Vol 7 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Altina the Sword Princess Volume 7 Chapter 3

I

The sound of the horse hooves sounded out on the grass plain

The wheels turned loudly

The blackse platform Before him was a coffin like wooden crate

Inside it was the Grand Tonnerre Quatre, entrusted to hientina

Sitting besides Enzo on the bu a zipper

He first secured the material used for the zipper, hammered it, then carved out the shape of the zipper with a chisel

The oldsoundly because of the fatigue of his journey

Enzo opened the curtain covering the carriage and looked outside

It was completely white outside

The sun should have risen, but they couldn’t see far at all

But they finally met up with the horseman who visited him earlier

The weather was foggy

He turned back to the horseently He was just a short distance away, but Enzo could onlywas all around him

“Wah, it’s really foggy”

“That’s right”

Enzo nodded

The driver shrugged

“I can’t tell the directions this way”

“Hahaha… if we stay on the main road, it will be fineI am confident in my sense of direction”

The horse the aited on the spot is, his mission was to escort Enzo to the army base camp

If the base caed location, there would probably be a different horseman

At this moment— The horseman muttered:

“There wasn’t any rain last night right? Fog tends to form as the wind is weak here, but there wasn’t much rain these few days”

This seemed to have spurred Lionel’s interest, and he leaned forth

“There are places where it is easier for fog to form?”

“Of course This region es, so there isn’t round is soft and doesn’t drain water easily If it rains… Well, even if it did rain a little, it still feels weird”

“It didn’t rain?”

“What is this? Why are there patches of wet and dry ground…”

The sound of the hooves differs because of the grounds it trotted on The solid sound of dry ground and the cushy smack of wetlands alternate every now and then

The wheels were turning noisily on dry soil justover a wet ditch

The ground was really strange

Lionel said cheerfully:

“It’s like soround!”

The driver and the horsehed heartily and looked around them

There wasn’t any wind, and the white fog obscured their vision They couldn’t see h there should be plenty of hills around them

If the weather was clear, they could even see the mountain peaks in the distance

Was an aion spilled onto the ground?

The horseman tilted his head

Enzo couldn’t understand either

“Spill water onto the ground? Who would do that, and why?”

“Er”

Lionel said with a laugh

Enzo shrugged

“Hahaha” The horsehed too

“Halt! That carriage there! Which unit are you from!?”

Soh Britanian

The horse the ith a smile turned pale instantly

The figures of infantry appeared gradually in the dense fog

Less than twenty paces away

About ten of them

Aht in full plate mounted on horseback

Which meant that they were sentries

They didn’t have any flags, but froh Britannian army

The driver asked in a tre voice

“ Boss, what should we do?”

Enzo was just a blacksmith, and didn’t knohat he should do if he ran into an enemy sentry

The only one they could rely on was the horse the way…

And they were in despair because they knew that The face of the horseman looked worse than the driver

They probably couldn’t escape

If the enemy opened fire at them, everyone would definitely die

After defeating the horseht will catch up if the carriage tried to escape

On the carriage, neither Enzo, his disciple, the driver nor the old man had any means to resist them

— Should they surrender?

Ih Britannians would let the the sword inside the crate

“ I’m sorry… It’s all because of … We should have taken a detour”

“No, that’s…”

“ Please run away The main base should be 5Li (22kht off”

He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword

He didn’t cower despite knowing that death was imminent, a truly brave

The High Britannians closed in with their rifles

Enzo tapped the shoulder of the driver, and whispered:

“ The moment he draws his sword, ill run”

But the enemy stopped just a dozen step away, and aimed their rifles

They were still soht shouted in Belgarian:

“Get out of the carriage right now! The driver too! Do it noill shoot!”

The situation changed…

They didn’t even give the horseman any chance to stall for time!

If the horseed out now, he would be killed immediately And he can’t even turn and run now

Enzo’s left hand was tre

It was an unredeemable error, he couldn’t even breath

— Maybe we should charge together with the horseh when they open fire

At this e

His brown robes were fluttering in the wind

The old e coh Britannians soldiers leisurely

“Who can sleep hen there are talks of opening fire”

The other party shouted in Belgarian:

“Who are you!?”

“As you can see, I auy, you wouldn’t be scared of an old ht?”

