Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

Chapter 269: Magrado Civil War ⑨ Heavy Cavalry Clash

–Aegir POV–

「Charge ahead!」「Get in there!」

Celia and Irijina shout after me, getting the escort squad to gallop forward.

The enemy knights in front of us on the main street look just as formidable as the messenger reported to us.

They scattered our ally cavalry and also pushed back the infantry who are positioned defensively.

「Let’s see which of us are stronger.」

The enemy knights number roughly 500.

We have close to 200 including those from the poor group. So in terms of number, we’re inferior.

Still, it wasn’t like they could line up dozens of cavalry in a row despite the main street being wider than the other paths.

To that point, the advantage of having greater numbers is erased, and we should be able to handle them if we’re individually stronger than they are

「I’ll hit them with full speed. Open up the front.」

I accelerate on Schwartz, the escort squad quickly following behind me.

「Uwah!」「Clear a path! You’ll be crushed!」「Hiieeeeh.」

Ally soldiers deployed on the main street hastily jump into the alleyways.

「Get into your ranks! A new enemy has arrived...... heavy cavalry. Stay sharp!」

The enemy knights notice us and rearrange their formation before coming at us.

My escort squad and the enemy knights filling the space in the main street close the distance between each other.

「Ready your weapons!!」

「Slam them!!」

Both sides are wielding spears and shields. The collision happened at high speeds with the pointed tips of the spears pointing out in front.

The sound of heavy cavalry clashing with each other all at once could be heard on top of all the chaotic noise in the battlefield, and it was even loud enough to make the nearby fighting enemies and allies alike stop and stare.

Some were stabbed by spears and fell off their horses.

There were some whose horses collided with the opposing horses, causing both riders to fall.

Some were pushed away and flung to the ground by shields.

And then there is Christoph, who put all his strength into a single thrust and lost balance after his opponent evaded the attack, then was knocked off his horse.

In an instant, those armor-wearing men clumped together like a mass of metal fell down one after the other.

I’m fighting like the others, holding my weapon with my right hand and my shield with my left.

The only difference is that my weapon is an extra large longsword and my shield is made from the scale of a dragon.

「Uooooh!」

I push my shield forward to block the incoming thrust from an enemy knight’s spear.

We collide while maintaining our speeds.

The enemy’s spear hits my shield and then breaks like the stalk of a reed plant, while my shield still has enough momentum to carry it forward and bash the enemy knight.

Letting out a strange scream, the knight flies backward parallel to the ground and into another knight, causing both to tumble.

「Here’s one more.」

I see another enemy charing at me from the right and swing my longsword to meet him.

「Hmph, such a dull attack...... gyainn!」

The enemy read my large swing and casually blocks with his shield...... and was then sent flying 45 degrees up into the air.

Ooh, he flew into the chimney of a house and got stuck.

Having fought a dragon myself, I know firsthand how strong their bones are.

My sword doesn’t have a terrifyingly sharp edge, but the durability which allows me to swing it recklessly without worry of it breaking is reassuring.

「It’s cutting edge isn’t bad either. Oh, watch out Celia.」

An enemy charges straight for Celia, who is fighting alongside me, but I mow him down before he could do anything.

My slash accurately strikes his defenceless body and sparks fly.

The enemy loses everything from his waist up while the bottom half runs off to who-knows-where.

「He sliced apart a knight wearing full plate armor!?」

「Unbelievable! Is he a monster!?」

「Who are you calling a monster!?」

With a downward swing more focused on speed than power, I smash the helmet of one the soldiers.

I deflect the spear thrust coming from my left before bashing his face in with my shield.

The helmet caved in after the first attack and lots of blood squirted out from the under the helmet after the second attack.

The knight fell off his horse and didn’t move again.

「Don’t think you can intimidate us knights with that!」

More newcomers? I block the accelerated lance thrust. That didn’t break through my guard because the shield was heavy enough.

The deflected weapon scraped Schwartz’s ear.

「Woah.」

Schwartz moves right when the enemy was about to run past me.

The moment the soldier lines up with me, Schwartz rams his body into the hind legs of the opponent’s horse.

The horse staggers greatly after taking a tackle from the big framed Schwartz while running at full speed, then trips and breaks its leg with a disgusting snap.

Accompanied by a pained neigh, the horse collapses to the ground and flings the rider head first into a stone wall, who remains motionless after impact.

