Chapter 79: Unforgivable Guilt

Just as the entire battle was on the verge of disaster because of the noble officers’ greed and stupidity, while Fred was far from the front line and unable to do anything, a calm and steady voice broke the deadlock on the battlefield, becoming a new savior for the Delanmaya Army.

“Prepare the scaling ladders! Cross the moat and attack the city!” I followed the voice and looked over. What I saw was a thin, tall, pale middle-aged officer. He wore dark gray armor, and his expression was blank. There was no blood on his body and no weapon in his hands. On this battlefield filled with gleaming blades and scarlet blood, he was completely inconspicuous.

I vaguely remembered that this officer’s name seemed to be Josephinia Ka Pekra. He was a viscount, born into a wealthy and powerful noble family. His cousin, Count Pekra, was the Keeper of the Great Seal for His Majesty King Miguela. Although he did not have much real power, because he was close to the very core of the kingdom’s power, he was also a person of considerable influence in the Royal Capital.

The reason I remembered this man was not because of his distinguished family background, but because he was different. Unlike his noble peers, he never showed off his birth and status in the army, nor did he ever use his noble identity to do anything improper. Whenever fierce arguments broke out in meetings, as a staff officer he would sit silently to one side, never taking part in those arguments that seemed to be of no help at all. This thin, somewhat frail middle-aged man was sometimes mocked by his fellow noble officers because of his excessive silence and forbearance, but he never seemed to take those insulting words to heart.

He seemed to be the kind of person who, wherever you placed him, would immediately disappear into the crowd, like a small pebble thrown into a surging torrent—not even a single splash would rise. The reason I remembered him at all was because, in comparison, he treated soldiers with kindness and mercy. He was an exception among the nobles. I had not actually regarded him as an extraordinary soldier. But what he was doing right now was indeed something enough to turn the tide of the battle.

Under Viscount Pekra’s command, several hundred men paid no attention to the chaotic city gate. Instead, they moved away from the fiercest fighting, laid more than ten scaling ladders across the moat, stepped on this temporary wooden-and-bamboo bridge to cross the moat, and then set even more ladders against the city wall. Compared with the huge resistance faced by the soldiers in front of the city gate, they hardly faced any decent opponent. Most of the Cretans’ attention had been firmly fixed on the corpse-strewn gate area, and they ignored the defense of the other wall sections. This oversight gave Viscount Pekra a chance to catch them off guard. Although there were only a few hundred soldiers, they achieved almost brilliant results. They all but climbed onto the top of the wall and seized a section of it. At the foot of the wall, another few dozen soldiers were banging their weapons against one another, making a loud racket, cheering for their comrades below the city wall.

This unexpected attack disrupted the Cretans’ deployment. The soldiers gathered at the city gate quickly scattered under the command of their officers. They not only rushed toward the wall section under attack, but also spread their forces along the wall as much as possible, filling any gaps that might appear. At the same time, the Cretan spear unit that had already charged out of the city gate and was cutting down the Delanmaya troops below the wall gave up a pursuit that could have caused even greater casualties, and hastily withdrew into the city. The Delanmaya noble private soldiers below the wall felt their pressure greatly reduced, and seized this chance to escape without wasting time.

“Abandon the assault! All troops, fall back!” Seeing that his allies had escaped danger, Viscount Pekra did not show the slightest hesitation or desire to claim credit, and immediately ordered his troops to fall back. It was clear that he was very clear-headed and had not been carried away by his temporary success. He had indeed seized the most favorable opportunity, and amid the chaos, he had quietly stabbed at a weak spot in our enemy. But he could also see that only a few hundred men could not win through a surprise attack like this, and now our disordered formation could not give him any more help either. This attack on the city had been nothing more than a feint, carried out to save more of our comrades below the wall.

“What a pity,” I thought regretfully. If there had been enough troops, Viscount Pekra could have brought a victorious end to this town that was not very tall. But even so, he had already saved as much of our fighting strength as possible with the fewest losses, so that more Delanmaya soldiers would not have to die needlessly. More importantly, he had saved our sagging morale, let our soldiers see hope of victory, and also spread fearful feelings into Chamela Town. Compared with the Cretan archers who had earlier shot arrows from the top of the wall while mocking the enemies’ deaths, the Cretans now once again saw the shadow of defeat. From their ranks we could tell that our enemy had become cautious. From another angle, they also felt fear.

“Rodrick! Jeff! What is going on here?” A clear, angry voice came from behind along with the sound of horse hooves. After the battlefield had gone through two earth-shattering twists, Fred had finally arrived.

“How could things end up like this? Where are your ranks? Where is your formation! Did three years of war teach you to fight like this?” For the first time—for the first time—my friend had rebuked us so mercilessly in front of everyone. His face carried anger, and even more, pain and regret. Rodrick and I lowered our heads in shame, unable to say a word. Although we had a chest full of grievances, we could not say that Fred’s accusation was wrong. He had given us the most critical and important task of this battle, and he had given it to us with his heavy trust. Hadn’t we disappointed him? Shouldn’t we bear our own responsibility for the army’s loss of control? We were, after all, officers. We had to be responsible for our positions.

