Chapter 186: Twenty-first Episode: Chapter 5 (1/2)

Chapter 186: Twenty-first Episode: Chapter 5

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the early morning of the 19th day, Oscar arrived at Saint Hailey, the place where his Red Tigers launched an attack a couple of days before. There was a church located on the right side of the town where a crowd of Imperial Guards stood and were ringing the bell. In a few moments, the priest would bring them to the church for Sunday worship.

Oscar jumped off his horse at the end of the street and began walking to the center of the town by foot. Following loosely behind him was the Persian warriors who never utter a word, but today, many others were following behind His Highness the Prince. He was escorted by a cavalry group followed by an infantry group. There were also more than a dozen carriages of various styles trailing closely at the back.

”Look, how about here?” His Highness the Prince gestured his hand at an open space. Perhaps he thought it was not direct enough, so he added, ”A hero was sacrificed right here. Take a closer look everyone, there was still blood traces on the ground.”

Those who had alighted from their carriages could not stop making the hand gestures in front of their chest as they prayed to the God of Light. This made the Prince rather impatient.

”Well, gentlemen, I didn't invite you here to cherish the memory of the martyrs. I want to build a monument! Give me some opinions!”

The soldiers stationed in the town gathered around as they heard the word ”monument”.

Almost every one of them examined the architects' tuxedo with innocent, curious eyes.

”Your Highness...”

”Master Grarimo!” Oscar shook hands with the man who had just arrived, ”I'm so honored, I thought you couldn't make it here on time!”

The architect who was famous for mainstream Titan architecture designs from the capital finally arrived at Saint Hailey after days of travel. There was some sand at the corners of the old man's eyes and his face and neck were also slightly swollen.

”Your Highness, I need to know if you have any demands for the design of this monument. For example, how high should it be? How big is the whole cemetery? And most importantly, what are you going to name it? I can't guarantee the monument will embody the spirit of the heroes if I don't know who these martyrs buried under the ground!”

Oscar's eyes widened, and he smiled at the soldiers around him, ”Look, now he's what I call a real expert!”

The soldiers laughed along with the marshal. To be frank, they were extremely curious about the construction of this monument. Marshal Alan had already decided to build a huge monument on the other side of the Buzaberg Jetty in order to commemorate the heroic sacrifices of the great war, but now it seemed like Marshal O'Neil also wanted to build one. No one had any idea who was he building this for.

”Actually...” Oscar grabbed the architecture master by his arm and walked over to the center of the open space, ”I'm going to name it...Monument of the Unsung Heroes! This is to commemorate the warriors who have sacrificed their lives for the country without leaving behind their names!”

”Oh, God!” Master Grarimo suddenly fell to one knee, ”I feel a deep reverence for your words!”

Oscar helped the architect to his feet and he pulled out several drawings from his arms. ”Master, to be frank, I don't care how you design the monument! I only ask for there to be a bronze statue on the top of the monument. It should be a fully-armed knight!”

The prince spread out the drawings to the architect, ”These are the faces of the knights, and these are the warhorses. I'll leave the rest to you!”

”Who are they?” the master architect asked when he took over the drawings.

Oscar jumped on his Rayshure and saluted the master, ”As I said earlier...they are the unsung heroes.”

Grarimo regained his gaze from the prince who had sped away on his horse and looked at the sketches in his hand again. It was produced by a professional artist. The faces of the knights were as true to life, even the horses'. Several of these pictures showed the different profiles of the horses, the military marks on the horses' butt were also easily distinguished to the eyes.

”Okay, gentlemen! Let's begin to work!” the master architect clapped his hands at his colleagues, ”I believe we all know the meaning of this work. My God! The Monument of the Unsung Heroes! We will be so proud of it when it's completed!”

The Imperial Guards and Titan citizens would be immensely proud to have witnessed this phase in history. Starting from the Kutzjeline-Forerunner War, the invasion of the aggressors crossed over to the Titan border and reached the depths of the empire. They had actually controlled one-seventh of the territory of this great empire, but it only lasted for a short period of one and a half months. As a matter of fact, the outcome was already clear to everyone when Marshal Alan left the capital for the battlefront with his combat plan.

