Yashima Chronicles 12. My First Battle Begins (Patreon)

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We set off from the fortress early in the morning. I hated to acknowledge it, but I had some butterflies fluttering away in my stomach. For all of the training I had done, this would be the first time that I fought anybody in a true battle of life and death. I was confident in my magically enhanced blade. I wasn't quite so confident that I was up to the task.

I was lucky to be fighting alongside a juggernaut like Shibadai Katsuie. I expected to make my fair share of mistakes, still, but I at least had a chance to live long enough to learn from them thanks to the fact that I would be sharing the battlefield with a living legend. Even if he didn't have the time or inclination to help me out directly, his presence alone would provide a welcome distraction.

The march itself wasn't particularly taxing, other than my nerves weighing me down. The enemy army was encamped inside of a long river valley. We arrived at our own camp just outside the mouth of the valley as the sun was beginning to set. With the way our army was strung out along the road, not to mention the dust kicked up by our passing, it would have been difficult for any observers the enemy had posted to say how many of us there really were. All according to Lord Ota's plan.

He sent out his own skirmishers to harass the enemy scouts into retreat. In the meantime, the rest of us were busy setting up a camp that would have been more appropriate in size for an army many times our number. I set up three different campfires myself, even though one campfire would usually serve for a squad of ten or twenty.

By the time night fell, we had turned a field the size of a small town into what looked like lodging for a massive army, a sea of campfires proudly illuminating fictional battle standards. Some of the men even went so far as to set up scarecrows to stand guard.

Once it was fully dark, we split up into smaller groups to sneak out of camp. Dividing your forces was rarely a good idea, especially in the face of a larger enemy army. In order to carry out Lord Ota's daring plan, though, we had no choice.

The Ota clan had long since scouted out this valley. While the enemy camped within thinking that the surrounding hills and mountains would shield them from attack, they were placing their confidence in their first impression of the terrain instead of scouting out the true lay of the land. The mountains were littered with game trails and treacherous paths. Nothing that would allow an army to march through together, but by sneaking many different small groups around using many of those little byways we would be able to bring a surprising amount of force to bear.

If things went south, I also hoped that those little trails would allow me to escape from the battle and shake off any attempts at pursuit. I hoped it didn't come to that, but I held to that well worn motto from my last life, even as I marched off to war: safety first.

I followed Katsuie up a hill and then through a small bamboo forest. Only a sliver of moon was visible overhead, casting its dim light down upon us. Even using magic to enhance my senses, I could barely see beyond the edges of our little squad. The men without magic would be following whoever was closest to them and hoping that they were going in the right direction.

A gust of wind set the bamboo rattling.

I jumped in surprise, dropping my hand to the hilt of my sword as I stopped and took a cautious look around. The only thing that spared me serious embarrassment was that all of the men that I could see had done the same. Only Katsuie had continued forward, unshaken. I let go of my sword and tried to get my mind right as I hurried to catch up. Once again I renewed my resolve to learn as much as I could from Katsuie's example.

Our little squad was half sword saints and half spearmen. We were one of several hard hitting "super squads" with a high proportion of sword saints who were expected to punch above our weight. First, to sow chaos, and second, to take out any serious pockets of enemy resistance.

It was hard to believe that we were approaching an army. When the wind died down for a moment I could hear the footsteps of the men around me and a few insects chirping in the trees, but otherwise we could have been completely alone. Then we emerged from the forest and I had my first clear view of the enemy.

I hadn't really had a good picture in my head of what an army of twenty five thousand men would look like. After all, I used to live in a city that housed many many times that many citizens. Back then, I'd considered a town of twenty five thousand to be small, barely worth mentioning. To see that many people all in an army that I was about to attack, though, was a completely different matter.

I'd thought that we had put together an excessive number of campfires in our decoy camp. Stretching out below us, though, campfires seemed to fill the valley from end to end. It was a daunting sight. If that army was able to get its momentum going, there would be no stopping it. As an individual, I would have absolutely no hope of turning it away from any target it's leader cared to attack.

I could understand better, now, why Lord Ota had chosen such an unconventional approach. In the face of this raw disparity in numbers, no ordinary tactic would be enough.

"Quite a sight," Katsuie said, standing next to me as he surveyed the valley below.

"Well, nobody's going to have any trouble finding someone to kill," I said, trying to infuse a bravado into my tone that I didn't entirely feel.

I was worried about how I would perform in my first taste of combat. I was also a little worried about the fact that I would so obviously stand out from our troops. To be honest, the armies in this era weren't very consistent in their uniforms. The only thing distinguishing one group of soldiers from another was the banner that they followed. In a night time scrum like what was about to develop, it would be hard for the soldiers in that massive army below to tell friend from foe. Should everything go wrong, some of my fellow soldiers could use that confusion to escape.

Unfortunately, I did not own the ordinary sort of armor and military clothing that would allow me to blend in with the rest of the men. All that I had were my kimono, made of undyed linen, and my wooden sword. Thanks to the use of magic, the performance of my equipment would be on par with everybody else's, but no enemy soldier would even need a second look to know that I wasn't fighting on their side.

Really, though, I should be overshadowed by the fame of Shibadai Katsuie. Any enemy seeking out a worthy opponent would surely focus on him instead of me. Though a more cowardly, practical sort of enemy might decide to avoid the famous swordsman and instead attack somebody like me who looked completely defenseless. That could be a problem. I could project a magical aura of intimidation, but it was hard to believe that such a thing would be nearly as effective as a genuinely fearsome reputation.

We stood there for a while in silence. I stared at the campfires below, trying to guess which one would be our first target. We'd had a relatively short and uneventful march, which meant that we had to wait a while to give everybody else a chance to get into position.

In this era before radio or, for that matter, pocket watches, it was impossible for an assault like this to be launched with precise timing. There was some effort at coordination. The groups that, like ours, were to be part of the initial assault were supposed to try to gauge the moment to strike from the movement of the stars, though I suspected we would just be guessing at the time. Everybody else would move once they heard the clash of battle.

While I had been upset to be made part of the vanguard, there was a silver lining. Our charge would be targeting an enemy camp that, by all rights, ought to be completely unprepared. The attack wave following after us would be going up against prepared defenses. We would do our best to prevent those defenses from being prepared, of course, but given the numbers involved there was a limit to what we could do. So by going in first, at least I wouldn't be forced to launch myself at a wall of prepared spearmen.

Katsuie decided that it was time and gestured for us to move. I pulled on my magic as I followed him, a pace behind and two paces to his right. I didn't really need to use any magic yet, but it was relaxing to know that it was there if I needed it. Having a little bit of magic spread out around me also made sure that I wouldn't misstep and turn my ankle.

We moved down the slope at a brisk pace, magical and non-magical troops keeping together. Halfway down the slope, we passed an allied scout standing over the body of an enemy sentry. He gave us a cheerful salute while he waited to watch the coming show. It seemed we wouldn't have to worry about being intercepted before we hit the camp.

As we continued onward, the general lack of preparedness on the part of our enemy was striking. It was hard to believe, really. Almost enough to make me wonder if we were launching our attack on a confused group of tourists rather than an enemy army.

Well, sorting out a mistake like that was above my pay grade.

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