The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 88
Suddenly, a sword flies in from a blind spot.
“Huh!?”
Even Fischer couldn’t help but be startled by this. Unable to even think about blocking the weapon, he had to roll his body.
Swish! The tip of the sword grazes his neck.
Thud! Rolling on the ground, Fischer hurriedly wiped his neck with his palm.
Blood stains the tips of his fingers. Fortunately, it wasn’t cut too deeply.
“A sword in the left hand…. You, are you a warrior of the Chester style…!”
Ars rushed towards the fallen Fischer as if no words were needed. Fischer immediately corrected his posture and counterattacked.
They engaged in a duel that lasted over twenty exchanges, but in the end, Ars had no choice but to retreat.
Ars, who had confronted Fischer, felt his mouth going dry.
‘This guy. He might be similar to or even a bit stronger than Eo.’
Although Eonia usually showed clumsy behavior and seemed lacking compared to figures like Ilya or Anton, she was quite a formidable warrior.
Fischer was a warrior on par with Eonia.
Ars, who had tried to subdue him with a surprise attack, saw that his opponent had regained his composure and distanced himself without hesitation. If he gave too much distance, he might end up being the one in trouble.
Fischer showed interest in this behavior.
“Not bad. The way you keep your distance, you seem to have faced many strong opponents.”
“Well, I’m surrounded by such people.”
“Huh, so? Are you just going to back off?”
“Of course not.”
“…?”
“Dilas! Fire!”
As soon as that command came through. Pew Pew Pew! About 50 mercenaries simultaneously fired crossbow bolts at Fischer.
This was one of the biggest advantages of crossbows.
Unlike bows that require drawing the string each time, crossbows can be pre-loaded and fired instantly at command.
Moreover, at short range, their power is several times that of a bow.
“Tch!”
Fischer judged that he couldn’t dodge all the incoming bolts, grabbed a nearby ally to use as a shield.
“G-General!?”
“Sorry. Die in my place.”
“Aaaaargh!”
Thud thud thud thud! The soldier dies after being hit by bolts all over his body. As this soldier was wearing iron armor, its defensive effect was superior to most shields.
Nevertheless, several bolts penetrated and lodged in Fischer’s body and legs. This caused Fischer to lose some of his combat ability, but fortunately, reinforcements sent by Barret had approached close enough to secure his safety.
Ars speaks with a sneer. “That’s incredibly cruel. Look at the expression of the soldier behind you. It’s quite a sight.”
“…It’s a necessary sacrifice. I can’t afford to die.” Fischer’s wariness towards Ars was on a different level compared to how he treated Ruan or Casper.
“You…. What’s your name?”
“Ha! If you thought I’d tell you just because you asked, you’re really stupid.”
“Well, fine. Consider yourself lucky today. If the situation wasn’t like this, your head would have parted ways with your body right now.”
“You’re the one who should consider yourself lucky. If I had full command authority, you wouldn’t have lived to return.”
“…?”
Ars turned around without delay.
“I’m returning to our camp!”
Fischer stared at his retreating figure for a moment before withdrawing to the rear of the army to tend to his injuries.
* * *
Dorofei rushed towards me with a fuss as I returned to the camp.
“Ars! Where did you go, it was so dangerous!”
“I just had a quick errand. More importantly, has there been any word from General Delbadova?”
“I heard we were going to retreat once the confusion settled, but at this rate, retreat is impossible!”
“Indeed.”
The enemy forces were already pushing in fiercely.
‘We’ve missed the timing for retreat. It’s better to strike back instead.’
I had calculated this and gone to catch the giant myself. Taking care of that person was necessary to improve the war situation even a little.
I couldn’t kill him, but since he was incapacitated for now, the option to strike back wasn’t bad.
General Delbadova must have thought that if we retreated, the damage to our rear would be too great, so he abandoned the retreat altogether and entered into battle.
“Repel the enemy! Show them the might of Calliper!”
A melee broke out on the battlefield. Unable to command other units in this position, I decided to protect Dorofei’s archer unit and hold our ground.
This alone was a great pressure on the opponent.
“Grimwood Archer Unit! Fire!”