The elderly ed

He was still five paces away froh Britannians

“Take your hands out of your robes!”

“Ah, no problem”

He took off his brown robes and tossed it to the ground

He was ofhis back like a kid He was undoubtedly an old man

A piece of linen which could be found anywhere in Belgaria or in any other nation was tied around his waist There was a plain longsword hanging there

The heavily arht demanded:

“Throw the sword away!”

“You are afraid of an old h at you”

“Want to eat lead!?”

Unfortunately, the opponent was cautious

The old ed, and took the sword from his waist

“Alright, alright… This is just cheap stuff… Sorandfather… fooled you”

He threw the sword out

Up high

Just where did his arsword spinned into the sky

Enzo looked at the sword

High Britannian soldiers did the same

The sword disappeared in the grey fog

Kacha…

That was the sound of so

— What happened?

They turned their gaze back in a hurry The old one

“Ah…”

The sound akin to a strangled chicken was ht

Behind him was the old man

He was like a boy grabbing on to a man from behind

He was grabbing the helht with both hands

The head then twisted in an ile,

He broke the neck!?

Aftersounds that seeht died with blood spewing from his mouth

The old man sneered

“ This old one’s name is Baltasar Basil De Balzac! An ancient clan ere bestowed a sword by the L’Empereur Flamme!”

The elderly ht

It was a beautiful silver sword crafted froeneration of steel

The blade was thinner than others Broader swords were aria recently, while this thin sas sio Maybe this type of sas the rage in High Britannia right now

“ H this”

Baltasar’s figure disappeared

And couldn’t be found anywhere

The oldon the back of the horse fleithout any preparatory movement

He suddenly approached the soldiers holding rifles, who screamed in response

Blood splattered everywhere

Their captain was killed, another was down before they could even say his nahost

“Kill him! Shoot!”

A soldier shouted in High Britannian

Gunshots sounded out

But at such close distance and without any cover, the rifle didn’t have any advantage

And their opponent was Baltasar asbeyond the limits of humans

It was no longer a battle, but a one sided massacre

They couldn’t keep up with his movement Blood splashed wherever his sword touched, and the enemy soldiers fell

In an instant, all of them were dead

After glancing at the corpses on the ground, Baltasar threw the sword he took away

The sword made froh the armor of plenty of soldiers after all

That wasn’t so that could be done with normal arm power

He picked up the sword and robes he tossed aside before the battle

“What are you all standing around for? More eneequick”

The driver waved his whip in a hurry

Enzo reached out his hand

“Old gentleman!”

“Yosh”

He grabbed the hand tightly and clie

The horseman led the way

“We are going off thea detour! Please follow me!”

“Please do so!”

After the driver said that, both of them sped up

Baltasar sat down

“Huff— huff” He panted

“I won’t be able to handle it if there are twenty of them”

“You are a, Lord Duke We didn’t knoho you were back then, please forgive us if we did anything that offended you”

Enzo lowered his head, and Baltasar waved his hands

“No no, I only said that to attract their attention I am just an old man you can find anywhere”

In the fog—

Warhorses trotted

The sound of the hooves were earth shaking, threatening to break open the dense fog

The pride of the Fourth Ihts, and a hundred light armoured riders made up to a thousand men

Around them were 10,000 infantry

Before charging out of the fog, there was a need to confirm if the enemy had left their base

It was i

It was clear from the sound

Leaving the soldiers aside, it was ions to not make any sound

The carriages creaked as they h the plains

Scouts tracked the , and reported it back to the cavalry

Jerome was at the head of the unit

Besides him was Abidal Evra

“According to the scout reports, the ene their position!”

“Good! All units, attack!”

After receiving the orders, his knights sounded the warhorn

“Move out!”

Just as they planned, twenty riders forroups here They set off one after another

They took out the equipment that had already been tied with ropes, and threw it onto the ground

One end of it was tied to pieces of wood

Itsounds

This was a tool to disrupt the hearing of the opponent

Under the cover of the sound, the cavalry surrounded the carasp their position

Sound of gunfire ca

It was far

— The enemy won’t be able to see us, he told his riders earlier on

Even the Mercenary King would find this unexpected situation hard to handle

Jeroave the word:

“First wave, go!”

