episode_0237

* * *

Chell quickly organized his troops and immediately arrived at the nearest castle, Mirage.

‘The white flag is really waving, isn’t it?’

As soon as I noticed that a white flag was flying where Serpina’s yellow flag should have been, I was sure that she was indeed abandoning her territory and taking away her troops.

“What would you like to do?”

“What should I do? What should I do? We have to occupy it right away.”

“… … .”

A few of the military commanders tilted their heads as if they felt uneasy about eating raw food like this.

From the perspective of the generals who worked in the Brans military, which was largely run by the powerful charisma of the monarch, there was nothing more difficult than speaking directly to the person in the position of monarch.

After conquering Mirage Castle.

Chell left only the basic personnel to manage the territory, and without even receiving an order to disperse, he shouted at the armed troops.

“I don’t have time to stay like this. Head straight to Alkanwood Castle.”

“To Alkanwood Castle?”

Alcanwood Castle was a fiefdom belonging to the Serpina Army, located right below Mirage Castle.

“With Mirage Castle so empty, there is no way there are any troops left in Alkanwood Castle. There is a possibility that Zelin Castle or even Hispil Castle may be occupied. By securing four territories, our army will be able to secure the leadership of the Brans forces!”

“But sending a patrol first… … .”

“If you send out a patrol, it will be too late! What are you thinking? Do you want to destroy our military?”

“No, that’s not it… … .”

“Then stop talking and follow my orders!”

With the quickly assembled army, he took the lead and charged towards Alkanwood Castle.

Indeed, as Chell said, Alkanwood Castle was also empty without any troops.

The moment Chell planted his flag on the spire of Alkanwood Castle, he had a hunch.

‘Has my time finally come?’

The reason it hasn’t worked out so far is simply because there wasn’t enough opportunity.

I don’t know what the situation is, but isn’t the villainess Serpina’s withdrawal of troops from the border line finally giving our military a chance?

The fact that this chance of genius came to me like a pumpkin falling on a vine is in itself proof that Brans’s true ancestry was that of my eldest son, Chell Brans!

I raised my spirits and started a rebellion, but was it because I was nervous because nothing was going as well as I thought?

Or, was it because he was naturally prone to such fanatical superstitions?

In any case, for Chell, all of this came to be seen as one huge ‘opportunity that should never be missed.’

His actions began to become increasingly bold.

“Good. Let’s head straight to Zelin Castle! We will advance like this all the way to Hispil Castle, so order everyone to prepare for a forced march!”

The exact moment when I shouted with such vigor.

“Master!”

A soldier hurriedly ran to Chell.

“What’s going on?”

“There are troops coming from the south!”

“What?”

South?

If you’re in the south, that’s where Zelin Castle is?

“Where do you belong?”

” Judging by the red flag… … I think it’s Acious!”

‘Acous-kun?’

There is only one thing that Acious came out from below.

This meant that they took over Zelin Castle and Hispil Castle beyond that.

Looking at the situation, Serpina has probably withdrawn all of her troops there as well, and in this situation, it means that we are not the only ones who have taken the territory for free.

“Ha!”

As expected, nothing ever works out the way I want, but-

Still, I was confident this time.

I am close to the certainty that it is I, and not anyone else, who can seize this opportunity!

“What will you do, my lord?”

“How do you do it?”

Chell said with an arrogant smile on her lips.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

we are–

* * *

‘It looks like Chell started moving himself.’

Epinel let out a deep sigh.

Since we knew that Serpina had retreated, we had to occupy the territory near the border as quickly as possible… …

While I was wondering if there was some kind of trap, it seemed that Chell’s army had occupied the upper territories first.

“What shall we do, General?”

“Let’s go back. Because there are not enough troops to fight a battle.”

With the idea of capturing only the castle as quickly as possible, the situation was such that they rushed ahead using a model specialized only for mobility.

Even though she was in no condition to engage in siege warfare, fighting forcibly was quite a daunting task for a female general with the nickname of a siege warfare specialist.

“Tell it to Hernandorf, who is in the vanguard.”

“Yes!”

At that moment when Epinel was preparing to leave the army.

“Hey!”

“What’s going on?!”

“… … ?”

Suddenly, there was a chaotic atmosphere in the forefront.

and… … What appears before her eyes.

“… … !!!!”

A rain of arrows pouring down from the walls of Alkanwood Castle.

“Ugh!”

“Damage! Dodge to the side!”

‘no way… … Attacking us? Without even declaring war?!’

Even if it was the Brans army, it was the country led by Lin that crossed swords with us.

Since Chell became the monarch, it was treated as an independent country, so I had no idea that they would attack.

Just by looking at the flag, you could tell that we were the Aicious Army and not the Serpina Army, so at that moment I thought that we had not mistaken the enemy.

