Ch.691Reinforcements

“That…!”

Though the setting sun’s glare was painful to his eyes, Ludwig stared intently into the thick dust cloud, unable to look away.

A massive shadow approached over the horizon, kicking up clouds of dust.

Men armed with chain mail, round shields, long-handled axes, spears, and short swords were marching toward the city while blowing horn trumpets.

A legion. And not just hastily conscripted rabble, but a properly equipped elite legion.

‘Reinforcements from Dane! Then Haschal must have succeeded in subduing Edriksa!’

Ludwig’s expression brightened somewhat. The appearance of Dane’s forces at this moment meant that their reckless and crude gamble—the plan for three people to subdue Edriksa and replace the king—had succeeded.

“Reinforcements! Reinforcements are coming! Dane’s reinforcements are here!”

“We’re saved! Long live Lord Median!”

Like Ludwig, the adjutants who spotted the approaching Dane legion broke into cheers. The legion appeared like a savior when all hope seemed lost. To the adjutants, it felt like raindrops beginning to fall while trapped in a blazing fire.

“Your Excellency. Now that reinforcements have arrived, we should stop burning the food supplies…”

Knight Erikson, who had been ordered to burn all food supplies, spoke with a brightened expression. His tone suggested that with reinforcements arriving, they no longer needed to worry about total annihilation.

“…Well, I think it’s still too early to make that decision.”

However, Ludwig shook his head. He was more rational than the others.

Unlike his adjutants who had abandoned reason and were rejoicing as if a rope had been lowered from heaven, Ludwig knew that the arrival of reinforcements didn’t guarantee a miraculous reversal.

‘The force numbers about eight thousand. Judging by the mix of different troop types, they’re not hastily assembled relief forces but rather garrison troops that were originally defending nearby cities. They must have been retreating when they received the king’s order to return and cooperate with the imperial forces to repel the Ka’har. They’ll be somewhat helpful, but…’

It wasn’t enough to guarantee victory. The fact that these troops, who had originally been stationed in this area, were only arriving now meant that the plan to overthrow the Dane royal family had been delayed.

What had happened in Edriksa? Ludwig couldn’t know, but one thing was certain: Haschal would need more time to arrive here.

Realizing this, Ludwig couldn’t share in his adjutants’ unbridled joy. What he wanted wasn’t eight thousand elite soldiers, but the return of a superhuman who could single-handedly stop the rampaging Orhan.

======[ Dane Forces ]======

As Ludwig had guessed, they were garrison troops from various cities who had regrouped into a single legion.

Unable to disobey King Hestein’s orders, the defensive forces from four cities had reluctantly retreated, abandoning the city residents.

Hestein and Ragnar’s original plan was to position the four cities’ defensive forces and the mainland’s main forces behind the Empire’s border region, then attack whoever survived the clash between the Empire and the Ka’har to reap the benefits.

Thus, the defensive forces from the four cities had consolidated into a force of eight thousand and were marching toward the rear of the border region.

The reason these defensive forces changed direction and marched back to defend the city was due to a newly delivered order.

“Join the imperial forces defending the city and repel the Ka’har.”

The commanders who received the order couldn’t help but be confused. It completely contradicted their previous orders.

“I cannot understand His Majesty’s intentions…”

If they were going to return to the city anyway, why had they abandoned the residents to looting? And after planning to stab the Empire in the back, why were they now being ordered to cooperate with them?

“Crazy bastard king. What dance does he want us to perform?”

The muttering of an impatient crusader vividly expressed the bewilderment they all felt.

“Could this be fake?”

“Forge the king’s order? Who would be that bold? If discovered, not just the perpetrator but all related family members would be executed.”

“Perhaps the Empire’s Margrave of Landenburg…”

One commander who was about to object hesitated. It was a convincingly plausible name. From what he’d heard about the Margrave of Landenburg, such an act would be well within his capabilities.

“No, that can’t be. Look, it bears King Hestein’s seal. And not just any seal, but the confidential seal used only within Dane.”

A gray-bearded old knight shook his head, pointing to the seal at the bottom of the order.

