37-121

EP.121 The Decisive Battle for the Empire’s Fate (1) 

“Reinforcements!!” 

“Ajin has arrived!!” 

There were plenty of soldiers who used axes as weapons, but only Ajin could throw a hand axe from afar and decapitate a man. So, the soldiers in Gerard’s unit instantly recognized whose axe it was. 

“KRWAAAAAH!!” 

With Ajin’s roar, arrows from the rangers rained down like a storm from the dark forest. 

“Gaaah!! Raise your shields!!” 

“I can’t tell where they’re shooting from!” 

Although the fire started by Gerard had been extinguished, smoke still billowed, and this smoke obscured the imperial army’s vision. Thanks to this, the rangers, though few in number, could safely pick off imperial soldiers from their hiding spots among the trees. 

“Grr! Gerard, you did well.” 

“Ajin! Thank you for coming. But how did you know we were in trouble…?” 

The situation had been too urgent to send a message, and they were far from the main force. Gerard was glad to be alive but wondered how reinforcements could have arrived. 

“Mayer sent me. He said you’d probably fallen into a trap.” 

“Ah… Mayer…” 

“Grr, but this isn’t the time for talk. While the enemy is in chaos, regroup your men and wipe them out.” 

“Yes, understood!” 

Following Ajin’s orders, Gerard quickly reorganized his troops and began attacking the imperial army. 

“This is our only chance! Give it everything you’ve got and annihilate the enemy!” 

As Gerard’s unit attacked, the rangers switched from targeting arrows to covering fire, efficiently hunting down the imperial soldiers. 

“Wow, how do they shoot so accurately through all that smoke?” 

“When we were running ourselves ragged, they were doing even more eye training, too. That’s why they’re rangers.” 

Some soldiers, saved by the rangers’ covering fire after being ambushed from behind, talked about the rangers’ training as Gerard listened with a wry smile. 

‘I almost died doing that eyesight training too… having to find a marked rock in the woods on a moonless night…’ 

Recalling those painful memories, Gerard refocused on the battle and continued to mow down the enemy. 

“Get it together! Raise your shields high to block the arrows and reform the line! The enemy is few! Our numbers are still similar!!” 

“If we keep our heads, we can win. We haven’t lost yet!!” 

Despite the chaos losing their commander and being sniped from all sides the imperial army, true to their reputation, slowly began to regain order under their centurions’ direction. 

“Sigh, Ajin… I think we need to retreat now. The smoke is clearing with the wind, and they’re reforming their formation. Ajin?” 

Even as Gerard called, Ajin silently stared at the imperial formation. 

“Ajin, we need to retreat now… huh!” 

Before Gerard could finish, Ajin let out a massive roar and charged straight into the reformed, tightly packed imperial formation. 

“KUWOOOOO!!” 

“It’s… it’s a troll!!” 

“Why is there a troll here? Stay calm! Use spears to keep it at a distance and gah!!” 

The imperial soldiers tried to fight back with spears and arrows, but the power of a troll in the nighttime forest was beyond their imagination. 

Ajin rampaged through the formation, swinging his massive axe, and blood sprayed everywhere. 

Moreover, since Ajin was not just any troll but a master, the imperial army’s attempt to treat him like a normal troll resulted in catastrophic losses. 

Several shield bearers tried to block Ajin’s axe by stacking their shields, but the chilling aura on the axe tore through them like paper, and as blood and flesh flew, terror spread across the imperial soldiers’ faces. 

“M-m-master…” 

“A… a monster!! A troll that can use sword energy!!” 

“Run!! We can’t fight this monster!!” 

Once one person fled, panic spread and all the soldiers began to flee in disorder. 

But the fleeing imperial soldiers were cut down one by one by Ajin’s axe and the light infantry’s swords, while the rangers’ arrows, fired from hidden positions in the forest, struck them from behind. By dawn, not a single imperial soldier remained alive in the forest. 

“Whew~ It’s finally over… but the losses were heavy. Nearly 200 dead…” 

In terms of results, they had lost only about 200 men while completely annihilating an imperial thousand-man unit, which wasn’t bad. But since Yuno’s army had suffered almost no casualties until now, Gerard felt a bit down. 

“Grr! Pull yourself together, Gerard. You did your best!” 

“But… if only I’d realized the trap sooner, my men wouldn’t have died needlessly…” 

“That’s not your fault, nor is it Mayer’s. In fact, Mayer deserves praise for quickly realizing it was a trap and sending reinforcements, and you deserve praise for using fire to create an escape at the scene.” 

