WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 121: The Siege of Arnsberg Fortress (5)

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“Tch. This is bad. At this rate, we will get nowhere.”

At the very front of the fighting retreat, where they struggled to drive back the enemy pursuit and yet could not make things go as they wished, Baron Eugen Stamitz clicked his tongue and muttered.

Eugen was known as a seasoned officer who was always calm and composed, but even he found it difficult to maintain his composure in this situation.

The greatest problem preventing them from restoring their posture was that the units had broken apart and the men were mixed together. The infantry remained relatively cohesive at the platoon level, but they could not gather into anything larger or coordinate properly, making it impossible to solidify the battle line.

He had thought that if he could gather the cavalry, he might gain enough striking power to drive back the enemy, and had attempted it once, but with infantry moving around underfoot, the knights could not maneuver recklessly. They remained scattered and unable to display their strength.

As for the archer unit, in this chaotic melee they could not loose arrows carelessly. Here and there, he could see reckless shots born of panic turning into friendly fire.

Each battalion commander was doing all he could merely to keep his own men from falling into further confusion, and even communicating with Eugen was difficult.

This too had happened because the enemy moved so swiftly into pursuit.

Leaving aside the jaeger unit that had ambushed them from behind, it had been unexpected for a battalion-sized force to peel away from the troops attacking the fortress and join the pursuit. Their level of training was in a different class from the Arelian units based in the Loire region that had fought the Ferdinand Regiment until now. So this was the strength of that kingdom’s elite.

If they kept retreating with everyone while continuing to take the enemy pursuit, the situation would only worsen by degrees. If another organized enemy force joined the pursuit on top of that, a rout would be inevitable.

What means could he take to break this situation and allow the Ferdinand Regiment to withdraw in as intact a state as possible?

Eugen made a swift decision in his heart and was about to open his mouth.

“Messenger! Messenger! Lord Stamitz! A message from Lord Friedrich!”

A soldier wove through the knights and soldiers hurrying in retreat and ran up to Eugen.

“If we continue as we are, a rout is inevitable! At this point, we must consider it unavoidable to leave a portion of our forces behind as a death squad for the rear guard, using their sacrifice to allow more than half the regiment to withdraw safely! That is Lord Friedrich’s proposal!”

“…So he understands as well.”

Eugen grinned.

Friedrich Hosenfeld had sent him the exact same proposal as the order he himself had been about to give. If that young man had the resolve and courage to make such a proposal here, and if he was the one who would inherit the name of Count Hosenfeld, then even if Matthias, struck down by an enemy arrow, never recovered.

“As acting regimental commander, I give the order! One hundred men who consider themselves old soldiers, halt your retreat here! Remain on this battlefield and sacrifice your lives to carry the regiment’s future forward!”

When Eugen raised his voice with all his strength, the shocking order made those around him turn.

He repeated the order several more times, and the oldest knights and soldiers, the men meant to carry it out, seemed to steel themselves. They too began repeating Eugen’s words, and the brutal order spread through the entire force.

Those who knew themselves to be veterans among the thousand-man regiment, the oldest tenth of its ranks, stopped retreating, remained where they were, and readied their weapons. They urged the men younger than themselves to continue their retreat, then swung their weapons at the oncoming enemy.

As everyone else fell back, those who did not retreat naturally came to stand at the very front of the battle, and the rear guard line took shape.

“Stand firm! Push them back instead! The enemy ranks are in disorder too!”

While issuing orders to the old soldiers, Eugen himself did not retreat.

He knew that he too, already nearing fifty, counted among the hundred old soldiers. More than anything, there was no reason a man who had given such an order should be allowed to flee. He had never intended to flee from the start.

・・・・・・

Eugen’s order reached the entire regiment, and Oliver, the cavalry vice-battalion commander positioned some distance away from him, accepted the order as a soldier of the kingdom. In this harsh battle situation, he understood the need for such a terrible command.

Thanks to the desperate struggle of the veteran knights and soldiers who had chosen to remain, the flow of the retreat finally began to quicken, and Oliver, mounted as he was, found it somewhat easier to move.

In the middle of that, he noticed Eugen commanding the rear guard line and showing no sign whatsoever of falling back.

Surely not.

Considering his age and military career, it would not be strange at all for Eugen to have resolved himself as well. After giving an order like this, Oliver could not imagine Eugen himself retreating. He understood that in his head, and yet he still found himself moving closer and calling out.

