Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Feint
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“For House Sachsen!”
“For House Brandenburg!”
Two of the Empire's most formidable cavalry forces clashed, leaving no room, it seemed, for petty tricks.
Lord Milvas personally led the order's most elite unit, taking the right wing with the objective of breaking through the enemy's flank and executing an encirclement. He placed the 'official supreme commander,' Phillip, in the center with the Count's banner, and finally, Baron Perker's forces on the left wing, tasked with tying down the enemy's right.
The elite forces, with their superior firepower and mobility, were positioned on the right wing, while the infantry and regular troops were placed in the center and on the left.
It was a standard tactic: the powerful right wing would strike the enemy's flank while the center and left held back their assault.
And as the distance closed enough for both sides to identify each other, the enemy's left wing, which was to meet the elite unit of the right wing led by Lord Milvas, finally revealed itself.
The Night Raven Knights of House Sachsen, clad in jet-black armor with ash-gray surcoats. The Black Cavalry.
‘Oh?’
Moreover, the one leading the Black Cavalry at the very front was none other than the enemy's supreme commander, who should have been giving orders from the rear… the young eldest son of House Sachsen.
‘So he intends to settle this from the start with a clash of our main forces.’
By personally serving as bait on the front lines of the battle.
For the supreme commander, who should be giving orders from the rear, to be on the front lines meant that the weight of that flank was immense. It was not a risk that could be taken with foolish audacity or bravado.
‘He’s no ordinary boy, indeed.’
But there was no reason to refuse such a contest. No, in fact, this was a scenario Lord Milvas couldn't have hoped for more.
The right-wing cavalry, composed of the finest elites from the Order of Saint Magdalena.
There could be no more fitting situation to carry out his resolve.
—Lord Milvas of Triang.
A high-ranking knight of the Order of Saint Magdalena and the de facto supreme commander for the Count's side. He was a veteran knight who had experienced countless battles by the Holy Sword Master's side.
And he was one of the witnesses on that day, ten years ago, when his lord plunged a holy sword into the hero's back.
***
“Charge!”
Leading the right-wing cavalry in a charge toward the enemy's left, Lord Milvas roared.
Toward the enemy commander in the distance, looking this way from under a black helmet… Dale of Sachsen.
Instead of the wedge formation the Order of Saint Magdalena was famous for, they advanced in multiple lines that could flexibly scatter depending on the situation.
“For Saint Magdalena!”
“For House Brandenburg!”
The Count's knights shouted the name of their patron saint, Magdalena, in unison and began their charge.
The opening cavalry charge that signaled the start of the battle.
Simultaneously, the lances of Lord Milvas and some of his knights began to glow with an otherworldly light.
A pure white aura, like the feathers of an angel. The symbol of the Order of Saint Magdalena.
With that snow-white aura wreathed around their lances, the white cavalry began to rapidly accelerate.
Toward the knights of House Sachsen, the Black Cavalry, who were also galloping toward them.
“For House Sachsen!”
“For Lord Dale!”
Two of the Empire's most formidable cavalry forces clashed, and there seemed to be no room for petty tricks.
Lance met lance, warhorse met warhorse, steel and flesh collided. Screams echoed, and blood and bone scattered in every direction.
Among the knights of House Brandenburg participating in this battle, about fifty were capable of wielding an Aura Blade. Enough to form roughly one cavalry battalion.
“First Cavalry Battalion, follow me!”
Leading that battalion of fifty 'Aura Knights,' Lord Milvas galloped through the enemy lines.
He didn't participate in the initial cavalry charge, instead heading for Dale, who was watching them from the rear.
Break through at a single point to subdue the enemy commander and bring a swift end to the battle.
A swift victory. Lord Milvas's aura-infused lance skewered a Night Raven Knight like a kebab. Blood and entrails spilled out in a cascade. After felling the knight, Lord Milvas dropped his lance and drew the knightly sword at his hip.
Lord Milvas, the Sword of Innocence.
Along the cold, blue blade, he swung his 'Aura Blade,' a pure white light befitting his title.
*Shhhk!*
The innocent blade traced a white arc as it wrapped around another enemy's neck. Before a scream could even escape, the severed head tumbled to the ground.
‘…What is this?’
After taking down two more knights, Lord Milvas tilted his head, a faint sense of unease creeping in.
The right-wing cavalry of the Order of Saint Magdalena, which he was leading, was overwhelmingly pushing back the left-wing cavalry of the Night Raven Knights. It was far too one-sided.
Weren't they facing the destroyers of the battlefield, the 'Black Cavalry' themselves?
“Retreat! Turn your horses and retreat!”
“Fall back! Fall back and regroup!”
After just one clash, the entire enemy cavalry was already turning their horses as if to flee.
A battle between cavalrymen never ends with a single clash. For that reason, Lord Milvas, who had expected a successive charge from the second and third lines, found this to be a truly anticlimactic end.
‘Are they trying to tie our feet with the Night Raven Knights of House Sachsen?’
When the difference in strength between two sides is clear, it's understandable for the weaker side to avoid engagement and feign a retreat to buy time. However, their opponents were House Sachsen's famed 'Black Cavalry,' and their true strength did not lie in paltry deceptions or diversionary tactics.
This was nothing short of a self-defeating move, abandoning their greatest strength.