“You should not blame the two officers, General!” My adjutant, Dobbs, an officer in his thirties, could not help speaking up to defend us. He had always been a silent soldier; obedience and execution were his greatest virtues. But this time he went against my wishes, completely ignoring the look I gave him to stop, and spoke loudly to explain for Rodrick and me.

Dobbs was not the kind of man who was used to speaking to a superior officer in this way. His voice trembled with excitement and anger. He said, “The two officers faithfully carried out your orders, General. At the beginning of the battle, we had a huge advantage and almost captured the city gate. But at that moment, General…”

His voice caught a little; he swallowed, then continued, “…at that very moment, the noble officers around us incited their private soldiers to rush and grab the credit for taking the city. It was they who broke through our own ranks and ruined the excellent situation. The two officers tried hard to stop them, but those noble officers completely ignored their presence and even slandered them to their faces. For what happened here, General, the two officers should not bear any responsibility!”

After listening to Dobbs’s explanation, Fred’s face turned a frightening shade of livid. His eyes shot out arrow-like glares and swept fiercely over our messy battlefield.

“Is what he said true?” Fred’s voice was colder than the late autumn evening wind.

The soldiers around us all spoke up to confirm for us.

“Rodrick, Jeff, is what he said true?”

Rodrick and I exchanged a glance, and finally nodded.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? Why didn’t you tell me this yourselves? Did you think I would not believe my own friends, or was it that you didn’t trust me?” Fred yelled at us furiously, but the feeling contained in this rebuke was already very different from before.

“You almost took the blame for those nobles who committed crimes, do you know that? I absolutely cannot allow such a thing to happen. Absolutely not!” My friend jumped off his horse, tightly gripped both my arms, and looked straight into my eyes. His expression was serious, his gaze bright and burning, and at the corners of his eyes there was a glistening, crystal-like moisture, which made my heart feel warm.

“We are soldiers, Fred. We must take responsibility. Not for those noble officers, but for the soldiers who died. We did not complete our mission. This is our fault. There is no reason for us to avoid this responsibility. I’m sorry, Fred. No—I’m sorry, sir.” I gently pushed away his hands and saluted my friend with the most solemn posture I could manage as an apology. Not long ago, I might have been angry at the stupidity of those noble officers, but at this moment, I could only think of those soldiers who had needlessly sacrificed their lives because of their foolish deeds. Their deaths were as painful to my heart as if my fingers had been chopped off. Someone had to take responsibility for their sacrifice, and I would rather it be me. This was the only thing I could do for my incompetence.

“Someone will be held responsible for this, I promise. Jeff, Rodrick, I promise…” Fred patted my shoulder gently to comfort me, then immediately gave the order, “All units, withdraw beyond the enemy archers’ range, line up, and rest.”

His order was faithfully carried out. Those defeated troops, on the verge of collapse, wished they could get even farther from the dangerous wall. During the retreat, he encountered the panicked Count Kargil, the man who had first incited his private soldiers to seize credit. He had been struck by an arrow in his left arm. Although there was no serious damage, he still had his subordinates carry him on a stretcher while he groaned in pain.

“Count, is your wound serious?” Fred rode up to him and asked in a hoarse voice.

The Count did not detect the danger in Fred’s tone, and boasted with a trace of pride, “The wound is not light, but it is nothing. For the glory of His Majesty the King and the victory of Delanmaya, I would be willing even if my head and body were separated.”

“Good, good, good.” Fred gritted his teeth and spat out three “good”s. “You are very brave, and very loyal, and full of great patriotic passion. But I want to ask you: what was the task I gave you?”

“Hold the rear formation, ready to support Lieutenant Colonel Gid’s assault force at any time.” He seemed to sense something, and his voice gradually lowered. He no longer sounded as high and mighty as before.

“Hold the rear formation. Very good, you still remember your responsibility. Then let me ask you: how did you get that arrow wound? Are you saying that the Cretan longbowmen somehow have ten times our range, shooting across the entire battlefield to hit you, my lord, in the rear?” Fred stared hard at Count Kargil, pouring all his anger onto this incompetent officer.

“I-It’s like this, General…” The Count finally realized things were not going well, and hurriedly tried to excuse himself: “Lieutenant Colonel Gid’s force, when attacking… when attacking the city, retreated. Yes, retreated. He shrank back, and that’s what pushed me… pushed me to the very front of the battlefield…”

“Shut up, you despicable man.” I could not bear it any longer, and stepped out from behind Fred’s horse. Anger nearly clouded my mind, causing me to draw the short sword at my waist and raise it above my head.

