A wind like march.
The Tale Legion and the Lancephil Legion’s march north was without a pause.
At the state where Chase Legion and the Owells Forces’ main army had receded to the west, the Lancephil Fief’s south and east were no different than an ownerless mountain.
Roan was doing the blitzkrieg that Count Jonathan Chase and Viscount Kali Owells wished so much.
“We will let those who surrender live!”
“We will not forgive those who resist!”
The thousand-man ranked commanders shouted as they roamed the battlefield.
Each time, tens, hundreds of enemy soldiers who became afraid threw away their weapons and surrendered.
That was not all.
“My lord!”
Soldiers ran towards him from every direction.
“The Luton Castle at the east has requested their surrender!”
“The Halo Region at the southeast wishes to walk together with us, sir!”
The major base cities and the community leaders of the regions that originally followed Io Lancephil competed to surrender first.
Thanks to that, the castles and regions he gained without touching a single drop of blood on his hand gradually became more than the castles and regions he had conquered through battles.
Roan nodded his head with a satisfied expression, then looked at Semi.
“Semi.”
“Yes. My lord.”
“Go around the castles and regions that have newly surrendered and subjugate the remnants of the enemy forces.”
“Yes! Understood, sir!”
Semi answered in a loud voice, then led the Impasse, the troop under his command, and left towards the east.
Roan ordered without a rest.
“Pete!”
“Yes! My lord!”
The thousand-man commander Pete rode his horse and approached.
“Collect the bodies of the fallen and look after the injured.Send the soldiers whose injuries are serious back to the Mediasis Castle together with the corpses.”
“Understood, sir.”
Pete lowered his head and then returned to his position.
“Austin. Organize the newly surrendered soldiers into each legion. After taking some time to rest and organize, we will march towards the north.”
“Yes. Understood, sir.”
Austin, who was staying nearby, began to busily move together with an answer.
Roan did not thoughtlessly waste time.
When a battle ended, he first collected the fallen and the injured, then directly went into preparing for the next battle.
Ggiiiik!
Above his head, about fifteen birds flew about.
Mostly, they were the spy birds and the messenger birds of the Agens and the Tenebra Troop.
Roan lightly glanced at them, then formed a peculiar smile.
‘It should now be about time they slowly begin to move.’
The board was set.
Now, it was the time for the dolls to dance on top of the board that was set.
Roan’s eyes flashed and shone a light.
*****
Boom!
Count Jonathan Chase couldn’t hold himself and kicked the table.
The drinks and the food that had been nicely set rolled on top of the ground.
Kali Owells, who was sitting on the opposite side tilting his wine cup, slightly creased his forehead and brushed off the food bits that rubbed on his sleeve.
“Hhm. I’m sorry about that.”
Jonathan lowered his rage a moment late and made a bitter smile.
Kali slightly lowered and showed his head as to mean it is okay.
The commander who raise the report just before, with a completely nervous expression, swallowed dry spit.
Jonathan asked with a completely creased face.
“So, five castles were conquered and three regions have went over already?”
“Yes. That is so, sir.”
The commander immediately nodded his head.
“And the reinforcement I sent two days ago was also destroyed?”
“Yes. That is so, sir.”
The commander could only nod his head.
It was because that was the truth.
“Kuuk.”
Jonathan clenched his teeth.
The rage pushed up once more.
His life until now was a leveled road.
There was nothing that did not go as he wished, and the ones who went against his will too did not existed.
Even the Rinse Kingdom’s throne succession competition, he was going back and forth between Tommy Rinse and Kallum Rinse, and was rubbing them under his thumb as befitting his taste.
But.
‘Just how dare an unknown and unheard of lowly thing pop out and muddle the waters!’
Since Roan had appeared, the story changed.
The steps that were without a pause was caught on a brake.
No, it wasn’t at a level of being caught on a brake.
This was honestly a level of being tripped and rolling down.
‘To think he would grow this much.’
If he knew he would be like this, he should have stomped him down when he was the Tale Region’s baron.
No, he should have stomped him when his henchman and the former Eastern Regional Corps Supreme Commander, Benjamin Doyle was disgraced.
Since Roan at the time was merely a troop commander of a commoner background.
‘Damn it. To think I have to be angered by a thing that doesn’t even have fundamentals……’ 1
His ego was badly hurt.
At that moment, Kali, who was quietly tilting his wine cup, spoke in a quiet voice.
“There is no need to worry so much, sir.”
He faintly smiled as he stood up from his seat.
“Looking at the situation going around, it seems that the Tale Legion isn’t on the western frontline, sir.”
“As expected, is it like that……”
Jonathan’s facial expression stiffly solidified.
At first, he was unsure.
It was because the battles were occurring on the western frontline even now.
This was that Brian Miles and the troop below him, who Roan had left while moving the Tale Legion to the southeast, were harassing the western frontline.
