Read Novel Full Chapter 85: You Take Care Of The Aftermath.
Chapter 85: You Take Care Of The Aftermath.
Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: Himanshu02
Devan was staring at Perez with a stunned expression, as he thought he was dead for sure.
A very unexpected situation occurred in an instant.
Perez looked surprisingly calm.
“Your Highness, the Second Prince. I apologize for my rudeness. Devan, you should also beg for forgiveness quickly!”
He bowed his head deeply to Leonhart.
Devan came to his senses at his words.
“I have committed a grave sin.”
Perez was the commander-in-chief and a Count, so neither the knights nor Leonhart could question him further.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him in time.”
“The mood seems to be ruined today. I will discuss your proposal with the Third Army and make a decision.”
That’s how the meeting ended awkwardly that day.
“Devan, follow me for a moment.”
Perez called him quietly, and Devan had no choice but to follow him, expecting a severe punishment.
Perez took Devan to his quarters, but he didn’t get angry or scold him.
“First of all, your actions today were very rash.”
“I have no excuse.”
“Hmm…”
Perez sighed and looked at Devan, then opened his mouth again.
“Do you know why I shielded you with my body today?”
“I don’t really know.”
Devan was from a commoner background, and he had no special merit except that the First Prince Eurius favored him.
It was a situation where Perez could have been seriously injured if he had been careless. Why did he do that, when he was known for his timid personality?
“It’s partly because of the First Prince’s request. But that’s not enough to explain it, is it?”
“…”
What Perez said next was really surprising.
“First of all, I want to thank you. What you said was what I wanted to say too. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“That’s not true.”
“I’ve seen a lot of talented and upright people like you in the army. But most of them didn’t end well.”
Eurius’s request, Devan’s talent that he noticed, and Perez’s personality.
If any of these three were missing, Devan’s head would have been cut off by now. Perez was worried about that.
“You must have thought I was timid, right?”
“That’s not…”
“I don’t like taking risks. That’s why I don’t have any significant achievements at this age. Even though I’m leading the Imperial Army, which is said to be the strongest in the continent.”
“You are a good commander, sir.”
Devan thought Perez was sometimes frustrating, but he basically considered him a decent superior.
He was not someone who would treat soldiers as tools for victory like the Second Prince did.
Perez smiled at Devan’s sincere words.
“Actually, I don’t have anything to advise you on military tactics. But I have something to say about your conduct.”
Devan had a lot of regrets as he talked with Perez.
He thought he was a very timid person, but he was actually someone who had a clear opinion and made such choices.
“And since I’ve shielded you, I don’t think I have any more room for choice!”
Perez decided to side with Eurius this time.
He also had some resentment towards Leonhart, who had been watching from afar since he came as reinforcements.
And now that he had shielded a commoner in front of him, he had already ruined his image in front of the Grand Duke.
“Now that we’re on the same boat, what are you going to do? The First Prince seems to want you to get some merit…”
“…”
Devan thought for a moment.
He didn’t know why Eurius liked him so much.
His tactics were too radical, so he had to submit a mediocre paper to graduate from the academy.
But strangely enough, Eurius seemed to be interested only in the parts that no one else cared about.
And Perez would probably not ignore his opinion now.
After thinking hard, Devan finally spoke.
“Actually, there is a tactic that I want to try out, but it hasn’t been verified yet.”
“What is it?”
***
There were four countries that raised their flags against the Carvan Kingdom in this Western Alliance civil war.
Among them, the largest kingdom Kestin’s Duke and commander-in-chief Beyerin was in a hurry.
“We have to take over Carvan’s capital before the Empire sends more reinforcements.”
Of course, the Empire’s reinforcements were already here. But Leonhart had only brought a few elite knights and soldiers, so they still hadn’t noticed.
But Beyerin didn’t know that, so he had to urge the march.
If he could take over the capital and kill all the royal family, including the king, the Empire would have no reason to interfere with a country that was already destroyed.
He had inflicted a huge damage on Carvan’s knights with a sudden attack, and that was his merit. Now, even with the help of the Imperial Army, defending the capital would not be easy.
The so-called Western Alliance Army, formed by four kingdoms, marched day and night and reached near the capital.
“The Imperial Army is holding a position in the Kale Forest and trying to confront us?”