Dorofei’s unit repeatedly fired arrows towards the enemy’s center. This tied down the enemy’s center, resulting in a break between their vanguard and center.
The enemy commander, seemingly annoyed by this, deployed 2,000 troops targeting Dorofei’s archer unit.
“The enemy is swarming! Elaine Infantry Unit! We’ll strike back!”
I stood at the vanguard myself to intercept the enemy.
‘How long has it been since I’ve been in a battle like this…!’
My arms grew heavy from thrusting my spear without rest. Below, corpses piled up leaving little room to step, and the overflowing blood made my vision blurry.
As I recall, the last time I fought in such a melee was the Battle of Foldick Mountain, which was my very first battlefield.
After that, with vassals like Eo and Yumir supporting me, I didn’t need to engage in such grueling battles.
Even if I did end up in hand-to-hand combat, I didn’t feel a sense of crisis because reliable comrades were protecting me, but now I was on edge, thinking I could die at any moment.
The sensation of standing on the line between life and death.
‘This must be what my master wanted to teach me.’
As my nerves sharpened, my concentration improved, and the sharpness and efficiency of my fighting spirit increased. I even became able to see things that weren’t visible.
“Die!”
The killing intent of an enemy soldier charging from the side.
I instinctively thrust my spear in that direction with a swoosh!
Although I had thrust the spear without looking, when I checked with my eyes, the spear was precisely lodged in the opponent’s vital point.
“Haa! Haa…!”
A rising sense of exhilaration.
I condensed that exhilaration and honed it to a sharp edge.
“Captain!”
At that moment, Dilas shouted at me.
“Some of the enemy forces have bypassed our position and are heading towards the archer unit!”
“Tch!”
If Eo or Yumir were here, we could have easily overcome such a crisis.
Being alone and without authority, I found myself with too many things to handle.
“Send protective forces immediately! No… I’ll go myself!”
I left the remaining battle to Dilas and headed towards the archer unit’s position with 300 troops.
The enemy force that had broken through was 200 strong. Their goal was to stick to the archer unit and prevent them from shooting any more arrows.
However, even an archer unit doesn’t just shoot arrows.
They were issued swords and wooden shields as auxiliary weapons.
In some cases, if the troops were too numerous, even these wouldn’t be issued, but this time our Calliper army was only 20,000 strong, so the soldiers were well-equipped.
As the enemy approached, the archers put away their bows and drew their swords and shields.
That alone was enough. The approaching enemy force was only 200.
On the other hand, although they were archers, Dorofei’s unit was 2,000 strong.
If the enemy charged in, they would be completely annihilated.
As such, the enemy aimed for the vital points.
“Target the officers!”
The Achilles’ heel of the archer unit was its officers. An archer unit without officers to command it would see its efficiency plummet.
The enemy knew this and tried to hunt down the officers.
Their first target was Dorofei, who was standing in the front row, unaware.
Dorofei, pale and trembling. He was holding a sword, but when the enemy officer swung his weapon, he dropped his sword helplessly with a clang.
The enemy officer, not realizing that Dorofei was the commander, swung his sword carelessly as if dealing with a common soldier.
“Ah, aah…!” Dorofei, dumbfounded, watched the sword falling towards his head.
“Damn it!”
I was at a distance and tried to save him by throwing my spear, but with a thud! The spear I threw ended up lodged in the chest of an enemy soldier who suddenly entered its path.
It was a critical moment.
I closed my eyes tightly, unable to watch.
But then.
“Urararararat!”
Swish, Swish, Swish, thwack! Someone was protecting Dorofei’s front, sweeping away enemy soldiers with a cheap sword typically issued to common soldiers.
“Heheh, it’s finally my turn!”
It was Aggert, who had been assigned to carry Dorofei’s military equipment.
He faced the enemy soldiers with fierce eyes.
“Come at me! All of you, come at me!”
He slaughtered the enemy with seemingly innate movements. The number of enemies he dispatched in an instant exceeded ten.
Having secured immediate safety, Aggert extended his hand to Dorofei.
“Our commander is always such a weakling. I’ll protect you, so get up quickly.”
“Y-Yes. Th-Thank you.”
The crisis was still not over. As Aggert showed his prowess, more enemy soldiers swarmed in, mistaking him for an officer.
