Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 151. Imminent Clash.
“It’s hard to say,” the average-looking man said with a quiet sigh. Unlike the other three Lieutenants, he had already thought about this matter beforehand, so he didn’t need to collect his thoughts before answering Mustafa’s question. “Basically, it comes down to two things, does it not? If we think that whoever has been interfering until now is going to once again get involved and do we think that this risk is worth taking in order to eliminate the enemies at hand,” he said simplistically. There were, of course, a few other things that needed to be taken into consideration, but he knew that the conversation would become disorganized if he were to bring them up all at once.
“Pretty much,” Mustafa agreed with a nod. “At the very least, the silver lining is that we do know this third party isn’t aiming to annihilate us for whatever reason. They might not have received a payment enticing enough to get involved too deeply or they might have other reasons. However, be it a person or a group, anyone who can secretly take out one hundred of our White Guards that were led by a member with the strength at the Lieutenant-level is likely an opponent only I at my prime could handle,” he elaborated, forcing himself not to display too much of his negative emotions.
“And Lord Kundar isn’t here either,” the average-looking man said with a heavy sigh. “If I had those three aid me, then I could possibly hold my own for a bit, until the rest of our men can reinforce us,” he speculated with a thoughtful look in his eyes. Although he was yet to break through to the seventh Realm of Heroes, he was still a peak martial master of the sixth rank. Given the right circumstance and enough help, he should be able to turn the tables on that third party.
“True,” Mustafa agreed once again. This time, however, he had his own objections. “But if you four stay in one place, then we will lose our advantage against the enemies we can see. What’s the point in guarding against that third party if all of our men are going to run a high chance of getting wiped out?” he pointed out, causing the expression on the average-looking man’s face to flinch a little.
“Kasim,” Mustafa continued in a gentle tone. “You are smart and strong, but you are too inexperienced and that makes your thoughts half a beat too slow. It’s not a problem in a situation like this one, when you would have realized your mistake sooner or later, but during a battle, there’s rarely any time to correct your mistakes,” he said in what even he felt was a bit too hard of a way. However, he didn’t apologize. If he wanted Kasim to continue to grow and become an invaluable asset for his son, then the man needed to be reminded of his own deficiencies.
The main problem with Kasim was that despite his strength and his brains, the man simply hated battles and intrigues. As a result, even though he had become a Lieutenants thanks to the sheer degree of his talent, his personality caused him to not involve himself in too many important matters and as a result, it obstructed his further growth. Personally, Mustafa had been doubtful when Kasim refused to become a candidate for the next Captain Commander, giving exactly this problem as an excuse, but as the years went by, he realized that one’s fundamental personality could also become a very big obstacle on the road of the martial arts and politics.
“I understand, Grand Yimar,” Kasim replied in a formal manner and lowered his head. Had it been in the past, he would have merely smiled at Mustafa with the attitude that it couldn’t be helped. He had tried to lead his people into battles, but not only were there few opportunities to do that in the last two centuries, he couldn’t bring himself to be all that good at it or to like doing it. The same thing could be said about the endeavors that required managing business or getting involved in the national or international politics. If he could, he would rather spend all his time leisurely, chatting with his friends, smoking in shisha bars, reading books or even painting or sculpting.
Yet, he could no longer bring himself to think like that. He used to feel no sense of urgency as Mustafa wasn’t even halfway through his lifespan given his level of martial talent. He had also told himself that in talent-overflowing Makarash, there would surely be people who could do those annoying jobs better than he ever could. As long as he obeyed the orders of others and as a result, could focus on his own life in the way he liked, he would be satisfied. However, he couldn’t think in this way any longer. After what happened to Mustafa, this vague feeling rose up within his heart and now, after Jasmine was killed and after Mustafa reprimanded him, it flooded out in full strength.