“Yes.”
Beyerin looked at the Third Army’s deployment with a puzzled expression.
The Kale Forest was a terrain that was absolutely advantageous to his side, as far as he knew.
“Break through quickly. If we can defeat the Imperial Army this time, taking over the capital will be a piece of cake!”
A day before the Western Alliance Army arrived, a hasty staff meeting was convened in the Third Army.
“This place will allow us to use the terrain advantage to block the enemy’s assault!”
“…!?”
All the staff members looked at Devan with a look of disbelief.
That place was usually the most favorable terrain for melee combat.
“Hey, Devan. I know you’re competent, but it doesn’t make sense to have a frontal battle in the Kale Forest.”
As he said, the Kale Forest was one of the narrowest passages to enter Carvan’s capital.
The narrow road between the forests was so narrow that there was no space for anything but melee combat.
If they clashed head-on with the knights outnumbering them, the result was obvious. But Devan didn’t budge from his claim.
And Perez, the commander and duke, didn’t oppose Devan’s idea either.
“I’m from Carvan Kingdom, as you know. It’s June now! It’s the rainy season in Carvan.”
Devan began to explain his tactics in a confident tone.
***
The rain had been pouring down for days, turning the road into mud.
The Western Alliance Army had no choice but to slow down their march, while the Third Army waited for them in ambush.
“What is this? Why are there archers in front?”
Beyerin frowned as he saw the Imperial Army’s formation.
It was very strange that they placed archers on both wings of their front line.
Didn’t they know that archers were useless in such close quarters?
He felt a bit uneasy, but he was confident in his overwhelming strength.
He had followed the conventional tactics of melee combat.
“Charge!”
“Hehehe!”
The knights led the way, breaking through the road, and the heavy cavalry followed them to pierce through the enemy line.
This was the standard tactic of melee combat.
Beyerin thought he could crush his enemy with this tactic.
“Shoot arrows! Stop their charge!”
Swoosh!
The archers on both wings let loose their arrows at once. But they were not aiming at the enemy soldiers. They were aiming at something else.
“Wh-what is this?”
Beyerin’s eyes widened as he saw what was flying in the air. It was not ordinary arrows. It was something wrapped in cloth soaked in oil.
And then…
Boom!
The arrows hit their targets and exploded into flames.
The targets were wooden poles that had been planted along both sides of the road by Devan’s order.
The poles were connected by ropes soaked in oil, forming a wall of fire that blocked the enemy’s advance and retreat.
“A trap!”
Beyerin realized too late that he had fallen into a trap. He had been lured into a narrow road where he couldn’t maneuver or escape, and then surrounded by fire.
He looked around frantically for a way out, but there was none.
The fire was too high and too hot to cross.
And behind him, there were more enemy soldiers waiting for him.
He had been caught in a pincer attack.
“Damn it! How did they come up with such a tactic?”
He cursed as he saw Devan leading his troops from behind.
Devan had devised this tactic based on his knowledge of Carvan’s geography and climate.
He knew that during the rainy season, there would be plenty of water and oil available from nearby villages.
He also knew that fire would be effective against heavily armored enemies who couldn’t move fast or see well.
He had prepared this trap in advance, using his archers to ignite it at the right moment.
He had also placed some infantry units on both sides of the forest to prevent any escape attempts.
It was a brilliant tactic that used both natural and artificial elements to create an advantage.
Devan smiled as he saw his plan succeed. He had finally proven his worth to Eurius and Perez.
“Now, let’s finish them off!”
The Imperial Army rained down countless arrows. But Beyerin relaxed his expression as if it was laughable.
‘How can they stop the knights with arrows in such a narrow terrain?’
Of course, even the heavy cavalry and the knights who wielded force would be in danger if they were exposed to the arrow rain continuously.
But this was a straight line, wasn’t it? They could close the distance in an instant.
But his expectations began to go wrong from the beginning.
“Hehehe!”
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, the horses of the knights who were charging at the front went crazy and threw off their riders. Screams erupted among the knights.
“It’s caltrops! Be careful, everyone!”
Caltrops were iron obstacles that were scattered on the ground to stop the horse’s charge.
Beyerin was slightly taken aback, but soon hardened his expression.
‘A clumsy tactic.’
