41 – Episode 41
#41
“Even if they fight well, they are nothing.”
Despite the unexpected rebellion of the enemies, the viscount remained calm.
Well, actually, he only pretended to be calm, while inwardly cursing the incompetent mercenaries.
“These useless fools! How much silver did you eat up!”
Anyone who has played strategy simulation games would understand.
When a unit that you spent a lot of money on turns out to be useless, it’s human nature to get frustrated.
But fortunately, the viscount’s emotions couldn’t have any influence on the battle taking place far away.
What can you do just because you’re in a bad mood?
The viscount is neither a commander nor a warrior. He’s just a water carrier and a boss. Will the players’ skills decline just because the boss is in a bad mood?
If the viscount were to claim that he can’t fight, it could have a negative impact on the battle, but as long as Decado is in charge of the escort, there was no possibility of such madness happening.
So the viscount had made up his mind not to get angry at all.
It was a wise decision.
If I were to get angry at the fact that the mercenaries I hired at a high price were actually useless, I might lose my temper.
“…”
Unlike the viscount, who was forcing down his anger, Decado watched the battlefield with a more serious attitude than anyone else. It was a seasoned look that only experienced knights could exhibit.
Ian and Lucy had lost interest a long time ago. At first, it was exciting, but because the chaotic battle was hard to understand, they couldn’t distinguish one side from the other.
They simply assumed that they were winning just because they had more numbers.
“What do you think, Decado?”
When Deckard put on a serious expression, Ian asked the elderly knight a question.
“…Dark Knight.”
“Yes?”
“That knight in black armor… Clearly from the Eastern White Country.”
Dark Knight?
Ian scanned the battlefield again. There was indeed a knight in particularly black armor.
It seemed like Deckard was observing that knight.
“Wow. What’s this?”
Having belatedly discovered the Dark Knight, Ian watched the knight’s fight as if entranced by something.
No wonder, even to Ian, who was ignorant of war, the Dark Knight’s martial skills were outstanding.
The Dark Knight swiftly swung his sword, sweeping away the surrounding soldiers. The Count’s knights rushed in, but they couldn’t withstand more than ten exchanges and surrendered.
As Ian and Deckard paid attention, Lucy and the Count also started watching the Dark Knight.
And everyone was taken aback.
That knight fights so well?
Graeme’s army showed only the expected combat power. They fought fairly well, but still, they couldn’t resist the numbers.
As evidence, soldiers on the left and right were gradually surrounded and falling.
However, the center where the Dark Knight was active was different.
“It seems like he’s practically breaking through the center alone?”
“… It does look that way.”
Ian had learned about battles as a work of fiction.
It means I don’t know anything.
If there had been a leisure app, I might have gained something from the war stories I have seen and enjoyed so far, but Ian was just… a college student who enjoyed giggling in front of a computer.
Even Ian found the situation strange.
Yes.
The term “strange” was the most appropriate.
While the left and right wings were gaining the upper hand, the center was slowly retreating?
Events were unfolding that Ian, with his knowledge (A.K.A war stories), had never seen before.
A hot wind blew.
The hot and humid wind of the battlefield made Ian’s black hair flutter.
This was clearly the heat of the battlefield.
Ian tidied up his disheveled hair and asked Dicardo a question.
“If the center is broken through, what will happen?”
…
The surroundings were silent, not even a sound of insects.
The only sound was the desperate screams in the distance.
The sound of life fading away.
The last gasp of death itself.
The place that was barely within reach if one ran with all their might was already turning into a path to hell.
This was a medieval battlefield.
“Next is… our turn.”
Lucy’s face turned pale.
Not only Lucy.
The Count’s guards. The remaining few troops who stayed to assist the Count also began to feel overwhelmed, catching whiffs of the scent of death that approached from afar, one by one succumbing to fear.
“If the center retreats… the enemy will not pursue the retreating forces, but will immediately rush towards Count-sama.”
“Indeed. Most likely.”
Ian could understand it clearly enough; it was a straightforward truth.
What those bastards desire is the Count.
If they can capture the Count, everything will be resolved as if they had rubbed a magic lamp.
“These… useless fools!”
The Count burst out with the anger he had suppressed.
The rage of a noble was charismatic enough, heavy enough, and had enough power to make those around him sick and tired.
But…
Unfortunately, this place was a battlefield.
A place ruled by force, not charisma.
“Fight! Cowards! You bunch of idiots! I brought you all the way to this distant land just to be killed by the enemy! You fools of the world!”
“Your Excellency! Please calm down!”
Ian glanced at the Count’s furious eyes and felt a slight shiver.
That person… has gone a bit mad, hasn’t he?
Caught in his anger, the Count shouted loudly.
“Decedo Kyung! You shall go forth! Go out and defeat that wicked knight from the East!”
“Yes! Your Highness!”
Upon receiving the Count’s command, Knight Decado immediately drew his sword.
Although Decado had been assigned to the Count’s guard due to the influx of young knights, he had never had any complaints until now.
He had served Count Catina since his youth.
The Count was known for recruiting and valiantly deploying free knights who had nowhere else to go.
Unlike other contract knights, Decado was a loyal vassal, practically a part of the Count’s noble lineage.
Now that the Count himself had given the order, Decado was determined to follow it, no matter what it may be.
“Mercenaries! Follow me! The Count expects great things from your valor!”
As Decado spoke, the inexperienced Ian rushed forward.
“Decado! What are you trying to do?”
“According to the Count’s command, I will stand in the way of our enemies.”
“Alone? Against those madmen charging at us like that?”
Decado calmly replied, “I have been called upon by His Highness and must act according to the knight’s oath.”
Act? I have to act?
Ian surveyed the surroundings calmly.
