10
Chapter 10
There are two primary ways to understand an enemy's movements.
One is to observe and read the movements as they happen.
The other is to read the enemy's mind.
And this time, Charles chose the latter.
He decided to forgo scouting altogether and instead focus on reading Yuria Russell's mind.
Simply put, he chose psychological warfare!
And Charles's psychological game worked perfectly.
He had led his entire army down with impeccable timing, right as Yuria Russell was organizing her detachment.
The sudden rain also played a significant role.
He had decided to advance without a moment's delay as soon as visibility dropped.
Yuria probably thought the rain would mask her detachment's movements, but she was wrong.
Charles wasn't tracking the enemy with his eyes; he was predicting their movements. The rain didn't matter to him.
In fact, since the shower concealed his own movements, the weather was actually on his side.
After charging in, Charles first utilized his archers to thin out the enemy's numbers.
However, arrows are never efficient in such foul weather, as the rain often knocked them off course.
Because of this, he quickly gave up on the archery and moved straight into close-quarters combat.
-Boom!
The front lines of the two armies collided. The sounds of blades striking armor and shields clashing echoed everywhere.
"Damn it... if only the detachment were here...!"
Yuria Russell regretted sending the detachment so far away.
"Phew, this is much easier without that detachment."
Charles was pleased that he could attack the enemy to his heart's content without being harassed by cavalrymen.
"Please, just hurry back already!"
Yuria shouted in frustration, but there was no sign of the detachment returning. It was only natural. Why would a unit sent to target the enemy's rear return so quickly? They would only rush back after circling around and confirming the rear was clear.
Charles planned to finish off Yuria's army before the detachment could return. With that goal, he continued to drive the attack.
"Left flank, advance twenty paces and press the enemy!"
"Right flank! Retreat ten paces and coordinate with the center to block the protrusion!"
"Archers, advance as the enemy retreats and use indirect fire to thin their ranks!"
"Our archers, scatter as much as possible and maintain your distance! Wait for the enemy to exhaust their arrows!"
"All units, push forward!"
"Hold the line! Do not give an inch!"
Yuria Russell refused to be intimidated by Charles, utilizing her quick thinking to keep his army at bay.
Despite Charles's relentless assaults, Yuria organized a defensive formation and held on with stubborn tenacity.
"Impressive."
Charles found himself intrigued by how doggedly Yuria's defense clung to him. Just as she had been in the game, Yuria Russell was truly a top-tier warrior.
That didn't mean Charles was lacking, however. He continued to peel away the enemy's front lines layer by layer, and Yuria's forces steadily dwindled.
"Just a little more, and they'll break."
With that thought, Charles gave his final order to the army.
"All units, draw your melee weapons and push them back with everything you've got!"
Yuria grimaced at the command.
"Damn it, it's finally come to this..."
To be honest, Yuria had underestimated Charles. She had seen him as an incompetent man who was only capable of firing arrows from a mountain.
But fighting him on open ground had proven her wrong. Charles was incredibly strong—her equal, if not her superior. Since she was currently losing, she began to think he might actually be above her.
"Damn it..."
Yuria regretted her low assessment of him. Had she assumed the enemy was strong, this might not have happened. Her carelessness had led to this defeat.
"No, would that have even mattered?"
Even without the complacency, there was no guarantee she could have beaten a commander with such skill. Yuria sighed.
"Hold the line as long as you can!"
Yuria gave the order, though she didn't expect much. The tide of battle had already turned. Her formation was crumbling in various places, while the enemy's momentum remained fierce. But then...
"Lady Yuria!"
A summoner controlling wooden dolls shouted.
"What is it?"
"The enemy is retreating!"
Charles had stopped his attack and begun to pull back.
"What? He's retreating right before the final blow?"
Yuria's hands trembled with rage. To think he let her win after dominating the fight! What kind of game was he playing? Was he trying to mock the second daughter of House Russell?
She almost drew her sword in a fit of anger, but it didn't take long for Yuria to realize she had misunderstood.
From the rear of the enemy's position, the cavalrymen she had initially deployed began to appear.
Charles hadn't let her off the hook!
He had been forced to retreat to avoid being blindsided by her cavalry.
At this realization, Yuria cheered.
"I held out...!"