“I’ll rely on that, my friend,” Mustafa said with a smile. As long as Kasim could successfully overcome the restraints of his personality, at least to a degree, he would surely become a major force on their side. On that part, it would be great if Kasim could do just that during the following battle. “Returning to the main question. Do we aim to annihilate our enemies, or do we try to hold them in place and hope that the third party doesn’t get involved?” he asked again. He had already made his decision, but if one of those four was able to propose sensible arguments against it, then he was open to changing his mind. In the end, he was but one man and but a human. He was bound to make mistakes, while refusing to listen to his trusted subordinates would only increase the chances of that happening.
“I think we should kill them all,” the silver-haired woman said decisively, the powerful killing intent from a moment ago still lingering in her body.
“Any reasons for that, Alysia?” Mustafa inquired, though he could already guess the answer. Expecting any logic from this beast-like woman was akin to expecting to squeeze some water out of the desert sand if only you squeezed hard enough.
“No,” Alysia answered straightforwardly. “I just feel like it’s the best choice,” she added, though despite the lack of reason in her words, no one, including Mustafa, got angry or tried to reprimand her. As one of the few successful instinctual-type commanders in the world, Alysia’s ability was undeniable. After all, in Makarash, there was no way one could become a Lieutenant purely through martial might and without a sufficient ability to command his troops.
“I thought so,” Mustafa said helplessly. “Bahir, Hamid, what do you think? he inquired, turning his gaze towards the two young-looking and medium-aged-looking Ikarian men.
“No point getting all scared,” the young-looking man, Bahir, responded with an almost inaudible chuckle. “Both times, that third party was focusing around young master Arslan, no? Their ultimate goal is likely to aid Arakar and Yimar Maar and have young master fall into their hands. If we act timidly, we will only be giving them an opportunity to act. Instead, if we attempt to crush our enemies, the price of buying their help should also rise, assuming they were indeed hired. The other possibility is just that someone with a grudge is getting in our way…”
“But, if it truly was so, then whoever that person or those people were, wouldn’t they have simply aided Yimar Furi in capturing young master last week? Then, we would have basically lost. However, all they did was kill our escorts and they made sure not to leave any traces. Given that they weren’t directly involved in capturing Jasmine and those two friends of young master’s this time around, I think that the possibility of them being paid to intervene is much higher compared to the other one.”
“I’m of the same mind,” the relatively older-looking man, Hamid, supported calmly. “Whether we decide to act with reservation or if we put everything on the line, we will run the risk of getting stabbed by that third party. However, we will have far more options if we go on the offensive than if we stay on the defensive. Worst case scenario, we can simply exchange our lives for young master’s and break through the enemy lines to arrive at his side. If we took the defensive option, even that much could very well prove to be impossible,” he explained himself, knowing full well that Mustafa would want to know the reasoning behind his decision and not just the final answer by itself.
“Mhm,” Mustafa nodded with a pleased look on his face. As much as he could rely on Alysia’s instincts to an extent, he really preferred to talk with people who, just like him, used logic to solve their problems. “Three votes for going all-out. Kasim, what is your final decision?” he inquired, wishing to know what all four of his precious Lieutenants thought. He did hold the final say, as always, but he wasn’t a person who would ignore the opinions of his subordinates for no good reason. At the very least, he would always try to argue with them to see if they couldn’t come to an agreement; thanks to that, there was yet to be a wrong decision that their full council of twelve had unanimously made.
“It will be hard,” Kasim said honestly. “Without you, Lord Mustafa, we will be extremely hard-pressed to win against our current enemies with the lineup we have at hand. Arakar alone, if he takes to battle, will be able to eliminate a Lieutenant-level combatant and the elites surrounding him with ease. Considering his speed, we have little chance to actually capture or kill him unless he makes a stupid mistake and either goes too deep into our lines or exhaust himself too early,” he elaborated, his expression showing just how troubled he was over this entire predicament.
