WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 177: Bad News Comes Suddenly

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After the victory, Cecilia ordered the camp moved to the front of Cuanca's gate, while she herself entered the city leading five hundred troops directly under her. Joining with the five hundred-strong detached force that had entered through the harbor, she began the work of occupying Cuanca.

When she headed to the Lucatti viscount family's mansion to requisition it as headquarters, the commander of the unit that had already begun taking control of the mansion greeted her with a salute.

"Good work. Where is Viscount Lucatti?"

"By the time we arrived, he had committed suicide together with his wife. There are three heirs in total, but they are still young, so for now they are under house arrest... There was also a will left by the viscount and his wife. It says that because the responsibility for the rebellion lies with them as lords, they ask that their heirs and retainers be spared and that their people be protected in exchange for their lives."

"...I see."

After hearing the unit commander's report, Cecilia lowered her eyes for a brief moment.

He had risen according to his own convictions, and when defeated, tried to take all responsibility with his life. To the very end, he sought the safety of those under his protection. That was an attitude worthy of respect from a noble. From the perspective of the Arelia royal family, Viscount Lucatti was a traitor, but at the very least, he was no coward.

The current king, Samuel Arelia, had set a tolerant reign as his policy. Most likely, Viscount Lucatti's heirs would not be able to remain nobles, but their lives and immediate livelihoods would be guaranteed.

"Treat the bodies and the heirs with the utmost courtesy. Violence against retainers and servants is also strictly forbidden."

"Yes, my lady."

After giving the order to the unit commander, Cecilia entered a room that seemed to have originally been Dionisio Lucatti's office and finally took a breath.

After some time, her adjutant Rose, who had been moving separately, came to report.

"Resistance inside the walls has ceased, and order is being maintained. Our new dead are about one hundred, and the wounded are about two hundred. As for the enemy, final deaths are estimated at five hundred, with about the same number wounded. Most of the prisoners are regular soldiers and mercenaries... It seems a considerable number of militiamen abandoned their weapons and fled outside the city or blended in with the city residents. May we handle them according to your prior orders?"

"Yes. Since we cannot distinguish them from the other people, there is no point chasing them. It will also set a precedent that the other rebel armies can understand: if they stop resisting, they will not be charged. Let them go."

"As you command."

At Cecilia's order, Rose answered with a polite bow. Her movements and the cadence of her speech strongly resembled her uncle Celestin.

"...All that remains is to intercept Yorgos's army. Let us continue without overlooking anything."

"Yes. Victory will surely be in your hands, my lady."

Rose nodded with eyes that also resembled those of Cecilia's former adjutant.

Thus, they had seized the landing point for Yorgos Caruna's army. If Yorgos and his men came without knowing of their movements, she would intercept them. Even if Yorgos detected their movements and tried to change his landing point, moving a large army after a sudden change of plans would inevitably strain them. If she struck while they struggled to secure a bridgehead, she could attack the enemy army one-sidedly when it was at its most defenseless.

A little earlier, a report had also arrived that reinforcements from the Kingdom of Edelstein, the army led by Count Friedrich Hosenfeld, who was her brother by blood, had entered the Caruna region. She could not yet declare victory, but things were progressing smoothly, and there was no doubt that the situation favored them.

Considering the impoverished state of the Arelia royal family, this was an excellent result. Cecilia strongly wished that things would proceed according to plan until the end.

......

For a while after that, quiet time passed.

Cecilia let the officers and soldiers rest while also keeping them prepared to move at once if ordered, arranging the posture to intercept Yorgos's army. She spread scouts along the surrounding coast so they could respond immediately if a fleet approached.

As for the other rebel armies, reports arrived from various parts of the Caruna region that five armies in total had risen, each numbering from several hundred to about one thousand. All of them had begun moving from inland areas some distance away from the port city of Cuanca.

The reinforcements from the Kingdom of Edelstein had apparently contacted and confronted a force of about fifteen hundred shortly after entering the Caruna region, formed when two relatively large rebel armies joined together. The remaining rebel armies, totaling a little over one thousand, had moved to western Caruna and were expected to gather there.

