novelraw Chapter 88
Chapter 88
Chapter 88
The clash of strength against strength had begun.
Even though the enemy had discovered us, they neither withdrew their troops nor attempted to bypass us.
They must have judged that our numbers weren’t that great and simply thought they could push straight through.
It was a reasonable assessment.
They were a proper knight order, clad in iron armor and mounted on warhorses, and the charge of a knight order was formidable.
In fact, when that many knights charged forward on warhorses, most enemies had no choice but to tuck tail and flee.
On the other hand, we looked rather odd.
We didn’t bear the iron plate symbols that marked a knight order, and we weren’t even riding proper horses but rather some strange beasts.
The only proper thing was the color of our armor, but even that looked ridiculous since Crimson Comet and the Johnson Knight Order were mixed together, making us look all colorful.
And on top of that, we had passengers(?) riding behind us.
We certainly didn’t look like a proper knight order.
A group that looked half mercenary, half knight—ambiguous at best.
That must have been their judgment.
After all, it was hard to imagine that the Johnson Territory had mobilized its knight order from so far away just to block them.
“Keugh!”
“What the hell are these things!!”
The knights of the Johnson Territory were not skilled in horsemanship.
At best, they swung their weapons while riding mountain goats.
Even if mountain goats were easier to handle than horses, they hadn’t been training with them for long.
That meant this kind of cavalry battle on flat ground wasn’t favorable for us.
But the situation was taking a strange turn.
The enemy didn’t seem very familiar with cavalry combat either.
After the first clash, even the Empire’s knights—who had swung their weapons somewhat—must have realized this wasn’t working, because many of them dismounted.
The knights of the Territory had long since jumped down.
The battle was devolving into a chaotic brawl of cavalry and infantry mixed together.
And the result?
The Empire’s knights were getting trounced.
Once the fight had turned into a melee, with our Johnson Knight Order backed by the Lion Tribe, there weren’t many who could stand against us.
–Growl! Growl!
–Neighhh!
On this battlefield, most knights weren’t used to fighting mounted.
The Crimson Comet was the exception.
These were specialists, thoroughly accustomed to cavalry warfare.
“Hi-yaah!!”
Among them, Irene and Celine stood out, their prowess unmatched.
As if to demonstrate the true meaning of unity between rider and goat, they dealt with the enemy skillfully.
Where Irene’s hammer and Celine’s crescent blade swept through, dismounted knights inevitably rolled across the ground.
And once they fell?
They became prey for the Lion Tribe warriors, who pounced on them like hyenas, stripping them of their lives.
“The beer’s mine!”
Once Leisha, who had been watching from behind, joined the battlefield, the tide turned overwhelmingly in our favor.
Their numbers were significant, but it didn’t seem like the Empire had sent its best knights.
“Or maybe our forces are stronger than I thought.”
At this rate, we might drive them off with fewer casualties than expected.
‘This went better than I thought.’
Considering that hundreds of knights had clashed, the battle ended rather anticlimactically.
As soon as Leisha swept through the battlefield, the enemy commander gave the order to retreat.
“Don’t let them escape! Crimson Comet, pursuit formation!”
Mountain goats had greater endurance than horses, but their acceleration and top speed fell a bit short.
So if the enemy fled on horseback, we didn’t have many options.
Especially the Johnson knights, who weren’t very skilled at handling mountain goats.
But Crimson Comet was no ordinary knight order.
The moment the enemy attempted to flee, they whipped out horn bows and iron arrows strapped to their goats and gave immediate chase.
Shooting arrows from atop their running goats, they pursued to the very end.
“We lost quite a few.”
“That’s still impressive. More than I hoped for.”
“Really?”
Irene, who had chased far and cut down a good number of knights, returned lamenting that she hadn’t finished them all.
In real battle, she was deadlier than anyone.
Since recovering from her injuries, she’d become even more terrifying.
“By the way, Crimson Comet is incredible. To be so skilled in cavalry combat.”
“We’re used to fighting from horseback. Mountain goats are easier to handle than horses, too. Oh, did you see? How bravely Dorongi fought against the warhorses?”
“I saw it very well. I admit I was wrong about the armor. It’s worth its weight.”
