Revolutionary Period – The Value of People
Time passed and the summer heat reached its peak.
I led troops who had been conscripted from all over the French Republic and completed basic training, and left the capital to head to the front.
I feel uneasy about leaving the capital to Christine again so soon after that incident.
Even just before I left, Louise went abroad to study in the Magical Kingdom of Holland, so I was more concerned about her being left alone.
However, showing such concerns would be disrespectful to Christine, so I have no choice but to trust her.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu….”
My thoughts were broken by a voice coming from next to me.
When I glance over, I see Eris lying limply on the horse.
Wearing a robe, a hood, and even a veil underneath, I looked really hot, basking in the summer sun.
At this point, it feels like the horse is carrying Eris rather than Eris driving the horse.
“I should have just gotten in the carriage.”
“Ugh, sitting still in the carriage just hurts my butt and it’s so boring I feel like I’m going to die.”
Well, Eris can hardly stay still.
but.
“I’m worried that if this continues, you’ll die of heat stroke before you die of boredom.”
“are you okay. “Even though I look like this, I’m very healthy, so everything will work out.”
It may be because she is a saint with incredibly powerful divine powers, but even though we have been together for several years, I have never seen her suffer from a minor illness.
Even so, since my body is naturally weak to sunlight, I have to say something like that while wrapped in clothes and being carried by a horse…
If I ask Christine, I can get at least an artifact that can keep my body cool even in the summer. I thought it might be so.
As is often the case with artifacts from the Magic Kingdom, it would be extremely expensive, but it would be okay to give it as a gift.
I saved Christine’s life when she almost died, so I can spend that much money.
“…Well, okay. “I will do something soon.”
Eris looked puzzled for a moment, but soon returned to her relaxed posture on the horse, as if it was okay.
Eris’s gloved hands go limp and shake as the horse moves.
Even if I try that, it doesn’t work out.
I glanced over and saw the soldiers following us.
There are 15,000 soldiers who were hastily conscripted from all over the Kingdom of Francia and went through only basic training.
Thanks to the combination of the financial situation of the Republic, which was able to overcome the immediate crisis thanks to Christine, and the national open military system, the size of the army itself was different from the days when the kingdom was engaged in a civil war.
It feels a little odd to think that some of them might have gathered from the old Marquis de Lafayette or the territory of the Southern Alliance of Nobles.
In any case, with this, the quantitative inferiority of the troops, if not qualitative, was alleviated to some extent.
Now that our forces are equal, this time, we and them will have a proper decisive battle, not a check or exploration war.
I looked at Eris again and opened my mouth.
“This time, don’t go to the front line, stay in the rear. Eris.”
Eris must have been in a daze when the answer came a beat late.
“yes? “Why?”
“The scale of the battlefield is too big this time.”
In the battle with Count Lionel, where Eris was directly active on the front line, the total number of troops on the battlefield was at most 3,000 or so, and the battlefield was narrow due to the nature of a siege.
“Both sides will have tens of thousands of troops and will fight in the field.”
At that scale, it is not a battle that can turn the tide of the war through the influence of an individual knight unless he or she becomes a blue knight.
I too will be busy conducting, and if that happens, it will be difficult for me to even pay attention to Eris.
“Just because Sir Beaumont is by your side does not guarantee your safety. “If you are unlucky, there is a risk that you will be caught in the fire, and it is too dangerous.”
If you take away the special nature of being a saint, Eris is a princess. If it were not for the abilities it possessed, it should not have been sent to the battlefield in the first place.
“…What if I say I want to come along?”
I sighed lightly and gestured behind me, and the attendants following us widened their distance.
Eris lifted her waist from the horse and looked straight at me.
“Her Royal Highness Princess Eciliste Liliane de Francia.”
“Yes, please say so. Marquis de Lafayette.”
“The casualties could be in the thousands or even in the tens of thousands. “No matter how much Her Majesty the Princess exerts on the front line, she cannot save half or even a tenth of her life.”