“…Thank you. But it’s still such a shame to lose my men… They trained so hard and we went through so much together…” 

“Grr!! If you feel that way, fight even harder from now on! Make sure there are no more pointless deaths like this… and make sure we never have to fight our own people again!” 

“Thank you, Ajin… To do that, I’ll have to fight even harder for Lord Yuno.” 

“That’s right. My great lord Miri always said serving her mate Lord Yuno is the greatest thing for our tribe and for humans ” 

Ajin’s encouragement helped, but as he began to go on endlessly about praising Miri and Yuno, Gerard excused himself, saying he had to clean up the battlefield. 

He gathered the bodies of both imperial and allied soldiers, cremated them, scattered what Mayer had given him to the west, and reorganized his troops to leave the battlefield. 

After Gerard’s unit returned to the main force, Mayer called in Cordelia’s cavalry, raided one last food store she had found, and with enough supplies, set out for the eastern front as promised to Yuno. 

On the day Mayer’s army departed for the eastern front, Emperor Heinrich’s fury reached its peak in the Adria imperial palace’s council chamber. 

“What?! You’re telling me we can’t supply the legionaries because the food stores have been raided? How can this be!!!” 

“S-sorry, Your Majesty. But their movements are so unpredictable…” 

“That’s why I told the intelligence chief to pull back one of the capital guard’s thousand-man units from the eastern campaign against Prinz! That unit is worth two regular imperial thousand-man units what happened to them?” 

The intelligence chief, Viscount Skimmer, could only sweat and say nothing. 

His silence only enraged Heinrich further, and finally, Heinrich drew his sword. 

Slash!! 

Heinrich’s sword embedded itself deeply in the table in front of Skimmer. 

“Answer properly, intelligence chief. Do you think I put you in that position to stand there in silence?” 

“N-no, Your Majesty. I regret to report that the 2nd Capital Guard thousand-man unit has been confirmed annihilated… hiii!!” 

Upon hearing that 10% of the elite guard he had raised since his days as a prince had been wiped out, Heinrich swung his sword again, this time grazing Skimmer’s neck. 

“Next time, my sword will go deeper. So, did you at least find out who was behind it? At least whether they’re Prinz’s forces?” 

“Pant, pant… Since the entire unit was wiped out, we couldn’t take any prisoners and get proper information… W-wait, Your Majesty!! There is something we did find!!” 

As Heinrich’s sword rose again, Skimmer, terrified, hurriedly reported everything he knew. 

“Hm~ You found traces of milk powder on the battlefield?” 

“Yes, Your Majesty. It seems the unidentified raiders spilled some while eating after the battle. Not only this time, but at every raided food store or supply unit, small traces of milk powder were found.” 

“Milk powder… There’s only one place in the empire that produces enough milk for soldiers’ rations…” 

“Yes, that’s right. The southwestern region currently held by the Kent rebels. Only there is there enough pastureland to raise so many cattle.” 

Chancellor Marquis Dietrich added to the report. 

“After the Battle of Zenon Plains, with food shortages for the people, they must have deployed their troops to raid food stores and supply units. Count Zion, a former Prinz supporter, governed that region well, so the people’s loyalty is already shaky. It seems they’re distributing food to prevent refugees and stabilize public sentiment.” 

“That bastard… Is he trying to found a country through that region?! Trying to win the people’s hearts?! I am the emperor of this empire Heinrich!! Haa, haa, I can’t stand this rage. I’ll have that fake noble’s head cut off right now!!” 

Unable to contain his anger, Heinrich ordered the guard to retreat and suppress the Kent rebels. 

But Chancellor Dietrich and all the ministers barely managed to talk him out of it, and instead, the 8th and 9th corps from the central front, which had been held in reserve, were sent to attack the Kent rebels. 

‘Whew~ It’s chilling… Nothing’s exactly wrong, but I feel like we’re being played… Now we have no reserves left… If we lose this war, His Majesty’s empire could collapse at any moment…’ 

Chancellor Dietrich shivered with an inexplicable sense of unease. He didn’t know where it came from, and though he was excellent at politics and finance, he was inexperienced in military matters, so he could only trust the newly appointed commander of the anti-Prinz army, former 5th Corps Commander Baron Derian. 

Mayer’s original plan had been to force the withdrawal of one of the corps heading east, but eliminating two reserve corps still achieved his goal, and so, as time passed, the day of the decisive battle for the fate of Balkan drew near.