Reincarnated into a Game as the Hero’s Friend - Chapter 31
Several bonfires are burning brightly under the night sky in the camp. Everyone, including me, took a rest around those fires. It’s tiring to be surrounded by old men, though.
If it wasn’t for the various noble training I’ve done ever since my memory of the past came back, I would’ve collapsed.
“Sir Welner, you are really a hard worker.”
“You flatter me.”
You see, mister, I will die if I don’t work hard. What’s bad about working hard to survive?
I need to work hard to have enough power to protect myself. I also need to work hard to train others since you can’t survive alone in this world. Really, the game’s main character that can do everything alone is too much of a cheat.
By the way, the knights’ group battle training is continuing. In the past two days, they’ve been focusing on Hit The Dummy training, but from today on they will be focusing on getting some real-life experience by hunting demons in the vicinity of the capital. The training is done under the ‘protecting the safety of the capital’ banner, but depending on how you look at it, the training can also be said to be a large-scale demo hunt.
I don’t have any sympathy for the demons that are going to be hunted. Or rather, the demons won’t try to attack a party with over 100 people, right? Or will they? Thinking about it made me worried about the merchant corp.
As for the mage team, after they finished writing a report to the capital by pulling an all-nighter, they joined the knights in group battle training. Cooperation between knights and mages will be important for future battles. After all, fighting as knights alone will be different compared to fighting in an actual war where there will be mages present.
This night camp is also a part of training as everyone is busy discussing the encampment and alternating to keep a night watch. Thus, the night continues.
Creating an encampment for a one-to-one battle or a war between countries is simpler than creating an encampment for war with demons where flying-type demonic beasts might attack.
This is the kind of time when a ‘know-how manual’ written by past people who had experience in fighting the demon king will come in handy. The problem is, this sort of manual is all obsolete. It’s like reading a military manual from the Edo Period [1]. There are too many things in the manual that were written based on some ‘I think this is good’ without proper research and experiment.
That’s why one of the purposes of this night camping is to discuss applicable things that can be done in a war against the demons.
“The attack from the sky is going to be a problem.”
“Right. Building a fence might be useless against large flying-type demonic beasts.”
“Building walls during camping is also impossible. Plus, a wall won’t hinder flying demonic beasts.”
“We need to think about how to bring the anti-demon barrier with us.”
After experiencing night camp, everyone noticed that there are too many holes in our defense. It’s impossible to perfectly protect ourselves from attack, but having too many holes in our defense is also not good. Every time we moved the camp from one point to another, everyone noticed additional problems. No one can stay put and ignore them.
In this kind of discussions, staying silent will lead to others thinking of you as useless and belittling you, so from time to time I also joined the discussion.
The biggest problem is probably if the enemy attacks us with area magic when we are camping. If you put aside the chance of winning by fighting with a few elites, the hero party composition of only a few elites makes sense. After all, it’s easier to defend against area magic if you only need to protect a few elites compared to if you need to protect an entire army.
Unexpectedly, there is a thing that the game is right.
Well, in the game, magic that can seal your opponent’s magic more or less existed. If I’m not mistaken, Laura used it. But it’s magic used during battle. I don’t know if that magic can be used in a place like this.
Even if it can, I doubt the magic can last for a whole night. Magic that can prevent encounters with random enemies also exists in the game, but that magic also won’t last for a long time.
Apparently, the barrier in the capital can also prevent weaker monsters from entering the capital, but it’s not something you can bring along with you. If only the magic tool that created the barrier is more convenient to use.
In the end, the thing we can do to defend ourselves against night attacks is limited. That makes sense. If a medieval army that still relies on horses, swords, and spears fights a modern army that uses hand grenades and machine guns, the medieval army will be trampled.
Not to mention that the magic used by the actual army we need to fight is even more destructive compared to average hand grenades. You also can’t use the common starve tactic used in siege since before the opponent starves, their magic will destroy us first. Area magic is cheating. Adding to that, our opponents are more adept at fighting.
Our current situation is like a group that has nothing but wooden swords is forced to fight a fully equipped modern army, and that modern army is the one that attacked the group. If not for the demons pulling their punch, we will already be doomed.
This battle isn’t something we can win using cheap tricks. One of the few ways I think might be able to increase our winning rate is to increase the number of mages and priests we have. After that, we can only increase our vigilance.
I need to think of ways to win, something crazy that can turn the table. As I held that thought while participating in the discussion, suddenly the outside became noisy.
“I have a report.”
“What happened?”
Viscount Grellman asked in the place of the Count. In a sense, the answer to the Viscount question is something I’ve expected.
“A pillar of a blue-green-colored flame can be seen from the direction of Veritza Fortress… I have asked the scouts if they saw something wrong, but they said they really saw it.”
There’s no need for that guy who’s in charge of the night patrol to say anything more because Count Shandel stands up.
“Wake everyone up! We will begin preparations to march to the fortress!”
“His Highness has privately warned me to be careful of the Veritza Fortress. Viscount Zeavert, Sir’s army has the most number, so I would like to ask them to be our vanguard.”
“Understood.”
Everyone who is in the midst of the discussion stands up with a pale face. So it has started. The relieved feeling of everything going according to my memory might be proof of my cowardice.
“Viscount. When you arrive at the fortress, don’t attack. Just observe from the outside. Don’t recklessly charge in.”
“I shall do so.”
Our action is something that has been decided during the meeting with His Highness. Even if it isn’t, I know without a doubt that a reckless charge will only make it harder to control the battlefield later on.
The ‘executives’ of this army all rushed out from the main camp. Of course, including me. To think that the attack on the fortress is done in the middle of the night like this. In the game, I only know that the fortress fell. I’m glad I asked the Crown Prince to prepare some kind of signal before.
I’m sure His Highness has also told the Count about the signal fire. That’s why he immediately knows that it’s an emergency.
“Everyone, wake up! We will march toward Veritza Fortress!”