Arc 4 Chapter 50 : Decisive Battle

[Raul PoV]

120,000 soldiers and 800 warships were ready in the city of Tusculum.

I was currently accompanying Elena as her aide to attend a strategy meeting for our next operation—the assault on the capital of the Republic of Venetia, Florentia.

Because it was surrounded by the sea, Florentia Island would be a difficult target to conquer.

However, with the magical capabilities of the Aragon Empire, I believed we could win the battle as long as that Demigod did not emerge.

"Raul, what are you spacing out about?" Elena asked when she noticed my silence. "Come on, let's go inside. It seems we're a little late."

I nodded at Elena's words.

The two of us entered the meeting room, where many people had already gathered.

Elena then took her seat while I stood directly beside her.

Not long afterward, Marshal Salazar entered the room alongside his aide, who was carrying a map.

The aide then mounted the map onto a board so that everyone could see the information regarding Florentia Island.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow we will sail toward Florentia Island to conquer the capital of the Republic of Venetia," Marshal Salazar said as he looked at everyone. "Additional troops have already arrived, and 800 ships have just been completed to transport our forces there."

Eight hundred ships was a considerable fleet.

If I remembered correctly, according to our intelligence reports, the Alliance fleet consisted of only 300 ships.

All of them were warships belonging to the Republic of Venetia.

It seemed they had all been equipped with cannons, which would give them an advantage if they fought us at sea.

"However, conquering the island will not be easy. The defenses around their harbor are extremely strong," the Marshal continued. "There will be many casualties on our side as we attempt to seize the harbor. Therefore, we must devise a proper strategy to minimize casualties during the assault."

After Marshal Salazar said this, his gaze—and the gazes of everyone else in the room—suddenly turned toward Elena.

The blonde-haired woman looked surprised and confused by the situation.

"Princess Elena, do you have any suggestions for the upcoming assault, as you did before?" Marshal Salazar asked respectfully.

I suppose it was only natural that everyone had begun to respect Elena.

Previously, she had proposed the tunnel strategy I had suggested to everyone.

Because of that tactic, we had gained a significant advantage during the Battle of Tusculum last month.

That was why everyone's attention was focused on Elena.

They wanted to know whether she had another brilliant tactic for this assault.

Furthermore, Elena had amazed everyone with the abilities of one of her Profound Codices, earning her the title of the Goddess of War.

Elena then stood up and said, "I believe we can send a special team to dive beneath the sea and enter the harbor by passing through Florentia City's drainage system."

Elena had just presented the plan I had told her about before this meeting began.

The drainage system usually emptied into the sea.

These channels were designed to absorb and carry away rainwater, preventing the city from flooding when the rainy season arrived.

"That is an excellent proposal, Princess Elena," Marshal Salazar said, lowering his head as a gesture of respect. "Does everyone agree with our princess's proposal?"

"Of course."

"The enemy certainly won't expect us to use their own facilities to infiltrate the harbor."

"As expected of Princess Elena. She always has excellent ideas when it comes to battle."

Everyone in the room praised Elena for her proposal.

By now, Elena's influence within the Aragonian Imperial Military had grown considerably.

This would help us when the time came for the upcoming election.

The blonde-haired woman sat back down and looked at me with a gloomy expression.

It seemed Elena was still uncomfortable with this method.

She did not want to take credit for my work, especially since I was the one who had devised these tactics to help us win the battle.

All I could do was ignore her dissatisfied gaze.

Elena was far too honest about things like this.

The meeting continued as we discussed the formation of the fleet that would sail toward Florentia Island.

Two hundred ships would occupy each of the right and left wings, while 400 ships would form the center.

Elena and I would be positioned on the left wing, meaning we would not be part of the forces directly assaulting the harbor of Florentia City.

The meeting ended when night fell.

The next morning, the entire army gathered at the harbor of Tusculum.

I stood among the forces led by Elena.

