“All men, fall in! We will begin our advance as planned!” I shouted.
At my order, the volunteer soldiers’ faces firmed up. Not tensed.
That’s what I needed to see. The lot of them all had good expressions. They were exactly what you’d think of when someone mentioned fighters.
With just a little push, a rabbit could become a lion. But they wouldn’t be real lions yet, because their bodies didn’t match their hearts. Of course they wouldn’t, because unlike hearts, bodies couldn’t change so quickly. Although the same could be said about hearts.
But by continually running into walls, and sometimes getting through battles, both hearts and bodies could become strong. Which meant that if they could get through this battle here, they’d probably become quite the reliable lions. That was why I wouldn’t let them die. Not a single one of them would die on my watch.
“Don’t speak! Move in silence! From now on, the game is how close we can get without being noticed!”
The whole group nodded at my order. We were currently stationed a little ways away from the woodland path that the Sylvarian army was using.
Even if the mercenaries were used to uncultivated land, the fact that such a big army was managing to march along a barely maintained road was shocking. I could understand how Balthazar could get so haughty if he could pull off something like this. And if this was all I saw of him, then I definitely would’ve thought of changing our plans. But look beyond this feat, and everything else was a complete shitshow.
From what I’d heard of him from Nia, the second prince had next to no experience on the battlefield. To underscore this, the Sylvarian army on the field right now was currently moving with total lifelessness, like they had no brains. Ironically, they’d been able to come this far because of Balthazar’s lopsided abilities. And because he’d shown off those abilities first, no one doubted his orders, and in the end, they were barely able to move on the battlefield.
If he’d brought a commander of Sir Eisendarque’s level and actually listened to that person’s input, then this situation probably wouldn’t have happened. But he wouldn’t listen to anyone like that, and in the first place, he wouldn’t have invaded at all if they existed. The downfall of Balthazar, the second prince of Sylvario, was set in stone from the moment he decided to invade.
Under my orders, my knights and the volunteer militia moved forward silently, keeping their footsteps as quiet as possible. I expected that of the knights from the Special Battalion, but the volunteers were pretty good themselves. Now that I thought of it, they were used to long hours in the field and treading over mountain paths, so it was understandable that they were steady on their feet. And especially on mountain paths, they would have learned to move in a way that wouldn’t startle any wild animals.
Thanks to all of this, we managed to get close without the Sylvarians noticing us.
“Seems like the knights who were guarding their leader have moved up to the front lines.”
“So their formations did actually get messed up. They probably got sent up there to force the barrier troops back in line.”
With wonderful timing, the knights had run their horses towards the vanguard right before our eyes. If they were going this slow, then they probably couldn’t hear the horn orders. They were forced, therefore, to send knights to the front themselves. Mercenaries listening at all was an iffy concept in the first place, not even factoring in the likelihood that the knights might not have the same exact order in mind to get them all together again. No, even if they did, they might not be able to handle them.
“Let’s go. Everyone, stay silent until I raise my voice.”
The knights commanding the soldiers nodded, and said soldiers followed a second later. They looked a mix of nervous and excited. I couldn’t blame them. Right in front of us was a number of soldiers raising Sylvarian flags. Under those flags, then, would be the army’s leader, the second prince Balthazar. If we defeated them, then victory was ours. But if any of the militia let out a war cry in excitement at any point, for example, we’d have big problems.
Telling them to stay silent once more, I ran out from the grove where we’d been hidden. But I wasn’t running full tilt off the bat, of course. Even I wouldn’t be able to sprint the entire distance between us wearing my armor.
I ran for a bit. Luckily, the entire lot of them were focused on the miserable scene in front of them, so they didn’t notice me. It was only once I’d gotten quite a bit closer than I’d thought I would that a soldier looked my way.
“What?! A-An enemy?!”
In response to his voice, a few other soldiers looked. Then, it spread like a wave among them, and they all began looking over towards me.
This is a good distance. It’s time.
“Everyone, charge! Hit them head-on!” I screamed, running full tilt. Behind me, I could sense the Special Battalion knights and the volunteer militia they were leading begin to run too.
I didn’t have time to look, so all I could do was sense their movements. I was running in front of them, and of course, the only people in front of me were enemies. Of course I couldn’t look back. And it was because I had nothing but enemies in front of me that I could run with all of my strength and could wield my “wolf fang cudgel” with all of my strength as well.
“Take, thiiiiisssss!”
The soldiers rushed to point their spears our way when we attacked, but their commands were all over the place and entirely uncoordinated.
I charged into them, screaming as I swung my cudgel, and the brutal sound of a crash rang out as the three soldiers I hit were all sent flying backwards into the people behind them.
Did that feel stronger than usual?
Whatever the case was, having three full-grown men suddenly flying at you at super fast speeds was too much for even trained soldiers to handle, so a number of people collapsed to the ground.
“Bwuh?”
One Sylvarian soldier blurted out a goofy confused sound, but I had neither the time to listen nor the obligation to answer. I stepped farther forward and swung my cudgel, sweeping away another group of soldiers, including him. In just two swings, I had put a massive hole in their already thin defenses.
“Now! Everyone follow the captain!”
“U-Uoooooaaarrghhh!”
And that was when, after a short delay, my men charged. Between the uncoordinated, out-of-formation foot soldiers and us, who’d charged in as one, all ready to lay down our lives, it was easier to see what would happen than it was to see a flame ignite in total darkness.
“Wh-What, what’s happening?! Why are we the ones being attacked?!”
When I turned in the direction of that particular shriek, my eyes fell upon an especially conspicuous pale man in fancy armor. He was probably Balthazar, Sylvario’s second prince. So there was only one thing for me to do.
“You must be Sylvario’s second prince, His Highness Prince Balthazar! I am Ark McGuine! I come to feed the Black Wolf’s fangs a feast!”
“Th-The Black Wolf?! You’re saying you’re the Black Wolf?!”
Once I had told him my name, Balthazar screeched, very clearly disturbed, causing his already disconcerted foot soldiers to lose even more will to fight.
The Kingdom of Brigandia’s infamous “Black Wolf.” Whether it was because of the rumors His Highness had secretly spread or not, the soldiers were very clearly terrified. I mean, it probably helped that just a moment ago they’d just seen the rumored Black Wolf’s military might displayed right before their eyes. That was exactly why I’d charged ahead first. It had been dangerous, but it let me show my full strength without any worries. And showing that rampage had the effect you were seeing now.
I knew it was a bit weird of me to say this myself, but I didn’t think many people could’ve watched it without getting scared. It might have pumped up Count Barracuda, but he was more or less an ally. Generally, once a human has felt fear, they’re even more vulnerable to being surprised.
“I seek the head of His Highness Prince Balthazar, and only his! But I will show no mercy to those who get in my way! Now, who wants to die next?!” I declared, making sure to sound as dramatic as I could and, for good measure, swinging my wolf fang cudgel once to brashly spray the blood clinging to the tips of its spikes.