Reincarnated into a Game as the Hero’s Friend - Chapter 10

Under the order of the Crown Prince, the Zeavert army is on the way to the right flank.

“To think that demons will use Tsurinobuse (a battle tactic).”

“Tsu.. pardon?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

A knight heard my mumbling and asked, but I ignored him.

The Tsurinobuse is a tactic where an army is split into three. One will act as bait and the other two will hide on both sides of a prepared place. The bait will feign defeat to lure the enemy. If they succeed, the enemy will be trapped in all three directions and killed. History said this tactic is used on a hillside, but of course, a forest could also work.

The background noise of my current ‘journey’ is the sound of the retreat bell.

In my previous life, I’ve heard that the reason a sharp sound of a bell is used as a retreat signal is that the sound can be heard even from far away and its drastic difference from sounds that nature creates can increase the vigilance of a retreating army.

On the other hand, the loud, low, and reverberating sound of taiko (Japanese-style drum) is used as a signal to advance because it can increase an army’s morale.

Now that I’ve heard both myself, I somehow understand the effect. Though, of course, since it’s a bell, there’s bound to be some lag.

As I was thinking, I gazed in the direction of the ominous forest. The sounds of battle from the forest got louder gradually, not at once.

I guess the messenger barely made it.

From what I heard, though the pursuing knights didn’t suffer a disastrous defeat, casualties did appear among them.

Because the enemy’s bait had failed to lure us all to the forest, they attacked the pursuing knight instead. Facing the combination of the bait and the two ambush troops, it’s no wonder that the knights suffered some losses.

“The injured will return to the capital!”

“Those who still can fight, gather! We will assign you a temporary post. If any of you are dissatisfied with the assigned post, feel free to also return to the capital!”

With the remaining able men gathered by the Crown Prince’s aides, we somehow managed to form a mixed army.

It’s admirable for the Crown Prince to remain in the main camp despite the fact the main’s army started to prepare for a retreat.

It was something along the line, ‘I cannot abandon my subordinate and run.’

As a leader, that decision is worthy of praise.

Well, for me….

“Welner-sama, the arrangement for Sir Reinish’s troops had finished.”

“The arrangement for Sir Degenkolb and Gekke-dono’s troops had also finished.”

“Good work.”

I ended up as the commander for the right flank. Why is a youngster like me chosen?

They said it was the Crown Prince’s way of acknowledging me, but that sort of acknowledgment is only a burden.

“It seems like His Highness had put Sir Zeavert’s ability to remain calm and analyze the battlefield in high regard.”

The dirt-covered Sir Reinish said that to me. 

Sir Reinish, it’s actually not something grand like ‘analyze’. I’ve known that we will lose, so it’s strange for the enemy to retreat. I only connected the dots.

Now that it has become like this, there’s this small thought that maybe my troop will be sacrificed as a rear… but that’s probably only a thought… I hope…

Let’s seal that thought first. The ‘Sir’ in this world had two different uses. One, as an official title. Two, as a way to call noblemen who are not the head of their house.

Since I am a representative of my father, the Crown Prince and other nobles called me ‘Sir’. That’s why either the parent or the elder brother of Sir Rainish and Sir Degenkolb must be the head of their house.

The placement of the word ‘Sir’ depends on the house’s noble title. In my case, as the son of a count who is also a court minister, the people that can call me ‘Sir Welner’ are only those who had higher titles than my father, while the others must call me ‘Sir Zeavert’.

In the case of Oliver Gekke, he may be a former noble who became a mercenary but currently, he had no official noble title given by the royal court. As he is also the current commander of the adventurer-mercenaries troop, a -dono ended up being attached to his family name. Arghh… really… Why is calling someone this troublesome?

While I was musing in my mind, the former 100+ men army became 200+ men. Like before, I made them form a five-man team. Additionally, I had 5 teams form a platoon and 3 platoons form a company, and I appointed a commander for both the platoons and companies.

With this, I finished dividing the people and established a proper chain of command. Now, it’s only a matter of maintaining it. The only remaining problem, our communication, is solved by the quick formation of a messenger team.

I finally managed to barely divide a whooping 200 men. Counting the past life, this is the first time I had this many people as my subordinates. I will only give a command to the company’s commander and leave the rest to them. As Knights, they must be a better field commander than me.

“The enemy’s number had increased several times and they seem to be united to a certain extent. There’s also a report that the enemy’s purpose seems to have changed.”

“What do you mean?”

“According to our observation, unlike before, the enemy seems to have no intention of just charging blindly. On the other hand, several of them show the sign of being terrified by magic.”

From a knight sent by the Crown Prince, I received the latest information.

I see. So the reason why the bait troop is composed of only the demonic beasts is that the enemy wanted us to feel frustrated by making us have a difficult fight against ‘a mere demonic beast’ and then lure us by the promise of a sweet victory. On the other hand, the enemy allocated the more intelligent demons like the goblins to the ambush troops.

“Since our enemy had enough intelligence to feel emotion, that means we can shake them up. There’s our chance!”

The plan roughly goes like this.

With a signal from the main camp, the First and Second Divisions of the capital’s knights will separate.

The main army will then occupy the now-empty center. With that, the enemy will face an attack from all three directions.

The attack is planned to only have enough power to stop our enemy so we can gain some distance and gradually retreat to the capital while fighting.

It’s not a perfect plan, but considering the short amount of preparation, the lack of better communication methods, and the army that had suffered losses, it’s the only viable plan.

I guess if push comes to shove, I can rely on the leftover goods that the Zeavert’s army had brought.

…

T/N: Tsurinobuse tactic is said to be created by Shimazu Yoshihisa, a daimyo (Japanese territorial ruler) of Satsuma Province (Western side of now Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyuushu).

You can read more about it HERE.