Kikanshita Yuusha no Gojitsudan : Chapter 39

Chapter 39 Revisiting The Hero 6

　In the middle of the plain that stretched from east to west, the troops bearing the military flag of the Empire were lined up.

　Although it can’t be described as orderly, as there seemed to be some confusion.

　On the other hand, on the eastern side of the plain, the allied forces of the Kingdom, the Imperial State, and the Union of City States were in an orderly formation that could only be described as perfectly coordinated.

　The distance between the two armies is about ten kilometers, it’s exactly like a recreation of a battle scene from a historical picture scroll.

　The time was probably close to noon, but I couldn’t tell exactly because I couldn’t see the sun as thin clouds covered the whole sky.

　There was almost no wind, making it very convenient for us to execute our strategy.

　All hail opportunism! I welcome the ‘Protagonist Correction’.

　I’m on standby at a point south of the imperial army rather than in the middle of the two armies, while using “cognitive inhibition” magic on myself.

　From this position, I can clearly see the formation of the imperial army. The imperial army has managed to keep up appearances at the place where the allied forces can see them, but on the backside they are still hurriedly moving around and setting up their formation.

　I presume they were planning to make preparations today and start the invasion early tomorrow morning.

　However, when they saw that the Allied forces had set up their formation first, the Imperial forces had to rush to prepare for the war. But since they couldn’t see the details from a distance, they probably just saw the troops gathering.

　Of course, this was something that we initiated. There was no way we would wait for the other side to be ready when ours were already set up.

　However, the imperial army had already assembled its troops, so there is no particular advantage for us either. And the difference in troop strength is still as expected.

　The Imperial Army’s formation was, as expected, a half-moon shape with the center thick and both wings positioned in the rear, while the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms adopted an arrowhead formation.

　In terms of form, both armies are using orthodox formation with the Imperial Army, which has a large army, and the Allied Forces, which intercept the Imperial soldiers.

　Both armies’ have heavily armed cavalry as their vanguards.

　This heavily armed cavalry is riding a special warhorse, hmm, it looks like a larger version of a Hokkaido Banei horse with young goat’s horns, and is ridden by a knight wearing thick armor with magic protection. The horse also has armor attached to the front of its body, making it the primary force of war in this world.

　The total weight of the horse, knight, and armor exceeds 1.5 tons, and the heavy armor makes it impossible for magic or arrows to penetrate. In this world, they are akin to tanks.

　Although the Imperial Army is having a hard time assembling their formation due to the earlier-than-planned start of the war, it is more convenient for the Imperial Army that the allied forces of the three countries are coming out to the center of the plain, even if it is on the east side, rather than on the eastern edge of the plain where they cannot take advantage of their large army. As it increases the possibility of them encircling and annihilating the army of allied forces all at once.

　So even if they don’t have time to get enough information beforehand, they have no choice but to start the war.

　And that was a setup to keep them from realizing our plan.

“Well then, it’s about time.”

　Said Leiria, who was standing next to me, looking at the situation of the two armies.

　Tia who was on the other side also nodded with a serious face.

“That’s right. We’re ready to start at any time. Now, please do the rest as planned.”

　I straddled and started my beloved CB250F, which I had taken out of the item box beforehand as I said this.

　I had brought a few items from Japan for the sake of this war.

　One of them is my beloved bike that I took out just now, but I also brought chainsaws and other tools necessary to carry out my plan, as well as things to use during the battle.

　Even though I looked for the cheapest used equipment I could find, it still cost a lot of money.

　As a result, I’ve spent most of the money I had saved up to buy a new bike.

　Well, I’m sure I’ll be able to get by since the money from the part-time job at the family restaurant and the payment for the silver accessory will be deposited at the end of the month, but it would be a huge loss if the things I bought were useless.

　Let’s take this frustration of mine out on the Imperial Army.

---

　It was the Allied forces that moved first.

