The lancers' assault started with a quick dash.
Konrad's garrison had to face their momentum, and the pressure seemed enormous.
His men held firm, their turtle formation impervious to the enemy pikes and arrows for now.
But all he could do was watch from the sidelines, listening to clashing weapons and cries.
How long would they last? He couldn't risk any guesses.
"Archers loose," he gritted out. "Aim at the flanks."
Bor rushed to forward his orders.
The horsemen posed no real threat to his spears, but to his archers once they broke cover?
Still, he had to ease that pressure somehow. Risky or not, it was like a chessboard. He only had to make the right move at the right time; except this board smelled of sweat and blood.
His choices either killed the enemy or had his own men mauled instead.
All the while, he could've wiped out everyone with a massive fireball. But then what?
He didn't know what countermeasures the nomads had, or if they brought their own sorcerers.
Even if they only had the one, he had no idea where the Green Mage was during all this.
Saving up his strength was the only sensible choice. He had an entire army at his command to do the job after all. But leading them wasn't as simple as he first thought.
Unlike in the strategy games he tried in his past life, he couldn't see anything.
He had no control over his soldiers' eyes and thoughts. Maple could've pulled it off, and he envied her a lot. But he got no immediate feedback on how the fighting went.
If someone ambushed his forces? No warning sounds.
No indicators on how tired his men were, or if their morale wavered.
Being so close to the battlefield, he couldn't even tell what happened on the other side.
But from a good vantage point above, he'd waste too much time on messengers.
There was a long delay down the chain of command before his men got his orders.
If they ever got them.
What if an enemy archer picked off his runners? Or worse, a commander.
And even if his words reached his forces, and they were still relevant—
What if his men ignored them? If they overruled him or outright rebelled?
Games oversimplified everything. Not like he was an expert, but he tried a few in his free time.
And compared to reality, even the most complex grand strategies seemed easy.
Especially since he couldn't reload his life if he made a mistake now.
So even with all the adrenaline flooding his body, he still felt stumped by this new situation.
This wasn't a tournament, but a pitched battle with death always looming around the corner.
His men fought for their lives and for everyone in Kasserlane.
"How long 'til reinforcements?!" he yelled as the nomads pushed the garrison back.
Not that anyone around him even knew he called for those reinforcements yet.
'Calm down, they're on their way,' Gabrielle's mental voice whispered. 'Twenty minutes at most.'
Twenty whole minutes?! How long had this battle even been going on?
It felt like it only started a few seconds ago. But also that it has been an eternity.
'You're doing fine,' Lily chirped. 'No need for a meow-ntal breakdown.'
Easy for her to say. He couldn't even tell if his archers followed his orders or not. They might have all died by now. But, if anything, no arrows fell on his turtle formation anymore.
'They're dueling the horse archers,' Maple claimed. 'The first volley hit the lancers hard.'
Whether it did or not, Konrad saw no signs of it. He would've given everything to see through the dragon's eyes. Or if he could use telepathy with all his commanders.
That would've made things as easy as the players had it in those strategy games.
'And this is why I had you practice magic while we had the time,' the archangel noted.
Which, given her abuse of time bubbles, wasn't exactly accurate. Besides—
'There were no spells of the sort in Zoltan's books,' Konrad complained.
The more he thought about it, the less he felt like the right choice to lead these men.
He had no experience in leading more than a few subordinates, especially not into battle.
And doing all that while blind?
'Why didn't you set up your broadcast illusion thingies?' Maple asked, her thoughts louder than the others. It felt like she flew overhead, though she should've been elsewhere.
'It takes too much mana,' Konrad groaned. 'And I had no time to prepare.'
He woke with a splitting headache after his double wedding when the enemy was already here.
Then he spent the time playing mind games on them until he finally got his first victory.
And now, as he tried to figure out why she was close instead of spying on their leader, the same enemy pushed his men back. He had to do something about it and fast.
"I'll join the fray," Konrad decided, only for Bor to yank him back right away.
"The hell you are," he grunted. "You've no spear or a shield. You'd only weaken the formation."
Fair point. But doing nothing was too excruciating.
'Your cute little turtle is still unbroken, bossman,' Maple reported. He had no more doubts. She was somewhere above. 'The nomads lost like two dozen men, and you only lost three.'
'So there were losses?!'
Releasing a fireball to prevent any further ones felt more and more tempting.
'Patience, boss,' the dragoness warned. 'The horsemen are pulling back. Someone else is coming, but I can't read their commander's mind if I'm flying over the battlefield—'
'Why aren't you watching through the eyes of your wyverns?!' Konrad demanded.
He was right after all.
And here they were scolding him for wanting to do everything by himself.
'Well, duh. They're not as durable as I am,' she snapped back.
Again, fair. He had no idea how long those beasts could stay airborne.
Maple sorted out her own logistics and did an invaluable job as his eyes and ears.
But he felt like that was his failure as an expert in those logistics.
'They need to hunt for their food on top of patrolling all night,' the dragoness explained. 'They were asleep when the nomads arrived, but they're already on their way here.'
So even with people he had a telepathic connection with, Konrad still miscommunicated.
'Please warn me next time if they'll be out of action,' he thought, rubbing his temples. 'Your reports are my most valuable assets on the battlefield. I must know if they're available or not.'
'Fine,' Maple moaned, sounding annoyed. 'I'll have them take shifts from now on.'
It wasn't even her fault; the wyverns covered an enormous area during the first day. While others claimed Konrad tried to do everything alone, he felt like he relied too much on his allies.
'Bullshit,' the demoness said. 'You suck at communicating, that's all. Rely on me all you want.'
And for someone moaning about healing people at the tournament, that was quite an offer.
'Rude. I'll heal anyone you keep alive,' she claimed. 'But no resurrections. That's Stella's job.'
Right. He had excellent assets as long as he didn't make grave mistakes.
So he only had to focus.
Not on self-doubts, or all the issues behind the frontline.
He had a battle to win right in front of him.