Harem King from A Slave in Another World

Orlais Southeast Region

Count Rikat Guiscard was originally a right hand man under Etienne de Chevin faction, but decided to detach from him after Chevin remained in Saxon-Fanoss coalition even as Selena Saxon reformed the aristocracy system in Orlais. Selena purged the noble families in favour of a more centralized ruling system with Selena as the Queen.

"Baronet Rullus army on the right wing is being pushed back!"

"Baronet Elgerrid army on the left wing is being suppressed by the enemy’s furious attack and can’t act, aiding them isn’t possible!"

The Guiscard army was forced into a disadvantageous fight. Not a single condition was to their advantage.

First, the war preparations. It was completely insufficient on their part.

They initially got word of the overthrowing of the Doucy faction. 

The upper echelon of Chevin faction patted their chests in relief when they heard that news.

They thought that the toppling of Doucy’s political system would mean the state of their coalition would be in continued disarray and they could not affect Orlais for a while.

Some even considered suggesting an invasion of their own. That was when the large-scale purging started. The nobles were caught off-guarded.

The next point was in regards to the poor terrain.

Many branches in Guiscard’s army consisted of spearmen, archers and cavalry.

Even in its weakened state, the composition stayed the same.

On the other hand, Saxon-Fanoss relied on a high amount of infantry as their primary means of attack. 

Guiscard used a combination of each branch of their army with an efficient formation and rate of mobility to deal with the massive Saxon-Fanoss army, however the soil there was unique.

After the soil was exposed to rainfall, it turned into a wet sludge consistency and moving around in it was remarkably more difficult.

That meant the cavalry were useless depending on the location, leaving only the infantry to slog through the quagmire.

The Saxon-Fanoss army took advantage and purposely advanced in the spots where cavalry couldn’t move.

With Guiscard unable to make the most of their mobility to bring their formation together, the Saxon-Fanoss army became the stronger army simply because of their superior numbers.

Lastly, it was the change in movement of the Saxon-Fanoss army.

"The enemy’s attack is focused more on the right wing! Send a squad over as reinforcements!"

"I’m telling you it’s not there, the left wing attack is a diversion! Enemy reinforcements are looking to breakthrough the middle!"

No longer were they relying solely on brute force.

Saxon-Fanoss attacked left and right to throw Guiscard off balance, then aimed for the areas with weaker defenses.

"An enemy platoon is circling around from the right…… do we not have any spare troops to move? Cavalry!? I told you we can’t use horses here! They’ll get in the way so send them to the rear!"

"It looks like the enemy is making moves to send a squad to the left as well. Right side, adjust your formation and figure something out on your own!"

When chances arose, Saxon-Fanoss would even move smaller squads around the perimeter to disrupt the main frontlines.

What the hell’s going on? "These guys are completely different than before. It’s almost like we’re facing another nation!"

"Have they finally developed groundbreaking military tactics? No, it can’t be…… that’s not possible…"

The commissioned officers of Guiscard were veteran soldiers with plenty of experience to draw from.

That’s why they knew. These movements were not from a single skilled commander leading them.

Such precise maneuvering would not be possible unless each of the platoon commanders used their own judgement to adapt to the situation and move accordingly.

It was unthinkable of the previously weak Saxon army up until now.

"Order from command headquarters! All squads retreat 5 km and rebuild the defense line!"

The messenger shouted out and then the generals groaned.

"Retreating again…… how far are we going to fall back?"

"We have no choice. If we stay in position, they’ll break past us."

"There’s no more room between us and the Guiscard demesne. We can’t go back any further……do we not have reinforcements?"

The Guiscard army consisted of a dozen low aristocrats barely preventing the enemy from overrunning them while gradually inching backwards.

***

Orlais-Fanoss Union stronghold.

Oooh! They retreated once more!」

「Victory! It’s our victory again!」

When the Altair soldiers shout excitedly, Wilhelmina smiles back cheerfully.

"We’ve fought Guiscard for such a long time and we’ve never pushed them this far before!"

"So we are strong after all! More importantly Her Majesty Selena is our savior!"

The soldiers raised their voices at Selena.

In response, she waved back at them while making her way into the tent.

"Your expression really changes after just one second."

Once she made her way into the tent, the large man, Xanthippus joked about how Selena’s face returns to being cold.

"If you’re unhappy, shall I smile for you too?"

Selena’s expression instantly changed back to the same embarrassingly happy smile she showed to the citizens.

Her voice however remained monotone and detached.

"Stop. Your cute smile doesn’t match the tone of your voice. It’s almost creepy."

"Is that so?" 

Xanthippus looked serious again.

"Let’s reconfirm the state of battle."

Ally and enemy markers got placed one after the other onto a map.

"The enemy army was routed, but only lost about 5 percent of their forces. Their 5 km retreat is probably to allow them time to set up their defense line again."

"Hmm…… that place has a lighter accumulation of ash. It seems they want to make use of their cavalry no matter what."

Selena lightly tapped the map.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I’ll divide the army into four and have each of them proceed from this direction."

After replying, Xanthippus went silent and looked at Selena.

"What’s wrong, Xanthippus?" She asked nonchalantly.

"No, I was just wondering if the Supreme Commander had any opinions."