As a girl who is only 18 years old, I can clearly see that Eris’s ideals are noble.
It is also different from ideological beliefs such as the hypocrisy of the Republic or Isidore.
However, since she is a princess before being a saint, she must also know reality.
“Just treating the wounded being transported to the rear will be overwhelming.
“There is no reason to take risks on the front line.”
I don’t know what emotions the purple eyes covered with a veil contain.
Eris looked at me quietly and then opened her mouth.
“What the Marquis said is right. Even if I take the risk, it may not make much of a difference.”
Eris paused for a moment and then opened her mouth.
“But I think there will definitely be changes. No matter how bad it is, the morale of the soldiers will increase just by having a saintess on the battlefield.”
“The values of ordinary soldiers and Her Majesty the Princess are different.”
“Iknow, right. I thought a lot after listening to the Marquis in the County of Lionel. “I thought all people were equally valuable, but I realized that a commander on the battlefield couldn’t think that way.”
“If you knew that…”
“Still, I want to come forward. If they are transported to the rear and I can treat them, they will probably be able to survive for a while even without me. However, on the battlefield, we can save even a little of the people who would die if they do not receive immediate treatment.”
I sighed.
A cause for the Franzians. Save those who can be saved.
Do you need a reason to save someone?
As much as I tried to convince myself of that when faced with Balian, I ended up not being able to fully empathize with it.
Even if I deceived myself and sacrificed myself or my people to save others, I couldn’t consider it right in the end.
“…You wanted to avoid the battlefield during the civil war.”
“I did. Because it was a war that sacrificed the people of this country for those in power. But not now. “It is a war fought by the people of this country for their loved ones.”
Eris is a saint.
Even if she doesn’t go to this length, she will be respected enough.
Even if she doesn’t go this far, the people already look up to her.
As a princess, she enjoyed what came from the people when she was young, so she had to serve them even though it had been a long time since she left the palace and a revolution broke out threatening to kill the royal family.
“I don’t understand why you would do that.”
“…Can I say something a little cowardly?”
“you? I’m curious. try.”
Although she’s full of fun, let’s see how cowardly Eris, who seems to wear good intentions all over her body, says something.
That’s what I thought, but what Eris said after being silent for a moment really hit me in the head.
“Just in case. What if the Count of Aquitaine fell on the battlefield and the saint who could heal him chose to stay in the rear for his own safety and he died? … Are you confident that the Marquis will not blame me?”
No words came out.
I opened my mouth to say something several times, but in the end I couldn’t make any sound.
“As a commander, yes. Tactically, human value is not equal. But I don’t know. “Even an ordinary soldier with little tactical value would be as valuable to someone as the Marquis’s Count of Aquitaine.”
Because it is covered with a veil, it is not possible to see what kind of expression Eris is making.
“I can’t possibly think that each one of them is less valuable than me. “They and I both have one life, but to some people they are more precious than anyone else, so we risk our lives and stand on the battlefield, right?”
However, I seem to be able to picture what kind of expression her veiled face would have.
“It’s not like I stand in the front lines and take risks like them. If all I can do is guard against the worst, please let me do the best I can. A person who cannot be saved except at that moment…”
-Yes, you were a good mother.
I’ve seen it before, a sad smile that looks like it might burst into tears at any moment.
-I guess so?
Because I have the same voice as before.
“Because you may be more important to someone than anyone else.”
–
Germanian Imperial Army garrison in the County of Alsace in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Francia.
After a fierce battle with the southern army of the French Republic, the imperial army under the command of Archduke Leopold was stationed in Alsace to relieve fatigue and prepare for the next battle.
In the command barracks, the Archduke and his staff were discussing while looking down at a table with an operational map spread out.
“It is said that a 15,000-strong army led by the Marquis de Lafayette is moving from their capital, Lumiere, to the front.”
“Hmm, it’s painful that we weren’t able to properly utilize our numerical superiority in the battle.”
Archduke Leopold touched his chin with his hand and muttered bitterly.
At the time of the first battle, the Republic army numbered at most 25,000 and the Allied forces numbered 46,000.
