Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 285: Puppet War (2)

Chapter 285: Puppet War (2)

* * *

Continental Calendar, 1511, Early June.

Our troops marched through the summer wind and successfully assembled in the northwestern region of Frankia.

Harvesting was crucial during this point of the year. Even the war-crazed lords avoided rallying their armies during this period. Doing so might ruin their entire summer harvest, after all. It was also during this period that the people would strongly oppose drafts.

In other words—it was the perfect time for the Demon Lord army to invade the human world.

Different from humans, demons weren’t bound to harvesting. While the humans were heavily restricted when they could go to war, the Demon Lord army was entirely free.

This was probably why knights were developed to such heights. They needed a force that could deal with demons at any time and any place regardless of farming. However, if they raise too many soldiers, they would have fewer people to work the fields. Thus, they could only make small units of elite soldiers…….

It was an interesting matter. The existence of monsters alone can change the world to this extent.

The establishment of knight academies throughout the nation was essential. They had to keep a cavalry unit prepared so that they could quickly dispatch them no matter where the Demon Lord army invaded from. Well, creating powerful fortresses in key points was also a precaution they could take.

Would they put their all into cavalry knights? Or would they put their all into fortresses……?

They both had their pros and cons. The human nations mixed the two options appropriately. Habsburg was a prime example of this. On the other hand, the Kingdom of Brittany focused intensively on raising their knights.

Brittany’s capital didn’t even have a rampart. It was destroyed about 500 years ago, but it wasn’t done so by monsters. It was apparently done surprisingly by the people of Brittany themselves.

Their reason was bizarre.

“Ramparts are something used by cowards.”

“The people will become lazy with bettering themselves because they would believe that they could hide behind the walls, and this will lead them to not fight earnestly on the field and potentially run away instead.”

“Therefore, ramparts create a straight path to weakening humans as a whole.”

Their argument was so simple and ignorant that it was shocking.

The more shocking thing was the fact that the people of Brittany supported this statement fully! The people personally picked up their pickaxes and broke down their walls. The resulting stone was used to build an academy…….

Wouldn’t it be fine to say that this was like a type of mental disability? They were like a battle tribe that had muscles for brains.

“This is why Brittany are fanatics when it comes to their preference for field battles.”

Laura concluded. She held a war council as soon as the main army caught up with the vanguard.

Demon Lords wearing flashy uniforms were seated in the large tent. Laura explained her strategy while calmly meeting the gazes of each and every Demon Lord.

“Be it both mentally or constitutionally, Brittany’s army specializes solely in field battles. We passed three large fortresses while making our way through the northwestern region of Frankia, but Brittany did not try to protect them at all. They abandoned them.”

They probably ordered their vanguard, which consisted of only Franks, to carry out a field battle as well. It was definitely abnormal if you consider the fact that a normal human army would be extremely reluctant to fight monsters on an open field.

“At a glance, they seem ignorant and wasteful, but……if you weigh their internal stability, they are skilled in mobile warfare. You could call them a mobile defense.”

“……A mobile defense? I’ve never heard of that before.”

Barbatos tilted her head.

On a side note, Barbatos was incredibly weak during the summer. It wasn’t that hot, but it was enough to put beads of sweat on our foreheads. It was troubling since the area around her chest was soaked and that made her look strangely erotic. Mm, I’ve decided. I’ll do it with Barbatos tonight.

“…….”

Puppet Crowned Prince, Rudolf von Habsburg was holding a large fan. He was courteously fanning Barbatos. Even in death, he was unsightly. The supreme commander was fanning a mere general.

“A mobile battle is a mobile battle and a defensive battle is a defensive battle. What is a mobile defense supposed to be?”

“In a normal defensive battle, ‘blocking the enemy’ is the goal. A good example of this would be defending a fortress. In this case, the siegers and the defenders gradually cut away at each other’s manpower as they wait until a conclusion is reached.”

Laura spoke in a calm but somewhat merry tone.

“The winner is determined according to which side uses up all their troops’ morale and reserved supplies first. In an extreme situation, it may be possible to lose military strength during a defensive battle, but barely lose any troops.”

The capturing of Heidelberg was a prime example of this.

The fortress had more than ten thousand soldiers, but they only lost a few hundred in battle. The battle was determined by that. The remaining time was spent casually waiting for the enemy to run out of supplies.

“On the other hand, the goal of mobile warfare is to annihilate the enemy. You try to settle the war as soon as possible by focusing your elite soldiers in one place and having a pitched battle. Brittany is obsessed with settling things in one go.”

A prime example of this would be the battle at Saint Denis Plains. The battle where I was defeated.

“Therefore, Brittany will be extremely prudent when it comes to making sure pitched battles occur when and where they want.”

“Hmm.”

“Our strategy will be established according to this.”

Laura smiled slightly.

“As you all know, a wide-scale purge was carried out in Parisiorum. Their public sentiment within Parisiorum must be turbulent right now. From Queen Henrietta’s perspective, she must be worried about a potential rebellion. She most likely will not pull her troops away that far in case something were to happen. Therefore.”

The outskirts of Parisiorum.

It was a wide enough plains area where cavalrymen could easily maneuver.

“They will pick a battlefield that satisfies conditions such as these. From Brittany’s perspective, fortresses have no value in protecting. Fortresses are often built on hills with narrow pathways, after all.”

Laura pointed at the map with her baton.

“Therefore, we must take advantage of Brittany’s strategy to its fullest.”

