Dawn breaks with the chilly morning wind wafting in from the slightly opened window.
Bryn wakes up to a feeling of loneliness, she notices that the person she was sharing a bed with last night is gone. Perturbed, Bryn gets up and looks around only to see her Princess sitting by the table, reassembling a Kar98k. While she saw many of her pupils do such a task before, she can't help but feel that her Princess's every action holds a certain charm to it. The way she calmly treats the parts, the glint in her eyes when she assesses the gun, and the satisfaction shown when she witnesses her handiwork. All of it entrances Bryn.
She wonders. ' What is wrong with ?'
Finally noticing that Bryn is awake. The Princess greets her Instructor. " Good morning, Bryn, did I wake you up?"
Shaking her head, Bryn answered. " No, you didn't. I can see that you still retain your fascination with firearms."
Laughing embarrassingly, Princess replied. " What can I say? It's a hobby I can't live without it. And considering the battle to co, I would say that it's a good hobby to have, no?"
Seeing her Princess still have the mood to joke, Bryn feels a touch of relief. " Seeing you have such good morale eased my heart a lot. The first battle is always the hardest for so, but I think you're an exception."
" I'm the one who cooked up this unorthodox plan. If the soldiers I'm commanding right now saw in a state of hesitation. How can they trust and fight without worries."
" It's good that you understand that. You are young, but you have leadership materials." Bryn let out a kind smile. She likes it when her students show good results.
" Hehe..." Scratching her cheeks which have a tinge of red, the Princess says. " I had soone bring us breakfast, it's not much, but I think this should suffice." The Princess points at the simple ham sandwiches on the table.
" Let's eat while we still can then." Bryn takes a seat at the table, and so does the Princess. They finish the bland food just in ti when a Private knocks on the door.
" Madams, the Captain reported that there are movents on the Ustians side."
The Princess wipes her mouth with a handkerchief and drinks her cup of coffee. " That's our cue. Let us see the play that's about to co, shall we?" She offers her hand to Bryn, which Bryn elegantly takes.
They both head outside after grabbing their gear.
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" It seems like they are done fooling around, Princess." Captain Morrick passes a pair of binoculars. Taking a look at the opposition, I can't help showing a dangerous grin.
" They pull out all the stoppers. Heh, it's better for us this way." I turn to the Captain. " Pass the order, have our n dig in and follow the plan."
" Yes, my liege."
" It's showti."
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With a whopping 20 tanks and all the available infantryn that could be mustered. The Ustians leave only a skeleton crew to protect their HQ and artillery position.
To them, it's a make-or-break situation.
" All troops, advance!" The whistle signifies an all-out attack. Just like before, the tanks move first with the infantry trailing behind them. Though the Ustian artillery gets to sing today.
An intense barrage of heavy artillery carpets the defensive line of the Belkans with dirt clouds, and craters litter the affected area. For the Ustians, this serves as a great morale booster, seeing their enemy punished with impunity.
The barrage keeps on delivering shock and awe for a full five minutes before it stop. By then, the tanks are 200 ters away from the Belkan trench. The Commander of the Ustian troops feels that sothing is wrong when no enemy resistance was encountered when they have made it this far in.
" Weird, have they retreated?" In one of the tanks, the Ustian Commander keeps scanning the terrain for any possible clue. He swings the turret left and right until his eyes catch sothing peculiar.
" That thing, why does it look familiar sohow?" He analyzes the chanical contraption that sohow survives a barrage. It cos as a surprise to him, however, when the contraption starts spewing white gas at the approaching Ustians.
The Commander quickly scans the surroundings only to see more of those weird contraptions shooting out streams of gas across the entire battlefield. It doesn't take long though when the gas reaches its first victims, the tank crews.
Reports ca in like a tide with multiple crews saying they feel extrely irritated in their eyes and skin. They can hardly breathe when the gas burns their respiratory system. Soon after, the infantryn behind also succumb to the gas with the worst ones puking out their breakfast.
The Commander, also having a taste of that burning sensation, almost whimpering in a horrified manner when he finally saw soldiers with gas masks appear one by one in the Belkan trench. He clearly sees one soldier waving his hand in a downward manner then all hell breaks loose.
" GAS, GAS, GAS! THE BELKANS BROKE THE GENEVA CONVENTION! THEY BROKE THE CONVENTION!" Having relived the traumatic experience from a war long gone, the Ustian Commander hysterically screams on the radio, inflicting widespread panic among the Ustian soldiers.
" Retreat! Fallback!"
" Gas attack! It's gas!"
