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249. Childhood Friend – Forest

The enemy seems to be thinking the same as I am.

It didn’t take long for Alzeor de Lognum to realize this as he entered the forest.

The hammer and anvil tactic. He had come into the forest with 3,000 conscripts and 15,000 lightly armed infantry to strike at the enemy’s left flank, but the enemy had also sent out troops.

The communications with the previous three conscript thousand-man units had been cut off. The messenger sent to them returned with news that the enemy, not our forces, was occupying the forest.

“Have you confirmed the enemy’s scale?”

Alzeor asked. The messengers confessed that they had returned as soon as they spotted the enemy, as Alzeor had anticipated, and he ordered them to return to their positions, lost in deep thought.

Pitter patter.

Raindrops fell onto the leaves of the lush green forest.

The 18 thousand-man commanders ordered their troops to stop and instructed them not to make noise or move recklessly. In the forest, actions that could expose the position to the enemy were absolutely forbidden.

Thanks to that, Alzeor could continue his thoughts in peace. While the commanders waited anxiously for his orders, the prince deduced the scale of the unseen enemy.

‘At least 9,000, at most 12,000.’

It was likely accurate.

Although he had been delayed in organizing the main force, at least 9,000 would be required to silence the three conscript thousand-man units sent earlier so quickly.

That was assuming the minimum. It might even be 12,000.

However, Alzeor was confident that the enemy’s forces would not deviate much from that range because if any more were extracted, the enemy’s main force would collapse.

‘The enemy also made their best choice. But… who is their commander?’

Marquis Gaidan was dead.

He was the most threatening figure in Alzeor’s view. Familiar with military command as a border count defending the kingdom and possessing deep strategic insight.

That’s why he was taken out first. Even if Gaidan’s soldiers put up a fight contrary to expectations, Alzeor believed it would not be difficult to suppress those who had lost their head. But there was quite an excellent general on the other side.

‘Count Ogerton? Quite impressive.’

Alzeor de Lognum’s worries deepened. The scope of his thoughts encompassed allies, enemies, the environment, and time.

I have 18,000 troops.

15,000 lightly armed infantry and 3,000 conscript soldiers, but the main force, the lightly armed infantry, were borrowed from the coastal free trade cities, so their loyalty was weak despite being fast and well-trained.

The serfs conscripted from the duchy held a relatively deep loyalty to the kingdom. However, they were not well trained.

These traits had to be taken into account. When the military was in a crisis, troops with weak loyalty tended to flee, regardless of their combat effectiveness.

The enemy must be at most 9,000 to 10,000. Even that would have decreased a bit, so it might lead one to think that pushing with nearly double our forces would suffice.

But while that might work on plains, the battlefield environment was somewhat special. Anything could happen in the forest.

While stroking the rain-soaked horse’s mane, Alzeor found himself smiling unconsciously.

Despite the possibility that the expedition might return without achieving anything, he was thrilled that an environment that would pique the interest of any strategist had been presented to him.

Forest.

There isn’t a battlefield where a general’s capabilities are more pronounced. Surrounded by trees and bushes, visibility is obstructed, and with the rain falling, it was difficult to gauge the enemy’s movements by sound. The ears and eyes of each unit were bound.

This significantly limited the capabilities of field commanders like the thousand-man commanders. They would have to rely on the general’s commands, and since the enemy was in the same situation, this environment would clearly divide who was the better and how much of a superior strategist each was.

So how could it not be joyful?

Alzeor thought, ‘Brother Aton will surely be jealous of me.’ and pondered how to efficiently annihilate the enemy. The nature of the forest invigorated the imagination of an ambitious strategist.

In the forest, the key lies in how to disrupt the troops. Due to the hills and trees, it could not coalesce like on a plain, and with no sorcerers present, there was no reason to insist on modern squad-based assault tactics. I had heard that on the other side, there was only Count Soarel Demetri Ogerton.

‘Count Ogerton must be commanding the main force. Even if not, since we have left three sorcerers with the main force, it is unlikely that Count Ogerton has come here. Then… haha, I can use ancient tactics.’

Alzeor was truly pleased.

Maundin, the king who liberated the northern Asran Kingdom from the Empire, and Queen Letty were also heroes to him. He had read the books ‘Theory of Mobile Warfare’ and ‘Origins and Maxims of Blitzkrieg,’ co-authored by Maundin and Letty, to shreds and exchanged mock battles with his twin brother.

Now was the opportunity to put that into practice. Alzeor broke the long silence and commanded the thousand-man commanders.

“You shall now move individually. However, as visibility is limited, independent actions are prohibited. Select five messengers to contact the main force. Increase the number of scouts from the existing twenty to one hundred… No, let’s commit an entire hundred-man unit to reconnaissance, and if any unusual circumstances arise, report back to the main force immediately.”