“Lord Stamitz!”

Eugen turned, met Oliver’s eyes, and smiled faintly.

“…I leave the rest to you! Do your best, cavalry battalion commander!”

With that, Eugen lightly raised his sword and faced forward again. He showed no sign of looking back any further.

“…May fortune be with you.”

Oliver murmured, saluted, and turned on his heel.

・・・・・・

“Mr. Barthold! Don’t tell me you mean to stay behind!”

As the veteran infantry remained on the battlefield and formed their line, Infantry Battalion Commander Barthold showed that he too would stay while commanding them. Rudiger, the other infantry battalion commander, pressed him hard.

“Of course I do. You know as well as anyone that I am among the oldest veterans in the regiment.”

“But you are a battalion commander! Lord Stamitz is preparing to stand his ground too. In this situation, we cannot afford to have two battalion commanders die in battle!”

At the young battalion commander’s desperate attempt to persuade him, Barthold, as the senior man, wore a relaxed expression and shook his head.

“Any of the company commanders in this regiment could serve as infantry battalion commander. In that case, there is no meaning in an old soldier like me going out of his way to cling to life… This is where men like us die. So you get back already. The regiment will need its senior infantry battalion commander to instruct whoever takes my seat after me.”

With that, Barthold faced forward again.

“…!”

Seeing his profile, Rudiger understood that Barthold had no intention of changing his mind. Without another word, he left a salute behind and ran off. He looked back once at the man who had continued to show him what an infantry battalion commander ought to be, then turned to command the retreating infantry.

・・・・・・

Knight Yarg, already past forty, counted himself among the old soldiers and moved against the tide of retreat in order to join the battle line of the death squad. He drew his horse up beside Eugen’s.

Eugen glanced sideways, met Yarg’s eyes, and made a face as though he were looking at something strange.

“Are you an idiot? What are you doing? Hurry up and retreat.”

“Huh?”

Yarg had steeled himself and lined up for battle, only to receive such treatment that a stupid sound escaped him.

“I will have you know I am over forty.”

“Do not tell me that makes you think you are an old soldier. Don’t be stupid. Thanks to an era where we did nothing but skirmish, this regiment has men close to fifty now, and even some nearly sixty. You have another five years before you can pretend to be an old soldier… So go. The new cavalry battalion commander will need experienced subordinates he can trust.”

“…Tch. That ruins the look of it.”

Yarg hesitated only a few moments. In the end, he reluctantly accepted Eugen’s order, and once he had decided, he immediately wheeled his horse around so he would not get in the way and hurried into retreat.

“Farewell, Lord Baron.”

Long ago, when he had only just enlisted in the kingdom’s army, Eugen had been the first superior officer to beat the insolence out of his exceedingly arrogant younger self.

Still facing away, Yarg fluttered one hand and spoke in that cheeky tone. Those words became his farewell to Eugen in this life.

・・・・・・

Having been seen off by Oliver and then by Yarg, Eugen looked around.

Most of the men had already succeeded in withdrawing from the front, and now the old knights and old soldiers who had chosen this place to die were holding back the enemy pursuit.

Beyond the enemy pressing against them, he could see the pursuing reinforcements that had finished forming ranks begin to move. They would be swallowed by that force and meet their end. All that remained was their duty to delay that final moment by even a second and buy even one more second for their comrades’ retreat.

“…This brings back memories.”

No matter how bravely they fought, endured, and resisted, their annihilation in the end was already decided.

On such a battlefield of certain death, the smile Eugen wore was one of nostalgia.

More than twenty years ago, when the fierce war against the Kingdom of Loire had been unfolding, the Kingdom of Edelstein had initially been forced into a hard struggle, and many seasoned knights and soldiers had fallen. Because those men had kept them alive, Eugen and the other young soldiers of their generation had won, continued gaining experience afterward, and become seasoned knights and soldiers themselves.

And now, their turn had come.

Among the old soldiers forming the line, he saw Knight Barthold. Barthold looked toward him as well, and the two exchanged fearless smiles.

It reminded him of their youth. Barthold must have been thinking the same. With that thought, Eugen faced forward and raised his sword.

“Let us make an end worthy of the predecessors who fell before us! Today is a fine day to die!”

“““Aye!”””

Showing even something like enjoyment, the veteran soldiers who had supported the Ferdinand Regiment until now continued to fight. All for the regiment. For the kingdom. And for their pride.

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