Historians agreed that Luth VII His Majesty of Kingdom of Hoilland was a narcissist. They also said that His Majesty launched a great suicidal battle in the wrong place at a wrong time. However, the historians were not experts in military affairs, after all. No matter what kind of mistakes the King of Hoilland had made, it was still down to the military strength of both nations to determine the outcome.

Perhaps, one would wonder why was the Kutzjeline-Forerunner War initiated in the first place. For Titan, it was because of the tradition of the Imperial Guards. In other words, the significance of forerunner wars was meant for following the footsteps of the martyrs and showing the aggressors their determination to resist.

After that, there was no longer any large-scale action carried out by the Commander of Imperial Guards Vann Hewitt Alan until the middle of the 6th month, when the main force of the Anti-Titan Alliance arrived at the last stronghold of the Imperial Guards Twelfth Region- Buzaberg Jetty. According to the normal battlefield thinking, the area around Buzaberg Jetty was a situation difficult to launch any offense but easy to defend, as the Titan Imperial Family Army established five strong fortresses throughout that area. If the Anti-Titan Alliance chose to withdraw at this time, it would indeed change the course of the entire war. However, it did not happen, mainly for the reason that the alliance had not had a real battle with the Titan Imperial Guards on a frontal battlefield prior to this. Therefore, in the absence of a major decisive battle, the pace of aggression would not be stopped at all.

It was said that the reputation of the old man Silver Fox Alan had reached its peak after not occupying the Battle of Hetto Plains! In the beginning, the Western media tried to brag about the achievements of the alliance forces among the noble circles as well as the city residents, simultaneously belittling Marshal Alan and his army. However, when the Battle of Hetto Plains came to an end, most people from the west regarded Alan as Titan's own God of War.

Since Titan had a warrior who protected the country, the failure of the alliance forces was inevitable, but this was just a way to fool the people. In fact, the Anti-Titan Alliance was the root of the failure. This temporary military group did not have any eminent strategic goals, nor did they had the real capability to obtain the final victory.

Many military observers mentioned that the purpose of the first attack launched by the Anti-Titan Alliance consisted of too many uncertainties.

Its force was comparatively weak in front of tens of thousands of Imperial Guards. Although the Anti-Titan Alliance had a basic foundation, it was based only on temptation and exploration which was established out of the uncertain imagination and military adventurous spirit.

Why was it necessary to fight the Battle of Hetto Plains? It was a clear-cut answer from Titan's point of view – Anti-Titan Alliance was certainly not their guest. One way or another, the Imperial Guards had to eliminate them, and Alan chose the most effective and direct strategic trap to participate in the battle.

Speaking of this strategic trap, it was largely associated with the effort of the defense which had been carried out by the Morisette Imperial Family for hundreds of years. It was extremely unrealistic to think that it was possible to resist their enemy out of the nation's border, so instead, Titan had created a vast vanguard against its enemy on the border. The Morisette Imperial Family could only establish an interlocking defense system within the inland, and not display their limited troop forces at the national border because a slight careless mistake would create a hole in their defensive system.

The strategic value and potential strategic significance that could be acquired out of the area within Buzaberg Jetty's close proximity was rather obvious. This natural jetty was not only the hub of the river but also the intersection of land transportation. Its extensive and easy accessibility determined the broad space area that could be useful for the armed force. In other words, the enemy could choose this place to decide the direction and path of their offense, while Imperial Guards on the defensive side could also make the option to escape or intercept.

It was never understood why the Anti-Titan Alliance had fallen into the trap. The large army of more than 300,000 people had a well-established Staff Department. How did they not notice this before?

According to the traditional warfare principle, before and after the main forces encountered each other, all large or small-scale battles were of no significance. Those were only being mentioned briefly in the history of war. However, the tenacious resistance of the Titan Twelfth Military Region left a deep impression on the high-ranking officers of the Anti-Titan Alliance, especially for the King of Hoilland.

After a hard battle which lasted for a month, the Twelfth Military Region which relied on the convenience of transport of the Buzaberg Jetty ended up losing their troops. Almost everyone would think that the Titan Imperial Guards on the other side of the Shawob River must not have prepared themselves to receive the enemy, hence, the Twelfth Region had to sacrifice themselves to guard the jetty. But, at least Marshal Lavendi Mulierce was skeptical about it before. If this Hoillander marshal had any weakness, it must be that he understood his king too well.

