The empire isn’t much (6)
Everyone had been certain of victory.
The nobles of the empire had been worried about missing their prey due to a failed hunt, not about their soldiers being defeated.
However, the operation that they believed was impossible to fail somehow ended up as a failure.
Now, never mind the operation, they needed to worry about their own safety.
“If we had chosen to endure their attacks from behind the gates, things wouldn’t have turned out like this!”
The nobles regretted their decision to give up the defensive advantage and confront the enemy on the plains, but it was too late.
From now on, they planned to use more conservative tactics to deal with the enemy.
“Adrian Leonberger is aiming for our command center!”
They locked the gates firmly and dispatched messengers to request assistance from nearby fortresses.
“It won’t be difficult to stop them if support arrives in time.”
They believed that they would be able to stop Adrian Leonberger as long as reinforcements arrived from the nearby strongholds.
The nobles, who had been panicked due to their unexpected defeat, began to think back.
Only then were they able to infer the cause of their loss.
The first reason was that their units had been individually destroyed before the encirclement could be properly established. And the second reason was that Adrian Leonberger, whom they thought could be captured with ten paladins, held far greater strength than they had expected.
The loss of troops was truly regrettable.
The deaths of the paladins were very painful.
From the beginning, they should have just ignored the existence of Adrian Leonberger and focused on defense. If only they had done that, they wouldn’t have lost such valuable manpower in vain.
These biting thoughts soon reached the person who had first conceived of the strategy.
“If it wasn’t for you!”
The viscount who had confidently planned the strategy was cornered.
“I-it’s not my fault!”
He defended himself desperately.
No matter how excellent a knight may be, he could not defeat an absolute difference in troops. If there was any fault, it would be with the front-line commanders who did not properly prepare the encirclement and ended up giving the enemy a chance.
His words fell on deaf ears.
The nobles, who had lost their composure due to the unexpected defeat and the enemy’s current proximity, did not listen to the viscount’s excuses.
“You have seduced our commanders with your forked tongue and aided the enemy as a result, your sins are so serious that you could not atone for them even if you die ten times!”
Externally, the viscount was charged with colluding with the Leonberg Kingdom and leading their allies into a trap.
In the process, the performance of Adrian Leonberger who had destroyed three legions with 500 troops was downplayed as the result of trickery, and the failure of the operation was attributed to the work of a spy.
The soldiers fully believed their words.
No one thought that a mere 500 troops could defeat ten times the number of opponents.
It didn’t make any sense, because it was a story that didn’t make any sense.
But even if they could fool the soldiers with such false propaganda, they couldn’t fool themselves.
The nobles were overcome with extreme anxiety.
It felt like Adrian Leonberger could appear at any moment and drive a knife through their hearts.
“Why aren’t the reinforcements coming!”
They could only rebuke the innocent messengers, but nothing changed.
A day passed, and then another day.
“What happened! Why is there no news!”
There was still no news on the reinforcements.
At least a few of the messengers who left the fortress should have come back to report on the situation.
But none returned.
The nobles were overcome with extreme anxiety.
They had lost contact with all the nearby fortresses, and simultaneously, traces of the recently resurfaced enemy had disappeared once again.
They weren’t so stupid to not know what this meant.
It was one or the other.
Either the messengers had failed to complete their mission, or the citadels and fortresses that had heard the news weren’t in a position to send reinforcements.
“It seems like the enemy has decided to capture all of our messengers.”
They put more weight on the former.
There were some who expressed concern about the second possibility, but there weren’t many.
Because it didn’t make sense.
Of course, the first possibility didn’t make sense either.
It was an absurd situation they wouldn’t have believed if they hadn’t experienced it for themselves.
“The other fortresses will soon figure out that the enemy is targeting our headquarters. If we hold out until then, they will retreat.”
There was a limit to entering deep into enemy territory without a proper supply chain.
The nobles at the headquarters expected that their opponents would retreat on their own if they could hold out for a little while.
And their predictions were wrong this time as well.
Adrian Leonberger never had any intention of stepping back.
It was only after the cavalrymen returned from the citadels that they discovered their enemy’s whereabouts.
“There were dead bodies all over the place!”
“All of them were allies!”
The cavalryman reported the disasters around the fortress with a stiff face.
“From three hundred to as many as a thousand! Troops from the Nantes, Cordurain, Liante, Oriens, and Pengmarte fortresses!”
Nantes, Cordurain, Liante, Oriens, Pengmarte.
All of them were nearby forts from which they had requested assistance.
In the meantime, another cavalry unit had returned. They also brought terrible news.
“One day away from the citadel! We’ve discovered traces of battle! The coat of arms of the Iron Falcon Knights was confirmed on the bodies at the scene!”
The Iron Falcon Knights were one of the best orders in the Empire.
“The leader of the Iron Falcon Knights? Sir Juli de Jourzian is not a man who can be defeated so easily!”
In particular, the leader of the Iron Falcon Knights was close to the realm of penta.
“While collecting the body of the Iron Falcon Knights, we also confirmed the body of Sir Juli de Jourzian.”
The cavalryman responded with a sad face, informing them of the fate of the proud paladin of the Empire.
The nobles were completely flustered.
“This, I mean. It sounds like Adrian Leonberger is using this fort as bait to destroy our allies one by one, am I crazy?”
One of them said as if it were absurd.
Everyone had guessed, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say the truth.
They could all feel it.
They realized that they had become mere bait, that they were nothing more than hostages.
But by the time they realized that, it was already too late.
Dang dang dang!
The loud sound of ringing bells resonated throughout the citadel.
“Enemies!”
Urgent shouts echoed from all directions.
“It’s the Leonberg Kingdom!”