It wasn't a gesture of mercy. Through her own skill, she had successfully stalled for time until her reinforcements arrived.
Yet, a sense of shame washed over her.
She was humiliated by the fact that she had struggled so intensely against a man she had completely dismissed.
The moment Charles realized the detachment was closing in, he withdrew his army, and Yuria did the same. Both forces began to return to their starting positions.
Soon, the time limit expired. Since there was no clear victor on the field, the result was left to the judges.
The final decision was a 6 to 4 victory for Charles. Although he had retreated first, he had been overwhelmingly dominant up until that point.
Yuria accepted the ruling. She wasn't arrogant enough to claim victory after struggling so hard.
A two-point difference. It was a narrow margin, but in those two points, Yuria felt an insurmountable gap in skill.
Having won, Charles descended the mountain and headed toward the professors in charge of grading.
Yuria watched him as he walked down. He had black hair and a slender frame; without visible muscle, he looked almost frail.
But looking at him now, she sensed something special. He possessed a powerful presence—perhaps an aura—that transcended mere physical stature.
Yuria regretted underestimating him. His command capabilities were far superior to her own.
"That was an impressive defense."
Charles spoke as he extended his hand. Yuria stared at his face—drenched in rain yet wearing a satisfied smile—before shaking his hand.
"Your leadership was equally impressive."
It was the first spark of a strange friendship forming between Yuria and Charles.
-----
Once he reached the bottom, Charles approached the professors.
"Did you call for me?"
He had come because Professor Dian de Valboa, his designated examiner, had requested his presence.
Dian de Valboa was a general in the Crown Prince's Army and an exceptional woman who had become a professor at the young age of twenty-nine.
"I called for you. Take a seat."
"Yes, ma'am."
As Charles sat down, Dian de Valboa spoke.
"I'll start with the first question."
"It sounds like there are several questions?"
"Hm? No. Only the first question is truly important. The rest are just personal curiosities, so you don't have to answer them if you don't want to."
I see. The first question is mandatory, while the rest are optional. If that was the case, there was no need to feel pressured.
"What is the question?"
"Why didn't you fight to the end?"
After hearing from a scout that Yuria Russell's detachment had returned, Charles had immediately turned his army around and retreated. Because of this, Yuria had narrowly escaped total defeat.
But what was his intention? If Charles had intentionally let her off to inflate her score, it would be considered cheating. That was why Dian had summoned him.
"Did you want to help Yuria get a higher score? Did you think that by not annihilating her army, you'd both receive high marks?"
"Hardly. Why would I go that far for Yuria? Today was the first time we've even spoken."
"Then what was the reason?"
Charles looked outside for a moment before finally answering.
"This mock battle is a one-on-one, isn't it?"
Dian was puzzled by the random question. Of course the mock battle was one-on-one—did he think it was a team match?
"It is, but why?"
"Some people compare these mock battles to games. But I didn't want to simply play a game. I wanted to experience a battlefield as it truly is."
"You didn't annihilate her because you wanted a realistic battlefield? I fail to see the correlation between a realistic battlefield and sparing Yuria Russell."
"The world is full of wolves, after all."
Dian looked confused.
Charles gave a helpless smile. As expected, Professor Dian de Valboa was an expert in military affairs but lacking in politics. If she had been the Princess, she would have understood that statement immediately.
"If this were just a game, I would have fought until the end and wiped Yuria's forces out. But international politics isn't a one-on-one game. Even if I annihilated her army by depleting my own forces, only other nations watching from the sidelines would profit. Even a victory is meaningless if it's a Pyrrhic victory."
Ah, maybe 'Pyrrhic victory' isn't a term in this world? It means a victory that inflicts such devastating losses that it's equivalent to defeat. I quickly added an explanation.
"In short, to avoid being stabbed in the back by other powers after winning, I had to preserve my own forces. Therefore, I judged it better not to engage in a fight to the death with Yuria Russell."
Dian de Valboa was impressed. Others had viewed the battle within the narrow frame of the mock exercise, perhaps treating it as a fun game. But this man was different. He had imagined the situation far beyond the battlefield. This ability to encompass the external environment! He wasn't just a tactician. He was a strategist.
Dian de Valboa nodded and recorded the score. It was a perfect 20 out of 20.