novelraw Chapter 155: Krafte War - The Battle of Barua (1)
Chapter 155: Krafte War - The Battle of Barua (1)
The entire Revolutionary Army has completed its assembly at Barua.
No longer do we think of what comes after.
There are no more probing attacks.
Only to win the battle, with everything at stake.
We wait for the enemy, having gathered all available military power.
The day before the offensive announced by Karl II.
I watched Christine's delicate hands buttoning my uniform.
Though I could do it myself, her insistence on doing it for me was unbearably endearing.
After slowly buttoning them, Christine looked up at me without a word, then gently hugged my back.
I hugged her back.We decided not to say, "I will definitely win."
She had asked me to show her through my actions, and I was willing to follow suit.
Instead.
I slowly pulled away from her and spoke.
“Christine.”
“Yes, Pierre.”
“Will you smile for me?”
Christine blinked, so I smiled first and spoke.
“I want to be a little more aware of how undeservedly happy I am.”
Christine gave a slightly bemused smirk and replied.
“It's a little disappointing that you still lack that awareness. Should I give you a punishment?”
“Ah, that’s a bit…”
Hearing my words, Christine smiled faintly, gave me a light, bird-like kiss on the lips, and pulled away.
As I awkwardly lowered my hand, which had instinctively reached out to pull her back, Christine smiled deeply and whispered.
“Next time, I’ll make you so aware you’ll never forget.”
“Next time.”
'It would be better if you just did it now,' I thought.
Still, the fact that I’m having such thoughts means—
The sense of crisis of losing has certainly disappeared.
I approached Christine and gently touched my forehead to hers.
“Christine, for you.”
Christine replied.
“Pierre, for you.”
*
As I entered the command tent with Eris, all the waiting generals stood up at once.
“Be seated.”
Tension filled their faces.
It was only natural, as they had to fight a full-scale battle against humanity's strongest army.
“Forget all previous lessons, military common sense, and doctrine.”
The two failures we had experienced so far were because we had predicted their actions based on our own common sense.
“They are skilled at catching us off guard and more agile than any enemy we have ever faced. They have always surpassed our expectations, and the guarantee that the battle will go according to plan is less certain than ever before.”
I glanced at Eris, who was sitting quietly beside me, then turned to Damien De Millbeau.
“Commander Damien De Millbeau.”
“Yes, Your Excellency, Marquis Lafayette!”
“As foretold, you are the vanguard. …Her Majesty the Queen will be with you. I trust you understand what that means.”
“I-I will devote my life to protecting Her Majesty the Queen and lead this battle to victory!”
As long as Eris was with him, Damien had no route of retreat.
And in such a situation, if it was just a matter of holding on, there was no one better in the Revolutionary Army than him.
“Good. Do not be greedy for military glory, and do not be swayed by the enemy. If you succeed in just holding out against that Great King, you will have done more than what was expected of you.”
“Yes, sir!”
Since it was Damien, not someone else, he wouldn't make the mistake of letting blood rush to his head just because he was in the vanguard.
“Commander Louis Desaix, you too will personally lead the Northern Army this time. It is the position you have longed for, so I expect a prudent response.”
“I understand, Your Excellency the Marquis!”
While I had been running around the front lines, Desaix had mostly served as acting Commander-in-Chief, but this time he would personally command the Northern Army and be responsible for one flank of the main force.
He was even more cautious than Damien, so he wouldn't be lured by the Great King’s tricks.
“The Southern Army, excluding the vanguard, and the troops and reserves that have arrived from Francia will all be under my direct command.”
Until now, I had left the rear command to Desaix and run wild on the front lines, but the Great King was not an opponent to be dealt with in such a way.
Since it had already been revealed that our generals could not match the Great King's tactics, I had no choice but to take overall command and at least respond quickly.
“The Chief of Staff will be working with me for the first time in a while, won’t he?”
“Haha, I will do my best to assist you!”
After hearing Alexandre Berthier’s reply, I turned my attention elsewhere.
As I would be absent, the command of the flank cavalry had to be entrusted to someone else.
“General Gaston, General Morel. I’m counting on you to command the flank cavalry.”
“Leave it to us, Your Excellency the Marquis!”
“Hah, leave it to us! Whew—finally, a full-scale battle!”
I smirked at Morel.
“I know you’re happy, but if you get excited and screw up the cavalry again, it’ll be your neck this time.”
“I-I’ll keep that in mind, Your Excellency the Marquis…”
I gave a small smile to the discouraged Morel.
“Well, don’t be too intimidated by that. This time, I’ll be giving orders directly from headquarters, so it won’t largely fall on you.”
“Hahaha…”
I turned my gaze from the sheepishly smiling Morel to Gaston.
He was looking at me with eyes as hard as rock, and when our eyes met, he respectfully bowed his head.
I trust Gaston, at least. …As always.
Finally, I looked at Nicolas Nere.
He, who had always longed to be in the vanguard, looked somewhat dejected…
He’s brave and fierce, but his hot-headedness makes him too easily baited by that unorthodox Great King.
“General Nicolas Nere. I understand your disappointment at not being in the vanguard, but I will entrust you with an equally important role. The unit you will command is the core shock troop, which includes the Revolutionary Guard.”
Nicolas Nere looked a little dazed, then his face brightened as he replied.
“It is an honor, Your Excellency, Marquis Lafayette!”
“Your unit will be committed at the most decisive moment, and will be tasked with crushing the enemy. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how important this role is.”
With valor second to none, there could be no more suitable position for him.
Nere, too, seemed to understand, and answered with determination.
