Chapter 617

Joshua, leading the main force of Landenburg, managed to escape the encirclement of the enemy army at the cost of nearly two thousand sacrifices.

Afterward, to confuse the pursuing enemy forces, they divided their remaining troops of barely two hundred into three groups. In the process, they lost another hundred knights and one master.

By the time they reached the border of Dane, all that remained were a mere hundred knights, four masters, and one hero.

“…So, Sir Klaus has fallen.”

A knight, trembling with a distorted face, delivered the news of Klaus’s death. Joshua let out a deep sigh toward the sky and lightly patted the knight’s shoulder.

Though they had prepared for sacrifices when dividing the troops, his heart still felt heavy, as if a lump of lead had settled in his chest.

‘First Bertrand, and now Klaus… I have no words to offer His Majesty.’

The Sword of Landenburg. Ludwig’s elite force, trained to stop Or-han, had already lost two of its members before the war even truly began. Along with nearly all of Landenburg’s cavalry strength.

The losses Ka`har suffered were several times greater, but the damage they had taken was so severe that they couldn’t even feel joy.

—

Unlike the Empire, which built a massive wall to completely block the Ka`har cavalry, Dane constructed five fortresses at key points along the border, adopting a defensive strategy of surrounding and annihilating invaders through coordinated efforts between the fortresses.

Though this left border villages exposed to Ka`har’s plundering and risked being overrun before the fortress troops could mobilize due to the overwhelming difference in mobility…

Dane had no choice but to adopt this fortress-based defense strategy.

They knew that building a massive wall like the Empire’s was the best way to stop Ka`har.

However, Dane couldn’t build a wall along their border like the Empire.

Every time Dane showed signs of constructing a wall, Ka`har would invade with a large force, devastate the foundation, and retreat.

With Dane’s military strength, they couldn’t stop Ka`har from persistently destroying the wall’s foundation and retreating to the Great Plains. Thus, Dane had no choice but to abandon the wall and opt for the second-best strategy of fortress defense.

“Even so, their defensive line is difficult for us to break through now.”

Michel Lambert clicked his tongue. Though they were fellow Westerners, Dane’s border defense force wouldn’t welcome the Empire’s people coming from the Great Plains.

If they weren’t captured, interrogated, and executed, it would be a miracle.

“Even if most of Dane’s forces are attacking Panam, they wouldn’t leave their border fortresses completely empty. We’ll have to move carefully to avoid their surveillance…”

The original plan was to break through with around two thousand troops before the border defense force could gather, but having lost most of their forces to the enemy’s pursuit, that was no longer possible.

Thus, Michel suggested moving quietly under the cover of night, bypassing the fortress’s surveillance to return to the Empire.

“If we do that, we’ll be caught by the enemy’s pursuit again. I have an idea.”

Heinrich shook his head, cutting off Michel’s words.

In his judgment, moving cautiously as Michel suggested might allow them to avoid Dane’s surveillance, but their speed would be too slow, making it obvious they’d be caught by the enemy.

“Do you have a good plan?”

“I don’t know if it’s good, but I have a plan.”

With a skeptical look from his comrades, Heinrich explained his strategy.

“Indeed… moving like that could pit Dane and Ka`har against each other while ensuring our safety.”

Joshua nodded, seeing the logic. William, Michel, and Hayden also agreed with Heinrich’s plan.

To them, it was a simple yet effective strategy.

Two hours later, two hundred and five warhorses galloped across Dane’s border.

—

“Huh?”

Max, a guard stationed at one of Dane’s five border fortresses, Brandt Fortress, noticed something galloping from the east for the first time since his deployment.

‘Dust…?’

As it grew darker and the distance was considerable, he couldn’t make out what it was, but a massive cloud of dust was heading toward the setting sun.

‘A mass, dust, east… Wait, could that be?!’

Max’s eyes narrowed as he tilted his head, then he shot up as if struck by lightning. The warnings from his seniors, veterans who had guarded Brandt Fortress for years, flashed through his mind.

