novelraw Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Chapter 128 : Chapter 128
Chapter 128
The cause of the incident was trivial.
“The Royal Army cannot be divided.”
The General, who arrived at the fortress, declared as if making a proclamation even before exchanging greetings with Sven.
“My soldiers are real soldiers who have moved across the southern and eastern fronts and achieved brilliant merits.”
At the remark that sounded as if Moner’s soldiers were not real soldiers, Sven’s brow twitched.
“As a General of the Kingdom, it is shameful to admit, but isn’t it true that there was discord between the Kingdom and the Ducal family?”
“So?”
“My soldiers might be used as mere meat shields. I cannot trust Moner.”
As Sven, surprised by that remark, looked at Ian, Garme also turned his head.
“You may punish me. If the Royal Army is not one, I and my soldiers will not step onto the battlefield.”
“…Ha! So, you mean if the Royal Army is divided, you won’t step into battle?”
“Yes.”
Even in front of the enraged Sven’s aura, Garme was confident.
“Do you think that makes sense?”
“If it is for my soldiers, you may take this old man’s head.”
Seeing Sven’s crumpled face, a faint smile appeared on Garme’s face.
‘There must be no other way.’
Asking not to divide ten thousand soldiers was an absurd request, as Sven said.
Aside from immediate inefficiency, it meant keeping the Royal Army, which could turn into enemies at any time, lumped together as one.
‘Kukuku, he must want to kill me instead.’
However, Moner cannot punish or kill him.
Because the Royal Army, which had already entered Moner, would explode.
The only way is to ignore the General, tear apart the Royal Army, and deploy them to each unit.
Since he had already given the order, the Royal Army would not participate in the battle.
‘Even that much should be enough to buy time for the Royal family to move.’
Indeed, there were no gaps in the plan created by Marquess Dmitry.
Garme, smiling victoriously, looked at Ian.
‘Is that guy the only variable?’
The scoundrel who killed Count Saite right in front of his eyes at a moment no one imagined.
The Marquess warned him to be most careful of Moner’s scoundrel.
If he were a reckless scoundrel-like guy, he might really kill the General.
‘It’s fine now since Count Sven is here, but…….’
Just as he was stroking his neck with an unnecessarily uneasy feeling, Ian opened his mouth.
“So is that all you want to say?”
‘…What does he mean?’
“Since you can’t trust Moner, don’t divide the Royal Army?”
“Yes.”
“You must know that is an impossible request.”
Garme, stroking his neck once more, continued.
“This old man just wants to protect his soldiers.”
“That’s the same for me. I also want to protect my soldiers. Just as the General cannot trust Moner, I cannot trust the Royal Army either.”
“…….”
“Isn’t the composition of the Royal Army a bit strange to begin with?”
Garme’s shoulder flinched for a moment.
“The battlefield is the forest of demonic beasts or the fortress, yet over three thousand cavalry. As if you planned a battle in Obsol, which is a plain area.”
“…Could that be possible? My cavalry simply possess horsemanship excellent enough to fight in the forest of demonic beasts.”
“Is that so……?”
Of course, it was a lie.
The reason there were over three thousand cavalry in the legion was that their mission was to besiege Moner.
To ensure no one from Moner survived.
“Well, that might be the case, but it can’t be helped that doubts arise, right?”
Nevertheless, Garme remained confident.
“It was Moner’s will to request help from the Royal family. I and my soldiers only came here to help Moner.”
“Fine. It can’t be helped. Instead of dividing the Royal Army, let’s divide the battlefield.”
At the unexpected words, Garme frowned.
“Since the Royal Army is said to be prepared for battle in the forest as well, you can just take charge of one side of the forest.”
The choice made to avoid battle returned as the worst possible move.
* * *
Moner moved as if determined.
From the next day, meetings continued several times.
In those meetings, the only thing Garme decided was the area the Royal Army would be responsible for.
The Royal Army and the Knight Order headed to the forest as if pushed.
“General, is this really okay?”
At the voice of Carlson, who appeared with the Knight Order, Garme nodded.
“There is no need to worry, Commander.”
The area the Royal Army was in charge of was the northwest.
It was the area the scoundrel originally intended to take charge of.
“Looking at it, this seems better than walking on eggshells at the fortress.”
He continued while looking at the soldiers who were already setting up tents.
“If you think of it as enjoying a vacation for two weeks, isn’t this forest quite a scenic place too?”
Since it was the entrance to the forest, barely two days away from the fortress, there would be no need to worry about monsters either.
The Royal Army’s mission was to move northwest and find traces of Orcs, but Garme had no intention of moving even a single step from here.
“If we report that we found nothing after two weeks, even that scoundrel will understand that he cannot use the Royal Army.”
Maybe contact from the Royal family might come before that.
The Royal Army enjoyed camping as if holding a festival, even taking out the meat they had been saving.
* * *
Squeeeeak!
- What?! Those guys dare?!
Calua, having received the report from the demonic beast squirrel, expressed anger by stomping his short front paws.
‘What is it? Are they planning to attack this side?’
Since General Garme’s goal was to hold out until contact from the Royal family came, it was strange for them to show such aggressive movement.
‘Carlson might have moved.’
- How dare they eat meat without giving me any!
Maybe just a hungry lizard was angry.
When I pressed down on the bridge of the nose of the lizard puffing and panting, the awaited explanation followed.
- Human! Those bad humans are grilling meat! Really bad!
‘Meat?’
Grilling meat in the forest when there isn't enough even in the fortress. Are they planning to lure monsters and target this side?
