Chris could already see the shadow of the wildfire on the horizon, so the closer Minisian camp could hardly have missed it. After dawn, the pungent smell of smoke had spread throughout the camp and beyond.
General Dude stood beside the clover-covered slope to the west, gazing into the distance with a livid face. Beside him stood Captain Lacey, exhausted and dressed in ragged clothes.
"The Republic's men started this fire?"
At first, Dude had thought the flames spreading from west to east against the wind were part of Prince Chris's Army's ruthless plan to force the Minisian army out of its camp.
He had never imagined that the fire had been set by those useless allies from the Bagnia Republic... General Dude had only learned the truth when Captain Lacey returned over the ridge before dawn.
Otherwise, he could have racked his brains forever and never guessed that his allies were responsible.
"Why did they start this fire?"
At the general's question, a smile paler than the firelight appeared on Captain Lacey's exhausted face. He drew half a charred sheet of parchment from inside his clothes, its edges still oozing black oil.
"This is the Republic's 'support plan'... They said Chris's army was blocking their advance, so they couldn't reach us. Instead, they went around the enemy's blockade to carry out a plan to use fire as their army."
Use fire as their army!?
Captain Lacey's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. The charred parchment rustled in the morning breeze.
"They used pitch-soaked torches to set the entire western plain alight-all the farmland, woods, and grassland. The Republic general in charge told me they planned to use the flames to drive back and burn Chris's army.
"Once they'd burned a bloody path through, the Republic's reinforcements would advance from