Ch.74Chapter 74. Defense of the Western Fortress of Bhalharat (7)

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“Everyone, remain calm and maintain your composure! The enemy forces cannot be that numerous!”

Chel Brans was desperately shouting to maintain the command structure during the surprise attack—

But he too was just as bewildered.

‘Our surprise attack was anticipated? But why?’

How many messengers had he sent to learn about the current situation at the fortress before coming here?

He had heard that they appeared to be preparing for some ritual, and that soldiers were standing guard vigilantly.

Crucially, hadn’t he heard that Commander Epinel was moving around everywhere, personally leading the troops?

There was no possibility that the messengers had lied… which meant…

‘Could they have seen through our plan in advance…?’

As the phrase “seen through” crossed his mind, he suddenly remembered what Farfalle had told him.

‘Swen is an extraordinary general. He accurately foresaw that the Aeshus army was conspiring with the Allepel and Charam armies to deceive us, and that a rebellion would break out in the north. He must have thoroughly prepared countermeasures for fortress defense as well.’

‘Could it be that all of this was within that man Swen’s calculations…?’

At that time, Farfalle had said, “As long as Swen is there, we shouldn’t touch the fortress”…

No, could it be that all of this… that is, Farfalle thinking and acting that way itself… could he have seen through that as well?

‘What in the…!’

Come to think of it, he first met Swen when he went to attack the now-extinct Lunarian army after his lord and younger sister Lynn told him that “an exceptional talent was hiding there.”

Thinking that far made his head increasingly complicated, but he soon shook it off.

Just because someone showed something like a strange miracle doesn’t mean they deserve such high evaluation.

There was no guarantee anywhere that it was Swen who had accurately seen through this plan.

With such uncertainty, becoming frightened after jumping to conclusions would prevent him from doing anything.

‘Anyway, now that we’ve been discovered, should I withdraw the troops immediately?’

Farfalle had said:

Although the chances of this plan failing were small, if it did fail—

That is, if the Aeshus army discovered their troop movements before a proper siege battle could begin.

He clearly remembered her advice to leave only the minimum number of soldiers necessary to prevent pursuit, and withdraw the rest of the forces immediately.

That was the way to minimize casualties, she had said.

While it was frustrating to flee like this, and it felt somewhat undignified—

Farfalle was a strategist whom even he acknowledged.

He knew well enough that in most situations, following her advice was the right decision.

‘Then I should give the order immediately…’

Just as he was organizing his thoughts.

“There you are.”

A familiar woman’s voice reached Chel’s ears.

Turning his head toward the source of the voice…

On horseback was the female warrior raised to serve the Brans family.

Irene Juliette was looking at him with cold eyes.

“Well, look who it is. The filthy traitor who abandoned her country and ran away.”

“…”

Irene glared at Chel in silence.

“You look much better now, don’t you? After what you did. If it were me, I would have killed myself from guilt, but here you are, shamelessly holding your head high. Is that what your father taught you?”

Though Chel was clearly speaking provocatively, Irene didn’t take the bait.

“How pitiful you are, Chel Brans. Because of your cursed bloodline, you can’t even abandon a sinking ship. Tell me, how does it feel to be the helmsman of a nation destined for ruin?”

“What did you say? You damned woman…!”

Chel pointed his sword at her in rage and shouted.

“Are you insulting me, Chel Brans?!”

“Oh? Are you going to attack? If you want to run away, now is your only chance.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

Clang!

Chel charged at her on horseback and swung his sword.

After exchanging a few blows with him, Irene took a stance and glared at him.

“You can’t stop our army with this level of forces anyway! Accept your filthy fate. I’ll personally cut off the head of a dirty traitor like you!”

“You are just as vulgar as your sister. Since you’re so eager to hasten your death, I won’t hold back anymore. Come at me!”

“Fine, you damned woman! This place will be your grave!”

Irene continued to face off against Chel Brans without backing down.

After exchanging a few sword strikes, Chel was clearly powerful. It wasn’t for nothing that he was called the First Sword of Brans.

However, having practiced swordsmanship every single day without fail, she felt she could handle him somewhat better than before.

Moreover, she even thought that he was… definitely weaker than Lunarian.

‘Good. This level of provocation should be enough.’

Swen had said that if they saw through this plan, our army would inevitably be placed in an advantageous situation.

And he also said it was important to eliminate as many Brans forces as possible here.

What Swen wanted was to eliminate the Brans forces.

So Irene would run to fulfill that wish.

In the same context, provoking the commander Chel to keep him here was her own idea.

Having once served closely by his side, Irene knew Chel’s personality well.

He was certainly a powerful general. It was no exaggeration to call him the ultimate weapon of the Brans army, playing a role worth more than a hundred men.

His only weakness was that he was somewhat hot-tempered.

A powerful and fierce general who was most obsessed with the honor carried by the Brans name.

Provoking such a Chel was as easy as eating cake.

Just by slightly touching that name he took such pride in, he would so easily…

“Haaaah!”