　About ten seconds later, the central heavy cavalry of the Imperial Army started to move. But then, the Allied forces immediately stopped their advance and stayed in place.

　This was, of course, the planned course of action.

　If both armies continue their advance, they will collide in a matter of minutes. That would leave too little time.

　I accelerated my beloved CB250F while deploying a “Barrier” in a dome shape in front of it as I rammed it through the south side of the heavy cavalry.

　The heavy cavalry is like a wall to a medium-sized bike, but when it hits the barrier that covers me and my bike, it blows them away one by one as if they were hit by a large truck.

　As long as the barrier is deployed, the impact can be bounced back without affecting the interior unless it exceeds the strength of the barrier. This still applies even if you are wearing magical protective gear. This is because the barrier reverses the vector of the energy that comes into contact with it.

　I plunged in, and at the same time, magically set fire to the items I took out of the item box while tossing them around one after another.

　Pan! Papapapapapapapapan!!

　Shoo! Shupan! Shupan!

　Shuwawa! ～～～～～!

　There was a high-pitched explosion, the sound of something being launched, a dazzling array of colorful sparks, and drifting smoke.

　That’s right. These are the firecrackers associated with China’s New Year’ festival (248 yen including tax) and a set of 30 “Hyakka Ryouran” fireworks (5280 yen including tax).

　I bought several of these and randomly tossed them into my item box.

　Obviously, they are just ordinary fireworks, so they aren’t lethal. It might cause a slight burn to skin, but they are of little use on the battlefield.

　But of course, I’m not fooling around, and I’m not rich enough to prepare something like this just for fun. Rather, someone please give me some money.

　My goal is to halt the movement of the heavy cavalry.

　This is why I’m charging at the cavalry from the flanks, but I can only manage to blow away a fraction of the 20,000 Imperial Army heavy cavalry. If I were to count them, it would only be a few dozen. This would be pointless on the battlefield.

　That’s why I used fireworks to stop the cavalry around me as I rushed in.

　The horses for the heavy cavalry are larger than the horses from Earth, and although they are trained as war horses, their eating habits and nature are still very much alike to the ones from Earth.

　In other words, as is usual with herbivores, they are naturally wary and cowardly.

　Of course, the horses were trained not to be easily flustered against magic and sword fights, but they are not immune to the light and sound of synthetic gunpowder, which they have never seen before.

　Of course, the same goes for the knights who are riding them, so they have no choice but to halt their advance due to panic.

　And in a herd of herbivores, panic can easily be spread.

　The knight would probably try to calm their horses down, but the horses would not be able to recover immediately. They would probably be halted completely for at least a few dozen seconds.

　And if the horse ahead of them stops, the remaining cavalrymen following it will not be able to advance. Just like the mechanism of a traffic jam on the highway, even if the horse in the front recovered from the panic and resumed the charge, the rest of the cavalry would still be stuck at a standstill for several minutes.

　And that is enough time.

---

　As if to prove this, the Allied heavy cavalry, which had once again begin their advance after I passed through the center of the battlefield, charged the Imperial Army’s heavy cavalry, which had stopped in its tracks, and immediately following them from behind, the infantry who were riding on sledges pulled by the Allied force heavy cavalry attacked the stuck Imperial cavalry one after another.

　It was true that heavy cavalry boasted unparalleled strength against enemy infantry and light cavalry, but that was only when they were running around.

　A stationary heavy cavalryman is just easy prey for the infantry.

　An infantryman can walk around to the left side of a cavalryman and push the knight off with a short spear. Or they can also make the horse tumble by cutting its hind legs that are not covered with armor.

　The knights who fell to the ground were unable to fight because of their heavy armor and were taken down one by one. Some of them may already be unable to move just because of the fall.

　In addition, the knights and horses that are struck down become obstacles, making it impossible for the following cavalry to advance, and this cavalry too, will become prey for the Allied infantry.

　I continued my assault of throwing fireworks around as I passed through while watching the scene through my rearview mirror.

