“I told him to conduct a fighting retreat if need be!” Henry shouted, his face red, enraged. “This makes no sense. How could an entire army be defeated in such a rapid and unreasonable manner?”

  There are no strategic calculations that Henry could make in light of these events. He was still in the middle of mobilizing the disparate territories that he had captured early in his campaign. While he did manage to significantly swell the ranks of the First, Second, and Third Continental Armies in a short manner of time, he hadn’t yet raised another army.

  “Is it because our new recruits aren’t up to the task?” Henry asked. “Is our equipment and weapons faulty? This is beyond ridiculous.”

  “No, sir. It’s…”

  The staff officers surrounding Henry in the meeting room were all sullen. Their gazes were downcast, and their faces were grey and empty. It was like a dark shadow pulled everyone down in the room, the drums of their impending defeat beating down on their minds. Finally, one of the officers had the courage to speak.

  “The crown princess, Alexa Theresa, alongside the saintess, was present in the battle.”

  Henry frowned. The tension in the room spiked further, enough that his secretary, who still continued to serve him faithfully, Elizabeth, seemed like she was struggling to even breathe, desperate for any form of information. Henry closed his eyes, then opened them.

  “...We truly need to discuss how to eliminate those two,” Henry declared.

  All the officers nodded. They seemed to be in unanimous agreement. The consensus was that the Free Republic, under the right circumstances, would be able to mount a successful defensive campaign and destroy the Imperial group armies within a year or so. Of course, matching the Empire’s larger resource pool and manpower was going to be impossible, but a masterful defensive campaign was their best chance.

  Now, our best chance is turning impossible.

  Henry wouldn’t have minded it if the Second Continental Army was forced into a retreat from Fort Henderson. In fact, it would be expected. His armies right now were supposed to fight as best as they could before withdrawing into better strongholds. In the meantime, Henry wanted to organize a countryside ‘protracted people’s war’ in the Empire as a whole to wear down Alexa Theresa further.

  It was a strategy he was copying directly from his original world. Many revolutions and nations managed to claw their way to independence or freedom this way, even if their foe was superior. Of course, the problem was that Henry didn’t have the full popular support of the Empire’s population, but he hoped that with his defensive campaigns this year, Alexa Theresa would be forced to raise taxes and drag more people into her war, making her look uglier and uglier.

  Then, he would snowball his campaigns, keeping his conventional armies intact in defensive campaigns, until the enemy was brittle enough that he would be able to break out of the central regions, take Perlenstadt, and take over the Imperium as a whole. But now, one of the pillars of his strategy—preserving men by giving up land—had just been shattered.

  The Second Continental Army was supposed to hold off the south for years.

  Now it’s nothing. Gone. Completely.

  “The most pressing issue, though, is that we have a massive gap in our frontline.” The Chief Inspector of the Army, General Charles Lutzow, suddenly spoke up from the side. He looked at Henry straight in the eye. “We are prepared to raise two army corps within this week. They will be undertrained, and they may have equipment problems, but if we need more soldiers, we can—”

  “Forget about it,” Henry said, shaking his head. “Raising more conventional troops when we’re dealing with an unconventional problem is not going to help us much. Besides, we’re going to need proper units to support the First and Third Continental Armies this winter.”

  “Regardless, the hole in our lines can and will be exploited! If we do not have a few more corps to at least delay the enemy, we risk having the First and Third Continental Armies fall in the same situation.”

  “Right, right.”

  “We need to fast-track recruitment and training. All they need is to learn how to fire a crossbow.”

  “Drag every bastard in the streets of the cities we capture. If we continue having to sift through people and maintain requirements, we’re going to run out of time.”

  “Quite frankly, do we even have a month or so to give basic training to our new formations?”

  Quickly, the generals around Henry exploded in hurried, almost panicked discussions. Suggestions ranged from standard emergency measures to extreme ones, like one officer suggesting that they attempt drawing Alexa Theresa into negotiations before rigging up the negotiating venue in explosive magic crystals.

  But it was topped by one officer speaking up and garnering everyone’s attention immediately.

  “Perhaps…it’s time that we open negotiation channels.”

  All eyes turned to him. Even Henry stared at the man, who was a young lieutenant general. He had no command post at the moment, but he was assigned under one of the teams in the revolutionary army’s high command. The officer gulped a bit as he straightened and explained himself.

  “I mean, of course, we shall not surrender, and we have to fight on, but maybe we can delay them?”

  Henry nodded a bit. “That’s been on my mind too.”

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  “Exactly,” the officer laughed awkwardly, as if knowing that Henry shared his opinions freed him from looking like a borderline traitor to the cause. “That, and…should reality truly go against us, and we’re losing, it’s not exactly irrational to beg for mercy, at least, no? I mean, the enemy has the saintess.”

  Murmurs amongst the officers grew. Some supported him; others adamantly shook their heads and glowered at the young man, but Henry just watched for now and allowed the man to continue making his point.

  “...We should still resist and try our best to fight, but if the conditions right now worsen, I believe we should have a bedrock for a negotiated…exit.”

  ‘Exit.’

  The officer didn’t say ‘surrender’ or anything, just ‘exit,’ but that practically meant the same thing. Henry knew what was on the minds of the officers around him now. ‘Exit’...if things go so bad that they would have no choice but to lower their arms, they must have an ‘exit’ plan. He imagined many of the bastards were already planning to abandon their posts at a moment’s notice, while others were hoping that there would be a negotiated surrender where they wouldn’t end up in the gallows.

