I managed to lure about half of the cavalrymen surrounding the abandoned fortress away from it. I squeezed Getsuei’s sides once more with my legs, pushing my sister’s horse into the fastest gallop it was capable of.
Behind us was a horde of cavalrymen who had obviously received plenty of training. Their weapons were of foreign make, but I couldn’t make out the exact details of their origin. There were about a hundred of them and I had no intention of turning around to give them a proper fight. However...
“There’s no point in being a man if I can’t even save my childhood friend and one of the people who saved my life.”
As I spoke, I withdrew three arrows from my quiver and, turning, shot them at the three cavalrymen who made up the vanguard of my pursuers, forcing them off their horses. Though they didn’t say anything, I could hear their muffled gasps of surprise and pain. My archery skills were far from my foggy memories of Kou Eihou’s, but it was more than enough! I focused on shooting off arrow after arrow, trying to get as many people off their mounts as possible. Getsuei’s fantastic stamina and speed were on display the entire time, maintaining the distance between us and our pursuers.
“Oh?”
The enemies split their formation. Instead of rushing at me as one, they would each try to take me down on their own. This sort of flexible strategizing wouldn’t be possible without faith in each soldier’s individual skill; the enemy commander seemed like quite the experienced warrior. Well, that simply meant that I needed to start whittling down their numbers from whoever got closest.
“I’m already out?” Though my quiver had been full of arrows when I set off, it was empty now.
Charging at the forefront of my enemies was their red-bearded commander. His spear was wrapped with a red cloth and he raised it at me.
“He’s out of arrows!” he yelled. “Kill him!”
“Understood!”
The enemy soldiers raised their swords and their mounts picked up speed. Getsuei must have finally been getting exhausted, because the gap between us closed quickly. There was no time to think—I threw both bow and quiver to the ground and tugged on the reins to change Getsuei’s direction. I pulled the sword from my belt and charged towards the two closest pursuing cavalrymen.
“We’ll kill you!” They yelled it in unison, identical cruel grins on their faces. They were absolutely certain of their victory.
The white blades of their scimitars glimmered as they swung them down towards me, ready to take my head. Instead when I passed by them, I slashed out with my sword, slicing right through their leather armor! Blood sprayed through the air. The two cavalrymen only had the chance to splutter before they died, ignorant of what had even happened.
The rest of the enemies charging at me slowed, surprised at what happened to their two allies. I didn’t let that stop me. Gripping Getsuei’s reins tightly, I met the enemy commander’s eyes. They were as sharp and fierce as a wolf’s, and I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
He’s fearsomely strong!
An elderly cavalryman next to the enemy commander spoke to him. He was talking softly enough that I couldn’t hear him, but I could read his lips.
“Lord Nguyen,” he said...
Don’t tell me that this is the Crimson Wolf of the Gen Empire?! He’s one of the four famed generals! There’s the river, as well as the line of fortresses that father and the others set up along it between Ei and Gen. How did he get through that line? Wait, more importantly, what are they even doing here?
I did my best to keep the shock from my face as I pulled on Getsuei’s reins to stop the horse. Then I said, holding up my sword, “Sorry. I lied earlier.”
“What?” The enemy general looked at me, confused.
There were around fifty cavalrymen left on the enemy’s side. Compared to that, my sword was reaching its limit. This had happened all the time in my past life as well; not many swords were able to keep up with my strength.
I winked and gave a casual shrug. “My name is Sekiei. Just Sekiei. I’m not a member of the Chou family. I figured that if anyone was gonna fall for that lie it’d be people like you, who suffered so many defeats at General Chou’s hands. In other words—people like soldiers from the Gen Empire.”
The enemy general’s silence spoke volumes, and it looked like I was right on the money. I decided not to beat around the bush. “Hey... How did you cross the river? General Chou created a perfect barricade. It would be one thing if a few soldiers made it through, but there’s no way the guards would miss over a hundred, especially if it’s a hundred mounted men. Yeah, it’s clear that you didn’t come from straight across the river. So tell me, how did you infiltrate Ei, Sir Nguyen, the Crimson Wolf?”
Instead of answering my question, Nguyen gave a blunt order to his soldiers: “This time, make sure to kill him.”
“Understood!” the soldiers at the front line answered immediately before they charged. There were five of them in total.
I kicked Getsuei into a gallop. “Whoa,” I muttered as I parried the first attacker’s spear thrust. Carrying through the same movement, I slashed horizontally across his stomach with my sword. I could feel the blade starting to give, so I snatched up the enemy’s spear and threw it at a mounted archer, who was attempting to aim at me from the side. “Here you go!”
The spear easily penetrated the leather armor and I saw the archer fall, his mouth parted in a silent yell. The next instant, a mounted swordsman rushed forward and I blocked his attack with my sword. The sharp screech of metal against metal rang through the air, and I used all of my strength to push him back, my blade slicing through both his sword and his body.
The remaining two tried to flank me from both sides, but I blocked the tips of their weapons. Left, right! I gave them each a single strike and they fell off their horses, silent and still. With the five cavalrymen down, Nguyen himself charged at me.
“Die!!!”
“Yeah, right!”
Every time our horses passed each other, we were locked in combat. With each hit I blocked, I could feel my hand becoming more and more numb. He’s way stronger than I imagined!
“You’re good, young tiger!” Nguyen yelled as he turned his horse around to face me once again. His red beard whipped about with the motion. Though we hadn’t planned for things to turn out this way, it had become a duel.
I turned Getsuei around as well and said mockingly, “And you’re not as cracked up as the rumors made you out to be!”
“You talk too much!” Nguyen snapped. “After I part your head from your shoulders, I’ll shove it in the face of that little girl from earlier! Then I’ll introduce her to a world of pain!”
“You think I’d let you do that?!”