Ikigurushī no Ohimesama (The Breathless Princess)

Wall Building

{HIKARI'S POV}
The people of Tai come, the backs of their horses, cows, pigs, goats, and sheep loaded with essential supplies; food and clothing mainly. They've abandoned their homes and gathered in a wide clearing that the knight circle has begun clearing, though many spill into the treeline.

So many people displaced by my decree. Can I really lead them all?

I must!

The people don't have confidence in me. I can see that much in their eyes. They look at me and see a weak princess. They think they're doomed.

I take a deep breath and inform the people of Tai of the situation. I assure them that they have not been abandoned by Clarines; I will protect and lead them to the best of my ability.

Surprisingly, the people seem to like me after my emphatic speech. I didn't do anything special... I simply shared my honest thoughts. And yet, Lord Zetsu wipes a tear from his eye. The citizens of Tai agree readily enough. I think they were very moved? I'm glad I did well to assuage their fears.

Next I divvy roles. All strong, healthy, and able-bodied citizens are to work at the quarry and wall. Only enough wood is gathered for fires and to clear paths. Clearing the forest to make a living space is secondary to ensuring that we live.

Of the 1,500 remaining, those who are good with their hands are encouraged to make tents and mats to sleep on from spare fabric. Thinking ahead, others get to work on making small fields of fast growing crops so we have a sustainable food supply.

Those who are unable to do anything else collectively care for the animals and youngest children.

Building the wall goes smoothly with 3,500 men and women. The citizens are quick to adapt. They collectively work three shifts across 24 hours to make continuous progress on the wall.

Horse-drawn carts which once carried every village's food stores—now being stored in Taj fortress—are emptied, and designated runners deliver rocks from the quarry to the builders. The wall will be thirty feet tall and fifteen wide, with taller parapets for soldiers to take cover from enemy fire.

Watchtowers with slots for watchers and hidden archers are also plotted and built at various strategic points along the wall. I'm proud of it.

We're doing the best we can to make the wall sturdy, but this is a rush job. I imagine it'll only slow the Cojacan army down, unfortunately.

The commander of the knight circle, a veritable giant of a man named Isamu Ito, provides a map of the area where we plot out the best place to run the wall; high ground, solid ground, hard to sneak up on (making sure the forest is being chopped fifty feet beyond the wall too so it can't be used for cover).

Many tense days later, the wall is complete and the forest is cleared.

The clearing that we now call home is pitifully bare, except for a plethora of trees left standing and several lean-to tents. The citizens work on their tasks while children run around freely. The other children play imagination games since there are only a few toys.

I left the civil matters, such as plotting out houses and pens for the livestock to build using lumber harvested from clearing the area, to Lord Zetsu.

Looking around at the sheer number of people I've sworn to protect, it's going to be cramped for quite a while. But the wall stands tall and proud around us.

For now, I can breathe a sigh in relief.

"Hikari-sama!" General Isamu approaches from the direction of the fortress, waving me down before I can leave to provide assistance elsewhere.

He's the leader of the Taj knights, 450 pounds of muscle with arms larger than my head. He'd be terrifying if he wasn't so cheerful all the time.

"Did something happen?" I ask, tipped off by his dark tone of voice.

"The scouts report seeing the Cojacan army in the nearby villages." General Isamu reports with an uncharacteristic frown.

I straighten my back. "So it's begun."

We were right. The enemy forces tried to raid the less-protected areas before doing a pincer attack on Taj from both sides of the mountain pass. This prediction has bought us valuable time to defend ourselves while they waste time at the empty villages.

I clasp my hands tightly together to keep them from trembling. "They'll find the West Wall soon. Ensure that all the watchers keep a sharp lookout for anything suspicious, day and night. Have them at the East Gate too. We won't be caught off-guard."

Now that the wall is finished and we aren't in imminent danger of ambush, the next step in our defense strategy is to train all of the able-bodied citizens to fight. The training will take place at Taj fortress and the East Gate.

Including the seven I brought from the Sereg knight circle, there are 357 knights here. This is not enough to win a war, even with our advantages.

The ideal 1:3 defender to attacker ratio works in our favor here, but the knights won't be able to patrol or protect the entire perimeter effectively. Including the citizens in the war effort is critical, in order to increase our fighting force and odds of survival.

Therefore, the knights are willing to teach any citizen who wants to learn in swordsmanship and archery. The Sereg knights are particularly helpful in this regard. They volunteer to hold combat lessons for the Taj knights and the citizens.

Soldiers on the front lines have been put into three eight hour schedules. They sleep eight hours, wake up and have eight hours to eat, train, and prepare for the next eight hours on patrol, then repeat.

This is to ensure that everyone is getting enough sleep, because the last thing we want is tired soldiers who aren't alert nor have their wit about them. Those are the soldiers who die first.

The non-combatants—those who will hopefully never be on the wall defending it from attackers—are still highly encouraged to train with a weapon so they can defend themselves if all else fails.

Taj's armory is stocked enough swords to arm a battalion. Even the children take to building slingshots and collecting rocks as ammo.

They use charcoal to mimic war paint, swiping it across their faces and screaming as they charge each other, playing out a mock-battle.

These are meant to be toys and games, but it turns out that one well-aimed rock can knock a grown man out (accidentally tested by Jun Kirigawa on a knight, earning him a scolding from Lord Zetsu). So I ask the children to make more for the soldiers.

I try to take up a sword myself, but it's too strenuous and I end up on the ground hacking after half of a set. It's frustrating, but I can help in other ways.

I've watched Hiiro train with the Sereg knight circle several times. I know the basic sword regimen of the knights, and I'm able to talk the people through the motions until they learn.

I make sure to remind the people to practice daily so their newfound skills don't dull. If we have to flee, they can protect our backs long enough for the most vulnerable (especially children) to retreat.

If we must flee, Lord Zetsu informs me that the Taj knight circle has a secret escape route cutting through the mountain range. It's carefully disguised and takes over a week to traverse safely. This path will lead us out of the mountain, away from enemy eyes, should Cojaca win and the wall or fortress fall.

The knights have already balanced a rock slide that, once someone sets it off, will destroy the secret path and make it impossible for any pursuers to follow when we need a hasty retreat—or if the enemy finds the hidden route, in which case the rock slide would stop an invasion by blocking us in.

After hearing this, I'm very happy. This means that I can still do my damnedest to save my people, even in the worst case scenario.

Not that I intend to lose easily.

Not that I'll be fighting in any case scenario either. I don't have the stamina, let alone the lungs for it.