“What should we do when combat breaks out?”

“Then we will confront, but do not escalate the fight if the enemy doesn’t come from the direction I specified. The position of the enemy being different from what I anticipated is very crucial information.”

The thousand-man commanders led their respective units and scattered in all directions.

Some units widened their flanks to block the enemy’s advance, while others quietly infiltrated the forest in a single file. However, the banner emblazoned with Alzeor’s insignia was directed elsewhere. To the northwest. Slightly behind the frontline established by the prince.

Psychological warfare had already begun.

In reality, Alzeor was hiding in a different unit. He was adjusting the gaps between each unit based on terrain characteristics and reports of spotted enemies.

Although he couldn’t see directly and had to rely purely on inference, there was no more important task than this in the forest. Soldiers blocked by trees would feel isolated.

That’s why combat in the forest was incredibly perilous. It was easy to fall into the delusion of being surrounded by the enemy, and if the allies were not visible, once the soldiers sensed any slight disadvantage, they believed the whole situation tilted unfavorably, causing morale to plummet.

Thus, it was necessary to appropriately disperse the units. But if they were too clustered, they would be surrounded, so they had to spread out enough to prevent the enemy from flanking from behind.

For a while, a quiet deployment competition ensued.

It wasn’t Count Ogerton, but Alzeor the prince and an unknown general admired and poked at each other’s deployments while embedding their units one by one into the forest.

‘That guy reads the terrain to a terrifying degree.’

Alzeor suspected the enemy commander was a barbarian, one who lived in the mountains. Whenever he discovered a rather useful command point and sent in a unit, the enemy had already seized it. It looked favorable on the surface, but due to the overgrowth of trees, places that required detours had a few soldiers stationed to block the paths.

He had to admit that the enemy had the upper hand in terrain reading. Nevertheless, Prince Alzeor managed to draw a decent front line by actively utilizing the mobility of the lightly armed infantry.

The prince’s forces were significantly larger, so the front line leaned slightly forward. Centered around the hilly forest, the front line stretched from 3 o’clock to 11 o’clock.

3 o’clock was the focal point both sides had to hold. To the right of that, outside the forest, were the main forces of Count Jermin and Count Ogerton engaged in a struggle.

Now, who pushes the other side back would determine whether the main forces get surrounded or if they will collectively trap the enemy with their main force, and with the front line now solidified, Alzeor discovered the enemy’s units were seven thousand-man barbarian units.

He didn’t know how many more enemy units were present. Maybe two, up to five at most… The enemy had successfully conserved a few units utilizing the terrain.

Meanwhile, Prince Alzeor intentionally exposed the location of 14 thousand-man units. As if those 14 were all there were. Luring the enemy out to reveal all remaining units.

Once the enemy’s locations were fully understood, the actual fighting would become much easier. However, Alzeor, who did not easily underestimate the enemy, had set a trap.

Near the middle of the line between 3 o’clock and 11 o’clock, he had conveniently kept two thousand-man units tied up, even using somewhat noticeable conscripts.

He even waved his own flag emblazoned with his insignia, so if their commander was a barbarian who could only read the terrain and didn’t know anything else, they would likely think that was the main force. On the other hand, if the opposing commander were a much better general, he would likely suspect that the slightly elevated hill nearby, with the unmoving thousand-man unit, was the main force.

Neither was true.

Alzeor was hiding close to the frontline unit in the southeast while waiting for the enemy to take the bait. For safety, he had hidden a thousand-man unit in the rear.

The prince thought this.

The enemy commander, overpowered in numbers, would probably want to quickly resolve the conflict by aiming for my neck.

The flag thrown in as a deception would evoke arrogance in that superior general, making him think he can read the opponent’s strategy. And that would be the end of it. He had concealed 3,000 ambush troops nearby.

It was a plan to efficiently capture the outstanding enemy commander.

If the enemy general was a fool who didn’t recognize that the bait was a bait, then all schemes would be for naught; however, then he would merely stomp them out in a conventional fight.

But from what I have observed so far, the enemy commander felt quite capable, so I wanted to avoid direct confrontation if possible.

As I continued with the conquest of the Conrad Kingdom, I had to minimize losses. After wrapping this up quickly, we needed to besiege the enemy main force and secure Count Ogerton’s surrender…

“The enemy is coming!”

“Where’s the messenger from? What’s the enemy’s scale? Ah! They are retreating here.”

Incidents unfolded simultaneously. The enemy in front was falling back, while they had taken the bait without flags.

They must have believed that I was there, gathering troops, which is why they retreated a bit to shorten their front line.

Haha. Then they are finished.

No matter how many they mobilize, they can’t break through. They will be ambushed by 3,000 troops and the unit carrying the flag will join in.

