Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin (Alderamin on the Sky)

Your Highness!

What's the meaning of this, Lieutenant General Safida?

You're the high commander of the Northern Garrison.

Why were you the first to flee?

Many soldiers are still in the process of retreating!

The commanding officer's safety is the highest priority.

I see. You're right.

We'll need you to be present at the military tribunal when this is over.

You mustn't die, Solork.

There's something I have to tell you.

Ghost Hunter

Ideally,

we would've been able to defend the barricades without having to retreat.

Even if the enemy attacked again after they pulled back,

we could have bought half or even a full day.

Is that loss of a day going to prove fatal?

Not particularly.

However,

from now on, it depends on the enemy.

What will the Holy Aldera Army do, now that they've actually fought us?

Let's wait and see.

Ryttsah!

Such lovely weather!

Jean, a message from our allies in the mountains.

Syoo!

That's your brother, all right.

He's selected exactly the information I want.

And this is the most interesting bit:

A member of the Igsem family, famed for its swordplay, is in that army.

Yes.

Even my brother referred to her skills as "extraordinary."

She probably is truly extraordinary, then.

It may be thanks to her that we're stuck here.

I'm sorry.

It's my fault they died.

No need to apologize.

Ikta apologized to me first.

I would have you test my faith as well.

You may cut off both my arms.

But please let me keep them for the duration of this battle,

so that I may wield a sword!

S...

Stop it...

Stop it, please!

That's not right!

If you do that, then...

Then...

how am I supposed to forgive myself?

I didn't want to kill anyone!

I didn't want to kill people from my own country!

I had no idea that simply becoming a soldier

meant you had to fight so many battles without any just cause...

That's the responsibility of the person who gave the orders,

Sergeant Major Mitcalif.

All the people you think you killed

were actually killed by me.

You did your job splendidly.

There's no reason you should be blamed for anything.

But doesn't that mean you'll be punished by God?

Don't worry.

I have a commanding officer, too.

Once we're all dead, he can actually do some work for once.

So, change of subject...

Have you two seen First Lieutenant Ikta?

He should just sleep in his own tent.

He insisted on sleeping on straw today.

Something they gave their lives to protect...

You don't see it as a platitude or formality either, do you?

Ikta, you boor.

If you were going to sleep somewhere, you could have slept in my bed.

Wh-What did you say—

Captain Sazaluf,

the enemy's on the move!

They're here, huh?

Another unit of enemies has split off for the bypass on the right.

Approximately 500 mounted units.

But half of the horses have two riders:

a cavalryman and an infantryman behind him.

Clever.

Yeah.

It's a lot faster than just having the infantry walk.

Let's send a force to intercept.

It's obvious they're trying to make us split our forces,

but we can only play along.

So, the question is who we send.

Torway and I will handle it.

It can be Torway and myself as well.

I'll go.

Well, my reason is pretty sad, but hear me out.

To be honest, this battle's been beyond my ability to handle for a while now.

If I'm left in charge here,

I'm not sure I can make the right calls.

And actually, First Lieutenant Ikta and First Lieutenant Yatorishino,

I think it's a bad idea for you two to leave this place.

If occupying a fort and fighting a textbook war of attrition is all that's needed,

even I can handle that.

Makes me a failure as a commanding officer, but I'm the best man for this.

Please let me go.

All right.

I'll leave you to handle the enemies on the bypass route,

but please take Torway and his men.

You sure?

They're our air rifle unit.

That's exactly why.

You can do it, right, Torway?

Yeah.

It's going to be tough for a while,

but if you follow Ikkun and Yatori-san, it'll be fine.

Yeah.

Hang in there.

Take care of the western fort, okay?

Yeah.

He's really changed.

He's standing up straighter. It's like he's grown up.

Yes.

He's a lot different than me.

Yes?

Matthew-san.

Anything that's taboo in the Aldera religion

would be taboo for the Aldera Army, right?

Of course—

Hey!

It's a beautiful day for a trip through the sky, right, Miara?

If you've got time to talk,

finish this up already!

Syah!

A force of over a hundred is heading for the west.

I've written that down!

Now let's get back to the surface.

As fast as we can!

Right now!

We can stay up here a for a bit, right?

The general finally gave me the okay.

As far as anyone else will be told, I'm doing this on my own, though.

L-Look, sir!

That accursed thing!

Oh, what is that?!

Damn that Kioka kid!

I'll arrest him immediately!

These little acts aren't for me.

You don't seem terribly happy about this, either.

It's the Kiokans who feel it's acceptable to break the commandments

to ensure victory.

But it's also true that you can't win a fight

if you're only trying to look good for God.

I didn't expect them to send a blimp.

Perhaps the Alderan commander is more flexible than we thought.

Attention!

That's just a recon vessel.

Don't spend all your time staring up into the sky at it.

We need to look at reality, and at the future.

Listen, we need to buy a minimum of seven days

to support the retreat.

As you can see,

the fire we set in the forest is starting to burn out.

The enemy will come through the burnt-out parts to attack.

Which means it's clear what we have to do, right?

First, restore the wall of flame.

Second, repel the enemies as they attack.

That's right.

From now on, we'll need to maintain an adaptive, mobile defense.

I'll be sending a number of you to the appropriate places

depending on where the fire's burnt out and what the enemy does.

We just keep that up for seven days.

To pull this off, we just need one thing:

a scientific stance from you.

For the next seven days, you must be lazy in the right way.

You must work when it's time to work,

and rest when it's time to rest.

And seven days later, when our mission is complete,

we'll be heading south for our own retreat.

I don't doubt that future at all.

As of this moment,

I am initiating the mobile defense operation!

Bypass Route - Western Fortress

Wow, that's quite the barrier.

Which means... I guess we go to sleep.

No, wait, you big dummy!

It doesn't look like we could knock that out at night or by surprise.

We've got the plan Jean gave us, too.

You giant Udo tree!

How many times do I have to tell you not to pick people up for no reason?