Chapter 169
The Rebel
Army's Battle ⑫ -
Battle in the Suburbs of Burg ③ : Annihilation Battle in the Forest
Translator : PolterGlast
The Commander's
200-strong cavalry troop was equipped with Estol Bows, which had a longer range
and greater power than crossbows. After inflicting heavy damage on the enemy's
left flank, they reversed course in time with the enemy's charge and galloped
down the road that wound through the forest.
"That's
incredible. Not just their skill at shooting from horseback, but their
disciplined movements and superb provocation. The timing of their escape at the
last second is truly convincing."
Alexis, who was beside
me, raised his voice in admiration. As always, the movements of the cavalry led
by the Commander were splendid, and even I was captivated watching them.
For their shooting, a
Wind Mage who had been transferred from Viscount Gorman's army was accompanying
the cavalry and using wind magic, allowing them to achieve a range, power, and
accuracy that would normally be unthinkable.
"Right... they're
all thoroughly drilled by the Commander (that demon) on a daily basis. If they
mess up and do something unsightly, there's a harsh reward (special training)
waiting for them..."
The Commander's
merciless training suddenly flashed through my mind, and I muttered while
staring into the distance.
"Well then, is it
about time? Please give the bell signal to the ambush troops to stand by, and
the flag signal to the main camp to prepare to fire."
"Understood!"
This time, we had more
than enough Wind Mages. Since we hadn't assigned mages to the dispersed
longbowmen, the wind magic was sufficient just for supporting the archers
positioned at the front.
For that reason, I had
asked Alexis to act less as a mage and more as my aide in the main camp,
responsible for relaying instructions to the various units.
Even in the battle on
the eastern border, he had never shown any strange hesitation toward me or the
Commander, and he had remained unflappable on the battlefield, always operating
as usual.
Because of that, he
had become a comrade with whom we could fight with peace of mind—someone we
didn't need to be strangely reserved or considerate with, who already shared
our tactics and methods, and who understood our operational commands.
"Clang, clang,
clang, clang..."
A slow, repeated
ringing of a bell echoed across the battlefield.
This was the signal to
the longbowmen in the forest to move into firing positions and prepare to shoot.
At this stage, they were still hidden among the trees a little deeper in,
holding their breath.
Then, as the Commander
and the allied cavalry retreated and approached the forest road, the speed of
the ringing quickened slightly. Behind them, a group of cavalry, filling the
road, had begun to charge toward us.
"Clangclangclangclangclangclangclang..."
As the enemy cavalry
entered the kill zone, the ringing of the bell became even faster. The sound of
the bell signaled that the attack was about to begin.
"Ready to fire!
Target is the front rank of the charging enemy!"
At my command, a red
flag was waved vigorously.
The Commander's
cavalry troop avoided the moats and abatis set up in front of our position,
retreated through a predetermined narrow passage, and then turned to take up
positions to defend that passage.
At that moment, the
enemy cavalry had closed to a distance of 200 m.
"Fire on the
third strike!"
At my command, the
bell stopped its continuous ringing and began to strike three times. The massed
volley would begin on the third strike.
In time with the sound
of the bell, 300 crossbowmen from the front of the main camp and 140 longbowmen
hidden beside the main camp—a total of 440 arrows—were unleashed, their deadly
flight supported by the Wind Mages.
The enemy's vanguard
was already at about 100 m. With the sound of arrows cutting through the air,
the projectiles, accelerated by the Wind Mages, pierced the charging men and
horses one after another.
"Ah!"
"Wah!"
"Gwah!"
Taking the full force
of the volley, the front rank of the cavalry that had been charging toward us
fell from their horses all at once. The horses that were hit either tumbled
over or reared up, thrashing wildly.
Those behind them
crashed into the fallen, either tripping and falling themselves or trampling
the fallen men and horses under their hooves. Furthermore, a succession of
riders had their horses' legs taken out from under them, causing them to fall
or be thrown, and the area became a scene of carnage, a vortex of shrieks and
chaos.
"Do not fear! It
will take time for them to fire a second volley! Use this opening to rally from
the confusion and charge the enemy camp!"
Someone in the middle
of the cavalry column, who had escaped the initial damage, shouted at his
allies.
Even after taking the
first hit, their morale had not waned.
The number of arrows
was greater than they had expected, but they had anticipated taking some damage
from a crossbow volley.
At this close a
distance, a horse at a full gallop could rush the enemy camp before a second
volley could be fired. Thinking this, they spurred themselves on.