“That’s right, come at me!”
Aggert entered a combat stance.
Before that, I rushed in and swept away the enemies.
“Haaah!”
Crash crash crash crash crash crash! A six-hit combo with all my might. Not stopping there, I drew the sword in my left hand and swept away the enemies in one go.
Then, I devastated the approaching soldiers with movements unique to the Chester style, as if dancing.
“Phew…! Aggert, you just focus on protecting Dorofei. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Ah, got it, weakling captain…. No, you’re not a weakling after all!?”
Having entrusted Dorofei’s protection to Aggert, I calmly began to eliminate the group that had attacked the archer unit.
* * *
The battlefield where a fierce battle took place.
Barret frowned at the unexpectedly stubborn resistance.
“They fight well. As expected of the army that killed Lexit.”
The battle situation was evenly matched. The damage suffered by both sides was similar.
“It’s a pity that Fischer left the battlefield early. This… Too much damage is not desirable.”
At that moment, a spy kneels before him.
“A message from General Landon Crow! The Beckavia army is forming reinforcements as expected! They say they will soon march to rescue the Calliper army!”
“Good, we need to inflate the number of those reinforcements as much as possible. Tell Landon Crow to put maximum pressure!”
“Yes sir!”
The strategy began to unfold.
“This should be enough time wasted. Alright, retreat!”
Barret withdrew his troops around noon. The damage suffered by both sides was nearly the same – 6,000 for the West and 5,500 for Calliper.
When the West withdrew its troops, the Calliper army quickly tended to the wounded and immediately began to flee.
Our fleeing army was only able to rest when night fell deep.
Without supplies, the soldiers were trying to sleep while clutching their hungry stomachs.
Food was provided to officers including myself, but even that wasn’t enough in quantity.
‘I prepared for this!’
It’s my secret Eo lunchbox.
I unwrapped the package in the right pocket of my military bag.
This package contained jerky that Eo had made herself.
Usually, such jerky tastes bad, but Eo had the skill to make even that top-notch. Tasting it reminded me of the premium jerky full of savory flavor that I used to buy at department stores.
I chewed on the jerky to satisfy my hunger.
“Oops, I almost ate it all without realizing.”
I decided to save Eo’s lunchbox just in case.
I took out the second emergency food, Yumir’s lunchbox, which I had put in the left pocket of my military bag.
What Yumir had made was hardtack. The most distinctive feature of this hardtack was that it was dark green in color.
When I tried it, I could strongly taste the grass.
“Ugh!”
I involuntarily gagged, but as it started to digest, I felt my body becoming hot and healthy.
“Ars? What are you doing?”
It was Dorofei.
He spoke with a weak complexion. “The military meeting will start soon. If we don’t go soon…”
Dorofei’s gaze was fixed on the jerky I hadn’t put back in my bag yet. Soon he was licking his lips as if salivating.
“What’s… That?”
“Emergency food I brought from home. Didn’t you bring any?”
“I did, but… I gave it away.”
“Gave it away? To whom?”
“To Aggert. It’s not right for me to eat while that kid starves.”
“Oh my, did you give away all the rations you received as an officer too?”
“Yeah…”
“You’re too kind. Here, have one. It’s highly nutritious, so one should be enough.”
“Is it really okay?”
“It’s fine. The Beckavian guys will bring supplies tomorrow anyway. And it would be more troublesome if you collapsed from hunger.”
“Okay, I’ll gratefully accept it then.”
Dorofei bit into the jerky and soon had an ecstatic expression.
“What is this? I’ve never had such delicious jerky before!”
“Heh, of course.”
“You didn’t make this, right? Wow, your cook is amazing!”
“C-cook?”
Cook, he says. I can clearly imagine what expression Eo would make if she heard this.
‘Still, I can’t argue with that.’
To me, Eo is indeed the best cook.
Dorofei, having finished all the jerky, looked much brighter.
We headed together to the supreme tent where the military meeting was to be held.
Others seemed to have already arrived as we could hear voices.
“Do you even know what you’ve done!”
A stern rebuke was being delivered to the cadet commanders, including Casper.
TL NOTE:
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I thought they were gonna go to aldverdsomething for supplies?