As proof, the movements of the enemy, who were belatedly turning their horses and scrambling to escape, were incredibly chaotic.
Their formation was in a complete mess, knights were falling from their horses—it was utter pandemonium. Their morale had hit rock bottom, and there was no successive deployment of rear units to buy time for the fleeing troops.
Gone was their unshakeable discipline and ironclad order. Their disheveled state was unbelievable for the so-called destroyers of the battlefield, the renowned 'Black Cavalry.'
They were no better than the rabble led by Baron Greenbelt.
‘Baron Greenbelt's rabble…?’
As the thought crossed his mind, Lord Milvas's heart sank. He vaguely sensed the source of this unease.
‘Could it be?’
It wasn't just a feeling of unease.
As an enemy, and at times as a reliable ally, Lord Milvas had shared many battlefields with the 'Night Raven Knights,' so he could be certain.
The eldest son of House Sachsen, the enemy commander, had not placed his elite troops here from the beginning.
This was a trap.
***
On the opposite side of Lord Milvas's right wing.
The force facing Baron Perker's left wing was a rabble bearing the crest of Baron Greenbelt.
‘Sweeping away Greenbelt's fools will be a piece of cake!’
Baron Perker, who had been inwardly worried about casualties, let out a huge sigh of relief at the sight.
That is, until the tips of the lances of the idiot knights, personally led by Baron Greenbelt, began to swirl with the jet-black aura symbolizing House Sachsen's Night Raven Knights—and 'Aura Knights' at that.
***
“Baron Perker's left wing is requesting assistance!”
“We have a report that House Sachsen's 'Aura Knights' are rapidly breaking through Baron Perker's left wing!”
“Lord Milvas said the enemy's main force was on the right wing with Sachsen's eldest son…”
“Weren't Baron Perker's opponents supposed to be Baron Greenbelt's rabble! How can House Sachsen's 'Aura Knights' be over there!”
Beneath the great banner symbolizing the Count's house, as the two front lines fiercely engaged and began to rotate counter-clockwise, the lecherous Phillip stood at a crossroads, forced to make a critical decision.
As the true 'supreme commander' responsible for this battle.
“...”
A suffocating pressure began to weigh on his heart. But what constricted it even more than the pressure was the cold sneer of a ten-year-old boy directed at him.
—*If you lose this battle, the one who will ultimately take the blame for the defeat won't be 'Commander Milvas.'*
—*It will be the incompetent and utterly useless eldest son of the Count's house.*
‘As if I’d let that happen!’
He was right. From the beginning, it should have been his role, not Lord Milvas's, to command this battle and defeat the son of House Sachsen.
He would defeat the prodigy of the ducal house, the greatest genius in the Empire, and prove himself before his father and all of the Empire.
He would prove the name Phillip of Brandenburg!
His resolve firm, Phillip slowly raised his head.
“A message from Lord Milvas! He says to reinforce the defense by having the central and rear cavalry join Baron Perker's left wing…”
Immediately after, Lord Milvas, having grasped the situation on the right wing, had urgently sent a messenger to deliver 'precise instructions.'
“Silence!”
But to the Count's eldest son, burning with fighting spirit against Dale, the message was not very persuasive.
***
For the battle-hardened Lord Milvas, Dale's deception was nothing more than a common feint. Nothing should have changed, and indeed, that should have been the case.
“A report, sir! Lord Phillip is personally leading the rear cavalry to join us here!”
But upon hearing the message from the hastily arrived messenger, Lord Milvas was utterly dumbfounded.
“I told him to send troops to Baron Perker's left wing, which is facing the enemy's 'true main force'!”
“W-well, His Lordship was so adamant…”
‘That damn brat…!’
The right wing led by Lord Milvas was already gaining the upper hand against the enemy's weaker left wing. Funneling more troops into an 'already advantageous situation' would only lead to unnecessary overcrowding, reducing the wing's mobility.
And yet, blinded by the mere fact that the enemy's supreme commander was here, he had made such a misjudgment.
He had abandoned his allies who were on the defensive and calling for help!
While the right wing, which was supposed to break through the enemy's flank with swift maneuvers, lost its purpose and fell into disarray, the 'enemy's true main force,' disguised as Baron Greenbelt's rabble, would break our flank without trouble and execute their encirclement.
At this point, discussing the tide of battle was meaningless.
‘…No, not yet.’
But Lord Milvas quickly shook his head. He shook his head and looked at the 'enemy's supreme commander' watching him from afar.
At the young eldest son of House Sachsen, whose expression was completely hidden by his black helmet.
“First Cavalry Battalion.”
Next, he thought of the fifty Aura Knights, his most reliable men, who were slaughtering the enemy alongside him.
“We will break through the enemy lines with me and immediately pursue their commander.”
Nothing had changed. Before their own lines completely collapsed into chaos, they would break through at a single point, subdue the enemy's supreme commander, and—bring a swift end to the battle.
A swift and decisive victory.
“In the name of Saint Magdalena, may this white sword be blessed.”
Muttering the name of their patron saint, Lord Milvas, the Sword of Innocence, and the knights under his command made the sign of the cross.
“May the Goddess Sistina's protection be with us.”
“May the Sister Goddess's love and mercy be with us.”
Their resolve firm, they spurred their warhorses forward.
Forcibly pushing aside the ominous feeling that they were marching into an inescapable mire.