“I retreated?” My lips trembled with rage, and besides these words I could not say anything else. Finally, unable to suppress the fury in my chest, I swung the short sword in my hand with all my strength, drawing a miserable scream from the Count.

A flash of sword light passed, and I cut through the stretcher’s supports. The unbalanced stretcher tipped the terrified Count onto the ground. His body shrank beneath my short sword, becoming a limp, powerless heap.

“Answer me. Did Lieutenant Colonel Gid really retreat?” Fred turned away from the Count, who had rolled to the ground, and asked the surrounding soldiers. His stern questioning quickly received true answers from the soldiers.

“Answer me. Did Lieutenant Colonel Gid stop the Count when he violated his orders?”

Fred’s anger was like a silently burning black flame. Though it was not violent or showy, it gave off a suffocating signal of danger. At this moment, standing before him, one could not even form the thought of arguing. Almost all the soldiers testified for me, and among them were Count Kargil’s own private soldiers.

“You are a Count, so you don’t have to obey the commands of a commoner, right?” Fred turned to the Count, who was cowering to one side, and demanded loudly. Naturally, his question received no answer.

“Fine, then should you not obey my orders—I, the frontline commander-in-chief of the Delanmaya Army, General of the Kingdom, Marquis Ka Guderian—and hold your ground, provide support, protect your allies, and protect your soldiers?” Fred dismounted, walked up to him, grabbed him firmly by the collar, and dragged him up from the ground.

“Because of you, because of your greedy foolishness, thousands of soldiers died needlessly. Yet you are still lying on a stretcher boasting about your so-called bravery, and even slandering those who truly fought bravely. You are simply…” Fred said through gritted teeth up to this point, then suddenly swallowed his own voice. He only silently cast his hateful gaze on the limp bureaucrat in front of him. I thought that he could not find a fitting phrase to describe this human-shaped creature whose shamelessness was beyond measure.

“Judge Advocate, for disregarding military orders, harming friendly troops, scrambling for credit, slandering officers of the Kingdom, and placing the whole army in danger—what should the punishment be?”

“Every one of them is a capital crime, General!” A merciless answer came from behind us.

When the words “capital crime” struck Count Kargil’s eardrums, he suddenly recovered from his limp state, hugged Fred’s leg tightly, and cried out desperately, “Spare my life, General! It was only because I was too eager to win merit that I committed these crimes. Please spare my life!”

“Spare your life?” Fred’s voice was as merciless as the impenetrable black night. “Go ask the soldiers you killed, the corpses with missing limbs, the wronged spirits lingering because of their unjust deaths. Go ask them whether they are willing to forgive your filthy life!” He waved his right hand, and immediately two tall soldiers, led by the judge advocate, dragged the struggling Count to another place.

In despair, the Count shrieked, “I am the Foreign Minister’s cousin and General Ferdinand’s cousin! You cannot kill me! No one dares to kill me…” Until a miserable scream that marked the end of his life rang out, he never stopped reciting that list of relatives and friends decorated with the names of powerful people. Unfortunately, those names, which shone with dazzling light far away in the Royal Capital, could not travel a thousand miles to save his life here.

“Take his head and announce to the whole army: if during this battle there is any more scrambling for credit or disregarding of military orders, Count Kargil will be the example.” Fred looked with disgust at the place where the Count had let out his last scream. “Why do these fools always think that reciting a bunch of names can save their lives? Can these people’s power be greater than Death’s summons?”

Our army calmed down from its panic. Kargil’s death served two purposes. The first was that it made the remaining noble officers remember what it meant to be soldiers. I estimated that for a short time, no one would dare repeat the same mistake. Moreover, they would probably fight even harder in the later battles, in order to make up for their previous stupid mistakes. This was the first time my friend had used intimidation to achieve the effect of restoring military discipline. I knew that this method was never what he wanted, but the situation forced him to do so. The other point was that Fred used this method to declare that the punishment of the noble officers stopped there. This greatly calmed their minds, so that they would not harbor treacherous thoughts during battle. Giving up on punishing those who had committed serious crimes was also something my friend did not wish to happen, but again, it was the situation that forced him to make such a choice. This was not fair to the soldiers who had died, but doing so was to protect the lives of the many more soldiers still alive around us.

“Ask Viscount Pekra to come over.” During the rest, Fred listened to our detailed account of what had happened before he arrived, and became interested in that officer who had saved the battlefield situation at the critical moment. He carefully examined the Chamela City not far away, asked exactly where Viscount Pekra had led his troops to break in, thought for a moment, and then sent his invitation.

Soon, Viscount Pekra appeared before us. After he had displayed the talent of an excellent commander, I finally had the chance to take a good look at him. He was a little over forty. Apart from his head full of gray hair, there was nothing attractive about him. He didn’t look like a soldier; he looked more like a pedantic teacher, or someone else of that sort.

“I have heard of your outstanding performance on the battlefield, my lord. Thank you for saving this army.” Fred said to him sincerely.