NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39
“Prince Kael! A-are you okay?!”
“Your Highness the Princess.”
“Don’t move! Blood, blood! Blood!!”
“Your Highness?”
“Keep talking. Keep breathing!”
“….”
Your Highness the Princess. Anyone who heard her would think an arrow was stuck right in my chest.
But it was just a blind arrow that grazed my neck; there’s no need to be so dramatic.
Ah, of course, if it had gone a little deeper, I would have been in serious trouble.
Who would have thought it would be the Clausewitz Family? Their innate nature, marked by blood, has come through.
Even wounded, I’m like, “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m not dead,” brushing it off.
Father used to act like that on the battlefield, and later Mother would give him a good earful, right?
“I’m really fine, Your Highness. Look! The wound isn’t that deep.”
“You can’t say it that easily! Prince Kael is a vital person to lead our Empire into the future! A wound, big or small, is still a wound!”
“Besides, it wasn’t aimed at me over there; it just happened to land here by luck.”
“Stop talking nonsense! Do you even know how terrifying a battlefield is? Even the top commander can easily lose their life there!”
It’s scary. The fierce determination of the Princess leaves me speechless.
It feels like a husband who got himself into trouble getting scolded by his wife.
The Princess, determined to pull me to safety, began to tend to my wounds.
Pressing a clean gauze against the wound and wrapping it in bandages— Your Highness, please be gentle.
“Alright. Just rest a bit here.”
“I can’t. I must return to my position.”
“Do you really have to? You’re not even a commander! Advisors and strategists should be in safe places!”
“Well—”
“It’s not just about lacking combat ability or courage. Losing key advisors or strategists can be more detrimental to the army. Commanders have their roles, and advisors and strategists have theirs. It’s just common sense. Prince Kael.”
“….”
That’s not wrong. Yeah. The mind doesn’t need to do the work of hands and feet.
It wouldn’t be cutting off my hands and feet. If my head gets smashed, that would really be the worst outcome.
Wasn’t that the case with the master strategist Bangtong, who was said to have defeated everyone but fell in battle when hit by an arrow from the winning side?
For Liu Bei, losing a core strategist in such a foolish manner must have been enough to drive him to despair.
“Your Highness.”
But still.
“I will return to my position.”
“Prince Kael!”
“Ultimately, it was I who created this situation. I led this battle. Although I can’t fight alongside you, at least I need to see the same battlefield. To see those who fight. Those who get hurt. And… even those who fall.”
I recall Father’s words. Whether swinging weapons on the battlefield or discussing strategies from afar,
what everyone must do is observe the fighters.
Knowing the horrors of the battlefield is vital to discussing what comes next.
“So I must return.”
“…sigh.”
Thankfully, the Princess no longer tried to stop me.
She simply sighed a few times before suddenly shooting me a glare and continuing.
“Was this your way of telling me to hurry back?”
“Your Highness’s situation is entirely different from mine. How could an ordinary noble and a Princess…”
“Without a Princess, it would be one issue, but if there’s no one who can change the tide of war like you, that’s a serious problem. Even if it were my sister, I would have sent you instead of her.”
It’s merely luck, I wanted to say, but that would get me another reprimand.
Honestly, it feels unfair. Just stepping back a bit makes it look like all my efforts were mere fortune.
True, I used the enemy’s psychology, but what if one corner hadn’t worked out?
Plans and all, they could fall apart before they even got a chance to unfold.
Real genius strategists likely have prepared a backup plan for such scenarios.
Or they would implement another plan that must culminate in victory.
Meanwhile, here I am, no matter how positively framed. I’m just a follower following along.
—Waaah!!
Arriving back in the legion’s ranks, a massive roar filled the surroundings.
Spears clashed, and sparks and debris flew everywhere.
When someone shouted, another screamed in response.
This is war. The most intricate and brutal scene of violence created by humans.
Seeing that immense bloodlust rising ahead makes my knees shake.
“Your Highness.”
“Are you going to leave now? Good decision.”
“No, that’s not it. You keep calling me an advisor casually.”
“An advisor is an advisor! What would you call it?”
As I was about to say something, the Princess cut me off.
“You said you created the situation. You said you led the battle. Prince Kael, you spoke those words yourself. What does that imply? It’s acknowledging yourself as the strategist, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not. As I said, I only played the role of a decoy. So, I…”
Ugh, Your Highness the Princess. You really must listen until the end.
If you dismiss what I say and turn your head, it only adds to my embarrassment!
“Your Highness, if you call someone like me a strategist, the real strategists will be upset.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Just hear me out. Those great strategists are on an entirely different level; they make battles like these seem trivial….”
“Yes, yes. I understand.”
Damn it. I’m in trouble. There’s no sign of her even thinking of listening.
Why won’t she believe me? If a true strategist were here, they would have summoned a southern wind right now!