「Don’t get so upset over a small scratch to your ear.」

I laugh at Schwartz who wiggles his injured ear around unhappily.

This guy, he’s a no good horse with no patience at all.

Suddenly, I hear a sharp wind-cutting noise and tilt my body instinctively to dodge, but I feel something graze by my ear.

Seconds later, blood trickles down and I feel a slight pain. An enemy thrusted at me from the flank?

I immediately grab the spear and take it away from him.

「You fucker, now you’ve done it!」

「Hiih!」

I impale that soldier straight through the center of his body, then swing my longsword with him still skewered on the blade.

I drag him through trees breaking branches and trunks, crashing through the stone wall, and finally slamming into the ground.

At this point, he doesn’t look like a person anymore.

「Fuu, fuuu......」

Schwartz glances at me and seems to smirk.

If you’re going to make a weird face at me, I’ll pull that injured ear of yours.

I turn around and take a look at what’s going on around me.

「Yah! Toh!」

Gido, as expected of someone from the mountain nation, is skilled at fighting on horseback.

He uses his sword in close quarters, running past enemies as he delivers swift and accurate slashes to their necks.

He’s not strong enough to cut apart the soldiers through armor, but his powerful strikes should crush their throats or at least knock the wind out of them and send them flying off their horses.

「Sei! ......sore!」

He blocks the enemy’s spear and parries to the side, then sweeping at the enemy horse’s leg.

At the same time, he kicks the horse’s body, sending both the knight and horse tumbling.

He took out three enemies during the time I watched.

I’ll treat him to an orgy with three prostitutes when this is all over.

Gido doesn’t openly display his lust for women but I know he likes standing imposingly above several women and getting serviced from both sides.

「Doryyyaaah!」

Irijina is twirling her spear and keeping an enemy away.

When she sees the enemy give her an opening, her rapidly spinning spear slows down a little and then she unleashes a barrage of thrusts.

「Hmph! Hmp, hmp, hmp!」

「Guh, ooh, guwaaah!」

The enemy blocks the first attack with his shield, deflects the second attack with his sword, but staggers after taking the third attack in the arm, taking one more thrust to the face before falling off his horse.

「Wahahahaha! Skewer ‘em, skewer ‘em!」

She knocks another soldier off his horse with the butt of her spear and then stabs a soldier through the gaps of his helmet, skewering his head.

Irijina’s attack is heavy for a girl, capable of overpowering the average man.

Moreover, her thrusts are sharp and hard to dodge even if the course is an easy one.

When the fight is over, I’ll give her three...... her three holes a proper fucking.

It really gets me fired up when I embrace Irijina’s toned body and we fuck like beasts until we get sweaty.

「Aegir-sama, it’s dangerous!」

An enemy closes in on me as I was distracted by Irijina’s fight.

The soldier flies in from the side with his arm raised. Celia intercepts the opponent with her sword.

「Gyah!」

Her sword accurately travels through the gap of the enemy’s armor and draws blood.

Celia mercilessly slashes at the gap in the gauntlet of the screaming enemy and cuts deeply into his wrist.

If he takes off his armor, that hand will probably fall off.

The enemy grabs and holds onto his hand while falling off his horse.

「Bitch! I’ll kill you!」

The other enemy makes Celia his target. However, she skillfully parries the soldier’s sword.

She blocks the first downward swing at her head, then blocks the second horizontal sweep from the right. Both times, she precisely cancels out the momentum from the opponent’s strikes.

On the third clash, right when their swords meet, Celia twists her blade and rips the sword out of the enemy’s hand.

「Right there!」

Without delay, she turns her blade on its flat side and aims for the gap in between the enemy’s helmet and chest armor.

Her thrust enters the gap and cleanly pierces the enemy’s throat.

The agonizing groan and gushing blood let us know he was dead.

「I did it!」

Celia looks at me happily.

But there is still one enemy remaining.

「Celia, on the right!」

「Kyaa!」

A spear is thrust from her right side. Celia was able to defend herself somehow, but didn’t completely kill the force and loses her balance, falling from her horse.

When I see her hit the ground with a little scream, everything in front of me turns red.

「Bastard, how dare you do that to my Celia...... I’ll kill you.」

「Hiiih!」

I fully swing my longsword at the soldier, breaking the spear he tries to block me with.