Marshal Salazar stepped onto a podium, preparing to give us a speech before we sailed out and launched our assault on the capital of the Republic of Venetia.

"Warriors of Aragon!" the Marshal shouted, drawing our attention toward him. "You have fought remarkably well throughout this war. Many of our comrades have fallen, but their sacrifices will not be in vain! Thanks to the battle we won yesterday, we are finally only one step away from victory! All we need to do is sail forth, conquer the enemy's capital, and bring glory back to the Aragonian land we love!"

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The Marshal then raised his clenched fist into the air and shouted,

"GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!"

"GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!"

"GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!"

Everyone followed the Marshal's cry.

The army's morale was clearly high, and they could hardly wait to participate in this decisive battle.

If the Empire won this battle, there would be no nation left capable of challenging its dominance over the continent.

On the other hand, if they lost, it would make them appear weak in the eyes of the world, and other nations would no longer fear opposing the power of the Aragon Empire.

---

[Siena PoV]

More than a month had passed since our defeat in the Battle of Tusculum.

It was a defeat that had placed the Alliance in an extremely difficult position in this war.

After the battle, there had been no significant movement from the Empire.

They seemed to prefer recovering their strength before launching their next major operation.

"Lord Antonio, how many people were we able to recruit over the past month?" my father asked the Minister of Defense.

We were currently holding a meeting regarding preparations for the Empire's next offensive operation.

According to our spies, the Empire had received at least 40,000 new soldiers over the past month.

We also predicted that this would be the final wave of reinforcements they would receive.

"Only around 25,000, Mr. President," Lord Antonio replied. "Even with this many new recruits, their quality is extremely poor because most of those we recruited are civilians who have never held a weapon before."

To be honest, our recruitment efforts this time were an act of desperation.

After conducting recruitment twice already, there were almost no experienced fighters left in the nation.

Those who remained were mostly impoverished people without jobs who enlisted as additional soldiers simply to earn money to survive.

"That is better than having none at all," Father said, trying to remain optimistic. "Marshal Auros, General Melisandru, do you truly have no more troops that can help us win this war?"

Father now looked toward the representatives of the two nations allied with us.

Ever since our defeat at Tusculum, the attitudes of the two representatives had begun to change.

They were no longer as supportive as they had been before.

"President Luciano, our nation no longer has any troops available to deploy in this war," General Melisandru replied. "Of the 40,000 soldiers we brought, only around 20,000 remain. If we force ourselves to send additional troops here, there will be no one left to defend the Kingdom of Draconia should a major threat emerge there."

Even so, I believed they could still send 10,000 soldiers if they wanted to.

However, it seemed they did not want to suffer even greater losses from this war.

"An additional 5,000 soldiers will be coming from the Republic of Greco, President Luciano," Marshal Aulus said. "However, they will arrive the day after tomorrow at the earliest."

"Thank you, Marshal. We greatly appreciate all the assistance we can receive," Father replied with a nod.

With these reinforcements, the Alliance's total strength would now be 70,000 soldiers.

That was still fewer than the Empire's estimated 120,000 troops for their upcoming assault.

"Then how will we deal with the Empire's next attack, gentlemen?" Father asked, looking at all the military officials in the room. "We know that the Empire will undoubtedly attempt to conquer Florentia, our capital, to end this war, don't we? But even though their forces are far stronger than ours, we must not surrender. We need to find a way to defeat them."

Father was right.

Although our forces were only half the size of the Imperial army, we could take advantage of our strategic position as the defending side.

There were two approaches we could take against the Imperial forces in the coming battle.

The first was a naval battle.

We could take advantage of the Venetian people's superior sailing skills to outmaneuver the Imperial sailors, giving us an advantage in battle despite our smaller numbers.

The second was to fight along the island's coastline, specifically at the harbor of Florentia.

We would move cannons there and intercept the Imperial forces as they attempted to land and disembark their troops.

Aside from the harbor and the western beach, there were no other locations where the Empire could easily land its forces.

