Chapter 88: Milton vs Siegfried (4)

“Secretary, the enemy’s main knights are breaking through our camp, sir.”

“The first rank has been defeated. And there are reports that the second rank is also in trouble, sir.”

Milton’s attack on the Republican’s base broke their battle lines and caused the Republican Army’s advisors to worry. However, Siegfried wasn’t worried at all. 

‘Did he think this was an opportunity? Logically, it’s a bold and rational judgement.’

Instead, Siegfried had a cynical smile. Perhaps the enemy had thought the Republican Army’s strength had been greatly reduced. And because they thought the Republican Army wouldn’t have the strength to stop them, they had tried to break through the camp. 

But, they were wrong. Siegfried still had more than 200 Ghost soldiers. Not to mention, Jake, who led the Ghosts, was a strong man who had reached the level of Master and Siegfried himself was also a Master. From Siegfried’s point of view, Milton Forrest was just a moth flying towards the light. But the problem was…

‘I can’t expose more of my strength here.’

Jake and the Ghosts, as well as his own…

On the surface, the troops were directly under the command of Fuhrer Bahasten, but in reality, the troops were loyal to only Siegfried. He was the only one who knew how many soldiers there were and exactly how strong they were. But because he hadn’t fully taken over the Republic, he couldn't reveal all his strengths just yet. The only reason he had been able to exert his full strength when he had captured Duke Brans was because they were hidden from others eyesights. 

‘But this time, I can’t do that.’

Siegfried had a choice to make. Should he capture Milton and reveal his strength? Or should hide his strength but give in to his enemy? Siegfried carefully debated over his two choices.

And then…

‘It can’t be helped. I still have to keep my strengths hidden.’

Siegfried chose the second option. 

He was reluctant to reveal all of his abilities when he hadn’t taken full control of the Republic yet. If something went wrong, all the manipulation and everything he had prepared so far would become useless. 

‘It’s not like there’s no other way to get out of this without revealing everything.’

With this in mind, Siegfried gave a command to his entire army.

“Retreat! Fix the battle lines and move back!”

As soon as Siegfried gave the order, the Republican Army began to retreat in an orderly manner.

* * *

“My Lord, the enemy is retreating.”

Milton smiled as Jerome reported to him. Milton had seen with his own eyes the enemy retreating as their battle line collapsed. Unfortunately, neither geography or the situation allowed him to increase his military gains by continuing to pursue them further. But, the important thing was the result.

‘We won.’

A strong enemy who had driven the Lester Kingdom to the brink of ruin, annihilated the 50,000 expeditionary forces from Strabus Kingdom, and had killed Duke Derek Brans; Milton had won against that strong enemy, Siegfried.

He raised his sword into the air and shouted as he looked around.

“It is our victory!”

“Wahhhh!!”

“Hurray, Southern Army, hurray!”

“Hip hip hurray for Count Forrest!”

Their cheers drowned out all other noise. It was a victory where not only Milton, but all of the Southern Army were happy with. 

* * *

“His knights are quite powerful. Not to mention, the amount of trouble the archers gave us and the ordinary soldiers were more highly trained than I had expected.”

After the battle with Milton was over, Siegfried calmly analyzed the situation. Sure Milton was enjoying the taste of victory, but Siegfried didn’t really think he had lost. Yes, he did withdraw from the battle, but that didn’t mean he suffered much casualties from it. 

In fact, he could have won if he had tried. But he thought, ‘how’ he won was more important, and had decided to retreat.

However, his enemy was still within reach, and Siegfried had no intentions of letting him escape. Because Siegfried had learned Milton’s personality and characteristics in that first battle, he was confident that he would be victorious in the next one. 

“Let’s see… How should I deal with him?”

Siegfried spread open his map and began to think up a plan in his head. Currently inside his brain was his enemy’s movements and course of actions.  With that in mind, Siegfried was visualizing how he could counterattack when he was attacked. But, there was something even Siegfried could have anticipated.

That was…

“Secretary Siegfried.”

“What’s the problem?”

