Editing Chronicle Legion:Volume 3 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 3===


A battle between the Tōkaidō army and the Restoration Alliance had broken out at the Fuji tutelary fort.

Just as victory was about to be decided, the genie Morrigan also began to retreat. Naturally, this so-called retreat did not refer to physical movement.

She summoned her consciousness back from the simulacrum stationed there as her avatar.

The spirit Morrigan's principal image was located at the impregnable fortress, Hakone Checkpoint.

Fuji City was thirty kilometers away from Hakone. After spending twenty minutes, Morrigan's consciousness finally returned.

"...What an, embarrassment."

As soon as Morrigan returned to her usual simulacrum, she could not help but grumble about the humiliation of defeat.

The intricate doll stood 150cm tall and looked like a living girl. Morrigan was sitting in a rocking chair, dressed in a sailor outfit with a beret.

"I am terribly, sorry. The Fuji tutelary fort's defense... was a failure."

"You have no need to apologize, Morrigan."

The man commonly referred to as prince replied gently.

Edward the Black Prince.

The ultimate military genius born to the English royal family in the medieval age, he was also the commander-in-chief of the British Imperial Forces stationed in Imperial Japan.

"Your role is nothing more than a castle's guardian goddess. Humans are the ones responsible for human accomplishments and failures . Responsibility for the defeat lies with Defoe and Chamberlain&mdash;the Chevaliers on the field who were commanding Legions and giving you directions."

Edward and Morrigan were currently at Hakone.

The location was a military facility near Komagadake, inside a room in the command center.

Back when this land was under the Kantō Fiefdom's control, the room was the office used by the "supreme commander of the Hakone tutelary fort." Now, it belonged to Britain and Edward the Black Prince.

The divinity baseplate of Morrigan's principal image Morgan le Fay was also housed in the command center.

Until a few dozen minutes ago, she was still possessing her avatar at the Fuji tutelary fort and participating in the defensive battle. Never did she expect failure as the outcome&mdash;

Morrigan was gnashing her teeth in chagrin.

The "prince" said to her, "Knowing you, Morrigan, I am certain you warned them prior to the battle. 'Against a numerically superior enemy, it would be wise to refrain from attacking recklessly. Focus on defense together with Morgan le Fay and wait for reinforcements from Hakone.' Right?"

"Precisely."

"However, Defoe and Chamberlain ignored your counsel."

"......"

"Since Uncle could not participate in the Nagoya invasion, we had no choice but to send experienced Chevaliers from areas adjacent to Hakone, which includes Fuji City. Taking over defense duty on their behalf, Defoe and Chamberlain are both young and inexperienced Chevaliers."

Edward closed his eyes and deduced what had transpired.

"With Chevalier Strengths around 70, ineligible as Knights of Her Majesty, they are impatient to distinguish themselves on the battlefield. Coincidentally, an army from Suruga attacked... Hence, they immediately ordered you to pin down the Tōkaidō army. Then they raided the enemy's disrupted ranks."

Edward correctly described what had happened over the course of those dozens of minutes as though he had witnessed it first hand.

"However, the enemy commander knew very well that," Edward shrugged, "as long as they calmly maintained the status quo... All they needed to do was stay in formation and handle Defoe and Chamberlain's little tricks, then victory was theirs for the taking with numerical superiority on their side."

Morrigan's doll eyes widened. Her commander's eyes of wisdom had astounded her.

As always, Edward had a full and detailed grasp of what had occurred in a distant battlefield.

"Since you know, so well... Why not send, other Chevaliers to Fuji?"

"Insufficient manpower. Besides, don't be silly." Edward sighed. "It's not like I am a prophet or have clairvoyance. How could I possibly predict everything about the enemy before the battle started?"

"Your abilities approach, clairvoyance already."

Morrigan's tone sounded more like sarcasm than praise.

She knew that this was neither magic nor extrasensory perception.

In his past life, Prince Edward had accumulated countless experience across hellish battlefields, naturally honing a sharp sense of perception.

Perhaps the enemy general tonight was equally wise and insightful?

Meanwhile, Edward fell into deep thought.

"Attacking Fuji from Suruga at this point in time. The strategic openings caused by Uncle's defeat that cannot be plugged until tomorrow or the day after..."

Analyzing the reasons for the defeat, the prince was showing signs of a smile on the corners of his mouth.

"He must be the one in command after all?"

