The Human Saint is Bored, so I was Summoned to Another World

Kuro's War (Part 3)

The Dawson Valley region was a strip of land running from north to south, straddling right in the border of Stadtsberg and Amaranth. It was a rural country, populated by a few villages with considerable distance from each other. There was no central town, nor a city, and the land was gold with wheat fields.

The Imperial armies that were heading towards the city of Stadtsberg had to pass the Dawson Valley; otherwise, they would have to go a long way around, through Savoy into the kingdom of Nerfes, and enter that place to its east. The invading forces were composed of two legions of 5,000 men each, an auxiliary cavalry of a thousand horses, and a screening force of archers and magicians.

Not only that, but there were also Amaranthine forces among the invading legions, led by their respective lords, and equipped with their own weaponry. If brought to a total, the Imperial strike force heading to Stadtsberg would amount to 15,000 to 18,000 men.

And the importance of this army was reflected by the command to which it was given to: a senior Imperial commander, ranking just below General Umberto Benicci.

"..."

Lily and Kuro watched the approaching legions from a field just a stone's throw away from the main road. Dawson valley was an uninterrupted plain of green grass and wheat fields, without a tree in sight, and so the defending army could see the invaders from afar.

"Ah! Finally, we could fly this flag!" Lily commented the moment she unfurled the banner of the Human Saint, Madelaine Rubinforth, "It's been a while since we last saw this on the battlefield."

"Well, I'm hoping that this would be the last time that we'll see it fly over sites like this," Kuro replied.

"Don't worry! If we held them back, we could now attack them from the south, as you suggested before."

"But what about the Duchy of Savoy? Do you think they could hold out there?" Kuro asked Lily. He was concerned that if Savoy fell, their lines of communication with their other forces in Colveente would be isolated, and the Holy Palatial Gardens could also be put at risk."

"Well, from what I heard..." Lily explained, "Simon was bringing in reinforcements from Nerfes, as requested by the Duke of Savoy when he decided to throw his lot to our cause."

"He did? Already?"

"Yep! You're too busy fighting your wars, that you forgot to see what's happening on the other aspects of this conflict." Lily chuckled, "But, not that it's a bad thing. In fact, the other kings were being convinced that fighting the emperor and upholding Maddie's peace was the right cause."

"Well, in that case, let's continue on winning!"

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The legionnaires arranged themselves into a line almost of equal length from the coalition forces. The heavy infantry took the center positions. The auxiliaries to the flanks and the archers marched to the front to skirmish. The Imperial magicians were at the back of the Imperial line, in reserve in case their skills are needed.

The coalition forces defending the road to Stadtsberg were arranged in a strange formation though. Instead of the typical line arrangement of heavy infantry to the center and light infantry to the flanks, Lily put the heavy infantry on the front of the whole line, each was arranged according to their country of allegiance.

The men from Nerfes, under Lily's leadership, which was considered the main bulwark of the coalition, took the center position. To their left stood the mercenaries, led by Griffyth and Kuro, as well as the other mercenary captains, Stephan, Kevin, and Winters. The right flank was composed of men from the other kingdoms of the coalition: Colveente, Amarth, Stadtsberg, Baltes, Halveth, and Devon (another member of the League of Valley Cities).