Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume9 Chapter7 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

Another soldier came rushing in again. A messenger from the detached force.

It appeared that, as the defences around the headquarters had been reinforced, Pashir’s unit was not in a position to move.

Although Orba remained outwardly impassive, he was clenching his fists so tightly that the muscles in his arms had bulged to twice their usual appearance.

Moreover, Yuriah’s fleet had started advancing on Tolinea. Including the flagship, it contained four cruisers. Each of them carried six airships and was being escorted by a further three airships. The commander, Yuriah Mattah, was young even for a Winged Dragon officer. He considered that the doctrine of using large, heavily armed warships was outdated. He believed that, at least when one was on the attacking side, it was best to make full use of mobility in the sky.

Even with the fleet approaching, there was no conspicuous movement from Tolinea.

''Do they not have that many guns?'' Yuriah Mattah wondered from the bridge of the flagship, and he had one of the other cruisers lead the way.

Sure enough, even when they were within cannon range, there was no movement from the enemy. Yuriah gave the cruisers the order to start bombing.

The trees bulged along the surface of the ground and one of the watch watchtowers was blown away. Right after that, a number of enemy airships flew out in apparent disorder from behind the hastily built fences.

“Ah, we’ve smoked them out,” Yuriah chuckled to himself. Following standard practice, he had the ship momentarily pull back; then thrust a lit torch into the nest to scatter the noxious insects.

Still, Tolinea was a little too weak for a “nest”. There could not have been more than ten airships that took to the sky.

Very soon, the aerial battle started but from the first, Yuriah’s side held the momentum. And not only because of their numbers. In terms of tactics also, there was a wide difference between Yuriah’s and the enemy side.

“Humph,” Yuriah smiled scornfully as he observed the situation through a pair of binoculars.

The enemy was surely the Dawnlight Wings Division led by General Rogue Saian. He was, undoubtedly, a highly-experienced commander; but when it came to tactics for the use of airships, Yuriah had a slight edge thanks to having studied the newest strategies at the Military Academy.

All that the enemy did was charge as though they were cavalry riders, swivel around, then take up the exact same posture to do the same again. During the war against Garbera however, Mephius had been able to study the techniques of an enemy that excelled at handling airships. And their latest tactics had been taught at the Military Academy.

Always send out airships in groups of three in aerial combat, and have one ship lure the enemy to create an opportunity for the other two to attack it from the rear. These were the basics that Yuriah had had hammered into him. And just like him, his subordinates were young. They had made these flexible tactics their own.

On the opposing side, Rogue’s airship units were completely unable to compete with this method. They were barely able to scatter and run without having shot down a single one of Yuriah’s crafts.

Whereupon, the airships immediately commenced their bombing operation. As the defence line crumbled still further, the ships drew near for a second round of bombardments. The hurriedly constructed fort was collapsing.

Meanwhile.

“Your Highness.”

While the attack on Tolinea Fort had begun, Orba was still clenching his fists. Although Shique had been calling repeatedly for a while now, he did not answer.

“Your Highness!”

“What?”

He finally turned to look at Shique.

“Tolinea will fall. Even if we use that to attract the enemy’s ground troops, Pashir still won’t be able to move. This is…”

“This is?”

"Should we launch ourselves at an early stage than the one planned for? If a chance comes up to bring that out in Tolinea, we could hugely disrupt the enemy lines."

Zaas Sidious' forces were still closing in on Jozu Fortress. While gunfire was still being exchanged, they had finally started to set up the large-scale guns.

''It's no good!'' Orba screamed, but only inwardly.

Certainly, their strategy had relied on launching themselves at the cost of there being victims among them. But that was only after the enemy had been drawn further in, when Pashir's unit would have been on the verge of breaking into the enemy camp.

Since Pashir's troops had not yet lit a beacon, it meant that they were not yet able to attack. If they launched themselves at this stage, how long would they be able to hold out, waiting for their shock troops?

"Your Highness, we can go with that option," Odyne also spoke up, but that option seemed to lead to almost certain death.

''There has to still be something'' – thought Orba. Something which would allow them to remedy the state of the battle other than a suicide attack that would cost an untold number of lives.

At that very moment however, Yuriah's air force, which had effortlessly broken through the aerial defence line, closed in on Tolinea Fort.

He did not order an immediate bombardment as they could get information from the sky. At the news that his ships returned with, Yuriah's smirk grew wider. On the other side of what appeared to be a hastily-constructed abattis<ref>An [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abatis abatis] (or abattis, or abbattis) is a field fortification consisting of an obstacle formed (in the modern era) of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced or tied with wire. Abatis are used alone or in combination with wire entanglements and other obstacles.</ref>, there was only one single old-style cannon manned by a small number of artillerymen, as well as a huge pile of tree branches.

"I see, so once they had drawn our soldiers in, they were planning to set them on fire." The leaves and branches were no doubt those that had been accumulated when they were building the fort. "Then we'll save them the trouble. Notify the fifth platoon, they're to bombard Tolinea's fort. The third and fourth platoons are to guard them. The remainder are to drive enemy airships from the sky."

Even now, Yuriah still did not send out all of his ships. Rogue Saian's flagship, as well as the vessels which should have been seized when they captured Jozu Fortress, had yet to appear on the battlefield, which was why he kept some back in case of need. However, the sky remained clear of the enemy ship.

Was it being used to fortify Apta's defence? Or was it on standby behind Jozu Fortress in order to evacuate the military personnel? Either way, it had lost the chance to fly to Tolinea’s defence. It was safe to say that the enemy had been a step too slow to make good use of their air power.

