(It should be okay… I think. But yeah, if Totila turns out to be a really nice guy, I might reconsider a bit.)
Perhaps because Todd was Japanese in his past life, he has a bad habit of wanting to support the losing side, like a fan of the underdog.
The fact that Ho is still alive is precisely the reason for that.
For the sake of uniting Ho’s clan, it would have been more convenient if he had died.
But thanks to keeping him alive, Todd has been able to select spies and messengers, lend enhanced equipment without worrying about betrayal, and more.
Just like with Ho, he considers the merits on the scales… but this is a problem that involves their kingdom.
Surely, as long as Totila remains Totila, as long as he calls himself the king of the mountain people and turns his fangs towards them, reconciliation with him seems impossible.
And…there was Garu and what happened to his sister.
He likely deserved at least the right to take revenge on Totila in return for serving Todd.
Todd and the others’ morning passed leisurely by.
Even knowing unprecedentedly massive battles would occur in a few days, their lives did not change one bit.
The place chosen as the site of the decisive battle was the Oozono Plain, located a bit beyond the foot of Mount Sheila.
It was hemmed in by ranges to the north and Lake Kaka to the south, with dense forests to the east, and was an innocuous flat land.
Todd’s group, who had first arrived at Mount Sheila, were arrayed to the north, while Totila’s group who arrived later were to the south, sandwiched between the lake and the forest.
Todd’s tribe numbered 2,500 against Totila’s army of around 5,000.
Despite the nearly double difference in numbers, Todd deliberately did not recruit children.
Considering what would happen after this, the children had to survive.
In order to reverse the difference in numbers and minimize casualties to the utmost limit, he intended to settle things in a lightning war with a lightning-fast decision.
“The weather today is clear, but the waves run high.”
“…This is at the foot of the mountain, we can’t see the sea.”
“I know, I just said it on a whim.”
Under the sunny sky, Todd stood in formation with his own army.
At the very front alongside Todd as a matter of course stood Knight Raienbach.
Behind them followed Landon and company, with 800 mountain people each sitting astride horses on standby.
Even seeing it up close, the difference in numbers was definitely large.
In order to fill that gap with quality of armaments, it was unavoidable that some level of forcible and unreasonable demands would have to be pushed through.
Incidentally, Haruto and the others had already been pulled back from the frontlines, and sent ahead first back to the city of Rynsgaya Kingdom .
Since the research could somehow proceed as long as they were present, Todd had forcibly sent them back.
Haruto had a face like an abandoned puppy, but Renge was dragging him back by the scruff of his neck so he’d probably be fine.
Battles between mountain people had no preliminaries like envoy exchanges and surrender demands before the battle.
The battle would begin as soon as the tribal chief gave the order.
For that reason both camps were already standing with tense expressions, waiting for the battle to start.
After some time had passed, a single bird came flying to Todd.
Seeing the white cloth wrapped around the bird’s leg, he nodded.
Todd looked to Raienbach, then to Landon’s group behind, and shouted out loudly.
Momentum was important in battle.
Especially in battles between mountain people that lacked things like troop formations and tactics, its importance increased even more.
Simply advance forward, and utterly rout the enemy through brute force.
It was somewhat savage, but that was what would most inspire the battle spirit of the mountain people.
“Win it in the shortest time possible! Full army wedge formation, charge!”
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A roar went up from the warriors.
The valorous cry of thousands of troops shook the earth, startling flocks of birds roosting in the nearby forests into flight.
“Let’s go, Rein. We’ll end a battle like this quickly. Frontal breakthrough!”
“I shall accompany you.”
Todd and Rein’s mobility vastly exceeded the speed of the mountain people’s cavalry behind them.
They advanced so far ahead from their own battle lines that they looked detached from them, kicking off the battle by themselves in a two-man charge rather than just one.
Unlike Todd, Totila seemed to be at the rear of his own formation, with the men at the head seeming to be warriors directly serving under him.
Todd spurred Shiranui forward.
With no stealth attacks or holding back, a literal full powered charge.
In fact, this was the first time since getting on Shiranui that he had exerted his full might.
Shiranui’s power was simply too strong just for mock battles.
