In other words, this man — Jurgen Bauer — belonged to a relatively new breed of professional soldiers that emerged from St. Gallen's unique military system, and he was one of the rare commoner generals.
"Excuse me."
A knock on the door interrupted Bauer's deep thoughts. As soon as he gave the permission to enter, the staff members stepped into the room with light steps.
This building used to be the residence of the lord of the town that was occupied by the St. Gallen army. It was confiscated and was being used as a temporary base. As it was a rural town in the remote eastern part of the province of Volden, the facility was cramped and inconvenient. While annoyed by the lack of breathing space in the room, Bauer listened to what his subordinates had to report on.
"Reporting on the status of the battle to General Bauer."
"Mm."
Bauer gave a small nod. The smile on his subordinates seemed to indicate he came bearing good news.
"Our forces are quickly infiltrating and advancing through Volden, clashing with the forces of Arquell at various locations. We have almost defeated all of them!"
The report was as expected. It was Bauer himself who had designed the surprise attack to be simultaneous with their declaration of war. He had put a lot of thought into making it work, so there was no excitement when the results came in.
More importantly, there were words and phrases that could not be overlooked in the report.
"Almost, huh?"
"Ah, yes. A party that planned to march on the provincial capital, has been repelled at the fort defending it."
"......What the hell are they doing?"
Bauer couldn't help but run a hand across his wrinkled brow.
"The results at the start of the war were very favourable. And that was all part of the strategy I have laid out. Didn't I order the capture of rural areas to secure food for the troops first?"
The focus of this battle was, above all, to secure supplies for troops. The surprise attack to cut into the defenceless flank of the enemy consisted of a forced march over the mountains without a stable supply line from their own country. This was extremely dangerous since they could not receive satisfactory supplies. If they were somehow isolated, they would starve and collapse by themselves. This was the current situation of the St. Gallen army.
That was why they chose now to start the war. It was just before the harvest season and they could take the wheat from the pristine fields to obtain food. Thereafter, control of the important bases in Volden could be captured as a secondary priority. Even if they failed to take over the entirety of Volden, it would not pose a problem as long as they secured a place to hide for the winter. Bauer recalled giving strict orders for such a stratagem.
"I'm afraid the commander of that squad will have to be severely punished."
"B-But—"
"Did he die during the battle?"
"—Yes, that's correct."
That was the worst outcome. If he had returned alive, he could have made an example of him by cutting off his head as a warning to all. The second-in-command officer was just following the dead idiot, so there was no reason to blame him.
Bauer had no choice but to send an admonition to all troops by messenger. They were in the midst of winning the war and were quickly getting carried away. It was unlikely that the soldiers would listen to him, though it was better than doing nothing.
"I want all commanders to follow my orders strictly. Steal their food and money, rape their women and children, or kill them for fun. I'll give permission to do all that. But the attack on the city will have to wait until I give the instruction......."
"Yes, general!"
"But, general—"
Then one of his subordinates interjected.
"—I don't think we need to be this cautious. The enemy soldiers standing in our path are extremely fragile. We can manage to capture this one province in a single concentrated push. We don't need to get worked up over a single failure, do we?"
His tone and expression hardly contained the gravity of the matter. It was like a child who had been scolded by a parent or a teacher, but simply laughed to attempt to defuse the situation. In other words, he was a brat who didn't know any better. Bauer's eyebrows jumped slightly.
"You idiot."
"Yes......?"
"Remember our situation. We have marched over the mountains and have been fighting without rest. Eventually, we will reach the limit of our strength and the offensive will grind to a halt. We must let our soldiers rest before that happens."
Soldiers were not machines. They grow tired from moving and get hungry. That was why there was a limit to their offensive. There would be a line in which, without rest and reorganisation, they would not be able to attack any more. Once that line was crossed, the army would become weaker. Right now, they were feeling the adrenaline from one sidedly defeating the small fries, but it did not change the fact that their bodies are in shambles from the marching and fighting. When fatigue catches up, even the weakest soldiers or militias guarding Volden would turn into deadly enemies.
The day when the St. Gallen army would reach the point of exhaustion was near. Bauer was anticipating it.
"That's why the first thing we need is to secure steady food supplies for our army. If we’re too exhausted to move, we won’t even be able to loot food supplies then. Do you understand?"
"......Yes. Understood."
The objecting subordinate replied with a look of disapproval on his face. He might have claimed to agree, but surely he did not understand the intent of the general.
Bauer let out a sigh. This was a difficult subordinate to deal with. However, this was still an improvement from before. At the time when the army for this surprise mission was being formed, it was way worse. Insubordination and violation of orders were just the tip of the problem. More than once, subordinates from noble lineages had ridiculed him.
(But status should have no standing in an argument......)
While thinking about it, Bauer glanced at the flag hanging from the wall.
What was there was not the military flag of the Federation of St. Gallen. It was the military flag of the Kingdom of Baharia, Bauer's homeland.
The Federation of St. Gallen was, as the name suggested, a federation not controlled by a sole dynasty. It was a country that evolved from a military alliance formed by the kings who were the pioneers of the eastern part of the continent, which until a few hundred years ago was uncharted territory. They made an alliance to protect themselves from the powerful monsters and powers to the west, such as Arquell and Molbaehr. The Heidellecht dynasty from the Kingdom of Grandenburg, sat in the royal capital of Gallerin, and called themselves the Grand royal family. They held a prominent position in the federation, as the countries that made up the federation recognised them as a representative of them who upheld their interests. Although their country would gladly help in resisting pressure from the west and exterminating monsters, they did not want to be involved in anything more than the bare minimum. Although there was a hierarchical relationship, there was little in the way of loyalty.
The Kingdom of Baharia was one of the member countries that were unhappy with the Federation. Located in the southern part of St. Gallen, they boasted an economic level that was unparalleled even within the Federation. However, even so, they did not have the national strength to survive the recent outbreak of monsters and the resulting food shortage and economic crisis on their own. In fact, they were losing power relative to other St. Gallen territories, by acting as allies in times like these by providing economic support.
If the crisis in St. Gallen continued at this rate, Baharia would sink under. Concerned about the future of his homeland, Bauer submitted a proposal for a preemptive surprise attack to the upper echelons of the Federation army, who were discussing the pros and cons of initiating a war with the Kingdom of Arquell. And that was the plan they were using now.
Gathering second-tier troops from all over St. Gallen, they crossed the mountains and marched to Volden. The most elite troops, including those directly under Grandenburg's control, were sent to the Allemande area for control, and if there was an opening, they would invade Arquell from there. The Baharia, which had been under the thumb of the whole of St. Gallen, could breathe a sigh of relief because the population of the other territories temporarily moved out of the Federation to participate in the war. Since the operation was about local procurement of supplies, the burden on his home country was minimal. If the Heidellecht dynasty in Gallerin succeeded, it would be able to win a large concession from the Kingdom of Arquell with little effort. Even if the attack failed, the military strength of the defiant countries within the Federation could be reduced. The biggest reason why the position of a commoner general was adopted was the alignment of interests between Grandenburg and Baharia.
