𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 (8)
Fortunately, Johan had time to prepare. Thanks to the enemy messenger who came and said that reinforcements were on the way.
After sending someone to inform the main force, Johan pressed the enemies remaining in the town. With the knights also caught, the rest could not hold out very well. They quickly collapsed and the escape began.
“Truly excellent, count! Today’s victory was achieved solely by the count’s sword.”
The gathered nobles sent sincere thanks.
Before the battle began, their eyes were wide open to establish military exploits, but as the battle was roughly over, they came to their senses.
Even in the midst of a fierce battle, clashing flags, it was clear that Johan was leading the charge. He completely collapsed the enemies who were holding out well and charged in, if you didn’t see that, you had to be blind.
It’s a shame they couldn’t establish exploits, but they should be grateful for the situation. They were thankful that Johan had brought adequate support.
Of course, Johan was annoyed.
‘𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱.’
. . .words coming up to my throat!
But Johan endured. Dealing well with guys who always want to smack the back of the head was Johan’s talent.
“Without valiant knights like you, how could I have won alone? Your contributions are great.”
To be honest, if the ambushing knights and feudal lords had done a little better, the encirclement would have rolled out neatly as well.
After calmly setting up the encirclement, hitting them with fire attack, showering arrows on those scattered, then the knights could have intercepted and attacked those just fleeing under Johan’s direct command, there would have been no idiots left to escape without capturing them all. . .
Suetlg coughed. He looked worried that Johan would get angry and start swearing.
“Don’t worry. I’m calm.”
“Is that so? That’s a relief. No matter how angry, don’t insult them. It won’t do any good.”
Although he hadn’t established himself for long, Johan was like the southern overlord.
He directly controlled major port cities, most of his fief’s vassals were loyal, and his coffers were abundant from recent battles.
In addition, he had close ties with religious orders and republics, so feudal lords and free city nobles in the central and northern parts couldn’t help but be wary of Johan.
Johan himself didn’t have ambitions like becoming the great king ruling the peninsula, but others couldn’t know his true intentions.
To others, Johan in his early twenties was an ambitious man who had taken over the southern lands with a single sword.
In that situation, there was no need to unnecessarily make nobles anxious or hostile. Johan knew that well, which is why he kept giving them opportunities even though they kept messing up and failing to meet his expectations.
‘𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.’
He wanted to make an example out of any arrogant nobles among those who couldn’t even properly besiege, but no such foolish guys appeared.
Frustrating!
In the meantime, Iselia came back after suppressing the remnants. As Iselia looked around at the nobles, Johan felt an intuition flash by in an instant.
“Iselia. Good work. Come here.”
“Huh? My dear. I have something to say to them. . .”
“Yeah, yeah. I know you want to tell them good job. My lords. Iselia of the Bluea family wants to praise you all.”
“No, that’s not what I was trying to. . .”
Johan cut off Iselia’s words and covered her mouth. The knights greeted gratefully, seeming quite puzzled that Iselia was praising them.
It was rare for elven knights to praise Peninsula knights since most elven knights were arrogant and proud. They would never praise knights they considered one step below them.
“It is said that you are outstanding whether fighting on horseback or dismounted, even when wielding shields smaller than the enemy’s and shorter swords, not retreating.”
“Huh?”
“Haha. . . I’m embarrassed to hear such words.”
“Iselia-gong of the Bluea family is generous and magnanimous.”
Anyone would be happy to receive unexpected praise. The knights were moved by Iselia’s praise.
They wondered why a knight like Johan married such a tall and voluptuous elf, but it was clearly because of her generous and magnanimous character.
It was a virtue that could not be seen in elven knights.
After the knights left, Iselia asked in disbelief.
“Why did you stop me?”
“You can probably guess, but what were you trying to say?”
“Um. First of all, wouldn’t it be better if they carried sticks instead of swords. . .”
“I see. Good thing I stopped you. Iselia. From now on, ask me before saying anything to the nobles.”
“??? Alright. I don’t know why though. . .”
Johan felt Iselia’s elven nature anew.
“Iselia is an elf after all. I keep forgetting that despite the frequent reminders. . .”
“You forget that even after she gives you severed enemy heads as gifts?”
Suetlg said in disbelief. To Suetlg, there was no elf more elven than Iselia.
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The enemy army could be seen from afar. As the day gradually brightened, they could not hide their lights and sounds. The enemies must have given up the idea of launching a surprise attack.
“Prepare to retreat. There is no need to fight over the town.”
Johan intended to retreat. From a defensive position, there was no reason to fight. If they barricaded themselves behind the castle walls, the pain would be felt by the opponent, not Johan.
However, when he saw the reinforcements on the other side forming up and entering battle, those thoughts disappeared.
“What. . .?”
While there were reports that enemy reinforcements were coming, those were just reports, not requests for reinforcements. Why did so many gather?
“Why did they come?”
Johan’s voice turned sinister. The knight next to him flinched unconsciously at that murderous aura.
Until just now, he thought of the young count as generous, but now he felt fear to the point.
“Yo. . . Your Excellency. . . to set up an attack? Of course they would come when the enemies are coming. . .”
“. . . . . .”
