Ch.237Chapter 237. Retreating to Border, Aftermath (2)

* * *

Chel quickly organized his troops and immediately arrived at Mirage Castle, which was the closest location.

‘There really is a white flag fluttering?’

As soon as he recognized that a white flag was flying where Serpina’s yellow flag should have been planted, he was certain that she had indeed abandoned her territory and withdrawn her troops.

“What shall we do?”

“What do you mean what shall we do? We must occupy it immediately.”

“……”

A few of the armed officers tilted their heads as if feeling uneasy about this situation that seemed too easy.

But for commanders who had been working in the Brans military, which operated under the strong charisma of its ruler, nothing was more difficult than offering direct advice to someone in the position of authority.

After subduing Mirage Castle.

Chel left only the basic personnel needed to manage the territory and shouted at the troops who remained armed without even receiving orders to disband.

“We don’t have time for this. We’re heading straight to Alcanwood Castle.”

“Alcanwood Castle, sir?”

Alcanwood Castle was a territory belonging to Serpina’s forces, located directly below Mirage Castle.

“If Mirage Castle is this empty, there’s no way troops remain at Alcanwood Castle. It’s possible that Jellin Castle or perhaps even Hisfil Castle are unoccupied. If we secure four territories, our forces will definitely establish dominance within the Brans faction!”

“But sending scouts first would be…”

“We’ll be too late if we send scouts! What are you thinking? Do you want to ruin our army?”

“No, that’s not what I…”

“Then stop talking and follow my orders!”

With that, he led the hastily organized army at the vanguard and charged straight toward Alcanwood Castle.

Indeed, as Chel had predicted, Alcanwood Castle was also completely empty of troops.

The moment he planted his flag on the spire of Alcanwood Castle, Chel had a feeling.

‘Has my era finally arrived?’

Until now, things hadn’t gone well simply because opportunities were lacking.

Although he didn’t know what the situation was, hadn’t the opportunity finally come to our forces now that the villainess Serpina had withdrawn her troops from the border?

Wasn’t this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity falling into my lap like a gift from heaven proof that the true legitimate succession of the Brans forces belonged to me, Chel Brans, the eldest son?

Was it because he was anxious that his rebellion, launched with such momentum, wasn’t proceeding as planned?

Or was he simply prone to such fanatical superstitions by nature?

Either way, for Chel, all of this came to be seen as one massive “opportunity that absolutely must not be missed.”

And his actions began to grow increasingly bold.

“Good. We depart for Jellin Castle immediately! We will advance all the way to Hisfil Castle, so order everyone to prepare for a forced march!”

Just as he shouted with such momentum.

“My lord!”

A soldier rushed urgently to Chel.

“What is it?”

“There are troops approaching from the south!”

“What?”

From the south?

The south is where Jellin Castle is located, isn’t it?

“Which faction do they belong to?”

“Judging by the red flags… they appear to be Aeshus forces!”

‘Aeshus forces?’

The fact that Aeshus forces had emerged from below meant only one thing.

It meant that they had taken Jellin Castle, and beyond that, Hisfil Castle.

Given the situation, it seemed that Serpina had withdrawn all her troops from that area as well, and it wasn’t just us who were getting territories for free.

“Ha!”

As expected, things never went smoothly according to my wishes—

But this time, he was confident.

He had a confidence bordering on certainty that he was the one who could seize this opportunity!

“What shall we do, my lord?”

“What shall we do, you ask.”

Chel said with an arrogant smile on his lips.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

We will—

* * *

‘It seems Chel has started moving personally.’

Epinel let out a deep sigh.

Once they recognized that Serpina had withdrawn, they needed to occupy the territories near the border as quickly as possible…

While they were hesitating, wondering if there might be some trap, it seemed Chel’s forces had already occupied the territories above.

“What should we do, General?”

“Let’s go back. We don’t have enough troops to engage in battle.”

They had rushed forward with a formation specialized only for mobility, thinking they would just quickly occupy castles.

Forcing a confrontation when they weren’t in condition for a siege would be quite challenging for him, unlike for a female general with the nickname of siege specialist.

“Tell Erinandorf at the vanguard as well.”

“Yes!”

Just as Epinel was preparing to retreat.

“Hey!”

“What’s happening?!”

“…?”

Suddenly, a commotion arose at the vanguard.

And… what appeared before her eyes was.

“…!!!”

A rain of arrows pouring from the walls of Alcanwood Castle.

“Arghhhh!”

“Dodge! Dodge to the side!”

‘Could it be… they’re attacking us? Without even a declaration of war?!’

Even though they were Brans forces, it was Lin’s country that had crossed swords with us.

Since Chel had become the ruler, they were treated as a kind of independent state, so she hadn’t thought they would attack.