The woman, Selena who was being referred as Supreme Commander uncrossed her legs and then crossed them again.

"I said I would leave the military to you. If you really want to hear my thoughts, I’ll speak. It’s basic military strategy to concentrate your forces, so why are you steering away from the fundamentals and splitting up the army?"

Xanthippus smiled bitterly again.

"You’re like an elderly eager for an explanation. Currently we have double the amount of soldiers Guiscard has. Even if we divide our total forces into four, a single section won’t get annihilated that quickly. While the enemy is busy dealing with that squad, the other three will breakthrough the defense lines and reach the capital. Either the enemy will continue to fall back…… or be forced to divide their own army into four parts to simultaneously fight against all of our separate armies, which is disadvantageous for them to do."

Selena nodded like she understood.

"The enemy will most likely choose the latter option. Unlike the vast and spacious Federation, this is the narrow Central plains. There is not much room to retreat. Well, I will watch how they move and then act accordingly."

Selena’s eyebrows furrowed when she noticed the word ‘narrow’, though she didn’t interrupt Xanthippus.

"I was surprised when I first heard we would be invading. I thought it would be pushing this group too much……"

Despite countermeasures being deployed against the unfortunate regional draught, the effective rate hadn’t gone up yet.

Knowing Guiscard was likely in a similar situation, Selena forced the war to start prematurely.

"The state of confusion is the same for both friend and foe, so Saxon-Fanoss with the simpler structure should be affected less. As long as we get the citizens on our side, Saxon’s army will function. It doesn’t matter if there’s some disarray……their minds will change quickly."

Initially, many of the Saxon-Fanoss army commanders were once Viscounts or Barons  who were either exiled or executed by the soldiers after the political upheaval.

Stepping in to take their places were the foreign commissioned officers under Xanthippus’s command.

The soldiers accepted the new foreign commanders without problems.

It wasn’t because they believed in the commanders themselves, rather it was Selena they believed in.

Adding to the fact that they experienced consecutive victories in their first few battles, their trust in her only strengthened.

"The difficulty of changing commanders is deeply ingrained in the body. To bypass it so easily is pretty ridiculous. It’s unbelievable you could reorganize the army without a single rebellion."

"The reason we’re able to put up a good fight is due to your subordinates’ abilities. They were former Olga Federation commanders. I may have captured the citizens’ hearts, but a group of amateurs would not have won."

Selena might have the intelligence to command the economic management and the charisma to rally dominant mass support, but in wars, proven tactics were integral.

This time the former Olga officers under Xanthippus displayed their superb commanding ability and overwhelmed Guiscard.

They got proper education about tactics in the military schools of the Olga.

All those around Xanthippus had especially good grades.

No country in the continent was able to conduct officer training to that degree. Having said that, the federation had been dissolved to smaller countries in North Thedas continent.

If Ferelden Kingdom covered over a half of central Thedas, the former Olga Federation covered almost entire northern Thedas.

"It takes much time and effort to raise skilled soldiers. It takes at least twice the time and effort to produce skilled commanders. You don’t always get skilled commanders by investing time and effort…… Sometimes you need luck."

It is an unbelievable stroke of luck for a commander to bring their subordinate commanders with them.

Selena told Xanthippus he was skilled so he felt a little proud of himself.

"You were defeated by the Negara invaders though." Selena criticized him.

Xanthippus stiffened and then looked down.

"We were losing but defeated them in our capitals." Xanthippus stared at Selena and retorted firmly.

"Even with that last ditch victory, your cities had been destroyed. Civil wars came after that."

Seeing how calm Selena was, the agitated Xanthippus felt somewhat embarrassed and cleared his throat to reset the situation.

Selena didn’t say more than that.

In her heart, she thought that it would not be easy to conquer the capital without siege weapons, however she refrained from needlessly interfering with Xanthippus who she recognized as being more proficient than herself in battle.

"We could even force our way through with soldiers if necessary and still have a chance of winning. The worse case scenario is that we fire flaming arrows from all sides and burn the entire city to the ground."

"That…… would be a problem."

Selena interjected.

"You people only need to go so far as to conquer lands, that's all. That point onwards is my domain."

"What? Isn’t it our job to take down the cities?"

Xanthippus furrowed his eyebrows.

"If you can capture the city, feel free to do so, it’s the destruction that troubles me. That would interfere with my ruling in the future."

Selena stood up from her chair and approached Xanthippus.

There was a 40 cm difference in height between the two of them, with the woman seeming like a child compared to the adult Xanthippus.

"I want all of Orlais, Holfort, Dioral and Florence. Blood, flesh, bone and guts…… not in a ruined or decaying state, but something fresh."

She lightly put a hand on Xanthippus’s chest, which unconsciously caused the large man to step back.

"What isn’t needed…… is everything from here to the top."

Her hand extended from his chest to his neck then her finger draws a line in the air across his throat.

"I want to cut the head off and take the rest. We still need to fight several more times…… so I’m counting on you."

She gave a final encouraging pat to Xanthippus’s chest before leaving the tent.

"We somehow attained victory because of everyone’s efforts. However the enemy hasn’t given up yet. Our fight continues on! Victory and glory is not too far from reach!"

Xanthippus took a seat in his chair as he listened to the awe-inspiring yet charming female voice from outside.