Clang!

‘…fall for it…!’

As Irene parried Chel’s sword, she detected her arm trembling slightly.

Of course, from the Aeshus army’s perspective, provoking him to prevent retreat and eliminating the disorganized Brans forces was an exceptionally brilliant strategy—

But if one focused on Irene herself rather than the Aeshus army, it wasn’t such a perfect method.

She needed to buy as much time as possible by exchanging blows with him until a sufficient number of soldiers were eliminated…

Even though she had reached a level where she could face him somewhat, objectively speaking, defeating him was nearly impossible.

She wasn’t so inexperienced that she didn’t know that much.

But.

‘To fulfill Swen’s wishes… I need to push harder here…!’

The man who had freed her from her cursed fate, from the shackles that bound her to the Brans family.

The man who had sincerely told her that protecting herself was more important than anything else.

For that man… for Swen, there was nothing Irene couldn’t do.

With only that mindset, she continued to exchange blows with him.

After some time had passed.

Irene’s expression slightly crumpled as she sensed her stamina running low.

Chel didn’t miss that moment and said with a sinister smile.

“Ha! I can feel those tiny hands of yours starting to tremble. For all your big talk, you’re pathetically weak! Irene! You didn’t seriously think you could defeat me, did you?!”

Hearing Chel’s words, Irene smiled very provocatively and said.

“…Your tongue is long, Chel Brans. I pity you.”

“…What?”

“Because of that precious bloodline of yours, you can’t leave the Brans army ruled by a foolish monarch, so you’re destined to rot there for the rest of your life…!”

“What did you say…?”

Irene could feel Chel’s body trembling.

It was anger.

The true anger of Chel Brans, which even Irene had rarely seen before.

“…Irene Juliette. I swear on my sword. You will die here.”

Clang!

‘…Kuh!’

Chel’s attacks began to come in even more fiercely.

How many generals could attack so freely even on horseback?

Although Irene had been blocking his attacks and occasionally landing effective hits on him, at this moment she could only focus on desperately blocking the barrage of attacks.

‘I have to endure… if I don’t endure…!’

“I’m glad you’re safe, Lady Irene…”

Now… there was someone waiting for her return.

Someone who had found her, affirmed her existence, and was waiting for her to come back.

‘I… can’t… die… here…!’

Crash!

‘Oh no…!’

She lost grip of the sword she was using to block his attacks.

Chel, confirming this, once again let out a sinister laugh.

That unpleasant laughter filled the battlefield already full of soldiers’ battle cries.

“This is the end, Irene!”

‘Damn it, Swen…!! I…!’

At that moment.

“Aaaaargh!!”

“…!!”

She heard Chel’s painful groan in her ears.

Irene quickly assessed the situation.

An arrow had pierced Chel’s left hand.

Turning her head—

Emma with a bow and Erinandorf with a huge club were riding toward them on horseback.

It seemed that the soldiers who had left to invade the Allepel army had heard the news from a messenger and arrived here.

“Damn it…!”

Chel cursed and grabbed the arrow stuck in his hand.

And then…

“…Aaaaaaaaaah!!!!”

He pulled it out.

Red blood began to flow from the wound where the arrow had been.

Even in this situation, Chel was thinking clearly while maintaining his vision.

Looking around, he saw Emma and Erinandorf, renowned generals of the Aeshus army whom he knew well, rushing toward them.

‘Damn… has the enemy’s reinforcement arrived?’

Rational thought was returning only after some blood had left his body.

This was no time for this.

He should have retreated his troops as quickly as possible…

At this rate, there was no chance of winning.

Far from killing Irene in front of him, if Emma and Erinandorf joined in, he might be the one to die here.

‘Even now… I must retreat…!’

“Everyone! Retreat! The operation is canceled! Prioritize retreat!”

Though he belatedly gave the order, his command merely echoed in the air without reaching his soldiers who were in a state of chaos.

Chel finally realized he was too late.

‘…Damn it…!’

If he, the commander, died, it would truly be over.

Chel turned his horse around and fled the scene, shouting for retreat as much as possible.

Watching this, Emma approached Irene and said.

“I’m glad we arrived in time, Irene. I was a bit nervous using a bow after so long, but I’m glad it worked out well.”

“…General Emma. Thank you.”

“No, if anything, we should be thanking you. If you hadn’t prevented the surprise attack in advance, we would have lost Valharat Castle.”

As Emma said, if Irene hadn’t set up a position here first and stopped the soldiers attempting the surprise attack, a very difficult situation would certainly have unfolded.

“You’ve worked hard. Let’s clean up the remaining forces now.”

“Yes, understood. I’ll help too.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

And so, Irene followed Emma and began to eliminate the Brans forces who couldn’t even retreat properly.

The failed surprise attack on Valharat Castle.

Due to this failure, the Brans army lost all of its main force of over 45,000 troops.

This was the biggest failure since the Brans army had effectively conquered the central continent.