64 – Poitiers Family – 4
Meanwhile, Beth Aston was having a conversation with Tilo, the mercenary leader of the other side, pretending to fight.
“Tilo! Make your acting more realistic! “Even a kid passing by won’t be fooled!”
“If they aren’t fooled, what are they going to do? Anyway, if they don’t hire us, they’ll die. All we have to do is pretend to fight and then waste their property.”
“That’s true. hahahahaha!”
The sound of laughter echoed throughout the battlefield, but none of the mercenaries paid any attention. Since the mercenary captains on both sides were friends, they decided to just pretend to fight because orders had already been given.
In such a situation, strange things began to occur. A horse started running from afar.
From Noble mtl dot com
“What is that? Are you wearing the Arcadia Academy uniform? “Aren’t you noble?”
“What are nobles! A mercenary is a mercenary. hahahahaha!”
“Oh, you brought those 300 people?”
Tilo also heard Charles’ story. The story was that Beth Aston had made an accomplice.
“But why did you come this way?”
“He’s going to pretend to fight and take some money. The little guy is already taking care of his own food and learning quickly. “Is it because you’re an academy cadet?”
“Then should we pretend to fight with him too?”
After saying that, Tilo approached Charles holding a sword. But Charles just kept riding his horse and circling around.
“What are you doing, kid! Come quickly! You too, come and fight! “I have to get the money!”
However, Charles did not come closer and was circling around the soldiers with his words.
And when Charles planted a flag on the side where friendly and enemy troops were fighting, the musketeers began to gather around the flag.
“What are they doing? “They’re not coming close?”
“Wait. “It will come soon.”
But what Beth Aston said was ultimately wrong. This was because Charles was just waiting with his soldiers at a distance of over 100 paces. And Charles shouted.
“Aim!”
The musketeers all began compacting gunpowder and lighting fire in their matchlocks. Meanwhile, Beth and Tilo just looked at the scene with puzzled expressions.
“What is that? Is it a crossbow?”
“Is there a crossbow like that?”
Looking closely, it was a little different from a crossbow. A crossbow is supposed to have bolts, or arrows, but there were no arrows visible on that object. However, when they saw the musketeers all aiming in this direction, Beth and Tilo could not help but feel a sense of crisis.
“I don’t know what it is, but it looks like they’re trying to shoot at us.”
“On this street? “It can’t even pierce armor.”
That’s right. Charles and his mercenary captains were more than 100 paces away. Even if you shot a bow or crossbow, it was not a distance from which you could make an effective hit. But…
“Shoot!”
“Fire!”
When Charles shouted, Juan shouted along, and the soldiers began firing their muskets all at once, following Juan’s shout. At that moment, thunder struck.
-Kwakwakwauk!!!
When the muzzles of the muskets fired all at once and the sound of thunder was heard, the soldiers fell into panic. What was even more surprising was that as soon as the sound of thunder was heard, dozens of our soldiers fell.
“Ugh!”
“Wow!”
“f*ck, f*ck! What is that!”
Muskets were imported from the eastern part of the empire, and people in the central region did not yet know much about the existence of muskets. As such, few people were still aware of the fact that the range at which a musket’s salvo could deliver an effective hit was longer than that of a bow.
‘If you look at muskets and bows separately, there are many bows that have a higher range than muskets. However, the true value of a musket lies in its salvo fire. The bow’s long-distance salvo fire continuously falls like rain, so the attack power is low because you can run away at any time while shooting. However, the musket’s volley cannot be easily avoided because it fires hundreds of invisible bullets at once, creating a bullet barrage. Therefore, throughout history, muskets easily replaced the bow. ‘Because it’s stronger than a bow.’
Charles thought about the role of muskets in history. Even the Aquibus, or rifle, which was a miniaturized version of the musket, was such an incredible product that it could change the history of East Asia in one fell swoop. Therefore, it goes without saying how much more offensive power the volley of muskets, which were larger and more powerful than Aquibus, had.
On the other hand, the enemies hit by the salvo could not hide their confusion.
“f*ck, f*ck! What’s this! What on earth did you get hit and die! “What did you die of?”
Unlike swords or bows, small bullet wounds were not easily visible. So the mercenaries had no choice but to fall into further panic. Something pierced the armor and pierced the heart, but there was no trace of the piercing.
And the mercenaries had a habit of blaming magic for everything they did not know. That’s why someone shouted.
“Magic! “It’s magic!”
Tilo heard those words and grabbed Beth by the collar.