At the same time, I throw aside my shield and grab the man.

I grab the writhing man’s helmet and twist with all my might until I hear a crack, bending the man’s neck strangely to one side.

「Stupid monster. I’ll exterminate you!」

「You too?」

When a soldier approaches from behind with a downward swing, I grasp his sword and then squeeze until I snap the blade.

I can see from the small slit in the man’s helmet his eyes warp with fear.

However, I’m not going to forgive anybody who hurts Celia.

I snatch the enemy’s collar, lift him up, set my aim and then throw him.

「Uwaaaaah............」

The man flies in a high arc and falls right where I aimed.

He probably can’t be saved after falling into the well while wearing full plate armor.

I take a look around me and let out a low growl, making everyone take a step back.

Now I can focus on saving Celia.

「I-I’m okay. This is not a problem.」

Celia stands up while shaking her head, then takes my hand and mounts Schwartz.

The nimble girl was able to reduce the impact of falling off her horse by rolling.

「I’ll get back to my horse. I can still fight......」

「No. Stay here and ride behind me.」

If something were to happen to you, there would be no meaning to this victory.

When I look at her with a serious expression, Celia blushes and clings obediently to my waist.

「I understand...... I’ll support you from the back.」

She puts away her sword and changes to a shorter throwing knife.

That’s a good girl. Schwartz also nods in agreement.

The state of battle is in our favor.

We’ve successfully pushed the enemy back from the first clash and the soldiers who fell off their horses in the beginning are starting to recover.

The escort squad are equipped with the dragon skin armor so they didn’t suffer any fatal injuries even after taking thrusts from enemy attacks or falling to the ground.

On the other hand, many of the enemies were rendered unable to fight after getting thrusts through their armor.

Now is the time to brute force our way through.

「Everyone push through, push through. We’ll push through all at once.」

I pick my shield up and raise my sword, then inspire the soldiers.

Our allied forces raise their swords in response while the enemy shrinks back in fear.

「The enemy’s morale has gone up.」「That’s nothing, it’ll be over if we crush the general!」

The two strange knights charge towards me.

「We are the twin swords of Karudia! Urugas of the spear!」「Zelgas of the sword! Prepare yourself!」

Whatever, just come at me.

Seeing them approach, Celia throws her knives.

While her aim was accurate, the two of them skillfully brushes away the attack with their spear and sword respectively, getting elated with their success.

「Hahaha! Such tricks won’t work against my sword. You’d have to attack simultaneously with that large sword of-...... gugyu!」

I bash the sword guy with my shield and ram him into the stone wall on the left.

「Apologies, my friend! I will take revenge on this-...... guhyo!」

I send the spear guy flying with my longsword into the wall of a residential house on the right.

「That’s it? What did you even show up for?」

All of a sudden, the allies beside me shout as loud as an explosion and start overwhelming the enemy.

The enemy knights look visibly shaken up.

Were those two just now really that strong?

Both of them crashed into stone walls and I can only see their asses now.

「Follow the chief. Let’s go!」

「Wahahahaha! I’ll skewer all of them!」

「We won’t lose either! I’ll turn this poverty into strength.」「Growl, Hinsoumaru. Take all my sorrow and strike the enemy with it!」

Gido leads the escort squad and cuts down enemies one after the other, Irijina goes wild in the enemy’s midst.

Viscount Binbo commands his subordinates and skillfully maintains formation to continue attacking persistently.

Baron Gokhin pushes forward with his household, cutting through the enemy formation.

As they pass Gido, he lights a fire under the escort squad to increase the intensity in their attacks.

「We suffered around 30 casualties...... the enemy has lost more than 100!」

Celia pops her head out from behind me and seems really pumped.

I guess that’s to be expected if we dealt an enemy with double our forces three times the amount of casualties.

Not to mention the enemy ranks are becoming messier.

The situation is to our advantage in more areas than just the death count.

「Just need one more push.」

「Right!」

Celia closes one of her eyes and takes aim with her knife.

「Yah.」

Her knife flies toward the ground, bounces off the stone steps and up into the enemy horse’s belly.

With a sharp neigh, the horse stands up on its hind legs and throws the knight off its back.

Despite being a heavy cavalry, the horse doesn’t have armor on its stomach.

