The core of any battle against the Barbarians was the fortress wall.
Warriors who charged without knowing pain or fear. They casually used even shamanic magic that shortened human lifespans, and they were madmen who believed paradise awaited them after death in war.
Even the sight of them shouting hurrah in ecstasy as they charged was insane.
It was not for nothing that they were called 'Barbarians'.
Therefore, Edwin and the lords of small and medium-sized cities in the West focused on building fortress walls.
Once a full-scale wave began, they had to somehow hold out inside the fortress until the bastards grew tired and retreated on their own.
It went without saying that sacrifices were inevitable in the process.
Not everyone living outside the fortress could take shelter inside. The West was not a particularly wealthy region, and the fortress in the middle of the city was not large enough to accommodate everyone living in the territory.
Therefore, even as they watched their domains burn before their eyes, they had to hold out inside the fortress until support arrived from the Center.
That was Edwin's common sense.
Even fortress walls were in danger when faced with warriors who charged mindlessly without feeling pain, but fighting them head-on was an even crazier idea.
Therefore, he went to meet the commander of the Southern reinforcements in person.
"I am Edwin, lord of Eirene."
"Ah, so you're the lord. Pleased to meet you. I am Captain James, commanding the 17th Company."
Construction was in full swing around the place where the two were talking. Infantry soldiers were digging into the ground with shovels and various equipment. At first glance, it looked as though they were digging a moat around the fortress.
However, there was a slight difference between what they were digging and a fortress moat.
Unlike a moat, which was a massive artificial river filled with water, the soldiers were digging pits barely large enough for one person to fit inside.
"Are you perhaps trying to make a moat? If so, you'll need to dig it deeper and wider. The Barbarian bastards' physical abilities are extraordinary."
"Ah, it's fine. This is a Trench our soldiers dug to hide themselves."
"Trench?"
It was an unfamiliar concept to Edwin.
Trenches were a product of an era in which firearms had been fully introduced to the battlefield.
To defend the entire city of Eirene, they would have to fight outside the fortress. And when hastily establishing a position on the bare ground outside, nothing was better than a trench.
"If you do that, won't you be unable to retreat if enemies approach in an emergency?"
"It's fine. The enemies won't get close, and we won't need to retreat."
As soon as James finished speaking, soldiers brought out Machine Guns and began mounting them along the trench.
To Edwin, who had only ever seen matchlock guns or muskets at best, they were fascinating weapons in many ways.
"This is a weapon called a Machine Gun. It pushes the performance of existing guns to the limit."
Even then, Edwin could not shake off his doubts.
He had used guns himself, after all. He had often fired muskets, which were difficult to obtain, at the Barbarians.
However, muskets lacked stopping power. Their ability to pierce a human body from a long distance was impressive, but that was all.
After seeing the bastards charge forward with holes in their bodies, he had quickly given up on them.
"You don't need to worry. This weapon performs at a level incomparable to early firearms like muskets."
James quietly observed Baron Edwin's expression. Even after hearing that much, the Baron's expression remained ambiguous, as though he still couldn't quite believe it.
James understood.
After all, he had worn the same expression when he first encountered the weapon.
"...I understand. If necessary, I will also move our domain's defense force here."
The reason Edwin said that despite his lingering doubts was simple.
The West had now become something close to the South's second company.
The South was supporting the West's economy and bureaucratic system, both of which had thoroughly collapsed over the past 50 years. Since the West was practically borrowing its backbone from the South, His Grace Kyle's influence would naturally grow as well.
Baron Edwin would also find it burdensome to leave the Western Army to fight alone.
In preparation for such a situation, His Grace the Grand Duke had given the following instructions just before departure.
—Do not bring the Western Army, which does not particularly want to fight, to the front line.
The South needed to become a trustworthy friend and a reliable family to the West. Forcing family members into war did not fit that image.
So James answered with a reassuring smile.
"It's fine. I understand Baron Edwin's intentions, but the Barony of Eirene must now focus on strengthening its internal stability."
In a war where Machine Guns took center stage, Infantry soldiers armed with spears and swords had almost nothing to do.
James and his 17th Company focused on digging trenches and organizing the battlefield until evening.
"Clear everything within about 2 km! Those who can use Aura breathing, clear the rocks! Bring saws and cut down all the trees!"
Thus, the area between the Barony of Eirene and the Western Border was completely cleared by the 100 soldiers, becoming a perfectly flat plain.
