Chronicle Legion:Volume 3 Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - Two-Headed Dog

Part 1

"Morrigan, inform the defensive forces at each tutelary fort on my behalf."

After the merged divinity of the Four Gods vanished, Edward immediately issued orders.

"Tell them to keep defending their respective tutelary forts for two hours. Once this designated duration is over, each army will act at their own discretion depending on the changing circumstances."

"Affirmative."

The loyal spirit Morrigan nodded in response to Edward using the doll she was possessing.

They were on the roof of the nation-protecting keep at the first tutelary fort, Seiryuu Gate. Edward quickly walked over to a waiting wyvern.

"Very well.. It is time to get back to square one. I will take my personal guard, the Knights of the Garter, and leave this first tutelary fort. Morrigan, you come with me too."

"Affirmative. Are you going to converge with the main force, Prince?"

"Indeed, you know me well."

Seeing the subtle expression on Morrigan's face, Edward smirked.

...Despite losing his impregnable fortress, the superior officer seemed to be in excellent spirits. Edward was thankful for the leveled playing field, allowing him to have a showdown against Tachibana Masatsugu on equal terms.

Morrigan was appalled by the Black Prince's love of battle, but felt curious about how he would command his army.

"Let us set off, Morrigan. I have brought four hundred Legions to Seiryuu Gate, with eight hundred remaining at the central command center. A total of a thousand and two hundred Legions should be plenty enough forces. The Japanese enemies must know that the black knights of the British Empire will be the ones to dominate the Hakone battlefield."

Apart from the Garter Knights, there were another hundred and fifty-odd Crusades at Seiryuu Gate.

The Black Prince ordered them to defend the tutelary fort while he took his personal guard to converge with the "central main force." He was going to launch a vicious counterattack next, to destroy the enemy armies in the four cardinal directions respectively—

This was Edward's plan. However...

"Of course, you are going to hinder me, right? Tachibana-dono..."

Leading the four hundred Legions under his direct command, the Black Prince moved towards Oowakudani—

There was another ambush force there. Eight hundred Knights of the Garter were already detected. Leading a total of a thousand and two hundred Legions, Prince Edward was setting up his position in the sky over Mount Souun—

Retainer beasts such as aquilas and yatagarasus had returned with the above reports.

Needless to say, Tachibana Masatsugu was kept informed of such intel at all times.

However, there was one matter that needed to be discussed and settled prior to entering the battlefield. It would not be wrong to call it a negotiation. In other words, a meeting with the renowned general of Japan's "ally," the Eastern Roman Empire.

The key point was how to defeat the enemy's leader, Edward the Black Prince—

Riding blue wyverns, Masatsugu and Rikka headed to the rendezvous point in the sky over Oowakudani.

After the battle at Suzaku Gate, six hundred of Masatsugu's Kanesadas remained while Rikka's hundred and fifty Kamuys were virtually unscathed.

Meanwhile, riding a silver wyvern, General Wei Qing brought roughly four hundred and fifty Centuriae.

In order to hold the Black Prince's attention at Seiryuu Gate, Wei Qing had confronted the English longbow formation head on, losing over half of his army of a thousand as a result.

The rest of the Roman and Tōkaidō forces had stayed at the four tutelary forts in the north, east, south, and west.

Those forces were currently fighting the armies left behind by Prince Edward.

Currently, the hundred and fifty Tōkaidō Legions combined with the four hundred and fifty of Rome's to give a total of a thousand and two hundred.

Given the proportions, it would not be wrong for Tōkaidō to be in command. However, if the Roman army, which had sacrificed the most so far, refused to cooperate, this battle would be extremely hard to fight—That was how the proportions worked.

While thinking over these matters, Masatsugu reached the rendezvous point in the sky over Oowakudani.

Leading his Centuriae in a spherical formation, General Wei Qing arrived from the direction of Hakone Yumoto.

"Masatsugu-dono."

"Yeah, I'm going to talk to him for a bit."

Masatsugu gave Rikka a look and left the Tōkaidō army of seven hundred and fifty Legions. Riding his wyvern alone, he approached the Roman army of four hundred and fifty. Who knew what would come out of his discussion with General Wei Qing?

The two of them met in the sky over Oowakudani.

Wei Qing said very candidly, "I am willing to cooperate with your plan, Masatsugu-dono."

"...Now that's really helpful of you to be so accommodating."

That being said, Masatsugu could not help but grumble this time.

"Since I haven't even told you the plan, aren't you agreeing too quickly?"

"Please rest assured, this is the power of my Feat of Arms."

"What?"

The ability to renact migty feats from the battlefields of one's past life—

Such was the special power of Feat of Arms. However, what kind of ability had Wei Qing invoked during this conversation? Masatsugu was greatly puzzled.

Wei Qing pointed at his own temple and explained. Normally low key, Wei Qing was speaking in a mischievous tone of voice for once.

"I have no idea whether my daily conduct resulted in karmic backlash, or I am simply afflicted with poor luck, but as a result, I am always surrounded by troubles outside of battle. Examples include unreasonable treatment from the upper class, or being forced to lead armies that are clearly weaker than the enemy..."

