Wortenia Senki - Vol. 4 Ch. 18 - War Starts

[JCVocke]

Maybe one day talentless Isekai authors will remember that if you actually make your villains and antagonists.... Threatening.... by like actually making them... good at their jobs.... like if you actually make it so they can Defeat the Protagonist or at least demonstrate that they could, that this actually makes the Protagonist MORE IMPRESSIVE when they actually beat these Villains, not less. Maybe they'll remember that Protagonists who effortlessly accomplish everything they try to do aren't Impressive, they're BORING.

Maybe one day these shitty authors will remember how to actually Write Good Stories so they don't have to rely on the size and number of Tits to avoid being cancelled.

But probably not.

 

[Trov]

@BlackHoleEyes
@Wolvenworks
The opposing leading knows how this works. But as pointed out in this chapter, he's fucking desperate for a win and isn't thinking straight. He just switched sides and a lost on his first battle is NOT gonna look good with the fact that he's already a traitor.
He already had far more in numbers so even if he lost more troops than planned he believed he could win.

 

[Wolvenworks]

@Trov won't help your reputation much if you were known as a dickhead, you went traitor, and the first battle as a traitor had you fuck up so hard you got water attacked a la Three kingdoms

 

[Drifter]

Storming a keep, across a trench the enemy could flood at any moment. What could go wrong?

@JCVocke. So very true. Its a problem found in many manga but especially the isekai genre.

 

[Weasalopes]

Regardless as to why he has his soldiers bury the enemy dead, it will be remembered that he did so.

Once the civil war is over, this should have a positive impact on how the troops on the other side perceive them.

In regard to Kyle's not anticipating their breaking through and letting water flood the trench:
Remember, Earth Magic is despised as useless by the military in this world., since it isn't of use in attacking troops directly.
Kyle did not understand that it was by using Earth Magic that they built the fortress so rapidly, and thus isn't thinking of Earth Magic as an engineering tool with applications in warfare in regard to changing terrain. The impression I have is that this world hasn't developed explosives of mining quality, that combined with not thinking of Earth Magic for engineering meant that he had no concept of any method of removing the plug between the river and the dry moat in such a short period of time.

That said, yes, he did underestimate how many troops would be required to break through the defenses.
As has been said, he really didn't have much choice but to proceed, due to it's being his first major battle since switching sides; for the Duke to trust him, he needed to present tangible results.
Which reflects stupidity on both his and the Duke's part; what was required was to show that he was a good general, which includes knowing that you've been successfully out-maneuvered and that the time has come to cut your losses by getting out of there.

It's always interesting when you have individuals who are overly concerned with their public perception who in their private actions are acting so dishonorably.
As they themselves are dishonorable, they presume that no one else is trustworthy as well.
Thus, whenever there are multiple possible interpretations as to why someone did something, the least credible one is what they ascribe.

 

[kur0g4m1]

@JCVocke
This was the first large scale battle on the civil war, and the one that was leading the enemy force was a dumbass traitor that didn't give a shit about his losses, since his soldiers were "just worthless peasants" on his eyes, and he also underestimated the MC's side, thinking that Ryouma was just a brat who couldn't possibly know anything about war. Not to mention that the dumbass traitor was being pressured to get results after just switching to the nobles' faction, so not only he was not thinking straight, he also acted hastily.
You shouldn't have expected anything from the traitor dumbass to begin with, since he was not antagonist material from the start. He was just fodder, and he played his part as such. lol

 

[JCVocke]

@kur0g4m1; I'm not disappointed in the Dumbass Traitor. I'm Disappointed in The Author, for Putting a Dumbass Traitor here instead of a worthwhile opponent that we could get invested in.

Like I want to be clear, the Manga has spent quite a few chapters on this single Siege/Battle. This is being framed in the context of the Story as the first Real Test for MC, to prove that he can lead an Army and Win battles. But this isn't a Test because his Opponent is just arbitrarily a Complete Moron.