" It burns! Help m- Guehh"
Total hysteria ensues when the Belkans open fire, paying back tenfold the damage for every loss they took before.
The Belkan anti-air group was commandeered of their Flak 88 cannons and put in camouflaged positions to serve as anti-surface weapons. Their heavy 88mm high-explosive shell inflicts catastrophic damage on the Ustian tanks and infantries.
Soldiers of the Belkan Reich, having been briefed yesterday about the tanks' weaknesses, employ their reserve of K bullets and other light AT equipnt to disable the vehicles. This forced the panicking crews to bail out and run back to the Ustian line. Notably, the Belkan Princess managed to earn 17 kills and 3 tanks disabled with her Kar98k.
Surprisingly, so Ustians make a stand and try to push forward despite their losses. Such an action amounts to nothing when the Belkan Air Force arrives. The infamous Stuka sirens sing freely, promising death and destruction to ants below. And with their payload, that they did. The entire field was renovated with bomb craters and gores of unfortunate souls. The fortunate few that make it back to the Ustian line breathe a sigh of relief, even though it pained them that their comrades will have no corpse to bury.
They praise their lord and savior a bit too soon, though. This ti, it was the Ustian HQ and artillery position to take the wrath of the Belkan heavy artillery. With their position exposed thanks to the 13th Recon, it will be unkind of the 88th artillery not to return the favor now, wouldn't it? It is not the end yet, as any straggler will also be dealt with by Bf-109s headed by Rigel Squad using their guns and 50kg bombs.
The battle lasted for an hour with the post-battle clean-up taking more ti, lasting the entire day. As promised, the Belkan Air Force patrols the air space nonstop with each passing earning the cheers of soldiers down below. When night falls, the number of reports that need to be dealt with greatly tired out the Belkan Princess, much to her chagrin.
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" Brothers and sisters, our battle is sure to be won! Death to the Ustians!" A burly soldier towering over two ters boosts the morale of his comrades in arms. With the heritage of an Oni, it's no surprise seeing that he is killing a swath of enemies with two MG-34s. Unlike his berserker-like battle cry though, he looks surprisingly calm operating the machine guns.
" Huhm... A talent to keep track of." I think while taking the life of an Ustian. Swiftly pulling the bolt back, I put in a fresh five-round clip then slam the bolt forward. With trained movent, I quickly acquire another target to kill.
*BANG* His head splattered on the hull of a tank and his friends scurried for cover or turned back to run. It doesn't take long for to empty all five shots. But this ti I want to hunt bigger prey so I load a clip of K bullets.
It's hard to miss a tank on a battlefield like this one, though I do admit it's not easy to identify critical components of a tank. Much harder when you are actively trying to take them out with a rifle that has no magnifying optics. Didn't stop though. Fragile stuff like gunner optic or driver port, aren't protected heavily in the first place. Hence, I go for either armant or maneuverability kill on the tanks. Earned so respected gazes when I pulled it off too.
" They're charging at us."
Bryn, who's holding a rifle next to , inford when she saw the Ustians make a desperate charge. I nod to her and order.
" Grenadiers ready!" At my command, soldiers start uncorking their grenades, ready to greet the charge with a devastating strike. " Now!"
With a flurry of hands, dozens of grenades were thrown. At such a close distance, you can see the enemy infantry turn pale when they realize what's about to happen. Consecutive explosions tear the air, followed by pained screams and cries as the damage finally registers in the enemy line.
" Another one, n!" More grenades rain down on the Ustians for good asure. This effectively stops the Ustians dead in their track, whoever's left is easy picking for us.
I was in the middle of my killing spree when I heard sirens from above. That's when I knew that we'd won for sure.
" Took these guys long enough." I look up to see Stukas diving down with their guns blazing and bombs ready to drop. A sight I never thought I would bear witness to.
" We're done here, Bryn... What?" Why is she looking at with an amused gaze?
" You were very cool, did you know that?"
" I did?" I take a look at the soldiers around . They all hold the sa reverent gaze. " You guys think so too?"
"" HAIL VICTORY! HAIL PRINCESS! HAIL BELKA!"" I receive ear-numbing cheering as an answer. Exasperated, I turn back to Bryn.
" Will this happen a lot in the future?" I questioned, fearing for the future.
" At the rate you're going right now, yes, my dear."
I facepalm and earn a chuckle from Bryn. Though I do admit, this isn't a bad result for my first proper battle, not at all.
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In the Belkan Command Post, I sit down and listen to the subordinate's report. Post-battle clean-up is always a chore to do in whatever world you're in, glad to know sothing hasn't changed.