“Right? I knew it at first sight. Mountain goats could dominate cavalry battles.”
But now she was just bragging.
Boasting about Dorongi as if she couldn’t contain her excitement.
‘Still, credit where it’s due.’
The goats, far braver than warhorses, charged without fear, and Crimson Comet took full advantage of that, dismantling enemy knights with ease.
Even veteran knights couldn’t figure out how to handle armored goats that brazenly bashed into their warhorses.
‘Goats are clearly superior in close melee.’
The speed difference mattered little once the battle was joined.
No matter how well-trained the warhorses, they couldn’t compare with the three-horned mountain goats that had survived in the wilderness against monsters.
Irene had sung praises of goats all along, and it turned out she had rightly foreseen their strengths.
Of course, she also simply loved mounts in general.
“We should learn proper riding—or rather, proper goat-riding skills.”
“With so many goats, it’d be a waste not to.”
“Would it be alright to entrust that to you?”
“Of course, Lord Iron. Just give the order.”
“Then let’s do that.”
The goats’ value went far beyond being mere mounts.
Even in battle, they exceeded my expectations. It’d be foolish not to use them.
And for that, our knights had to learn to handle them better. Irene and Crimson Comet could teach them how to manage goats in combat.
“Brother, battlefield cleanup’s done.”
“Good. Casualties?”
“No deaths among the knight order. The 1st Knight Order has four seriously wounded, twelve lightly. The 2nd Knight Order has six serious, eleven light.”
“And Crimson Comet?”
“Clean.”
“Fewer losses than I thought. Though I did expect as much.”
“These men were mostly green recruits, newly knighted.”
“I figured as much. Their horsemanship was clumsy.”
“Though the commander-level knights were fairly seasoned…”
“And?”
“Lady Leisha cut them down. They lasted maybe five exchanges?”
To withstand even five exchanges against Leisha when she entered full slaughter mode—that was impressive for knights sent on such a trivial mission.
Then again, this was an operation with over a hundred knights, so the commanders weren’t entirely incompetent.
‘It wasn’t a bad plan, really.’
Of course, in this case, the variables shattered their entire strategy, but the plan itself wasn’t unreasonable.
For inexperienced knights, slowly gaining battle experience in relatively safe missions was important.
Judging by the situation, it seemed they had intended to let the recruits get a taste of blood in a low-risk mission.
But instead, they ended up losing precious new knights for nothing.
Or maybe that was for the best.
If they were going to lose troops anyway, better the new ones than the veterans.
Since we had mobilized the full strength of the Territory, any half-baked force wouldn’t have made it back alive.
“Limond, the warriors?”
“Four dead.”
“Damn. Even in such a lopsided fight, to lose men… What about the wounded?”
“Twelve serious. As for light wounds, well, everyone’s got some.”
But there had been casualties among the Lion Tribe.
These guys really were out of their minds.
Even though Crimson Comet had run wild atop mountain goats, and Leisha and I had torn through the battlefield so that the tide of battle had tilted from the very beginning, four warriors had died.
That was definitely because they had been so obsessed with killing the enemy that they forgot their own situations and fought like madmen until they died.
“Isn’t there some way to stop this?”
“It’s difficult. This is our nature. If you want them to fight calmly, you’d better find another tribe. Something like… the Puppies, for example.”
“Urgh.”
Well, it wasn’t going to be easy.
These guys always threw themselves too sincerely into battle.
“There is one way.”
“Oh? There’s a way?”
“If the Lord gave orders with an influence even more overwhelming than Leisha’s, then maybe?”
“…That makes no sense.”
“My Lord, you should put in a little more effort.”
The only advice he gave me was to build more influence than Leisha.
As if that could happen.
Today again, Leisha had swept through the enemy camp all on her own.
Wrapped in black Aura, her very presence was so overwhelming that there was nothing anyone could do.
Besides, once the fighting began, she herself went into an overexcited state, making it realistically impossible for her to command other troops.
It looked like I would have to find another way to control this side of things.
“Were there no prisoners?”
“None. Those who ran away escaped, and the rest simply died.”
“They just died?”
“They killed themselves.”
“What the hell? Are these bastards insane?”