It’s amazing how she can do something so skillful with a knife.

Being a quick-learner, Celia did the exact same thing to another horse, throwing another enemy soldier off.

「I’ll make up for my blunder.」

Celia looks at me, wanting me to praise her.

Alright, when this fight is over, I’ll make you moan lots.

「T-then that missionary position while you were petting my head...... doesn’t count! That was still during the fight.」

Celia’s face tenses up again.

The enemy knights are starting to retreat in disorder.

The battle occurring right now was just them defending our attack since they had no resources to spare to send forces to the front.

「Capture them!」

I urge Schwartz to gallop forward, scattering the enduring enemy.

Eventually the enemy could no longer push back and completely fell apart.

「The victory cry......」

I hold back Gido who wanted to raise his sword.

「Wait, it’s not over yet.」

A different group of heavy cavalry lined up in front of us. There are about 1000 of them.

「It’s gotten interesting. Follow me.」

I stand in front of the faltering allies and shout out.

Celia is also with me, clinging to my waist, as she lets out an adorable voice.

The morale of the veteran escort squad hasn’t broken yet. The fight might get a little bit tougher, but other than that everything is the same.

When we were in the middle of making our way towards the enemy, a familiar sound resounds.

「An arrow from headquarters......? Red smoke? The signal to retreat!?」

「Retreat, you say? What is he thinking?」

Leopolt should be the one giving the order.

Why do I have to listen to that guy’s order to retreat, it makes me super unwilling, although he’s not the kind of guy to do meaningless things.

Being on the front lines, I can’t get a good grasp on the entire picture.

I should listen and pull back for now.

「Stop the charge! We’re retreating!」

「Halt, halt! Pull back!」

Our formation becomes disorganized at the sudden order to retreat.

The enemy takes the chance to line up their spears and starts charging at us.

To be honest, the situation has gotten pretty bad.

「If we lose like this, I’m destroying his ass.」

「I’ll help as well.」

Celia and I speak bitterly as we stand down, trying to organize our troops again while we watch the enemy come closer and closer.

Just when I was about to draw my longsword to fight a disadvantageous fight, a group of spearmen jump out in front of us from a nearby alley.

Two rows of spears align in no time and we hear the sounds of clashing metal as they engage the enemy.

The spearmen waver slightly, but the overall formation doesn’t crumble.

The enemy cavalry who maintains their speed fruitlessly charges into the group of spears only to get stabbed while those who manage to stop in time get shot with crossbows and thrown into disorder.

「Another signal arrow!」

A green-burning arrow gets released from headquarters.

And then loud shouts and sounds of metal impacts can be heard from within the enemy ranks.

「Ally infantry is attacking the enemy from the flank! It looks like they made a detour around from the alleys.」

While we were fighting on the main street, they gained control over the surrounding alleys and circled around.

Behind the scenes of the main battle, they pushed their way through the smaller paths.

「The enemy is split up! The vanguard has also lost their momentum.」

The new enemy was stopped by the wall of spears and are even being attacked on the flanks, dampening their attacks even further.

Next is our turn to counterattack. We just got the escort squad in order.

「Spear squad, open a path. We’ll take over from here.」

Under excellent leadership, the spearmen clear the road promptly.

The enemy becomes confused from the movement on our side, but it didn’t take long for us to ready our weapons and charge forward.

We run through the enemy who tries to slow us down.

The attacks by the infantry on their flanks also seem to get stronger, causing the enemy to flee.

What follows from that point was a one-sided rout.

We proceed along the main street and, along with the infantry controlling the side streets, steadily take full control of the city.

The enemy abandons half the city and withdraws.

I thought they would retreat to the remaining half of the city centered around the feudal lord’s mansion and reorganize their troops to defend, but.......

「They surrendered?」

「Yessir! The Honorable Bagleylan is telling the commander of the Royal army that he has surrendered!」

Wittmann and I look at each other.

We have the advantage in this fight, but the enemy still has plenty of forces remaining.

I feel like it’s too soon for them to surrender.

「How strange. The rebelling nobles should understand that they will be executed along with their families once they surrender. They should be fighting until the end.」

Wittmann doesn’t seem convinced either.

「In line with this, they want to negotiate directly with the commander......」

「He surrendered and wants Aegir-sama to come? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?」

Celia’s right. However, there’s no point telling this to the messenger.

