147 – 151 Episodes
As William heads towards the Toulouse Fortress.
“Urgent news! The Golden Knights and the Empire’s 40,000 troops have landed on the Adriatic coast.”
Receiving orders to prevent the enemy’s landing in Toulouse, General Zeco is dumbfounded by the incomprehensible news.
“What?! I heard that the Golden Knights and Sir William were in Roman’s prison! How could they… appear in Adriatic?!”
Just a while ago, as Zeco had planned to intercept and annihilate any Empire troops landing on the Adriatic coast, this situation is hard for him to grasp.
‘I heard they were cunning, but after imprisoning the Golden Knights and Sir William, now they are sending them to the battlefield risking their lives? Despicable.’
Although Nicaea imprisoned them as a ruse to deceive Nicaea’s attention towards the Golden Knights and William, Zeco, unaware of this situation, believes it is time to make significant changes in strategy.
“Prepare for a temporary retreat of all units.”
“W-where to retreat?”
Zeco ponders while looking at the map.
Toulouse, a crucial fortress connecting Adriatic and Dufol, and the ideal Ephesus Fortress to block the enemy’s supply landing on the coast.
Both are vital areas.
“Oh my…”
In a standard defense of Adriatic, deploying troops to both Ephesus and Toulouse fortresses to block the enemy’s supplies is the norm.
However, knowing that the Ephesus Fortress is small and unable to accommodate many troops, Zeco’s mind becomes tangled.
‘Blocking the enemy in Ephesus is difficult anyway. It might be quicker to defend in Toulouse and request aid from Byzantium and the King.’
Looking at it objectively, Ephesus Fortress could have bought significant time, but Zeco fails to consider this and makes a grave mistake.
“Immediately withdraw troops to Toulouse. Cease the surprise attack!”
Thus, Nicaea’s first mistake unfolds.
***
“Commander, the enemies were ambushing but suddenly headed towards Toulouse in a hurry, and there are hardly any soldiers at the Ephesus Fortress.”
At Matthew’s words, William chuckles.
“If they had stationed only ten thousand at Ephesus, they wouldn’t have been able to go straight to Toulouse… Who is the enemy commander?”
William asks, and Matthew responds.
“As far as I know, it’s General Zeco.”
At that, William shakes his head.
“If it’s that stubborn fool, it wouldn’t be surprising for him to make such a decision.”
When William was dispatched to save the former Nicaea,
He had met Zeco in person.
Though he was so incompetent and cowardly that it was a mystery how he had risen to the rank of general, he was a remarkable figure who boasted about his specialty like no other.
“Thanks to you, capturing Ephesus will be a piece of cake.”
William says as he looks at the map.
“Send a thousand imperial soldiers and a wizard unit to capture Ephesus and defend the place. Meanwhile, we head to Toulouse.”
And so, William gets lost in thought while looking at the map.
“We must capture the fortress of Toulouse as quickly as possible.”
High-level defensive magic and thick walls.
But even so, they couldn’t stop the eruption of firepower.
A tedious siege.
No matter how strong a knight is, they cannot ride a horse into a siege.
As William ponders how to deal with the fortress walls, one thing catches his eye.
The river…
Looking at the river near the fortress of Toulouse, William gets lost in thought.
“This might work.”
Looking at the map, the fortress built at a point where the river flows and juts out catches William’s attention.
“If we use this method, Toulouse fortress will be useless.”
Looking at his army mostly composed of infantry excluding the knights, William contemplates.
“But we could deliver a significant blow.”
If most of the forces defending Adrianople are in Toulouse…
We could wipe them out in one go.
“Hmm… Let’s observe the flow for now.”
***
Joannes grinds his teeth while looking at the reports of the navy from Adrianople and Zeco.
“These damn bastards!”
He knew the navy of the Alliance was strong, but he hadn’t expected the near annihilation of the Nicaean navy.
They had planned to strike and withdraw strategically, but the enemy’s attack had decimated most of Nicaea’s proud ships.
What followed was even more outrageous.
William and the Golden Knights, who should have been imprisoned in Rome, along with the imperial army, had entered Adrianople.
“Have you ever seen such deceitful scoundrels?!”
-Thud! Thud!
Joannes, who had witnessed the power of the Golden Knights since he was young, felt both humiliated and furious at being deceived so cunningly.
“You… Secure His Majesty… Agh!”
-Slap!
-Clang!