Anyway, there was no use in explaining the eccentric and unreasonable behavior of the King of Hoilland because it did not have much to do with the outcome of the war. Besides, as mentioned before, the pace of aggression would not be stopped before the main forces of the two sides encounter each other. In other words, even if another king had replaced his position, the outcome would still be the same.

Marshal Alan had prepared the troops needed for the great war to station in Hetto Plains as well as the Jebron Fortress. In any event, the Anti-Titan Alliance must force through Shawob River to reach the battlefield. It wouldn't be called a war if both sides kept remaining still, the ancient principle of warfare would also not exist.

In short, Church Calendar year 800 witnessed the first failure of the Anti-Titan Alliance and it was totally self-inflicted. It was not anyone else's fault to blame, just a brief phase that was inevitable in the passage of history. The people from the west lost because they were not well-prepared; Titan won because the Morisette Imperial Family built its foundation for this kind of situation since four hundred years ago. Things just went on as they should have.

The Titan Imperial Guards had an absolute advantage in their strength and tactics. In contrast, the Anti-Titan Alliance had not had any contributions that were worth mentioning at all. If the defeat of the war was a good lesson for the Anti-Titan Alliance, then this lesson should be recorded in black and white in the book of history.

At the very least, the defeat of this great war resulted in the creation of a young intelligence officer, that was the commissioner of the Faran Kingdom Court Investigation Council – Colonel Karlchette Nierer!

When Colonel Karlchette and his colleague General Bodia Gonvalri met after the defeat, the old general said to the young man who was on the stretcher, ”Young man, if we can return home alive, I would notify His Highness the Prince Regent the alliance could get out of the great war with half of our resulted damaged if we had followed your combat arrangement.” Colonel Karlchette with a thin and angular face only returned the compliment with a half-hearted smile. He was not in the mood to think about that. What worried him right now was only his injury. The huge Army Group that attacked east consisted of 300,000 people but the accompanying doctors and nurses were only enough to care for 20,000 people. After the decisive battle, the only remaining surgical professor told Karlchette, ”Young man, don't complain about me. Neither do I want you to spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair but our medicines fell into the river and the Titan cavalry also captured all the personnel from our medical camp. So--”

Karlchette did not dare to think about it further. He had complained about his parents for giving him the appearance of a monkey. He also complained about the King because the Faran King did not take fancy in the investigation department that operated in the dark. Now…just like the doctor said, his ass was only shot by an arrow but due to lack of medicine, that wound festered and an unbearable stench emitted from the wound. Could he really complain about the war? To be fair, he had eagerly participated in it.

Karlchette was not sure what kind of changes would the defeat brought upon to the political landscape of the entire westland. However, he intended to write a report to his royal court when his health condition improved. He wanted to determine the nature of this ridiculous Anti-Titan movement. For the time being, it will be called…Karlchette had not thought of it yet. He had predicted about the defeat, but he could never imagine his peers and that Hoillander King would fail so miserably!

On both sides of the national highway in Bindir Province heading west, the Western soldiers who retreated from the Hetto Plains lined up in a long queue that stretched into infinity. The surrounding wilderness was loitered with disbanded soldiers. The defeated army discarded all the weapons, only a few of the rather complete corps were still holding their tattered flag. However, they knew that these flags would no longer cause them more trouble. The Titans behind them had already captured countless flags so they would not be bothered in getting another one.

Colonel Karlchette lied face down in a huge carriage. He was surrounded by wounded officers whose faces were twisted with extreme pain. Some remained silent while some wept secretly. In short, the whole sight of this made Karlchette fed up.

The retreating camp moved slowly even the Titans' infantry had arrived ahead of them. The aggressors threw their weapons along the side of the road like litters. Titan militias who were guarding along the way would later collect these discarded mess and sell them to the Imperial Guards as if they were some waste.

A team of knights rushed across the national highway. They were dressed in shiny armors, and their military flags fluttered high up in the air with pride. The defeated forces nearby evaded the guards. Even though both sides had agreed to enter a provisional armistice, the final treaty was not yet finalized, so no one would dare to provoke the overbearing Titan soldiers at this time.

This was just a cavalry platoon led by a captain. The knights stopped under a big tree on the side of the road and placed the flag on the tree trunk. The soft silk banner hung down from above. The defeated soldiers kept their heads down when they passed through the shadow of the flag as if dared not look directly at it.

