Chapter 317: Alliance (9)
Powerless.
The Byron Kingdom was powerless in front of Amaranth Kingdom’s Bledd Carriages and the attack of the Northern Army. Then, Count Noel Carward that was gazing at the battlefield from the back raised his right arm in a flash.
“Aim the legs of the warhorses pulling the carriages!”
He then shared tactics that could solve the chaos that befell them.
“Make walls with the corpses! Even if the horses could dodge them with ease, the carriages won’t be able to!”
That wasn’t the end of his commands.
“Support the left and the right wings with the reserve forces and cut off the neck of the enemy commander!”
His soft yet powerful voice echoed across the battlefield.
“Y, yes sir!”
The generals quickly relayed Noel’s orders to the surroundings.
Boooooooo! Dung! Dung! Dung!
Sounds of the warhorn and drums resonated across. At the same time, dozens of messengers ran in all directions and when they did, the soldiers of the Byron Kingdom that were in mayhem reorganised themselves and quickly regained their composure.
“Fall back! Don’t run at the carriages!”
“The left and the right wing! Slow down!”
“The enemy cavalries are in wait behind the carriages! Don’t go too forward!”
While calming the soldiers down, the generals and the knights looked behind at the main forces where Noel was.
Flags of various colours fluttered in the wind and whenever it did, the generals led their troops and repeatedly moved around from the left to the right, from the front to the back. Once that process repeated for around 2 to 3 times, the muddled ranks were reorganised like it had been an illusion.
The generals and knights were inwardly baffled at Noel’s commanding skills as they quickly readied themselves for retaliation.
“Aim the legs of the warhorses!”
A deafening roar echoed in the battlefield as blue lights of mana sparkled along the blades of the knights.
Sphat!
Drawing an afterlight, the blades flew towards the legs of the horses. Unlike the bodies and the heads that were protected by the shield magic, their legs were only covered with light armours.
Slash!
A violent slash sounded as the legs of the horses were cut away.
Neighhh!
The warhorses collapsed onto the ground with painful cries. Then, the Bledd carriages they were pulling had naturally stopped their dash and came to a stop.
Neighh! Neigh!
Cries of warhorses sounded from every direction. The knights and spearmen of the Byron Kingdom swung their blades and spears without a pause and whenever they did, carriages would be forced to a stop.
“G, good! The carriages stopped!”
“G, go!”
“Attack now!”
Thinking back on how they had suffered, the generals, knights and soldiers kicked off the ground with force. From behind, Noel who had been watching the happenings also nodded his head with a faint smile of satisfaction.
‘Those carriages seemed to be their trump cards but now they’ve been rendered useless.’
The smile hanging on his lips deepened. Currently, the forces under the Byron Kingdom amounted to roughly a hundred thousand, and that was only counting the first batch of soldiers. Should the forces from the North, West, East and the Centre of the kingdom that were a bit slower in their march arrive, their numbers would reach over three hundred thousand.
‘Compared to that, the soldiers of the Amaranth Northern armies are at most fifty thousand.’
Even if they gathered all their reserve forces and conscripted the citizens, the limit would be around a hundred thousand. With such thoughts, Noel flickered his eyes.
‘This battle, this war…’
His gaze pointed towards the battlefield where the chaotic battle was taking its place.
‘It is our victory!’
He wore a face certain of victory but it was then.
Kugung! Kung! Kugugugung!
Deafening roars resounded as the ground shook.
“Mhmm?”
“What is it?”
The soldiers of the Byron Kingdom looked for the source of that sound with tense expressions. That was the same for Noel and the n.o.bles located behind but unfortunately, they couldn’t achieve what they wanted.
Paaaaaaaat!
It was because tremendous light started emanating out from the Bledd carriages that had lost its horses. The light seeping out of the carriages stormed across the entire battlefield like a fog, like wind.
“Uak!”
“Kuuk!”
“d.a.m.n! I can’t open my eyes!”
The knights and soldiers of the Byron Kingdom that had rushed in towards the Bledd carriages closed their eyes and screamed. On the other hand,
“Hmm.”
Noel who was slightly further off from the Bledd carriages could avoid the light by just blocking the incoming light and turning his head away. Naturally he didn’t forget to protect his eyes using mana.
“Ridiculous light.”
Despite utilising mana, he still couldn’t stare at the light for a long time. There was a time when he heard of intense flash attacks before.
“Is that Lumasa which was known to have been used to defeat the KaLu Allies at the war for the throne?”
Noel asked no-one in particular before shaking his head.
“No. It’s different from Lumasa. They seem to have tweaked it a little.”