“Speaking of which, Kaya, when is that girl coming?”
When an unexpected arrow zipped past me, it was no wonder Kaya freaked out.
Seeing me bleed, she suddenly ran off somewhere.
When I asked what she was doing, she said she was getting a large shield.
I thought it sounded reasonable and told her to hurry back, but after that, it became eerily silent.
She wouldn’t be trying to steal a soldier’s shield because she doesn’t know where to find one, right?
That wouldn’t do. If she did that, it would stir up some strange rumors later.
“The eldest son of a noble house, too busy with his life to snatch a soldier’s shield….”
Wow, just imagining it makes me want to print that as a headline!
“Prince Kael?”
“Let’s drop the strategist talk, Your Highness. We can discuss that later…”
“That’s not it! Look over there! Look!”
“Look where?!”
I followed her direction and turned my head.
Up ahead, faintly visible in the distance, was the front line of the 7th Legion.
Amidst fierce clashes with the Burgai forces, a furious whirlwind was forming among them.
With every pass of that whirlwind, the Burgai troops were sent flying in all directions.
“What the heck is that?”
At first, I thought it was a real whirlwind. But it wasn’t.
The first thing that came into view was a warhorse. And riding it was a warrior.
She’s quite small. She looks even smaller with a long spear in hand.
But as that little warrior swings their spear, Burgai troops fall.
I stared at the scene, dumbfounded, before instinctively shouting.
“Kaya!”
*
The Burgai command was doing everything possible to lead their forces.
“Attack! Attack!!”
“Push forward! More, more! If we lose here—no, if we can’t secure a victory, it means our families and relatives will become slaves to the Empire!”
“If you’re gonna die, at least take one down with you! If you can’t do that, at least bite and claw!”
Just a moment ago, they were planning for ‘defense’ and ‘counterattack’ against the Imperial Legion.
Yet suddenly, their roles reversed. The defenders turned into attackers.
It caused some confusion, but it wasn’t a significant issue.
“The 17th Legion of the Empire has appeared on our left flank!”
“Don’t mind them! They’re just a bunch of desperate soldiers trying to aid the 7th Legion! The real threat lies in the center and left flank! As long as we hold them off, that’s enough! Target the 7th Legion! Push forward!”
Victory at all costs. Deliver a devastating blow to the enemy.
That’s the only way to halt the unstoppable Imperial forces currently pressing down on us.
Even if it doesn’t work, there’s a chance to persuade Kaden, who’s lurking about.
The Empire is massive. Their army numbers close to 400,000.
But that’s just the total troop count. The Empire has borders alongside foreign nations.
Thus, the maximum power the Empire can deploy across the borders is around 100,000.
Combined with all the forces of Burgai and Kaden, it amounts to about 80,000.
‘The Kaden faction is currently observing. Once they see a chance against the Empire, they will surely rush to support us!’
Therefore, this battle holds more importance than ever.
If we secure one more victory, we could make Burgai’s superiority known to the world.
The morale of the Imperial Legion would plummet, so such a statement isn’t mere fantasy.
Just a little more. Just a little more. Any minuscule change would suffice.
Something that could decide the outcome of this tense standoff, I desperately wish for my side to bring it forth. If they could…
“Uwaaaah!!”
“Uwaaaah!!”
Suddenly, the screaming from the front grew louder.
It wasn’t due to a surge in enemy attacks.
The frontline was collapsing too quickly for that.
“That’s a single cavalry unit causing chaos among us!”
“Send knights immediately! Even taking down just one of those things could shift our momentum!”
“Surround them! We must mount them down!”
There’s no such thing as fairness on the battlefield.
While it may be intended to boost morale, it could just as easily backfire.
Even taking down a few of them could have the opposite effect.
“Let any knights cling to them! We must at all costs…”
The issue is, that the opponent is far beyond what they anticipated.
“What… what is that?”
“What the hell! What is this!?”
“Uwaaaah!!
The moment I saw a single swing of the spear take down several knights,
when the arrows intended to unseat them and the nets they threw fell apart,
I felt like that single warrior was breaking their formation like a ferocious beast.
Burgai realized the Empire had another hidden ace.
“Block them! Block them!”
“Damn it! Damn it!”
“Uwaaaah!”
“Aaaah!”
The mere fact that a single person can create such devastation is unbelievable.
Whether they be common soldiers or seasoned knights, they become lost souls under that warrior’s spear.
Spear shafts blocking the way. Shields that want to form a wall. All shatter with that one thrust.
Turning the tide of battle through individual power is nearly impossible.
However, when such impossibility turns into possibility due to a select few humans arriving at the scene,
the atmosphere of battle, the balance, and the outcome can change in an instant.
To what extent had they kept this hidden?
How far had they led us into misjudgment?
Looking at the advancing forces of the Empire, they instinctively realized.
This battle—no, this war would spell their own defeat.