WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
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◈ Veteran of the Northern Front ◈
Chapter 19: Operation Frostfire (6)
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A few hours before Ubel’s rear detachment encountered the defeated soldiers,
The barbarians had heard that the Imperial Army was invading and slaughtering every tribesperson, young and old alike. They abandoned their villages and gathered at the Kalnamu Tribe, the largest force in the area.
There were roughly 6,000 people gathered there. Of them, no fewer than 2,000 were men able to fight. Including the Kalnamu Tribe’s own warriors, their numbers came to about 2,500.
“What a sight.”
“Deputy Chief, the Imperials are coming.”
“I know.”
Among Imperials, there was a saying that if 10,000 barbarians gathered, the border was in danger. Their strength was by no means insignificant.
By order of Hakal’s father, the chieftain, Hakal, deputy chief of the Kalnamu Tribe, led the warriors. After ordering an ambush along the Imperial Army’s route, Hakal launched a surprise attack the moment they approached.
“Kill the Imperials!”
“Uoooooh!”
“What the...!”
“Lord Gilbert, it’s an ambush!”
“There are too many enemies! You must retreat!”
The sudden attack might have been manageable if the enemy commander had calmly reassured the soldiers and led a retreat.
“Don’t fall back! Hold them off! Buy time!”
“Lord Gilbert?”
That foolish Imperial who appeared to be their commander was the first to turn tail, using the soldiers as bait.
‘A cowardly cur.’
With someone like that as their leader, the outcome was obvious.
“Fuck, run!”
“B-but...”
“Do you want to die here?! The commanders have already run away! If you want to live, get out of here!”
As the stupid pig fled, the other pigs nearby began fleeing one by one.
Did the commanders who fled survive?
They did not.
Crunch!
“Urgh!”
“Where do you think you’re going, coward!”
Hakal buried a hand axe in the back of the first lead pig to flee.
The man rolled across the ground from the impact, then gritted his teeth and drew his sword.
“Y-you lowly barbarian! Do you know who I am?!”
“Heh. Foolish.”
Hakal had heard that some Imperials knew of their customs, but this one clearly did not.
Otherwise, the man would not have challenged him after seeing the wolf pelt slung across Hakal’s back.
‘How dull.’
Hakal placed a hand on the hilt of the greatsword on his back.
Then swung it with lightning speed.
Slash!
Blood sprayed in every direction.
The fool who had charged in without knowing his place was cut clean through at the waist.
Hakal clicked his tongue at the man, who could not understand what had happened even in death.
‘Tch.’
His movements suggested he had reached the ranks of a warrior, but he was far too pathetic for someone who had received the Blessing of the Great Nature.
Just then, the voice of a trusted subordinate called out.
“Hakal.”
“What is it?”
“The chieftain has decided to pursue the fleeing Imperials.”
“Hunting Imperials...”
Grin.
He had just been thinking there had not been enough action.
“Not bad.”
Licking his lips, Hakal looked toward the forest to the west.
The western forest where the defeated soldiers had fled.
It was in the direction where Ubel and Berun were.
＊＊＊＊＊
By the time the setting sun had completely vanished and darkness settled in,
we were moving covertly, following the barbarians’ tracks. Before long, we found a group of defeated soldiers under attack.
“Found them!”
“There are Imperials over there!”
“Aaargh!”
There were around fifty barbarians.
They surrounded the defeated soldiers in the dark forest, laughing quietly.
“Heh... About twenty of them. Not bad.”
“You filthy Imperials!”
“Die regretting the day you stepped onto our land.”
As they slowly closed in on the defeated soldiers, their eyes filled with rage and madness,
“I already have plenty of regrets.”
“What...?”
At my quiet voice, one barbarian turned around.
That became the last thing he remembered.
Crunch!
“Who’s there?!”
The barbarians recoiled at their comrade’s death, but they were far too late. Just as they had hidden in the forest and surrounded the defeated soldiers, we had already surrounded them.
Slash!
Marcus charged out bravely, cutting through the barbarians in every direction. The other soldiers quickly dealt with the enemy as well.
The defeated soldiers who had been surrounded blinked blankly, unable to understand what was happening.
“What in the world...”
“Are you all right?”
“L-Lord Berun?”
The soldiers’ eyes widened when they recognized Berun.
“You can relax now. We came to save you.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“You saved our lives!”
While the soldiers wept with gratitude, I quietly spoke to Berun.
“The enemy may converge after hearing the commotion. We need to leave quickly.”
“I understand. I know you’re happy, but there’s no time. Pick up your weapons and get moving.”
“Y-yes!”
We were practically in the middle of enemy territory.
There was no time to linger.
‘Still, things have gone smoothly so far.’
This was the third time we had picked off the scattered barbarians hiding in the forest and gathered defeated soldiers. Our force, which had numbered only 300, had now grown to nearly 400.
“Which direction should we move in now?”
“I think we should begin heading north.”
“North?”
“Yes.”
The subjugation force committed to this Frostfire Operation was not only Gilbert’s thousand-man unit.
Kruger’s thousand-man unit had set out from the right side of the front.
They were still out there.
“The subjugation force drawn from the Right Army is probably in a situation similar to ours.”
Their situation was likely even worse than ours.
We had split our forces and left a rear detachment as a last line of defense. The Right Army would not have had even that.
‘By now, they must be completely scattered and hunted by the barbarians.’
We had gathered as many survivors from Gilbert’s thousand-man unit as we could.
