chapter_0071

71 – The Worst Formation

71 – The Worst Formation

It began to be sung in the territory of the six noble families at some moment.

The content of the song was simple.

“The Silver Dragon of Crone will fall♪ It will be devoured by Ukra’s Bear♫ Let us all prepare to welcome the new king♪”

It was a straightforward song stating, ‘Tuel will defeat Crone and become the king of the south.’

However, the repercussions of that simple song were anything but simple.

Bang-!

“Who says they will become king!!”

Kon Fennil, the lord of the Fennil family, one of the six noble families, was extremely furious upon hearing the song.

There were several reasons for Kon Fennil’s anger.

First, while the largest family among the six was Tuel’s Ukra family, the Fennil family was by no means weaker than the Ukra family.

Thus, he secretly thought of himself as co-first with Lord Tuel in the southern alliance formed by the six families.

Yet, the idea that Tuel would arbitrarily become the king of the south, pushing him aside, was absurd.

Of course, Tuel hadn’t said it directly, but there must have been a reason behind every rumor in the world.

Moreover, Lord Kon was well aware of Lord Tuel.

If he followed Hadem, then once Crone was dealt with, he would surely start acting to become the king of the south.

And there was another reason he was convinced of this.

It was because Kon Fennil himself harbored such ambitions.

To become the strongest in the south, aligning with the forces that seemed likely to win, such as the princes, princesses, and the Northern Duke faction, and to enjoy wealth and glory—that was his ambition and the true purpose of the six families participating in the hunt for Crone.

There was not a single lord among the six families without such ambitions.

If there were a lord satisfied with a modest territory, they wouldn’t have formed an alliance and engaged in war.

For those lords, the song about Tuel becoming the king of the south was extremely irksome, and there was one more problem.

“My lord.”

“What is it!”

“A strategic plan has arrived from Lord Tuel.”

“Really?”

Lord Kon Fennil received and read the strategic plan from Lord Tuel.

And he immediately became enraged.

“What is this! We are the ones fighting Crone first!!”

Geographically, the territory closest to Crone was none other than Lord Kon’s Fennil family area.

Naturally, it was inevitable that Fennil would be the first to come into contact with Crone.

Tuel’s strategy was fundamentally for Fennil to take the brunt of the attack while he and the other lords surrounded Crone.

Tuel’s strategy was reasonable.

But humans were not rational.

“We cannot fight this way!”

Lord Kon immediately rebelled against Tuel’s strategy.

The rebellion of Lord Kon, who held the second-largest power after himself, could not be ignored by Lord Tuel, and they held an emergency meeting.

“What is your complaint, Lord Kon?”

“Aren’t we the ones in the most danger! If we confront Crone head-on, our knights could be annihilated.”

Slamming the map, Lord Kon shouted.

The Fennil family’s forces, facing Crone’s troops first, seemed like a candle in the wind.

“So didn’t we say we would support your magicians?”

Tuel had indeed made preparations for Fennil.

He had gathered all the magicians from each family to support Fennil.

But Lord Kon had many things to say.

“Are you telling us to face the mad Dragonkin and the Red Calamity with just a few magicians?”

While gathering magicians would certainly be a great strength, the opposing side had even greater power.

With Crimson Sorcerer Sharen, Dragonkin Jarha, and the Golden Knights, along with rumors of knights not yet revealed, if Crone had any secret weapons, it was impossible to know what might emerge.

At Lord Kon’s words, Lord Tuel sighed.

“Then what do you want us to do?”

“Lord Tuel and the Ukra family should take the lead. Otherwise, we will withdraw.”

At Lord Kon’s words, Lord Tuel felt a curse rise to his throat.

If he had his way, he would want to draw his sword and behead Lord Kon right then and there.

But calming himself, he thought.

Lord Tuel, too, was someone who had not spread rumors but desired to become the king of the south.

To do so, preserving his forces was essential.

It was not the picture he wanted to see if his family’s knights were annihilated after fighting and winning against Crone.

