Wortenia Senki (WN)

Volume 2 Chapter 21 (Defensive War 2)

Translator: HASUTSUKI, Editor: Tan.

Day 169 after being summoned to another world: (Defense War) 2

“Listen up! Do not show them any mercy! Crush them completely! We shall show them the power of Rozeria Kingdom’s knights!”

Upon receiving Mikhail’s order, all 500 knights began to line up on the hill.

They were overflowed with silent tension.

Since the opponent’s number was only 100, Mikhail decided to ignore Ryouma’s order completely.

When someone ignores their superior’s order but manages to win as a result, they are usually forgiven.

But with that, it means Mikhail cannot afford to lose.

It is absolutely unforgivable to ignore orders and fail to achieve anything in return, let alone a complete defeat.

Even Princess Lupis wouldn’t show any mercy toward such person.

(I will not lose!)

Inside Mikhail’s mind, he can only think of victory.

However, occasionally, having such mindset can make someone to be blind to the truth.

“Chaaarge!!!”

“””Uooooooooh!!!”””

Following his command, Mikhail’s sword pointed forward, 500 Knights rushed down the hill spreading dust behind their paths.

-

“What! Say that again!!”

A furious voice erupted from inside the tent.

Ryouma couldn’t believe the report that was brought to him by an unknown knight in Michail’s unit…

Rather, it was obvious that he was unable to understand it.

“Y-Yes…, M-Mikhail-sama’s r-reconnaissance un… unit has been des… destroyed c-completely…”

Blood was dripping from the Knight’s body, forming a small puddle under Ryouma’s feet.

Some of his words were unclear since he was enduring the pain, and some blood got stuck in his throat.

The two Marfisto sisters continued to apply healing magic to him. For everyone who has seen his condition, they knew if the sisters were late by few minutes, he would have died.

He managed to survive and arrived in this place with sheer willpower alone. A normal human would have died from these wounds long before making it here…

Looking into his eyes, one can feel his determination to keep on living.

“Mikhail…, why did you…, did he die?!”

Ryouma lost his cool and shouted at the man who was at the border of life and death, despite trying his best to calm himself.

The Knight was clearly dying.

It was just a matter of time until the soul leaves the body.

But regardless, he tried his best to convey the important information to Ryouma before his flame of life burned out.

In this sort of situation, the knight should be given utmost respect as he performs his final duty.

For a dying knight, this was considered as the highest honour.

“Mikhail-sama…, chased after…, Kyle…, and charged deep…, into the enemy line.”

“Kyle?”

It was a name that Ryouma have heard for the first time.

Ryouma repeated the name inquisitively.

“Y-Yes…, Mikhail-sama was commanding…, the unit calmly…, until he saw that the commander…, of the enemy unit is a traitor named Kyle Iruna.”

When Ryouma looked around, the Knights’ faces in his vicinity turned pale.

Ryouma wondered if there was something about this Kyle Iruna guy.

However, this was not the time to ask about it.

“I see…, did Mikhail rushed to the enemy to defeat that person?”

Toward Ryouma’s words, the wounded Knight tried his best to nodded his head.

Ryouma began to imagine the battlefield.

(Mikhail was probably calm until he found out that a traitor named Kyle was the commander of the enemy unit… Considering Mikhail’s personality, I guess he was unable to let that slide…)

Ryouma understood why Mikhail was impatient.

This is the reason why Ryouma was hesitated to entrust the scouting mission to him.

Even so, Ryouma trusted Mikhail’s ability.

Despite knowing that Mikhail was impatient, he should have been someone who knows his own game.

That’s why Ryouma found it hard to believe that Mikhail did not order retreat until they were completely annihilated.

Ryouma could understand that a Knight usually can’t hold themselves back if a traitor was standing in front of them since Knights hate traitor the most, but still…

……………………………………

“So? How far away is the enemy? And how many soldiers do they have?”

Ryouma pushed back his various thought and asked the question that matters most.

What important right now is when the enemies are going to arrive.

And also how many soldiers they are bringing.

Ryouma, who was already in a disadvantage, had found himself in further disadvantage after the reconnaissance unit got annihilated.

Even with the preparation of trench and fences, they would still get destroyed if they were to receive a surprise attack right now.

“The soldiers’ numbers are unknown, but at least …, they have more than 5000…, as for the time…, they should be arriving in 15 minutes from now…”

Ryouma’s face turned pale.

“Lione! Bolts! You guys go take the defensive position on the north and south. And take 400 soldiers each! I will handle the center with Laura and 600 troops. Sara! You stand by behind and manage the rest! Also, ask someone to form another reconnaissance unit to confirm the enemy’s position!”

After Ryouma stood up, he assigned the defensive position to Lione and her group.

Lione and the others have been familiarised with some defensive positions to a certain degree; thus no confusion ensued.

They nodded immediately and left the tent.

“M-Mikoshiba-sama…”

“What is it? Is there anything more?”

“I-I’m sorry…, w-we were unable to…, carry out our duties…”

Hearing that, Ryouma nodded toward Laura and the others and made them leave the tent.He then crouched down on his knees beside the wounded Knight.

Right now, time is very valuable.

However, this is about the last words of a knight that has been surviving up until now with his will power alone.

Ryouma had no choice but to listen to his final words.

“It is fine…, I understand…”

Ryouma just nodded to the wounded Knight.

This knight was only obeying Mikhail’s order.

It is impossible for Ryouma to put all the blame on this knight who’s on the verge of death.