- And they are eating deliciously too! I eat meat well too!
Calua, moving his feet stomping as if extremely resentful, continued.
- They say a poor Orc is going that way! Even if it goes, the bad humans must have eaten it all! Idiots!
At Calua’s continued explanation, Ian scratched his head.
‘So, you mean they started a fire in the forest, grilled meat, and attracted Orcs?’
It was a variable that even Ian, who was planning to push the Royal Army into the battlefield, hadn't imagined.
‘…I feel somewhat wronged for no reason.’
The important thing is that the Royal Army started a battle.
If they hunt a few hundred Orcs, confidence will sprout, and then wouldn’t they start moving?
“How many Orcs are going that way?”
Squeeeeeak!
Seeing him spread his short limbs wide, it didn’t seem like that.
- Poor Orcs are going there, lots and lots of them!
* * *
“Uhaha! Don’t worry and drink!”
“Me too! Give me another cup too!”
Carlson looked with satisfaction at the soldiers chattering noisily.
“Commander, is it okay to allow alcohol too?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
It’s a distance of barely two days from the fortress.
A location so close it’s embarrassing to even call it the entrance.
Even if Orcs come this far, their scale wouldn’t be large.
“Only the guys on guard duty need to stay alert. Plus, we are guarding too.”
Only half the soldiers were having a drinking party right now. Since the other half and the 3rd Knight Order volunteered to stand guard, the Royal Army was safe.
“Just in case, endure just for today, and let’s rest a bit from tomorrow too.”
“Yes!”
“Those hungry, go and get some meat. tell them alcohol is absolutely forbidden.”
“Yes!”
The reason Carlson volunteered to stand guard was simple.
‘A forest where not a single ray of light enters.’
It felt like he wouldn’t be able to digest properly whatever he ate in this unlucky land.
Because it was an ominous land to the point where he couldn’t understand how the soldiers were enjoying themselves.
‘Did Moner’s soldiers hunt Orcs in a place like this?’
While he was gauging Moner’s combat power.
From somewhere, unfamiliar breathing sounds were heard.
- Grrrk, grrrk.
- Grk, grk.
‘Orcs?’
At the familiar sound, Carlson hurriedly moved his mana and shouted.
“Prepare for battle!”
‘To come this way of all places, unlucky bastards.’
Thinking it was heaven's luck that Orcs appeared where he was standing guard, the moment he threw his body with the Knight Order.
“Ambush!”
“It’s Orcs! Orcs appeared!”
“Kuaaaack!”
Screams rang out from all directions.
‘What?’
There are enemies over there too?
Were the soldiers attacked?
Carlson, gripping his sword properly, shouted urgently.
“Knight Order! From now on, annihilate the enemy with full force and help the soldiers!”
His plan to wipe out the nearby Orcs as quickly as possible and move to the tents crumbled the moment he saw the Orcs waiting for him.
- Grk! It’s humans!
- The Great Warrior was right! It’s food!
Red eyes, which looked to be over a hundred at a glance, welcomed him in the darkness.
* * *
“Wake up! The enemy is just Orcs!”
The Royal Army’s potential is absolutely not weak.
They were the Kingdom’s elite soldiers who had gone through numerous battlefields in border regions and accumulated experience subjugating monsters.
The problem was that their opponents were also not ordinary Orcs.
- It is a day to raise the warrior’s honor!
- It is the Great Warrior’s blessing!
To the Orc army moving while clutching their starving stomachs, the Royal Army was like an oasis in the desert.
- Blood! It’s blood we can drink!
- Delicious!
Since they were those who chewed even the meat of their kin until just last night.
Crunch!
“Bi-bit me!”
“I, I don’t want to die!”
What the Royal Army felt at the sight of Orcs thrusting their teeth before their axes was fear.
“Orcs eat humans!”
The fear of becoming mere lumps of meat in front of predators.
“Die! Die, I say!”
Crunch!
- Delicious! Food! Mine!
Because the only thing one could feel in front of a monster that bit off the neck even when a spear pierced its stomach was primal fear.
“Wake up! Rangers! Shoot arrows!”
“Prepare spears!”
“Cavalry move back! Form a formation using long spears!”
Fear, to the extent that they couldn’t even react to the commands coming from behind, encroached upon the soldiers who stepped out of the boundary.
- Grrrrrk! Today is the day to eat our fill!
- It is a warrior’s festival!
The red fighting spirit of the Orcs who tasted blood illuminated the forest where darkness had settled.
* * *
“What? Three thousand?”
Ian’s brow crumpled.
“Such a large unit moved separately?”
Over the past time, Orcs had also evolved.
The moment they were isolated, they stopped walking and started preparing for ambushes.
Especially when isolated Orcs numbered over a thousand, they didn’t move until the forest moved again and they rejoined the legion.
But for such a large army to move…….
“Tsk. An ambiguous number.”
If it were a hundred or two hundred, maybe, but hunting over a thousand Orcs would give them tremendous confidence.
Since the Royal Army numbered over ten thousand, it didn’t seem like they would have suffered great damage either.
It meant the plan he diligently prepared had been vainly distorted.
“I have to think of another way.”
To Ian’s ears, who was staying up all night planning again, unbelievable news arrived.
“……?”
- Hurry! The bad humans ran away! Now is the chance! Let’s go eat meat!
What was more baffling than Calua’s words to confidently steal meat was.
‘The Royal Army ran away?’
Because it was a fact impossible to believe.