「Fine, I’ll go.」

「Aegir-sama!?」

「Disarm all the soldiers. The Royal army will confirm that it’s done.」

If you want me to come, I will.

I’ll listen to whatever excuse you have for causing a rebellion.

「One more thing, Governor General Dunois.」

「What is it?」

「Looting the city is absolutely forbidden. The governorate army and feudal lords will enforce the rule.」

I glare at him, sending a message that he will take responsibility if it were to happen.

Based on what I’ve seen, who knows what the governorate army will do, which is why I need to be strict.

「I will take that to heart.」

Dunois silently lowers his head.

For him to maintain that attitude makes me feel even more creeped out.

Bagleylan Residence

「Welcome, glad of you to come Commander Hardlett-dono. I am this city’s feudal lord, Bakleylan1.」

After confirming the total disarmament of the independent faction, the escort squad accompany me into the mansion.

The enemy soldiers obediently throw down their weapons and don’t offer much resistance.

Bakleylan himself kneels with his household and subordinates with their heads hanging.

I can’t find anything unusual with his etiquette for surrendering.

「The disarmament of your soldiers has been confirmed. You’re surrendering to me, right?」

Bakleylan looks to be over 40 years old.

He’s not young, but not old enough to be considered elderly, as I can clearly feel a strong spirit behind his covered eyes.

At the very least, he doesn’t look like the type of person who would for the sake of his citizens’ safety...... offer his own life.

「Regarding that matter, I would like to speak to you privately.」

「How daring of you to clear people out after surrendering.」

「There’s a limit to how dull you can be! Do you want to be killed on the spot!?」

「Negotiating with rude folk is unnecessary. Cut him down.」

Wittmann yells while Myla draws her sword.

「Now wait, no point in yelling after we’ve come this far.」

I hold the two of them back and step forward.

「I’ll listen to what you have to say. Everyone, step outside for a bit.」

「At least let a few guards stay......」

I smile at Myla to reassure her that I’ll be fine.

As long as they fortify the entrance, I won’t be done in even if two or three assassins try to kill me.

「......don’t forget, if you’re planning something unsavory, a cruel death will be awaiting you, your family and your vassals. You’ll regret ever being born.」

Everyone exits the room after Myla finishes threatening.

The only ones left in the room are Bakleylan, myself and Celia.

When Myla was about to close the door, she falls to her knees.

「Why is Celia-san not moving!?」

「I am part of Aegir-sama’s body. It’s natural for me to be with him.」

「Celia is special. Let her stay.」

If she isn’t here, I might forget what that guy tells me.

Celia smiles after what I said, while Myla sulks.

「So, Bakleylan was it? That’s how it is. I’m letting her sit with us.」

Bakleylan seems unhappy but I’m not willing to compromise on this.

If he insists not saying anything while Celia’s here, I’ll just have to follow through with standard practice and execute him on the spot.

「......Understood.」

「Uuu...... not fair......」

Bakleylan nods and Myla leaves the room with puffed up cheeks.

Sorry, I’ll give you lots of affection later to make it up to you.

「Alright, let’s hear what you have to say. Or are you going to try to assassinate me?」

I pull up a random chair, plop myself on it and cross my legs.

In the bottom of my heart, I kind of figured that nothing but an unsightly excuse would come out of his mouth.

Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett. 24 years old. Winter.

Status: Goldonia Kingdom Margrave. Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area. Mountain Legend. Friend of the Dwarves. Friend of the King of Aless. Dragon Slayer Hero.

Elf Mediator.

Citizens: 175,000. Refugees: 1500

Major Cities – Rafen: 26,000. Lintbloom: 5000. Vandolea Special Town: 9000.

Accompanying:

Leopolt (staff officer), Tristan (staff officer), Celia (adjutant), Myla (commander), Irijina (commander)

Gido (escort troops), Christoph (escort troops), Wittmann (Royal army corps commander), Agor (battalion commander)

Dunois (Magrado Governor General)

Army under command:

Royal Army – 4th Army Corps: 12 500 men, Governorate Army: 5800 men, Advance guard: 2000

Escort Squad: 95, Poor Group Vassals: 75

Appointed: Polte (administrator of refugees)

Assets: 19,500 gold

Sexual Partners: 420, children who have been born: 55 + 555 fish

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