Volume 5 Chapter 16 Interlude： Simulated Combat II
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”The reason I called everyone together today is to discuss the summary of the mock battle that Lord Kent conducted with the newly established unit, ‘Black Wing’.”
I had summoned 5 key figures from the Estfort army, including General Garvey, Fristoph, Akebus, Ane, and information strategist-dearu Alphonse, to the meeting.
Everyone had suffered a devastating defeat against ‘Black Wing’ in the mock battle.
”…Commander Kondrad. That thing is like a flying fortress… I had heard the rumors, but to see that level of defense and firepower while flying is something else…”
Garvey started the discussion, expressing his thoughts.
Since I had allowed open discussion in advance, I wanted everyone to speak their minds.
Garvey, fearing the Dragonewt’s dive breath, had dispersed the unit, making it impossible to mount an effective counterattack and resulting in a tactical defeat.
”As lord Garvey said, we are on the ground while they are in the air, so most of our weapons can’t reach them… and if they have high resistance to magic… I can’t find a breakthrough.”
Fristoph had also tried to take down the Dragonewt using the [Magician] job holders among his subordinates during the mock battle, but low-level magic couldn’t inflict even a scratch, and they were utterly defeated.
”My clan’s archers also didn’t achieve much effect… their scales have a defense surpassing high-quality Steel Armor, making it impossible for any average archer to inflict damage…”
Akebus had been showering arrows at the flying Dragonewt with his Godard archers, but the hard scales deflected them.
”My cavalry was able to inflict some damage on the hovering Dragonewt, but it was impossible to deal a fatal blow…”
Akebus also shot a bow and arrow at Dragonewt, who was flying around with Godard archers, but was bounced off by hard scales.
”My turret cavalry also dealt damage to Dragonnewt flying over me, but it was impossible to get enough wounds to shoot down…”
Ane was instructing the cavalry to engage in anti-air fire, but the Elitzina carbine, originally designed for close-range shooting, could barely penetrate the scales of the Dragonewt flying above, failing to deliver a fatal blow.
This means that the possibility of war with the Black Dragon Dukedom, which possesses the largest Dragonewt forces, cannot be dismissed, making the establishment of tactics a pressing issue for those in command of the army.
”According to reports, in the recent Travers Incident defense war, the casualty ratio for the Dragonewt units was 1:200. It seems that by employing the Dragonewt in a concentrated manner, their losses were dramatically minimized. By the way, of the 25,000 soldiers deployed, only 2,500 returned. Even with the infantry’s coordination, the Dragonewt literally wiped out 90% of the fighting force; they truly are the infantry’s nemesis.”
Alphonse was calculating the strength based on the information received, but all that could be heard was his sigh.
”The only one to inflict damage was the Barrage Shooting conducted by Lord Kent’s Hunting Group, ‘Black Bullet,’ which established a dense line of fire using firearms…”
I had heard that ‘Black Bullet’ was able to shoot them down thanks to a newly developed prototype magic gun called the ‘machine gun’──the new model, AKMK-II, had reduced the weight issues of the initial version.
”That was something else. It was a training round filled with paint, but it turned bright red. No matter how tough a Dragonewt is, it would be shot down after taking that many hits.”
”It’s certainly impressive, but… our Estfort army’s priority for supplies should have been last…”
Garvey and Fristoph had asked if they could raise the supply priority after witnessing the power of the ‘machine gun,’ but unfortunately, the workshop was too busy with producing magical firearms, so the production priority for machine guns was set to the lowest rank.
I had heard that our army wouldn’t receive supplies for several months.
”…I’ve applied, but there’s no point in demanding what doesn’t exist.”
For now, if we didn’t prepare countermeasures against the Dragonewt with what we have, then the humiliating defeat in the mock battle would surely repeat in real combat.
”If it’s not flying… if it’s on the ground, we can fight it, but if it flies, we can’t even charge with cavalry… Mr. Akebus, do you have any strategies for dealing with flying monsters?”
”Hmm… for flying monsters, wind attribute magic does double damage, but… they have high magic resistance… After that, we could use the Big Spider’s ‘sticky threads’ to ensnare them or use Lightning Orbs filled with Thunderstones to disable their sight and hearing to make them faint and crash.”
I was fascinated by the Lightning Orbs that came up in the conversation between Akebus and Ane.
I had also been out hunting monsters many times, but I had been eliminating flying monsters with arrows or magic, so I wasn’t aware of the existence of Lightning Orbs.
”Akebus… what exactly are those Lightning Orbs?”
”Oh? You didn’t know, Kondrad? I learned about them from the monster hunters who stopped by the village. When thrown after activating the command words, they emit a loud explosive sound and intense light after a few seconds, which disorients the sight and hearing, causing flying monsters to faint and crash.”
”Ah, now that you mention it, I remember the monster hunters using something like that for hunting. They were sold at the Hunter Guild, weren’t they?”
”That’s right. As Fristoph said, they do sell them, though they are a bit pricey. By the way, when I was in Godard village, there were also monster hunters nearby digging for Thunderstones.”
The Lightning Orb seemed to be a hunting tool used by the southern monster hunters.
”Akebus. Do you think it’ll be effective if we throw it at the Dragonewts?”
”I can’t say for sure, but it might at least be able to slow them down.”
