Chapter 86: Milton vs Siegfried (2)

“Damn it.”

Siegfried ground his teeth. He never thought he’d get stabbed in the back like this. He had believed that the Southern Army would be secretly maneuvering themselves to try and keep him in check. Who would have thought they’d attack him head-on like this? But since the Führer himself sent down the orders to retreat, he couldn’t go against it. However…

‘I’m gonna go crazy.’

Within half a year, no, three months if they pushed hard, they would have been able to break Lester Kingdom. But to have to pull out now…

Siegfried tightly closed his eyes. 

And when he reopened them…

“It can’t be helped.”

Neither anger nor resentment could be seen in his eyes. 

Siegfried’s position in the Republic was merely the Fuhrer’s secretary right now. There were limits to what he could do in his current position and power. No matter how stupid and incomprehensible the orders from above were, there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

Since that was the case, it would be best for him to stop dragging his feet and start thinking about the future. However, even if his brain knew that, it was difficult to actually accept it.

But…

Siegfried could do it. He was someone who could fully control his emotions with reason. He quickly gave up on the inevitable and immediately made two moves. The first was to pick a path of retreat and begin preparing for it. And the second was to…

“Burn everything!”

“Set everything on fire and tear it all apart. Don’t leave a single piece of civilization behind!”

If Lady Sophia, a virtuoso of architecture under Milton’s command, saw this, she would have cried. In the midst of retreat, the Republican soldiers were thoroughly destroying Lorentia, the capital of the Lester Kingdom. It is said that a country’s capital is the embodiment of the history and culture of that country. And Siegfried had thoroughly destroyed that capital. He had gathered all the goods, such as important books and treasures, that he could gather, and the architecture and urban infrastructure that he couldn’t carry out, he had ordered it to all be destroyed. 

Although it may seem barbaric, it only seemed natural to the warring Republicans. As long as the occupation of a territory failed, it became the territory of the enemy again.Then, from the Republic’s point of view, it absolutely couldn’t be returned back to the enemy unscathed. They had to thoroughly destroy and inflict as much damage as possible to the enemy. 

After destroying the capital, Siegfried led his army and retreated. But even as he was retreating, his eyes were stubborn as always. It was as if his eyes were saying it wasn’t over yet. 

* * *

“It's a complete victory. The Republican bastards are all retreating.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Milton sighed as he heard about the Republican’s retreat from Bianca.

“But there’s also bad news.”

“Bad news? What is it?”

“The bastards completely burnt down the Capital as they retreated.”

“It can’t be helped.”

Milton let out a sigh as he accepted it. Their situation wasn’t great enough to recover the capital without paying a price. Lester Kingdom had barely survived from the brink of destruction. But even if the capital was destroyed, most of the citizens had taken refuge with Princess Leila and were safe. In which case, didn’t they get off easily considering how they were on the brink of ruin? That was how much of a crisis Lester Kingdom had been in.

Milton and the Southern Army’s strength.

Princess Leila’s leadership.

Viscount Sabian’s shrewd tactics. 

If even one of them had been missing, the Lester Kingdom would have become history. 

‘The future is the important thing.’

Including the capital and the Northern region that had been invaded by the Republicans, the entire country had been heavily damaged. It would take a lot of time and effort to heal and repair the damages that had been left behind.

“Either way, the country has been saved and it’s time for us to return.”

Milton immediately called over Jerome to give him instructions.

“Jerome, tell the entire army that we’re returning back to our country.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Following Milton’s orders, the Southern Army immediately headed down south. They were finally returning home. 

But even as they were returning, they had to be cautious. In order to avoid any more meaningless battles when the actual war had ended, Milton had picked his route back as carefully as possible. He had surveilled the Republican forces’ movements to avoid them and any more battles and aimed for the smoothest return back to his country. He had definitely chosen the best route for the best retreat possible, but then…

“How did this happen?”

Milton had almost crossed the Republican border when Siegfried appeared in front of his eyes with a Republican army. 

“Did you think we’d just let you go?”

Siegfried glanced at the prey in front of his eyes. He had put in quite a bit of effort to devour the Lester Kingdom. But it had failed. 

Still, it wasn’t a war without results. They had burned the capital of the Lester Kingdom and destroyed a large part of the country. They had caused a lot of damage to the country, but most importantly, the Republic had destroyed 50,000 of Strabus Kingdom, the Republic’s biggest enemy. If the war’s purpose had been to weaken their enemy’s power, then it hadn’t been a pointless war. 

But the problem was that they hadn’t gained anything either. The original plan had been to take over Lester Kingdom and create a bridgehead that would stretch into the southern part of the continent, but that plan failed. There were several reasons for the plan failing, but one of them was the Southern Army led by Milton Forrest.

The Republic had never thought there would be such a person in a country that had been drowning in peace like the Lester Kingdom had been. 

Princess Leila and Milton Forrest.

Siegfried believed that if either one of them was dealt with now, it would be better for their future plans regarding Lester Kingdom. And so, he had immediately moved his army to capture Milton. But the army that had been sent to get them had kept missing, and instead, kept being thwarted by the enemy’s movements. Milton had once again used Bianca’s magic to surveil the enemy’s movements from the sky as a hawk to avoid running into the enemy.

‘It’s like that, huh?’

Siegfried immediately changed the way he reacted. He didn’t know how, but it seemed as though the enemy had a long range reconnaissance. In which case, he would react with the opposite method from before. 

Siegfried sent out carrier pigeons in all directions and created a blockade net. This wasn’t a net meant to enclose the enemy, but one that was meant to block their path and limit their path of retreat. Siegfried might not have been on site, but with the usage of the carrier pigeons, he was able to give instructions as though he was there. His ability to predict went beyond genius to god-like. This was his true face. 

