Chapter 38: Fifth Episode: Chapter 2 (1/2)
Chapter 38: Fifth Episode: Chapter 2
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Oscar and his team returned to the procession in silence, no one asked where he went even though everyone knew the Prince had disappeared for a whole morning.
The Narcissus Knights had already prepared the tents for the Prince and Lady Duchess Andrew. At the same time, Princess Alanis was invited by Lady Duchess into her tent. However, Princess Alanis excused herself once she saw Oscar’s entrance.
Oscar didn’t seem upset, he trusted himself to not be set back by any problems. Cheekily, he greeted his Mam, his sister, as well as Snowstorm.
Everyone knew there were some communication issues between the Prince and Princess, but they were also bewildered by the good mood he was in.
The Prince didn’t think much of the people’s concern, he left the tent after saying some baffling words.
It was only a short afternoon rest, so the knights hadn’t bothered with setting up a camp. They gathered in small cliques to enjoy their lunch.
Lunch, made by a chef following the Narcissus Knights, was sumptuous. Chef Arden looked young, but he was a veteran within this squadron.
Arden was popular among the cavaliers in the capital, their chefs couldn’t make such a palatial meal out of simple ingredients. The Capital Defenders had only talked to this specific Narcissus Knight. As another historical troop, even though the Capital Defenders hadn’t been on the battlefield for years, their sense of honor and their servitude of the rich and the powerful had stopped them from communicating with the Narcissus Knights.
Of course, the Narcissus Knights wouldn’t initiate communication with these spoilt, shiny-armor-donning, non-commanding soldiers. The Narcissus Knights were the real elites, living their lives for survival on the battlefield. These soldiers who had experienced life-and-death situations even had their weapons by their sides during mealtime, which provoked the ridicule of the capital soldiers.
These little situations weren’t worth fussing over though, the Narcissus Knights had their disciplines drilled into every facet of their lives in the army. From setting up camp to meals and rest, from cleaning their equipments to bathing their horses, every little action was heavily ingrained into them. As a battle-focused organization, these knights wouldn’t waste a single second on frivolous issues unrelated to battling.
Colonel Kamille Rayen was shocked when he returned to the pitstop. It was set by the roadside, a dozen of carriages were abandoned on the road with only two capital knights watching guard. The young paladin even saw the capital knights soaking in the sun sitting and even lying down. Some even started playing card games. The further into the woods Kamille went, the luckier he felt. Fortunately we’ll be rid of these guys soon, he thought, if the Narcissus Knights were like that, they would have disbanded before reaching the Narcissus county.
This was not all the capital knight’s fault, they were all born with a silver spoon in their mouths. The reason they would join the Capital Defenders was only to be discharged with honor so they could be promoted to a higher position. Since the day Titan Empire’s border was set, the Capital Defenders had been a decorative ‘exhibition troop’. When the captain, Colonel Kamille Rayen left his post, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin, the vice captain who took over in management deliberately left out these soldiers in the mission to protect the members of House Andrew and the Royal members.
His own knights were still satisfactory! Kamille looked at the Narcissus Knights guarding the tents, proud.
The Narcissus Knights’ had much more experience in guarding tents than any other military troops in Westland. Their arch enemy, the ghostly Persians, were experts in stealth, but they’ve given up on stealth attacking the Narcissus Knights’ camps. No matter how simple the camps are, the Narcissus Knights always managed to make their defense as impenetrable as a bunker.
Kamille located his vice, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin who passed him a ration, and went to a corner of the tent to discuss. The vice captain was older than his superior by a few years, so from the outside eyes, Benjamin looked more mature than the babyfaced Kamille. This wouldn’t change anything, Kamille’s position was not only due to him being a paladin, but also because he’s good at what he does.
Oscar walked with Snowstorm to the depth of the woods. Several higher-ranked Narcissus Knights surrounded them from far, even though it wasn’t close, they had guarded all the key locations for approaching the Prince.
The teenager was still in a state of excitement, he recounted everything that happened in the morning to Snowstorm. Pleased about the Prince’s mood, Snowstorm congratulated the Prince about having concluded a concern.
”You know? If there’s an opportunity to be involved in this operation, why didn’t you count me in?” Snowstorm wasn’t happy with this decision.
Oscar shook his head, ”Paul, I’ve mobilized all the elites from the team, if you didn’t stay here, who would protect my Mam, my sister, and the Princess? If anything happened to Alanis, do you know what the King would do to us?”
Paul pouted slightly. ”Elites? Hmph! How would you know if there were no elites in the team? You mentioned the Princess, heheh, I’ve tested that. I went close enough to the Princess’ tent, and what do I see? At least two out of the four that came out were paladins! Hmph! No elites?”
Oscar was surprised, not for the Princess, he knew there must be some super elites protecting Alanis in obscurity. He did feel strange, however, at Snowstorm’s tone of description.
”Ola! I know, you must have gotten a disadvantage!”
The King of Assassins stared at Oscar in disbelief, ”Disadvantage? How would I gotten into a disadvantage? You’re kidding! Testing the Princess’ defense in bright daylight, if I would get into a disadvantageous position, that’d be disgraceful of me!”
Oscar grinned, ”Ola ola! If you didn’t, tell me, why do you spoke of it as if you’re a boar violated by the tiger?”
Snowstorm smiled in embarrassment, ”Heheh! You little… Are you waiting for me to embarrass myself? Let me tell you, I was only dispirited because I gave up halfway.”
”Hahahahaha!” Both of them bursted out laughing, scaring away the birds in nearby trees.
The squad went on with their journey with Oscar thick-skinnedly climbing into Princess Alanis’ carriage. Alanis couldn’t do anything but frown, so she planned to ignore him all the way.