”You! Stop looking around! It's you!” the Captain of the cavalry platoon suddenly pointed at a Faran. The man stood there looking shocked. He was dressed in a tattered Major General uniform and a blanket was wrapped around his body even on such a hot day.

The Major General hurried a few steps and he saluted to the captain of the Imperial Guards.

The captain sized the man up and down before asking, ”Do you understand Titan?”

The Major General replied that he understood a little.

The satisfied captain then returned a salute to the other person, ”Are all of your soldiers here?”

The Major General pointed behind his back, ”The Second Division of the Seventh Infantry Army Corps of the Faran Kingdom is all here, of course...only the survivors.” The captain became even delighted when he heard it, ”Gather your people.”

The Faran Major General was puzzled at the request, but he agreed after seeing that there was only one cavalry platoon on the other side. He gathered his Second Division of the Seventh Infantry Army Corps near the roadbed. There were at least 600 to 700 people.

The captain of the Imperial Guards jumped back onto his warhorse, and his soldiers followed suit. His soldiers also followed suit. The flag bearer re-raised the army flag.

The captain announced loudly at the defeated opponent, ”Now, I declare you as the prisoners of the Titan Imperial Guards.”

The defeated soldiers were appalled at the news. It was the major general who calmly stepped forward, ”Captain, you have no right to do this!”

The Captain of the Imperial Guards looked at the Faran General disdainfully, ”Okay then! If you disagree, ask your soldiers to pick up their weapons! If you don't resist, I have every reason to hold you as our captives. Don't forget that this is Titan's territory.” The Faran General kept quiet. He turned to look at the soldiers behind him as he did not know whether to accept such humiliation. However, the Titans did not wait for his reply. A small group of knights had pulled out their weapons and began hitting at the captives' heads with the wide ridge of their swords. ”Turn back! Turn back! Hurry up! You are now our captives!”

The Major general had no choice but turned his head around. Perhaps he thought of seeking help from those defeated soldiers on the national route. After all, they still had more than 100,000 people. But these soldiers had their heads down all this while, they did not even dare to go look up at the trees when they pass by the route.

The captain of the cavalry platoon ordered the six hundred or more captives around like he was herding goats. Suddenly, a group of children from the nearby village appeared out of nowhere and these wild boys with their faces covered with snot began throwing stones at the defeated soldiers on the national route as they yelled foul words of their village dialects.

The cavalry captain became annoyed. He rode to the front of the wild boys and the latter immediately quieted down.

”Deal with them with real swords and spears when you grow up. Stop trying to be heroes here!”

The children scattered around quickly. When they were far away, these elated youths cheered aloud, ”March forward, Imperial Guards!”

Colonel Karchette did not dare to unveil the curtain of the carriage until the Titans were far away. He heard that one of the teams of the Imperial Guards consisted of lunatics. They went around asking who had been to Saint Hailey, and they would kill mercilessly if they could not get a satisfactory answer. It was said that the troops left behind at the jetty were all murdered by them. It was a troop of about three thousand people.

Kalchette smirked and his thin and angular monkey's face became even more horrendous to witness. It was no accident that this brutal and sly intelligence officer was spared from being killed. He was extremely smart, and he was of noble blood. Even though he was likely to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, he still had great aspirations for life! Kalchette believed that he would certainly do better if he was granted another chance by the God of Light!

”How far is it from the border?” the colonel nudged at his colleague.

”If we keep heading straight, then we are nine days away!”

Kalchette did not say anything. Only nine days later, he could completely get rid of the shadow cast on him by the Imperial Guards. He still had the rest of his life for studying carefully how to repay the pain caused by the Titans.

Jubilant people were seen everywhere along the way. Mixing along with the defeated soldiers who could not keep up with the team, the Titans could not be more bothered about them but was having a good time among themselves. Only a handful of people could not forget about the criminals who had invaded their motherland. They formed a variety of volunteer groups among themselves to help the Imperial Guards restore local order, also not forgetting to bully those defenseless captives and the wounded.

Most of the Imperial Guards soldiers had turned a blind eye to this. Although they had just won a decisive victory, there were still many tasks waiting to be done. For instance, to repair the military facilities damaged during the war.

The old scheduling officer at Buzaberg Jetty was taken aback when he returned to his former post. He complained that the special combat brigade which had seized the jetty was far more outrageous than the dogs from the west because the soldiers from his own land tore down the Buzaberg Jetty completely.

