Chapter 80: Milton’s Strength (2)
After the meeting drew to an end, Duke Derek Brans retired to his tent.
Inside was one woman who had been awaiting him, what an unexpected sight for any other pair of eyes.
“Did the meeting end on good terms?”
“Indeed it did, Claudia.”
The lady who was awaiting Duke Brans in his personal tent was none other than the First Prince’s former wife Claudia, now a widow. She resided at ease in Duke Bran’s tent, and the air surrounding the two had completely transformed from prior. Duke Brans approached and kissed her as if he had always done so. Without a hint of repulsion, Claudia wrapped her arms around the Duke’s neck and responded in kind.
If any other person saw this, they would have been at a complete loss for words. A man who had come on an expedition to wage war with a wife and children back in his homeland, was pa.s.sionately embracing and pressing lips with a woman who had so recently lost her husband that she still wore robes of mourning. When the societal status of these two was also accounted for, this was a truly shocking scandal indeed.
The two softly looked at each other and wordlessly headed towards the tent’s bed. Before they knew it, they surrendered themselves to their instincts and indulged in each other.
***
After their primal desires were satisfied, Duke Brans was the first to start the conversation with Claudia in his arms.
“Whichever way I think about it, I believe it would be best if you return to my homeland first.”
“You mean to send me off?”
“This war is about to become rough. You were safest at my side in the meantime, but that would likely not be the case going forward. It will be good and right for you to return to my homeland first, for it is dangerous here.”
Claudia made a sorrowful expression.
“Are you pus.h.i.+ng me away?”
“Most certainly not, no.”
Duke Brans firmly denied any such sentiment. He lovingly caressed Claudia’s cheek as he continued.
“I say this for it truly will be dangerous to be at my side in the coming period. Please, go to my estate in my homeland and wait for me there. When I return, I shall officially take your hand as my wife.”
At Bran’s desperate plea, Claudia made a bashful expression and buried her head into his chest. She spoke with a small voice.
“I do not dare expect such a thing as the seat of a wife. In any case… a woman such as me from a nation such as this shall only bring you trouble.”
“Trouble? Who would dare suggest such a thing in front of me?”
“Yet I am a widow, am I not? A widow who has yet to shed her robe of mourning. If you take in such a woman as your wife, all the people of the world will reproach you.”
“It doesn"t matter.”
“And of course, your wife shan’t greet me with open arms. I am not pa.s.sing judgement on her. In fact, I understand her as a fellow woman.”
“Claudia…”
Duke Brans was deeply moved, touched by Claudia’s thoughtfulness and consideration for him.
‘How can such a lovely woman exist?’
In reality, Duke Brans was not originally a man who was easily seduced.
There had been countless women who approached him due to the nature of his status, but he had never been particularly shaken up. He wedded his present wife for political reasons; and while he did not terrifically love her, she was a woman he had no grievances with either. In other words, he lived his entire life with a nonchalant disposition towards women.
Such a man had his heart stolen away by a lady for the first time since birth.
It was no hindrance that the subject of his affection was the wife of a foreign royal not too long ago, now a widow. That was how deep Duke Brans had fallen for Claudia.
Now that he was to play a pivotal role in this war, he did not want the woman he loved to be placed in danger. As much as he yearned for her to be by his side, his heart felt as if it had knives driven into it whenever he imagined something happening to her.
“Claudia, my love, you are my everything.”
“Derek…”
“Please forgive me, for I must place your safety above all. I will take your hand in marriage when I return.”
Duke Brans meant what he said. He did not want to lose the woman before him, no matter how much the world would point their fingers at him. He was even willing to divorce with his wife if need be.
Claudia was already aware of Duke Bran’s sentiments. This was how it always went. The men who became interested in her always ended up devoting themselves wholeheartedly.
And she was skilled at using these men.
“But I am scared. I’m afraid to go where you will not be.”
Duke Bran’s heart ached as Claudia pleaded like an orphaned kitten. But whenever he thought about how this battle was going to get ugly, he could not simply leave her by his side.
“What shall I do? How can I put your heart at ease, my love?”
Duke Brans asked earnestly, ready to give her everything he ever had if that was her desire. These were the words that Claudia had been waiting for.
“Then… would you entrust me with your seal?”
“My House’s seal? That can only be possessed by the present head of the Brans Duchy.”
Duke Brans was admittedly taken aback. He did not think she would ask for him to hand over his seal out of all things.
“I know, but… I am uneasy. You say that you love me, but a woman always wants evidence. And so… would that be too much to ask for?”
At Claudia’s plea, Duke Brans said the words he should never utter.
“I trust you. I will readily entrust you with it.”
“Ah… thank you, Derek.”
Claudia buried her head in Duke Bran’s embrace – and had the hints of a smile.
‘You can insist on most things if you take them to bed and beg with some tears afterwards. Why did the G.o.ds create men to be so foolish?’
With that, Claudia departed from the battlefield the next day with an a.s.signed guard detail.
Frankly, she did not want to stay here any longer even if Duke Brans did not mention it.
***
After sending Claudia off, Duke Brans could now concentrate on the war at hand.
The operation he proposed to his commanders was to use none other than himself as bait to lure the brunt of the enemy’s forces.
The greatest achievement on any battlefield, the accomplishment of which would greatly contribute towards victory, was to take down the head.
Brans believed that just as they were aiming for Siegfried, he was a high-priority target for the Republican army. Along those lines, he antic.i.p.ated that they could entice the enemy if he presented himself as bait.
Of course, the Duke was well aware that there would be risks involved – but this did not faze him. He had a penchant for approaching warfare with a pure show of strength rather than overcomplicating matters.
