“Young lord, our reinforcements have arrived!”
“I was worried Dwayne wouldn’t make it in time!”
This was exactly what Ian had been aiming for.
While they held the line, the detachment led by Dwayne, which had been harassing the enemy’s advance, gathered at the designated rendezvous point and struck from the rear.
It was a classic hammer-and-anvil tactic.
The timing of the detachment’s arrival was crucial to this operation.
Too early or too late, and the plan would fail. They had to hit at just the right moment.
‘That was close.’
It would have been better if they had arrived a bit earlier, but Ian was relieved they weren’t too late.
“T-the Schrantz forces are attacking from behind!”
“St-stop them! Do whatever it takes to stop them!”
Despite their desperate attempts to hold the line, fear gripped the enemy.
“Charge!”
Led by Dwayne, the cavalry crashed into the enemy’s rear, followed by infantry who joined the battle and began to overwhelm the enemy.
The enemy’s formation quickly crumbled under the sudden attack from behind.
Ian, who had quickly assessed the overall situation using his tactical map, shouted.
“The enemy’s formation at 2 o’clock has collapsed! Push them back!”
“Charge!”
Once the formation broke, the situation spiraled out of control.
The relentless assault by Schrantz’s soldiers caused irreparable damage.
But it wasn’t just the formation that collapsed.
“We’re surrounded! We’re surrounded!”
“What the hell is going on?!”
The sudden turn of events left the enemy in utter chaos.
While only a portion of their forces were truly surrounded, individual soldiers couldn’t grasp the bigger picture in the chaos of battle.
“Weren’t we supposed to outnumber them?! Why are we the ones surrounded?!”
Some even began to believe that Schrantz had more troops and that they were the ones being encircled.
The enemy’s morale, already low before the battle even began, plummeted further.
The only thing keeping their discipline intact was the belief that they held the advantage.
But now, the terror of being surrounded shattered what little morale they had left.
And the result…
—
[The morale of the anti-Schrantz alliance has plummeted!]
[The morale of the anti-Schrantz alliance has completely collapsed. The enemy is paralyzed by fear and has lost the will to fight.]
—
“R-run away! These guys aren’t human!”
“W-we surrender! Please, spare our lives!”
They began to throw down their weapons in mass, either surrendering or fleeing the battlefield.
—
[Erce’s forces have been repelled: 1/1 (Completed)]
[Filchner’s forces have been repelled: 1/1 (Completed)]
[Darion’s forces have been repelled: 1/1 (Completed)]
[The ‘Anti-Schrantz Alliance’ quest has been completed.]
[Level up…]
—
The quest completion message popped up.
With the enemy no longer willing to fight, the territorial war had been won.
But Ian had no time to celebrate the messages flashing before his eyes.
“Young Lord Ian, the enemy commanders are fleeing!”
As the situation rapidly changed, the commanders of the anti-Schrantz alliance, who had been observing from a distance, hastily turned their horses to escape.
Ian ignored all the messages and shouted.
“Cavalry! Call the cavalry!”
A soldier who heard his command began waving a flag vigorously.
Even amidst the fierce battle, there were still troops held in reserve.
The cavalry, carefully preserved until now, was under Hubert’s command.
They had been kept in reserve to either open a retreat path or deliver the final blow when the tide turned, as it had now.
If things had gone worse, the plan was to let Hubert escape to Rosen to ensure the future.
But the situation had turned out well.
Now it was Hubert’s turn to finish the job.
“Follow me! We’ll pursue the instigators of this territorial war to the end! Don’t let them escape!”
Thud thud thud thud—!
The cavalry began a fierce pursuit to capture the leaders of the anti-Schrantz alliance.
—
* * *
—
Count Erce couldn’t believe the current situation.
They had lost. He had lost.
It wasn’t just a loss—it was a devastating defeat beyond anything he had imagined.
To avoid capture, they had to abandon as much of their equipment as possible.
He had never imagined they would lose.
Their forces were numerous, while Schrantz’s were a mere handful.
He, along with the other lords, had been confident of an easy victory.
‘But what the hell is this?!’
He even began to suspect he was trapped in a nightmare.
A particularly cruel one at that.
But no matter how much he denied it, reality didn’t change.
Even he had to admit how ridiculous the situation was.
‘We need to move quickly.’
Count Erce was frantic, worried that the Schrantz forces would pursue them at any moment.
But things didn’t go as planned.
The horses were already exhausted and no longer obeyed commands properly.
They had been marching and running without proper rest, and the horses had reached their limit.
Some guards had even died after their horses collapsed from exhaustion, foaming at the mouth.
“Only take your weapons. Discard your armor on the roadside to lighten the load.”
In the end, his decision was to discard even the armor they were wearing.
They had to lighten the load as much as possible to allow the horses to run longer.
“What? Now you’re telling us to discard our armor too? Have you no pride?!”
Count Filchner, unable to hold back any longer, shouted at Count Erce.
Ignoring him, Count Erce began removing his armor and throwing it onto the roadside.
Watching this, Count Filchner grew even angrier and finally exploded.