The fifth platoon started dropping ammunitions from the sky above Tolinea. They did not need to repeatedly circle and bomb the target; because of all the dry wood, the fire spread quickly and Tolinea Fort was soon engulfed in raging red flames.

The soldiers within the fort threw aside their guns, looking like baby spiders as they scattered and ran. Rogue's airships had already escaped into the sky.

"Tolinea has fallen. Good, let's hurry to go support General Sidious. Turn around," shouted Yuriah Mattah. At the same time,

"Your Highness!" In Jozu's command room, Shique likewise raised his voice. "We have known from the start that we are at a disadvantage. Since they are coming from Tolinea, we should also attack. At this point, the enemy - right, the enemy should start to get careless at this point. If we can link up with Pashir's unit on the way, we can probably draw up to the enemy headquarters."

His face pale, Shique loudly spoke his thoughts. Orba looked at him from sideways on and glared.

"Don't interfere. You don't understand anything so shut up."

"No," Shique's gaze did not flinch.

His sense of regret was as strong, no, stronger even, than Orba's. He had known that Orba was not in his normal state. He should have probed more deeply into that and, more importantly, he should have helped him back to a normal frame of mind.

He did not know if it was only because the plan had failed, but it was now obvious that Orba was –

"Your Highness, what are you afraid of?" Shique finally asked.

"What did you say? Afraid," Orba kicked his chair back as he sprang to his feet. His violent inner conflict suddenly disappeared, replaced instead by an even stronger emotion that filled his mind at a terrifying speed. "Are you that desperate to launch a suicide attack? In that case -"

'Go ahead and do it' was what he had been about to say. But at that moment –

''What are you afraid of?''

Vileena's words re-emerged from within his memories and, resonating with Shique's voice, they struck him hard. Orba suddenly faltered.

''Afraid.''

''Am I afraid?''

When he asked himself that question, the burning torrent that had been filling his chest vanished abruptly. A feeling so cold it almost made him shiver took its place.

The image of himself fighting, sword in hand, flashed through his mind. Followed by a rush of images of enemies raising swords, spears, axes or guns with blood-curling yells.

It felt as though a pale, unidentifiable hand was clutching his heart, and Orba stood paralysed.

The sky roared with angry voices, the sound of cannon fire echoed in crescendo, the forest soaked up the blood of corpses until it was dyed red, everything flickered violently until even the bright sun in heaven became entangled in it and silently started falling.

That was –

''Death.''

When he thought about it, Orba realised that for the first time, he was afraid.

He was afraid of fighting.

He was terrified of dying.

It was the first time he felt like that. Which was why it had taken him so long to identify the feeling.

"..."

Orba had experienced countless dangerous situations. Every time, he had wondered if he was going to die.

He had had to survive for the sake of fulfilling his revenge. Put otherwise, if he had fallen along the way and lost his life, his only desire would have been crushed.

It was different now.

He no longer had a goal that he could not die without accomplishing. It was just that now, he had the feeling that –

''I mustn’t die.''

''If I fall here…''

Orba’s unfocused gaze hardly saw the people assembled in the command room. What he saw in his mind’s eye were Rogue and Gilliam and the others that were lying in wait for their chance, and the soldiers who were fighting and shooting their guns. Although it might mean betraying their own country and facing Mephius itself, each of them was prepared to risk their own lives.

''If I'' –

If his corpse were to be exposed, the brand on his back would be seen.

The Gil Mephius who had risen in rebellion would be revealed as an impostor and a former slave. He would be labelled a fool and a heinous criminal with ambitions far above his station, who had sought to use his striking resemblance to the crown prince to take over Mephius.

Not only that, but it was obvious that Rogue and Odyne would be presented as villains who had taken part in the plot in order the snatch for themselves the positions of chief retainers.

Those who had longed for Mephius’ future and who chivalrously fought, even at the cost of innumerable sacrifices, would merely end up captured and killed as part of a despicable rebel army, their names reviled forevermore.

It was different from when he had fought for revenge. That had been Orba’s own personal fight.

And the meaning was not the same as when he had joined the war in the west to bring down Garda. That had been “Ax’s battle”. Victory and defeat, the honours and the future had all been for Ax Bazgan to carry.

Now it was Orba alone who bore the burden. Of the corpses piled on today’s battlefield, of each and every one of those lives.

''Do I have what it takes to carry that?''

Even if it was just one battle, the boy that Orba still was felt dizzy from the weight of it.

And in that case, what kind of person did you have to be to shoulder the responsibility for an entire country?

Zaas, who was fast approaching Orba’s fortress, Yuriah who was bombing Tolinea, Folker who was commanding them from the rear and, even further behind them, the one who was pulling the strings, Emperor Guhl Mephius.

Now, Guhl’s shadow was like that of a giant, filling Orba’s vision. Stretching a huge black arm, he struck Orba in the chest. And, for all he boasted of being forged by training, that chest now seemed as frail as a baby’s as the impact went right through him.

Orba staggered and sat back down in the chair from which he had just risen.

“Y-Your Highness.”

“What happened, Your Highness!”

Immediately after, a small tremor shook the command room.

An enemy cannonball had smashed through the fortress’ outer gate. The infantrymen raised their war cries as they began to break in.

Odyne’s men, who been watching for this, and, from the top of staircases, from the covered galleries, from the shadows of pillars, they all started firing at once. Since the plan had been from the start to draw the enemy in, their ambush was fully prepared.

But Zaas Sidious had ordered the battlefield slaves to rush in first. Sprays of blood were spurting upwards. Trampling over the corpses of the slaves, Zaas’ riflemen followed after them. And started returning fire.

In no time at all, Jozu Fortress was filled with gunpowder smoke and the echoes of gunshots.


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===References and Translation Notes===
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