"I propose that we fight at the harbor of Florentia," General Melisandru said. "We will have the advantage when they attempt to land on the island."

"I agree with General Melisandru's proposal," I said, intending to add something to our strategy. "We should also position our fleet on the western and eastern sides of the island. Once the Imperial fleet engages our forces at the harbor, we can sail out and surround them from both directions."

This two-sided attack would relieve the pressure on our forces defending the harbor against the Imperial assault.

"That is an excellent maneuver, Major Siena," Marshal Auros said. "However, I have heard that the Empire also possesses various tricks and brilliant tactics for breaking through defenses, as they demonstrated during the Battle of Regium Fortress City. We must be careful if they attempt something unexpected."

He was right.

Back then, our defenses had been easily breached because their Animagi had wreaked havoc among the soldiers defending the city walls.

We needed to be wary of aerial attacks like the one they had used before.

After discussing our battle strategy, we also discussed the evacuation of civilians.

They would temporarily be relocated to the northern region of the island, which would most likely be the safest place during the battle.

The following morning, I received word that the Imperial fleet had already sailed from Tusculum toward our island.

I immediately hurried toward the harbor.

Along the city's streets, I saw countless citizens still streaming away from the area that would become the main focus of the battle.

They had already known about our defeat at the Battle of Tusculum for quite some time.

Their expressions were filled with resignation and hope.

When I arrived at the harbor, I saw that the area was already filled with soldiers stationed at their assigned positions.

Furthermore, we had raised the harbor chain to prevent the Imperial fleet from entering the docks.

I went to the remaining members of the Cavalier Squad gathered in the harbor square.

They were all standing in formation, waiting for my orders.

Only the Junior members remained from the squad I had formed after Raul de Garcia slaughtered all of its Senior members in those mountains.

This battle would undoubtedly claim many lives, as it was the decisive confrontation that could bring the war to an end.

"You will remain in the rear during this battle."

Hearing my words, everyone looked surprised.

Ezio then raised his hand, seemingly dissatisfied with my decision.

"Captain, isn't this an extremely important battle? Why are you positioning us so far behind?" Ezio asked in a heavy voice.

Everyone wore the same confused expression as Ezio.

It seemed they wanted to risk everything in this battle.

"We will win this battle," I replied, looking at all of them. "If we don't, then this nation will fall, and the Venetian people will once again become a nation like our ancestors were—one that was humiliated and discriminated against."

"Then why are you placing us at the very back of the defensive line, Captain?" Ezio asked again.

"Because whether we win or lose, there will inevitably be casualties in a battle, including me."

Hearing my answer, all the members lowered their heads.

"You are the future of this nation. If we lose this war, I want you to continue the struggle of those who have fallen and refuse to submit to the oppression of the Aragonian people."

Everyone raised their heads again.

Some of them were even crying.

I suppose it was only natural.

They were still young and did not yet possess the strength to change the future.

I thought I would have felt the same way if I had not possessed magic and had been powerless to change the future of my nation.

After watching the Cavalier Squad leave the harbor, I headed toward the defensive wall.

A total of 30,000 soldiers would defend the harbor.

The remaining 40,000 soldiers would be stationed aboard the fleet and would participate in an assault against both wings of the Aragonian Imperial fleet.

When I reached the top of the wall, I saw the soldiers preparing their rifles.

Dozens of cannons were also ready to fire from their positions above.

It was already late afternoon.

I looked toward the horizon using Eagle Eye.

Faintly, I could see a long line of ships approaching us.

They would be here soon, wouldn't they?

- TENG! TENG! TENG! TENG!

The sound of bells rang loudly, serving as an alarm announcing that the enemy had been spotted.

"Take your positions! The enemy has been spotted on the horizon! I repeat, the enemy has been spotted on the horizon!" the lighthouse guard warned of the enemy's arrival.

Everyone became alert upon hearing the ringing bells.

The harbor chain was also raised to prevent the enemy from entering the docks and unloading their troops.

The battle...

Was about to begin...