“Yes,” Mustafa nodded with a smile, causing the four Lieutenants to look at him with some confusion. Was there something to smile about in the situation described by Kasim? “That’s why I’m going to step into the battlefield too,” he added, though he raised his hand to quiet down the protests the four shocked Lieutenants were about to voice. “I’m not planning to actually fight, that I’ll leave to you and the others. However, just my presence alone should be enough to tie-up Arakar’s hands. I might have fallen to the fifth Realm of Heroes, but If it’s just for one short fight, I can display my original strength,” he explained with a laugh, then added a few more words.
“To be honest, if the chances were higher, I would have considered trading my life for Arakar’s anyway. However, since he’s going to be cautious, I have only around thirty percent chance of killing or crippling him even if we do try and lure him into attacking me. He’s simply too slippery, so it’s hard to get a good hit in, especially with that annoying domain of his… so it’s not worth taking the gamble considering the consequences of me dying for free.”
“… I see,” the young-looking Bahir said quietly. “Instead of us attacking, we will be able to use you, Grand Yimar, to pull their attacks in and quickly shake-off their strength. As long as you move to the front, they will undoubtedly attempt to make you use you Qi by whatever means. After all, the moment you are gone, their three strongest experts will be able to roam freely,” he mused aloud, wondering if there weren’t any greatly effective way in which they could exploit this tendency of their enemies.
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“It will be hard,” Hamid joined in. “There are many tactics they can potentially use and even more tactics we can respond with. Even if we are to forget the problem that if we slip just once, it will be all over, just planning is going to take a lot of time. I trust all of us thought about the battle that is coming, but this new perspective changes many things,” he said in a fairly grim tone. From the looks of it, however, he was already starting to form some of the potential scenarios in his head.
“There’s one more question too,” Kasim brought up. “How much of their forces will they divert to young master Arslan? Our Lord’s presence should stop Arakar in his tracks, but it’s going to get dangerous if they gamble by sending a large portion of their elites to capture young master,” he pointed out, worrying that they were starting to focus on one specific point too heavily just like he himself had done a few moments ago and had gotten reprimanded for it by Mustafa.
“We don’t need to worry about that,” Mustafa said with a slight smile. “The one the Ruishi Federation sent to protect Arslan is their General Julien. According to Elder Samuel’s information, that man should be just a level weaker than you are in terms of combat prowess, Kasim. There’s also Reian who apparently made some significant improvements a few days ago, so fleeing with Arslan should be possible for them unless they get surprise-attacked by a truly overwhelming force. As for that happening, I wager it’s extremely unlikely,” he explained patiently. He was happy to see Kasim try and diligently consider every possibility, but getting hung up on the unlikely scenarios would incapacitate any commander from making any kind of a decision.
Of course, it was important to keep such scenarios in mind and if possible, refuse the possibility of them happening even further. However, planning with them as a center of own plans would simply lead to losing all the battles where everything developed in a simple and straightforward orthodox way.
“Understood,” Kasim said and bowed his head respectfully. Only now that he wholeheartedly attempted to join the same level his Lord had been moving around for his entire life did he understand how far away their thinking ability was. Although he was quite sure that given enough time, as long as he was calm, he would be able to think of the same things Mustafa spoke about, he was currently incapable of realizing them in a matter of seconds.
“So,” Mustafa followed up. “What’s your opinion on what we should do?” he asked while looking Kasim in the eye.
Although he wanted to answer immediately, Kasim held himself back from doing so and went through what the five of them had been talking about. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t find anything that would change his mind. “I also think we should fight with all we have,” he said decisively, fully aware of the consequences this choice would bring to him and the rest of his companions. Tomorrow in the morning, much blood would be spilled, both of their allies and of their enemies.
“Good,” Mustafa said and allowed himself to reveal a content smile. “We might only have five and not twelve people, but we did reach a unanimous decision. Now, I’m going to assign you your roles and the number of men you are going to command,” he stated and without wasting time, continued with his instructions.
