Royal Road of the Extra Scribe

43

Clang! Soldiers in the rear, lowering their swords and shields and raising their bows.

The first battle. Thanks to Ilya, who accepted Alz’s request and extensively supplied arrows with battle horses from the surrounding territories, their numbers were substantial.

At that moment, there were easily over 10,000 archers.

Madon thought it was to operate cavalry archers, but it was the opposite. Gathering battle horses was just a trick to gather arrows.

“Keep firing without rest! I promise a reward to whoever empties their quiver first!”

“Woah!”

The soldiers, driven by morale, shot arrows wildly.

Normally, it was impossible to organize so many archers.

Because there was a shortage of arrows. Therefore, it was proper for archers to consist only of soldiers skilled in archery. That way, they could effectively consume the limited arrows they had.

“Ah, ah…!”

Madon’s army was caught on both sides.

Realizing they were in trouble, Julian’s jaw trembled.

“General! Arrows are coming! Take cover quickly!”

Usually, arrows would be blocked by shields, reducing their impact. But when caught on both sides like this, it was a different story.

Even if you block one side, you’ll get hit by arrows from the other.

As a result, Madon’s camp turned into chaos due to arrows raining in from both sides.

“General! Take cover quickly…!”

“It’s over.”

“What!?”

“It’s over…!”

The moment he exposed his flanks, he was already vulnerable.

It wasn’t a matter of enduring or not.

Caliper was in a position where all he had to do was keep shooting arrows.

“But their arrows are not infinite! If we just hold on a little longer…!”

“No, it’s almost infinite. That’s how it is… Because we’ve shot that much…!”

More than 60% of the arrows shot by Madon were recycled by Caliper’s army. Instead of just one quiver of arrows given to soldiers, they had four to five.

Each of the ten thousand archers had that amount of arrows.

Just like how Jegal Ryang obtained arrows from Jojo using deceptive tactics.

Alss completed the picture he desired by making the opponent believe everything was going according to their plan.

By showing the mounted archers, he made the enemy approach. The approaching enemy became conscious of the mounted archers on both sides. They were then lured into the arrow shield and collected a vast amount of arrows.

Julian, deluded that everything was going as he planned, bypassed the 5,000 light cavalry unit, including 3,000 mounted soldiers. This created a gap that Alss could tactically exploit.

“Furthermore, the soldiers’ tactical performance… They are not conscripts!”

The Caliper army present here consisted of 3,000 regular Caliper soldiers and 20,000 Kurabel soldiers.

Naturally, they were not shaken or demoralized by the flanking maneuver of the light cavalry unit.

Then where did the conscripts go?

They were all under Rudger’s command.

Rudger, following Alss’s orders, had been withstanding the attacks from Yussis since the beginning of the battle. This was to make the troops there appear as regular army forces.

Having a good understanding of Yussis’s nature and tactical abilities, Rudger perfectly executed Alss’s orders. Julian mistakenly believed that there was a large deployment of regular troops in the Foldic Mountains.

The preparation for this was mixing the soldiers’ uniforms.

Before distributing the troops, the Kurabel soldiers, Caliper regulars, and conscripts. Their uniforms were all mixed up and distributed randomly, making it impossible to distinguish troops based on uniforms.

Alss had foreseen this situation from the beginning.

“You’ve been playing with me in the palm of your hand! Wade…!!”

Arrows raining down ceaselessly.

Throughout the archer units, expert archers selected by Eonia were commanding the archers.

Madon’s infantry unit tried to approach the archer unit to eliminate them, but they were stopped by the established infantry barricade and had to halt.

The cavalry unit, which had been heading to the rear, hastily charged in, but their numbers were too few.

If there had been the 3,000 cavalry withdrawn as a light cavalry unit, they might have been able to overcome this situation, but there was none. This indicated that Alss had even anticipated Julian’s flanking strategy.

If Julian had prepared a flanking strategy to break through Alss’s defensive strategy, Alss had prepared a tactical plan to counter that strategy.

Alss was one step ahead in this game of tactics.

“At this rate, we’ll only face annihilation. Full retreat! Everyone, retreat!”

At Julian’s retreat signal, Madon’s soldiers lost their discipline.

Even in a retreat situation, there should have been discipline, but in the midst of arrows raining down, even that was lacking.

“A gap has been created.”

