C83: The Road to King (23)

***

“Did you see it?”

“Yeah, I saw it. All over the place, the cavalry was beating up……Narja’s guys!”

Various rumors began to circulate among the refugees. Once the rumors started circulating, they became more and more exaggerated. Well, that’s the thing about rumors.

“I heard that everyone ran away, but the Lord of Aintorian was the only one who fought.”

“That’s true. Even the king ran away!”

There were many abusive comments about the king. He was a king who had never helped his people, made the worst possible choice and died a horrible death.

The frustration that Lunan had ended up in this situation was directed at the king. Naturally, in return, the good rumors about Erhin gradually grew.

“So, should we evacuate to Aintorian?”

“I think that would be best.”

More and more Lunan citizens were willing to trust and rely on Erhin.

***

Fran’s head hit the ground with a bang. It was because he was worried about the attack by Erhin’s iron cavalry.

“If he comes back again, I will immediately chase him down and crush him thoroughly!”

Lucana shouted in exasperation.

“We have cavalry too, don’t we? They attack and then hide…….I’m so angry!”

That’s what Lamp, the leader of the most heavily damaged third army, said. He was frustrated, but so were the other generals.

The generals of the entire army were furious. Fran, who had been banging his forehead, stood up and calmed the generals down.

“Don’t do it. You can’t do that. If you do not control your anger and divide the army, that is exactly what the enemy wants. Now we just have to endure…….”

Looking at them individually, the damage was not significant. However, it was also a fact that the damage was accumulating day by day and becoming impossible to ignore. A large army that had numbered 150,000 was reduced to 140,000 just by advancing.

Even though there was not much damage to the troops themselves due to the fact that they had adapted quickly, everyone from the commander on top to a single soldier on the bottom was troubled by the situation of not knowing where the iron cavalry would appear from.

Normally, they would be so enraged that they would form a pursuit team and chase the enemy to the end. In the middle of that pursuit, they would be attacked by another ambush and lose the troops of the pursuit team. It was a strategy that took advantage of people’s anger, but of course, Fran endured it.

“Move cautiously and don’t make any rash decisions. The anger that has built up should be dissipated when we arrive at Voltaire Castle. You will arrive at Voltaire Castle tomorrow anyway. All the anger you’ve been holding back should be unleashed at that time. Is that clear?”

“Yes, General!”

Fran’s position is that of an absolute and respected duke. So everyone nodded their heads at his words.

The next day Fran’s 140,000-strong army, thanks to his anger and careful movements, did not break ranks during the march and finally arrived in front of Voltaire Castle.

***

Voltaire Castle.

At the strategy meeting where everyone was gathered, I declared the obvious.

“I’m going to abandon Voltaire castle.”

If we hold our ground here, we will be on a path of self-destruction. The difference between retreating without doing anything and retreating after shaking the enemy is obvious.

Of course, I’m talking about the people’s spirit. Having achieved that to some extent, all that remains is to retreat.

“Is that true?”

Count Voltaire replied with a buoyant look on his face. He seemed to think that he would die if he fought here.

“So where does that leave us?”

Of course, he immediately posed another question, taking a look at the situation, but it was a question for the others as well. A question that the rest of the people, except for Aintorian’s vassals had.

“Narja’s army numbers 140,000 and we have about 30,000 troops. Even if we get support from the other territories, the territories will have between 3,000 and 5,000 troops at most, and we will end up being absolutely outnumbered.”

The situation was practically suicidal, no matter what we did. Unlike the northern part of Lunan, there was almost no topographical advantage to be found here, because it was all flat land. Here and there, there were only hills and fields that could not be used.

“Retreat to Aintorian.”

In the end, I knew where I had to go. I didn’t have the option of moving to another place in the first place.

The vassals who already knew my strategy looked at each other and nodded, but Elheat and the others who joined us later were looking at me with a very curious look on their faces.

“So, the plan is finally underway?”

Nodding at Yusen’s question, Elheat couldn’t resist saying.

“What exactly is the plan?”

He seemed to be quite concerned about it.

That part needed to be explained to Elheat first. Anyway, if this operation was successful, I would finally graduate from the title of lord, establish my own country, and jump into this continent. It was a plan that would cost me everything.