At that moment, Morrigan sensed noetic waves.

A noetic officer had reported the arrival of a small messenger retainer beast sent from the Fuji tutelary fort and was requesting Commander-in-Chief Edward's decision.

"Prince, the Fuji tutelary fort has sent a message. 'Requesting dialogue between Hakone and Fuji'."

"Oh?"

The Black Prince smiled in amusement, sounding like a mischievous child in tone.

"Morrigan, help me dial that thing... called a fixed line telephone, is it? Call the command center at the Fuji tutelary fort. The other side will pick up right away."

"Affirmative." Morrigan nodded and did as requested by the medieval hero who was unused to operating modern contraptions.

Hakone Checkpoint and the Fuji tutelary fort.

After the British forces captured them, these two places came under the Restoration Alliance's control, and they usually kept close contact through frequent telephone calls.

Morrigan operated the telephone on the office desk.

She turned on the speaker phone and invited her boss to speak.

"Hello," Edward spoke a greeting to the phone. 

'Are you there?' Soon after, a reply was heard on the speaker. Morrigan had recollections of this voice, it was Tachibana Masatsugu. She had previously encountered this Tōkaidō Chevalier in the outskirts of Fuji City.

'I was thinking&mdash;Perhaps you might come to Fuji yourself, Prince.'

"I have some important matters to handle at Hakone, but I did dispatch my personal guard. Three hundred Knights of the Garter are headed towards Fuji City."

'Meaning you won't be coming in person, Prince?'

"To be honest, I do regret my decision. I never thought you would run all the way over to Fuji."

Edward shrugged.

As soon as he received news of a "surprise attack on Fuji," he had immediately dispatched an army of black knights.

With Morgan le Fay's support on the battlefield, victory was assured even without the Black Prince's personal presence. Naturally, that only applied against ordinary enemies.

Morrigan held back her feelings of humiliation while listening to her superior's conversation.

"I heard you were quite active in Nagoya this morning too, Tachibana-dono. Appearing everywhere in less than half a day, now that is truly elusive... No."

The legendary prince smiled while he conversed with the mysterious enemy general over the phone.

"Rather, celerity is the soul of warfare, wouldn't you agree? Magnificent. Those self-proclaimed military advisers always love to pointlessly deliberate over intricate tactics or unusual strategies. Yet the vital principle of celerity is lost upon them where the swift and maneuverable triumphs over the slow and ponderous. Tachibana-dono, you are well-versed in the key principles of warfare."

'......'

"Your trap for defeating Uncle and the constant traveling for the past two days, every move of yours has been profoundly fascinating. What I truly want&mdash;"

Edward paused and switched to a provocative tone of voice.

"What I truly want is your name and to conduct a bit of research on that."

'Not at all, you praise me too much... So, what are your plans?'

"Well, I shall order my black knights to halt their march while I take to the field... A duel with you ought to be the ideal choice."

'The Lionheart last night and the Black Prince tonight. Two consecutive evenings of extravagant banquets.'

"Indeed. Last night, even though Uncle attacked in full force, you were able to achieve victory by using fewer than four hundred Legions. Such extraordinary methods."

'I was at wit's end too.'

"Quite so. However, thanks to your painstaking conservation of forces, I believe you probably hold five or six hundred red-purple swordsmen in peak condition, yes? Or perhaps, even more than that."

Morrigan widened her eyes in surprise.

The Black Prince was positing that the mysterious general, Tachibana Masatsugu, had a Chevalier Strength surpassing 1000.

Edward's own Chevalier Strength reached as high as 1256. He believed his opponent to be a famous general on the same level, a mighty hero rivaling the likes of Richard the Lionheart, Julius Caesar, or Admiral Nelson&mdash;

"Yesterday, the quantity of your Legions was unnaturally low... When I learned of that, I was wondering if you had deliberately conserved troops as a precaution in case I attacked. Would I be bragging if I said that?"

'No comment. I have only one thing to say to you.' On the other side of the call, Tachibana Masatsugu spoke indifferently, '...My side is prepared to defeat your English longbow formation at Hakone, the one we saw a few days ago.'

"Oh? My 'mode anglais'?"

'If you cannot wait, I don't mind demonstrating it at Fuji tonight.'

"Superb. My blood boils in excitement for the first time since my arrival to Japan. Since you say so, Tachibana-dono, I shall ''meet you in battle'' in perfect English style."