‘Ka`har…!’

The marauders from the east who swept through the borderlands with their cavalry.

Max urgently turned and shook awake a senior soldier dozing on a wooden crate.

“Senior, wake up! Enemy attack!”

“Huh? Enemy… Enemy attack?!”

The senior, half-asleep, jolted awake.

“Enemy? Could it be Ka`har?!”

Grabbing a spear leaning against the wall, the senior followed Max’s pointing finger toward the east. In the distance, a group of riders was approaching.

Riders galloping westward. The senior rubbed his eyes, shook his head, and looked again…

Then, after a moment, he muttered in a dazed voice,

“…What is that?”

“Huh? Isn’t it Ka`har?”

Despite the urgency to sound the alarm, the senior just stared blankly eastward, leaving Max confused. Max turned his gaze toward the approaching dust cloud.

And, like the senior, his mouth fell open.

“…What is that?”

Max doubted his eyes as he watched the dust cloud grow closer.

As he had initially guessed, the dust was being kicked up by hundreds of riders… but Max couldn’t determine if this was an attack.

Because—

The two hundred steeds galloping westward carried only a single rider each.

“A wild horse herder…?”

The only possibility Max could think of was a man in a hooded robe leading two hundred steeds.

—

Upon receiving Max and the senior’s report, the commander of Brandt Fortress sent out a small cavalry unit to investigate instead of raising the alarm.

Hundreds of riderless steeds and a single unidentified man. It was too bizarre to be an attack.

Even if the man was confident in his skills, there was no reason to bring hundreds of riderless horses.

However, the cavalry sent by Brandt Fortress failed to uncover the group’s identity or intent.

“…They disappeared?”

“Yes. By the time we approached, only two hundred riderless horses remained. It seems… they noticed our approach, dismounted, and fled into the dust.”

“But why?”

Even for a fortress commander who prided himself on his experience, this was incomprehensible. It felt like a ghostly prank.

‘What on earth is going on? Did Bølberg gift us something…?’

He couldn’t help but entertain such irrational thoughts. Though the man’s identity remained a mystery, Brandt Fortress had gained two hundred and five warhorses as a strategic resource.

“They’re clearly not wild horses. They bear the marks of being trained as warhorses.”

“Which makes it even stranger. Two hundred riderless warhorses. It feels like picking up a blood-stained money pouch—unsettling.”

The fortress commander felt an inexplicable unease but couldn’t pass up such a windfall, so he brought the horses inside.

—

‘They took the bait. Of course, it was too tempting to resist.’

Heinrich smiled with satisfaction, secretly watching as Brandt Fortress’s troops took the two hundred riderless horses inside. His plan had worked perfectly.

‘They might have suspected poisoned bait, but as a fortress commander, they couldn’t ignore the chance to gain two hundred warhorses. Just as planned.’

As Heinrich predicted, the commander of Brandt Fortress brought Landenburg’s horses inside, unaware they were a poisoned chalice for Ka`har’s pursuing forces.

What would the enemy army, tracking Landenburg’s horses, think upon seeing the hoofprints leading here?

‘They’ll think we’ve infiltrated Dane’s territory. In reality, we never crossed the border.’

The enemy could only track the hoofprints of two hundred horses. Whether they were ridden or riderless was unknown.

Heinrich’s strategy exploited that flaw.

The rest of the troops never crossed Dane’s border. They dug trenches and hid in the forest near the border.

Only Heinrich had entered Dane’s territory with the riderless horses.

‘Now… I just need to return to Landenburg before Ka`har reaches here.’

Only Heinrich could do this. Unlike the other knights and masters of Imperial blood, he was of Dane’s lineage.

Unlike his conspicuous companions, he could blend in naturally among Dane’s people by shedding his robe and armor.

All he had to do was stroll through Dane’s territory and cross the border into the Empire when he reached it.