Unlike the official royal seal commonly used on diplomatic documents, this was the confidential seal that appeared only on internal Dane classified documents.

The seal clearly showed the combined emblem of Dane’s two national treasures, Dainslief and Randalin.

No matter how capable the Margrave of Landenburg might be, he couldn’t possibly forge a confidential seal whose existence he wouldn’t even know about. So this order must truly represent the king’s will.

“Then this is indeed His Majesty Hestein’s intention.”

The order they were debating had actually been written by Knut and Hrafin, but the defensive forces had no choice but to believe it came from Hestein.

This was because Hrafin had not informed them about the coup in Edriksa.

While the residents of Edriksa had accepted Knut as their new king thanks to the mobilization of intelligence agents manipulating public opinion, Hrafin didn’t think the defensive forces far from Edriksa would do the same.

For the commanders of the defensive forces, it would mean that the royal family had been wiped out overnight and replaced by someone previously known as a traitor. Would they readily accept this and follow the new king’s orders?

Hrafin didn’t think so.

‘They’d either march to Edriksa claiming to suppress the traitor, or decide Dane is finished and become warlords if we’re lucky.’

Therefore, Hrafin had not included the king’s name on the order sent to the defensive forces, only stamping it with the king’s confidential seal.

This way, the uninformed commanders would believe the order came from Hestein, not Knut.

…Though it had taken some time to find the confidential seal, since the palace had been completely destroyed.

In any case, the defensive forces’ command had no choice but to obey the orders given. They turned their troops around and began retracing their steps.

Considering the Ka’har’s advance speed, the Empire’s movements, their own marching speed, and the time elapsed so far… they headed toward the third city, which was most likely to become the battlefield.

—-

And finally, they arrived at the battlefield. Just as they had expected, the third city where the Empire and Ka’har were engaged in fierce combat.

“Pick up the pace! Are you just going to watch until the city falls?”

A crusader at the front of the Dane forces urged his subordinates forward, pointing his sword at the city walls.

The Danes quickened their pace, almost breaking into a run.

Until now, they had marched at a normal pace to conserve energy, but now they needed to sprint with all their might.

The battle situation in the city they had finally reached was so intense and urgent that the city’s fall seemed imminent.

Eight thousand troops surged forward like a wave, making the ground tremble.

======[ Ka’har ]======

“Reinforcements! Dane reinforcements are coming!”

Orhan, who had caught Joshua’s greatsword with his teeth and swung Aekrindo to sever his arm, paused and turned his head.

The Imperial language rang out loud enough for everyone in the city to hear. Even Orhan could understand the words “reinforcements” and “Dane.”

‘So they had prepared a trap after all… Were they planning to strike us from behind with forces they had gathered while sacrificing two cities?’

Orhan frowned as he kicked away Joshua, who was still attacking with one arm, sending him flying toward Frederick.

‘How ruthless.’

A counterattack with forces gathered by sacrificing two cities and tens of thousands of lives as pawns. Even by Orhan’s standards, it was an incredibly cold-blooded strategy.

Of course, this was merely Orhan’s misunderstanding, as he was unaware of Ragnar, the apostle of the ancient god who had infiltrated the Dane royal court.

From Orhan’s perspective, he could only conclude that the reason Dane forces had emptied their cities was to gather all their strength for this single strike under Ludwig’s command.

If that wasn’t the reason, the only other conclusion would be that the Dane royal family were madmen who abandoned tens of thousands of their citizens without a second thought. Surely that couldn’t be the case.

‘A desperate counterattack by the Empire and Dane, prepared by sacrificing tens of thousands as stepping stones. Then these forces must represent the best and maximum strength they could muster.’

Would Haschal be among them? That was Orhan’s only concern.

If Haschal was among the Dane forces approaching the city, it would mean everything Ludwig had said was a lie meant to buy time.

Conversely, if Haschal wasn’t even among these final forces gathered at the cost of tens of thousands of lives—

‘Then… then it would mean Haschal has indeed gone to Ordos, as Ludwig claimed.’

Which would it be?

Having shaken off the two heroes, Orhan kicked off the ground and soared into the air, looking down at Dane’s relief forces from high above.