"…that's how it is" (Mitsuha)
"What's that? And what are these suspicious men doing?!" (Earl)
Ah, it was no wonder lord…, Earl Ethnol said that.
The 5 mushy old men in camouflage uniforms and combat gear looked suspicious in this world…
No, I guessed that was the case on Earth as well…
Following Wolffang's Captain, there were four members…
I was going to do this just us.
I was the one who made the promise to the deceased guard soldier.
...but I wasn't sure about the amount of weapons I had, so I asked if they could lend me some spare heavy equipment, light equipment, etc., and they agreed.
And then, he insisted that I took him, that he would definitely come, and that he would charge me for ammunition, consumables, and maintenance fees only, but not for labor costs or commission, so I had no choice but to bring him along.
"You probably don't even know how many enemies there are!" he said, which also had a bit of an effect.
Certainly, I didn't know if there are 10 enemies or 100.
However, I said that unless there was a crisis, there's no need to intervene.
Everyone in Wolffang would work as escorts for me and Sabine-chan. I didn't allow them to participate in active attacks.
Although I was reluctant, I couldn't give up on this.
This was in fulfillment of my personal promise.
I didn't really want to bring them with me, but the battle was unpredictable and you never knew what would happen.
…if something happened to Sabine-chan.
When I thought about it, I couldn't refuse.
If they'd just been clinging to me, I'd have rejected it…
"…they're divine soldiers." (Mitsuha)
"Eh?" (Earl)
"That's why they're divine soldiers. Defeated the ancient dragon in the royal capital absolute defense battle and scattered the empire army…" (Mitsuha)
"……" (Earl)
The Earl looked at the five Wolffang members with dubious eyes.
No, well, it didn't look like that at all…
They all looked like villains, with their eyes and faces…
Rather than calling them divine soldiers, it seemed more plausible to call them the devil's minions.
Well, there weren't many mercenaries who seemed to be gentle and kind.
On Earth… and in this world.
That's why, as long as we weren't in any danger, they were the observers or perhaps military observers, and in any case not to be involved in any intervention.
"Ah, wait! Don't move! Don't try to touch that part!!" (Captain)
When I was making various preparations, the captain was being noisy.
"Please, leave that to us! Don't touch it!" (Captain)
Eeh~…
Dawn.
Everyone was getting ready and drinking tea.
No idiot would put food in their stomach before a fight.
At the lord's mansion, everyone except the guards was taking a nap during the night.
I thought the raid would take place around dawn, but the enemy didn't always move the way I thought it would. Of course the soldiers were in full gear and fell asleep, but the night raid didn't happen.
Well, we were familiar with the internal structure of buildings, and fighting in the dark gave an advantage to the few sides.
There's no way there won't be guards, so it's not like they can do a surprise attack with cat ears[1]… No, no, attack someone who's asleep[2]. Weapons and armor in this world were not suitable for stealth.
…in this case, there was no advantage for the enemy to attack at night.
It would be better to escape at night, because if the Earl who was supposed to give the chase and all the people in the mansion were killed, there would be chaos, and this place was not far from the border.
If that's the case, considering that the attack was to be carried out at daylight, and that they would have call in the faction of the Imperial Army that was hiding somewhere and prepared, I figured that it would be not before the sun had set, but after dawn the next day.
After dark, they probably tried to retrieve the property hidden in the magistrate's residence.
The Earl also agreed with that idea.
There weren't that many soldiers in the mansion.
The number of professional soldiers was originally not that large, and during times of war, peasants were summoned on a temporary basis.
Therefore, in peacetime, there were very few people who are active as soldiers.
And now, due to the imperial army's invasion two years ago, many soldiers and civilians were lost, and the reconstruction of the territory's management was prioritized over rebuilding the devastated army.
As a result, the number of professional soldiers who had decreased had not been sufficiently increased. On the contrary, soldiers were being dispatched to each village to help with agricultural work.
…in other words, the lord’s mansion now had only the bare minimum of servants and a few security guards.
And, of course, the magistrate knew that.
In that case, I thought that I would come first thing in the morning before the soldiers of the territory army were recalled.
Ah, when the Earl tried to send a messenger to each village to recall the soldiers, I advised him not to do so.
I said that there were soldiers hiding on the highway to kill the messenger anyway.
So, our fighting strength was the Earl and six guards.