I had hoped to learn why the Empire’s knights were messing around here, but now I heard there were no prisoners.
Apparently, all the captured knights had committed suicide.
What the hell was wrong with these lunatics?
“I heard that’s how the Empire does it. Since their treatment of prisoners is notoriously terrible, they say dying outright is better. So they just kill themselves before suffering more.”
“Completely insane.”
Hearing the explanation made them sound even crazier.
Well, no wonder the Empire was considered a public menace.
“So now things have gotten complicated? Some ran away, too.”
We knew nothing about the enemy, but now the enemy knew about us. It felt like a loss.
How would they even interpret this bizarre mix of human knights, mountain goats, and the Lion Tribe? Even I didn’t know.
“My Lord!!”
Just as I was about to turn toward the wagons after finishing up with the battlefield, a fox beastman came running toward me.
It was the fox beastman who had once been Yuria’s right-hand man.
Had it been about a year?
It wasn’t even that long, yet he looked much thinner than before.
Maybe he’d gone through some hardships.
Well, leading a group like this, of course there’d be hardships.
‘But that expression… we just survived a crisis, so why does he look like someone died?’
For someone who had just been rescued, his expression was far too dark.
Normally, no matter how bad things were, at least in this moment he should have felt relief and joy.
But the way he came rushing over with a pale face right after the battle ended—it was clear something was wrong.
“So, Yuria’s subordinate. How have you been? No, asking that in this situation feels a bit odd.”
“Me, I’m fine… but my Lord, do you perhaps have that famous potion from Johnson Territory? The one they say can save anyone, so long as they’re not already dead.”
“If you mean the famous potion… are you talking about the Special Potion?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
Since they were the Level Merchant Group who had traded potions with us, it wasn’t strange that they knew of the Special Potion.
But precisely because they were the Level Merchant Group, they also knew we never allowed Special Potions to flow outside.
And yet here he was, suddenly begging for one in a situation like this.
Unless he’d lost his mind, that could only mean someone very important was hovering between life and death.
“If you’re the master of the Level Merchant Group who traded with us, then you know well how important we consider Special Potions. And yet you’re asking us to hand one over, for someone who isn’t even from our Territory?”
“No matter what, we will pay the price. Please, I beg you, help us just this once.”
“Hm. Did someone important get hurt?”
“The truth is… the young lady has collapsed.”
“The young lady… do you mean Yuria?”
“Yes, that’s right. So please…”
‘Wait, Yuria is here?’
Since her old subordinate was among them, I had wondered… but so it turned out Yuria herself was with this procession.
What on earth had happened that Yuria was traveling with this kind of group?
And the story that followed left me tilting my head even further.
“The young lady used Great Shamanism. She had been struck by a poisoned arrow, and after she used Great Shamanism, her condition…”
“Great Shamanism?”
Great Shamanism?
The word was so out of place I was at a loss for words.
Could humans even use shamanism?
I had always thought shamanism was the domain of beastmen.
–So that’s what it was. That vile female. She was a shaman of the Fox Tribe!
The rabbit muttered with a nod, as if it all made sense to him now.
Damn rabbit. Couldn’t he have explained earlier instead of keeping it to himself?
–I thought something was off. I smelled the scent of a beast, but not quite. I was racking my brain over it.
Come to think of it, when he first met Yuria, hadn’t he climbed onto her head and sniffed at her?
He’d tilted his head like something seemed strange.
Had he been suspecting Yuria of being a beastman?
‘This rabbit… seriously…’
I didn’t know what to make of it all, but what was certain was that Yuria had collapsed.
Since things had come this far, I should save her first and then hear the story from a stronger position.
There were too many things I was curious about.
Why had this happened? And who the hell were those Imperial bastards earlier?
“Hah, so it was true.”
–A Silver Fox? Truly a top-class female.
Inside a lavishly decorated large carriage.
There I found Yuria, lying beneath luxurious blankets.
Peeking out from her silken silver hair were the cutest fox ears.
And a long, bushy silver tail that shone brilliantly.
Yuria, whom I had taken for a human all this time, was in fact a beastman—a member of the Fox Tribe.
‘The daughter of the Level Merchant Group’s master is a beastman?’
I couldn’t begin to understand what was going on.