“I will lead a legion and head towards the east. Sir Count remain here and please subjugate the bastards’ remnants.”
“It will be inadequate with only the Owells Forces.”
It was a situation where the Tale Legion and the Lancephil Guardian Army had each combined their strengths.
A danger followed to face them alone.
At those words, Kali faintly smiled and shook his head.
“Please do not worry. I plan to fight together with Walter, who is on the northeastern frontline.”
He had no thought of stubbornly charging and attempting a grand reversal.
‘However much you bastard’s eyes and ears are bright, the Lancephil Fief is where I lived.’
He knew the fief’s topography and geography better than anyone.
Inside his head, schemes to destroy Roan, the Tale Legion, and the Lancephil Legion were full.
“It seems you have some sort of plan.”
Jonathan faintly smiled as he nodded his head.
However, he was a man whose pride was much stronger than Kali had thought.
“I will hand you two troops under the Chase Legion. Take them along and fight together. Roan, rip apart that bastard’s limbs.”
Jonathan did not want a simple revenge but a thorough revenge.
He planned to shred and rip Roan into pieces and throw him as feed for the pigs.
However, Kali did not in fact liked such generosity.
“If so, what should we do about the troops’ command, sir?”
It was because there was a gap that Jonathan’s henchmen might interfere in his command.
‘Look at this bastard……’
Jonathan looked at Kali, who slightly showed his intentions, and formed a chilly smile.
The look of him raising his head at him did not please his heart.
But now wasn’t the time to raise a confrontation between the allies.
He lightly nodded his head and waved his hand.
“Of course you should have the command.”
“Thank you for your consideration, sir.”
Kali quickly lowered his head.
Then holding the metal disk recognizing his command, he exited the tent.
As the situation was such, there was no reason to idle.
He soon called the Owells Forces and the Chase Legion’s troops that he had separately been assigned, and marched towards the east.
Demis Izy, who was one of the commanders, carefully approached.
“Where should we set as our destination, sir?”
He was asking of the battlefield.
Kali, with eyes that had sank low, looked towards the east.
“The location of the decisive battle……”
In his voice, a killing intent rubbed off.
“Is Arslan Valley.”
Expression full of confidence.
‘There is no place like that one.’
The Lancephil Fief’s geography was, without a single thing missing, within his head.
Amongst them, he chose the location that he could pull out the most perfect victory.
However, he did not quite knew.
That this decision, which he thought of as very ideal and excellent decision, was in truth completely grasped by someone else.
However much he ran, he was unable to escape from the palm.
*****
Arslan Valley.
A valley located at the Lancephil Fief’s East, it was famous for being highly precipitous compared to its small size.
Furthermore, because its shape too was not ordinary, there was a wide and long space between the perilous cliffsides that rose to both sides that two thousand men could move through at once.
Forests were overgrown on both sides’ exits, and after getting out of the forest, regions of low hills were widely spread out.
Before Io led the fief regiment and subjugate the place, it was the main stronghold of the Arslan Brigand and various monsters’ dens were located.
“The scenery truly is nice.”
Roan sat on top of a warhorse and looked at the Arslan Valley that roughly took place.
At that moment, Austin, who was nearby, asked in a small voice.
“My lord. Should we do something?”
Roan slightly nodded his head, then lightly raised his left and gave a hand signal.
Soon, the sound of horns and gongs noisily rang.
Vvuuuuuu! Jing! Jing! Jing!
Suddenly, the Tale Legion’s soldiers and the Lancephil Legion’s soldiers, who were chasing the enemy forces, slowly lowered their speed.
“Pull back again?”
“We’re stopping the chase?”
“Even though it really was right before planting a sword at the back of their heads?”
The minor soldiers smacked their lips as if regrettable.
Compared to them, the commanders above hundred-man rank quickly reacted to Roan’s order.
Soon, they reorganized the troop and began to quickly retreat.
In an instant, the entire legion moved back all the way to the back of the hills.
After looking at that sight, Austin spoke in a small voice.
“We have arrived at the Arslan Valley, sir.”
Roan faintly smiled at those words and asked back.
“How was it while we came here?”
Austin answered without hesitation.
“The Owells Forces bastards were idiots.”
Roan did not say any words and awaited his remaining words.
A smile hung around Austin’s mouth.
“They were too openly luring us towards the Arslan Valley, sir.”
Roan slowly nodded his head at those words.
It was as according to Austin’s words.
Every time the Owells Forces bastards fought, they were much too easily destroyed and ran.
The problem was that the retreat path was much too noticeably towards the Arslan Valley.
Roan looked at the steep Arslan Valley and deeply breathed in.
“This time as well, I’m greatly awed by Clay.”
“I’m also the same, sir.”
As soon as his words finished, Austin echoed.