“Beth Aston! This bastard! “You didn’t say there was a wizard!”
“I didn’t know! I didn’t even know! Really!”
“Shut up! “There are so many wizards, how do you not know?”
Wow! He punched Beth in the face.
“You bastard! “You betrayed me!”
“Oh, no! I never… “
Before Beth could continue her words, Tilo took out his sword and stabbed Beth in the stomach. However, Beth, who only received minor injuries thanks to the plate armor, turned around and started running away.
“f*ck! Things went wrong! Get out! “Get out of there, you idiots!”
“Kill the traitor! “All troops charge!”
Allies were withdrawing and the enemy was beginning to be absorbed. The fake battle, which only made loud noises by hitting the opponent’s shield, finally began to turn into a real battle. One mercenary grabbed the other mercenary by his hair and pulled him. The other mercenary stabbed the mercenary in the chest with a spear.
It was a cruel scene, but Charles did not turn his eyes. That’s because if the commander turned his eyes away, it would be an ally, not an enemy, who would die.
“Load!”
Charles shouted. And when Juan announced that preparations for launch were complete, Charles shouted once again.
“Fire!”
This time, the enemy, who had come within 70 paces while chasing our troops, was hit by a volley of musket fire and began dying in an instant. More than 100 people were killed in a single shooting. The enemy began to panic due to the tremendous roar, bursting flames, and rain of bullets.
“f*ck you! Damn wizards!”
Of course, muskets had nothing to do with magic. He was just a weapon. However, from Tilo’s perspective, the scene of his allies dying for no reason could not be explained with any words other than magic.
“What should I do? Should we kill the wizards?”
“f*ck! It’s not even our fight, why are you doing this? Over 100 people have already died. Everyone, run away on your own!”
The enemy mercenaries began to flee in disorder. I wanted to chase them all down and kill them all, but that was impossible. That was because the Beth Brotherhood had already fallen back, so if troops were sent in now, they would become entangled with the Beth Brotherhood and the battle line would be disrupted.
“Our troops are also leaving the military! “Retreat!”
Isabel made a quick decision, and soon the enemy and allies returned to where they came from.
As a result of the battle, it was initially a draw.
However, the casualties were overwhelmingly among the enemy forces.
—–
Meanwhile, after the battle was over.
“This bastard!”
Beth Aston swung her fist at Charles. But that fist did not reach Charles. This is because Glacia Ehrenberg, who was next to Charles, grabbed Beth by the neck and threw her away.
“Would you like to do more?”
Glacia walked towards Beth and asked, aiming her sword. Then Beth Aston had no choice but to tremble and keep her mouth shut.
“You traitor… !”
“Betrayal? “What betrayal have I done?”
“This bastard said that! You were only supposed to pretend to fight with me and take money, but then you suddenly use magic? “Isn’t this completely crazy!”
And that moment.
“That’s an interesting story.”
Isabel de Poitiers opened the military tent and appeared. And Beth’s face turned white when she saw Isabel’s face.
“You just decided to pretend to fight and take the money? With Mr. Charles?”
“Oh, no… I’m just saying it could have happened… “
“So you’re saying there was no such discussion?”
When Charles asked this time, Beth quietly shut her mouth and lowered her head. She seemed to have been stopped.
“Please answer. Was there such a discussion? “Wasn’t it there?”
“Oh, there wasn’t one.”
“Then you won’t even know that I betrayed you.”
“… Doesn’t exist.”
Beth felt like she wanted to chew and eat the baby in front of her right now. However, if she admitted in front of everyone that she had discussed betraying her employer, she could no longer work as a mercenary. Therefore, he had no choice but to meekly acknowledge Charles’ threats.
At that moment, Isabelle stepped in front of her and held out her pocket.
“Beth Aston. This is compensation for the deaths of your mercenaries. Please pass this on to the mercenaries’ bereaved families. “The rest is just a fee for your trouble.”
From Noble mtl dot com
Beth opened her pocket and found it was full of gold coins. Beth’s face brightened for a moment when she saw that, and then darkened again.
“Instead, I must properly serve as a mercenary leader until the end of this war.”
Beth felt intuitively from Isabelle’s words. Tilo thought he was a traitor. Even if he tried to join the group again, there was no way he would be accepted by Tilo. No matter what you do, they’ll think it’s a ruse. That means that from now on, I really had no choice but to risk my life and fight. He was properly caught on the back of his head. I had no choice but to be taken wherever these guys wanted.