Editing Chronicle Legion:Volume 2 Epilogue (section)

===Part 1===

November 7th, it was late, just after midnight.

Richard I had attacked Suruga but the defensive forces at the Suruga tutelary fort managed to pull through.

After the long night, dawn finally appeared on the horizon.

"Seriously... What a turbulent night."

Akigase Rikka was currently at the Suruga tutelary fort's nation-protecting keep.

The keep was forty meters tall and Rikka was on the roof. The tutelary fort was located on the highest plateau in the area, Nihondaira.

This was the best vantage point of Suruga City.

Alone, she was enjoying the beautiful scenery of Mount Fuji and Suruga Bay under the morning sun.

Such extravagance was one of the few privileges afforded to the Suruga castellan after staying up all night. Rikka stretched.

"Come to think of it... I think I've seen Masatsugu-dono's methods somewhere before."

Following Tachibana Masatsugu's directions, Rikka had fortunately won last night's battle.

He had used all sorts of tricks to lure the peerlessly ferocious king of knights, leading him to fall into an encirclement trap&mdash;

Rikka had the impression that she had read about similar tactics in a textbook on strategy or military history.

"Whatever," Rikka shrugged and did not dwell on the matter for too long.

This only meant that "Masatsugu-dono" had used reasonable and effective methods.

The crux of last night's battle was how to draw out Richard I's passion and charging attack. The praiseworthy fact was that Tachibana Masatsugu had accomplished this skillfully. The theory behind the operation was actually quite simple.

"Putting aside whether he is Lord Hijikata or not, there is no doubt that he is amazingly talented."

Ultimately, the tactics in books were not too meaningful.

The crucial point was to be able to apply these tactics "on the battlefield under extreme conditions."

If knowledge alone could win battles, there would be no need for generals. Just find a random student, get him to read a manual on strategy and tactics, then install him as the commander. Enough said.

"I need to greet Masatsugu-dono... and the princess."

The first name to slip out tugged at Rikka's heartstrings unbelievably.

She felt a strange urge to hum. At that moment, a soldier ran over. Rikka suppressed the urge to hum and said with a nonchalant expression, "What's the matter?"

After hearing the soldier's reply, Rikka murmured in puzzlement.

"This early in the morning... A man wants to see me?"


"Good grief."

Half an hour later, Rikka was wearing an exasperated look in the castellan's office.

"How was I supposed to know who the hell is Alexis Yang? Just say you're Yang Zhongda, descendant of the "Generals of the Yang Family," and I would've known immediately."

"I don't really like to call myself that..."

The citizen of Eastern Rome his late thirties replied a little frivolously.

Rikka was sitting behind the heavy office desk. The standing man was greeting her. Although he was dressed casually in a dark-blue jacket with beige pants, he was a soldier in active duty.

Alexis Yang's Chinese name was Yang Zhongda.

He was an acquaintance from the time when Akigase Rikka had been sent to serve Imperial Japan's ally, Eastern Rome.

"Even though the Yang family is famous for our generals, the women are particularly strong-willed and hold higher positions in the army. I don't really want people to know I'm a man from the Yang family, it's too embarrassing. Uh, I'm serious here."

"By the way, your wife... no, your ex-wive is also a distant relative of the Yang Family, isn't she?"

"We were in the same cohort during military academy. Now she's my superior."

After the battle against Richard's army&mdash;

A strange man had arrived at the gate of the Suruga tutelary fort and demanded to see the castellan. This frivolous commoner had claimed affiliation with the "Eastern Roman Empire's East Asian Administrative Region Military" and that he would explain his purpose after seeing the castellan...

"I'm surprised you managed to get to Suruga. Did you come from Tokyo?"

"Yeah, it wasn't easy crossing Hakone Checkpoint. Took quite a bit of work on my part."

Rikka nodded, figuring out the story.

Yang Zhongda had joined the military staff since long ago, but his abilities as a staff officer were quite mediocre. However, he was talented at noetic control and cultivating connections with civilian big shots or suspicious individuals.

This time, he must have used a combination of his own abilities and aid from others to arrive here.

"Major Yang, what is your purpose here in Suruga?"

"His Excellency asked me to come here and be your military adviser. Just think of me as a liaison. I'll be in charge of putting you guys in touch with the Roman military."

Rikka had heard whom Alexis Yang was currently serving as staff officer.

She shrugged. The so-called "His Excellency" could be no one else.

"Why did Lord Caesar send you directly to me, bypassing my father, the Tōkaidō Governor General?"

"Maybe... He thinks that Nagoya won't hold much longer, so he's making preparations in advance, as a precautionary measure?"

"If only Lord Caesar, who calls himself Imperial Japan's protector, had taken action earlier..."

Rikka spoke in sarcastic rather than grumbling tone.

"Then there wouldn't be any need for precautionary measures if he had helped Tōkaidō get rid of the British forces, right?"

"Well, there are various difficulties. All things considered, Imperial Japan is an ally, not a Roman province, right? We can't go too out of line."

"True. By the way, if the rebellion persists for the long term..."

Yang swept the issue under the rug by putting on a fool's look and Rikka stared at him.

"Eastern Japan with its strong ties to Rome will become your vassal state, while western Japan will be annexed by the British Empire... thus leading to an east-west split."

"Located right in the center, Tōkaidō will turn into Japan's version of Alsace-Lorraine, right?"

"This place you speak of, I recall it is a border territory that switched hands multiple times between Germany and France, isn't it? In other words, Rome and Britain will invade Tōkaidō repeatedly."

"This is purely the worst-case scenario based on speculation. Personally, I have no comment." Yang smiled wryly then put on a serious face to say, "His Excellency communicated a few plans to me for helping the isolated Suruga City and avoiding the worst-case scenario."