Chapter 26：Art

Erika rode alongside Maxwell as the Violet Army marched to meet the Paniards. His long purple cape flowed with the wind, giving him a 'domineering' aura, as if he was some grand villain.

Of course this was nothing more than Erika's personal imaginational perception. [Relax, it's not like Maxwell is some villainous protagonist of some fictional story...] Although thoughts like these sometimes ran through Erika's mind as she spent time with Maxwell, she found that ignoring these thoughts was surprisingly easy.

After around five minutes of marching, Maxwell finally gave his next order.

"Here will do, tell everyone to hold their positions."

As the sounds of horns rang out and the sound of boots hitting the ground came to a halt, the plains was once again filled with silence as the soldiers quietly stood in their formations. The only sound that could be heard was the encroaching sound of the Paniards coming closer.

This gave Erika the chance to once again survey the army's formatoin.

Spread out in front of her, were the 4th and 5th Battalions who were standing in reserve while further out in front were the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions. All five Battalions where in line formation, stretched out in long triple file lines across the plains.

This army arrangement was predetermined during the war council a week after the Violet Army set up the encampment. The first day was spent conceiving the basic idea for the battle arrangement while the following days were spent perfecting the battle plan and theory crafting possible Panish responses.

The council predicted two responses from the Paniards as a result of this arrangement.

They will either stretch out to match the Violet Army in length to avoid encirclement or they will send in their cavalry in an attempt to break the relatively thin formations. However, everyone agreed that the former was most likely.

This was because the enemy general they were facing was Sebastian Rieese Nemeny, a proud Panish lord who supposedly was the marshal until his replacement arrived along with the Panish reinforcements.

If Sicilia's information is correct then Sebastian is arrogant, prideful, conservative and mostly importantly, indecisive. This means that he would more likely than not keep his cavalry force in reserve during the early stages of the battle, believing that the sheer weight of his army should be enough.

Excluding the cavalrymen, it was 5000 Drussians against 7500 Paniards. This makes it seem like the Drussians would be utterly destroyed if the two forces were to come into a clash.

That was probably what the Paniards thought.

And it was wrong.

As the Paniards drew closer, the war council's prediction was soon proven to be correct.

Using their superior numbers the Paniards stretched out their tercios in order to match the Drussians in length. Although, the Paniards were only superior in their total number, they were not in anyway superior in any other aspect.

Erika felt a warm smile grow on her face as the Paniards came closer.

It was that sense of expectation and anticipation. She was about to witness firsthand the new 'art' of warfare and she was looking forward to it.

Erika didn't know why she felt this way, all she knew was that it felt good.

Soon Maxwell gave his next order.

"Give the colonels the order fire at their own will."

Another round horns rang out which gave the colonels the signal to fire at their own will... and the signal to everyone else that the battle was about to begin.

This only filled Erika's heart with even more anticipation.

"So you are a human."

Erika's thoughts were soon interrupted by a voice. When she turned to the source of the voice, she saw Maxwell atop his steed with a faint smile on his face. With the words 'surprised' and 'confused' written all over her face, Erika asked Maxwell a question.

"What do you mean?"

Maxwell chuckled before responding in his casual laid-back tone.

"Well, it's the first time I ever saw you with an actual genuine smile on your face."

Erika froze the moment Maxwell finished speaking. [Damn it! I've been careless!] As Erika scrambled to once again regain her noble composed expression, she was once again subjected to Maxwell's casual voice.

With a shrug which was barely visible under his cape he spoke.

"I'm not saying that it's a bad thing. It's nice to know that my 1st lieutenant isn't a hollow doll that merely follows my orders."

With a breath of relief, Erika replied gratefully.

"I see, you have my thanks."

"Oh don't thank me yet."

Erika witnessed a sly smile grow on Maxwell's face as he turned his attention back on the battlefield.

"Thank me later."

When Erika herself faced the battlefield, she saw that the Paniards have just entered the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions' firing range.

That could only mean one thing.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The sounds of musket fire blended together across the entire Drussian lines as the frontmost infantrymen fired their muskets in volleys under the orders of their colonel.

Silence wasn't even given a chance to settle in before the front row of soldiers knelt down in unison, giving the soldiers in the second file their chance to fire.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The second barrage of bullets unleashed itself onto the unexpecting Paniards as the soldiers of the second file fired their muskets in unison similarly to those of the front row before kneeling down themselves as well.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what the men of the third and last file were going to do.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

A few short moments after the volley from the third row ended, the men of the first row rose up with their muskets already loaded.