His words sounded like complaining, but Wei Qing's tone was filled with levity as though he were not talking about himself.

In fact, there was a gentle smile maintained on Wei Qing's face.

"Perhaps due to this, my intuition is especially sharp when it comes to matters of advance or retreat."

"Intuition?"

"Yes. My expertise lies in knowing when to advance or retreat, knowing where to move for better fortune and which positions are disadvantageous... All this is clear to me in a kind of premonition."

"You can really see that stuff?"

"This time, my intuition tells me that you hinted at is the most effective path to survival... This is precisely the effect of my Feat of Arms—Kanglong Youhui."

Wei Qing easily revealed his completely unassuming ability.

Masatsugu was very intrigued. Did this really count as a Feat of Arms?

Wei Qing smiled again and said, "There have been many eccentric people around me in the past. This includes an emperor who was a good judge of character, but had poor understanding of human hearts, the emperor's willful older sisters, obstinate generals, etc... Perhaps after being pushed around by those people for long years, I developed this kind of ability as a result."

"I see."

Masatsugu understood, but he was only half-convinced.

General Wei Qing having such an ability was probably true. Otherwise, he would not have obediently committed to Masatsugu's battle plan without knowing anything in advance.

However, a Feat of Arms purely for "improving intuition"—That was quite difficult to believe.

Masatsugu speculated that Wei Qing had exercised "temperance" in only telling part of the truth. The true effects of the Feat of Arms should be more powerful with intuition as merely the tip of the iceberg.

"General Wei Qing, if a chance arises, I'd really like to get to the 'bottom' of you some day."

"My true nature is not interesting at all. On the other hand, Tachibana-dono, your identity is far more intriguing."

"Me, you say?"

"The way you have fought your battles so far are only possible with a deep belief that your troops are the elite of the elite. Such are the types of tactics you employ, which take an excessively heavy toll on the soldiers."

"......"

"It is most likely that you hail from a strong nation, or perhaps you were a general leading heroes of the most elite sort?"

"Speaking of which, you said the troops you led were old and weak, General?"

Faced with Masatsugu's question, the handsome general smiled wryly and admitted, "Yes, the emperor assigned cavalry to me by to subjugate the equestrian Xiongnu tribes... Unfortunately, the riders and horses were all raised within Han borders. Compared to warriors who spent their entire lives riding across the steppes—The difference was as great as between heaven and earth."

In any case, the matter of command was settled with unexpected ease.

Dozens of minutes later, the two of them finally faced off against Edward the Black Prince.

"Morrigan, it is time to begin."

"As you command."

Edward had divided the Knights of the Garter into two divisions.

First of all, nine hundred of them formed a wide wall formation as the "front rank." A couple hundred meters behind, the remaining three hundred were the "back ranks."

With the black knights in the back ranks all equipped with longbows, "mode anglais" was fully prepared.

Edward himself and Morrigan were among the back ranks. The genie had switched to a doll-size simulacrum and was sitting on the Black Prince's shoulder.

Looking out at the enemy position, Edward was quite surprised.

"Drawing a diagonal line across the battlefield... An oblique formation, huh? How old-fashioned to employ the tactic of Lord Epaminondas. Hohohoho, famed generals of past and present, oriental and occidental, all use the same methods, is that it!?"

Speaking of medieval knights, the majority of them were actually uncultured brutes.

The point of promoting chivalry was to impart a system of basic morals on these unruly men who frequented battlefields. So-called knights were nowhere as elegant as imagined by modern people.

However, there was a rare exception right here.

Having received an elite education since childhood as part of the English royal family, he was instructed in courtly elegance and etiquette.

Apart from mastery in martial training and the arts of war, he was also well-versed in Latin with deep knowledge in classical Greek and Roman texts—This was what Black Prince Edward was like as a person.

Now, he noticed that Tachibana Masatsugu had recreated a famous tactic from ancient Greece.

"We are about to have a real showdown against the prince. All units, assemble into a line to create a wall."

Now consider the coalition force between the Tōkaidō Fiefdom and the Eastern Roman Empire.

They had also entered a wide wall formation like the enemy. Both sides were in the sky over Mount Souun at Hakone, forming their own respective "wall" with over a thousand Legions.

However, the coalition force's wall was very different from the British side's.

Starting from the left and moving across, there were six hundred red-purple Kanesadas, then four hundred silver Centuriae, and finally a hundred and fifty blue Kamuys.

Along the entire line, only the Kanesadas on the left were intentionally arranged in a column.

Thus, the formation became an "L" with a protrusion on the left instead of a perfect horizontal line.

█
█
█  █  █  █  █
█

The column on the left consisted of the six hundred Kanesadas.

Instead of uniform ranks, this arrangement concentrated not only manpower but also the toughest troops on the far edge in extremely deep ranks. This tactic was known as the oblique order, a type of unbalanced formation.

Part 2

(placeholder)

Part 3

(placeholder)

Part 4

(placeholder)

Part 5

(placeholder)

Back to Chapter 5

Return to Main Page

Forward to Epilogue