WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Abood

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◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 110: Neutralization (2)

It had taken only about two hours from entering the village to driving the villagers out. For a first attempt, Friedrich judged it more than satisfactory, and then gave his next orders to the unit.

The soldiers lit campfires to serve as kindling, then set fire to simple torches fashioned from wood and thick branches wrapped in cloth.

Next, they would burn the fields spreading beside the village, wheat nearly ready for harvest, and other crops soon to ripen. 

The food stored in houses and warehouses would be destroyed along with the buildings themselves. Livestock would either be taken back to Edelstein territory or slaughtered on the spot.

This too was part of Friedrich’s design.

First, by employing the same trick he had once used before, he had compelled the border fortress to surrender without bloodshed. 

This allowed them to breach the frontier without losses, and it also prevented the Novakian forces from later using the fortress as a base for a defensive stand or as a strongpoint to harry Edelstein during a retreat.

Second, in the southern part of Novakia, especially the villages and towns along the highways where the enemy’s advance would most likely come, he would drive out the inhabitants, burn the fields so the ripening crops could not be harvested, and destroy the food stockpiled in homes and storehouses.

By doing so, the enemy would be weakened before the battle even began. The Novakian army’s supply system was far less refined than Edelstein’s, and the southern borderlands were especially ill-prepared for sustained logistics. 

There were limits to what could be carried by horse-drawn carts. That made local resupply essential. With the villages along the highway burned bare, the enemy would struggle both in their march and in maintaining supply lines once battle was joined.

Hungry soldiers were weak soldiers. And for an army already nothing more than a patchwork of remnants, such deprivation would render them weaker still.

With not only the supplies gone but also the local populace displaced, the Kingdom of Novakia would be unable to raise militia or conscript laborers to haul baggage and perform other menial duties. 

The enemy would have no way to reinforce their host, and the further they advanced, the weaker they would become.

Moreover, the effects upon Novakia would not end with this campaign alone.

Southern Novakia also served as a granary that supplied food to the royal domain. By burning the crops grown there, the stored provisions, and the houses of the farmers, the region would lose its function as a breadbasket for the foreseeable future. 

Fields scorched of their crops would suffer reduced yields for years to come, and to return the farmers to their villages, homes would have to be rebuilt first.

Thus, restoring the granary region would require considerable time and expense. Until the south was revived, Novakia would even struggle to sustain the life of its royal domain. They would have no room for rearmament or renewed offensives.

This condition would not change even once Novakia was fully annexed into the Kingdom of Arelia.

Without the ability to resupply in the rear, even Arelia would find it difficult to mount an invasion of Edelstein through the newly conquered Novakian lands. 

And since Arelia would soon face the Rigald Empire to the east, with Novakia as its forward line, the king could hardly afford to delay the restoration of that region. He would be forced into relatively moderate governance, at least for a time.

Thus, simply by ravaging southern Novakia, the Kingdom of Edelstein could eliminate the northern threat in the long term. 

Having bought this time, they could focus their strength on defending the western frontier, and in the meantime build up their forces until they could eventually fortify the northern border as well.

When the Bachstein region had once been ravaged by the forces of Countess Fargiere, the Kingdom of Edelstein had suffered greatly. 

Drawing on that experience, Friedrich had developed the current scorched-earth strategy into an even more refined plan.

A harsh stratagem, serving two or even three purposes at once, was now being put into action. 

Fire set to the ripened wheat spread in moments, and the houses of what only hours before had been a peaceful farming village now sent red flames and black smoke rising into the sky.

“…Is this really soft-handed enough? Not only are we sparing the enemy’s civilians, we’re even letting them carry off their property.”

Watching the scene unfold, Friedrich was asked this by Gunther. Friedrich answered with a wry smile.

“If our intention were to make Novakia our enemy forever, we might well have seized all their property, cast them out with only the clothes on their backs, perhaps even permitted our soldiers to commit slaughter or worse. 

But once we overthrow the tyrannical King of Arelia and bring an end to Arelia’s hegemonism, it is possible that we will rebuild friendship with Novakia. 