“Sir, a messenger came from the Fuhrer’s Office.”

“The Fuhrer?”

Siegfried felt a chill going down his spine. However, he couldn’t refuse to hear the message and could only meet with the messenger. And that message was…

“Secretary Siegfried. Immediately avoid any more battles and return to the Capital with the Republican Army. This is an order from the Fuhrer himself.”

Siegfried’s brows furrowed.

“Did the Fuhrer really say that?”

“Yes, he did.”

For a moment, Siegfried wanted to kill the messenger for his bold reply. But, he managed to hold back his murderous intent and was able to politely respond.

“Understood, I’ll return as quickly as possible, so please report it back to the Fuhrer.”

However, the messenger crossed his arms and looked at him with mistrust in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”

“You can’t?”

“That’s right. I have been ordered by the Parliament to monitor Secretary Siegfried and make sure you don’t arbitrarily engage in any more battles. So, until this army returns, I have to stay and keep an eye on you.”

“Didn’t you say it was a direct order from the Fuhrer himself before? So why is it an order from the Parliament now?”

As Siegfried caught his mistake, the messenger’s face crimsoned.

“… That’s not for you to know, Secretary Siegfried.”

‘This scumbag…’

It was obvious what was going on. Wary of Siegfried’s accomplishments in the battles, war profiteers had urged the Fuhrer to withdraw the army. Although the Republic claimed to have a much more fair and superior state system compared to the monarchy, in Siegfried’s point of view, both the Republic and the monarchy’s governments were rotten with corruption.

‘What should I do? Should I ignore this and just continue on with the war?’

Siegfried was in a dilemma. He was confident that if he fought a bit longer here, he would most certainly capture Milton. But, if he went against the orders issued directly by the Fuhrer, then he would face a huge amount of political backslash in the Republic. Milton Forrest’s head? Or a position within the Republic? He had to prioritize one of them.

And the decision he made was…

“Let us immediately return with the army.”

Withdrawal.

Siegfried’s decision couldn’t be helped.

“Yes, we should.”

The messenger responded back with an arrogant smile.

Seeing the messenger’s disdainful attitude, Siegfried thought to himself.

‘I’ll deal with the trash within the Republic first… Consider yourself lucky, Milton Forrest.’

Siegfried decided to postpone going after Milton’s head.

And so, Siegfried led the rest of his army back to the capital of the Republic. 

Siegfried would later on say, [Not going after Milton Forrest’s head at that time was the biggest mistake.]

Although Siegfried was someone who didn’t regret what had already happened, he would forever regret withdrawing the army then.

* * *

After the battle was over.

As the soldiers were collecting bodies and their weapons, a woman unsuitable for the process of cleaning up the campsite appeared. That woman was Bianca.

“Miss Bianca, for you to come out so suddenly, do you need something?”

“I have something I need to look at.”

Then, she began to carefully look at the corpse of their enemy. During her examination of the body, she picked up a sparkling vial tucked away under his chestplate.

Although there wasn’t much left inside the vial, Bianca carefully studied the leftover potion. 

“As I thought…”

She gave a broad smile after checking the contents.

“I found it.”

At that moment, her smile expressed her delight and passion. But there was a strong sense of cruelty in that smile. 

* * *

The war was over. With a total death toll of over 100,000 men, this war was known as the Great Western War throughout history. 

With the end of Milton Forrest and Siegfried’s battle, the two countries stopped fighting further.

The Great Western War which started with the civil war in Lester Kingdom, followed by Hildes Republic’s intervention, and another intervention by Strabus Kingdom, drew attention from the continent.

And as with any major war, a hero is created. No matter what anyone said, Siegfried had become famous after the war. He led the Republican Army and almost conquered the Lester Kingdom, but above all, he had killed the pride of Strabus Kingdom, Duke Brans, and annihilated the 50,000 men that he led. It deserves to be said that it was truly remarkable that a person who had been unknown until now had gained so many achievements with this one war. According to rumors, the alliance of the three Republics and the plan that pushed Strabus Kingdom to the brink of a crisis was all Siegfried’s brainchild. With this one war, Siegfried’s name was known all throughout the continent.