The one who chose the location of the first decisive battle as the Arslan Valley was Clay.
No, to be exact, he had predicted that the location of the decisive battle would be the Arslan Valley.
Clay had opined that if it was Kali, who was versed in the Lancephil Fief, he would choose the Arslan Valley as the place of counterattack.
‘Furthermore, he guaranteed that Kali, rather than Count Chase, would step up if we were to achieve continuous victories.’
Even while staying in the Mediasis Castle far away from the battlefields, his eye of reading the war’s situation was greatly precise.
He truly was an outstanding genius.
But.
‘The thing he is more amazing is……’
The light in Roan’s eyes deeply sank.
‘That he even knew the truth that I gave a secret order to Walter.’
Using that, Clay had even set up a meticulous plan to how to lead the Arslan Valley’s decisive battle.
‘Although he says that he have inferred it from me and Walter’s relation, the process and time of Walter’s betrayal, Walter’s battles, and so on, but……’
He couldn’t plainly believe that.
The smile that floated up around Roan’s mouth disappeared.
His gaze headed towards the reconnaissance birds and the messenger birds flying above his head.
‘Clay. Are you not spying on me?’
It was an obvious suspicion.
Abruptly, the words Princess Aily Rinse said in the past floated up once again.
‘Certainly, she said not to give him all of my trust. That Clay’s heart couldn’t be seen……’
Roan spat out a long sigh.
Whether the reason he spied on him was of a good intention or a bad intention, that was not important.
The fact that he was spying and watching him itself was important.
‘I should have a talk with him once the fief war is finished.’
He laboriously threw away the complicated thoughts inside his head.
Right now was the time to focus on the first decisive battle that would spread in front of him.
“Austin.”
“Yes! Please speak, sir.”
Austin answered with an expression completely filled with strength.
Roan, in a small and quiet voice, ordered.
“Divide the Tale Legion into two. You lead one half and set up a formation inside the forest. And……”
His voice became much quieter.
A moment later.
“Ah……”
Austin, with a half dazed expression, burst out an exclamation.
“Just when did you prepare all the way to that point, sir?”
At the board that was finely set even without him knowing, he repeated his awe.
Roan faintly smiled and quietly nodded his head.
Austin then saluted.
“Sir! I will definitely execute the mission, sir.”
He quickly led his horse and disappeared.
Baron Bernard Landingham and Baron Andre Molde, who were nearby, asked in a cautious voice.
“What do you plan to do from now on, sir?”
They hadn’t heard the secret mission that Roan had granted to Austin.
Because of that, their faces were full of puzzlement.
‘I can understand up to choosing Arslan, which is a precipitous valley, as the location of the decisive battle. But……’
He couldn’t know what kind of unusual schemes Roan had after this.
Roan faintly smiled and answered shortly.
“We will lead the entire force and pierce through the Arslan Valley.”
The instant his words finished, Bernard and Andre creased their brows.
“Eh? Pierce through? Although the valley’s gap is wide, forests are spread out on the side of the entrance and the exit. If the enemy were waiting in ambush or so, we will receive large damage.”
“No, more than that, we could receive a flame attack after entering the forest. If so, the entire legion will be exterminated.”
At those words, Roan quietly smiled, then slightly raised his head and looked at the sky.
A clear and bright sky.
It was a sky without a hint of cloud.
At that moment, a spirit tinted with a red light appeared in front of his eyes.
It was Kinis.
Roan faintly smiled and threw a question through his head.
‘Kinis. You’re certain that rain would come, right?’
Kinis, with a self-confident expression, answered.
[Don’t worry. Since although I can’t make it rain yet, I can at least ridiculously predict the weather.]
She looked up at the sky following Roan, then spoke in a sharp voice.
[Rain will definitely come. Definitely.]
Roan quietly nodded his head as he looked up at the sky.
Bernard and Andre, who were watching the situation with worried expression, followed Roan and looked at the sky.
‘Is there something?’
‘What is he looking at?’
But the only thing that was seen was a clear sky.
At that moment, Roan’s voice was heard.
“All of you, don’t worry.”
A soft spirit flowed.
Bernard and Andre turned their heads and looked at Roan.
Cheerfully smiling, Roan added on.
“Since the heaven will help us.”
To Bernard and Andre, whose piety weren’t deep, it wasn’t quite a trustworthy sentence.
They merely smiled bitterly and nodded their heads.
At that moment, Kinis’ voice was heard at the edge of Roan’s ears.
[Hmph! Getting all on a high horse! They’re all what I’ve told you!]
< The Decisive Battle (4) > End.
1. so… “thing” here refers to Roan, which was the most downgrading thing I could think of. Also, the word for “Fundamentals” here is 근본, which literally means roots or essence. In this context, for example, it most likely means “essence/fundamentals of a noble”.