Okami Wa Nemuranai

Episode 54.6

"Do tell."

"Wasn't there a small unit behind the main 500 person army?"

"There was. General Boudo and his bodyguards. He must be issuing orders from a safe spot."

"Nah, that ain't it."

"What?"

"The enemy had a highly mobile detached force moving in the forest to the left, was there another unit in the right flank?"

"There was none. At the very least, our spies could not find any within their detection ranges. Besides. The detached force in the left flank did not make any attempt to conceal themselves, they would grill meat or light up campfires producing smokes pointing at their locations. We would have known if there was another force."

"You're not used to combat huh."

"What?"

"That detached unit likely did all that on purpose. So when there's another rising smoke in the forest, you'd think they'd still be there when they're not."

"What. No wait, is that true."

"Besides, there's no rule that states the other detached unit in the right flank must produce smokes as well. Heck, they might have purposely flaunted those smokes in the left flank so it'd be a real surprise when the right flank detached unit showed up."

"But, could we truly miss such a huge number of enemy."

"The forest's quite large, no? Moreover, there's just no way to reliably predict those guys' maneuvers. Attracting attention by flaunting showy moves with your right hand while delivering the lethal blow with your left hand is a common tactic in battle. You'd still get caught in it even if you knew it's coming."

"Lecan, are you perhaps an accomplished war strategist?"

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"I ain't one. This formation just sounds exactly like <Ishas Formation>."

"<Ishas Formation>?"

"Ishas in this world's language means, <Whipping Scorpion>. It's a legendary magic beast. The formation's fashioned after that magic beast. The main center army is called <Fang>, their job is to bite the enemy and stop them in the track. The right unit, left unit from the enemy's perspective is called <Pincer>, they are highly mobile and in charge of slicing and dicing the immobile foes. If the enemy has another unit, <Pincer> will keep them at bay and ambush them. Once the enemy has been caught by the <Fang> and the <Pincer>, the left unit, right from the enemy's point of view, would launch their assault from a completely unpredictable direction. However, the most terrifying thing about <Ishas Formation> is the <Tail> behind the main center army. The magic beast known as Ishas swings down its gigantic hammer-like tail from above to crush the prey it caught. This small unit behind the main unit is a gathering of the army's finest and strongest elite. That's <Ishas Formation>."

"Do all the armies in your world make use of this <Ishas Formation>?"

"Nah. I've never actually seen the real thing in action. There were no large wars in my world, most were just small skirmishes. But even adventurers like me aspired to deploy <Ishas Formation> one of these days."

"Oh my goodness. Our knights would be wiped out!"

"What'd you say?"

"No. I'll get to it once this is out of the way. When Smarc Knights and Tranche Knights departed the capital, we had no information on the enemy's numbers. But we believed that even if our knights couldn't win, they should be able to deal them a serious blow, so we could just pluck the enemy off with the second wave. Hence the preparation to sortie the second unit was carried out. The second wave unit was composed of 200 Gido Knights, with 30 Daina Knights and 100 Tsubolt adventurers under them. This second wave unit departed the capital on the second of month four, before Guido Imperial Army and Smarc Knights clashed. Afterward, smaller scale groups of knights departed one after another. We deployed two White Necked Dragons to Aspora town on the seventh of month four, after which we could get correspondence from Aspora in half a day."

In towns where <Mirrors of Nata> are deployed, Dragon Rider Knights and their White Necked Dragon steeds are not used as messengers, instead they're left in the capital as trump cards. White Necked Dragons may be fast but they have a short cruising range, they're ill suited as carriers in long range communications. And they must eat and have a rest after using up their stamina, so they're only usable once a day.

But there's not many <Mirror of Nata> deployed to the region north of the capital. Only one was installed in the former marquisette of Daina. The border to Hensul Kingdom is a steep mountain range, while the Great Forest lies to the north of Zaka Kingdom. Shait Federation is busy with their internal disputes nor do they have enough military forces to invade another country. In other word, Zaka Kingdom only needed to pay attention to Dresta Kingdom and Marl Kingdom to the west, and Zobres Kingdom to the east, in addition, all the prosperous towns that would be problematic if they were attacked are concentrated in the southern side of the kingdom. And even if Hensul Kingdom and Shait Federation launch an invasion, Zaka Kingdom could simply make preparations to deal with them while they're busy taking over towns in the northern region, such is the stance the capital takes.

Lecan found out later that Marquis of Mashajain and Marquis of Tranche appealed to have a <Mirror of Nata> installed in Aspora once they heard the news of Guido Imperial army's invasion. The two marquises are aware of the existence of spare mirrors.

However, the prime minister rejected this appeal. It would take days to set it up, and it would only see use if the enemy come close to Aspora, thus it's pointless, so the prime minister reasoned. However, Manfrey suspected that the real reason was because they didn't want to set a precedence of having a mirror installed in a territory that's neither a marquisette or even an earldom.

After some back and forth, they decided to dispatch two White Necked Dragons to Aspora. By taking turns with White Necked Dragons stationed in the capital, they could get information from Aspora virtually every day. Dragon Rider Knight Commander opposed the idea until the very end. He was unwilling to split up the dragons when they only have 50. As the sentiment at the time was that Guido Empire's invasion was no big deal nor was it a huge crisis, his concern was proven correct in hindsight.