He clenched his teeth. They had already prepared themselves against Armour Light and Lumasa. After spraying a special varnish on a black cloth, they picked dozens of small holes on it and handed it to every soldier and knight. If they protected their eyes with it after putting in on their helmets, they thought that it would counter Armour Light and Lumasa.
‘But if the light is this strong…’
The strategy they prepared would probably be of no use.
Just as he predicted, the battle was currently unfolding in a very unfavourable manner.
“Use the black cloths!”
“Use the things you were supplied!”
The generals and knights quickly took their black cloths out and bellowed as the soldiers followed suit.
However,
“Uak!”
“I, I still can’t open my eyes!”
“It’s too bright!”
Screams left from the surroundings.
“d.a.m.n! To think it would be this intense…”
“It’s a lot stronger than we thought!”
At the very least, the knights and generals who could use mana were a bit better off. With their black cloths covering their eyes, they stole glances at where the light was seeping out from.
‘A, are they coming out from those Bledd carriages?’
‘d.a.m.n! If we break the carriage, the light would disappear as well right?’
With frowns, they approached the carriages step by step.
It was then.
“Like little worms.”
A low, heavy voice sounded as dozens, hundreds and thousands of soldiers appeared from within the light. As if they were light themselves, a clear distinction between them and the light were impossible.
“W, who are you!”
One of the generals of Byron bellowed in a loud voice but when he did, a longsword flashed through the light and stabbed straight into his chest.
“Kuhuk!”
He gasped as his eyes rolled back and as he collapsed, a low voice entered his ears.
“I am Austin Fides, the Commander of the Northern armies.”
The owner of the sword appearing from the light was Austin who was unaffected by the light thanks to the visor. Thousands of knights and Taemusas behind Austin that were also unaffected raised their weapons high as well as their morale.
Austin flickered his eyes and commanded with a cold voice.
“Slaughter them.”
“Yes sir!”
A loud shout resounded in response as a one-sided ma.s.sacre began. Due to being covered by light, it was difficult to see but the swords of the knights and Taemusas danced confusingly. However, the current state of the battle was not clearly relayed to Noel in the distance due to the intense light.
“Hmm.”
Without even having a clear look at the battlefield, Noel could tell that the tide of war had already shifted away. Pulling on his reins, he turned his horse around.
“C, Count Carward! Are we just backing off like this?”
Viscount Colbee Rodor who was ready to dash in any time asked with surprise. In response, Noel who always kept a leisurous smile and a soft voice glared at Colbee with a cold gaze.
“Then are you saying we should give an order for them to charge?”
“T, that’s not what I meant but…”
Seeing Noel’s cold reaction which he had not been expecting, Colbee made an awkward smile. In the meantime, Noel calmed himself down with a deep breath.
“Right now, there’s nothing that we, the main force at the back, could do. For now, we need to back off and reorganise our camp.”
“But if we do that, the soldiers at the front…”
The knights and soldiers confined in light would be ma.s.sacred due to the disregard of their allies. Noel once again heaved out a deep sigh.
“We just need to pay them back.”
After a short word, he kicked his horse forward. Unable to ask any further, Colbee followed his back and moved.
Boooooo! Dudung! Dudung! Dudung!
Soon, the sounds of horns and drums signalling a retreat resonated across the battlefield.
The start of a new war.
The first battle between the Amaranth Northern Army and the Byron Kingdom ended up with a complete victory of the Amaranth Kingdom.
***
“I have long heard the prestigious name of Duke Pelburn. It’s very nice to meet you.”
Ma.n.u.s Fon Persion bowed a little towards Duke Marino Pelburn.
‘Marino Pelburn. The so-called Ghost Duke suddenly appeared as an envoy…’
He still couldn’t calm down his restless heart. The Rite Kingdom was located at the north-eastern edge of the continent, and was a solitary kingdom that had no way out towards the centre of the continent without pa.s.sing by the Persion Kingdom.
Due to that, there were still more things hidden from the world compared to other empires and kingdoms. It was at most the Persion Kingdom that shared a border with the Right Kingdom that had a few news coming in.
‘A bigshot that led the Right Kingdom into becoming a paradise on earth through his excellent skills and leadership.’
That was who Marino Pelburn was. From the Persion Kingdom, they sent people several times to find out his ident.i.ty but they failed every time. And yet, Marino appeared before him with his own feet.
“Recently, we haven’t been sending envoys to each other. Is there a special reason behind your sudden visit?”
Ma.n.u.s asked with a gentle voice. Before replying, Marino looked at the crown placed above Ma.n.u.s’ head and deeply bowed his head.
