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185. Childhood Friend – Lord

A defeated army certainly shows signs of its misfortune.

The proof is evident in the murmurs among the soldiers who should be shouting their exuberance; they were clearly whispering amongst themselves.

Amidst the slackened military discipline, doubt and discontent spread as flags droop and tents sag.

Even seasoned veterans, having faced countless battles, could do nothing about it. No one enjoys losing a war.

Especially when the army is filled with inexperienced recruits who have barely received any training, the commander had to be on high alert for mass desertions.

“Damn it! When are the reinforcements coming?! You said you’d send mercenaries as a stopgap, but if you don’t even send those, how am I supposed to maintain the front lines?!”

– Bang!

The Commander-in-Chief of the Orun Kingdom kicked the table, causing ink bottles to topple, and his dozen aides rushed to gather up the papers, fearful of getting them wet.

All those papers were records of repeated defeats.

“What good is having a bunch of knights if they’ve never swung a sword before? Over there…”

Damn it.

It was easy to blame the recruits, but the truth was far worse.

Even untrained recruits, if armed with armor and weapons, would at least put up a fight to survive in a brutal battlefield.

But the real issue was that the enemy had reinforced their squads. The Commander-in-Chief clutched his head in severe stress.

“Are they saving the sorcerers for boiling soup? Only sending us two… what?! Two months?”

At this rate, we might not survive even this week, let alone two months. The frontline was being pushed back continuously, and for some unknown reason, the casualty rate of the knights was alarming.

Especially on the eastern front. The knights that died there numbered already fifteen—five times more than on the northern front.

It was all due to the lack of sorcerers.

With a lack of sorcerers, we couldn’t even gain sight of the enemy, exposing our movements, leading to knight casualties.

The Knight Commander firmly asserted that this couldn’t be, claiming knights always moved under trees or through thickets to avoid “Cloud Eyes” magic, but the Commander-in-Chief didn’t buy it.

How could a unit of four knights be wiped out unless they had foreknowledge and dug a trap?

He was sure the Knight Commander said that out of their fragile pride.

“Uh… Commander-in-Chief.”

An aide cautiously spoke up, sensing the simmering anger from the Commander-in-Chief.

“The princes are expected to arrive shortly. Shouldn’t you go greet them?”

The Commander-in-Chief glared with bulging eyes.

This was the crux of the issue.

A little while ago, upon hearing the princes were coming, the Commander-in-Chief had brightened up, assuming this meant the trained reinforcements were finally arriving. When he asked about the scale, he was completely deflated.

The princes brought with them only a hundred knights. Probably precious reinforcements bamboozled from the nobles who weren’t participating in the war…

What is needed now are soldiers! Real seasoned soldiers!

If we can’t bolster our magical forces, we need to at least have a lot of soldiers. Now that the enemy was increasing their forces, we needed a sufficient number of seasoned soldiers at the lieutenant level who could respond flexibly on-site.

Yet the royal family didn’t even send Nevis’ defenders. Their troops, well-trained and immediately available, were being withheld.

“Greet them? Like hell I will… Just have them come on their own.”

The Commander-in-Chief remained seated with his arms crossed, grumbling. Just then, princes Aiton, Alzeor, and Droklem arrived at the barracks.

The Commander-in-Chief intended to be angry. However, upon seeing the document Alzeor held, he went “Hah!” and sighed deeply.

“I will take command. Effective immediately, I am the Commander-in-Chief.”

It was Prince Aiton’s declaration.

An order of transfer stamped with the king’s seal. The Commander-in-Chief didn’t even have the energy to protest. This was how the nation was going down the drain, and he despaired as he handed over his position.

If it were up to him, he’d let it all go to hell. He wanted to resign and leave the battlefield.

But as a man who had lived his life as a general, he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Regardless, he felt an obligation to witness how the kingdom would fall apart among the antics of the princes.

Then,

“Recall some of the knights currently deployed on the frontlines. We are forming a separate task force. The knights should take a few soldiers with them and go attack the territories of the traitors in the East.”

“But we’re still being pushed back! If the knights leave, the front will collapse!”

“With our magical forces lagging behind, the front will inevitably be pushed back. Rather than that, I will use the knights to disrupt the rebel forces’ gathering. We’ll attack empty houses. Less than forty nobles should be sufficient… five knights per territory ought to do it?”

“…How will you handle the front lines?”

The now-downgraded Commander-in-Chief asked. From what he had observed over the past few days, he didn’t think the princes were as incompetent as the rumors suggested, but he was still worried.

Alzeor Droklem said coldly, “We too can increase our squad sizes. They said the enemy increased theirs to thirty, right? We’ll form forty. We can pass on soldiers to narrow the front line.”

“Excuse me? That won’t do! If we group that many together, we’ll be vulnerable to sorcerer attacks. There’s a reason we’ve allocated ten men to each unit since ancient times based on comparisons of a sorcerer’s fatigue and damage…”

“Doesn’t matter. Whether we die from sorcerers or in a fight against thirty grouped enemies, it’s all the same. We just need to hold out for two months. By the time the front collapses… the command will retreat.”

Ah, these idiots. The general thought these princes were out of their minds. He exclaimed, frothing at the mouth.

“Better call for more sorcerers! Why aren’t the Nevis defenders coming? What about the soldiers currently training?”

The princes didn’t budge an inch. Instead, they confidently replied, “There’s no need to be too concerned about this fight. The fate of the war will be decided in the capital, Nevis.”

*

Whew…

Prince Leo sighed as he returned to his barracks. After sending off the royal knight trailing behind him with a “Good job. You should go rest now,” he sat down at the table.

Mountains of paperwork.