Unconsciously, the feeling that if he went all out either Shiranui would break or the opponent would be badly injured had restrained his power.
However, gaining momentum with the first blow was important this time.
The situation of charging alone and the uplifting mood of the bizarre battlefield of battle drew out Todd’s power to the limit, driving Shiranui.
“Hah!”
Shiranui raised the greatsword Kusanagi overhead in a reverse grip stance.
The full powered blow unleashed bisected both warrior and horse.
Flesh severed, bones shattered, the warrior split cleanly in two fell to the ground on either side with heavy, dull thuds.
Jumping straight upward from there, a rain of arrows poured down precisely where he had just been.
While he had intended to leap lightly, perhaps he had strained too hard as he overshot from momentum right into the middle of the enemy camp.
Since the mountain people had already begun charging they were all moving at incredible speed.
Therefore when he landed, the one right beneath him was turned to minced meat.
And right before his eyes, cavalry from the enemy plunging their charge towards him.
With enemy soldiers on either side trying to pass him by to the sides, he was already surrounded on three sides if he discounted those beginning to gain distance behind him.
But that was convenient in its own way here. This time he turned to the side, holding his sword horizontally, and spun around the axis of his right leg.
The swung Kusanagi indiscriminately cut down living creatures around him whether they were horses or humans.
Although the five cavalry around him were either blown away or toppled over by that attack, obviously since this place was deep in enemy territory, he was surrounded on all sides only by enemies.
And one cavalryman who had luckily gotten clear of that previous attack now plunged towards Todd.
Since it was at the timing when he was trying to stop his slashing momentum, he received the mounted attack head-on.
Combined with the abrupt forced stopping and spinning subjecting his body to g-forces and then the impact as well, he almost reflexively vomited stomach acids from his mouth.
However, the machine itself had taken no damage, and Todd immediately halted the horse and grabbed its neck, throwing the torso forward away from him.
“Gyah!”
“Gwaa!”
“You fool!”
The following cavalry whose bones were crushed and others rendered unable to fight from Todd hurling an entire horse at them had clearly not anticipated getting horses thrown at them.
By that point the anomaly had likely been noticed, as the area around Todd opened up like a hole, and the cavalry advancing from the front either stopped or skirted around it moving forward.
“Man…can’t let up, huh.”
Todd approached an overturned cavalryman and stabbed Kusanagi up from below.
If he kept his distance arrows might be fired at him.
He intended to draw them into close combat to avoid getting shot by arrows.
The mountain person with a greatsword stabbed through his body did not let this chance escape, further driving the sword into himself and grabbing the blade with both hands.
But to Shiranui with monstrous strength, that action was clearly a mistake.
“Even if you do that, all it does it let me utilize you better!”
Todd jumped once more, and lifting both the man and Kusanagi stabbed into him, swung them down towards the densely packed area up ahead.
After seeing several more people blown away, he looked back towards his rear guard.
“Your Highness! You’re too far ahead!”
Unlike Todd, Raienbach had of course not been doing such nonsensical actions of repeatedly jumping around the battlefield.
However, he had simply been knocking cavalry off their horses with thrusts, clearing space ahead of him with wide swings, slipping through gaps in the mounted soldiers while making a beeline straight towards Todd.
While he felt his own actions were nonsensical as well, for Raienbach to be doing that much in the middle of a massive enemy horde was also extreme.
Looking back, the mountain people were trying to force open the gap the two of them had made, advancing forward through that opening.
Glancing forward just before he dropped, he felt like just three more jumps would allow him to reach the enemy headquarters.
Some traps had been set…but maybe he should just directly head straight for Totila instead like this.
Shiranui’s performance was just that overpowering.
Even taking mounted charges, as long as dozens of attacks were not focused only on him there would be no issues.
By now Todd could even use the second-tier water magic recovery spell.
Even if his organs took damage, he could just heal it so there would be no problems.
The only possible issue was that if he continued fighting recklessly at his current pace, he might run out of magical power faster than he anticipated.
But even then he wouldn’t run dry for at least a few dozen minutes probably.
It likely wouldn’t be that big a deal.
He landed heavily, turning another two people into minced meat, and this time the mountain people began gradually falling back.
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