Soon the cycle repeated itself and red 'flowers' exploded forth from the conquistadors leading the march before their bodies collapsed only to be trampled on by their own marching comrades.

Before long, the Panish commanders finally responded to the barrage of bullets as a faint horns rang out in the distance before the pikemen lowered their pikes and soon the firearm wielding Paniards tried their best to fight back.

And Erika enjoyed the entire spectacle with glee.

"It's so beautiful..."

Erika could not help muttering to herself as the battle unfolded. As flowers of flame and flowers of blood erupted from both sides, Erika finally experienced that catharsis that her anticipation was building up from.

This was not a battle.

It was a work of art.

Every single aspect of this battle was art.

From the way a single soldier could seamlessly and efficiently reload and fire his musket in sync with the rest of his comrades to how the overall flow of the battle was developing.

All of it was art.

And it was the most beautiful thing that Erika has ever seen.

"It's all so beautiful..."

"I told you not to thank me yet."

Maxwell jokingly nudged her elbow as he said this. Even though Erika didn't want to miss a second of the battle, she still forced herself to face Maxwell.

"Thank you..."

With her eyes filled with joyful tears, Erika thanked the person responsible for introducing her to this work of art.

"Thank you for everything."

...

The battle unfolded pretty much as the war council has predicted it.

The Drussians firepower was far greater than what the Paniards expected. Even without the drilling that trained the soldiers to maximise their weapon efficiency, the Drussians would still be able to unleash greater firepower than the Paniards because they fielded more men with firearms.

In truth, every standard Drussian soldier within the Violet Army was armed with a 'Widowmaker Musket.' None of them were armed with a pike and even fewer were armed with a sword or sabre at their waist. The fact that the Drussians were drilled beforehand only sped up the process.

As a result the Paniards resorted to their cavalry as a last ditch effort to turn the tides of the battle. Theoretically speaking, without any pikes to protect themselves, it doesn't matter how much firepower the Drussians can output, once the cavalry crashed upon them, it should be a one-sided massacre.

And that was with emphasise on the word 'should.' This was because the Drussians had another trick up their sleeve

"Square formation! Square formation!"

The sounds of his colonels screaming orders at their regiments echoed in Zanack's ears as he watched the silhouette of the Panish cavalries through the thick smoke.

The 'square' formation was a formation akin to a hollow square where the infantrymen formed the outer walls while the more important figures took refuge in the hollow centre. Zanack himself took refuge in the infantry square of the 5th regiment.

If Zanack was within an infantry square armed with regular muskets he would have been concerned for his safety. But these men weren't armed with regular muskets. Although it may not seem that important, there was one thing that set their muskets apart from the enemies.

It was the reason why Drussians were not armed with pikes.

It was the knife attached to the socket of the barrel, or as its inventor; Maxwell liked to call them 'bayonets.'

Although the bayonet was the brainchild of Maxwell, he wasn't responsible for its development but rather for conceiving the idea itself instead. The actual design of the bayonet was developed by Keizwell's head artisans who worked day and night to perfect the weapon modification.

And now, they were going to put the bayonet to the test.

Similarly to how pikes were fixed onto the ground to ward off horses, the soldiers of the infantry square knelt down as they fixed the butt of their muskets onto the grass with the bayonet itself facing outwards.

Soon enough the galloping of horses reached the Violet Army's ears and before they knew it the elite Panish cavalry was upon them.

And the Paniards were swiftly dealt with.

When the Paniards charged in their wedge formation at the fixed bayonets of the Drussians, the natural survival instincts of their horses always kicked in and made their charge come to a screeching halt.

Whenever this happened, the Drussians were given a chance to counterattack with a musket volley.

This cycle would repeat itself until cavalry charge virtually dissolved.

Soon it was one again safe to return to line formation and although the Drussians couldn't see their targets through the still thick smoke, that didn't mean that they couldn't hit them.

After receiving the news that the Panish positions remained the same, the order to resume fire was given.

It didn't take long before the rest of the Paniards routed once they saw their proud cavalry in shambles.

If someone asked Zanack of what he thought of this battle, he would say that it was a crushing defeat for the Paniards.