Johan almost swore at the knight next to him. He probably didn’t have any malice in saying that. The knight must have truly believed that with the enemy forces coming like that, it was natural for them to counterattack.
That thinking wasn’t entirely wrong. Looking at the morale and situation now, the allies seemed to have an advantage.
But wouldn’t it be more advantageous to just barricade themselves behind the castle walls??
‘𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴.’
He could no longer make those who had already left the field and formed up retreat. Johan sighed and ordered battle preparations. Now that it had come to this, they had no choice but to join the battle and win.
‘𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬?’
The town troops were on the right flank. The center was the Order’s troops. The left flank was mainly the remaining City State troops.
“Count. Count.”
“?”
One of the surrendered Empire knights called out to Johan.
“To repay the honor Count has shown, I will tell you one thing. If you fight, beware of Sir Kruger.”
“Who is that knight?”
“We are not close so I do not know the details. But I heard rumors about him since serving under His Majesty.”
They were the knights who suspected Johan had made a wicked contract with magic. But there was a knight with an even deeper rumor. That was Sir Kruger.
“Does he breathe fire from his mouth?”
“No, not that.”
“Does he rot and crumble anything he touches?”
“That’s not it either but. . .”
‘𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮?’
Johan made up his mind that after this battle ended, he would try to avoid leading armies with other nobles as much as possible. He prided himself on having a relatively patient personality, but he felt like his personality kept getting corrupted.
The captured Empire knights eagerly explained. He uses strange swordsmanship, and the knights who fought him suffered strange misfortunes, they said.
The more Johan listened, the more scornfully he looked at the knights.
“Thanks for telling me. I’ll be careful if I face him.”
“No need to thank me. I don’t want to see a knight like Count lose to such dishonorable means.”
‘𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰𝘰.’
In fact, listening only to the Empire knights’ words, Emperor’s wizards under him were more concerning than Sir Kruger. No matter how trivial the magic, it could change the tide of battle depending on its use – hadn’t he experienced that personally already?
“Don’t worry. I’m here, and aren’t you also skilled in magic? Besides, there’s surprisingly little wizards can do on a battlefield like this, so there’s no need to worry too much.”
At Suetlg’s words, Johan nodded. And he suddenly realized something.
‘𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦. 𝘐𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘑𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴?’
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The battle began on both sides. It wasn’t for any tactical reason, it was because both flanks arrived first. Once they formed up and started advancing, it was pretty much each side fighting on its own from then on. There were no complex tactics or anything like that.
“You don’t need to worry too much, Adviko-gong. Our numbers are greater.”
“. . .”
Adviko’s expression did not relax at the wizards’ words sent by the emperor. Even if their numbers were slightly greater, it didn’t mean much on a battlefield with thousands clashing.
Adviko knew well that the tide of battle could turn completely with a single mistake causing morale to collapse and a rout.
What irritated him was how a number of the Empire knights were ambushed at night and suffered a major defeat. They had been a rather substantial force. . .
As a result, Adviko mobilized all the forces he had kept hidden. Among them were the monsters the wizards brought from the emperor.
“Are you still worried?”
“If it gets out I used monsters, it will tarnish my reputation.”
“You needn’t worry. We won’t be so sloppy as to let it leak.”
The wizard was brimming with confidence.
In truth, Adviko didn’t know that most of them hardly deserved to be called wizards, so deficient were their abilities. Any truly outstanding wizard would not have been sent by the emperor in such great numbers.
But that didn’t matter for commanding monsters. All they had to do was use the established methods of feeding and medicine.
The only one among them with skills that could genuinely be called a wizard, Uterman, opened his mouth.
“While we wizards will take the left flank, you must handle the right flank well, your excellency.”
“Not your excellency, but your grace.”
“Ah, my apologies, your grace.”
Although Uterman changed his words, they still grated on Adviko’s ears. It sounded mocking to him.
“I’ve deployed my finest on the right flank. We’ll push the enemy back and surround them.”
“We trust in your grace.”
Push the right flank and break the enemy, then exploit that momentum to collapse the center and left.
It was an ordinary tactic, but in truth no more complex maneuver was even possible. Besides, the point of tactics was to win, not to show off clever tricks.
However, the emperor faction’s wizards’ plan went awry from the start. Unbeknownst to them at a distance, even as they spoke, their left flank was being smashed to pieces.
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It was a common sight for the mounted troops to clash first, followed by the dismounted ones.
In other words, if the mounted troops clearly prevail, what comes after can only flow one way.
The fighting near the town was a perfect example.
The Mairene army, which had formed up and approached, collided with Johan’s cavalry charge and was smashed to bits.
The knights collapsed first, followed by the heavy infantry. Soldiers around them dispersed in an instant.
Johan plunged in fiercely as if to vent his rage. The wizards waiting to seize opportunities behind were so bewildered they froze in place. The mercenary captains guarding them cried out urgently.
“Do something quick, wizard!”
“Wai-, wait. I’m. . .I’m doing it now. I’m doing it now. . .”
“Do it faster!! At this rate we’ll all be killed!”
The previously composed mercenaries spat out curses in panicked voices. That’s how terrified they were of the onrushing knights.