WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 155: Decisive Battle (15), Victory

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"Uwaaaah!"

Samuel Arelia, who had been tossed about by the horse rampaging after being struck by a bolt, was finally thrown from the horse when it reared up its front legs. He rolled across the ground.

Feeling pain through his whole body, he stood and drew his sword. It was not that he had the spirit to keep fighting alone after being separated from his father and the Armor of the King. He simply held a weapon to gain even a little sense of safety.

When he looked around, he was still in the middle of the confusion of his allied vanguard. The noise of conscripts crying, screaming, or fleeing with grim faces, along with the angry shouts flying everywhere, made his body freeze in fear. The sword in his hand did not give him much courage. He already regretted following his father all the way to the vanguard to show him a brave figure, and that regret grew deeper still.

Left alone in the middle of the battlefield like this, what was he supposed to do? Like the conscripts around him, he could not even judge which way he should flee.

"Your Highness!"

As he stood wrapped in a terrifying sense of helplessness, Count Patrick Villeneuve, captain of the Armor of the King, rushed to him. Seeing a familiar close aide of the royal house come for him, Samuel's expression loosened in relief.

But Patrick too seemed to have had his left shoulder and arm sealed by injury. Blood flowed from the lowered arm that no longer held the reins. Patrick stopped his horse beside Samuel, then dismounted almost by leaping down, drew his sword with only his right hand, and placed Samuel behind him.

"Patrick! You came! But Father?"

"His Majesty suffered serious wounds and has retreated to the rear under the protection of the remaining knights! For now, we can only pray to God that his life is spared!"

"No! Th-then what should we do now...?"

"The rear of the Kingdom of Arelia is still some distance from here, and with the battlefield in such confusion, retreating on foot would be extremely difficult! At this point, we must prepare ourselves to be captured by the enemy and..."

Before Patrick could finish explaining, the crowd of conscripts surrounding them split apart before their eyes. Scattering the mob as it appeared was the cavalry unit of the Kingdom of Edelstein that had been chasing them until moments ago.

The enemy knights quickly formed a circle, trapping Samuel and Patrick inside.

"P-Patrick..."

"Discard your weapons! Do not move carelessly. Wait as you are!"

As he said that, Patrick threw the sword he held and the dagger that served as his spare weapon onto the ground. Samuel followed him, though he felt no small hesitation at letting go of the sword and dagger granted to him by his father Childebert.

"This person is His Highness Samuel Arelia, crown prince of the Kingdom of Arelia! I am Count Patrick Villeneuve! We surrender to your country! We will not resist!"

Even as Patrick shouted, the enemy knights moved and completely closed off every escape route for the two of them. They were thickly surrounded by several hundred enemy riders, to the point that they could no longer see the conscripts beyond the horses.

The enemy knights surrounded them while releasing sharp killing intent. Samuel felt fear so strong his legs nearly gave out. The neighboring countries were all terrifying. Clear enemies who would someday invade them if Arelia did not invade first. That was what his father had taught him, so he was attacked by anxiety over what cruel treatment the soldiers of an enemy country would now give him.

A knight who seemed to be the commander of the cavalry unit dismounted and turned toward them. From the crest engraved on his armor, and from the same crest visible on the back of his mantle when he dismounted, Samuel understood that he was a noble.

The stern-faced knight walked toward them while glaring. Samuel instinctively held his breath, and Patrick stood before him as if to protect him.

The enemy commander who approached sheathed his sword, straightened his posture, and saluted.

"Your Highness Samuel Arelia, Crown Prince of Arelia. I am Diethelm Brightkreuz, commander of the Hildegard Regiment of the Kingdom of Edelstein army. From this moment, you are a prisoner of our army. I know this will impose restrictions on you, but I ask for your understanding... You there, treat Count Villeneuve's wounds."

At the order of the enemy commander, Diethelm Brightkreuz, several knights dismounted. The weapons Samuel and Patrick had discarded were collected carefully, and first aid was applied to Patrick's arrow wounds.

It seemed the enemy were not the barbarians Samuel had imagined. He and Patrick would apparently be treated as proper prisoners according to their status. Understanding that, Samuel relaxed in relief and sank down onto the ground.

......

While continuing to encourage the allied infantry at the very front of the battlefield, Claudia felt the course of the battle turning in their favor.

After their cavalry unit launched its charge, the hegemon king Childebert withdrew with his direct guard and disappeared from sight. At the same time, the density of enemy conscripts, who had become nothing but a mob and were being hunted by Edelstein's forces, thinned, and the speed of their own advance pushing into the enemy increased.

Has victory come into view?

Just as she thought that, several kingdom army knights broke through the enemy formation and rode to Claudia.

"Report! We have succeeded in inflicting what appears to be a fatal wound on the Arelian king! In addition, Crown Prince Samuel Arelia has been captured! The enemy headquarters has fled, and the enemy rear infantry, archer unit, and cavalry unit have each begun retreating!"