‘That was interesting, but a bit disappointing.’

Alzeor ordered the remaining units to advance.

With his own troops chasing after the retreating enemies, surrounding the trapped enemy main force would seal the deal, but Prince Alzeor suddenly felt a chill.

Something was off.

‘Why are they continuously retreating?’

This was the crucial 3 o’clock position that must be held. Unlike other areas, here they should only pull back a little, but the enemy appeared to have no intention of reestablishing their position, merely contesting the retreat.

He even just passed through a concave terrain between hills…

“All troops halt! Trap… What?”

Prince Alzeor cried out urgently. But it felt a bit too late.

The retreating enemy soldiers abruptly turned around.

From the concave, ideal for ambush, emerged 3,000 barbarian warriors. They must have been there from the start, as if they had known I was here all along.

[ Leo, you have desperately searched for Lena for the rest of your life, and for that accomplishment, the skill {Tracking Skill} is granted. ]

“There he is! That black-haired Alzeor de Lognum, the prince of the kingdom that makes us slaves!”

A young man with light brown hair charged forward with the Oblivion Blade raised. The prince immediately recognized who he was.

‘Wh-Why is the Swordmaster of the Holy Kingdom here…?’

That bastard Gaidan sold our kingdom out. Alzeor shouted, “Fight!” and began to run back.

There was no time to care about face or anything like that. The expedition he had been eagerly waiting for his whole life was no longer important.

My kingdom and my brother’s kingdom are in danger.

I had no idea what the Jerome Holy Kingdom was planning with that Swordmaster, and relations with the Conrad Kingdom had already soured considerably. If my fears were correct, the Orun Kingdom was facing its worst situation.

His judgment was exceedingly quick.

Seeing the Oblivion Blade and the brown-haired youth, he fled and hurled a thousand-man unit. But before he could reach the thousand-man unit he had safely placed in the back, Reb caught up to him.

[ Achievement: Mount – Leo can summon mounts. ]

Should I rather run? As he cleared the rugged mountain path on horseback, Alzeor turned to see the Swordmaster racing towards him on a brown steed. He hadn’t had a horse before; where had it come from?

As Reb caught up with Alzeor, he considered whether to stop the horse he was on… then simply raised his sword. The prince heard a swoosh as the sword swung at his neck! Whoa! Alzeor dismounted and evaded the blade. Tumbling down, it was a terrible sight as he rolled around, but nonetheless, he was alive and attempting to crawl away.

‘Ah, right. This was how it was with him.’

If he were truly a servant of Barbatos, I would have tried to kill him. Unlike Aton de Lognum, who didn’t lose his royal dignity even in the face of unavoidable death, Alzeor desperately tried to survive. He had once hidden in a dung pit and been split apart with it.

Why does this guy want to live so much?

I was curious, but Reb stepped on Alzeor’s calf while raising his sword. This time, Alzeor didn’t plead for his life.

“My brother will never forgive you!”

Reb, who was about to pierce him, flinched and halted his sword near the prince’s heart. It wasn’t because of Alzeor’s threat; it was due to the debuff that came to mind when the player, he, killed a member of royalty.

[ Achievement: Royalty ‘0’ – All royalty feel weak fear towards you. min(1) ]

There wouldn’t be any benefit in killing him.

Now that Barbatos was gone, there was no way to decrease the count of the murder achievement, so Reb didn’t kill Alzeor. Thinking back to the second round where Leah was kidnapped, even killing him multiple times wouldn’t quench his anger, but he suppressed his desire for revenge and tied up the struggling prince, throwing him onto Bante’s back.

“I’ve captured the prince! We will quickly annihilate the disoriented enemy and head to assist the main force!”

Utilizing four thousand-man units, Reb efficiently devoured the lengthy enemy thousand-man unit across the front line. The lightly armed infantry dispatched from the free trade cities saw the prince had been captured and fled without morale.

When Reb regrouped with his remaining ten thousand-man units and exited the forest, the heavily armed infantry of the Lognum Royal Family, Marquis Gaidan, Count Ogerton, and the two thousand-man units that had floated down the river were engaged in battle.

Reb called out.

“Stop! Duke Alzeor de Lognum is here! Surrender and drop your weapons!”

“Ah!”

While being attacked from the front and back, the heavily armed infantry, who had been pushing back both sides, lowered their swords. Count Geogis Jermin yelled, “This can’t be!” But even Reb drew his Oblivion Blade, and surrounded on three sides, they quickly fell silent.

It would be a great victory that would go down in history.

The heavily armed infantry and knights despondently dropped their swords, and when the nobles, including Count Jermin, were being bound, the rain stopped. Across the dark river, Conrad Kingdom soldiers held torches, watching how the situation unfolded.