　I finally reached the left flank of the imperial army heavy cavalry, where the adventurers were struggling to hold them off.

　The adventurers formed a horizontal formation, spacing themselves out so as not to interfere with each other’s movements. The heavy cavalry, on the other hand, repeatedly pulled back and charged, trying to break through, but were unable to get past the thick formation of adventurers.

　It seems that they are doing well, or perhaps even better than expected.

　What I’ve asked the adventurers through the Minotaur Fangs (The R-18 Quartet) was to keep the heavy cavalry of the Imperial Army’s left flank from rushing into the flank of the Allied forces.

　Considering the difference in forces between the Imperial and Allied forces, the width of the Imperial army’s deployment, and the distance between the Imperial army and the Allied forces, the Imperial left flank would reach the Allied flank first before I arrived.

　In order to prevent that from happening, I would have to stall the heavy cavalry, but the light cavalry and infantry of the allied army wouldn’t be able to stop the heavy cavalry once they started their charge.

　However, it is possible for adventurers to do so.

　The most common targets for adventurers are monsters and magical beasts rather than people. And the purpose of their fight is usually to slay and collect materials from those monsters, or defending merchant troops from monster attack.

　Unlike armies where it’s enough for them to surround their enemies using large number and then kill or chase their enemies away, adventurers need to be able to take on monsters and beasts that are bigger and stronger than humans by using stupidly large shields, halberds, battle hammers, battle axes, and other large weapons that would not be used by armies, in order to ensure that they are able to kill their targets and stopping monster from damaging the cart they’re protecting.

　If it’s them, then they can stop the horse’s charge with their shields and defeat the armor-covered horses and knights. In addition, the people here are all high-level people who have fought and survived against the armies of the evil gods.

　In the forefront of the adventurers, Ere (full name omitted for various reasons), the leader of the Minotaur Fang (R-18 Quartet), is slashing the front legs of a horse with a huge claymore.

　Bini (full name omitted for various reasons) immediately strikes another cavalryman in the face with a large shield, and when he stops, Blue (full name omitted for various reasons) uses a spear, or rather its shape is more of a Bardiche, to cut off the knight’s head.

　Ero (abbreviated or not, it’s already disqualified) used earth magic and water magic alternately to break the footing of the cavalry horse.

　It was an impressive feat. They’ve been able to stand up to multiple heavily armed cavalrymen with no difficulty at all.

But those names are…

　Putting that aside, of course the cavalry is faster if they start running, but the sorcerers positioned behind the adventurers are using magic and the rockets I gave them to keep them in check and guide the heavily armed cavalry to make it easier for the adventurers to fight.

　The Imperial troops too were not just letting themselves be beaten, some of them started to retreat to the rear and gather to launch an assault, but as soon as they did, the magicians launched a number of water balls (heated to the brink of boiling using fire magic) about a meter in diameter at the assembled cavalry, causing them to scream in agony.

　Of course the armor that the heavy cavalry use has magic protection, but while it can protect the wearer against magic itself, it cannot protect them against the physical phenomena caused by the magic.

　So if you get hit with boiling water, it will be a disaster.

　It may seem silly, but in Japan and Europe, during castle attacks, the defenders would pour boiling water or molten lead on the enemy who tried to climb the walls so it should be effective.

　I unintentionally slowed down in admiration of the adventurers’ efforts, but I regained my composure and charged at the group of heavily armed cavalrymen and scattered them around while leaving some fireworks as a souvenir.

　I’ve already shown my allies the fireworks, so they’re not affected at all.

　But, on the contrary, the imperial cavalry stopped for around ten seconds and were quickly overrun by the adventurers who didn’t miss the opportunity.

　Once the cavalry was defeated to a certain extent, it would become an obstacle, just like what happened in the middle part of the formation, preventing the cavalry from running.

　As I passed the edge, I judged that the rest would be fine and turned my course toward the central headquarters.

　It’s just right that I still have one type of firework left, it’s time to move on to the next phase.

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