The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 89
As we entered the tent, we saw Casper and his guys with their heads bowed.
It was General Ironheart who was reprimanding them. General Delbadova was sitting with his arms crossed and eyes tightly shut.
Dorofei and I quietly took our places in a corner.
Ironheart glanced at us briefly and continued his scolding.
“Because of your rash actions, a large-scale battle broke out! As a result, there were 6,000 casualties! They were injured and killed because of you lot! How do you plan to make up for this!”
To this, Casper gritted his teeth and talked back. “I thought that was the best course of action! Wasn’t that why you gave us the authority to freely command our troops in the first place?”
“I didn’t tell you to do so while disobeying the Commander-in-Chief’s orders!”
“If the operation had succeeded, it would have been fine. If Ruan’s troops had arrived on time, we could have killed that giant and retreated!”
To this, Ruan Chase shrugged his shoulders. “I just prioritized the Commander-in-Chief’s orders. Besides, I didn’t like the plan from the start.”
“Ruan…!” As Casper growled, Ruan snorted.
Ironheart, seemingly frustrated, was about to shout again, but General Delbadova stopped him.
“That’s enough, Ironheart. The ultimate responsibility lies with me. It’s all my fault.”
That was true too.
To put it bluntly, if I had been the Commander-in-Chief, I wouldn’t have let this happen. It was obvious that they would act like this, so I would have removed the variable by demoting them or doing something else.
From General Delbadova’s position, it might have been unavoidable. After all, it was the King who appointed them as commanders.
As a general directly under the royal family, Delbadova would have found it difficult to touch that part.
“I’ll take responsibility for this matter later.”
At this, the expressions of Casper’s group brightened, but only for a moment.
“That doesn’t mean your mistakes are erased. We can’t leave officers who disobeyed orders as they are. Casper Millias, Joshua Herald, Denian Geglish. From this point on, I’m stripping you of your troop command authority.”
“But…!? To casually disregard His Majesty’s personnel selection…”
“I’ll explain it well to His Majesty, and that will be that. From now on, you three will serve as my direct officers. Your subordinate troops will be reorganized, so be aware of that.”
Casper was trembling. It was essentially a demotion.
For him, who was impersonating Wade, such a failure is unacceptable. Because even one failure would lead to strong suspicion.
“Please give me one more chance! I have a good plan to lead this war situation!”
“Not needed. We’ve decided to use the strategy proposed by Elaine for that.”
“I… I…!”
He seemed to want to say he was Wade, but facing General Delbadova, he couldn’t quite get the words out.
“Then, since we don’t have time, let’s talk about troop reorganization.”
General Delbadova placed those three’s troops directly under his command.
Then he divided the royal troops he had been commanding among me, Dorofei, and Ruan.
“Ars Elaine and Dorofei Grimwood. I’ll give you my troops. With those troops added, you’ll each lead 3,000 troops. Ruan Chase. The same goes for you.”
So the size of our three units became 9,000. We had essentially become the main force.
Ruan was silently cheering with his fist clenched. On the other hand, Dorofei was crying out, wondering why his troops had increased even more.
* * *
Our army set out as soon as dawn broke.
Our destination was the Bian Mountains where the Beckavia army was stationed. It was our only destination as we could obtain Beckavia’s supply routes there.
To move there, we had to pass through the Iblem Plains. Without that route, we would have to cross too difficult terrain, which we couldn’t manage without supplies.
This was why the enemy tried so hard to hold us back yesterday.
If we advanced too quickly, not only could the timing for their joint attack be off, but we might have chosen a route other than the Iblem Plains.
‘This might have turned out better.’
Whether there was an engagement or not, we were planning to pass through the Iblem Plains to take advantage of the enemy’s strategy. If we hadn’t, the enemy might have harbored unnecessary suspicions.
It might have seemed strange to insist on the Iblem Plains if we had no casualties and advanced quickly.
So yesterday’s battle became a kind of method acting.
The enemy has no suspicion about us passing through the Iblem Plains.
The western army that engaged with us yesterday was following about 800m behind.
And finally, at noon, it happened.
“Enemy troops ahead! All units, enter combat formation!”
The enemy troops appeared, raising dust clouds. It was the Tunkai army.
Their numbers were roughly 30,000.
This put us in a position of being attacked from both front and rear.
In this tactically disadvantageous situation, reinforcements appeared in sync.
“Save the Calliper army!”
Beckavia’s reinforcements struck at the Tunkai army’s flank. Their numbers were also 30,000.
‘This is the turning point.’
Actually, from the enemy’s perspective, it wouldn’t have mattered much if they just fought here.
The numbers were similar anyway.
So while I thought the possibility of an all-out battle was slim, I had considered it. In that case, I planned to convince General Ironheart to partially hand over command of the army and then deliver a decisive blow through tactical combat.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
“Fall back! Retreat!”
As the Beckavian army rushed in, the Tunkai army began to withdraw. The western army that had been following us also departed, bypassing the battlefield.
We couldn’t pursue them.
We didn’t have supplies.
The Beckavian army was bringing several supply wagons. It was to provide us with emergency supplies.
Our soldiers cheered at the sight of those supply wagon convoys.
* * *
The reinforcements from Beckavia had arrived.
Vali Austin, who was in charge as the overall commander, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Fortunately, it seems we made it in time to provide aid, Princess Sophia.”
“…”
“Princess?”
“Ah, yes. It seems so.”
Sophia was feeling a strange sense of discomfort.
‘Why did the enemies attack the Calliper forces?’
From Beckavia’s perspective, the Calliper forces were also quite annoying. They had come to provide support but had only been observing.
It was also strange that the West had launched a surprise attack on those Calliper forces.
‘From what I heard in the report, they preemptively cut off supplies.’