The knights wouldn’t be seriously injured just by falling off their horses. It might slow down their attack speed a bit, but that wouldn’t be enough to stop their charge. If that was the case, he would have considered this strategy a long time ago.
Of course, there were some knights who were injured by falling off their horses or got arrows stuck in their bodies in the meantime, but as he expected, most of the knights got up without any serious injuries and ran towards the archers at a terrifying speed.
‘At least they succeeded in slowing down their attack speed.’
Devan smiled with satisfaction. Now, the next obstacle would catch the enemy’s ankles.
It was the mud that had turned into a swamp by the rain that fell during the rainy season!
Splash!
“Damn mud.”
The knights who got off their horses grumbled as they sprinted through the mud that reached their knees.
It was hard to cross such a swampy land with human height.
On top of that, the Imperial archers kept hitting their armor with arrows.
They were knights who wielded force, so they endured it, but the cavalry and infantry behind them lost their horses and suffered casualties.
“Damn archers, we’re almost there, it’s over!”
But what greeted the knights who had almost reached the archers were sturdy wooden stakes that Devan had installed in advance.
“Archers, retreat while continuing to shoot! Knights, protect the archers!”
The archers moved back and forth between the stakes while pouring arrows.
They were light and agile because they didn’t have much defense.
Devan had also placed some knights and heavy infantry behind the stakes to help the archers retreat.
On the other hand, most of the Western Alliance Army had sent heavy cavalry or infantry in armor for melee combat. But they couldn’t move properly in such heavy armor in the swamp.
If the knights had easily crushed the archers as planned, it wouldn’t have mattered if their attack speed was slow, but Devan had wickedly focused on protecting the archers instead of using them for attack.
The orderly retreat of the Imperial archers while moving between the stakes and raining arrows! The enemy soldiers who couldn’t move well in the swamp!
The result was obvious. The knights managed to chase after the archers with tenacity, but the ordinary soldiers who were supposed to support them collapsed.
‘Preserving the front-line troops is already impossible. I have to save at least the knights and rear troops.’
Beyerin bit his lip and decided to retreat. He had to abandon his front-line troops. The troops he retreated with also suffered a lot from the Imperial Army’s relentless pursuit.
Devan swept his chest as he saw that scene.
‘It was my first time trying this strategy, but I’m glad it worked out well as you said.’
He thought of the conversation he had with Eurius before leaving the Imperial capital.
“The reason I trust you is because I found your theory very interesting. If you have a chance this time, try that strategy.”
Devan looked bewildered.
That paper was the cause of his repeated failures to graduate from the academy.
“You mean the paper on fire power?”
“Yes. I also thought that the knights were useful on the battlefield, but they were too dependent on them.”
Eurius explained to Devan with a serious expression.
The knights who wielded force were human after all.
They had physical limits and they could get injured if the arrows hit them properly.
‘I felt it when I saw you at the academy, but your words seem to read my mind. I agree with you completely.’
The two had a lively discussion about fire power before they parted that day.
Of course, Eurius felt guilty inside.
‘Actually, everything I said was what you would develop in your previous life. I’m sorry…’
***
“The Third Army defeated the enemy’s main force by themselves?”
Leonhart tried to control his expression as he heard the outcome of the battle in the Kale Forest.
“So there’s nothing for the reinforcements to do?”
Perez bowed his head again as if he had no face.
“Your Highness, it’s not entirely true.”
“I came here to serve the Empire, so I have to do something. You are the commander, so you can order me without worrying about me being the second prince.”
“That’s…”
Perez raised his head with a troubled expression.
“The war is almost over since we crushed the enemy’s main force. But there are still remnants of the enemy in various places. And most of them are knights from noble families, so they are very difficult to deal with using guerrilla warfare.”
“…”
Leonhart almost failed to manage his expression.
He understood what Peres meant.
“As you brought elite knights with you, I’m asking for your help…”
‘So the war is already over and you want me to take care of the leftovers.’
There was hardly any merit for Leonhart to take in this war.
But he was sent as reinforcements.
Since there was no big enemy left to defeat, he had to deal with any small tasks and somehow raise his evaluation.
In the end, the process was slightly different, but as Eurius expected, Leonhart ended up in a situation where he had to take care of all kinds of chores without getting any credit for the war.