To get greedier here would be courting disaster.
The best option was to head north, gather as many survivors from the shattered Right Army as possible, and return.
“I understand. Then we’ll head north, as you suggest, and rescue the Right Army’s soldiers.”
Berun nodded in agreement and issued an order.
“All forces, move north.”
“Yes.”
The soldiers began moving north covertly, without raising their voices and alerting the enemy.
The rear detachment had now become a fully independent force.
Even though night had fallen, we could not stop when we did not know when the enemy might attack.
As we continued marching until dawn, Berun asked Pellon,
“We should be fairly close to the Right Army by now. Pellon, how far are we from the front?”
“We should reach the front after about a day’s march.”
“A day... What about the barbarians?”
“Since there are no unusual signs nearby, they appear to still be searching.”
“If we continue moving as we have been, we should be able to gather more soldiers and return safely.”
Berun let out a heavy sigh at the commanders’ opinions.
“Whew. All we can do is pray that the Right Army comes as close to our direction as possible.”
If they had fled north or west rather than south, rescuing them would be all but impossible.
We could hardly crawl back into the enemy’s den to save them.
Our current position was roughly midway between where the Left Army and Right Army had set out from, with the front as the point of reference.
‘The Right Army’s defeated soldiers should start appearing soon...’
The moment that thought ended, a soldier watching the area brought news.
“Soldiers believed to be from the Right Army are fighting enemies ahead!”
“How many allies and enemies?”
“There are about 300 allies, while the enemy has slightly more than that.”
Three hundred?
That was more than I expected.
It was strange that so many Right Army soldiers had survived, but dealing with the enemies before us came first.
“We will rescue our allies. All forces, charge!”
At Berun’s command,
the rear detachment rushed at the enemy all at once.
The enemy force was fairly large, but it was no match for ours.
“Hup!”
Thud!
I rammed a barbarian with my shoulder, then swung Black Axe and split open the man’s side.
“Urgh!”
Slash!
The body fell like a puppet with its strings cut.
Perhaps exhaustion had built up over time.
My body felt heavier than usual.
I found myself wishing for a hot bath to warm away my fatigue, but
‘To hell with bathwater.’
In reality, all I could do was wash my face with the enemy’s blood.
＊＊＊＊＊
The battle was somewhat fierce, but thanks to our numerical advantage and surprise attack, we claimed victory without much difficulty.
After dealing with all the enemies,
we asked the surviving Right Army soldiers what had happened.
“How did this happen?”
“Well...”
The Right Army had been sweeping aside enemies and earning military merit, but after the barbarians heard of the Imperial Army, they joined a large village and overwhelmed the Right Army, causing it to collapse. Up to that point, it was similar to the Left Army.
However, the measures taken afterward were completely different.
“L-Lord Kruger told us not to head east toward the front, but to flee southeast and join the Left Army...”
Commander of a Thousand Kruger had personally shown the soldiers an escape route as defeat loomed.
“Then what happened to Lord Kruger?”
At Berun’s question, the soldiers answered with grim expressions.
“When the barbarians surrounded us, Lord Kruger deeply lamented having underestimated the enemy as a personal mistake... Then became bait, allowing the subjugation force to escape.”
“Hah!”
Like Gilbert, Kruger had made several mistakes while carrying out the campaign. Yet before dying, Kruger realized those mistakes and, seeking to atone for the soldiers lost because of them, became bait to open an escape route.
Despite making the same mistake, Kruger’s response was very different from someone else’s, and I could not help but be impressed.
Kruger had still committed an error, but it was also undeniable that many Right Army soldiers had survived because of it.
“Our numbers seem to have grown quite a bit compared to the beginning. Won’t there be too many of us now? What if the barbarians discover us...”
“It can’t be helped. Still, we’ve been dealing with every enemy we come across. We won’t be found easily.”
The rear detachment now numbered around 600 with the Right Army soldiers joining us. We should have numbered 700, but there had been a fair number of casualties in the battle just now.
“Does that mean we saved around 30%?”
“That’s less than I expected.”
At Marcus’s answer, I shook my head inwardly.
Less?
Marcus was saying something dangerous.
Just as I was about to say something, Berun, who had been quietly listening from behind, corrected Marcus.
“Your thought has merit, but we rescued 30% of a subjugation force that could easily have been wiped out. That is by no means a small achievement.”
Marcus’s eyes widened at Berun’s words, and Marcus lowered his head.
“My apologies.”
“Your name is...?”
“Marcus.”
“Marcus, I’m not reprimanding you, so don’t take it too much to heart. I only want you and the other soldiers to know the truth, because you all seem too discouraged.”
Berun was right. We had killed hundreds of barbarians during the rear detachment’s advance, and the number of barbarians subjugated early in the operation was at least twice that.
‘We may be retreating in defeat, but it would be fair to say we fought well despite losing.’
Strongly agreeing with Berun, I spoke up.
“Lord Berun, we’ve gathered many soldiers, and supplies, including food, are beginning to run low. What do you say we withdraw now?”
I had worried that Berun might insist on rescuing more soldiers, but fortunately, that concern did not come to pass.
“As you say, it would be best to return to the front now.”
Berun declared to the soldiers.
“We fought the enemy with all our strength and saved our allies. Remaining here any longer would be foolish. Everyone, return to the front!”
At that order, the soldiers moved in orderly fashion, filled with hope that they would return alive.
Our destination was the Northern Front.
At last, it was time to end this miserable war.
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