WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 150: Decisive Battle (10)

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At the same time Yurika and Gregor worked together to slay the enemy commander, the enemy group that had reached headquarters was repelled, and the enemy ranger unit began retreating like a receding wave.

"No need to pursue too far. Leave one company each of archers and infantry in the rear to watch for another attack and treat the wounded. Everyone else, prepare to charge."

At Friedrich's order, the regiment once more began moving toward the charge.

Yurika, covered in spattered blood after finally slaying the commander of the ranger unit that had become such a fated enemy to the Ferdinand Regiment, returned to Friedrich's side. She was currently one of his subordinates, and Friedrich met her eyes. For just an instant, they exchanged smiles.

It did not take much time after that for the regiment to arrange its ranks for the charge. The cavalry unit that had advanced to the edge of the forest lined up. Immediately behind it came the infantry, and at the very rear the archer unit deployed broadly across the width, ready to provide support. Friedrich and his direct guard were positioned just behind the cavalry.

His adjutant Gregor returned to Friedrich's side as well. The sword he had thrown a short while ago as a surprise attack against the ranger unit's commander had already been recovered and was once again in his hand.

"Your Excellency. Give the word whenever you are ready."

Friedrich nodded at the words of his loyal squire captain, then stared at the enemy main force.

The confusion among the conscripts of the enemy vanguard still continued. If anything, it had grown worse.

Within that, there was a regular army unit advancing to the left side of the vanguard while maintaining a certain degree of order. The flag they raised bore the design of an owl, a fierce predator. The crest of House Fargiere.

The Kingdom of Arelia's wise general, who had fought the Ferdinand Regiment both directly and indirectly until now. A powerful enemy bound to them by a strange fate. The unit she led was about to stand in their way.

Faced with that situation, Friedrich smiled fearlessly.

This too is as planned.

Murmuring that inwardly, he raised his sword high, then pointed its tip toward the enemy.

"Charge!"

This was the moment to show something heroic, so here, and only here, the regimental commander himself raised his voice with force. At his order, the cavalry unit began its charge. Friedrich and the others spurred their horses and followed, and the infantry followed still farther behind with a battle cry.

From the rear, supporting volleys from the archer unit flew.

At the end of the charge was the left flank of the enemy vanguard. There, conscripts merely fled in confusion, unable to meet the attack in any organized way.

Accurate arcing fire struck the flank of the crowd of people that could only be called a mob now. Not a few fell after several volleys, and into the gaps that opened in their collapse came a mounted charge by one hundred riders.

The advance of that great mass easily trampled over the helpless crowd of people, crushing them as it moved. The mounted knights did not even need to draw their swords and swing them. The enemy conscripts, thrown into even deeper panic by the charge, turned their backs and fled while shoving and trampling each other, breaking themselves apart. They could not even become proper obstacles.

"Ignore the enemy soldiers and advance! Our target is only the enemy commander in chief, the hegemon king Childebert!"

"""Yes, sir!"""

The cavalry unit that formed the spearhead of the Ferdinand Regiment, and at its very tip, the battalion commander Oliver, roared while riding at the center of the front rank. The knights answered bravely. Even the novice knights assigned shortly before the decisive battle desperately kept up with their seniors.

Surrounded by his direct platoon, beginning with Yarg and Gunther, Oliver adjusted their path while sending instructions to the knights, continuing the charge toward the Arelian royal flag trapped in the waves of confusion among the enemy conscripts. In the gap the cavalry unit forced open in the middle of the enemy formation, the headquarters direct guard carrying regimental commander Friedrich followed, and behind them came the infantry.

It seemed that the Ferdinand Regiment might reach the enemy commander.

But into their path stepped an elite unit that still maintained order. It was a force led by Count Cecilia Fargiere.

......

Even before the Ferdinand Regiment, which had overcome the surprise attack by the ranger unit she had sent and now charged toward her, Cecilia was not surprised.

She had not optimistically assumed that a surprise attack by a small ranger force would necessarily succeed. Because she had anticipated that they might fail to stop the enemy, Cecilia had advanced her own direct unit to this left flank of the vanguard. Ivar and his men had failed, but thanks to the time they bought, Cecilia had reached the position she intended and could meet the enemy.

"All hands, prepare for collision with the enemy unit! Show them the full strength of the Loire battle line!"

"""Oooh!"""

Wearing an aggressive intensity over her severe expression, Cecilia shouted. The elite unit from the Loire region, centered around infantry, answered with ferocious voices.

In the Loire region, which had lost its royal house and been annexed, House Fargiere, famous as a military house since the days of the old kingdom, was one of the few remaining proofs of glory. The soldiers of the old Kingdom of Loire army had deep trust in Cecilia, who had inherited that name and shown military achievements worthy of it.

Under the general who had inherited that proud family name, they formed a strong battle line. Displaying the strength of the old Kingdom of Loire army, whose trump card had been hard infantry formations, they created a tight spear wall with no openings.

They were not equipped with shields so they could move quickly through the middle of the melee, but even so, if highly trained elites packed together and lined up spears, they were enough to meet a charge of around one hundred riders. They also had the courage not to run before a mounted charge.

We can win. We will stop the enemy here.

Certain of that, Cecilia looked toward the approaching enemy unit, then felt a faint discomfort. An instant later, she realized why.