“Alysia, you and your vice-captain will command one hundred of your own men each. Your job is, as usual, to roam the battlefield and kill our enemies.”
“Bahir, Hamid. The two of you will command two hundred men each. Bahir, you are responsible for the left wing, Hamid, you for the right wing.”
“Kasim, you will command two hundred men and you will be responsible for the center. In other words, you will be protecting me and you will serve as the overall commander for the entire battle.”
As his last words fell, Mustafa smiled slightly. At first, Kasim looked startled, then hesitant, and finally resolved. Truly, there weren’t many top-tier experts who showed their emotions on their faces as easily as this average-looking guy. “Do prepare the strategies and plans amongst each other. I want you to come and present me your ideas two hours before the sunrise,” he said straightforwardly and as a result, saw how Kasim relaxed significantly. Well, he did want to try and polish the man up a little, but he wouldn’t risk losing the entire battle only for that. Perhaps if Kasim had been more experienced, then he would have considered it… but not as the things were at this time.
“Do remember though,” he added in a serious tone. “When the battle starts, if anything unexpected happens, you will be the one who needs to react to it first and foremost. I’ll likely be too far away to immediately ascertain the situation and just those few dozen seconds of delay can be grievous in consequences,” he reminded without sweetening his words up. Although he could potentially direct the nearly White Guards whenever possible, it was still better if his Lieutenants, and Kasim in particular, didn’t rely on having him pull them out of the mud every time something happened.
“I understand,” Kasim said and bowed his head. “I won’t fail you, Grand Yimar,” he assured strongly. Mustafa had always been good to him and it was thanks to Mustafa that he had been able to lead a peaceful, worry-free life for so long. Now, it was the time for him to repay this kindness with all he had. He definitely wouldn’t forgive himself if he slacked even a little bit; this one battle, they needed to win no matter what!
“Mm, go then, the four of you,” Mustafa said contentedly. He returned the polite node of his for Lieutenants and watched them leave the room, then looked at the grey-robed man who had been standing nearby, without saying a word, for the past while. “You look like you want to ask me something. Go ahead,” he said with an amiable smile. He had been planning to dismiss the man since it didn’t look like he would have any new orders for him, but he had gotten curious as to what this subordinate of his had on his mind.
“I just wondered…” the grey-robed man brought up somewhat hesitatingly. It wasn’t that he was worried about Mustafa getting angry with him, but rather, he was worried that he was going to make a fool out of himself by asking a stupid question. “Why are we giving up on trying to get the Holy Union’s help? We could still get the proposition of the alliance through,” he said in the end, unable to come up with any sensible explanation for Mustafa’s and Elder Samuel’s lack of initiative.
Hearing what the man was concerned about, Mustafa smile in understanding and explained, “Time, danger, and opportunity cost. We can assume that the borders of the Ruishi Federation are being watched, so it would be hard for them to send another messenger. As for our side, even though it would be possible to send one of you who are skilled in moving stealthily, it would already be too late when you came back with their reply. We can’t plan our actions around the uncertain reinforcements, so it’s better to focus our manpower on what we can reliably expect.”
However, just as he finished speaking about this part, he couldn’t help but sigh resignedly. “It would have been different if that Prophet didn’t act up with their refugees…” he mused aloud, then suppressed a bitter sigh. “I can only trust their judgment that the man isn’t cooperating with our enemies. Still, even if he is, there isn’t all that much that they can do by above what had already been done. Unless Arakar acts against my expectations and is chooses to lay down his life and the lives of all of his elites in order to kill us off, we hold good chances of obtaining a victory,” he explained briefly. Yet, his words weren’t meant only for the grey-robed man, but also himself.
No matter how one looked at it, he hadn’t been in such a disadvantageous situation for the past four hundred years, maybe even longer. He wasn’t showing it since it would do no good if their leader was acting anxious, but in his heart, he was greatly worried about many things. What if one of his decisions was a wrong one? What if that third party involved itself more heavily and screwed everything up? What if Arslan got captured by Yimar Maar? What if too many of his trusted subordinates got killed in this battle? How would Arslan do in the future once he was gone?