Which means this entire episode is Just REALLY BORING. I don't care what in-story Justifications exist for this character to be a Moron. Him being a Moron is Boring, and Being Boring is the Literal Worst Thing a Story Can be.

What is there to get interested in? What Adversity is MC going to face? What Trials and Tribulations will he have to struggle to overcome? What Interesting Antagonist will he have to Defeat? Because so far it looks like the answer to all of those questions is "Nothing". I mean am I supposed to believe that the Scheming Fatass is going to be a Brilliant Strategist who takes to the field? Was this even the Manga with the Scheming Fatass? I can't even remember because there's nothing interesting here for me to identify this Manga with.

This would have been a great opportunity to give the MC some scrapes and bruises, some difficulty, maybe even a minor Defeat or at least make him actually Work for his Victory. Introduce a character who can be a Recurring Villain for us to get invested in.

Because without a Threatening Villain, There is No Story.

 

[kur0g4m1]

@JCVocke
I agree with you on these arguments, but I still think It's too early to comment on the author's ability, or inability, of providing entertaining content and characters to the story.
It's only the 18th chapter, and alot of things were rushed or simply not explained, so I'm still hoping that the blanks will be filled and the story will get better somehow. :b
Either way, I'll still enjoy this for the simply fact that the MC isn't your avarage wuss that let people shit on their face and do nothing because they claim to be "pacifists". lmao

 

[Kamelpov]

War rule number 1 :when you see a fort build siege weapon
Rule n 2 : with unknown use scout
Rules n 3 : if you don't follow 1 and 2 ask at least reinforcement.

 

[FireFish5000]

Don't they have too many magicians on their side? And don't the enemies have too few in respect? Perhaps the main forces will contain some (since apparently this force is peasants), but atm they seem way too op.

 

[SSS26032002]

That was a necessary measure.... diseases are a very serious thing and in a world like this... necromancy could be possible...

 

[firosahoge]

In case you get confused on which twin is which. Rora/Laura's ribbon is on her right side and Sara's is on her left side. Also, Sara is usually just used for gags.

 

[Ebsolas]

Why is this so inconsistent in it’s tranlation?

 

[NoMemory]

This might be just me, but I actually learned how to swim via my uncle leaving me in the middle of a alligator filled lake, to "teach" myself how to swim, so it's possible to master it without anyone teaching you, granted back in the old age with knights and so, they did seriously not know how to swim to the point if you could swim, your a witch/demon magic bullshit lloll so knowing that his plan was seriously ingenious, but sadly he didn't get the "killing blow" so he didn't take some of their strength/souls/spirit

 

[captain_crunch]

Why didn't the 5k troops just siege the 2k in the camp? Then send the other 60k against the 13k in the capital to capture the princess?

 

[sagefox]

@NoMemory If you looked at the geographic location, they only have a small river crossing. It looks like they take their water from the villages from deep wells, not open bodies of water. Without the access to open bodies of water, and a reason to go into them, there wouldn't be much reason to learn how to swim.
Nowadays, it's normal for armies to train their troops as much as possible in any possible conflict scenario because of how global war is. However back then, wars were mostly regional. You would easily take a big chunk of enemy forces from the Mongols for example with flood tactics than against the Vandals, because the Mongols normally fought and lives in flat plains without much reason to learn to swim, and the Vandals have been fighting on islands and coastlines, so swimming is a necessary skill. That's also what happened here.

 

[NoMemory]

@sagefox yeah back then life expectancy was sorta low, even with their magical powers, so it'll probably still be a unneeded "Risk" going into hip height water, yet alone swimming, lloll I didn't really think about it, probably because I live in a state that's has lakes and oceans nearby, but knowing all that would ( obviously ) be a very effective tactic against armored knights around this place lloll

 

[TypicDistrudepts]

The "sink strategy" was very popular in manga, also in Dynasty Warrior.

 

[dahhv2]

What the fck is this pacing?

 

[flanman]

Thank god kyle has 0 brain as well.