A messenger who appeared one step later informed them of the enemy’s appearance.
“It’s a crouching golden lion! They’re the forces led by Adrian Leonberger!”
The pale-faced nobles headed straight for the castle walls.
Even then, they still had a bit of fighting spirit.
Although they had suffered the humiliation of being ridiculed by only 500 enemies, they believed that it had not reached a point where the battle could not be won.
Even though they couldn’t do anything about Adrian Leonberger right away, they thought that they wouldn’t give up the citadel easily.
They definitely believed that, and they were confident in their own way.
“To show him how strong the Empire’s fortifications are…”
Hwaaag!
Everything became meaningless in front of the overwhelming presence that suddenly bloomed at the end of the plains shrouded in thick twilight.
Dang dang dang…
The ringing of the bell that announced an enemy invasion gradually faded away.
“……!”
The incessant shouting gradually subsided.
Soon they couldn’t hear anything.
Dududu.
The only sound was the thundering of hoofbeats.
The world started to slow down.
Only a group of cavalrymen galloping across the dim plains could be seen exceptionally clearly.
The crest of a crouching golden lion emblazoned on the flag they raised was strangely distinct.
The figure of the knight riding his horse in the lead stabbed their eyes.
The knight raised his sword at an angle.
A flash of light erupted from the tip of the sword.
Light spread over the plains covered in darkness.
They watched the light as if they were possessed.
They saw the owner of the dawn that drove out the night.
The crown prince of the Leonberg Kingdom,
The Lion of the North,
Adrian Leonberger.
A monster that decimated three legions, roamed around the citadel, and devoured countless soldiers.
It was the name of an enemy that would not make them happy even if they chewed on it.
But it was strange.
Even when looking at him, the nobles couldn’t harbor any hostility.
Only then did they discover.
Adrian Leonberger was not what they had thought.
He was neither a great knight nor a terrible monster.
He was not an enemy they dared to fight against.
Something impossible, or what should be called the unknown.
Rather than being human.
“Hwaryong…”
It was something resembling the disaster that devastated the southern part of the empire.
When they realized this.
Paa!
A brilliant dawn descended upon the walls of the castle.
Dawn stayed on the wall for a while, and then disappeared.
As if it had never existed in the first place.
* * *
“Ugh…”
The soldiers groaned.
One by one, they woke up with gloomy faces like they had just experienced a terrible nightmare.
The bleary-eyed soldiers looked around.
“Huh?”
The soldiers who had been looking around froze.
Their eyes turned to one place in unison.
There were some things missing.
The place where the solid castle gates should have stood was empty.
A part of the wall surrounding the fortress had disappeared without a trace.
It wasn’t just the gates and part of the walls that had disappeared.
The leaders who had climbed the wall due to the sudden appearance of the enemy were nowhere to be seen.
The owner of the fortress, the lords who ruled the various twenty-two territories, and the knights who supported them.
All had disappeared.
The soldiers rubbed their eyes.
But no matter how much they rubbed, it was the same.
There was nothing the soldiers could do in such an incomprehensible situation.
All they could do was stand there with blank faces.
The sound of hoofbeats could be heard in the ears of the half-dazed soldiers.
They turned their creaking necks and looked out the castle to a spot in front of the walls.
Adrian Leonberger, with a force of five hundred men, was there.
He didn’t do anything.
He did not shout loudly and rush through the wide opening, nor did he raise his voice and threaten them.
He just stood still and looked up at the top of the wall.
His expression, which was covered by the tightly pressed down helmet, was not visible.
Nevertheless, in the eyes of the soldiers, he seemed to be smiling.
Plop.
The soldiers’ legs lost their strength and they buckled on the spot.
They fell down awkwardly and hid themselves behind the castle walls.
Then they hugged their knees and buried their heads.
Tremble tremble.
So the soldiers crouched over and trembled for the rest of the night.
And by the time they came to their senses, all of the Leonberg soldiers had already disappeared.
* * *
Twenty-two high-ranking nobles.
Seven elite legions.
Nine knights.
Twelve paladins.
One fortress.
This was the number of losses suffered by the Burgundy Imperial Army in several battles immediately after the war started, and at the same time it was also the record of the 500-strong detachment led by Adrian Leonberger over a period of only 15 days before the Leonberg Kingdom launched a full-scale offensive.
It was an event that would be recorded in the history of the Burgundy Empire as a disaster as terrible as the appearance of Hwaryong, and it was an unprecedented feat that would remain in the history of the Leonberg Kingdom.
This battle earned Adrian Leonberger the nickname the God of War, and the Burgundy knights and commanders experienced a nightmare that they would never be able to shake off.
The demoralized Burgundy Empire began to rapidly collapse in front of the Leonberg Kingdom’s offensive.
Within a month of the war starting, seven frontline fortresses had fallen. Four territories were placed under the influence of the Leonberg Kingdom.
And just in time, Dotrin’s army began to march westward.
The western kingdoms, which had been suffering from the monster riots, won a scarred victory after a long battle, and the first queen was crowned in the Teuton Kingdom.
While the queen solidified her own foundation inside Teuton, she was constantly urging the western kingdoms to act.
She cried out that they must not forget the blood shed during the Empire’s ambush at the height of the turmoil, that now was the only chance for them to make the Empire pay the price.
The western kingdoms mobilized all their strength to stabilize themselves internally and prepare for war.
Feeling a sense of crisis, the 5th prince of Burgundy sent a messenger to the 3rd prince suggesting a truce.
In response, the 3rd prince showed his will by executing the messenger and sending back his head.
The civil war intensified, and the splendor of the Thousand Year Empire was nowhere to be seen.
And then, the emperor moved.
When no one expected it, in a way no one could have imagined.
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