Sergeant Paupard's shout mingled with the war drums and cannon fire. "At this distance, only howitzers can be used—their accuracy is worse than hitting a flying mosquito with a fork!
"Hold your positions and maintain formation!"
Gaizika felt someone yank his collar hard upward. Nacelli shouted in his ear, "What are you doing? The enemy is about to attack!"
Marini, standing on the other side, looked down at him with a mocking smile. "Heh, just as I thought—a coward from the countryside."
A jolt suddenly ran through Gaizika's numb mind.
Not because of the little noble's humiliation, but because the word "countryside" reminded him of the ramshackle house back home. Then his mother's figure flashed through his mind. He seemed to hear her calling him and his younger brother to eat.
No, I can't be afraid. At the very least, for their sake...
Bracing himself on his percussion cap gun, Gaizika forced himself to his feet. The noise around him still hammered at his nerves, but he no longer paid it any mind, desperately ordering his legs to stop trembling.
A thunderous boom came from behind and to the side. Nacelli excitedly slapped him on the shoulder. "Look, our cannon have started firing back!"
Sergeant Paupard merely curled his lip. He had never seen French artillery fire later than the enemy before. But the Sixth Army Corps' artillerymen had still been attending university three months ago. Getting them to this point was already not bad.
The French Army's cannon put Gaizika slightly at ease, and he began staring fixedly at the vast field of little red dots steadily drawing nearer in the distance.
After the cannon on both sides had exchanged more than twenty rounds, he could vaguely make out the faces of the British soldiers ahead, as well as