There were far too many things he could worry about. Alas, as his martial strength was now a thing of the past, the things he could do were very limited.
“If you’ve got no other questions, you are dismissed,” he said after a moment, having noticed that the grey-robed man was looking at him awkwardly.
“Thank you for answering my question, Grand Yimar,” the grey-robed man said, bowed and left right afterwards. He didn’t feel that he had made a fool out of himself, but he was glad to be able to leave. He was but one of the many White Guards; something like consoling his Lord or trying to lift his spirits was a task far above his ability.
“Time to work,” Mustafa told himself once the last person left his chambers. He stood up and walked up to the table. He picked up a pencil and pulled a few pieces of paper to the front, only to let out yet another sigh. “Normally, I would have just used my Qi to get those things out. Now, however, I need to try to use it as rarely as possible. Who would have thought that there were so many convenient things I could do every day and I didn’t even notice them?” he wondered briefly but didn’t ponder those unpleasant things for long. He refocused and started planning the battle out; after all, if he only met the ideas of his subordinates with a blank card on his side, then he wouldn’t be able to judge them all and offer corrections or other ideas within mere three hours.
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The dawn of the third day soon came. To the north-west, the eight million people were beginning to pour out of the Ruishi Federation at a surprisingly quick pace. In just six or seven more hours, all of them would be out of the borders of the Ruishi Federation, mainly thanks to the wide northern roads they had spread throughout and thanks to the large number of carriages and horses they had bought and received in the past weeks and months.
Just as it was planned, the Prophet was leading the very majority of his people to the north-west, towards the capital of the Guode Yimarate. Meanwhile, a little under million children, adolescents and their guardians were heading straight north, towards the Holy Union. Amongst those people, somewhere in the westernmost part of their procession, Arslan and his numerous guards were mixed in. Julien and his men were obviously there, so were the three White Guards, Reian, Sirius, and Kasha. However, there were also a few people with a little less presence there, too.
At Arslan’s side walked Johan, while behind them were Sarah and Albert. Additionally, Rakar who had promised to protect Sarah and Johan in order to repay the Blood Debt to their mother was also there, along with the siblings’ father, Jacob. Lastly, the seven guards of Laien and Yin’s were in the same group, though a little further away and split up into three groups. Reian, Liza, and Jin were walking together, the same was true for Dinne, Rishe, and Ethane, while Gahar was keeping to himself, ready to take off and disappear in the shadows at any moment.
Roughly four hours after sunrise, as the eight million people were making their way into the Guode Yimarate, the sings of large-scale movements appeared between Mustafa’s and Yimar Maar’s camps. The sight hundred White Guards who made the direct combat groups set out into the field, splitting up into four groups, two of which headed a few dozen kilometers further to the west, towards the coastline, while the remaining two occupied what would become the center and the right flank.
At the same time, the over one-hundred-thousand strong army of Yimar Maar’s alliance started spreading throughout the plains and the forests, readying themselves for the clash. Thirty-five thousand out of the original fifty thousand conscripted regular Realm of Heroes experts made for the bulk of the army, while the eighty thousands of the present run-of-the-mill soldiers were nothing more and nothing less than meat shields for them and for the elites the three main experts of their side had brought with themselves.
Arakar’s own golden-silver-robed forces which had originally numbered three thousand were now reduced to two thousand five hundred.
The five thousand black-cloaked experts which had previously appeared were nowhere to be seen. Instead, one thousand ruby-golden-robed experts surrounded Yimar Maar, while two more thousands of identically clothed men stood in the back, centered around Abdain.
As the two armies, one significantly larger than the other, were organizing, the entire center of Yimar Maar’s army suddenly cried out in shock.