WeTried Translations

Translator: Nemui

Editor: Nemui

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◈ Friedrich's Battlefield

Chapter 185: The Siege of Chatellerault Fortress (4)

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"...Headquarters guard, all hands advance."

Seeing that the cavalry units led by Oliver and Baroness Alembourg had drawn in the enemy reserves, Friedrich gave the order and advanced himself. Gregor, his adjutant, and the dozen or so knights left at headquarters followed.

At present, what remained in the main camp where Yorgos Caruna stood was only several dozen knights who were likely responsible for guarding Yorgos himself. Because Friedrich's cavalry had charged in a wide arc, the enemy reserves drawn by them could not return immediately. And the enemy cavalry was being contained by the Arelian knights under Cecilia's command, so they too could not return quickly.

That was why Friedrich moved himself and his personal guard as the final force. He would catch the enemy off guard by doing what they would assume a general, especially a wise general commanding while overlooking the battlefield, would not do himself.

When he glanced toward Chatellerault Fortress, he saw a dozen or so riders sortie from that side as well, pass along the left of the Arelia royal family's infantry, and head for the enemy main camp.

At their center was Countess Cecilia Fargier. That meant the ones around her were her own guards.

So she was thinking the same thing after all. Thinking that, Friedrich ordered Gregor and the others to steer their formation toward Cecilia's group. Cecilia's group also approached them, and the two units became a single force of about thirty riders, aiming for Yorgos.

The guard knights moved to the front. Friedrich and Cecilia took the very rear, the safest position in this formation.

There, they lined up, and their eyes met. They smiled at each other, nodded, and faced forward.

"The enemy general is close! All riders, increase speed!"

"Now is the time to seize victory! Draw all of the enemy guards toward us!"

Friedrich and Cecilia gave orders to their guard knights. The two wise generals who had once been enemies rode together toward a new common enemy.

......

The enemy generals, both of them, were charging with their guards. They counted themselves as pieces for victory and threw themselves into the attack. To Yorgos, that was far too unexpected.

He had heard that Countess Fargier and Count Hosenfeld were both wise generals skilled in unusual plans. He had assumed wise generals would fight while overlooking the battlefield, but that assumption had now been overturned.

However, Yorgos had not yet given up.

"The enemy generals have come close on their own! If we take them down, we win! I will grant a title to whoever takes either commander's head!"

Thinking that this was an opportunity for his side too, he roared, and the guard knights protecting Yorgos answered with vigor.

They still had more numbers, but the enemy was carrying momentum in a mounted charge. If they collided, victory or defeat would be about even.

Fine. He welcomed it. If he could not win a gamble of this degree, he could never restore the Kingdom of Caruna and make it great.

Yorgos drew his own sword and prepared to clash with the thirty-odd enemy riders. At that moment,

"Your Majesty! Behind you!"

One of his aides shouted, and Yorgos turned around. His eyes widened in the greatest shock of the day.

Behind the main camp, where forests and shallow hills dotted the ground, a lightly equipped force of about one hundred was approaching. The distance was less than one hundred meters. He had placed watchers behind them as well, but for the enemy to get this close before being noticed, they must have been a unit specialized in hiding and surprise attacks.

"Damn you..."

No matter how he thought about it, he could not win if pinched between thirty knights and one hundred soldiers. Even so, he could not fail to respond. Knowing it was by no means a good move, Yorgos split his guards in two and had them meet the enemies in front and behind.

The battle began, but they were clearly outnumbered. His guards, his comrades from the Jaws of Caruna who had shared hardship and joy with him until now, fell one after another. The enemy gradually drew closer.

How was he supposed to beat enemies like this? Against generals who formed plan after plan and attacked while coordinating two armies as skillfully as if they were both hands extending from one body, what would have been the correct way to fight?

Without knowing the answer, Yorgos clashed blades with an approaching enemy knight. He skillfully deflected the heavy strike from the knight, who was wrapped in heavy armor and whose face could not be seen.

But no matter how excellent his personal skill was, nothing could be done anymore. Even if he kept the knight in front of him at bay, victory would not come. Before he knew it, he was surrounded by enemy soldiers, and those soldiers had bows, crossbows, and other projectile weapons aimed at him.

The moment the enemy knight withdrew, the soldiers fired. Several arrows pierced his body, and Yorgos fell from his horse.

"...Was it too grand a dream?"

Lying on his back and looking up at the sky, those words and a smile slipped from Yorgos's mouth.

The restoration of the Kingdom of Caruna. Revenge for his clan. Ambition toward conquest. Had all of it been an undeserved dream he should not have sought?

This place, the Caruna region of western Ludna, was his birthplace. But the Ludia continent had also become his homeland. The Kingdom of Zangia had become his second homeland, and the dear friend who was now its king, as well as his beloved wife and child, were in that country.

Should he have lived a peaceful life there? Should he have lived with the happiness before his eyes wrapped in his hands, rather than reaching for distant ambition?

As he asked himself that, strangely, he felt no regret. The fact that he had come within one step of the ambition he had carried in his heart since childhood gave him a small sense of satisfaction.

He would die with his dream broken. But that was the result of his own decision and challenge. And his wife and child would continue living in his second homeland. Under the protection of his friend, the King of Zangia, his wife at least would not have trouble surviving. His son would be free to choose his own future.

This was the end. All that remained was to go to God's side, where his clan waited, to his mother and siblings.

The light of the sky he looked up at gradually grew stronger. That light wrapped everything in his vision, and Yorgos's consciousness melted into quiet peace.

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