And the next name to pop up was Milton Forrest. 

Milton too was an unknown, but he had led the Southern Army to war and saved his country many times from danger. He had saved the capital when the Second Prince had tried to take over the Capital, then captured the Second Prince and basically ended the civil war. And in the war with the Hildes Republic, had completely overwhelmed the well-known Alfred and kept Siegfried’s army in check. And on top of that, he had boldly invaded the Republic’s country and scared the hell out of them. In the end, he fought against Siegfried’s army and won. 

That last victory had great significance, the Lester Kingdom valued that final victory even more as it gave great hope to the weary people. The northern region was in ruins after the Republican occupation, and after the long war, food production for that year had been greatly delayed. For the people who had lived through such difficult hardships and trials, they needed hope. They needed someone that would give them the hope to raise their heads and look up. Milton Forrest because that person for the Lester Kingdom  He became a hero of the country as Princess Leila had wanted. 

By this point, fairy tales or novels would usually end with the hero saying, ‘and I lived happily ever after.’ But reality was different from fiction.

Even though the war had ended, Milton still had countless problems in front of him. No, to be more precise, perhaps it should be said that Lester Kingdom still had countless problems to deal with? It was only natural that a small country like Lester Kingdom would be severely damaged after being caught up in war. Problems arose left and right, but the worst of the problems were in the North and the Capital.  

After being occupied by the Republic, the North seemed to have completely given up on farming this year. Due to the civil war between the Princes, all the men that could carry weapons had been conscripted. Three in four of those men had died. Most of them had been someone’s father and someone’s child and because of this, the streets were filled with orphans and the public peace sharply declined. 

Equally, the Capital had its own problems. Because Princess Leila had led the people to escape, there were less civilian casualties in the capital.  However, in the process of retreating, Siegfried had thoroughly destroyed the Capital. Previously steeped in history, Lorentia was now in ruins. When they returned home after being evacuated, the citizens were devastated once they had seen what had become of their homes. Feeling sadness, bitterness, and helplessness in the face of reality, they wanted someone who would do something. 

That someone became Milton and Princess Leila. 

Princess Leila first gathered all the nobles who had followed her. Before Siegfried had invaded the capital, most of the capital’s nobles had fled abroad. Of course, most of them had been captured by Siegfried and had their properties stolen and sold to the Republic as slaves. However, there were some nobles who had decided to follow Princess Leila. They were those who had been swayed over to her side after seeing her leadership, albeit for only a short period of time. There were also those who had a strong attachment to their country and remained to fulfill their duties as a nobleman until the very end. Although there were only a few of them, the ones left by Princess Leila’s side were the true nobles. 

Once she had gathered them, the first thing she said was.

“We need to start fresh.”

The country had collapsed. The future was too daunting to think in terms of just rebuilding. With this opportunity, she was determined to properly build up her country from scratch.  When the nobles looked at her, she looked them right in the eye.  

“The first thing we need to do is stabilize the North.”

At her words, one of the nobles spoke.

“Shouldn’t the priority be to rebuild the Capital, Your Highness?”

Princess Leila shook her head in response.

“Although the Republicans have withdrawn, there’s no guarantee that they won’t invade again. It is more important to strengthen the defense on our borders first.”

At that, all the nobles nodded in agreement. 

The Lester Kingdom as a whole had gone beyond peacefulness and became indolence. And they had become keenly aware of the cost of indolence with this war. The question was, who should they send to stabilize the Northern border…

Everyone’s eyes turned towards one person. 

“Your Highness, I think it makes sense to entrust the northern defense to Count Forrest.”

“Yes, Your Highness. If it was Count Forrest, I have no doubts that he would firmly defend the country from the Republic.”

Milton watched the nobles recommending him.

‘This is why people say it’s troublesome when you’re too capable. They keep trying to use you.’

For Milton who had just wanted to live that beautiful silver spoon life, this was all very unpleasant. Fortunately, Princess Leila had no intentions of sending Milton up to the North.