In other words, Siegfried had decided to give it his all to capture Milton. Eventually, as though he was the fox in a fox hunt, Milton had unknowingly been herded in front of Siegfried. That was the situation right now. 

* * *

“It can’t be helped. It’ll be difficult to avoid it.”

Milton had confirmed that the enemy was well prepared. It seemed as though the enemy had decided to wait for them. In which case, retreating would only lead to greater damages. 

“Jerome, prepare for battle. Get ready to welcome our guests.”

“Yes, My Lord. All units in formation!”

As soon as Milton had given the order, the Southern Army immediately settled into their formation in an orderly manner.

“What an elite force.”

Watching the Southern Army’s movements, Siegfried nodded as he admired them. Originally, the Southern Army wasn’t an army that could boast such excellent discipline. Although Milton had put in a lot of effort to train the soldiers from Forrest Territory, there were more soldiers who had been mercenaries hired by Princess Leila and private soldiers from other lords who had never experienced a war before. 

But, a true elite soldier was born from experience. In addition, throughout this war, the Southern Army had continued to win over and over again. The victories had given them confidence and boosted morale. The current Southern Army undeniably deserved to be praised as an elite force. 

“But that’s all you are.”

Siegfried was confident. He raised his sword and pointed it towards the enemy.

“Brothers of the Republic, let the invaders pay the price!”

“Wahhhhh!!”

The Republicans began to advance while yelling.

“Send the Republicans bastards to hell!! Advance!!”

“Wahhhhh!!”

And under Milton’s command, the Southern Army also advanced.

Although they themselves wouldn’t know this now, all the historians would say the same thing in the future.

Milton Forrest. 

Siegfried.

This was the first battle between the two heroes.

* * *

As the infantry of both armies clashed, it was the Southern Army led by Milton that took the lead first. 

“Defeat the Republican dogs!”

“How dare you burn down our Capital?!”

“Kill them all. Kill all these sons of bitches!”

The Southern Army roughly fought against their enemy. Watching his men being defeated too easily by the Southern Army’s infantry, Siegfried frowned.

“The command system isn’t working properly. Why aren’t the field commanders responding?”

The reason the Republican’s infantry was being pushed so easily was because of the junior commanders in the field. Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and Sergeant First Class. None of them were able to command their men. Siegfried was immediately told why the field commanders weren’t able to order their men.

“The field commanders who’re supposed to be leading the infantry on the front line are dying too quickly, Sir.”

“What?”

Siegfried couldn’t understand it. Of course, there was a high mortality rate for the commanders who fought alongside the soldiers and gave immediate commands in the battlefield. But the two armies had just begun to fight, so how could there already be so many fatalities that it affected the command structure?

‘Something’s strange.’

There was only reason for the rapid deaths of the commanders of the Republican Army.

“Finally working after a long while.”

Creeak…

A red haired man pulling on the bowstrings of a large longbow. The moment he lets go of the taut bowstring…

Twang!

A clear sound rang through the air, and at the same time, an arrow flew.

And then…

“Don’t be frightened. Protect each other in concentrated defense formation… gah!”

One of the Republican sergeants who had been commanding the infantry in a loud voice was shot in the neck. The arrow had found a crevice in his armor and accurately pierced through his neck. He fell to the ground and closed his eyes. 

“Nice. Who should I shoot next?”

Trike looked for his next prey with a sharp smile and piercing eyes. 

* * *

Having lost their commander to Trike’s arrow, the Republican Army’s infantry was greatly pushed back. But the republicans weren’t that easy to let the Southern army snatch a victory over something like that. 

“Take down the enemy’s flank. Send a signal to the ambushing team.”

At Siegfried’s order, a group of men suddenly appeared on the Southern Army’s left flank and began to rush forward. They were the elite mountain force that the Hildes Republic was so proud of. Originally, they were a reconnaissance platoon unit and fought small-scale battles in the mountains, but on the battlefield, they were stronger operating together in a bigger group. A single Hildes Republic’s mountain force soldier was strong enough to deal with four or five ordinary soldiers by himself. 

But of course, Milton wasn’t foolish enough to fall for this. 

“Jerome, lead the knights and block the West.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Block elite soldiers with elite soldiers.

Seeing how he was winning the battle between infantries, it would make no difference if Milton removed the knights. Milton’s response was formulaic and right. But because of that…

“I got you.”

Siegfried was already expecting that. No, more accurately, he had influenced that?

“Jake, give the signal.”

“Yes, Sir!”

Siegfried gave the order to his right-hand man. Then, a group of soldiers appeared on the right side of the Southern Army. They had prepared ambushes on either side of the southern army and attacked them at different times. The first side had been bait to lure out the knights.

“Charge!”

“The goal is Milton Forrest’s neck!”

There were approximately 500 soldiers who had appeared on the right side of the Southern Army. The number of soldiers themselves weren’t many. They quickly charged to the right flank of the Southern Army.

“What did you dare say was your goal?”

“You think you’re funny? Kill them all!”

The nobles commanding the right flank of the Southern Army immediately responded. Since there were only 500 troops, the nobles thought they would be able to fight back with the soldiers already on the battlefield. 

But they were wrong. There were about 30 special forces leading in the 500 men. The nobles hadn’t known about the men wearing black skull-shaped armor. They were known as Ghost Force, a special force specially trained by Siegfried. This was his real attack.

“Drink the elixir before entering the fight.”

“Yes, Sir!”

At the command of the man leading the Ghost Force, the other Ghosts took out elixirs from inside their armors and drank it. It felt as though energy was instantly bursting within their bodies. 

“Ten will be in the front using Aura. The rest will follow in the back.”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Good. We’re going in!”

Baang! Bang!

Siegfried’s special force struck the right flank of the Southern Army.