Of course, the method of cutting off supplies was tactically sound. With that one move, the Calliper forces were driven into a corner.
‘Calliper is Calliper. They didn’t even think about restoring supply lines and just came straight up.’
Whatever the case, the Calliper forces had entered the battle and, due to the lack of supplies, ended up in a situation where they were being pursued.
And in that process, General Landon Crow of Tunkai advanced southward with 30,000 troops towards where the Calliper forces were.
In that situation, Sophia had no choice.
She couldn’t just watch as the Calliper forces were completely wiped out.
So she had to organize reinforcements equal to the number of troops Tunkai had deployed, and even prepare supply wagons to provide support.
“Is something bothering you…?”
“A little. Let’s go meet the Calliper officers first.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After ordering other officers to handle the supplies, Sophia headed towards the Calliper camp.
Vali Austin, thinking Sophia might be tense, tried to lighten the mood with a joke.
“By the way, did you know? They say that Wade is currently in the Calliper camp.”
“Wade?”
“Yes, Casper Millias, the prodigy of Marquis Millias. It’s said that within Calliper, he’s considered to be Wade.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Haha, so you think so too, Princess.”
“It’s a petty trick to incite the people. Using idolization for political maneuvering. Even going as far as impersonation. It’s utterly disgusting.”
“Still, please don’t say anything harsh when you meet Casper. I hear he’s favored by the Saleon faction, one of the two major factions in Calliper. There’s no benefit in provoking him unnecessarily.”
“I know.”
Upon arriving where the Calliper officers were, Sophia was so shocked that her jaw dropped.
“W-W-Wade!?”
Sophia was astonished to see Ars’ face. Ars, who had somewhat anticipated Sophia’s arrival, winked while putting his index finger to his nose.
“Shh!”
“…!”
At that gesture, Sophia quickly regained her composure.
“Princess? What do you mean by Wade?”
“Ah, no. That’s right. Calliper has Casper Millias! He’s called Wade, after all! Oh my. Hoho…”
From Sophia’s position, she couldn’t reveal Ars’ true identity.
Unlike before, there was no reason to provoke Ars now that she was allied with Crossing.
“What are you saying, Princess? Earlier, you said it was ridiculous…”
“Be quiet, Vali!”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The Calliper side was equally surprised by Sophia’s reaction.
To think that the genius princess would acknowledge Casper as Wade.
Delbadova looked puzzled but extended his hand nonetheless. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Delbadova Leguin, the overall commander of the army.”
“Vali Austin. I’m in charge of Beckavia’s 1st Army.”
“And you must be… The genius princess.”
Sophia gave a slight nod and then gestured towards the Calliper officers.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Sophia Veron. Um, if possible, could you introduce your subordinate officers? There seem to be many young faces, which piques my interest.”
“Hmm. As for these individuals, they were personally selected by His Majesty the King. In fact, they’re cadets.”
“Cadets, you say. Hmm. I see.”
“Starting from this side: Casper Millias, Joshua Herald, Ruan Chase, Denian Geglish, Dorofei Grimwood, and Ars Elaine.”
“Hmm? Hmm. Hmmmm.”
Sophia glared at Ars as if displeased. Ars muttered quietly, barely audible, “Genius princess… Pfft!”
“You…!!”
Somehow managing to hear this, Sophia’s face turned red.
“Let’s end the introductions here and come inside. We were about to start a military council meeting.”
“Very well.”
A joint military council meeting between Calliper and Beckavia.
At the very moment they were having their military council meeting, the West and Tunkai were moving swiftly.
* * *
Even though 30,000 troops had left the Beckavian camp led by Sophia and Vali Austin, it wasn’t a major problem.
Since Tunkai had also dispatched the same 30,000, the forces were evenly matched.
Even if the opponent made a different move, the 2nd Army of Beckavia above could come to help.
So they just needed to maintain the situation until Sophia returned.
In fact, with the Calliper army, which had been observing, joining the front lines, the war situation would improve compared to before.
To begin with, the Bian Mountain where they were encamped was an easy place to defend, so even if the enemy pushed in, it was perfect for buying time.
They were prepared for various scenarios.
However, they couldn’t have predicted this situation.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Dust rising. The Beckavian soldier who saw this couldn’t believe his eyes.
From the distant plains, a cavalry of 4,000 was approaching.
“Emergency! Emergencyyy!”
The camp was in chaos. The confusion was even greater because Sophia and Austin were absent.
The officer temporarily in charge couldn’t find words to speak.
“We’ve been hit…!”
A surprise attack using mobility. It was the specialty of the Tunkai army, skilled in cavalry.
The reason they were caught like this despite being sufficiently on guard against this aspect was simple.
“Damn them! They had it hidden perfectly…!”
This cavalry had been lying low within Tunkai territory, not participating in the battlefield. Beckavia, which had concentrated its intelligence network within its own territory, couldn’t have discovered this even if they wanted to.
As soon as Sophia’s army went to rescue the Calliper forces, they rushed here at full speed as if they had been waiting for this moment.
By the time they were caught in the intelligence network, the cavalry’s speed was faster than the network.
“The enemy is advancing!”
The 10,000 Tunkai infantry that had been facing off also climbed up the Bian Mountain.
“Stay calm! This is mountainous terrain! The cavalry can’t climb…”
But thud! The Tunkai cavalry climbed the mountain, undeterred.
At the forefront were a young man and a woman in her prime.
“We’re going in like this!”
“Ash! You’ve gone too far ahead!”
They forcibly wedged in and broke through Beckavia’s defensive formation. Not long after, the infantry approached.
Unable to overcome the numerical disadvantage, the Beckavian forces judged they couldn’t hold out and retreated, withdrawing their army to Arandal.
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