The reconstruction began at night. The Seventeenth Military Region of the Imperial Guards deployed a fully integrated construction corps for this purpose. A large number of constructions materials were transported from the lower reaches of the Shawob River to the jetty. However, these ferries arrived at the jetty only to discover that there was no place to unload the cargo. On the dock, there were piles of stinking corpses as well as the Imperial Guards soldiers who paused for a rest.

Old Berg exhausted himself and at last, succeeded in persuading a team of soldiers who were willing to pick up the dead bodies. They had been occupied until late at night before they finally dumped all the decaying corpses into a deep pit. The soldiers were so fed up with the sight of it that old Berg had no choice but to set the mountains of dead bodies on fire by himself. The raging fire burned for two nights continuously. In the early windy morning, the ashes were carried to the sky above like fog with the help of the breeze. The Imperial Guards soldiers who were on the ferry immediately dispersed themselves. None of them wanted to inhale a breath full of ashes, and they were even more afraid that those things would cast bad luck upon them.

The ferry finally unloaded the supplies. The soldiers of the Seventeenth Region Construction Corps also climbed out of the shed quickly. In only one morning, they established a temporary trestle of more than 30 meters long. However, the commanding officer of the team thought that they would need up to ten days or half a month to restore Buzaberg Jetty to its previous handling capacity.

On the 19th, perhaps in the afternoon, old Berg realized he had done almost nothing for the past few days as he pondered carefully over a piece of bread. The old scheduling officer was waiting wearily. He found the corps commander of the construction team as well as Brigadier General Luke Citel who was responsible for guarding the jetty. In the old Berg's view, General Citel had the potential to become a successful man in the future because he was extremely time-conscious. As for the leader of the construction corps…forget about it! Old Berg did not like to deal with people who speak in full bureaucratic tone. He had made up his mind to create some trouble for the man.

How fascinating was the term ”post-war period” especially in the summer? The summer of victory!

A rain poured the previous night and the sky was dyed in bright blue only until the late afternoon. Old Berg loitered on the jetty, appearing to be sunbathing, but in fact, he was looking for trouble. The regimental commander of the construction group was right behind the old man who was chattering on and on. However, the commander could not be bothered, although it was clear that he did not like the Scheduling Officer who nagged endlessly.

Old Berg stopped a captain on the temporary bridge who was organizing the unloading process.

”Young man! Tell the man in charge of allocating and transporting stuff that I only want wood and nails. Why are you giving me sandbags and stones? Are you here to fight a flood?”

The captain glanced over at the commander, and told Old Berg, ”Alright, as you wish, only woods and nails!”

Old Berg was delighted, he liked people who were obedient. ”Young man, who is the current commanding officer? I know that there has been a change of officer. This one now is much better than the one before!” Old Berg said as he glanced over at the commander near him.

The face of the captain of the Imperial Guards was washed over with a grin, and he pointed to the far end of the trestle bridge, where a young man in a long-sleeved shirt whose rank identified was ordering something to a group of officers.

”Do you want to meet our commanding officer? He is right there, Marshal of the Imperial Guards, His Highness Prince O'Neil Andrew Morisette!”

Old Berg's eyes widened, and he turned to the corps commander next to him in disbelief, and the latter only returned with a nonchalant shrug. With reverence and awe, old Berg walked over to the young man who had never stopped talking. Was this the Marshal of the Imperial Guards? The Prince of the Empire?

In all honesty, old Berg found it rather difficult to believe! O'Neil Andrew Morisette was dressed in short military boots stained in black mud and dust, and the golden thread on his army trousers was already torn. The edges of the pockets of his trousers were full of grease, sweat as well as dirty fingerprints. Besides, old Berg felt that the noble imperial family member's appearance was somewhat common; his hair was sticking together, his beard long and tangled, but at least he had distinct features. It was only his eyes that...oh God! His eyes were looking this way!

”Oh! You're old Berg!”

Old Berg trembled as he knelt to the ground. He looked exactly like the time his ancestors faced the emperor.

”It's alright...” Oscar helped the old scheduling officer to his feet, ”I've heard so much about you! You were the last person to evacuate the jetty, is that right?”

”Return Your Highness, this was my post of duty!”

Oscar nodded, ”Yes, this is your post of duty!”