Chapter 80 : Tarierre Kingdom (1)
Tarierre Kingdom (1)
Walter pouted his lips and quickly read the letter. Before long, he rose from his seat with a meaningful expression.
"It looks like we have to set out."
Hearing this, Seria, garneth, and Kylas also stood up. They knew well what the message in the letter meant.
It wasn't just the members of the Dawn knight order who realized its significance. The black cloud knight order members also sensed that something unusual was occurring.
Bram naturally placed a hand on Darkreon's shoulder and stared piercingly at Gregory.
"We'll handle what's left."
With Bram's confident attitude, Gregory asked cautiously.
"Um, are you sure that's all right?"
"Of course. These are things we should have done in the first place. I'd rather say sorry for causing you trouble."
Darkreon, by his side, also backed Bram up.
"That's right. Now that we're complete, it's a problem we can handle with our own strength. The Dawn knight order should focus on their duties."
Thanks to memories from his previous life, Gregory knew just how united and skilled the black cloud knight order was. He believed they wouldn't make mistakes.
"Is that all right, commander?"
Walter answered with strength.
"Of course. It wasn't really our jurisdiction to begin with. We'll continue the joint operation, but there's a more urgent matter at hand, so let's head there first."
Seria, garneth, and even Kylas agreed with Walter's suggestion.
"That's right. It's more urgent than ever. Stopping the enemy comes first."
Gregory also agreed with them, nodded once, and left the meeting room. Then he hurried toward the front line.
***
Uncontrollable flames spread everywhere, the sky tarnished gray, and the battlefield gradually stained red.
'At last, war has broken out.'
The members of the Dawn knight order who had attended the meeting with Gregory headed straight for the long stretching city wall. At the front lines, there was a wall constructed to stop the invasion of the Blandi Kingdom, and the other knights had already been urgently summoned and were in battle.
The sound of sharp swords clashing, the thunder of explosions, and gunshots fired from all directions truly made the battlefield a living hell.
Gregory grabbed one of the passing soldiers to ask about the current battle situation.
"Hey, what's going on right now?"
"Right now, the Blandi Kingdom has joined forces with another kingdom and is attacking simultaneously! I have to move supplies, so it would be best if you checked the situation yourself!"
Hearing the soldier's words, Gregory's mind went blank. The situation was flowing completely differently from his previous life.
'The Blandi Kingdom attacked alone before....'
Gregory tried to reason out the root cause. Because of his efforts to prevent the war, the Blandi Kingdom had been weakened.
Judging that they could no longer win alone, they requested support from another kingdom, resulting in the formation of a stronger army now invading.
Considering that even in his previous life, the Blandi Kingdom had matched forces and was only able to defeat the Arme Kingdom after several decades, this change was understandable.
'Of course, a large part of the credit belongs to me.'
Gregory couldn't say anything more. It meant that his choice, which he had been sure would lead to a better future, might bring even greater consequences.
He decided to gauge the number of enemies on the field. If other kingdoms really had joined the coalition, the difference in troop strength would be undeniable.
Besides, the fact that Walter hadn't told him who the enemies were or why they'd joined meant that they too hadn't foreseen this scenario.
Gregory, unable to believe it until he saw it himself, decided to climb up onto the city wall.
And when Gregory reached the wall, he was shocked.
'There are way more of them than I expected!'
The Blandi Kingdom customarily used a red flag with a golden dragon, but in the distance, he could see another flag.
The flag with a purple background and a steel shield belonged unmistakably to the neighboring Tarierre Kingdom. Having received the most aid from them in his past life and having seen their flag countless times, he couldn't fail to recognize it.
Moreover, the perfectly balanced soldiers were pressing against the wall in dense formation. Within their ranks were shields packed tightly together like a fortress, with spears interwoven, and from afar, massive and imposing siege engines advanced.
"If we just leave this alone, it'll be a complete disaster."
Gregory judged that he needed to write a letter right away and send it to Parsei. While it was true that the combat power of each knight order had increased significantly,
if the Tarierre Kingdom intervened from the very beginning, the situation would inevitably become unfavorable.
To prevent this, Gregory decided the Arme Kingdom also needed to request support from other kingdoms. However, diplomatic requests could provoke even larger battles and risk escalating the war into a prolonged conflict.
"Haaa... No matter how I think about it, we don't have enough forces."
Still, Gregory decided to think about that later. As a kingdom that knew how harsh war could be, refusing such requests politely was their choice.
Accepting such refusals would also show the resolve of that kingdom.
Gregory quickly finished writing the letter and sent it to a Member of the Dawn knight order heading to the frontline.
Afterward, he went to meet the rest of his comrades, now gathered on the city wall behind the front lines with the Dawn knight order. All had finished preparing for battle, forming their full fighting force.
"At this rate, the chance of us losing is high. Shouldn't we request reinforcements?"
"You probably already know, but not all knight orders have gathered yet. I sent out letters, but they're gone, so they must be on an expedition already."
Walter answered Gregory, who somehow seemed unusually tense, with his usual calm.
Puzzled by Gregory's unfamiliar behavior, Walter asked a sharp question.
"Did you discover something? Your face looks awfully stiff."
"I believe the Tarierre Kingdom has joined the enemy coalition."
Walter's face turned pale and his body trembled like a leaf in the wind upon hearing Gregory's words.
"Ta-Tarierre Kingdom joined?! Th-That can't be. I've heard nothing of the sort."
The knight order members, seeing Walter shocked for the first time, were also stricken with anxiety.
Alessandro, sensing the mood, asked,
"Could you explain in detail what kind of place the Tarierre Kingdom is?"
Garneth stroked his chin and said,
"The Tarierre Kingdom is famous as a sanctuary of shieldbearers. Their shield formations are incredibly tough."
Seria added,
"In siege warfare, fighting shieldbearers is exceptionally difficult, so with their participation, victory could become even harder."
Alessandro, face full of fear, stammered,
"Th-Then are we all going to die? Is that why, d-Commander, y-you're st-stammering like that?"
Amelia whacked Alessandro on the head.
"You idiot, already thinking of losing? There are plenty of ways to win!"
Leonics, highly worked up, shouted,
"Yeah! Let's show them our strength! Stupid guys."
Ignoring Leonics and Amelia, Gregory offered Walter a suggestion.
"Why don't we also request assistance from allied kingdoms?"
"That would be... basically impossible. For diplomatic problems, the king's permission is required, but that's not his nature. I'll try to appeal above, but for now, it seems we have to hold out on our own."
Walter voiced a skeptical response. However, Gregory actually thought of a way to turn this situation to their advantage. Advancing heavy, large shields to the front line took longer than one might think.
On the other hand, the Dawn knight order may be small in number, but their total strength was top tier.
Gregory's idea was for the highly mobile and combat-proficient Dawn knight order to mount up and strike the sluggish enemy troops with a counterattack. By halting the enemy's advance, they could buy time until reinforcements arrived from other knight orders.
"I have a good strategy in mind. If you permit it, commander."
"Is it an innovative tactic?"
"It is."
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