By the news of my victory, the military force of the castle Kara noticeably got revived.
On the other hand, Robros troops were put off, shocked that the deputy commander of them had been taken. Mercenaries of the enemy, in particular, were dispirited. Anyone could notice that their attacking toward the left side of ramparts was getting weaker.
Of course Fabius the Marquis had already gone through to deep inside of the ramparts, but outside of that, all the areas were doing well blocking their enemies.
It seemed like the nature of money-driven swordsmen started to get exposed. Mercenaries do know how to fight, but they’ve got no loyalty, no faith. They run as soon as they smell something’s going wrong. They get paid as long as they’re alive.
I smelled victory.
I could say the battle is over when we remove the mercenaries. A third of the Robros military force was them. If they run away, the other side of Robros force has to move away.
“Akam!”
Akam ran toward me at my call.
“You lead the entire army.”
“What about you, master?”
“I’m heading to wrap up this battle.”
“Sir?”
“Hurry, there’s no time. If the enemies recover their force again, we’ll never know when this battle will end.”
“Yes, sir!”
I deputed the right to command to Akam and approached to Padilla.
“Now you may step behind.”
“But······.”
“If you are taken while I’m gone, it’s over. You’d better move aside.”
“Okay, I will. Then take care.”
After Padilla left with her guards, I jumped down over the ramparts. There were Kasim, Nazir, and Bayan with their camelry soldiers on standby”
“Move forward to hit the enemies. The left side of ramparts is our target.”
“Yes, sir!”
I summoned the Jet-black Crescent Horse immediately and ordered to open the gate of the castle. The enemies soon gathered after opening the gate. I let my horse pour a huge flame over them and rushed right into them.
“Follow me!”
Around ten thousand of camelry rushed out of the gate, trampling on the Robros troops entering inside.
I turned my horse to the left ramparts after getting out of the fortress with no delay.
“Aargh! camelry of Kara’s is coming!”
Heard everywhere were screams. With camelry sondiers constantly rushing through them, mercenaries under the castle died a horrible death one by one, hit by camels and crushed under hooves.
Mercenaries of Robros went frightened. I hadn’t prepared for a horse-riding dash since they were focusing on siege instead. In a case like this, it usually ends up with a one-sided genocide.
“Fuck! I knew it. There were no caltrops around.”
“Run! You’re gonna die at the bottom of ramparts!”
Some of those who could take a hint risked retreating altogether. But the only way they could take was a bridge since there were moats all around them. Eventually who could escape were only a few and the rest, not even being able to hear that the camelry is coming, were being killed hit by camels or fallen over the moats.
“Do not hesitate to crush them!”
There was no reason to use swords, no spears. The camels did all the work trampling, blocking, biting with their teeth.
“Woaaahh! Camelry men! Keep rushing!”
“Keep pushing!”
Shouts were heard from above the ramparts.
Just as responding to the supportive yells, our soldiers attacked the mercenaries even more powerfully. Despite some of survivors’ pleading to spare their lives, mercenaries soon met their deaths, split and crushed like meatballs under brutal hooves.
Meanwhile, soldiers on the ramparts started to support us by shooting arrows and magic cannonballs to other mercenaries over the moats.
And when I reached a corner right before the southern ramparts after a while, I could see the left side of ramparts empty.
There weren’t even a rat seen on my way to here. Though there were pieces of armors covered with blood, on the ground, I weren’t able to identify those as bodies since those weren’t in human shapes.
I looked at the position of mercenaries at the behind, heading to the southern gate.
‘Of course you’ll run away.’
Mercenaries of Robros were now scattering after losing their will to fight. As expected, they had gone through all sorts of things so knew how to survive.
“Open the gate!”
I went back inside the castle through the southern gate and headed right away to the central turret after leaving the right to command to Kasim, Nazir, and Bayan.
“How’s the situation?”
Akam welcomed my visit.
“Be glad, sir. All of the enemy’s mercenaries has retreated.”
“I know that. What about the other side?”
“It doesn’t seem unusual for the side of Shikar allies as well. They are retiring mob-by-mob as if they’ve heard the news of mercenaries running away.”
“Are they?”
“Yes, sir. It’s said that the flags of Elama and Adren tribes disappeared already, and their attack has got mild.”
I smirked. The expeditionary force of Robros kept being unlucky.
The number of pure Robros troops was only 25,000 out of 60000 of the entire army, while the rest were mercenaries and Shikar allies. Mostly being made of people who act according to their own interests, they are bound to scatter when the occupation goes tricky.
It was the case particularly for Hussein’s and Alp’s. Shikar troops they recruited were from city states and tribes around this area. As it’s certain that huge attacks of Kara’s will follow after this battle, they needed to preserve their own military forces for the defense.
It is quite obvious with cases of Elama and Adren tribes. Elama and Adren are the names of city states not so far from this region.
“What about Robros troops?”
“They are still attacking, but their force is quite weakened so it’s not a big deal.”
“We’ve won.”
“Yes, sir.”
Akam and I were both so sure of our victory. We had been defending our castle firmly with sufficient reserve force, while the enemies were almost doomed. Even a fool could lead and win a battle in a situation like this.
It was worth taking the risk. The fierce battle went to the end just by a single attack of camelry men. It enlightened me about how effect it is to take a drastic strategy in a battle, well, though this time the strategy was just to wipe thousands of mercenaries off.