As Madon’s forces were already concentrated on both flanks, a large space opened up in the center when they began to retreat.

Alss aimed high and shot an arrow wrapped in red cloth into the sky. Eonia, waiting in the center, received this signal and charged in.

“Haah!”

Screams as Madon’s soldiers were swept away.

Eonia, swiftly approaching where Julian was, engaged in a fierce battle with his close aides.

Julian tried to take advantage of this opportunity to escape, but he was hit by arrows flying towards him, stumbling and falling to his knees, one arrow hitting his calf, another his thigh.

“Argh! Darn it…!”

Thinking it was a soldier, not a messenger, Julian had no choice as Eonia, having defeated the lieutenants, approached.

“I surrender! Treat me as a prisoner!”

“Hmph!”

Thwack! Eonia kicked Julian’s head, knocking him out, then shouted.

“We’ve captured the enemy leader! This battle is a complete victory for the great Lord Wade!”

Woooaah!! The cheers echoed across the Sethes Plains.

Led by Als, the Caliper Army lost 3,000 cavalry and suffered 5,000 casualties, but managed to kill 10,000 out of the enemy’s 25,000 troops and capture 9,000.

The remaining soldiers of Madon were scattered and began to retreat.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Madon’s reconnaissance unit, which had been on a detour.

Draken, who was leading the unit, narrowed his eyes sensing a strange atmosphere.

Dividing the unit into groups of 600, he ordered them to plunder the surrounding territories, while he himself led the cavalry to attack the deep-set Tirran.

But there was no one.

“This is…”

No sign of anyone, not even a trace.

“Captain. There are still plenty of things here worth looting.”

Valuables and food were left untouched in the territories.

“Judging by the untouched food supplies, they must have left the territories not long ago.”

They probably evacuated urgently just hours before the reconnaissance unit set out. That meant…

“Was Wade reading Craig’s stratagem…?”

Sniff! Sniff! Draken began to detect a sudden smell and quickly turned his gaze in one direction.

“It’s this way. Follow me!”

“What about the territories? Shouldn’t we destroy them?”

“No time for that! Hurry and follow me!”

He arrived at the fortress city of Ashton. The residents of the targeted territories were huddled together in the fortress, with 2,000 soldiers setting up defenses.

Most of the 2,000 troops were hastily equipped militia with only helmets and armor.

“They sought refuge here. Captain, what shall we do?”

“What can we do. Even if the rabble here is guarded, we can’t possibly have the strength to siege!”

At the same time, reports came in from another reconnaissance unit.

“A message from Jeremiah’s unit, who went to pillage Rebel! They report no sight of Rebel’s people! They looted the territories and set everything on fire, requesting further orders!”

“They must have fled to the nearby military stronghold, the Jumelt Gate. The same must have happened on the other side.”

While they could destroy the city, they couldn’t kill its core, the residents. It was a half-hearted victory.

“But isn’t this concerning?”

Draken’s lieutenant spoke up.

“They’ve done a foolish thing. Leaving the food in the territories and setting up defenses. There’s no way the fortress has enough food to feed that many. They’ll surely perish within two days due to food shortage.”

“That’s true.”

It was just a temporary measure to avoid plundering, not a good strategy overall.

“If we continue to surround the area, the situation will naturally improve. Caliper’s forces at the Sethes Crossroad will also be annihilated. With the surrounding territories paralyzed, supplies will soon be cut off.”

A situation that made Madon smile.

However, Draken shivered at the instinctive chill.

“The problem is that Wade probably knew about it. If he had read our bypass operation from the start, there would have been no need to evacuate at such a precarious moment. He would have moved the territory’s food supplies beforehand and thoroughly evacuated.”

“Could it be that he only realized it belatedly?”

“If that were the case, there would have been territories that were late to evacuate. The fact that all territories evacuated promptly implies that it was discussed in advance.”

“But… then why? Why would the enemy do such a foolish thing…?”

“He wanted as many guerrilla units as possible to be formed. If he knew we had evacuated in advance, we would have reduced the number of guerrilla units or not formed them at all.”

Draken turned his gaze towards Setes Plain.

“In other words, he wanted to weaken our main army. To seize our main forces during that critical moment.”

“Even so, we outnumber them by about 2,000! And in just a little time, we will have a significant advantage!”

“Yes, if we can hold out just for today, we will greatly gain the upper hand.”

Draken couldn’t shake off the unease.