'It's a promise.'

"Then today's fighting shall conclude here."

'We will fight another day at Hakone.'

"Yes, this is the promise between you and me."

The conversation ended and the other side hung up.

The effect of the Feat of Arms&mdash;Archers of Crécy was to switch the Garter Knights' weapons to bows to create a team of longbowmen. This Feat of Arms was virtually synonymous to the name of Prince Edward.

And defeating this formation had been brought up in this conversation between two master generals.

In other words, this was a preliminary skirmish where knightly and samurai honor were at stake.

"Perhaps... Tachibana-dono isn't actually a 'samurai'?"

Once again, his whispered comment shocked Morrigan.


Meanwhile, at the castellan's office in the Fuji tutelary fort...

Just earlier, this room had still belonged to two British Chevaliers.

Sitting on a rocking chair in the room was a doll resembling a living girl. It had the appearance of a petite Caucasian blonde beauty, dressed in a sailor outfit.

According to speculation from noetic officers, this was a genie's simulacrum.

"Hey Onii-sama."

"What's up?"

Masatsugu had just ended his conversation with Prince Edward at Hakone.

After winning the battle between Legions, taking Hatsune and ground forces along, Masatsugu had entered the Fuji tutelary fort and captured various facilities.

Securing the office took first priority.

After doing that, he had sent a message demanding to speak with Hakone.

"The Black Prince thinks you're conserving the Kanesadas... But actually, Onii-sama, you don't have many troops left, do you?"

"I don't."

Legions that fall in battle near their stronghold would resurrect in roughly a day.

"Near" specifically referred to within ten kilometers. But last night, Masatsugu had gone beyond the ten-kilometer range to engage Richard's army at Mount Satsuta.

Back then, he lost a hundred and sixty Legions whose revival would take at least a week.

''It is particularly easy to replenish troop numbers when fighting at one's stronghold.''

This was the greatest feature of home advantage.

Moreover, Masatsugu was handicapped by ''the inability to replenish ectoplasmic fluid the normal way''. At the present moment, the maximum number of Legions he could summon would be around a hundred and twenty.

"Onii-sama, it's because of your various ingenious moves that the legendary Black Prince thinks you're his equal, right? This is part of your power, I guess?" Hatsune commented poignantly. "It's just that it feels like scamming."

"Don't put it like that. There are three main points to remember when confronting a major nation's army with a smaller force. First of all, deception. Secondly, intimidation. Finally..."

"Don't tell me it's bluffing?"

"Correct. You're good at figuring this out."

"Luckily, the prince really fell for it."

"Now that's not really correct." Masatsugu told the naive little sister. "The English formation is ''actually more suited to defense than offense''. This is why he didn't take the bait when I tempted him to attack Fuji. Instead, he said he'd meet me in battle at Hakone. That was a declaration made with absolute certainty of victory."

"More suited to defense than offense?"

"That's right. Before the actual battle, I'll need to come up with a solution."

"W-What? Even the mention of a way to defeat them was a bluff?"

"Exactly. Anyway, there's no need to fight again tonight, so that's pretty good already."

"I suppose. Worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes."

Hatsune drew upon the bold and unfettered nature unique to her clan of larger-than-life characters and agreed with Masatsugu.

Masatsugu slowly said to his little sister, "By the way, Hatsune. I've been meaning to ask you for a favor, so let me take this chance to tell you."

"What's the matter? You look so serious, you know?"

"You still remember there's a school festival to be held at the beginning of next month, right? I'm a member of the executive committee after all, and in charge of the beauty contest to boot. There aren't enough contestants and I'd like your full support..."

Hatsune stared at her older brother in rare gaze of criticism.

Masatsugu felt quite troubled and wanted to know the reason.

"What's with you?"

"We are currently fighting the Restoration Alliance. Aren't you way out of line for bringing up a beauty contest?"

"Excessive suppression of entertainment during times like these would not be a good thing. People have to find chances to relax. The other students and I all need to take a breather."

"Onii-sama, you're really looking forward to it, aren't you...?"

"Suruga's situation will be improving now that the Tōkaidō Fiefdom has retaken Fuji City. Events like the school festival or the beauty contest should be able to proceed without problems."

"Why does it feel like you specifically recaptured Fuji City for the sake of the beauty contest?"

"......"

"O-Onii-sama!?"

Masatsugu invoked his right to silence to avoid putting his foot into his mouth.