They berated their
faltering allies and tried to somehow continue the attack.
However, their
expectations were greatly mistaken. Blocked by the moats and abatis spread
before the enemy camp, their horses could not advance and came to a halt.
The only three open
passages leading to the enemy camp were all narrow, allowing only a single
horse to pass through at a time.
The reason the
Commander had led his cavalry in a three-file column was to pass through here
without confusion.
Those who passed
through the narrow passage alone were surrounded by the waiting cavalry led by
the Commander and were cut down one by one.
And then, something
even more unexpected assaulted them.
From the forests on
the left and right of their advance, new soldiers suddenly poured out. In their
hands, they held longbows the likes of which they had never seen...
"An ambush!
There's an ambush in the forest!"
At the voice that rose
from nowhere, the soldiers of Count Goyoku's army were severely shaken.
The arrows from the
ambushers came at them incessantly, with a rate of fire and a range unthinkable
for crossbows. What's more, they were caught in a crossfire of arrows from all
sides, and in an instant, they suffered enormous damage, their battle lines
collapsing everywhere.
"Re-retreat!
Retreat!"
At this point, the
Count's cavalry decided to retreat. But the infantry who had followed them into
the forest road were in the way, and they could neither advance nor retreat.
Confirming the enemy
army's confusion and the reduced pressure on the front line, I moved to the
next phase.
"From now on,
change firing targets to long range! Crush the enemy's escape route! Ready...
fire!"
I switched the orders
for the archers and mages deployed in front of the main camp to a battle of
annihilation.
It seemed cruel, but
if we did not completely repel their army, we would not be able to rush to our
comrades fighting in Teigoon.
Although they were
fellow soldiers of the Kyle Kingdom, we had no room for mercy for those who had
participated in the rebellion.
And then, a merciless
rain of arrows poured down on their rearmost ranks.
"The escape
route... there is none! There's a rain of arrows behind us too!"
The cavalrymen of
Count Goyoku's army screamed. The infantry in the rear were being hit by arrows
one after another and falling.
It was at this moment
that they realized they had been lured into the enemy's kill zone and were now
in the process of being annihilated. The sound of the bell from the enemy camp
had become, for them, a death knell.
They tried to flee to
the rear, but men and horses were in a chaotic jumble, and they could not even
move as they wished.
"The fear that
Lord Takuhir expressed during the battle on the eastern border... I now
understand it with my own body. The Istoria Imperial Kingdom was aiming for
this. We could have been annihilated in the same way, is that what you
mean..."
Alexis watched this
unfold, his face pale as if it were happening to him.
※
Far away, someone was
watching the great chaos that had befallen his allies on the road, in a daze.
"What is that?
Why are our allies in confusion? They are few in number, why can't we crush
them!"
Count Goyoku, who had
been surrounded by his rearguard infantry and eagerly awaiting the outcome of
the battle, screamed. Originally, in terms of the number of soldiers and the
proportion of cavalry, victory should have been guaranteed.
And yet, the cavalry
who had charged into the road through the forest, and the infantry who had
followed them, were falling one after another, and the army he had prided as
his main force was now being annihilated.
A very small number of
soldiers escaped from the deadly kill zone like scattering spiders, but tens of
times that number would never return from the road between the forests.
The Count, who had
been watching the scene in a daze, finally collapsed to his knees, unable to
accept the reality before him.
"I... With the
merits of this battle, I was to rise to the rank of Imperial Marquess and
become a great noble ruling over the entire southern region... I was to send
those bastards who made a fool of me, the fools who sit smugly in the capital
playing at politics, to the guillotine... to be praised as a nobleman who made
a great and decisive act that will be remembered in history..."
Count Goyoku muttered
as if in a delirium, speaking of the future he had been so sure of until just a
moment ago. A future that would now never come...
He had been dragged
down by his own immense greed, which was exploited by the darkness, and had started
a rebellion that was beyond his capacity. In this decisive battle, the greed
that began with vanity and wicked thoughts had driven his allies into a corner
and sealed their defeat.
He had not yet been
destroyed, but he sensed the omen and was terrified.
"At this rate,
even if we welcome that person, I will be forced to stand beneath Hiyorimi!
Moreover, if our forces are whittled down, we won't be able to light the fuse
to welcome him (by violating the truce and the border)!"
Saying this, he
collapsed to the ground. But the misfortunes that would befall him had only
just begun.