At that report, Claudia smiled quietly. The feeling of victory became certainty.

Because the elite units among the enemy rear infantry had advanced forward, what remained were only second-line units in the Arelian royal army called in from the old neighboring countries, along with noble domain forces. In this battle situation, with the commander in chief, the king, badly wounded and fleeing with headquarters, it was inevitable that those units, which lacked loyalty, would lose heart and retreat.

If neither the vanguard nor rear infantry, the troops responsible for close combat, could continue fighting, the archer unit would follow. The enemy archers, who should already have suffered considerable losses from the imperial Black Bow unit's attacks, had no choice but to fall back rather than keep fighting.

The same was true of the enemy cavalry unit. From here, Claudia had seen the enemy cavalry fail its charge because of the fleeing conscripts and the imperial cavalry unit that had charged in response to Diethelm and the others. A group of cavalry that had lost both cohesion and momentum could do nothing by remaining on the battlefield now.

Once the units blocking the rear and flanks completely disappeared, there was no one left to prevent the enemy conscripts from fleeing. They would leave the battlefield as they pleased. It was only natural that the density of enemy soldiers writhing in the vanguard formation before her rapidly thinned.

At this point, the question was no longer whether they could win, but how much achievement they could decorate the victory with.

"Rejoice, all of you! Our victory is decided! The enemy has turned their backs and fled! All that remains is to chase them and hunt them down! Advance toward the glory of victory!"

Victory was decided. They had defeated the Kingdom of Arelia, the mighty invader.

At the queen's declaration, the army of the Kingdom of Edelstein answered with battle cries and pressed forward. They were no longer pushing the line while fighting. They ran powerfully toward the backs of the fleeing enemy.

......

After collapsing the enemy vanguard and removing Count Fargiere's unit, the Ferdinand Regiment waited in the middle of the enemy formation. Raising the flags of House Hosenfeld, they hardened their defense with infantry ranks, and their cavalry unit circled around them to intimidate the enemy, keeping away those who had become a mob.

"...We won."

In the center of the secured formation, Friedrich murmured while watching the battlefield.

The enemy conscripts who had until moments ago wriggled in the vanguard with few places to escape now flowed toward the rear all at once. In other words, the enemy rear that had been preventing the conscripts from fleeing had already begun retreating, and that meant the enemy army as a whole was fleeing.

He still did not know what had happened to the hegemon king Childebert, but at the very least, there was no doubt that the Kingdom of Edelstein was achieving victory in this decisive battle.

"Send word to the battalion commanders. We will join the main force and begin pursuit. As planned beforehand, ignore the enemy conscripts and focus on the regular soldiers."

"Yes, sir."

When Friedrich gave the order, Gregor immediately answered and moved to deliver it.

Leaving aside allied conscripts, whose detailed movements could not be controlled, the regular army units had been ordered beforehand to conduct the pursuit while aiming only at the enemy regular soldiers. There was little meaning in hunting down enemy conscripts, who would return to being commoners once the war ended. But if they reduced the number of regular soldiers even by one more, they could weaken the Kingdom of Arelia further after the war.

Not much time passed before the allied vanguard pursuing the fleeing enemy army approached. At the center of the lead fluttered the royal banner of Edelstein.

The Ferdinand Regiment had already shifted its formation for the pursuit. Facing the direction in which the enemy fled, the west side of the battlefield, the cavalry unit arranged its ranks, and the infantry lined up behind it. The infantry and archers who had remained in the forest on the north side of the battlefield also joined them now that enemy resistance had vanished.

Friedrich looked across the battlefield. A little distance away, he could see the cavalry unit led by Diethelm. Having completed its charge mission, they too seemed ready to enter the pursuit.

"Messenger from the main force!"

Just before they finally joined the main force, a single knight who seemed to belong to the Royal Guard rode up. According to the report from the knight Claudia had likely sent, Diethelm and his men had inflicted fatal wounds on the hegemon king Childebert and had also captured Crown Prince Samuel.

At news close to the best result he had imagined, Friedrich smiled and turned toward his subordinates.

"We now begin the pursuit. All units, advance."

At the order of the new hero, the Ferdinand Regiment began to move. The cavalry unit in the lead scattered the fleeing enemy, the infantry followed behind, and the archer unit shot down the few enemies who came close as if to resist. They advanced in pursuit without suffering anything that could be called damage, and before long, joined formation with the main force.

Diethelm's cavalry unit from the middle of the battlefield and the imperial cavalry unit that had fought at the southern edge also joined, and the army of the Kingdom of Edelstein became one again as it advanced toward victory.

The rear of the Kingdom of Arelia's army, which had at first maintained relative order, gradually fell into confusion under the flight of its vanguard allies and the fierce enemy pursuit. In the end, the entire Arelian army collapsed and routed westward while suffering ever greater losses.

The decisive battle that would determine the future of the western Ludna Continent ended in a dramatic victory for the Kingdom of Edelstein.

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