There was something strangely alluring about the way she tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. It helped that she had large breasts, albeit not on Lilly’s level. She was pretty too. Despite being baby-faced, there was something seductive about her expression. It felt like she’d just reached out and touched some sensitive part of my heart, and I was a man seeing her as a woman.
Oh, I get it.
It struck me that certain missions required a level of subtlety that Tillet lacked. And unlike Tillet, Henrique had just the right level of body fat. Now I understood why she’d been the one left behind in the castle—she had the skills needed to ensure she’d live through it. In terms of survivability, she might’ve ranked above any other royal sword.
“Carla had her flaws, but I’d known her for a long time,” I said.
I turned away from Henrique and approached White Sunset.
For some reason, Henrique followed. I had no more to say, so ignored her as I took White Sunset’s reins and began leading him to open ground.
“How’d it feel when you finished off Carla?”
What’s wrong with her? I don’t even want to answer that.
The royal swords must’ve had mixed feelings about Carla, but this one was acting like she had no qualms about seeing her killed.
“I tried to be graceful about it. I’d known her for a long time.”
“Did she suffer? Did she die cursing you? How do you feel after killing an old friend?”
What...? I was growing irritated, but a sense that something wasn’t right was enough to drown out my anger.
There was no point to her questions. She had to be testing me. It’s like she wants to get me mad. But why would she...?
I gave her a flippant response. “Dunno. Don’t remember.”
“Come on. Get angry. You can tell me to shut up and hit me.”
“What are you talking about?” Has she got some sort of problem?
“You’re so boring. Your anger was enough to give me chills last time.”
“If you want entertainment, try a theater.”
By now we’d reached an open space, so I climbed onto White Sunset.
“What a weak comeback. Where’s all the intensity you had before? Were you always this dull?”
Who cares whether I’m dull or intense? “Maybe.”
“Say you’ll kill me right now, like last time. Please.”
I didn’t mind saying it, so I did. “I’ll kill you right now.”
“Dull...” Henrique looked incredibly disappointed.
Who cares?
I’d finished harnessing myself to White Sunset.
“Look, I don’t care what you’re into, but make sure you do your job,” I told her.
White Sunset began to beat his wings, ending our conversation.
Once I was in the air and looking down on the battlefield from White Sunset, I could see that the second order was no longer functional. The two wings of the Ho army had formed a semicircle around the second order to envelop them.
The enemy soldiers farthest back were trying to escape via the main highway, while a few others were taking refuge. Try as they might, it looked like our plainrunner cavalry would soon have them trapped. The enemy was effectively surrounded.
Battlefield theories dictated that a commander had to position their troops in a way to prevent this sort of encirclement. The reason their commander hadn’t was because the entire force was too nervous to move as an orderly unit.
The second order’s basic strategy was to defend the royal capital and, if they failed in that aim, take up defensive positions on Royal Castle Island. The royal guard had used this same strategy for generations, and it had played out multiple times in the Shiyaltan royal family’s history whenever Sibiak was under attack.
Royal Castle Island had originally been designed as a place where people could take refuge while waiting for reinforcements. It wasn’t designed to be defended for years at a time. The island was in the center of the city, and it held several commercial facilities and offices. Unlike a fortress in some remote location, it wasn’t well equipped with as many storehouses as space would allow. Instead, the island had a few small buildings tucked away behind the castle, which stored just enough provisions to provide some peace of mind. And since it was a river island, any underground areas were too damp for storing food.
The first and second order combined had eighteen thousand soldiers, and witch families would have to be fed as well, which meant that their supplies might not even last a month. This was why the royal family and the witches had chosen to take the fight to the capital’s edge by placing their defenses in the city’s commercial districts during every single internal conflict. In a way, it was beneficial if they lost a lot of soldiers before any attempt to move their forces to Royal Castle Island.
The witches couldn’t be certain of their defeat until they’d attempted a battle, so they certainly weren’t going to simply hand over the royal capital—their base of operations and main source of revenue—without any resistance. Their strategy was ruined, however, because Royal Castle Island had fallen before anything else had.
The Ho family’s flag flew on the castle’s spire as clouds of black smoke rose from the bridges to the island. With nowhere to run in the event of defeat, the only three options the soldiers had were to fight to the death, raise their hands in surrender, or throw down their weapons and flee. Few were willing to fight to the death.
As our forces enveloped them tightly, the enemy had started to huddle closer and closer, with nowhere to run.
I descended slowly, heading for the main body of our forces.
“Your Excellency! I’ve been waiting for you.”
Dimitri came running over as soon as White Sunset had stopped beating his wings. He was in command of the ground army.
“Dimitri, good work. You’ve enveloped the enemy beautifully.”
“I’m pleased to be of service.” Dimitri dropped down on one knee to give an exaggerated salute.
I climbed off of White Sunset. “I see you had to use the plainrunners already, but did you at least seal off the north road leading to Bof Province first?”
“As you instructed, three hundred knights were sent to block the road, and another hundred are blocking the route to Noza Province.”
It seemed everything was going as planned. Winning the battle wouldn’t do much if we allowed the witches to escape. We had to block every way out.
“From the sky, it looked like the fighting was done. Did the enemy surrender already?”
“The situation is quite complicated in that regard. Please follow me.”
Complicated? But how?
“Explain while we’re walking,” I instructed, moving away from White Sunset.
An eagle handler had appeared to take the reins without me having to ask.
“Keagul Cursefit was taken into custody. However, she didn’t surrender beforehand.”
Keagul Cursefit was the current head of the Cursefit family. I’d heard she was quite old, so I’d be surprised if she’d personally taken command on the battlefield. In any case, I certainly hadn’t thought we’d capture her this quickly. Our progress was suspiciously fast.
“How’d that happen?” I asked.
“It seems there was a traitor. Someone put a dagger to her throat and threatened to kill her unless the other soldiers stood aside as he brought her to us.”
“Ah... That sort of treachery takes some guts.”
Not every soldier in the second order had lost the will to fight. Even with defeat looming, those loyal to the Cursefits would’ve continued to fight hard and demand that other soldiers do the same. Taking Keagul Cursefit hostage to negotiate a surrender meant making it through those other soldiers. It sounded simple, but it would take some real courage to pull it off.