As Olivia tried to calm down the enraged Joannes by holding his arm, she received a slap from him and fell to the ground.
“Silence! You lowly wench! Is there no one else here?! Gather the generals and nobles immediately for a strategy meeting!”
Saying so, Joannes hastily dons his helmet, feeling deep anger and despair in the current situation.
Somehow, Zeke gathered his troops in Toulouse, leaving too few forces in Ephesus to delay time while guarding the supply route.
This move may seem like Zeke is determined to defend Toulouse at all costs, but he allowed a stable supply to the enemy.
“Damn it, I spent a fortune raising him.”
Zeke’s family, highly respected for their military service in Nicaea, could not help but be angry at the unsatisfactory movements.
“Who is that guy? Who the hell ordered him there!”
As Johannes remembers, he is known as a general.
“Damn bastards.”
With these thoughts, Johannes swallows his curses and heads to the strategy meeting hall.
***
Zeke replenished his forces and returned to Toulouse.
He then called in all surrounding troops to Toulouse.
Already intimidated by the mighty Golden Knights, his actions made morale plummet.
Not because of his actions, but more likely due to the miraculous military feats the Golden Knights displayed in Nicaea, the morale was low.
They all grew up hearing about the Golden Knights’ prowess from their parents before bedtime.
When Nicaea was in danger from the evil Babylon Empire’s attacks.
Heroes clad in golden armor appeared, resembling demons, slaying the Babylon Empire’s forces.
How could morale be high when faced with childhood idols turned foes?
With the possibility of being remembered by children as villains who opposed the honorable and courageous Golden Knights in the future, everyone felt grim.
In such a gloomy atmosphere, Zeke assembled the troops spread across the castles and cities of the Adriatic region to the Toulouse fortress.
He knew how dangerous such orders made Nicaea, but for Zeke, surviving was his top priority.
Having not gained recognition for his abilities from the esteemed Antichi family, which had produced many great generals, Zeke would have received a minor title from his elder brother if he had been acknowledged…
Rather than being recognized for his military prowess, Zeke, who had risen to his position through exceptional eloquence, flattery, and the family name, tried to reassure himself by keeping a cool head.
“Toulouse’s walls are thick. No matter how unhumanly these Golden Knights may seem, a siege won’t be easy.”
Indeed, the Golden Knights’ remarkable achievements were mainly in field battles, not sieges.
The golden armor, crafted with knowledge passed down by the former empress Li Ke El Sadat, boasted unbelievable magic resistance. Unless a knight skilled in mana manipulation, it was nearly impossible to penetrate the armor. Even physical attacks were met with formidable defense.
One of the empire’s top secrets was the method of crafting the golden armor.
For thousands of years, efforts were made to uncover this secret in the empire’s history, but as far as known, crafting the armor was incredibly challenging. It was said that even with dwarves processing the materials directly extracted from Li Ke El Sadat’s scales, making one suit a year was difficult.
Hence, facing them in the field was almost impossible, but sieges were different.
By dropping boiling oil or heavy objects, damage could be inflicted without magic.
In Zeke’s opinion, dealing a significant blow to them in a siege and moving the troops stationed at Byzantine’s maritime fortress to reclaim Ephesus was his plan.
If the enemies had landed in the Adriatic Sea, Zeke believed his decision was the best, thinking they wouldn’t try to land again.
“Even if we encounter ogres, we can win if we keep our wits about us.”
With this in mind, Zeke requested reinforcement troops from Byzantine.
***
Meanwhile, near the Toulouse fortress, the imperial army had set up camp along the upper stream of the river.
Mages and engineers were constructing temporary dikes in the river, piling up embankments to control the water flow in case the dikes burst.
“It won’t be easy, but we must finish the work quickly.”
When the engineers mixed the soil with water to make bricks, the wizards quickly baked the bricks with fire magic, and the soldiers began carrying the bricks.
Although the soldiers were cutting down trees in the nearby forest to make up for the shortage of bricks, William felt that traditional craftsmanship would still fall short, so he issued a new order.
“All Golden Knights, get involved in dam construction.”
Knowing that experts in manipulating mana could build dams much faster, William, aware of this, gave the order, to which Matthew responded awkwardly.
“Sir… Even if they are knights, if the soldiers could do the work…”
“The Golden Knights can do anything if they can eliminate the Empire’s enemies, Matthew.”
Knowing that it was difficult to win against William’s stubbornness, Matthew nodded thoughtfully.
“They will all have a hard time…”