The enemy cavalry at the head of the charge, especially the knights lined up in the very front, had not drawn their swords.

Against conscripts who only fled, that might be one thing. But before an elite regular army unit that was functioning properly, it was impossible.

The Ferdinand Regiment would never do such a thing without meaning. If so, it had to be some scheme by its regimental commander, Count Friedrich Hosenfeld.

The moment she thought that, the enemy knights in the front rank all took out something that seemed to have been tied to their saddles, set something on it, and pointed it toward them. The distance was still great, so she could not tell what it was.

But she could guess.

If Cecilia were Count Hosenfeld and went out of her way to have the knights at the head of a charge carry something, it would be a projectile weapon.

"Be careful! The enemy is..."

Before Cecilia could finish calling out, in the few moments it took the enemy to draw closer still, something like arrows was released all at once from their hands. As the enemy approached, their hands became easier to see, and she understood that they were holding something like small crossbows.

The Black Bow used by the enemy reinforcements, the imperial archer unit. If there were a crossbow that borrowed that technology, one small enough to fire one-handed while still possessing sufficient power. If the Empire had created such a thing.

Since not even a rumor of it had reached her until now, it was likely a prototype they had not yet revealed publicly. In that case, the number provided to the Kingdom of Edelstein would also be small. If such a thing were to be put into actual battle, then if it were Cecilia, yes, she would consider using it for a surprise attack from horseback by knights in order to break the spear wall blocking their path. Had Count Hosenfeld thought the same?

By the time she had run through that much thought in an instant, the arrows had already been fired. There was no way to respond.

Only several dozen men in the front of the enemy cavalry unit had attacked. In terms of number, it was not many.

But against her infantry, who carried no shields, it was effective enough. Several dozen men struck by arrows fell, and those around them flinched. No matter how much courage they had to receive a mounted charge, they had not expected to suffer long-range attacks, and they could not fully suppress their shock.

The wall of spears that had been aligned at perfect intervals and angles through steady training collapsed. The soldiers hit by arrows dropped their spears and fell themselves. Other soldiers lowered their spears in response to their own flinching, or raised them in surprise.

The Ferdinand Regiment's cavalry unit did not miss the great gap that opened in the spear wall. The Loire spear wall, which should have boasted some of the greatest strength in the western continent, collapsed without showing its true value.

The front row of the formation was trampled by the enemy knights, and the following rows could not withstand the breakthrough power of the mounted charge either. A mass of knights approached while forcibly scattering soldiers aside.

As proof of her trust in the infantry forming the front battle line, Cecilia and her direct guard had been immediately behind them. If the vanguard was broken through, they were in the next place to be swallowed. Even if she wanted to withdraw, inside this confused battlefield, there was no escaping from a group of knights approaching at high speed now.

"!"

One hundred knights, leading several hundred infantry, came toward Cecilia as a single enormous mass with destructive force.

Was this the end?

So easily?

Had she lost? To the adopted son of her hated enemy? To Count Friedrich Hosenfeld?

Her face twisted with the instinctive fear of death that welled up, but even so, Cecilia glared at the enemy. Through a gap in the ranks of the approaching knights, she saw him.

Near the rear of the enemy cavalry unit, beneath the raised flag of House Hosenfeld, rode a young man with crimson hair, wearing armor engraved with the highly visible Nouzenharen design.

In that instant, she understood.

"...Ah."

Friedrich Hosenfeld.

She knew the name, but she had not known his appearance. Although they had fought each other in strangely fated ways on battlefields until now, they had never met at close range. The rumors that reached her only spoke of his unusual background as "the orphan discovered by the hero."

She had not known.

She had not known that he had crimson hair.

The color of their hair was the same. That was all. There was no proof whatsoever. And yet she understood.

That is Maximilian.

My younger brother.

If so. If so...

How ironic fate was, and how cruel God was.

"Your Excellency!"

Shielded by Celestan, who stepped forward to make himself her shield, Cecilia simply stood there in a daze.

In the thoughts that accelerated before approaching death, only her younger brother circled through her mind.

She had thought she was the protagonist. She, who had survived the fall of her old homeland, chased the enemies of her family, and climbed upward as a general.

But she was wrong. She had only been the antagonist. Surely Maximilian, no, her younger brother separated from her in life and now bearing the name Friedrich, had been the protagonist. Of this battle that would be carved into history. Of this story that would be told to later generations.

She learned the truth, but it was far too late. Everything was much too late.

Even so, strangely, she felt no regret. Holding only a calm resignation, Cecilia kept Friedrich's figure in her sight.

Their eyes met.

Her younger brother was looking at her now too. Probably only as the enemy general who was the foe of his adoptive father, he held his real sister in his vision.

Cecilia let a smile slip.

That is fine. You do not need to know anything. You do not need to become someone like me, someone bound by the past, obsessed with revenge, and scattered emptily in the end.

I am glad you lived.

Hidden by the enemy cavalry unit, Friedrich's figure disappeared from view. After an encounter of only a few seconds, Cecilia looked up at the sky and breathed out.

"Ah, I..."

I.

The me who had been a six-year-old girl that day.

I only wanted to stay longer with the family I loved. That was the one thing. That was everything.

Swallowed by destruction, Cecilia's figure vanished into the battlefield.

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