…plus, me, Lightning Archpriestess, and Her Highness Sabine-chan the third princess.
Our army was overwhelming, wasn't it?
The five members of Wolffang?
They're just for decorations. I didn't want them to join us in the fight.
In addition, some of the servants expressed their participation in the battle by picking up swords on the walls, spears held by armored dolls, and butcher knives.
The Earl stopped them, saying they wouldn't die in vain, but I allowed them to participate.
No, it's true, if they got into a sword fight with the enemy, they would die immediately.
If they stayed quiet and hide, the enemy's only goal was to get the goods, so the enemy wouldn't go out of their way to find the servants and kill them all.
…that meant they could survive.
…but that didn't matter.
On our side, there weren't even a single injured person, let alone a dead person.
Therefore, for those who were brave and loyal, let's create memories that they could be proud of for the rest of their lives, such as "participating in the absolute defense of the feudal lord's mansion with a weapon in hand."
Even if they didn't actually fight with the enemy, they still showed their courage and loyalty. It meant that they participated in the battle, and they would be proud of their children and grandchildren.
Preparations were completed yesterday.
5.56mm light machine guns installed on all four sides of the second floor of the mansion.
The bullets were belt-fed with a 200-round belt instead of a 30-round magazine.
You would end up firing 30 shots in no time, so changing the magazine was a hassle.
The enemy would probably come from the front, the main gate, but for the time being. The reason why light machine gun are placed in four directions was because when a bullet jammed or the belt ran out of bullets, it's faster to transfer to another light machine gun than to eject and reload.
Of course, if the enemy came from that direction, I would just use whatever was there.
Since the enemy might be wearing armor, I thought about using the M2 heavy machine gun Meat Chopper, but the captain rejected it.
He said that no one would wear full plate armor at a time like this.
It requires an attendant to assist in carrying it and putting it on and taking it off, and no one would be stupid enough to wear something like that in a situation where they need to make a quick escape...
In the first place, something that heavy would only be worn during a large-scale head-on battle.
If the armor was made of leather and was partially reinforced with metal plates, I think 5.56mm would be sufficient, not 7.62mm or even 12.7mm for a heavy machine gun…
Only one claymore would be used as the opening fireworks. It would be detonated with a remote control rather than a wire trap or timed fuse. …if they didn't come in through the main gate, it wouldn't have a chance to appear.
I kept an RPG just in case, but I wouldn't use it unless I had to.
…it's expensive to use.
I was in charge of light machine gun, claymores (only one shot), and RPGs (only when needed).
And Sabine-chan was in charge of…
It was an automatic sniper rifle that fires 7.62mm ammunition and had an optical scope.
The accuracy was slightly lower than a bolt action kind, but at extremely close range, the advantage of rapid fire performance far outweighs such trivial issues.
Of course, it came with a bi-pod so that weak Sabine-chan, could easily hold the gun.
With this, I would like her to snipe the enemy's commander (top commander). Using her shooting sense, which I had none of.
…it was not for killing.
It was a sniper to catch them alive, not to kill them.
When it was time to kill, I would do it.
Author's note
Notice! (^^)/
Advance screening of episodes 1 and 2 of the “Rokin” anime has been decided!
December 20 (Tue) 1830 - 2020
Shinjuku Battle 9… No, Baltic 9
Rika Nagae, who plays the role of the main character Mitsuha, Rika Tachibana, who plays Colette, Kaori Maeda, who plays Sabine, and Jun Fukuyama, who plays Mitsuha's older brother Takeshi, will be on stage with a stage greeting!
Ticket sales for the advance screening have already begun on Friday, December 2nd.
For details, please visit the Roukin website (^^)/
And the TV broadcast time has also been decided!
January 7, 2023 (Sat) 2600~
ABC TV, TV Asahi affiliated network of 24 stations nationwide
In the frame of "ANiMAZiNG!!!"
d Anime Store, DMM TV from January 7th (Sat) 2630~
Pre-delivery started! !
Thank you! (^^)/
Then, Treasure Festa Online will be held from December 10th to 11th.
This is an online sale of garage kits, figures, and toys.
Here, Komino Kobo (an independent modeler) will be selling garage kits for Mitsuha, Kaoru, and Mile.
Details can be found on the official Treasure Festa Online website. (^^)/
Translation note
[1] ネコミミ(nekomimi) = cat ears
[2] 寝込み (nekomi) = falling asleep