Three Hundred
We seemed to have been rewarded for our hard march.
Eligos"s army was nowhere to be seen on the field.
"You are very lucky, Demon King."
Said Saint Jeanne.
"They are mainly comprised of undead. They must be slow on their feet."
"Was it really wise to march to the west? What if Eligos were to leave his castle and attack yours?"
"That will not happen. Gottlieb punished him for the last a.s.sault. He will be cautious now. At least for the present. Of course, I intend on forcing him to move."
"…? Do explain."
"Well, Jeanne. You need only to swing your sword. I will think of the difficult matters."
"Very well."
She nodded.
Now came Tos.h.i.+zou.
"Still, you sure picked a difficult place for fighting, master."
"Aye. For them."
"What do you mean?"
"This is a narrow valley. If we set up formation here, the enemy will only be able to attack from the front."
"I see. That is true. One cannot face a hundred opponents at once, but luring the enemy out one at a time will give us some hope."
"Exactly. No wonder they called you the Instigator of Tama."
"That doesn"t sound like a compliment."
"It wasn"t supposed to."
We both chuckled at that.
We knew each other well enough now to be able to trade insults.
"Still, quite brilliant of you to think of such a plan."
"I didn"t think of it. It was a strategy used in a country known as Sparta, in ancient Greece. A place in a different world."
"Sparta?"
"It is quite well known. I believe it is east of where you were born, Jeanne. A city-state."
"You do know that I am but a humble farmer"s daughter?"
Jeanne said with a troubled expression.
"Forgive me. Then let me explain.
There was once a great city-state known as Sparta in ancient Greece.
They had many warriors who were worth a thousand times that of other soldiers. But they were one day invaded by the neighboring country of Persia. A host of one hundred thousand."
"Hu-hundred thousand? That is impressive."
"And how many do you think the Spartans had?"
"Who knows? Thirty thousand?"
"One hundredth of that."
Jeanne looked puzzled. She did not seem to care for making calculations.
I could see her counting with her fingers now. But she was not very successful, and the irritation showed on her face.
And so I answered out of pity.
"Three hundred. Amusingly, the same number we have right now."
"Ah, that is interesting. Perhaps it is a sign."
"Exactly. By the way, according to history, the brave king of Sparta stopped the host of one hundred thousand with only three hundred warriors. In the meantime, the Athenians s.h.i.+ps came and destroyed the Persian fleet, cutting off their supplies and forcing them to retreat."
"Marvelous. And what happened to this powerful king? Did he become emperor?"
"Unfortunately, he died in the battle. Along with his three hundred. But their brave battle has been pa.s.sed on through generations, and he is remembered as a king of kings."
"Will the same thing happen to us?"
Jeanne asked with a grim expression.
She did not fear death. And she did not care for glory or honor either.
She was just worried if we could measure up to them.
"No, we cannot be like that Spartan king."
Jeanne"s shoulders slumped.
"King Leonidas of Sparta had his name echo across the world, but I am not him. I cannot do the same thing. Instead, I will try to save as many of us as I can. And the civilians of the castle town as well."
"You are too greedy, Demon King. Even more than Leonidas."
"Perhaps. After all, it"s not just the soldiers, commanders and people. I intend to survive as well. However, I am not a brave king. I am a practical one. I don"t care to die here, regardless of the glory. I want to return to my people, alive and happy."
"You are truly great, Demon King. It is no wonder that G.o.d has chosen you. I will follow you until the end."
Said Saint Jeanne. Just then, a messenger arrived.
The kobold lowered his head and said,
"Demon King, a great army has come from the west. The stench of the undead is thick in the air."
"How many?"
"As you said before, they are near ten thousand."
"I see. Leonidas held one hundred thousand with only three hundred men. We merely have to face a tenth of that. And our men are every bit as brave as his. We cannot lose."
I said this loudly so the others could hear. That seemed to raise the morale of the Ashtaroth army.
"We have the greatest Demon King with us. We will surely win."
"Demon King Ashtaroth would never fight a battle he could not win! We will win!"
"I was once in Sabnac"s army, and still, I was welcomed by King Ashtaroth. I will repay that debt today!"
They exclaimed. And then took formation near the mouth of the valley.
If we were stationed here, there would be no fear of attacks from the back or the sides. And so we would only have to face a small number of enemies at once. It minimized our disadvantage in terms of numbers.
However, it was still incredibly one-sided.
We were three hundred.
And they were ten thousand.
I wanted to maintain a situation where it was always one hundred vs one hundred, but as our army was comprised of humans and monsters, they would eventually tire.
As for Eligos"s army, they were main undead.
Undead were not particularly strong as monsters, but they did not tire like humans.
They did not tire at all.
They did not know fear.
And they did not retreat.
That would give them a great advantage in this fight.
No matter how weak they were, they would not cower at the sight of their fellows being cut down.
I didn"t show any of my anxiety to my soldiers, but I had to think of this realistically and calculate.
Three hundred against ten thousand. Normally, we would lose. However, we could win this if we could last for three days.
Three days. It sounded simple, but it was a long time.
The soldiers would have to face the fearless undead for three days and three nights.
Now, were they up to that challenge?
And would Demon King Eligos move as I predicted?
That was one thing that had me worried, but there was no turning back now.
I could already see the army of undead ahead of us.
The first group had arrived.