Petitions from generals, aides, staff, and nobles involved in the war effort piled high. Urgent supply and logistical plans, requests for reinforcements, fragmented reports on combat situations and damage awaited his approval.

That wasn’t all.

There were complaints from medical officers demanding more personnel, complaints about the legality of the conscription in occupied towns, issues of disorderly conduct and handling of deserters, general disputes between commanders, and struggles for power among the nobles leading their armies…

Leo, the Commander-in-Chief, had an endless amount of paperwork to handle.

These were documents sent up by aides and staff that had already filtered through the less pressing matters.

Leo didn’t even have a moment to lay down his exhausted body. If he didn’t deal with these quickly, the problems would only grow larger.

He rubbed his aching temples and scratched with his quill pen. The flickering candlelight made the scar on his face look more pronounced.

The war was going smoothly. Whether they had failed to reinforce or not, the enemy was being pushed back as they continued to lose ground, and Nevis wasn’t far now. Taking advantage of their numerical strength, they attacked the territories of the nobles who had joined the rebellion, but our unity remained unshaken.

Thanks to Lena.

The beggar siblings… or rather, ‘I’ have been in action for over ten months now. My younger sister was growing at an alarming rate, blossoming into a truly beautiful woman.

Her cheeks showed maturity behind swirling golden locks, and her eyes reflected firm resolve. Her neck remained pale and slender but stood proudly, and her curvaceous chest was beginning to rise under her attire.

Lena was no longer a girl. She wasn’t just a pretty princess either. My sister… was becoming a lord.

As if she understood the role she needed to play to win this war, Lena discarded her dress. She donned sturdy uniforms and roamed from region to region.

She approached nobles who declared neutrality to sway them, and persuaded the grand officer to betray his own lord. Just by revealing her face to the citizens, she immensely helped with conscription.

Leo momentarily put down his quill. He recalled Lena’s commanding presence from the earlier meeting.

“We cannot afford to go back,”

Lena’s resolute voice quieted the bustling barracks. The golden glimmer in her eyes suppressed the nobles’ anxieties.

“Even if we return now to defend our territories in disarray, if we do not win the war, we will ultimately be eradicated. We must not waver.”

“Then are you suggesting we allow our territories to be attacked?”

A noble spoke up from among the calm nobles. Although he was still dissatisfied, he didn’t flush with anger as before.

Lena bowed her head respectfully.

“The girl does not understand. Please forgive my ignorance. But here, we have excellent generals. Some nobles have already lost their territories to attack, and others are fearful of attack, but please trust our generals.”

Lena turned her gaze. Following her eyes, the nobles’ gazes fell upon the prince and the command staff. In the lull of excitement, Leo realized he was on the spot.

This was a stage set by my sister.

If I showed a pathetic sight here, the troops we had painstakingly gathered would be torn to shreds.

“We don’t have many knights.”

It was a known fact, but disappointment flickered across the faces. Leo emphasized the sinking atmosphere.

“But we have overwhelming superiority in magical strength and many elite soldiers. I will send sorcerers with that elite unit. The eastern territories are already beyond help… I apologize. However, I will guard the northern and northeastern territories.”

Once he finished speaking, Leo expressed a deep sense of regret. He nodded to the Duke of Gaidan, the most affected noble.

His second territory as a border duke was devastated. Communication with the city of Bosspo, where his lord’s castle lies, had been cut off, and the situations in surrounding territories were the same.

Knights who circled around the enemy had massacred the grand officer and officials defending the territories. As a royal knight, he could have declared this as a free city and placed a new grand officer.

Fortunately, Duke Gaidan opened his palms wide. Other eastern nobles whose territories had been attacked found no words to respond to the Duke’s attitude.

Seven sorcerers left the troop. Each leading a thousand soldiers, they headed northeast to intercept the knights who were disrupting the rear.

It might be a necessary loss that could potentially disrupt the war situation, but it was better than losing nobles and their troops to desertion.

The nobles who had rebelled must band together, and only then could they pull in those nobles who were still weighing their loyalties. Each noble represented not just manpower but also the scale at which the kingdom supported the rebellion.

Many noble families came together to form a kingdom.

Lena smiled brightly.

She winked secretly, and to Leo, it felt like a signal indicating he had passed a test, soothing his mind.

Reflecting on the earlier situation, Leo fiddled with the quill he had put down. Just a moment ago, he had felt relief and hadn’t thought too deeply, but now he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Despite having heard Minseo’s thoughts from Reb.

Lena was already an excellent lord. He had been running around trying to elevate Reb to the throne, yet somehow… he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was burying himself deeper.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just let Lena handle everything? This is about ‘raising Lena,’ not about us being the main characters.”

But in this childhood friend scenario, Leah was Lena. And yet, she wanted to become a priest.

What a ridiculous contradiction.

Reb decided to ascend to the throne to resolve this chaotic situation. Elevating Leah’s status would fulfill Minseo’s desire for a clear resolution, and there was no law against a princess not becoming a priest, so Leah would achieve her wish.

Leo shook his head to clear his doubts. It was just the confusion caused by meeting Reb that had led to this chaos.

The childhood friend scenario and the beggar siblings scenario were different. The talent within the little sister to become a great lord arose because the beggar siblings’ narrative was struggling to reclaim their “bloodline.”

It would be a problem if one lacked talent in a scenario where nothing was given.

He only felt regret for not realizing this sooner…

Leo picked up the quill again. He read and signed each document and occasionally drafted letters.

The signed documents were piled up beside him when he noticed a familiar name mixed within a line on the page.

– Lord Bokali, who was supporting the Eastern supply route, has died in battle.

Amidst the mountain of paperwork.

Leo didn’t have the time to mourn the Duke’s death. Though he felt a pang of regret for the elder Duke, it quickly faded. The documents soon covered it up, vanishing from sight.