”According to the information, the Dragonewts have highly developed hearing, enabling them to pick up the Dragon Language, which we can only hear as high-frequency noise, even from a distance. The loud noise from the Lightning Orb you mentioned, Lord Akebus, might have an effect.”
”Shall we give it a try…”
I decided to use the Lightning Orb during the mock battle against the Black Wing, following Alphonse’s advice.
Later, I purchased about 2 hundred Lightning Orbs from the Hunter Guild, using the funds I earned from selling the monster materials gathered during the army’s outdoor training.
In the central army, such abundant resources would be unattainable, but in this southern army, we could raise a fortune by hunting monsters under the guise of outdoor training.
Thanks to this ample funding, the soldiers’ motivation was high, and they were growing into elite troops far surpassing the central army in both equipment and skill levels.
I was convinced that if we could establish a strategy against the Dragonewts, we would undoubtedly become one of the kingdom’s finest armies.
The day arrived when I asked Lady Ludmila for a rematch in our mock battle.
Our Estfort army mobilized a force of one thousand men.
On the other hand, Black Wing, under Lady Ludmila’s command, had about a hundred Dragonewts participating.
The ratio was 1:10, but Lady Ludmila also wanted to gain practical experience with Dragonewt concentration operations, which led to this ratio.
Today, Lord Kent joined the mock battle to evaluate our strategy against the Dragonewts.
If we could achieve satisfactory results for Lord Kent, I planned to have the Lightning Orb supplied as military equipment from the Hunter Guild.
”Kondrad, are you really going to do this with such a disparity in forces? We were utterly defeated last time with a 1:50 ratio, remember?”
Lord Kent, sitting next to me, asked with a puzzled expression.
”Indeed, last time was a disastrous defeat for our Estfort army. This time, we are conducting the mock battle under even harsher conditions, but we have been training tirelessly to establish new tactics. I believe we can meet Lord Kent’s expectations this time.”
”I see… I’m looking forward to it. Ludmila seems to want to test the Dragonewt’s Concentration operation, so be careful. I really hope there won’t be any casualties during training… If there are injuries, I’ve asked Lana to call the medical team from the branch, so it should be manageable.”
”Thank you for your consideration. It may be Lady Ludmila and the others who will need treatment.”
I smirked and stood up, walking towards the prepared Estfort army beside Lord Kent.
* * *
Standing before the soldiers who had finished lining up in the plains on the outskirts, I decided to once again convey the significance of the upcoming mock battle to them.
”In the dictionary of the Estfort army, there are no words for 2 defeats! We will win and crush the inflated noses of the Dragonewts! Only by meeting Your Excellency Kent’s expectations do we find our purpose! Everyone, strive with all your might!”
”Ohh!”
A thousand soldiers raised a roar like thunder.
The soldiers’ motivation was at its peak.
After all, if we lost this mock battle, our supplies would be significantly allocated to the Dragonewt forces.
Even though we could earn for ourselves, replenishing and reorganizing would incur costs, so the distribution of military supplies was a matter of life and death.
Lady Ludmila had agreed to the conditions for the mock battle, stating that if we won, she wanted the supplies for the regular army to be shared with my private army, dear Black Wing.
The Black Wing also seemed to want to receive supplies from military resources since their main forces, the Dragonewts, consumed large amounts of iron and coal.
Fortunately, the Southern Army was under the overall command of Lord Arbalest, but it was essentially Lord Kent who was in charge, allowing for the distribution of supplies.
Lord Kent had been granted deputy command authority over Sir Arbalest’s Abyss Vena defense squad.
If Sir Arbalest fell into unconsciousness, the command of the entire Southern Army would shift to Lord Kent.
”Now then, shall we prepare for battle… Garvey! Fristoph! Don’t let your guard down protecting Akebus and Ane!”
”Understood, Commander Kondrad… We don’t need you to remind us that those 2 are the key players this time.”
”That’s right. Even if we become unable to fight, as long as Sir Akebus and Ms. Ane remain, we should still have a chance…”
Thus, each general led their units to deploy in the designated combat training zone for the mock battle.
Soon, Lord Kent’s [Loud Voice] was heard.
’Starting now, we will conduct the mock Combat Training between ‘Black Wing’ and the Estfort Army. Let’s begin!’
At Lord Kent’s command, the mock battle commenced.
Lady Ludmila’s Dragonewt squad was launching from over ten kilometers away, so they had to quickly locate the enemy troops.
”Alright! Keep an eye out for aerial observations! Even something as small as a speck can reach us in no time!”
I ordered my subordinates to strengthen the watch.
The sooner they located them, the better prepared we could be for interception, so I wanted them found as quickly as possible.
With no reports of sighting, sweat began to bead on my palms as time passed.
”Enemy sighted!! Approaching rapidly from the northwest!! Approximately a hundred!!”
I directed my gaze to the area reported by my subordinate.
The subordinate reported a hundred, but looking closely, there seemed to be around 70 enemy soldiers.
The spotting officer was a young officer, but it seemed the recent crushing defeat made him overestimate the enemy’s numbers.
”Correction! Look closely! Seventy enemy soldiers are entering from the northwest! The remaining 30 are coming in a separate detachment!”
”I-I’m sorry!”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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