" Only 4 deaths and 17 injured. The World Tree sure blessed us this ti around."
I sigh while massaging my temple. " Give the list of casualties later, I will address it personally."
" Yes, Princess."
" I expect to hear so good news after that, no?"
" Yes, the battle concluded with us achieving total victory. Thanks to your ingenuity, we'd made use of peppers, mustard, and chilies to make tear gas. While the elves created illusions of the Great War gas dispensers to inflict ntal trauma onto the enemy. This combination proved to be very effective in incapacitating unprotected soldiers non-lethally. And with it, the Ustians were routed with many of their soldiers surrendering and becoming our POWs. Most of their high-ranking cadres were the first to run away before running into the ambush set up by the 13th Recon. Notably, the Ustian Commander, one Jeoff de Lyon, had his car run into a heavy anti-tank mine. The 13th reported not even the fra of the car stayed intact."
" Jeoff de Lyon, as in the Lyon the Lion?"
" Yes, Princess. He is the fad Ustian veteran from the Great War."
This earns a snicker from . " So much for a war hero, ditching his n and running bravely... away from the fight."
The entire map room erupts into laughter, so say if they were him, they would rather choke on their spit and die.
" Anyway, while it's fun to mock the enemy while they're down, I don't want arrogant clouding your minds, got it?"
"" YES, PRINCESS.""
" Good, carry on people."
" We managed to capture 9 fully operational tanks and 3 moderately damaged ones. With the enemy HQ completely abandoned on such short notice, we're hoping to recover more of their equipnt and supplies to fuel the war effort." The soldier pauses and turns a page in his notebook. " The Air Force drops us a lot of supplies also, we received a new batch of radios and are setting them up as we speak, Princess."
" Well done. Keep posted, you're dismissed."
The soldier performs a salute and heads out to resu his duty. I was left there alone, looking down on the interactive war map while the rest of the staff are running around, minding their own business.
According to the knowledge I have from my past life, this was supposed to be a losing battle. Without , the Ustians would have steamrolled the Belkan military, winning much ground in the process. And when the Ti of Demons arrives four months later, Belka lost all hope in mounting a counterattack. But I changed it, changed everything. I threw the script out the window and now I'm ready to flip the table itself.
Only four months left till everything stagnated.
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"...oh, and make sure you tell the chefs to cook a sumptuous al for the guys."
" Will do, Princess."
" Dismiss."
It's almost 7 PM, about ti for the n and won of our army to grab a hot al.
" I will be in the communication room, without my explicit order, no one is allowed to go in. When it's ready, bring dinner to my quarter." I gave one last order before taking my coat that was hanging on a chair. Draping it over my shoulders, I make my way to the communication room and close the door behind .
" Privacy at last."
I sit down and loosen my shirt for comfort. I then operate the radio station to connect with my... mothers. Thankfully, the Air Force dropped us the long-range comm equipnt, which saved a fair bit of trouble.
" Hello, can the other side hear ?" It's been a while since I used sothing as old as this, gotta reacclimate myself for a bit.
" Yeah, I'm fine mom, Instructor Bryn protected after all. Not to ntion the Air Force and Army personnel who did most of the heavy lifting, I just gave them orders mom."
" Mama? Ha... She overreacted again, didn't she?"
" I know, I know. I will get her a souvenir later, mom."
" Yes, yes... I will also hang around for our much-needed family ti mom."
" ... Going back? Eh... About that."
" Mom, just listen to my explanation first... Mama? No...? Wait, wait! I can explain. I assure you what I'm about to say is of much interest to you, mama."
" I love you mom, mama. Thanks for hearing out."
" Ok, you and mom are in the Army Command Center, right? That's good then, any mont now there should be a delivery girl arriving at the main gate of the Center. With her is a sealed package containing so files and docunts that I would like you and mom to read, sign, and follow the instructions written alongside those."
" Ha-ha, it's a secret for now mama. But I would like it better if there are fewer people knew about this. Only the designated persons should be involved in what's about to co."
" Of course, it's not harmful to the nation mama. I will never do anything that hurts you and mom."
" ... Yes, I will obediently stay here. Instructor Bryn is taking care of so you don't have to worry. Yes, love you, mama! Tell mom I love her too!"
"..."
I leaned back on the chair. While I do have mories of my previous life, I do want to treasure the bonds I have created in this world. It's not a bad feeling, to love and be loved by two mothers. Though it's a bit surprising that I have two of them.
I shake my head with a wry smile, such thoughts should be for another day.
" I have eaten your Pawn, now I'm aiming for your Chariot... Ustio."
It's gonna be a short four months...
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