Chapter 97

–Third Person/ Treia POV–

Treia Western Region, City of Roleil

Count Fayeltin, who has made a portion of the towns and village, including Roleil, a part of his territory, shouts in a high-pitched voice .

「What is the Eastern Defence Forces doing?! Of all things to surrender completely, even though everyone swore allegiance to fight to the death!」

「Indeed . 」

「They’re really disloyal and unforgivable . 」

「This is something deserving a thousand deaths . 」

「The enemy is probably close to Erg……the glory of Treia’s army has also fallen . 」

The source of his bad mood is not limited to this . He has been a prominent feudal lord of this region up until now, holding a large amount of power, and his family name is quite well-known as well . But with the deterioration of relations between Goldonia, the situation was turned on its head; Marquess Dunois, the prime minister, is stressing defense while the military officials within his territory are throwing their weight around .

「The commander of the northern fortress was originally supposed to be me as well, so why is that senile old fool in charge!?」

「Indeed . 」

「They’re really unbelievable fools . 」

「This is something laughable . 」

The Count purposely does not use its official name, the Majino fortress . He is the commander responsible for providing supplies to that fortress, and although his standing is the same, he is unavoidably seen and treated as the subordinate of the Majino fortress’s commander .

「If it’s that old fool, there’s no telling when that fortress will be broken through . When that happens, my territory will instantly be invaded!」

「Indeed . 」

「It’s really a worrying chain of events . 」

「This is something frightening . 」

The Count himself doesn’t have any experience leading an army, and Count Majino is a specialist in defense, protecting the land from the repeated invasions of Arkland, so being a soldier is something he hasn’t thought about .

「Baron Bakka, Baron Doaho, Baronet Oroka . I’m going to make inspections, follow me!」1

「How splendid . 」

「It’s really wonderfully dedication . 」

「This deserves much respect . 」

What he can do now is only to appear frequently in front of the soldiers, perform various duties in supplying, speak out and make his existence known .

Despite it being their own territory, the four of them inspect the town with guards, and while they were getting praise from those they attracted, one soldier on the watchtower shouts loudly .

「A single horse is coming this way!」

The Count and his three followers look at each other .

「The enemy? No, there’s no way they would come by themselves . A messenger from the imperial guards deployed by the forest…… don’t tell me they have been defeated as well . What do you guys think?」

「「「I don’t know!」」」

The one riding the horse arrives at the gate, but instead of the sound of the gate opening, he shouts in a loud voice .

「Urgent report! The enemy has gotten through the Erg forest and is already nearby! There’s no time, so prepare your defenses immediately!!」

The messenger screams as if his life depends on it, but the Count and his followers are more shocked than hurried .

「They broke through the Erg forest? There’s no way they could do that……」

The soldiers don’t believe something so sudden either .

「If they detoured to the forest, they should have fought with the imperial guards . Even if they lost by some chance, it would take them some time, and the messenger should have come from the imperial guards . 」

They couldn’t imagine the man outside to be one of the imperial guards .

「Which means it might be a disturbance strategy by the enemy . 」

If it’s a single cavalry, they might have snuck past the imperial guards in the dead of night .

「We’ll capture and interrogate-……」

The Count did not finish what he was going to say . It’s because all the soldiers that climbed on the watchtowers are shouting like crazy .

「「Enemy attack—!! An enormous amount of cavalry! They’re heading straight for us!!」」

「What are you saying-……」

The soft sound of rumbling gradually gets louder . For those in the army, it’s a sound they’ve all heard before – the sound of warhorses performing the march of death .

「Move it!!」

The Count climbs up the watchtower and pushes the soldiers out of his way . What he saw when he reached the top is a scene out of a nightmare; several thousand cavalry are charging towards him in several dozen columns . Not much can be seen behind them due to the massive dust cloud they are kicking up . The eyes that look on with fear are also estimating their numbers, but he definitely did not think it was such an unreasonable amount .

「C-close the gates!! I don’t care if you abandon the ones outside!!」

It was clear that there would be nothing left they could do if he let even a tenth of the