Imagining the Fennil family or other third parties like the Is family benefiting from the situation in front of him, Lord Tuel fell silent.

He pondered how to win the war while minimizing his losses, and after a moment, Lord Tuel spoke.

“Very well. We will take the lead. But there is a condition.”

“What condition?”

“That is…”

Lord Tuel stated his condition.

All the lords, including Lord Kon, agreed to that condition, and it was decided that all families would participate in the war.

“…Through this process, they will advance toward us in what strategists would consider the worst formation.”

In the conference room, Leo explained the anticipated actions of the enemies.

To Ricain, who had extensive experience in war, it was the most nonsensical thing, and even someone unfamiliar with warfare would find it incomprehensible.

At that moment, a messenger arrived.

“I report!”

“What is it?”

“The six families have begun their advance. However, the formation seems quite strange.”

Ricain marked the troops on the map with the information brought by the messenger.

But the positioning of the troops was odd.

The military forces of the six families had all set out and were gathering in one place.

They were advancing as a single legion.

Seeing this, Noah said.

“That’s the formation you mentioned, Chief Leo.”

This was both the formation Leo had predicted and the condition Tuel had requested.

Tuel had asked that instead of him, they march together with him.

He believed that if they were united, the damage would be dispersed, and they would be less likely to betray him.

The other lords shared the same thought, and as a result, the knights of the six families were slowly advancing as a single mass.

“How could they engage in such a suicidal act…”

Seeing this, Ricain was incredulous.

There is a saying that strategy is unnecessary for a large army.

But that saying refers to situations where numerical superiority is high in the combat area; being in one mass does not necessarily mean strength.

Cavalry, archers, infantry, magicians, and so on each have battlefields where they can best utilize their strengths.

Especially since the six families had distinct knight orders, their specialties were pronounced.

Ricain imagined the worst-case scenario where they would pressure Crone by moving organically while leveraging their respective strengths.

Yet, due to mutual distrust and the arrogance of thinking they had already won, they lost those advantages.

Half of the cavalry got mixed in with the infantry and could not utilize their mobility, while the archers found it difficult to shoot due to the risk of friendly fire.

Moreover, the magicians had to remain on guard against Sharen, who could appear at any moment, preparing for her large-scale area spells.

If the army had been dispersed, the magicians, who could have moved freely and achieved results like combat helicopters, were forced to act merely as radar.

It was truly the ‘worst formation.’

Seeing their formation, Ricain was confident of victory.

With such a combat-inefficient legion, he believed that by appropriately utilizing the Crone Knights’ cavalry, the Dreyhart warriors, and Sharen and Azel, they could defeat the enemies without suffering significant losses.

Acknowledging Leo’s abilities, Ricain said.

“Then, what should we do now? Please tell us the plan, Chief Leo.”

For the first time, Ricain referred to Leo as chief, recognizing him.

At Ricain’s words, Leo smiled and replied.

“You should prepare.”

“Prepare?”

“Yes, prepare to save the enemies.”

“Save the enemies? What do you mean by that?”

Leo explained his plan to everyone present.

In disbelief, the people in the room were once again left speechless.

“Is that really possible?”

“It is. I can promise you with my life.”

Leo’s plan was something almost magical.

But on the other hand, everyone thought the same.

If it were his plan, it might succeed.

Leo organized his instruments and stood up.

As he left the room, he said.

“I will go ahead and prepare. Please take your time to come there. Let’s go, Aron.”

“Yes, Chief Leo.”

Leo departed with Aron, an ordinary magician borrowed from Calix, to finalize the operation.

And on the map, the place Leo mentioned was marked.

‘Dreygon Plains’—the location where the six families would fall.

The war had not even properly begun, yet the end was approaching.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

??: Now that I think about it, just watching and reaping benefits seems nice.

???: Right?

??: My lord, we’ve run out of popcorn.

??: I have some left. Eat this.

Quiz: Who are they from the top?