They should be able to tell from our flags that we are Aeshus forces, not Serpina’s forces, so it couldn’t be a case of mistaken identity. Just as she was thinking this—

The gates of Alcanwood Castle opened—

And unlike our forces, which had only focused on arriving quickly, properly battle-ready troops began pouring out.

Only then did Epinel properly grasp the situation and immediately shouted to her soldiers.

“…Everyone, form ranks! It’s battle! The battle has begun!”

Without any information about how many enemy troops remained or who their commander was—

The Aeshus forces found themselves crossing swords with an unexpected opponent in an unexpected place.

* * *

“A battle…? With Chel’s forces…?”

“Yes…! You must organize reinforcements right away!”

Facing the messenger who had rushed to deliver the news, Yurie immediately fell into thought.

‘Wait… why is Chel’s army attacking our forces?’

She could understand if they had learned that Serpina had withdrawn her troops from territories near the border and had therefore occupied Alcanwood Castle in advance.

But what would they gain by fighting us in this situation?

From Chel’s perspective, the best course of action would be to establish a stalemate at the border with our forces and then subdue Kalintz Brans and Lynn Brans. There would be no greater loss than wasting time and troops in a war with us and losing hegemony within the Brans forces.

So, if she were Chel—she would have negotiated with the completely external Aeshus forces, established something like a temporary alliance, and dealt with Kalintz first.

But he attacked us. For reasons unknown, he chose the path of antagonizing us.

‘I can’t just let this happen.’

This was a golden opportunity to occupy Alcanwood Castle, beyond it Mirage Castle, and perhaps even Kelstein Castle above it.

Since they had just taken possession of castles that were not only completely empty but had also lost a significant number of their residents, she thought a siege would be quite feasible.

“Alright. Then I’ll immediately organize reinforcements—”

“Wait.”

“…Anima?”

“I understand how you feel, but engaging in all-out war with Chel’s forces might not be a good decision.”

“What do you mean?”

Anima spoke in the calmest tone possible.

“If Chel’s forces collapse, inevitably Kalintz’s forces or Brans forces will benefit. With the balance maintained by the three breaking down, the Brans forces will quickly reintegrate. Then we might end up fighting the Brans forces again instead of Serpina. And the one who will be laughing in the end will be Serpina. Since we’ve decided to fight Serpina… moving rashly isn’t good.”

“But they attacked first!”

“In the grand scheme of things, it’s just a minor skirmish that occurred. You know well that war and battle are different concepts, Yurie.”

“…So what do you think we should do?”

“Let’s send reinforcements for now. But prioritize retreat and avoid crossing blades with Chel any further. And we should postpone attacking Serpina.”

“What? That means…”

Anima looked directly at Yurie’s face with gleaming eyes.

“Let’s attack the Hesna forces.”

“……”

“The response changes depending on the situation, you know. If we could have stably pushed all the way to Kelstein Castle, we could have fought Serpina’s forces, but the situation has changed now. Let’s think long-term, Yurie. To unify the continent, we must cross swords with Serpina anyway. You know that I harbor more hatred toward that woman than anyone else.”

Hearing those words, Yurie let out a short sigh.

Thinking about it calmly… she herself acknowledged that in matters like this, Anima was far superior to her.

Even if the decisive battle with Serpina that she had set her heart on would end in a somewhat deflating manner, she felt that Anima’s judgment would ultimately be correct.

“Alright. Then… I’ll try to retreat for now.”

“Yes. You’ve thought well, Yurie.”

Yurie immediately organized her troops and, following Anima’s advice, gave instructions to retreat as quickly as possible.

‘Chel Brans…’

Anima sighed briefly as she mulled over that name.

A truly unexpected individual had become an obstacle, but compared to Serpina, he was ultimately just a small fry that would eventually fade away.

The Brans forces, now divided into three, were nothing more than entities to be temporarily cleared away, nothing more, nothing less.

Both Anima and perhaps Yurie—

That’s what they thought at the moment.

* * *

But.

“Epinel…?”

A few days later.

Epinel, who returned with news that 80% of the initially dispatched troops had been killed, couldn’t say a word as she stood with her head bowed before Yurie.

It was an uncharacteristically poor performance for her, but Yurie could understand. She was well aware that an army focused solely on mobility for quick territory occupation couldn’t fight properly.

“Epinel, what’s wrong? This isn’t like you. It’s okay. It wasn’t an army organized for battle. I think it’s fortunate that you’ve returned alive like this, so don’t blame yourself.”

“……”

Seeing Epinel still not responding.

Yurie carefully asks about the “sense of discomfort” she had been feeling since Epinel entered.

“By the way… where is Erinandorf…?”

“…Yurie.”

And at the same time.

Epinel looked at Yurie with blazing eyes and said.

“Erinandorf… has been captured by Chel.”