“Ohhhh—!”

Angry voices rang out, and the Crescent Knights started charging

The cavalry started firing from far away

But coht, they were much closer

The High Britannians started fighting back

But the Crescent Knights didn’t charge in a straight line, but in a curved line

The retaliatory bullets hit empty air

If it was night, they could see the arht or bonfire The place could be lit by fire arrows, so they could still see so

But it’s different this time

In the dense fog, such a counterattack was nothing— Jerome suppressed the amazement in his heart

But despite all this, the enemy stayed put with the supplies They couldn’t leave their resources behind and run, and it was too late to load it up the carts now

The High Britannian army couldn’t move

And so, both sides sought each other’s position in the heavy fog as they fought, since the situation applied to both parties

Because the enee advantage of their weapons, the Imperials had the chance to deploy their forces in a superior position

The enehts

Jerome waved his lance

“— Black Knights, charge!”

They didn’t increase their pace

Instead, theythe pace of their warhorse, as they closed in carefully

The gunshots were getting nearer

If the fog dispersed at this instance—

The h Britannians will point their rifles this way

It was still too far away

Too far for lances, but close enough for bullets to pierce the thickest armour

The best distance for rifles

Jero his troops

The other riders was breaking out in cold sweat

Their concerns were clear

— Isn’t the noise fro their advance too soft?

The attack of the Crescent Knights are too shabby

Will the ene?

All these scenarios were scary

Unease

This was the fear of the unknown and death

As if they were swi in a white world

At this ure

A High Britannian shi+eld soldier— before he even processed this fact, Jerome squeezed the stomach of the horse

And shouted

“Charge—!”

The vanguard started charging like the wind

The ene was just twenty paces away

For a warhorse charging at full stride, that distance was covered in just a blink of an eye

The shi+eld bearing soldier opened his eyes wide and wailed:

“It’s the enemy!!”

“Woaahhhh—!”

Jeroe shi+eld

The frame of the shi+eld was made from metal, but most of it ood If thin steel was the main component, it would be useless for defense If it was h to withstand swords and pikes, it would be too heavy to wield properly

And wooden boards would be enough to fend off the attack of a horseman

But the soldier defending the thrust didn’t expect the quality of the lance, the speed, and the arm power to be so different from normal troops

The shi+eld shattered in an instant, wood fragments flew everywhere

The lance broke the shi+eld and pierced the soldier’s body

Followed by a screa blood

“Ehhhh!?”

“Warrghhh—! Those ant to die, come at me!”

He flung the pierced soldier aside

The soldier landed heavily, spilling blood everywhere

“Open fire! Rifle units! This way!”

An order that captures the style of the High Britannians perfectly Soldiers with the guns turned their horses and aimed their rifles

”Too slow!!”

Jerome thrust his treasured lance

He knocked aside the rifle aie hole in the enemy soldier’s chest

At this h the makeshi+ft fences of the camp, and defeated the enemy soldiers one after another

The cavalry that broke through the lines were h Britannian forces

Civilians ere tasked with transporting the goods were tre on their carts

If they were Belgarian citizens, they would pick up arht since they were trained

This was a huge difference between the relatively peaceful High Britannians and the Belgarian E wars continuously for a few hundred years

Even if the soldiers with rifles could hit the knights at close range, they would be cut down before they could reload

The knights suffered insignificant casualties before the soldiers that didn’t receive rigorous training

The stage was set

Abidal Evra rode over on his horse

“The ene!”

The enemy soldiers threw their rifles away, stepped over the fences they built themselves and ran faster than the Imperials

Jerome sneered

“It’s fine, leave thehts and infantry”

“Yes Sir!”

The High Britannians seeotten that their enemy was an army of 16,000 Even if they were able to escape from the cavalry in the caarian army

Jero else

“Hey, did you see Gilbert?”

“The Mercenary King!? Ah, no…”

There was no sign of the Mercenary King

The ones fighting were the regular troops of the High Britannians

“Tch, he escaped… Maybe not…”

Jerome pulled on his reins and turned the horse around

“Hey, Abidal Evra, take the cavalry and continue sweeping up the remnants of the enemy, try to secure the supplies But if they resist too fiercely, burn the with the supplies”

“Understood! Erm, what about you, General?”