Ryouma held the wounded knight in his arm.

Then begin to hear the injured Knight last words.

“M-Mikoshiba-sama…, Her Highness…, Princess Lupis…, please…, make her…, the queen…, of…, Rozeria…”

Having finished say his final wish, all the power left the wounded knight’s body.

Perhaps there were more things he wanted to say to Ryouma, but before he could say them, his life had come to an end.

Ryouma felt the responsibility rested upon his shoulders.

It was the wounded knight’s wish and hope.

“Fool…”

Ryouma, who has just witnessed the knight’s final moment, mercilessly uttered a word that can be considered merciless and filled with ridicule.

“Mikoshiba-sama! We have confirmed the enemy’s shadow one kilometer from this place, and their numbers are 7000!”

There are 2000 more than the wounded knight had reported.

(Tsk…, did the reinforcement joined force?!)

Ryouma desperately try not to click his tongue unintentionally in the public.

Right now, if the commander lacks confidence and shows any fear, those feeling will spread to the other soldiers.

This could cause them to lose instead of winning.

“Understood! Tell Lione-san and Bolts-san to defend their position as instructed! I will command the center!”

Following Ryouma’s instruction, the messenger ran toward Lione’s position immediately.

Inside Ryouma’s head, he remembered the words the wounded soldier.

(Make Princess Lupis queen huh?)

He then shook his head. Right now, he cannot afford to lose focus on what’s in front of him.

It is absolutely crucial to have a strong resolve to kill and desire to keep on living when entering the battlefield.

Only those…

(First, my top priority is to survive…, everything else comes later!)

Ryouma grabbed his spear and ran toward his position.

For the sake of his future.

-

“What’s going on! How could they build such impressive defensive fortification in such a short amount of time!”

The sun is about to disappear from the sky.

Given the battle will be difficult when night comes, this is the perfect time for them to make an attack.

Usually, it is a good idea to use the momentum after crushing 500 reconnaissance unit to keep on attacking.

However, right now that might not be the case.

Currently, Kyle who saw the enemy’s camp in front of him is hesitating to attack.

(What’s going on?… At this rate, I won’t be able to fulfill his Excellency Gerhardt-sama’s order!)

“But still Kyle-sama. We can’t just ignore Gerhardt-sama order by not attacking either…”

An adjutant advised Kyle.

Sometimes people get angry when someone else pointed out something obvious.

“I know that already!”

The adjutant lowered his head after hearing Kyle’s response.

(Are you stupid! Can’t you see there’s a defensive formation on top of that strong fortification there!)

In front of them, there was a 20 meters width dry moat.

According to the reconnaissance unit, the dry moat has a crescent shape with length of about one kilometer.

It also has quite a considerable depth.

It will not be easy to break through that defence.

(But still…, it has supposedly only been 3-4 had hours since they have arrived here! What kind of magic did they use?!)

It was natural that Kyle was surprised.

In this world, without proper civil engineering equipment, a construction like that usually cannot be done.

Moreover, they usually require people such as farmers to do the work. And lots of them.

(I didn’t hear any reports about labour workers get taken from the neighboring villages! Did they bring them from the imperial capital?… No, that is impossible.If they do something like that then their marching speed would be slow… Then how are they able to accomplish such work? They should only have 2000 troops with them. Even if everyone worked, it should still be impossible for them to finish the amount of work in such short amount of time…)

At the edge of the dry moat, some wooden fences are lined up.

It should have taken even more time to make something like that.

It is hard to believe that their enemy was able to make all of the defensive fortification within the time they supposedly arrived around noon up until now.

(Khuu! I should’ve left Mikhail alone and attacked here instead!)

The face of Mikhail suddenly appears in Kyle’s head.

(Curse that bastard! Always getting in my way!)

Kyle could not control his anger.

It was an unjustified resentment based on a misunderstanding, however, he couldn’t help but be irritated.

“Kyle-sama…, what should we do?”

His adjutant timidly asked him once again.

Kyle lashed out in frustration.

“We have no choice but to charge!”

“Understood!”

Indeed there was no other alternative for Kyle.

Knowing that the opponent numbers are small from the reconnaissance report, he had asked Duke Gerhardt to take command himself.

In order for him to get the permission, Duke Gerhardt had explicitly ordered him to destroy the enemy entirely.

However, at the time the report did not mention anything regarding the defensive fortification.

(Mikhail’s reconnaissance unit was around 500. By now, the enemy should have around 1,400-1,500 men left. On the other hand, we have 7,000 with us. With these numbers alone, we are overwhelmingly at an advantage… And I shall prove it, that those quickly made dry moat are useless!)

Kyle gradually calmed down.

No, more precisely, he forced himself to calm down.

Despite the fact that the enemy has made an impressive defensive fortification, he still has a large numerical advantage.

(I will absolutely defeat them!)

There’s no turning back for Kyle, who had betrayed Princess Lupis, to withdraw.

Achievements are needed for him to survive within the nobles faction.

But little did he know.

That his current mindset is similar to Mikhail’s before he was crushed.

“Kyle-sama! The preparation is ready!”

Listening to his adjutant words, Kyle nodded his head.

Kyle then pulled out the sword on his waist and ordered his troops to move out.

“Chaaaarge!”

In accordance to Kyle’s order, all the troops raised their flags.

“””Uoooooh!!!”””

The 7,000 soldiers charged toward the hill loudly.

They have not realized.

That the trap of death has been laid in front of them.

From here, the battle that would decide Rozeria Kingdom’s future had begun.