In his kneeling field
of vision, a group approaching from the far south came into view. At first, he
hoped that his detached force had sensed their predicament and had come to
their aid.
But as they drew
closer, the situation became clear, and the Count was so astonished that this
time he nearly fainted.
※
Viscount Gogan, who
had been entrusted with the 2,500-strong detached force, could not stand being
excluded from the opportunity to gain military merit and being treated coldly.
As he moved south, he
provoked Margrave Hastburg by creating a blatant opening, intending to draw him
out and challenge him to a decisive battle.
But the Margrave was
accurately aware of the operational plan, the progress of the situation, and
the strategy that Raphael had relayed as a messenger. He knew that Count Goyoku
had assigned his mobile forces to capture the forest barricades, and that
Viscount Gogan was a decoy.
Therefore, taking advantage
of the opening he had created, he suddenly bared his fangs and launched an
all-out attack. With a speed and ferocity that Viscount Gogan could not have
imagined.
Even with almost equal
numbers, against the Margrave and his army, who had guarded the border for many
years and fought against powerful enemies, Viscount Gogan and his soldiers,
with little command experience and even less battle experience, were no match
at all.
On the battlefield,
they were toyed with like mice being tormented by a cat, and were easily cut
down and annihilated.
"Im-impossible!"
Those were the last
words of the young man who had become the head of the viscount house.
Along with many of his
soldiers, Viscount Gogan also vanished like dew on the battlefield, and a
battered remnant of just under 500 men had broken from the field and fled to
Count Goyoku.
The remaining 2,000
were in a truly disastrous state—some had fallen on the battlefield, some were
unable to move due to wounds, and some had been taken prisoner.
※
Count Goyoku gathered
the remnants of these defeated soldiers, retreated from the forest of Burg, and
desperately ran for the border, heading for the camp deployed by Glorious, the
First Prince of the Griffonia Empire.
But even on the way,
soldiers continued to desert in droves.
And when they had
finally, with great difficulty, reached the vicinity of the border, many of the
soldiers learned the truth of the matter: that they themselves were the rebel
army.
Some of the soldiers
went into a rage, captured the traitor Count Goyoku and his family, and
surrendered to the Frontier Knights.
And so, his fate was
sealed.
Of the 4,200 men of
the rebel army led by Count Goyoku, 1,500 were lost in the forest of Burg, and
2,000 were lost on the outskirts of Burg. Of course, this number includes many
who surrendered and became prisoners, and those who were wounded and captured.
Of the 700 or so
soldiers who escaped the battlefield with the Count, many deserted in the
process of fleeing, and in the end, the soldiers who captured the Count and
surrendered numbered less than 100.
『Remember the battle of Burg. Remember the fate of
those who raise the banner of rebellion against the kingdom. The fate of those
who have lost their pride as nobles of the kingdom. The arrows of punishment
shall rain down upon the heads of the wicked, and the meaning of justice shall
be shown. Do not forget the fate of those who drown in their own greed and lose
sight of the greater cause. 』
The pitiful end of
Count Goyoku would later be told for a long time in the Kyle Kingdom as a
lesson for the nobility.
※
Having achieved a
historic victory in the battle in the forest of Burg, we were in the midst of
post-battle cleanup when we sent a messenger to Margrave Hastburg.
As a result, we
learned that the Margrave had also been victorious. I left the handling of the
battlefield to the Commander and went to see the Margrave.
"Baron Solis, it
has been a while, and... you've changed! This time... was truly
magnificent!"
The Margrave said this
and embraced me.
To be welcomed with an
embrace from a superior was the highest form of courtesy in the Kyle Kingdom.
The Margrave, too, had escaped his greatest crisis, and his joy must have been
exceptional.
"I just received
the latest news. The Hiyorimi army that attacked your domain has been
annihilated, and the Viscount has been captured. Your domain was protected by
your brother.
He is now leading a
combined army of various nobles and is fighting from place to place. With this,
the rebellion that broke out across the southern region can finally be
completely suppressed.
We can finally see the
end of this difficult war."
Brother Darek! Thank
you, truly, truly thank you.
My chest filled with
gratitude, and tears began to stream down my face uncontrollably.
And everyone in
Teigoon! I'm sorry for always, always being away when it matters most.
And thank you for
everything while I was gone.
I unconsciously fell
to my knees, bowed my head toward the southwest (Teigoon), and for a while, I
could not raise my head, overcome with gratitude and apology.
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