“I will face this with the resolve to die not to disappoint the Marquis’s expectations!”
“Good, I’m counting on you.”
This is a little different from the organization we’ve used so far, but I’ve entrusted each general with the area they are best equipped to handle.
I’ll have to somehow compensate for the areas that can’t keep up with the Great King’s unorthodox moves by taking overall command—Eris, receiving my gaze, nodded and replied.
“I have no objection to the operation. I trust you, Marquis Lafayette.”
After receiving Eris’s approval, I met the eyes of the generals, who were filled with the tension and heat of the eve of a great battle, and opened my mouth.
“We have come a long way. Through the kingdom’s civil war, the revolution, the war against the old regime, the war with the Empire, even to Iberica.”
Before the regression, I fought for the old regime during the long civil war and was executed at the age of 28.
Now, only about a year remains until that point.
“This is the last, gentlemen. If we win here, no nation on the Central Continent will be able to deny our revolution.”
The victory of the revolution greatly hastened the end of a civil war that would have stained Francia with blood and prolonged its madness for a decade.
I have also overcome the crises that Francia would have faced after my death to reach this point.
“Remember this. The ground we stand on is soaked with the blood of countless people.”
This is the last hurdle, the last gate.
“Gentlemen, do not forget that the glory you have obtained was built on the sacrifices of the countless soldiers who fell on the battlefield to protect the revolution.”
I was not sure if it was all truly worth it.
Even while fighting a desperate struggle with Christine in a Republic riddled with contradictions and conflicts, I had to fight for a long time without trusting them.
“Know that for the soldiers who will fight under your command to hold guns, the workers and farmers had to work, sacrificing their sleep.”
But in the end, they proved it.
From the politician who died crying out to protect the revolution.
“The food and medicine for the countless soldiers we have mobilized had to be gathered by sacrificing the poor and the sick who might have been saved.”
To the citizens who are willing to sacrifice themselves to protect their nation with a passion that did not exist under the old regime—and to the soldiers who are willing to advance without wavering before an enemy of unprecedented strength.
“All the people of Francia behind us have endured sacrifices because they believe our fight has such value.”
I glanced at Eris, who was looking at me, tightly clutching the divine power amplification crystals in both hands, then spoke to all the generals.
“Therefore, do not fight for glory. In every moment you fight on the battlefield, remember that you, including myself, are responsible for all those sacrifices. …Show our enemies who fight for glory what makes us different from them.”
If we fall to those who fight on the battlefield for the glory of the Great King, we would not be able to face the people, would we?
“As the Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army, I will trust that you, gentlemen, will not render our long journey and all those sacrifices worthless.”
*
“The weather is very clear.”
The Great King of Krafte, Karl II, looked up at the clear sky from his horse and smiled.
“It is as if the heavens are telling me to put on the best performance.”
He then lowered his gaze and looked at the ranks of black-uniformed soldiers marching in orderly waves, like a single machine.
How much bone-grinding effort had they put in to give up their individuality and become a single, massive war machine.
All for this very day.
For the sake of those who had devoted themselves until now to seizing ultimate, legendary glory, he could not deliver a performance below expectations.
The Great King listened to the military band playing a cheerful march as it marched alongside the orderly infantry.
It was a beautiful sound that propelled the army toward the battlefield, its melody achieving perfect harmony, a testament to training as thorough as the Krafte Army's infantry.
Despite such effort, in a short while, on a battlefield filled with the stench of blood and gunpowder, and the noise of artillery and screams, it would degenerate into a crude dissonance.
The Great King felt that even that was beautiful, considering it a dissonance symbolizing the chaos of the battlefield.
Upon finally arriving at the battlefield, the Great King saw the blue-uniformed Revolutionary Army gathered on the vast plains and rolling hills, as if covering the horizon. He compared the enemy's deployment with the map he had received beforehand from his Hussars.
After confirming it largely matched his expectations and the Hussars’ reconnaissance, the Great King smiled with elation.
“Finally.”
Finally, what he had been waiting for.
“I have arrived at the stage that will glorify my end.”
The Great King dismounted and raised his telescope, examining the Revolutionary Army’s formation meticulously.
As if to engrave every corner of his most magnificent stage on his mind.
A short while later.
“Your Majesty the Great King, the deployment of all troops is complete!”
Receiving the report, Karl II realized his hands were trembling, and he gripped his cane tightly, then struck it on the ground.
Krafte, which had suppressed its power for a long time after the war with the Empire, when it was still weak, was waiting like a taut bowstring.
The strongest military force in the Central Continent, ready to be launched at a single gesture from his hand.
The strongest army, which would leave an eternal legend in the history of humanity.
They were waiting to face the Revolutionary Army, which had driven to the brink of ruin the Empire they had been unable to completely destroy.
How long has it been since he felt such exhilaration?
How long has it been since he felt such anticipation?
“Haha, hahaha. It’s curtain time.”
The Great King let out a low laugh, then cried out in a magnificent voice, hard to believe came from an old man.
“Relay to the entire artillery! As a courtesy to the greatest of foes, we shall begin the performance with a volley of artillery fire!”
“Yes, sir! Relay to the entire artillery! Commence volley fire!”
Less than a minute passed between the Great King's order and the entire Krafte artillery beginning its bombardment.
Amidst the cheerful music of the military band, the earth-shaking sound of artillery erupted, and dozens of cannonballs flew towards the Revolutionary Army.
The moment the Great King smiled, anticipating the roar and screams marking the beginning of his performance.
A light, overwhelming even the sun, covered the sky.