“We couldn’t even reach the village we initially aimed for, and hundreds of innocent soldiers died in this wilderness! And now we’re fleeing in disgrace! This is all your fault! I’m leaving! I don’t want to stay with you any longer!”
“Are you betraying me?”
Count Erce’s expression darkened, and the atmosphere among his guards grew tense.
They had agreed to see this through together, but now that the situation had turned against them, Count Filchner was ready to abandon him.
Count Filchner had his own calculations.
If they split up, the chances of returning to their territories would increase.
He believed that Schrantz, given its current state, wouldn’t have the strength to march on his territory with their forces.
Moreover, he was convinced that this was the only way to safely return to his territory.
He believed that Schrantz would prioritize capturing Count Erce over anyone else.
While their relationship with Schrantz was bad, Count Erce’s was even worse.
So bad, in fact, that they couldn’t stand the thought of breathing the same air.
And since Count Erce was the main force behind this alliance, it was certain that Schrantz would pursue him first.
“Count Filchner is right!”
Darion, quick to catch on, sided with Count Filchner.
“My soldiers and knights, except for the guards, have either been captured or killed! This is entirely Count Erce’s fault.”
“Count Darion, let’s go!”
“Yes, Count Filchner!”
In the end, they decided to abandon Count Erce and flee on their own.
Count Erce’s face turned red and purple in rapid succession.
“Now you’re trying to pin all the blame on me?!”
He shouted in protest, but his words were nothing more than empty echoes.
They didn’t even pretend to listen. However…
Thud thud thud thud—!
The sound of hooves and the trembling ground from not too far away turned their faces pale.
They had been too busy arguing among themselves to notice the approaching enemy.
“How could no one notice until the sound was this close?! Didn’t we set up sentries?!”
If the enemy was approaching, the sentries should have warned them.
But even now, with the sound of hooves and the ground shaking, no sentries had reported.
“We did! It seems they’ve fled!”
“Damn it all!”
In this situation where nothing was going as planned, they hurriedly tried to mount their horses.
“Capture them! End this war! Spare those who surrender, but cut down anyone who resists!”
“Charge!”
It was already too late to escape the rapidly approaching Schrantz cavalry.
—
* * *
—
About an hour had passed.
“Young lord, it’s a great victory! We’ve captured a staggering 400 prisoners!”
The number of prisoners alone was twice the size of Schrantz’s entire army.
They hadn’t expected to capture so many, and they were running out of ropes to bind them.
Still, the one saving grace was that the enemy had completely lost the will to fight.
They sat quietly in rows, not even thinking of resisting.
This was the most successful and significant victory Ian had achieved in all the battles he had fought.
But Ian wasn’t smiling.
“By now, the casualties on our side must have been tallied, right?”
“…Yes.”
It was clear at a glance that their numbers had also diminished.
Ian took a few deep breaths before asking.
“Report.”
Oswell spoke heavily.
“28 dead, 47 wounded. Five of the wounded are in critical condition, so the number of dead may increase.”
Ian gave a bitter smile.
“We’ve lost many excellent soldiers.”
Though it was a great victory, their own losses were by no means small.
‘If this were a game, I wouldn’t have cared.’
But knowing that each of them was a life made his heart ache.
“That’s true. But if it weren’t for you, young lord, the losses would have been much greater.”
Casualties are inevitable in battle.
It’s the commander’s ability that determines how much those casualties can be reduced.
Ian had demonstrated that ability, significantly reducing the number of sacrifices.
‘If it were me, I wouldn’t have even thought of winning in the field.’
It was Ian who had proposed not calling them to Rosen, engaging in battle as soon as the territorial war began, and consolidating the frontlines.
From before the war, he had accurately predicted how they would act and used the terrain, weather, and everything else to secure victory.
Oswell knew that Ian’s contribution to this victory was immense.
Though Ian himself was smiling bitterly, thinking he could have done better.
‘…That would be greed, wouldn’t it?’
Ian consoled himself, thinking it was fortunate things had ended at this point.
“Charge!”
Suddenly, cheers erupted from one area.
It didn’t seem like an attack or an ambush, but rather cheers of joy.
Turning his head, Ian saw the cavalry returning after capturing the enemy command.
“Brother! Look at this! We’ve captured them all!”
Hubert, with a triumphant smile befitting his age, was enjoying in the moment.
Behind the cavalry, a large number of captured enemies were being dragged along on horseback.
Even further back were the leaders of the families that had started this war, all bound.
‘Well done.’
Fortunately, they had succeeded in capturing all of them.
This meant that Ian had achieved the overwhelming and perfect victory he had envisioned before the war.
The lords of the anti-Schrantz alliance, bound and dragged along, were forced to dismount by the soldiers and kneel before Ian.
“What is this? Look at you!”
Though uninjured, their appearance was pitiful.
Having been captured and rolled in the mud, they were covered in dirt.
That much was understandable, but what was more surprising was the state of Count Erce’s forces.
They looked nothing like soldiers who had gone to war, lacking even the armor and helmets they should have been wearing.
Even when nobles are disarmed, it’s customary to only confiscate their weapons in front of soldiers, whether they are enemies or allies, and remove their armor separately later to preserve their dignity.