  Henry sighed.

  This was bearing down on him.

  I cannot tolerate talks of surrender. But it would be unreasonable of me to speak out against this. After all, even I share the same opinion. I need to have a good ‘exit’ if it comes to that point.

  “We’ll open negotiation channels,” Henry finally declared, breaking up the discussions between his officers. “But only to obstruct and delay them. In the meantime, while the enemy is licking their wounds, we’ll lick ours and attempt to raise another army normally. Third…we’re going to create a special unit for one express purpose.”

  Henry’s face darkened.

  “The elimination of Alexa Theresa and the saintess herself.”

  I’m sorry, but it has to be this way. I can’t let the two of you live any furth—

  “B-brother, why?”

  Suddenly, that scene before his emergency loop, when he tried killing Alexa Theresa, played in Henry’s mind. It was enough to make him pause for a bit, to consider the words of someone that he thought sounded close to him.

  But as usual, he quickly shot it off.

  Nothing. It’s nothing, just a coincidence. You’re her enemy, and I’m her enemy.

  I need to kill her, or I’ll die.

  +++

  “This force will not cease its advance,” Wilhelm declared.

  Inside his tent, multiple figures were present. Naturally, Alexa and her entourage were here, but so were General Stefan, Nicholas, and Clemens of the Army of the Leine. Lieutenant General Max Clausewitz, alongside his second in command, Colonel Marvin von Korn, was also present, as they had just linked up with the rest of the Army of the Leine.

  Wilhelm wasn’t holding a war council yet, but he invited them all here to discuss their potential course of action by tomorrow. Naturally, the first immediate response was all the officers nodding gruffly to Wilhelm’s proposal, but Alexa wasn’t the same.

  Instead, she crossed her arms and huffed.

  “At least let my soldiers rest,” Alexa demanded. “Aren’t we still low on magic crystals for those artillery things? Shouldn’t we just stay here until that’s replenished so the boys on the ground can have some sleep and rest? They’ve been fighting and marching for weeks now, surely—”

  “As much as I appreciate your input here, know this. The enemy has a massive hole in their lines right now. I’ve received information from the Army of the West. General Pascal already battled the First Continental Army twice, forcing them into a retreat again and again. That means that the enemy is under extreme pressure.”

  “As expected of the commander of the 2nd Group Army,” General Stefan laughed heartily. “I knew that bastard was going to be quite aggressive at pursuing his foe. Ahem, apologies.”

  Alexa felt herself wavering again. She was reminded that whatever she saw here earlier was just a small slice of the war. Sure, it was probably the most decisive battle so far, what with an entire revolutionary army surrounded and forced into a quick surrender, but, right now, as they stood here, the other armies of her empire were locked in battle with other rebel armies simultaneously.

  Naturally, Alexa was once again concerned about one thing. “How many…casualties are they taking?”

  Wilhelm raised his eyebrows as he shifted on his seat to look up at her. His eyes told her enough that Wilhelm had expected this question, and when he spoke, it was as if he wanted to talk about other things instead.

  “Look, unlike us, Phoebe isn’t present in our other fronts,” Wilhelm explained. “He hasn’t told me any exact figures, because exact figures are hard to come by until they’ve stopped and taken stock of which units suffered, how much they lost, and how many reinforcements they need. The only numbers he’s given me are his estimated force composition, and those are estimates, and I haven’t compared it to his pre-campaign numbers, and there’s a steady trickle of reinforcements that you’ll need to account for—”

  “So you’re saying we don’t know how many died in the other armies so far?”

  “Yes. That indeed is the case. But, considering Phoebe’s absence, I imagine they’ve suffered more than we did. I will not give you any numbers; that’s the best I have right now.”

  “I see…” Alexa took in a deep breath. “And…it’s already nearly December. We don’t have much time.”

  “Indeed. If we stay and rest any further, we won’t be able to support the rest of the 2nd Group Army up north. They’ll suffer more casualties, and we run the risk of losing our initiative, allowing the rebels to regroup and replenish their numbers for a winter defensive campaign.”

  “All I’ll say is, we’re ready to be a mobile vanguard force,” General Max said on the side, his second in command nodding in approval. “We can chase the remnants of the Second Continental Army while the rest of you make a decision.”

  “I’ve got a lot of cavalry boys in our ranks,” General Stefan calmly massaged his chin. “I can definitely support a more aggressive action forward. Though, the Army of the Leine is a bit slower than General Max’s battle group here.”

  “It’s why we have to start moving tomorrow. By daybreak, we’ve got to march out,” Wilhelm concluded. “Even if we’re tired, surely, the enemy is doing much, much worse. We have to use every advantage we have right now quickly if we want a swift end to this dreary war.”

  “...I…” Phoebe shyly gripped the hem of her skirt, her lips quivering a bit. “I’m quite tired after having to deal with so many soldiers, but I’m ready for more, I swear. Lady Alexa, if this saves more lives, then you don’t need to worry about me.”

  It was now just Alexa holding out. She wanted to give respite to her soldiers after they had fought so hard in such a brutal battle, but, with the facts laid in front of her, she realized that her short-term kindness may not lead to a lessening of misery in general for everyone in her empire.

  That was why, she nodded. “Alright. Fine. We move out. Quick. I want to break Henry’s little ramshackle before December is over. Wilhelm, I give you full permission to move our units in breakneck speed to dismantle the rebels once and for all.”

  Wilhelm laughed.

  “That’s what I wanted to hear.”