowing her eyes, Medrauta could pick out a few enemy soldiers as well as an individual clad in heavy armor who wielded a massive greatsword with inhuman strength and speed. In other words, a knight. While they were still nowhere near the archery unit that Medrauta was stationed at, she knew that could change in an instant if she were to allow this hostile knight to devastate their forces unchecked.

“They’ve begun sending out their knights.” Medrauta said, the tension in her body causing her mount to prepare for battle. Before heading out, she’d dropped by the stables to acquire a combat-trained warhorse, allowing her to be much more effective on horseback compared to the carriage-driving horse she was forced to ride during her brief stint when retreating from Helfried.

“Already?” Riku frowned. The mere appearance of enemy knights confused the foreigner who was unfamiliar with the battle tactics that those in the empire employed. In Higashi, it was normal to hold knights in reserve for the final battle when fighting defensively, conserving their strength and stamina to enable a more devastating counterattack against the exhausted assailants.

Today was the morning of the fourth day, and Dietrich fief’s forces had only just arrived on the doorstep of Revelo fief’s territories, making it extremely unlikely for them to encounter knights, especially when this attack was mounted against a simple city that held no real strategic value for the defenders.

Riku had been sure that tactics in the empire would be similar to those at home due to the baron’s battle plans centered around using the fief’s few knights to quickly drive their way to the castle instead of fighting lengthy pitched battles, but he was proven wrong by the sudden appearance of a hostile knight. However, the appearance of a knight wasn’t the biggest problem. Rather, there was something else he was much more concerned about.

“Do they bear a Crest?” Riku asked hurriedly. “This isn’t the arena, so we should take out their noble as soon as possible.”

“Doesn’t look like it, no. I’m not sure how you all do it in Higashi, but nobles usually aren’t anywhere near the battlefield here. I mean, just look at where the command camp is.” Medrauta twisted slightly in her saddle, pointing behind them at the small burgundy tops of several wide tents in the far distance. Isolated from combat, the baron, his council, and his tacticians observed the battle safely from a great distance.

Riku frowned. The more he discovered about tactics in the empire, the less he understood. “What of their Crests, then...? Can they bestow Crests upon their knights from such a distance?”

“Some can,” Medrauta replied. “The nobles we’re working with? Probably not.”

“But that’s... Are you not giving up a massive tactical advantage? Even if it was disadvantageous for your country’s nobility to stand so close to the battlefield, could they not at least shelter themselves in range to bestow their Crests?”

Medrauta merely shrugged. “I don’t make the rules. And besides, it’s not exactly my problem since I doubt Viviane will content herself with sitting that far back. I mean... Look at her.”

Sure enough, Viviane sat on a tall horse that stood next to Sakura’s own mount, the two noblewomen emptying their quivers at prodigious speeds. Among the archers, only Krista was capable of matching their shots, and even then, neither Krista nor Viviane could compare to Sakura’s merciless accuracy and speed that cut down swathes of soldiers within seconds.

“...Lady Sakura looks like she’s done this before.” Medrauta observed.

“...Yes. As a member of Clan Kazeyumi, Sakura has been made to serve in battle on three separate occasions.”

Medrauta allowed herself to marvel at the three women firing barrage after barrage of arrows into the enemy formation for a few more seconds before shaking her head. “I’m going to reinforce the left flank. Will you be alright alone here?”

Riku grinned. “Of course. I doubt anyone will get close with that storm of arrows.”

Medrauta gave the foreign knight a quick smile before clapping her heels against the sides of her mount, causing it to shoot off into the distance. While she wanted to stay near Viviane, Medrauta knew that she would have a much better chance of defeating the hostile knight quicker compared to Riku who was still slightly exhausted from caring for Sakura over the past few weeks.

With a single motion, Medrauta freed her sword from its scabbard, riding straight toward her target. Though Viviane had been focused on thinning the enemy forces, Medrauta had no doubt that her lady had already noticed her departure.

Don’t worry, Vivi! I’ll make it quick!