Colonel Kamille Rayen had once again shrugged off his responsibility and hopped over to another carriage, knocking the door. Ricky the Liar Extraordinaire pulled open his curtain. ”Good noon, young paladin! Do you have any orders?”
Kamille saluted the butler, ”Good noon, Baron Erbe, how would I dare giving you an order, I’d just like to ask if Mr. Percy is in here?”
”Looking for me?” The Poison Doctor leaned over from his initial seating position on the other side of the window.
”Ah, yes, do you mind if I mount the carriage? I have a question I’d like some advice for, respected Mr. Percy.”
”Hoho, come in! I wish I could be of help.”
Ricky opened the door and tried to help the paladin, but Kamille held onto the bar on top of the carriage that kept the luggage together and flipped himself into the carriage from his horse. Another knight rushed over, the horse, losing its owner started to panic, but the knight pulled it away.
”That silly boy!” Kamille looked at his pet. The war horse was still throwing a tantrum, even under the knight’s restraint.
”Good day, young paladin!” The King of Sins Doramy was also in the carriage, greeting the colonel cordially.
Kamille took off his helmet. ”Good day to you! I haven’t been able to greet you. It was an honor meeting you, I’ve seen your wanted poster when I was a child!”
The King of Sins grinned, ”Really? You’re going to be rich then!”
Kamille turned toward Poison Doctor in front of him, not thinking about the battle in the morning. What he was concerned about was the special arrow the Poison Doctor gave Ricky.
”Respectable Poison Doctor, I have a question for you, you can choose to not answer, of course.”
”Please ask.” Percy almost could tell what the captain of the knights intended to ask. These soldiers were all super sensitive to any resources they can use.
”Hahah, I’ve took a good look at the arrow you gave Baron Erbe this morning. It doesn’t look any different from normal ones, only some sort of package that looked like a fireworks cannister. I don’t understand how it could produce smoke, and those smoke could afflict such a bad effect on people. As I see it, the smoke affected their eyes as well as breathing, causing them to cough. If it weren’t for the smoke, we wouldn’t be able to win so easily.”
Kamille smiled in embarrassment. ”Hahah, you’re right, but not completely. A real battle depends on even more variables. For example, your smoke. If we use it in large amount, we need to calculate its disperse time, concentration, area of effect, the direction of wind, and many more. If we missed out any one of those, the effect would be discounted or worse, it might backfire. I think your smoke can be used in certain battles, have you heard of the term ‘special warfare’?
Everyone in the carriage shook their heads.
Kamille giggled annoyingly. ”Of course you won’t know the term, it was just coined by Lieutenant General Figg Andrew Tibotty of the Narcissus Knights…”
”Hold on! Lieutenant General Figg Andrew Tibotty! That’s Marshal Andrew’s second son, that’s His Royal Highness’ second elder brother.” Ricky had been a butler for a while, so of course he had heard of the second Young Master of the House.
”Yes, that’s right! Second Young Master, General Figg! Even though this general had been infamous with his ability to stir up trouble, his leadership quality is comparable to the Marshal, Duke Dortmund Andrew Nedgabel, in some ways he’s even stronger than the Duke. In the Narcissus County, there are a lot of youths who are the second Young Master’s supporters. Of course, I also find his tactical ideas admirable!”
”Hey wait! Hold on! Tell us one by one! You haven’t explained what ‘special warfare’ means.” Doramy Basinger stopped Kamille from continuing. He wasn’t that interested in House Andrew, however as the King of Sins, he instinctively felt the so-called ‘special warfare’ had some association with him.
”Right! Right! I digressed! I wanted to say ‘special warfare’ is the perfect example of how General Figg’s tactical mind work.” Kamille swallowed his saliva buildup. Every time tactics was brought up, he wouldn’t be able to help himself but become excited.
”According to General Figg, ‘special warfare’ just means a special way of battling. This tactical mindset was mainly developed to defend against the Persians. After four hundred years old war, us Narcissus Knights finally had to admit a truth after some huge sacrifices, and that is we can’t completely decimate our enemies!”
”The Persians were also called the ‘people on the horse’. The Persian Empire’s huge land and numerous citizens provided their endless source of combat resources. Even though the Narcissus county is supported by the whole Empire, our power was still far behind the Persians. If the Persians send their whole army to our nation, I reckoned the Narcissus Knights wouldn’t even have the power to fight back. Don’t disregard this, this is the consensus the military officers have agreed upon.”
No one in the carriage dared to breathe too loudly. If what the colonel said was true, then it’s going to be scary. The Narcissus Knights admitting they’re not able to defeat the Persians! Will there be anything more horrifying than that?
”Then… how come… like you said, in these four hundred years, the Persians had not thought about… destroying the Narcissus Knights?” Ricky asked his question with a stutter.
”That’s a good question, we were also asking the same question. Since a long time ago, we have been unintentionally utilized special warfare and found out about an issue they faced. Persians were not as strong as we thought they are, their empire had been expanding for so long, they’ve made countless enemies!”
”On the north border of Persian Empire, there were some allied nations comprised of different minority races. Even though they were on defense like the Narcissus Knights, their combat strength is not to be underestimated. I really admire the mysterious nation on the East, they were able to hold back seventy percent of the Persian military power!”
Kamille Rayen paused to smirk. ”The driver of His Royal Highness, if he really did escape from Damorga, then I believe the story I told you is the truth!”
”What story?” The King of Sins asked. That man was always curious about the driver.
”I’d heard about a huge invasion from the Persian prisoners of war. Trust me, that’s nothing like you could ever imagine. The amount of people the Persian and the Eastern nation mobilized exceeded a million! Can you imagine a mixed fight between a million people?”
Everyone shook their heads again. It definitely is unimaginable. One million people! That was even more than some smaller countries in the West!