More than anything, he was confident in his own abilities. He was capable of repelling any attack and believed he could save his own skin even in the worst of situations. After all, it was because he had such confidence in the first place that he suggested he should play the role of bait.
Duke Brans took a minimal detail of troops and relatively distanced himself from the other detachments. He deliberately stationed himself where it would be difficult to be promptly reinforced if the enemy came raiding.
The Duke boldly hoisted his flag into the sky.
‘There, the stage has been set. Come at me.’
***
Siegfried immediately discerned his enemy’s tactic as he watched them from his elevated reconnoitering position.
“A lure, is it?”
To Siegfried, it amounted to less than a child’s mockery of a scheme, clear as day at first glance. Rather, their plans were so obvious that it acted to provoke him in other ways.
“So he’s that confident in his own strength. I see how it is.”
“What is your command, sir?”
Behind Siegfried, one of the Black Skulls was attached to him as a bodyguard.
“Well, what do you reckon Jake?”
Despite the same black armor and skull-shaped helmet of this man called Jake, he stuck out like a sore thumb. At first glance, what was immediately noticeable was the colossal sword that the man had strapped to his back.
Was it a two-handed sword? No, this was much larger than any conventional two-hander. Never mind any normal man wielding it – the sword boasted such comically ma.s.sive dimensions that it looked malformed and would be difficult to even carry.
But such a sword did not appear unwieldy for this man, for Jake was equally large in stature. A height towering over two meters was accompanied by broad shoulders, and thick-as-can-be arms that could easily snap a bear’s neck in half.
Such a man talked to Siegfried with considerable politeness.
“It is a clear attempt at provocation, but I believe this presents an opportunity in some respects. You only need to give the order, and I shall bring the head of the one who does not know his place.”
His att.i.tude was not a result of him putting on a front while flattering a superior, but derived from genuine respect and absolute obedience towards Siegfried.
Siegfried answered as if that was truly possible.
“You could, if you were to take the Ghosts and strike.”
The Ghosts were the official designation of the unit that wore the skull-shaped helmets. This special forces unit was created at the request of Siegfried to the Fuhrer by recruiting talents from all over the Hildess Republic. It was under the direct command of the Fuhrer’s office, and reported only to the Fuhrer – being exempt from the command hierarchy of the Republican army.
At least, that was how they were known inside the Republic. However, the leader of the Ghost Unit, Jake, was already one of Siegfried’s men. What this meant was that Siegfried already wielded the power of a unit under the direct command of the Fuhrer’s office, and the Fuhrer was none the wiser.
Siegfried closely observed the enemy’s lines.
“Duke Derek Brans… if we leave him alive, he will become a nuisance in later days when we turn to conquering the Strabus Kingdom.”
“Will you eliminate him?”
“Mmm, the weeds should be removed when we have the chance.”
Siegfried replied calmly as if it was a matter of course.
***
“Duke Brans, the Black Skull rascals have appeared in the rear encampments.”
“Dispatch knights at once. Mobilize the knight’s order under my direct command.”
“Yes, understood.”
Duke Brans clicked his tongue after he gave his order.
“Tsk, cowards…”
Despite the fact that he was blatantly showing an opening, the enemy was explicitly striking the zones where he was not present – and it displeased him.
He queried the commanders with him.
“The enemy refuses to bite our lure right away. Shall we present ourselves as being more defenseless?”
The commanders objected adamantly.
“Your Grace, we cannot reduce the guard detail more than we already have.”
“Please keep in mind that you are a treasure of our nation, Your Grace.”
Duke Brans let out a sigh. Though he had exposed himself to such an extent to entice the enemy, they only continued to attack other areas of their lines.
“That may be so, but can we truly afford to drag along this tiresome song and dance?”
“That’s…”
“With all due respect, it may be a different story if we knew the enemy’s whereabouts at the least, but at present…”
The commanders bowed their heads apologetically.
That was the biggest issue of this battle: they still could not discern the enemy’s whereabouts. The enemy continued to sporadically hara.s.s them through surgical guerilla warfare. They could not estimate where the brunt of the enemy’s army was situated as the attacks came from a plethora of different directions.
It felt as if they were fighting an unseeable enemy inside a thick fog. At this rate, it was of no benefit that they had the superior numbers or even if they were to have the edge in quality of troops.
It was then that one commander chimed in.
“How about withdrawing the army for the time being instead?”
“Withdraw the army?”
“Indeed. In the first instance, the lay of the land is far too disadvantageous for us. As it is situated close to the hills and mountains, the conditions are too favorable for the Hildess Republic’s mountain soldiers to carry out their activities.”
“Mmm… that is true.”
“We would not be so greatly affected by their raids if much of the surrounding topography did not consist of mountains.”
The other commanders seemed to agree. Though it was humiliating for them to retreat with an army several times the size of the enemy, at this rate their losses would only gradually increase like a s.h.i.+rt being drenched over time by a light drizzle.
“I see that there’s no helping it. Let us withdraw the army for now, and prudently search for an alternative route to take.”
Duke Brans decided to follow the will of his commanders, though at heart he was naturally irritated by the whole flow of the situation.
It hurt his pride that someone like him, who was the type to emerge victorious in war through sheer might rather than resourcefulness, would order his army to withdraw against an enemy that was a fraction of their size – even if it was a strategic retreat. Though he respected the opinion of his commanders, who a.s.serted that there was no other way…
‘It doesn’t sit well with me as expected.’
His mood plummeted to a new low.
It was then…
“I have an emergency report. We have discovered and are tracking what appears to be the enemy’s main camp.”
“You’ve what?!”
Duke Brans shot up from his seat, and the other commanders likewise looked astonished.