Road to the Crown

23rd September 1574

"That's strange…"

Looking at the battlefield from the perspective of someone surrounded by the insane mess created by the support units in the camp, I couldn't actually believe what I was seeing.

While fresh recruits were making the rounds trips to bring back the injured soldiers, help those who were too hurt to be moved or comfort those few who wouldn't make it either way, the battle was actually still ongoing!

Well, to say that the fighting was still fierce would be a huge overstatement. After trapping the bulk of enemy forces between the mass gunfire from the few heavy war-carriages of mine and the regular frontline created by the infantry shooting from behind the safety of the embankment, I expected Ostros forces to simply break down and surrender. 

Even though I wasn't even remotely close to where the fighting was taking place, I played enough shooting games in my life to understand how it had to feel to be in that bloody mess right now. With nowhere to hide, and actually no viable target to fight against, I expected Ostros, or at least their quickly assembled units, to break apart and surrender within just a few minutes. Even though they still had several pieces of artillery spaced out between the further lines of defence, all it was capable of doing was stopping the further advance by fixing itself on yet another chokepoint. If they were to shoot at the plateau where the carnage was going on, all they would achieve would be just quickening the process of killing their own compadres!

"Sir, the general casualty rate is calculated! This fight was a huge success!"

Even though the reports that various officers of mine were bringing couldn't be less positive, I was still quite worried about this situation. While I never got deeper into the topic, I saw several articles in my time back in the future claiming that a unit would be considered to be immobilised after losing just twenty percent of its base headcount, and dissolved if that number reached forty percent. Obviously, that number would spike both higher and lower depending on the discipline of the unit, the time period when the fight would be happening and the main tactic or strategy used by the said military, for the battle of the current time, just killing or seriously injuring the half of enemy forces should lead to a swift and decisive victory due to the morale loss.

Yet, as if the future historians and scientists that came up with those numbers were nothing but a fraud, Ostros forces continued to fight despite their desperate situation for as long as even a literally single soldier kept standing!

"There is something really wrong with them…"

If previously I only had some doubts whether or not other people in my current timeline had the system, I was now all but sure that it was the case. It was simply impossible to motivate one to the point that he would lie down his life fighting even after every single other fellow soldier of his would fall! Obviously, some could present such a heroic spirit of dedication and sacrifice, but we are speaking not about the nobles, but simple commonfolk, armed with anything that Ostros could afford!

"Sir?"

Hearing the question from the same officer that just brough the positive report, I finally managed to shake those thoughts from my head and focus on the matter at hand.

"Could you please repeat your report?"

With my eyes glued to the still ongoing sparks of the fighting in the furthest parts of the enemy embankments that I could see, I didn't really pay any attention to what he said a moment ago.

"Sir, the casualty reports are now turned in and calculated. From what we saw, out of the initial forces of two thousand, we only got one hundred deaths and three hundred injured. While those numbers are rounded up, they also include those people that will most likely die due to their current wounds. Obviously, we can't count the costs of the ongoing clearing process, but still, I think we can announce that this battle was a great success!"

Seeing how brimming with happiness the man was, I couldn't help but let some of his joins into my own mindset. 

One hundred dead soldiers of mine. This number would normally be able to crush anyone's spirit. One could say, that I was responsible for all those deaths that happened! But on the other hand, from what I said, the initial attack, if it happened the way that the future historians would portray it as, then the casualty rate would be at least twice as small!

It was this relentless and unforgiving loyalty of the Ostros soldiers that forced my soldiers to put themselves at greater risks during the battle, just to clear out some smaller pockets of resistance that were in position shielding them from the two fronts of the battle. 

Yet, even with that number racked up far higher than it should initially be when compared it to the real casualty rate of the battle as a whole, its meanings changed entirely. From the previous reports, Ostros forces were estimated to lose an astonishing two thousand and six hundred people!

This number wasn't taken from the ass, but was the rough count of the entire headcount of their initial forces, decreased after estimated number of people that managed to slip by the constant onslaught of the reaper guns from my heavy war-carriages into the further lines of defence. Right now, if the initial count of the enemy was correct, only about five hundred enemy soldiers remained spread out through all of their lines of defence, still blocking the advance of my forces. 

But at this point, it didn't really matter. All they could do against my overwhelming numerical and qualitative superiority was to slow down the march, buying more time for the Ostros to prepare for what was about to hit them. Yet, it still worried me to no end.

"Don't you find this strange, guys?"

Turning to the group of the officers that was currently managing the recovery action after the battle in its truest sense was already over.

"Sir?"

Some of them raised their heads just to steal a quick peek at me, while the great majority didn't even bother with their lord's useless banter. Even though most of them only joined the military directly through my recruitments, those few veterans that supported my cause already taught them an important truth about the war.

Do never bother with the general that's struck by the nostalgia and regrets after the battle. What's more, if your general is an appointed political figure, never allow him to take the lead during the battle itself! 

In the time of the fighting, once the orders are given, all that officers can do is to sit down and wait for the results. Attempting to change the course of the battle by some clever tactics right in the heat of the fighting, would never be productive. Obviously, if one was lucky enough, then just the fact of pulling the soldiers out in order to make them perform a new order could coincidentally just so happen to save them from a trap that the enemy would be closing on them, but in every other scenario, changing the flow of the battle in its midst would only introduce chaos and disorder into one's ranks!

That's why, instead of turning their attention entirely towards me, those great officers of mine preferred to just focus on their current tasks. After all, what could a noble like me, who didn't even take part in the fighting, known about the process of recovering the injured from the battlefield? What could I know about the logistics that had to be brough to its maximum potential in order to turn the process of moving the goods, people and machines around?

"I just can't wrap my head around it. What could have Ostros done to make all of their forces so loyal and obedient?"

This question could be considered to be a bit stupid. After all, I have yet to receive news of a single soldier of mine deserting, so it was quite strange to start the topic of the real morale caused losses. But this question of mine, although stupid for some, had actually a deeper meaning behind it. 

Ever since I appeared in this world, I was doing my absolute best to prevent anyone from learning about my system. This habit of mine, even though I crossed this rule by explaining everything to Elia, grew so strong that unless it was absolutely essential, I would actually often forget that I had this system in the first place! 

The reasons behind this were simple. Even with all the tolerance that Commonwealth could pride itself with, once one was accused of witchcraft, then all of his further action would prove to be under immense scrutiny of not only the church, but the country as a whole!

"It's just as if… They made a pact with the devil to compel their forces to listen to every single order of their generals!"

Throwing the bait amongst my officers, I knew that it would take the time for this seed to produce any real effects. But as long as my little scheme would succeed, then the news about Ostros dealing with the devil would spread like a wildfire across the country, bolstering my strength with the throwaway forces of the believers and fanatics, willing to give up their lives and blood just to purge this cursed clan from the holy lands of Commonwealth!