* * *

“We will set up camp with the Marne River behind us.”

Queen Henrietta declared.

Marne was the river that flowed directly east of Parisiorum. The generals looked confused as they asked back.

“Your Highness, Marne River is much too close to Parisiorum. The enemy will sweep through the nation getting to us, so would it not be better to advance a little further?”

“No. We may have purged the group hostile to us, but there must still be a fair number of rats in hiding.”

Queen Henrietta shook her head firmly.

“Our public opinion is not good at the moment because we purged men and women of all ages. If these rats start inciting people now, then a rebellion will undoubtedly form. The further we go from Parisiorum, the more likely a rebellion will occur.”

“I see. That makes sense.”

The generals nodded. However, there was still something they were curious about.

“But why are we putting the river behind us? This goes against fundamental military tactics…….”

“This is to lure the enemy in.”

Queen Henrietta smiled.

“From the enemy’s perspective, we will appear as if our escape route is blocked. They will think that they can corner us with little effort. If you consider the Demon Lord army which prefers field battles over sieges, they will definitely engage us in combat.”

Traditionally, humankind would respond with a defensive battle whenever the Demon Lord army invaded. This was the norm. Queen Henrietta was pointing this fact out.

“They might think that it is a relief that we are not holing up inside Parisiorum. Men, we will end the Demon Lord army in a single battle.”

She wasn’t present in the meeting, but Brittany was hiding Demon Lord Agares. Queen Henrietta knew how powerful this Demon Lord was. She was burning with a desire for revenge and had mentioned several times that she would gladly cooperate if it meant she could kill Barbatos.

It will be a difficult battle; however, Henrietta didn’t intend to avoid it simply because the result wasn’t guaranteed. That was Brittany’s confidence.

* * *

Just as Laura had confidently predicted, Brittany didn’t come out to face us.

Thanks to this, we were able to march through Frankia rather freely. We reached Marne River without much resistance. It was almost like we had come out on a picnic. Nonetheless, everyone knew that this was the quiet before the storm.

Barbatos glared at the other side of the plains.

“Hey, would you look at that? They have their backs against a dead end.”

Brittany’s army had set up their encampment in front of a river.

Including Barbatos, the executives of our army were carefully observing the enemy’s camp from atop their horses. They had about thirty thousand to forty thousand troops. Their numbers were far lower than ours, but the problem was their knights.

There were almost twenty knight banners fluttering in the wind. They probably scraped together every single knight corp that exists in the country. There was probably nothing more terrifying than this for the Demon Lord army. This was probably how infantrymen felt when they stared at the endless number of trenches before them during World War I.

Barbatos cackled.

“Look look. Doesn’t this mean that they plan to fight to the death here? This Henrietta girl has similar tastes as me. Hey, Zepar. Look, it’s the Green Rose Knights. You should give them a wave.”

“……Please do not tease me, Your Excellency.”

General Zepar groaned, which was a rare sight to behold.

General Zepar was the unique tactician who responded to a knight charge with an ogre charge, and it was the Green Rose Knights that had crushed his ogres at the time. I wonder if it was because he was seeing the cause of his trauma, but General Zepar has had a grim look on his face since earlier.

Laura spoke calmly.

“They got rid of their retreat path, so they will fight with the resolve to die. Going to them would not be a wise plan. Let us first assess the situation with time.”

We set up our encampment a fair distance away from the enemy’s.

It was at this point that Laura strongly ordered us to pretend as if we were preparing for a decisive battle. We positioned our ogres at the front to make it seem like we were going to charge with them soon. Our Demon Lord flags were also on full display as they fluttered splendidly in the wind.

However, four days, a week, and then half a month went by uneventfully.

Eventually, the other side seemed to get impatient as they sent us a letter. The letter was written by Queen Henrietta herself and it was filled with ridiculing words toward Rudolf von Habsburg and the Demon Lords. She wanted to have a decisive battle, claiming that nothing good would come from dragging the war on like this for either side.

Laura sent a simple response.

“We have no desire to learn how to go to war from you. Worry about your own army.”

An outrageous war of nerves continued.

Both armies set up their wooden fences and waited for the other army to attack first. Brittany occasionally sent mounted archers, but there was no way I was going to get done in by the same tactic twice. I prepared a lot of javelin spears for this sake. We responded with ease by having our orcs throw the javelins.

Did they realize we had thoroughly fortified our base? They didn’t actively go on the offensive either. Small skirmishes that were no different from reconnaissance missions kept happening endlessly.

“How long are we going to stay like this, Miss Deputy Commander”

“Lauraaa. Just once, huh? Let me charge them just once.”

Our side was also getting impatient. Brother Beleth and Sitri kept pleading to let them charge. The other aggressive Demon Lords gradually started to complain as well. Regardless, every time they did, Laura would give them an immediate response with a vague smile on her face.

“We cannot.”

Brother Beleth and Sitri looked like they wanted to cry as they turned to look at Barbatos and Paimon respectively, but…….

“We will do as Laura commands.”

“Sorry, but please listen to the Deputy Commander, Sitri.”

There was no way that the legion commanders would agree with them when they knew how important the right of command was. In the end, the hotheaded Demon Lords had to hold their complaints in their chests and spend their time helplessly.

Half a month went by like this.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Time for set up before the big battle. Laura really has grown a lot, huh? She’s able to order around Demon Lords now. They grow up so fast.

Welp, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.