Volume 8 Chapter 1 Part 10

Then they reached the bank of the river, they made camp together with their subordinate Lords and their soldiers.

On the other side of the stone bridge, the Heavy Knights of Waldrind were stationed. Their number is about 3,000. There were less than 1,000 heavily armored cavalry knights. A fence was erected across the bridge, and heavily armored knights were lined up on the other side. With their current numbers, that was the only thing they could do.

「It should be fine for us to send our troops for reconnaissance, but it doesn’t seem like there’s going to be much for them to check out. 」

Theo smiled bitterly as he looked towards the enemy encampment.

「If they’re just going to protect their positions to stop us from advancing, then these numbers should be more than enough. 」

Siluca nodded with a sigh. By advancing the army to the border, their aim was to attract the Heavy Knights of Waldrind’s attention to this particular spot and restrict their ability to perform military operations in other areas. That was their way of supporting Kurt Gallas, the Earl of Leclerc, who is still fighting against the Factory Alliance in the northern part of the continent.

In addition to that, the two countries of Furgard and Medinia, located north of Ozer and west of Veltava, recently requested tha aid of the Artuk Treaty.

These two countries are located in geographically important positions. Furgard belongs to the Fantasia Union, and Medinia belongs to the Factory Alliance, and they have been fighting each other for a long time, but neither of these two countries was ever the scene of any bigger wars.

The reason for this is that these two countries are separated by a Demonic Realm called the Tree Dragon Forest. Originally, it was supposed to be an east-west and north-south corridor meant to cross from one country to another without entering its territory directly, but it has been abandoned after a while and it gradually became more and more isolated.

However, eventually the Lords of the two countries eventually managed to reconcile and patch things up between each other, and somehow they even managed to pacify the Tree Dragon Forest, or at the very least that’s what Waldrind knew about the entire matter. It then asked Medinia to become subjugated to it, after which it ordered them to give them their full cooperation in the effort to invade Furgard.

The lord of Medinia refused and replied that he would fight alongside Furgard. And as everyone was expecting, Waldrind would respond harshly to this sudden betrayal.

It seems that Waldrind has already sent a squad of its Heavy Knights to both countries to deal with them so that neither of the two ever thought about sending its troops as reinforcements for the Artuk Treaty or the Fantasia Union.

However, Siluca’s adoptive father Aubest saw through the situation and sent out the minimum number of troops necessary to handle the situation.

「Shall I go ahead and move forward together with my squad of soldiers with tower shields? I we put our shields to use, then we should be able to jump over even the highest of fences.

Petr offered.

「If that’s a no-go, then maybe I should go ahead with my people? Once we drag them int a close quarters combat, then even the famous Heavy Knights of Waldrind will be nothing that we should be afraid of. 」

Lassic said vigorously and started preparing himself to head out.

「Please wait. 」

Siluca hurriedly stopped him.

「I agree that this might be a good way for us to break through the enemy ranks, but on the other hand, we don’t know how many casualties this is going to cost us. And even if we do manage to temporarily invade Waldrind, it’ll be just a matter of time before be get pushed back beyond the border when the enemy’s main force will arrive. 」

She knew that Petr would always succeed no matter how dangerous of a mission would be thrown at him and that there was no end to Lassic’s bravery, but now that they managed to reach as far as they did, they cannot allow themselves to recklessly lose them.

「Then what do you say we launch a guerilla force across the river in order to hit them with a surprise attack? If we succeed, then even if they’re going to be sacrifices on our side, there shouldn’t be too many of them. 」

Igor Constance made his own suggestion.

「I think it’s a good idea, but the other side of the river is Waldrind’s territory. It’s an unfamiliar land to us, and the people are definitely going to be hostile towards us. If we get discovered by them, we won’t have anywhere to run, and we’re going to be easily and quickly annihilated. 」
Siluca said while she was breaking out into a cold sweat.

Since guerilla warfare was always the specialty of the Lords of Artuk and their soldiers, there was no doubt in Siluca’s mind that they would succeed. However, this is not something that Igor himself would have to participate in now that he’s become the new head of the Constance family. Both Theo and Siluca had as great debt of gratitude for that family, so they’d hate it if something were to happen to Igor.

it is not a role that would require him to become the head of the Constance family, which is a prestigious family and has a great debt of gratitude.

「I’m glad that we have so many dependable allies on our side. 」

Theo smiled at Siluca.

「Absolutely. 」

Siluca also thought so from the bottom of her heart.

There were many different Lords in what leter became the Artuk Treaty after Thro appeared in Artuk, but because all of them were hailing from the same homeland, all of them were extremely loyal to one another, and not just because Theo was the leader of the Treaty and they were his subordinate Lords now.

Maybe it was all because Vilar Constance was such a charismatic leader, but it was more likely that the bond between the Lords of Artuk was such a strong one even before he became the leader of the entire region.

「However, since this dispatch is for the purpose of keeping the enemy soldiers in check, we don’t want to incur as many casualties as possible. We don’t know how long the war will last, and we are all still exhausted from the fight against Milza, so we musn’t allow Waldrind to expose that opening of ours. 」
「It feels like we’re being underestimated, but there’s no getting over it at this point, I guess. 」

Lasik remarked.

「I know that, but please bear with it for the time being. In fact, that’s the preferable outcome for us right now. If we won’t move any further, then they might think that we have no more will to fight left in us right now. After all, the Heavy Knights of Waldrind are so proud of their strength that they tend to take their opponents lightly like that. 」

「They sure tend to do that. 」

Theo nodded his head in agreement.

「If the enemy shows an opening, we will make a surprise attack. If not, I’m afraid we will have no choice but to retreat. In that case, I will ask Lord Petr to head towards Medinia… 」

「Understood! 」

It was another dangerous role to play, but Petr immediately agreed to it nonetheless.

Veltava shares a border with Fargurd and Medinia, and they will have to cooperate with them in the future. The Lords of both countries seemed to be quite young, and in that sense it could be said that Petr, who was a young Lord himself, was a perfect pick for that mission.

「Let’s wait for five days… 」

Siluca suggested.

「Until then, please remain vigilant, but please do not allow the soldiers on the other side to realize what is going on. 」

Three days have passed since then, but there was no sign of any slack in the enemy’s camp.

(This may not work…)

Siluca was about to give up.

(This is a large army, and Lord Theo and Lord Lassic are also here, so there’s no way they’ll let their guard down anytime soon.)

Even so, her adoptive father Aubest must have already calculated it. She was always proud of him as her adopted daughter, but now he’s her enemy, so things couldn’t be more complicated.

However, in the early hours of the fourth day, something unexpected happened. Suddenly, a commotion broke out in the enemy camp. After a while, someone broke through the fence blocking the bridge from the inside and crossed the bridge alone.

「What’s all the fuss about? 」

Theo immediately came up to Siluca and asked about what was going on.