In that case, to leave as little resentment as possible, we must treat what is most precious to a nation—its people—with care. 

Not killing is only natural. Acts of violence are strictly forbidden. And to show consideration for their lives to come, I permitted them to carry away what property they could bear.”

Friedrich had heard that King Oscar of Novakia and his heir, Crown Prince Julius, were both men of reason. 

His foster father, Matthias, had also said that since they were undertaking the scorched-earth strategy in the borderlands as the best possible measure for secure defense, while at the same time making every effort to allow recovery within a few years, those two would surely understand.

“Besides… killing the people outright would be less of a burden than sparing them and sending them to the capital. By living, they become the responsibility of the Novakian royal house. 

Having lost the granary that sustained the royal domain, the crown must still protect and feed the displaced people for a time. And all this while food is already in short supply.”

To protect the people was the duty of a ruler. For the honor of their house as well, the royal family of Novakia could not abandon the refugees and let them starve. 

And the more they were forced to provide for the evacuees, the harder their own supply situation would become in the campaign, bringing Edelstein all the closer to total victory.

“…I see. Being in the regular army, there’s a lot to think about, huh.”

“Though few among the knights could weigh matters from as many angles as Friedrich does.”

So said Oliver with a wry smile, in response to Gunther’s words, spoken with a mix of admiration, surprise, and awe.

“Well then, the flames have spread enough. Time to move on to the next village.”

“The nearest one from here… that would be the same village we marched the people to the fortress from, right? Talk about unlucky. Threatened at swordpoint yesterday, and today their houses and fields go up in flames. Misfortune just keeps piling on them.”

Though Yarg’s words sounded pitying, his tone was as light as ever.

“This too is our duty as soldiers. For the sake of greater victory and lasting peace, we must ask them to bear a smaller sacrifice. They surely cannot accept it in their hearts, but for now they must give up their homes and fields.”

“Heh. You’re harsher than I thought. After that first ‘cooperation,’ I figured you might treat them a bit more gently. Like maybe sparing their houses, at least.”

Friedrich shook his head at Yarg’s surprised look.

“If we made exceptions like that, it would only cause more trouble for the villagers themselves. When every other village and town has had its homes burned, but theirs alone remains untouched, what do you think will happen afterward? 

Combined with their ‘cooperation’ in helping us force the fortress to surrender, they’d be branded as traitors and persecuted. Treating their village the same as the others is, in truth, the kinder path. 

…At most, what we can do is drive them out more gently and respectfully than before.”

Hearing that, Yarg gave a small shrug of acceptance.

Soon after, Friedrich and his men finished their preparations and departed the ruined village.

As they left, Friedrich glanced back at the blazing fields and houses. A sigh escaped his lips.

“…Even if it was my own idea, it’s not something pleasant to watch.”

His first battle had been to defend his home of Volga from bandits.

What he was doing now was not so different from those very bandits. True, no one had been killed or injured, and he had even shown consideration by letting the villagers take as much of their property as they could carry. 

Yet in the end, he had still stripped innocent people of their homes and the foundation of their lives, if only for several years.

What would the boy who once stood against bandits think of himself now, burning villages in a foreign land?

“But if it’s something you devised, then it must be right. No matter where you go or what you do, my feelings won’t change. Always, from now on.”

Friedrich turned to Yurika as he heard her words. Large black eyes, lips tinged red, and a smile spreading across her face, it was the same as always, unchanged from before, her radiant, captivating smile.

“…Thank you, Yurika.”

Wherever you are, I will be with you. Whatever you do, I will do with you. Recalling the words of determination Yurika had spoken to him time and again, Friedrich returned her smile.

Long ago, he had ceased to be a simple commoner. Now he was a soldier in service to the Kingdom of Edelstein, the adopted heir of its living hero. What he must protect were Edelstein’s lands, its people, and its royal house.

If it was for the sake of protecting what must be protected, then he had already resolved to accept not only the suffering of people in other lands, but even the deaths of his own comrades-in-arms. And as his support in that resolve, Yurika remained at his side, unchanged.

So there was no need for lament. No need for hesitation. This was as it should be.

Footnotes: 

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