Chapter 77: The Magician (2) (2/2)
Alfred made his way to the ramparts to confirm for himself
What awaited him was the empty wilderness, as far as the eye could see The attackers that had been enca outside as late as yesterday had disappeared
“For what reason would they retreat?”
Alfred murmured to himself, and his aide-de-camp reassured him
“I do not know, but for now it is a relief that the enemy has withdrawn, is it not?”
“That is true That’s true, yet…”
Uneasiness simmered in a corner of Alfred’s heart No ene, and any that appeared to do so on the surface was bound to have an ulterior motive This was unmistakably one of those times
‘What would be the reason? What benefit would they gain fro their- hold on, surely not’
One possibility flashed into Alfred’s head He urgently ordered his assistant
“Bringme the map! And send scouts to monitor the enemy’s movement!”
“Oh… yes, sir”
“Hurry!!”
Alfred clenched his teeth as the assistant dashed out If his hypothesis turned out to be correct…
This was the true worst possible situation they could be in
There areIf one reaches the very brink of their i second becomes a day and a minute becomes a year
This was one of those moments for Alfred
Alfred’s assistant could not bring hi atmosphere while his Captain stared at the map as he waited for the scouts’ report to come in
At last, the scouts returned
“In which direction did the eneht to the chase
The recon troops drew a deep breath
“The ene towards the east”
“daht up from his seat and issued a command to his assistant immediately
“Gather all troops that canthe enemy!”
His aide was astonished at Alfred’s drastic order, starkly contrasting with his usual careful and calculating stratageh As long as we hold this fortress…”
“Make haste! We no longer have the freedom of choice, I tell you!!” Alfred thundered
They proht and ive chase to Milton’s army of the South
The Republican’s ic of Bianca’s familiars, who informed Milton
“Hey, they left the fort”
Milton smiled
“So they finally coht he was forced into a dile their ene in a proper battle But he was sorely , Milton had no intention of giving his opponent a choice at all
At first, Milton waited for the poison to spread and take its effect ast the enemy In retrospect, this was Alfred’s prime opportunity to take action While the poison that Bianca had concocted was so potent that it could affect a large number of troops in comparatively small quantities, it had an incubation period If Alfred forced a head-on battle before the effects of the poison came into full stride, Milton would have had no choice but to accede to it But Alfred would never have made such a decision as he had not yet known of the poison, which was also why Milton’s arh Alfred chose to defend, Milton withdrew nonetheless when the poison’s effect was slated to reach its peak Only, heto the rear
Towards the east lay the battle unfolding between Siegfried and the Strabus Kingdom’s Duke Derrick Brans But ould happen if Milton fried fronardless of whether they won or lost, his number one priority was to keep the enemy busy
In other words, Alfred did not have any choice but to respond in kind if Milton e in combat
“Jerome!”
“Yes, my lord!”
Jerome responded faithfully
“Turn all troops around Let us prepare a welcouests”
“Yes, understood”
By the tiht up to Milton, he had already prepared all there was to prepare However, Alfred did not have the option of stopping here
“All troops, charge! We shall beco stone of a new utopia!”
“Uoooooh!!”
Alfred’s roar was returned by his soldiers
To beco stones of a new utopia
This was said whenever the Republican soldiers steeled theht to the death
It was a demand that the men serve up their lives with the faith that even if they were to die right now, Republicanise As the soldiers of the Republic were exhaustively educated on this ideology and had it drilled into theed forth theto raise the vigor of his troops and bring a favorable outcome hatever means possible Ideally they would repel the enemy, but if that was impossible, the least they could do was kill the enemy commander so they would fall back Particularly, it was Alfred’s first of an ene such a fool out of him – and thus Alfred also had personal sentiments to be rid of him when he had the chance
But the ene for Alfred to expect resultsmorale
“Fire!!”
Trike’s archer unit promptly dotted the sky with their arrows
Shuk! Shukshukshuk!
“URK!”
“AAAAAAAH!”
Screa frontline Alfred clenched his teeth and shouted once again to prevent his troops fro
“Do not waver! The onlythe arrows is to close the distance! Forward!! FORWARD!!”
The cautious commander who spared the most troops
This reputation was overshadowed by the Alfred of noho coerced his soldiers into sacrificing themselves There was no other way they could approach this – this was a battle that demanded these measures
“Uooooh!!”
“Die, you bastards!”
“Hurrah for Republicanism!!”
The Republican troops continued to advance forward even as the arrows continued to pincushi+on them
One step, then another… Forward theyheadway one step at a ti the troops in the line behind them to take the next step if they were to fall