A perfect Kill Zone with nowhere to hide and nowhere to take cover.
Next, three 76mm Field Guns were deployed as well.
They had been specially attached to the company so they could immediately blow away enemy Shamans whenever they were spotted.
However, to the soldiers of the Barony, this was simply incomprehensible behavior.
"The Southern Army prepares for battle strangely."
"Wouldn't that actually make it easier for the Barbarians to come in?"
"Well, everyone must have their reasons. They said they brought new weapons, too."
"Even so, aren't they underestimating the Barbarians too much? Those crazy bastards keep moving for several minutes even after you drive a spear into their heads."
The Barony's soldiers knew little about the Southern Army's new weapons.
They simply watched, thinking that since their lord had returned without saying anything, he must have some idea of what he was doing.
Half worry, half distrust.
That was how the first night after the Southern Army's arrival passed.
And then the next day came.
"Barbarians! It's a raid by the Barbarian bastards!!!"
Dawn was breaking.
Across the plain, a horde of Barbarians came into view, like a swarm of ants. They were stripped to the waist and armed with axes and swords.
Red Halos floated above their heads.
They were traces of Body Enhancement Magic.
"Crazy, there are that many...?"
The soldiers who had climbed onto the walls of the Barony of Eirene all swallowed nervously.
Even a rough estimate put their numbers at around 900 to 1,000.
It was a large-scale invasion unlike any they had seen before.
It seemed the Barbarians had been thoroughly enraged by the rejection of their 'proposal'.
"Those crazy Temelikan bastards have really made up their minds."
The Barony of Eirene was a small provincial city. Its territorial defense force barely exceeded 500 men.
Even counting the Southern Army that had arrived as reinforcements, their total force was only around 600.
That meant...
"Fuck, it means each person has to take down two."
They had to accept a two-to-one fight against Barbarian Warriors who feared neither death nor pain and didn't even die properly.
"I just wish those Southern Army bastards would take care of exactly 200, no more, no less."
The soldiers muttered as they gripped their respective weapons.
The battle began with a Whistling Arrow shot by the Barbarians.
Fweeeet-!
The arrow's shriek tore through the quiet dawn sky, and the battle began.
"Waaaaaah!!!!"
One thousand Barbarians charged all at once.
Straight toward the plain that the Southern Army soldiers had finished flattening just the day before.
Watching the scene, James, commander of the 17th Company, gave an order.
"Let's teach them a clear lesson about where they dared to set foot. All hands, fire!"
Half a beat later, twenty 7.62mm Machine Guns and five 20mm Autocannons began pouring crossfire into the advancing horde.
They fired at the Barbarians who had walked into the Kill Zone of their own accord.
***
"I'll show you what happens when you reject the proposal."
The chieftain of the Temelikan Tribe had personally led half of the tribe's combat personnel into battle.
They had to crush Eirene, which had rejected their proposal, so thoroughly that other regions would accept it out of fear.
Thus, three times the usual number of troops had gathered on the flatland.
Until then, none of the Temelikan warriors had doubted their victory.
After all, they were invincible on the flatland.
Fweeeet-!
The moment the Whistling Arrow signaling the start of the battle sounded, 1,000 Temelikan warriors charged all at once.
Every warrior charged toward the defensive line—
"All hands, fire!"
Drrrrrrrrr-!
Amid thunderous noise, beams of light poured out from all directions.
"...Huh?"
The bodies of the warriors in the front row were shattered.
When a bullet struck an arm, the forearm was torn off. When it hit the waist, the body was split apart. Anyone struck directly in the head collapsed in a horrifying state that defied description.
Blood splattered in all directions. Bodies swayed helplessly like marionettes with their strings cut. Others were riddled with holes, dying without even having time to scream.
In the face of such devastation, shamanic magic that suppressed pain was meaningless.
Close to 100 people were wiped out on the spot.
Of those, fewer than half of the corpses were even recognizable.
"W-what..."
It was a shocking sight, one that even shamanic magic could not conceal.
Not even the gods in the myths believed by the natives killed people so cruelly.
Belatedly, some reason returned to the warriors in the second row.
"We have to retreat—"
Thwack—!
Unfortunately, the warriors in the second row had no time to hesitate.
The Machine Guns' beams of light, having swept across the first row and spread to both sides, began sweeping back toward the center.