“I’ their ti!”

After saying that to the knights around him, Jerome headed back to base

He see at the enemy

Jeroritted his teeth

“I won’t allow you to die in a place like this!”

They ht need to move at a moment’s notice, so the camp equipment such as tents had already been packed

The flag flying over the base was a siht the tables and chairs out of the tent

Regis stared at the map laid out on the table

Heon top of the development Even so, they were some distance away from the frontlines, so the reports were a bit slow

They were about 1Li (4km) away from the enemy camp

In order to keep in contact with the scouts as fast as possible to grasp the situation of the battle, they were positioned as close to the battlefield as possible

But if they were too close, eneht run into them

It would be terrible if a large a enemy bumped into them

Even though the Belgarian soldiers ell trained, the rifle and shi+eld tactic of the High Britannian was a big threat

Even the Seventh Army that was proficient in melee combat was decimated by the enemy

And it was iless if the soldiers couldn’t receive the orders

Even though the range of the rifles didn’t , it will still expose the headquarters to danger

Altina held her wrist in disappoint

When Regis suggested that Altina should guard the base, he thought that he would be rejected

“If it is for the good of the army, I will endure it even if I have to stay in the base”

She said with an unhappy expression, but still agreed

Maybe Altina learned that she should respect the duty that everyone is tasked with

If she could understand this, this would be a pleasant growth of character

Sound of gunfire rang out fro occasionally

They were actually quite a distance away from the battlefield, it was hard to hear the hooves of the horses and the angry shouts of the soldiers

Altina pouted

“Eh… Regis, can we move the base closer?”

“ No At a ti into an eneot separated from the main forces With erous”

“That’s true huh”

In order to win by nue number of troops were placed around the base

It was guarded by 5,000 infantry

The rest of the forces were sent out to attack 10,000 infantry surrounded the enening the attack nuhts had 400 riders

They suffered losses the previous night, so the actual numbers were lower

A is and reported the situation

“— That’s all!”

Regis e

The inforht is charging at the enemy camp

The feign by the Crescent Knights seemed to have worked

“ Hmmm… Please hand this to Lord Benjamin”

“Yes Sir!”

Regis handed an order decree to the er, who placed it inside a ba off

He scanned the ain

There weren’t any weak points

The battle was proceeding smoothly

“Hmm…”

“What is it, Regis?”

Altina asked as he was

“ Nothing, it’s going great”

“Isn’t that good?”

“That’s right”

“So”

“Eh? Could it be… It’s nothing, just that they are being too docile even though the Mercenary King is in coht realize the intention behind the feign and launch an attack”

“Why do you think so?”

“Even in the fog, the enen attack units were not attacking straight on If so, they should be expecting an attack frole”

“Wouldn’t the fog be less then?”

“ No… the rifle units won’t be able to see clearly, so they are less likely to score a hit Leaving that aside, it should be simple to deduce that the Iht?”

“Hmmm?”

“Well then… The eneht? They are being attacked repeatedly in that place after all”

“Ah, true”

“ So the situation I was expecting was… After attacking the Crescent Knights for a while, the High Britannians ithdraw to the supply carts and retreat”

This was the strategy Regis came up with

They won’t have any other choice after escaping fro They can only surrender

It would be unwise to stubbornly defend the base even though a chaotic battle was imminent

Altina tilted her head

“They would be able to escape if they keep running in a direction without any enemy!?”

“ It is ie distance at full sprint When they are exhausted, the infantry deployed there can wait at leisure while the enemy labors”

<tl: https:=”” enwikipediaorg=”” wiki=”” thirty-six_stratagemswait_at_leisure_while_the_enemy_labors=””>

Regis pointed at the red pieces on the map

Altina was enlightened, and said:

“Ah, I see”

“Even if they want to escape, there is a large nu for them… In that case, the best way to reduce casualty would be to surrender”

“Isn’t a chaotic battle avoidable in the fog?”

“The shi+eld and rifle tactic is heavily reliant on tight forarian arer”

“I understand!”

“Well, that ed battle will increase casualty Even though the enehts charge in, they didn’t move at all”

“What if the eneer there?”

“The fog ine 10,000 eneroups of scouts…”

He didn’t deny the possibility though

But the fog couldn’t conceal the noise