In the middle, the Marquis de Lafayette brought 3,000 troops, but they arrived quite late as the army was exhausted from the forced march, so if they had fought normally, the Allies should have achieved a great victory.
However, now the Republic Army, which lost 4,000 troops in the last battle, has prepared 39,000 troops, and the Allied Forces have been greatly reduced, with 40,000 troops remaining.
Most of the troops lost came from units engaged in combat with the Northern forces. Even though the Duke of Lorraine conscripted the army and filled it up, it was like this.
Archduke Leopold clicked his tongue inwardly.
To put it bluntly, it was none of their business how broken King Louis’ army was.
On the contrary, the more King Louis’s army shrinks, the better, and it is even better if he fights.
However, it had to be a picture of the Germanian Empire doing well but the incompetent Frangian Kingdom army being defeated.
The southern army withdrew more tenaciously than expected and withdrew to preserve its strength. As a result, the last battle was known as the victory of the French revolutionary army against the Allied forces, surprising the entire continent.
Now that this is the case, at least one decisive victory must be achieved for the sake of the empire and the Kaiser’s prestige.
“There’s nothing we can do. If you trust those idiots, you will end up in the same situation again. “Our army will also move to Lorraine and fight a decisive battle with them on the same battlefield.”
“But will you be okay, Your Highness? If we completely vacate the Alsace region….”
“We will have to tell the nobles of Hung Francia to take care of their own territory.”
When Archduke Leopold uttered cold words, an officer entered the barracks and saluted.
“Reinforcements from His Highness’s home country have arrived.”
“So, I guess I should go pick you up?”
Although the reinforcements should have been welcome, a bitter smile appeared on Archduke Leopold’s lips.
Archduke Leopold, who came out of the command barracks with his staff and officers, noticed about 20 people approaching.
The number of people is absurdly small to be an increase in the home country.
In the first place, the army was conscripted under the pretext of helping the king of another country suppress a rebellion, but he was defeated and lost face.
In such a situation, the political burden would be too great for the empire if it tried to blindly reinforce its military force.
However, Archduke Leopold never underestimated the reinforcements that had just arrived.
Rather, the problem was that it was overvalued.
Those who came close were wearing colorful robes and waving stylish capes.
At the head of them, a woman taller than Archduke Leopold approached with the hem of her robe fluttering.
“Welcome. Frau Weinfeld.”
The woman who received Archduke Leopold’s greeting opened her mouth, puffing out smoke from her mouth, rolling her wrinkled eyes.
“Wilhelmina von Weinfeld, commander of the Imperial Guard Magic Command, sends greetings to Archduke Leopold.”
Archduke Leopold frowned slightly at the cigarette smoke, but the old wizard smiled as if he was amused.
“It seems the enemy was not as easy as expected.”
“I guess I was not good enough and disappointed Kaiserin.”
“Is that really possible, Your Highness? Kaiserin was disappointed not with His Highness the Archduke, but with the disloyalty of the feudal lords who gave up only insufficient military power.”
Wilhelmina once again lazily sucked the stick and exhaled smoke.
“Otherwise, His Highness the Archduke, the hero and pride of the empire, would not have retreated because he could not defeat the two renegade bastards of Francia.”
Archduke Leopold smiled and answered.
“Yeah, I guess so. On behalf of the Imperial Army, I welcome you, Frau Weinfeld. “I will look forward to the performance you and the Royal Guard Mage will show on the battlefield.”
The Archduke glanced at the Guard Mage Corps who were being guided to their quarters, then turned his back and smiled bitterly.
A group composed of people who were sent abroad to study in the Kingdom of Magic or brought in by giving them titles, investing over 10 years with the intention of fostering wizard power after being defeated by the Kingdom of Franzia and the Kingdom of Krafte.
Kaiserin must have been quite angry after the previous defeat to send such people.
“Oh my. I wanted to get along properly this time, Marquis Lafayette.”
Can’t it be said that this is a fair fight?
?
