As tension filled the battlefield, the feudal lord of Fatina desperately strove to raise morale. He promised the 12,000 soldiers that he would look after them within the holy organization – he would even give them medals – so long as they are able to defeat the Elrain Army.
“Behold! The enemy is few in numbers!”
The enemies gathered atop the hill were at most about 2,000. That was a sixth of their own numbers, so there was no way they could lose, he told them. Unfortunately, he wasn’t blessed with the charisma to lead people.
The monsters had the Goblin King, the enemy had their clan leader, Brandika, and the Kushain believers had their patriarch, Benem Nemush.
Such people were able to raise morale just by being there. Unfortunately, this man, who became the feudal lord solely because of his loyalty to the patriarch, did not have such charisma.
The forces of the Kushain believers were mainly farmers.
Because of that their numbers were many, and when gathered, they were a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, that only held true when fighting a winning battle, for they were not as persistent when fighting disadvantaged, causing them to only be a hindrance to any strategy attempted.
They were mainly footmen, so it was hard to move around with them, but they were all equipped with spears, which kept the enemy away. Most of them were dressed in leather armor, while an exceedingly few had iron armor.
After giving the soldiers with low morale a pep talk, the feudal lord ordered them to advance.
“O god, please watch over us!”
As the feudal lord cried out to his god, he mobilized the army to swallow the 2,000 soldiers of the enemy. At roughly the same time, the cavalry descended from the hill.
In response, the feudal lord clicked his tongue and gave out a command. “In the name of god, send those people to hell! Advance!!”
The Kushain believers lined up their spears and advanced, but the descending cavalry did not slow down even the slightest, instead riding even faster as they raised up their weapon and cried out.
“ATTTTAcccCCKk! GEt them!!”
At the clan leader, Brandika’s, command, the mages at the back casted their spells, and flames of bullets shot past Brandika and his cavalry, raining fire down on the Kushain believers’ line of spears.
As the Kushain believers screamed in pain and squirmed, the hipparion trampled them underfoot. and with Valdis, a soldier’s head was claimed.
Brandika tore through the densely packed formation, and cavalry and footmen alike followed him from behind.
“That’s the clan leader of the enemy! A thousand gold to anyone who takes his head!”
The Kushain believers’ eyes changed when they heard what the feudal lord said, but try as they might to focus their attacks on the man, all they could accomplish was increase the number of corpses.
Countless soldiers were either trampled over under hipparion hooves or cut down by Brandika’s Valdis. And just when it seemed he would finally stop, the Kushain believers were suddenly attacked from both flanks like two snake heads tearing through them as if they were a piece of paper.
“Die!!”
Saldin attacked fiercely from the right, piercing through the collapsing flank of the enemies.
“Hmph!”
The calm and collected Cell attacked from the left, meticulously tearing apart the enemy formation as she dyed the ground in the blood of the reserve soldiers at the back.
“We have 12,000 soldiers! How are we being pushed back!?”
As the feudal lord screamed in fear, the person who appeared next was none other than that very Brandika who should have already lost all momentum. Somehow he had renewed his momentum and was tearing straight through the formation toward the feudal lord.
But what was most terrifying of all was how heads flew with every swing of his Valdis.
As a fierce smile appeared on Brandika’s lips, the feudal lord felt like a beast had set its sights on him. Suddenly, it didn’t seem as if there was any hope of living through this.
“E-Eek!”
There were still some distance between them, there were soldiers too, but for some reason, it was as if none of that mattered.
The red-haired man would surely claim his head uncontested. At the very least, the feudal lord believed that.
“KU…”
“Shall we retreat, my lord!?”
While the feudal lord was speechless, his aide asked him that question.
But the feudal lord was so stricken with fear that he didn’t even have the leisure to respond as he turned to the gates and screamed.
“Open up!! Open up now! Hurry!”
When Carlion saw that, he immediately raised up his voice.
“The enemy feudal lord is retreating! We’ve won!”
Ally and foe alike searched for the feudal lord at Carlion’s proclamation. When the Kushain believers saw the feudal lord running, morale plummeted, while morale rose high for the Red King’s side, and they immediately set out to pursue the enemy to the gates.
“A reward for anyone who gets the general’s head!” Saldin announced to his soldiers.
“Hurry! Close the gates!” The feudal lord cried.
The feudal lord hurried for the gates to be closed, but alas, Saldin and his soldiers was able to pass through from the right flank.
“Take the gates! Banish the cowards from Fatina!” Saldin said
“Yes, sir!” The soldiers said back.
The moment the gates were taken over, the Red King’s victory was guaranteed.
With the feudal lord taken prisoner, the Red King was able to successfully defeat an influential city-state under the Kushain believers’ banner.
Such an achievement was unheard of within Elrain Kingdom. Not even Kanash himself has accomplished such a feat.
Word of this quickly spread through the southern parts, and before long, everyone knew that of the Red King’s great might and the decline of the Kushain believers.
◆◇◆
10 days after the Red King defeated Fatina.
Management of Fatina was left to him, but the only things given as remuneration were medals.
Despite that not a word of complaint was given, and Carlion continued to work in the office in place of Brandika.
Brandika needed to deal with the Elrain Kingdom, the various clans under their banner, and even government affairs. Frankly, it would not be enough even if he were to split his body into two to deal with all those.
“You sure work hard even though your master is out frolicking in the red-light district,” Cell said after popping out of nowhere.
Carlion wryly smiled. “I pushed all the annoying human relations to him, so this is the least I could do.”
“I don’t get it. You work this hard so late in the night, and yet you don’t take more than a paltry sum for your wage. Didn’t you say sufficient compensation should be given to deserving people?” Cell asked.
“You sure talk a lot today. Did something bad happen?”
“…Hmph. Suit yourself.”
The sound of Carlion’s pen rushing through the documents resounded throughout the office.
Cell sat herself on the sofa meant for guests and watched Carlion.
When Carlion had completed one part of his work, he looked up and smiled at Cell.
“So, was there something I could help you with?” He asked.
“What a fishy smile. I’d prefer it if you pointed that only toward other humans,” Cell said.
“That’s a little troubling,” Carlion wryly smiled.
Cell sneered and she gave Carlion a letter.
“It’s about the current state of the east. It’s from Shunrai,” she said.
Carlion’s eyebrows twitched as soon as he read the contents of the letter.
“…Things really don’t just go according to plan, huh. But I guess that’s exactly what makes life interesting.”
Carlion leaned his back onto his chair and heaved a sigh of relief.
As Cell sent him an inquisitive look, he revealed the contents of the letter.
“The Dagger of Webrus has fallen.”
Those words came out more bitter than he’d intended.