As the gates of Alkanwood Castle opened-

From there, unlike our troops who only cared about arriving quickly, troops properly prepared for battle began pouring out.

Epinel finally fully grasped the situation and immediately shouted at the soldiers.

“… … Everyone, prepare your formation! It’s a battle! The battle has begun!”

Without any information such as how many enemy troops remain or who the commander-in-chief is…

Aceers crossed swords with an unexpected person in an unexpected place.

* * *

“Battle… … ? With Chell… … ?”

“Yes… … ! You must quickly organize reinforcements now!”

Faced with the messenger rushing to deliver the news, Yuuri immediately became lost in thought.

‘for a moment… … ‘Why is the Chell army attacking our army?’

They also found out that Serpina had evacuated the troops from the territory near the border, so they thought that it could have been possible if they had occupied Alkanwood Castle in advance.

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

From Chell’s point of view, the best thing would have been to establish a stalemate on the border with our military and then subdue Kalinz Brans and Lin Brans. There would be no greater loss than wasting time and troops in a war against us for no reason and losing hegemony within the Brans army.

So, at least if he were Chell – he would have gone to the negotiation table with the Aethus army, which was a complete outsider, signed a treaty similar to a temporary alliance, and then settled Kalinz first.

But he attacked us. I don’t know why, but they chose the path of antagonism with us.

‘I can’t just suffer like this.’

A golden opportunity to conquer Alkanwood Castle, Mirage Castle beyond, and possibly even Kelstein Castle above it.

Since they had just taken over the castle, which was also empty and many of the territory’s residents had moved in, they thought it was worth continuing the siege.

“I understand. Then immediately organize reinforcements and-”

“Wait a minute.”

“… … Anima?”

“I understand your feelings, but starting an all-out war with Chell-gun like this may not be a good decision.”

“What do you mean?”

Anima spoke in as calm a tone as possible.

“If Chell County collapses, Calinz County or Brans County will inevitably benefit. With the balance maintained by the three being broken, the Brans Army will quickly be reunited as one. In that case, we may end up fighting the Brans army again, let alone Serpina. Meanwhile, the one who will end up laughing will be Serpina. Now that we have decided to battle Serpina… … It’s not good to move hastily.”

“But you attacked from that side first, right?”

“In the grand scheme of things, only a very minor skirmish occurred. Yuuri, you know very well that war and battle are different concepts.”

“… … Then what do you think should be done?”

“For now, let’s send reinforcements. However, I think it would be better to prioritize retreat and not cross swords with Chell any more. And, I’ll have to postpone hitting Serpina until later.”

“What? That means… … .”

Anima’s eyes lit up and she looked straight into Yuuri’s face.

“We want to attack Hesna County.”

“… … .”

“The way to deal with it varies depending on the situation. If we had been able to steadily push forward to Kelstein Castle, we would have been able to fight Serpina’s army, but the situation is different now. Let’s see for a long time, Yuuri. In any case, in order to unify the continent, we must cross swords with Serpina. The person who hated that bitch more than anyone else was me… … You know it too.”

Yuuri sighed briefly after hearing those words.

If you think about it calmly… … In this regard, I also recognized that Anima was a much better person than myself.

Even though the decision I made to have a decisive battle with Serpina ended in a somewhat disappointing way, I felt that her decision would be correct in the end.

“Okay. then… … First, I will try to retire from the military.”

“Okay. Well thought out, Yuuri.”

Yuuri immediately organized his troops and ordered them to retreat as quickly as possible, following Anima’s advice.

‘Chel Brans… … .’

Anima pondered the name and sighed briefly.

A truly unexpected person became the intruder, but compared to Serpina, he was more of a small child who would eventually fade away.

Brans, who was divided into three, was nothing more or less than something to be put aside for a while.

Anima, maybe even Yuuri-

That’s what I was thinking right now.

* * *

but.

“Epinel… … ?”

A few days later.

Epinel, who returned with the news that 80% of the initially deployed troops had died, was unable to say anything in front of Yuuri with his head down.

It was a shabby performance that wasn’t like her, but Yuuri could understand. Because he was well aware that an army that only focused on mobility with the goal of quickly occupying territory could not fight properly.

“Epinel, why are you acting like that? are you okay. It wasn’t an army organized for battle. I feel lucky that I came back alive like this, so I don’t have to blame myself.”

“… … .”

Looking at Epinel, who still didn’t answer.

Yuuri was cautious, feeling something he had been feeling ever since she came in… … The question about ‘sense of discomfort’ is raised.

“But… … Hernandov, where is he… … ?”

“… … Yuuri.”

And at the same time.

Epinel said, looking at Yuuri with burning eyes.

“Hernandorf… … Caught by Chell.”