But this is not the one you can go for without thinking. There’s nothing better when you win, but if you fail, it causes an enormous sacrifice.
As I could afford to look around, I reminded myself of other concerns.
“Right, What about marquis Fabius’?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? He has entered inside the castle and you’ve cut his supporting line, eliminating the mercenaries behind him.”
“Is he isolated?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve heard his unit is barely resisting at a corner of the ramparts, surrounded by Zenbe’s mercenaries and cavalry units of Yosrahim.”
I couldn’t be delighted by the news of Fabius the single eye, the once-distinguished war hero becoming such miserable. I even felt sad.
But it also concerned me in a way, knowing that the old man would never surrender in any circumstances. It was likely that he would choose an honorable death during a battle with Zenbe.
At the moment, a messenger ran coming hurriedly from the left ramparts and reported to me.
“F, Fabius······.”
“Fabius what?”
“We’ve managed to capture Fabius the marquis and his knights all alive.”
“Captured alive? For real?”
“Yes, sir.”
My eyes got bigger.
“What about Zenbe?”
“He passed out along with Fabius after an intensive battle.”
Zenbe did a great work. Although he fainted, he proved his strength as one of the three orcish heros by fighting with, and even capturing the bald grandpa.
“How did the battle go?”
“They both fainted by a sudden accident during the fight. Even the knights of Fabius got so confused by the accident that we could capture them without effort.
I frowned. Two strongest swordsmen of mortals passing out cause of a “sudden accident”, I could never imagine.
“What? Put it in other words. It doesn’t make sense.”
“I have no idea. They just fell out of nowhere. Thud, plump, like that.”
I tilted my head then turned my eyes to Akam. I didn’t understand the situation but it should be notified to the entire lines. The battle ends here when the news that we’ve got Fabius is spread.
“Akam, deliver this news to the entire troops even if we need to send all our messengers. Hurry!”
“Yes, sir.”
I handed the command authority over to Akam again and ran to the site. Because the capture of marquis Fabius was an important matter, I had to see it in person and grasp the situation.
The site was messy. Hundreds of Robros soldiers were being tied up and dragged, and therapists treating the injured and clerics were busy moving around at the dressing station of the castle.
I stopped a soldier immediately.
“Zenbe. Where is he?”
He pointed the dressing station.
“He’s in there.”
I rushed into the station. Among a number of injured people lying inside the building was Zenbe. It was easy to notice his huge figure.
I approached the bed Zenbe is lying, despite the disapproval of a therapist.
“Hey, wake up!”
I could see some serious bruises on his face and left arm. Those weren’t pierced wounds, but it seemed to be caused by a great impact.
Zenbe opened his eyes, groaning.
“Wh, where the heck is this?”
“A Dressing station. I mean, what the hell happened? I heard you fainted all of a sudden.”
Zenbe grabbed his forehead with his hand as if he’s going through a serious headache.
“I don’t know. I remember until the moment I was fighting with the bald headed old man for a long while, but I can’t recall anything after that.”
“Really? What else you can remember?”
“I might have heard some scream of a female human, and the bald head and I were attacked by some sort of huge, dark shadow······. Yes! The dark shadow!”
I rolled my eyes. The Scream of a female human? The Dark shadow? It didn’t feel right. “Female” humans included in this battle were only three.
“So who do you think was screaming?”
“I don’t know, but it seemed like a warning not to approach.”
“Huh. Anyway, stay in bed, healthy.”
Zenbe grabbed my wrist as I was about to leave.
“What about the bald old man?”
“I’m not sure yet, but he’s alive.”
Zenbe tightened his jaw.
“Next time, I’m finishing the battle with him.”
I glanced at him before leaving. Last time he couldn’t see the end cause of me, and this time cause of some weird shadow.
I felt like the two would never be able to see the outcome. Just like Zenbe had never been able to get paid from me.
It seems like it’s not my fault at all that he hasn’t paid from me. It might be a sort of god’s curse on him that is guilty.
“Robros army is leaving!”
As I walked out of the station, I could hear shouts of victory coming from Kara’s soldiers. Apparently Robros is retreating their troops after the news about Fabius.
It didn’t surprise me since they had no reason to continue the battle considering that Shikar allies are pulling out of the fight and the general in charge of the entire army is caught by the enemy.
“Sis!”
I climbed up to the left commander fortress and saw Shura and Armida greeting me. But I felt something’s wrong at the fortress. Soldiers at the fortress stayed far away from Armida and gave us anxious glances.
“Welcome brother~.”
I whispered right at Armida’s ear.
“Sis, just checking, but did you interfere in the battle between the bald grandpa and Zenbe?”
“Oh, that one? I mean they were coming toward where Shura was while fighting.”
“So?”
“I kept screaming not to come here, but they didn’t stop.”
“SO?”
“I got pissed and gave them a strike. I cannot let anyone to hurt our Shura.”
I rubbed my face with my palms. She doesn’t even know how big what she just did was. The battle between Fabius and Zenbe was a historical moment that can be recorded as a famous game. But this woman ruined their battle in front of everyone by beating the warriors, just because she’s annoyed. She did “involve” right into the history of humans.
Well, I don’t know anymore.