The Edelstein army had drawn in more than half of the remaining rebel forces, so they could be said to be fulfilling their role as reinforcements sufficiently. Even if the other rebel forces gathered, they were small groups without an organized chain of command and would not become a serious threat. The location they had chosen as their gathering point was also poor, so they should not approach Cecilia's army for some time.

All that remained was to focus on intercepting Yorgos's army, which would soon approach. Cecilia felt relieved at a battle situation close to the best case she had imagined.

It was not long after that when bad news arrived as if trampling that relief underfoot.

"My lady! An urgent report from the Faro region!"

Rose rushed into Cecilia's office and spoke again with barely time for a salute.

"A fleet believed to be Yorgos Caruna's army has attacked the port city of Elcmar on the western coast of the Faro region! They are believed to have already landed and occupied it!"

"...So that move existed."

Hearing the bad news, Cecilia spoke with an expression as if she had bitten something bitter.

If Yorgos's army chose the Faro region as its landing point, it could set foot on the western Ludna Continent without being obstructed by the Arelia royal family's army waiting in the Caruna region. The Faro region had originally been a small country with a small population, and its port cities were small as well, so even if there was resistance, occupying one would be easy.

As the price for the city's small size, its stored supplies would also be limited, which created difficulties in supply if it was used as a bridgehead for an army of five thousand. However, that problem could be solved precisely because the landing point was the Faro region.

If Yorgos plundered carelessly in the Caruna region, he would suffer the disadvantage of losing support from the Carunans. But in the Faro region, even if plunder harmed popular sentiment, there was little harm. If he intended to expand his territory to include the Faro region after restoring the Kingdom of Caruna, he would not need to care about earning resentment now in a land he would eventually conquer by force. Yorgos's army could march while filling its stomach through plunder like a swarm of locusts.

If it landed with its strength fully preserved, advanced, and reached the Caruna region, the ones who would welcome it would be the rebel army. If Yorgos joined with them and further drew in local mercenaries, his army would soon increase by the thousands.

The prince of a lost nation had returned to free the land of Caruna from the Arelia royal family and was advancing with military strength exceeding even the army of the Arelia royal family. Carunans who judged that he had more than enough chance of victory, dreamed of liberation from oppression, and joined his ranks would increase. If that happened, it would not be strange for his army to eventually exceed ten thousand.

On the other hand, Cecilia's own strength was about five thousand five hundred after the losses suffered in the battle for Cuanca. Even if she joined with some of the surviving local garrison troops, it would be about six thousand. And the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Edelstein were drawing in rebels in northeastern Caruna, so joining with them would not be possible for some time.

If Yorgos's army approached, Cecilia's army, more than half of which consisted of conscripts, would have little chance of winning in a proper field battle. Before that, faced with an unfavorable battle, desertions might come one after another, and there was no telling how many of the six thousand would remain.

From Yorgos's perspective, this was an effective landing operation that let him create an overwhelmingly favorable situation before fighting the Arelia royal family's army. However, in order to make this operation succeed, he had effectively abandoned Viscount Lucatti, who had risen in Cuanca.

Using a Carunan noble who had risen for his sake as a disposable piece, landing in another region without a just cause, and advancing while trampling that land as he pleased. It was an absurdly reckless and violent strategy.

"The prince of a lost nation is outrageous."

"Yes. It is like the way barbarians fight."

At Cecilia's murmured impression, Rose nodded without hiding her disgust toward Yorgos.

Letting out a faint wry smile at her adjutant's reaction, Cecilia thought.

In this situation, the choices available to the Arelia royal family's army were limited. Among them, which was the least bad?

"...We will retreat north. There, while waiting for the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Edelstein, we will fight a defensive siege."

The only path to victory she could grasp in the current situation was cooperation with the living hero of Edelstein.

Having reached that conclusion, Cecilia spoke.

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