“Wade must have prepared something that could swiftly annihilate Julian’s main forces. What on earth could that be?”

Julian Craig was not just an ordinary general on the road; how could he settle the score in such a short time?

“Whether his tactics work or not is now more crucial than anything.”

The guerrilla unit that had run out of things to plunder had nothing left but to wait for news.

“We will besiege this place for the time being. Inform the guerrilla units that finished looting the territories. Surround the castles where the territories’ people have evacuated!”

“Aye!”

Only three hours had passed since they surrounded the castles.

As the sun set and darkness fell, a unit of nearly a thousand Ilya Anfey guerrilla troops approached them.

Following Als’s orders, Ilya, who had guided the territories’ people to evacuate, aimed for Draken, the core of the guerrilla unit.

“Listen up, Madon’s guerrilla troops! Your main forces in Setes Plain have been destroyed! Your actions are futile struggles; if you value your lives, surrender immediately!”

“Nonsense!”

Draken’s lieutenant shouted angrily.

“Do you really think that kind of bluff will work?”

“Hmph, do you think it’s just a bluff? Perhaps the information is slow due to being a guerrilla unit? Well, that can’t be helped. Since the main forces you should have given information to have all been defeated. It can’t be helped. So, your futile lives. I’ll take them. Unit, prepare for battle!”

Ilya’s unit prepared for battle.

“Commander Draken! Please give the charge order! We will wipe them all out!”

“…”

Draken sensed that Ilya’s words were not mere bluff.

“Has Julian really been defeated? In just a few hours…!”

If that were the case, the guerrilla units inside Caliper territory as Ilya claimed were merely pawns in a dead man’s game. Surrendering would be the wisest choice.

“Commander, it’s definitely a bluff. If that’s really the case, wouldn’t they have no reason to engage us in battle?”

“…!”

That was true. If Caliper’s main forces, which had annihilated Madon’s army, strangled the guerrilla unit and entered, there would be no need for a battle; surrender would naturally follow.

Nevertheless, Ilya was intent on engaging in battle.

“No way…”

At that moment, Draken envisioned the worst-case scenario. The worst outcome where not only the Setes Crossroads but all other battlefields could end catastrophically.

“If he was considering that far ahead, he’s truly a formidable one. Wade!”

With a firm grip, he clasped his greatsword.

“I guess there’s nothing left for me to do. Darn it, darn it, darn it!”

As the pure-blooded suin expressed his anger, it was as if a fierce beast was roaring.

“To end like this, not being able to do anything, is the most frustrating thing! Prepare for battle! Kill them all!”

The two units entered the battlefield with the sun setting.

Although Ilya’s unit had 400 more soldiers, Draken’s unit was all cavalry.

Originally, cavalry could have had the upper hand, but due to the difficulty of commanding cavalry in a night battle, the situation was almost evenly matched.

“Raise your shields and thrust your spears forward! Don’t fear the cavalry! If we stop their momentum, we can turn the tide!”

Ilya, known as the cavalry blender in the game, effectively utilized her soldiers to counter the cavalry’s momentum and lead them into a melee.

“hahahaha! Not bad, Caliper’s riffraff! Charge!”

Clang! Draken struck down Caliper soldiers with his greatsword. He spotted Ilya and charged towards her.

“Die!”

“You’re the one who will.”

Draken’s cavalry charged towards Ilya.

Ilya, on the contrary, charged straight at the cavalry.

“What…!?”

“Ha!”

Clash! Ilya deflected Draken’s greatsword with her spear and slipped into the ground! She swiftly cut off the horse’s leg with her left-hand sword.

“Argh!”

Struggling desperately to stand, Draken somehow managed to regain his footing.

After ending the suffering horse’s life, Ilya faced Draken.

“A female mercenary using the Chester style. …Guderian once mentioned to me. A disciple with potential surpassing their master has appeared. And that disciple is even a woman.”

“Do you know the master?”

“I do. Well, it’s been quite a while since I last saw his face. What a pity. Having to kill my friend’s disciple with my own hands.”

“And me. Having to cut down the master’s friend is indeed sad.”

From Noble mtl dot com

“hahahaha! I like your spirit! Come at me!”

Clattering weapons.

After a fierce battle lasting over 400 exchanges, Ilya subdued Draken and annihilated Draken’s unit, which was the core of the guerrilla forces.