Chapter 119: First Day’s Conclusion
A depressing mood was hanging in the camp. Many wounded were crying out for help. Some soldiers were rushing back and forth with boiling water, trying to tend the wounded. As for the others, they were demoralized at the current situation.
Walking in between this heavy atmosphere, James felt as if his should was being pushed. There was a heavy burden that he was carrying with him. Some negative gazes were following him, as he was slowly making his way towards the command tent. Not being able to face anyone, James could only look at the ground.
Slowly entering the command tent, James felt ashamed of being seen as the central command figure o the army. Because of his own indecisiveness, they walked into an easy and obvious trap. And now, everyone was feeling depressed.
Looking inside of the tent, he saw that many of the leaders were gathered there. His three friends, who commanded the other fronts, Edward, and some other knights, were standing in front of the table, waiting for James.
Seeing the depressed look of James, Edward decided to take the lead ones more. "So, what is our overall loss during today's battle?" he asked the surrounding officers.
First one to respond was Francis. "We only lost 10 men on our front. Luckily we discovered the ambush attempt early and halted the attack on the walls. Therefore our losses are only archers." There was a reliable force behind his voice as he spoke it.
Christopher was the one that continued, followed by Warren. The losses on the other fronts were less severe as the central army. Christopher lost at a total of 15 men. And Warren los 18 men. This bought the total dead and wounded at 73 soldiers.
This was a heavy blow, just for the first day. They had almost lost one forth of their army with that small engagement. As the numbers were being calculated, the mood in the room was getting even more depressing.
"Do not let your morale drop." The one that spoke was Edward. He continued, "The first day of a battle is always the heaviest. So it is normal that there is a high amount o wounded and dead." Inspecting the situation he continued with carefully taken words, "But given our reports, the enemy should have no other ranged unit. Because of this, our path will become easier from here onwards."
With those words, the majority of the people in the room started to nod. They indeed agreed with the idea that the enemy currently had no archers. And this would become a positive moment for them, as they would have the upper hand.
As the people in the command tent were taking this into consideration, the mood within the tent started to increase. Many broken looks started to shed light again.
Seeing the improved morale within the tent, Edward continued with his story, "So let us plan our action for the next day." Pointing on the map in front of him, he started to order around.
As they had to have a better tactics this time, they had to change the things that they did. In the end they decided that not all sides would attack at the same time. Instead, two sides would assault the walls. The other sides would provide support with archers. The aim was to focus on the flanks of the defending side, so that the assault team got it easier to enter the compound. The ones that would attack would be Christopher and Warren, while the other two would become the supporting force.
After the situation and the way to approach was clear, the command tent slowly started to empty. Edward walked towards James, who was still standing in the tent, as if he was frozen.
"Kid listen, I understand that the having a commanding role is taxing. I was in a similar situation when I was leading the troops on top of the Hermes walls. However, don't let it get the better of you. In a way people always lose their lives." Edward tried to consolidate James as best as he could. He tried to talk about his experiments and that James should focus on learning from his mistakes and improve form it.
Slowly nodding, James took in most of the information. "But because of my shortcomings, so many men have lost their lives. If only I was a better commander." James said with a depressing voice.
"Don't worry kid. In time, you will get better in commanding. After that, it would be easier to avoid such problems.
Looking at the ground, James spoke up in a soft voice, "I see sir. I am sorry for being such a mess. I will try to impr…"
Before James could even finish his sentence a soldier rushed into the tent with high urgency. Having an exhausted look, the soldier panted heavily for a moment before his voice was heard, "S... Sir! The door… The door of the mansion has opened!"
This was an unexpanded development. The commanders looked at each other with confusion to what was happening.
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