“Let me go straight to the topic, Your Majesty.”
He could already tell that Ma.n.u.s had succeeded the crown. Carefully to avoid discourtesy, he spoke.
“The reason why I came personally to visit Your Majesty is…”
His clear voice etched itself deep into the ears of the listeners.
“Because of the gathering of the crusaders.”
Kung.
In that instant, an intense shock struck the listeners. It was incomparable to any emotion they had felt before.
Gulp.
The n.o.bles gulped with a nervous expression. It was because their king, Ma.n.u.s Fon Persion had mentioned that he wouldn’t adhere to the gathering for the crusade and side himself with the Amaranth Kingdom.
‘Why now…’
‘This is going to turn messy.’
‘Wouldn’t it be better off to just grab Duke Pelburn as a hostage and threaten the Rite Kingdom with him?’
‘No. It’s better for His Majesty to just change his opinion with this.’
Countless complicated thoughts muddled into one but on the other hand, Ma.n.u.s’ expression remained calm.
“Please speak.”
There was even a faint smile hanging on his lips. Seeing that, Marino formed a smile of his own and replied calmly.
“Our Rite Kingdom is planning on not adhering to the gathering of the crusaders.”
Kung.
There was another shock within the crowd. The tense n.o.bles widened their eyes in response and gulped in face of a totally unexpected turn of events. That was the same for Ma.n.u.s, Peid Neil and Aerea Britz.
‘The Rite Kingdom is not going to follow the Church’s orders?’
‘That’s surprising.’
Ma.n.u.s hid his emotions and carefully started talking.
“May I ask you for the reason?”
Hearing that, Marino nodded with a bright smile.
“Of course. That is exactly why I came for a visit today.”
His gaze paused at Roan for a bit before moving back towards Ma.n.u.s.
“The enemy we must fight right now is not the Amaranth Kingdom. We have a real enemy elsewhere.”
The smile hanging on his lips deepened.
“They are the Dark…”
Before he could finish, Ma.n.u.s, Peid and Aerea opened their mouths at the same time.
“Dark Regiments.”
Hearing that, Marino flickered his eyes.
“As expected, you knew about them already. Then…”
He then looked at both Ma.n.u.s and Peid.
“Have the Persion Kingdom and the Istel Kingdom made their minds?”
As soon as he finished the question, Ma.n.u.s and Peid gave nods.
“The Persion Kingdom…”
“The Istel Kingdom…”
They looked at each other and matched their words.
“Has decided to not adhere to the call for the crusade.”
Stern voices left their lips.
With this, from the Estia Empire, the Lucia Empire, the Byron Kingdom, the Persion Kingdom, the Rite Kingdom, the Istel Kingdom, the Diez Kingdom and the Aimas Union, three kingdoms decided to not follow the gathering of the crusaders which the pope Beldrica announced a.s.sertively.
It was then that Roan who had been silently standing at a distance walked a step forward with a faint smile.
“It seems that it is time for us to have a serious conversation.”
He realised that it was now time for him to unravel the true masterminds behind the Dark Regiment. But before that, there was something he wanted to check so Roan looked towards Marino.
“There is something I would like to ask if it’s okay with you.”
As soon as he finished his words, Marino nodded with a smile. It was as if he already knew what Roan was about to say.
“You’re right. I am his second sworn-brother.”
It was a sudden reply and Ma.n.u.s, Peid, Aerea and others tilted their heads in curiosity. On the other hand, there was a light flickering inside Roan’s eyes before soon dissipating.
“I knew it.”
The hazy smile hanging on his lips deepened ever so slightly as the memories of his past life resurfaced in his head.
‘Although I’ve never met Duke Marino Pelburn and had almost never heard of stories about him…’
Back then, Roan was but a mere spearman so he was comparatively lacking in information regarding the n.o.bles that could move nations however they wanted. But even then, there was a memory that popped up in his head when he heard the name, Marino.
“Then you must be sworn brothers with Duke Crew Hail of the Lucia Empire.”
As soon as he said that, Marino who had been keeping a leisurous, nonchalant expression widened his eyes in great surprise.
“H, how did you…?”
Even his voice trembled but Roan was likewise surprised.
‘Crew Hail and Marino Pelburn that were called the Ghost Brothers were the sworn brothers of Clay…’
He heaved out a short sigh before biting on his lower lips.
‘This is troublesome.’
His thoughts became complex and muddled up as the ends of his eyebrows quivered slightly. The plans he had set up beforehand were in great turmoil.
End.
Translator: Lunargrasp
Proofreader: Deathwing