The center of the battlefield had already surpassed the signs of collapse and was steadily progressing to the next stage.
In other words…
It meant that chaos had already erupted.
“Save meee!”
From Noble mtl dot com
“This, this monster! Get out of this battlefield… cough!”
“Run away! Just run away!”
“Throw the marquis as bait! We won’t chase after them!”
Although they were defeated, unbelievably, most of the mercenaries who fled for their lives survived.
The reason was… they threw the marquis as bait!
The mercenaries knew it too. Which was more valuable: their own lives, worth only one kill, or the marquis’s entire body, on which the outcome of the battle hinged.
Countless enemies.
And they, with their greatly boosted morale, were charging toward the marquis’s formation.
His mouth was dry, his heart pounding like mad.
Ian thought.
… Should I stand in their way now?
Just because the marquis gave the order?!
“Sir Decado!”
Ian stuck close to Decado and spoke.
Unlike the clumsy knights who were nothing more than sycophants, Decado was a man of integrity who understood the knight’s code.
Even during their march, he had often been Ian’s companion.
He didn’t rant about Ian’s magic, saying, ‘That guy is casting spells! Strangle him!’
But why would such a knight…
Intervene in the aftermath of some nonsense stirred up by the wrong person!
And that too, in a mission of a crazy level of suicidal action!
“Let’s retreat with the Viscount!”
“If His Highness retreats, what about the rest of the soldiers?”
“What are you looking for with other soldiers! Open your eyes if you have them! Our center has already been devoured by knights, those doggone parasites!”
“You there! Are you babbling because you don’t know what a retreat means!”
Ian shouted.
“I know! Even if I were a magician, I would understand that much! It means losing and running away! Surrendering, right! But look at this! Decado Pass! Are we… winning?”
“…”
Decado Pass stubbornly sealed his lips.
Truly, after a long time.
No, since falling into this world…
Ian was genuinely furious.
Ian never imagined the situation would become this tangled.
The knights? They were a nuisance, but Ian wasn’t about to personally confront them.
Ian was neither a vassal of the Viscount nor of the Marquis Talian.
This was someone else’s war. So, he stepped aside.
No, he hadn’t even suspected that the situation would spiral out of control.
With a double difference in numbers, how could anyone think they would lose this!
[Victory] was a given, and they conceded the [Division of Spoils].
But…
The victory they had considered a given, those knight fellows tore it apart…
“Dice Kedo Castle!”
As soon as the words of Duke Decado ended, the knight sneered at him.
“Ah, I see. Do your best then.”
“Sirg, please, come with me!”
“I will retreat with the Marquis.”
“…!”
“Don’t make that expression. You have to survive for the next opportunity, don’t you?”
Before Duke Decado could even respond, Sirg vanished.
It was a swift departure.
It was a remarkable display of skill, enough to make even Ian admire.
“Is that acceptable?”
“What do you mean?”
“The responsibility of a defeated knight… No, forget it. We’ll talk about it later!”
Anyone familiar with the medieval social hierarchy would know.
A knight is a middle-class between commoners and nobles.
As long as he doesn’t completely desert the battlefield and flees with the Marquis… he won’t be held accountable.
“Ian, the mage. Go back and protect the Marquis and Viscount Talien.”
“But…”
Duke Decado firmly put on his metal helmet.
He was the epitome of an impeccable knight.
“I’ll try to buy some time here.”
“Decedo, sir.”
“What are you doing? Don’t just stand there, hurry up.”
Just then, Lucy came to fetch Ian.
“Ian! What are you doing there? The Count has decided to retreat! Come quickly!”
“…”
Ian and a few of Decedo’s subordinates mounted their horses and swiftly darted away.
They were all loyal individuals willing to sacrifice their lives for the Count.
In that moment,
Magician Ian threw himself onto his horse.
“Ian?!”
Surprised, Lucy exclaimed.
“Lucy! Go and escape with that sneaky troublemaker, Sylgin or whatever his name is! Geez. It feels weird to say ‘go with the troublemaker’!”
“Ian, you…”
Magician Ian,
“I’ll retreat with Decedo, alright!”
“What?!”
Impulsively, he chose to accompany Decedo.
There was no clear reason.
Perhaps he simply didn’t want to witness the death of a knight he had grown fond of.
However.
Ian was certain.
If he faced the Dekedo Pass alone, he would undoubtedly be defeated with a 100% probability.
But if the magician pulled off a bit of [trickery]…
It might be possible to overcome that harsh trial.
It was like the old tales, where a wizard aided a knight.
“Ian!”
Lucy shouted.
She saw it.
How serious the gaze of the magician Ian was.
How sincere it was.
She didn’t want to let Ian go like this. If she said she wasn’t worried, it would be a lie. She wanted to keep him by her side.
But… Ian meant nothing to Lucy.
Not a lover, not even a fiancé.
So, all she could do was wish him luck.
Please, safely reunite.
“You have to ignore it! Ian!”
“Right! You too! Lucy!”
Ian whispered magical words in the ear of his horse, carried by the wind.
“Dekedo Pass!”
When Ian started speaking, Deke was taken aback.
“Ian? What are you doing here?”
“Why? Are you unhappy that the heavy-bottomed wizard himself is offering to help?!”
“This is dangerous. I can’t guarantee your safety!”
“That’s not your concern! I’m a wizard! I have tricks up my sleeve!”
Deke couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Ian’s nonchalant and irresponsible tone.
Even to Deke, who didn’t know Ian well, Ian seemed quite eccentric.
Ah! What a crazy character!
A truly audacious wizard!
“Whatever! If it’s the wizard’s word, who are we to question it!”
The knight and the wizard charged towards their enemies like arrows shot from a bow.
And at the tip of that arrow.
Stood the black-armored dark knight.