I Was Reincarnated as a Marquis in Another World

Waving the flag to boost the morale of my troops, I moved to the far left of the front row of knights.

If I were to suffer serious injuries or die as the overall commander, it would mean defeat in this battle.

As I charged toward the enemies, I planted the flag I was holding into the flagpole on my left and took the solid halberd hanging to the right of my horse in both hands.

After switching my weapons and about 20 seconds had passed, I could see the enemies gradually getting closer to me.

When I raised the flag to encourage my allies, the enemies, which had seemed small from a distance, began to appear the size of my hand.

At this distance… it was about time to prepare for a full-speed charge…

Before commanding a full-speed charge, I glanced at the knights next to me.

Fortunately, all of my knights were running close enough for their knees to almost touch, without a single one lagging behind.

Though I couldn’t tell what expression they were wearing under their helmets or what thoughts were in their minds as they charged at the “iron wall” of hundreds of kilos…

Overcoming the fear of charging the iron wall, my subordinates rushing toward the enemies proudly and magnificently as knights made me swell with pride.

So, I shouted loudly to encourage them with all my might.

“Let us show those who have defiled our honor the bravery and dignity of Croilet!! All units, increase speed!”

Hearing my words, the knights raised their shields in unison before lowering them and responded.

“Long live Count Croilet!!”

With that cheer behind me, I stared at the enemies before me.

Knights riding gigantic horses, each weighing over 500-600 kilos, clad in dazzling armor that shone silver under the sunlight, approached us like a wall.

Each pointed their lances emblazoned with their family crests at us, slowly advancing to kill us, and for a moment, I felt a bit intimidated.

Yet I quickly steadied my resolve again, gripping the halberd I held in both hands to execute the tactic assigned to me: “Charge and then disengage.”

As we got closer to the enemies, and I could start seeing the stains on each other’s helmets, I quickly grabbed the reins and slightly disengaged from the charging formation.

The second row’s Frost, who had been just behind me and already aware of this, filled in the gap, and then…

Our forces clashed with the enemy.

Amidst a chaos unfolding, horses screamed as they were impaled by lances, bleeding profusely, while knights who were protected by armor but fell from their mounts headfirst onto the ground for unknown reasons met their end.

“Heeheehee!!”

“Aaaah!”

“Hold on!! If you fall, you die!!”

Then, the second and third rows collided with the enemy at a slightly slower pace than before.

As soon as they clashed, some knights from both our forces and the enemy fell from their horses due to being stabbed by lances or thrusts between their armor.

Among the fallen knights, some would have died, while others surely survived.

The gruesome scene unfolding before my eyes made my heart race wildly, and my instincts screamed, “If we don’t turn back now, we’ll all perish.”

However, I overcame that fear and returned to the sixth row of the charging formation.

Before long, we began to reorganize the formation, and knights who had fallen from their horses but weren’t seriously injured began to return to their lines.

Strangely, during this time, neither our forces nor the enemy attacked the returning knights, waiting as they reformed their lines.

Then, both we and the enemy maintained a certain distance again, discarding broken lances on the ground.

After throwing them down, each of us took our swords, maces, axes, or hammers in both hands and prepared to charge at each other once more.

At that moment, I entrusted all command to Frost and followed behind in the sixth row, armed with my specially prepared halberd.

As the enemy came closer, Frost raised his sword high into the air and proclaimed.

“Do not fear those youngsters! Our lord Count Croilet is watching over us! Charge!!”

As his words ended, the knights raised their weapons high into the air and began to shout loudly.

Whether that shout was a declaration of intent to annihilate the enemies or a struggle to cast off the “fear” I had just felt, I was unsure.

But I too joined them and shouted with all my might.

“Waaah!!!”

With that yell, I forgot the fear inside me.

Finally, the front row began to engage the enemy with their weapons, and consecutively the next rows joined in the fray.

Naturally, being at the very back, I found myself face to face with a knight in front of me, whose identity I did not know.

Here, I found myself in a dilemma between two choices.

Should I prioritize survival as the overall commander and retreat behind the knights…

Or should I, as a ‘Baron’ leading knights, fight that fellow over there?

No matter which option I chose, simply standing in the first line of the lance charge meant that my honor wouldn’t diminish regardless of the outcome…

Given this, I might fight better than a ‘soldier,’ but I was weaker compared to a ‘knight’…

Alright, I’ll fulfill my role of encouraging the troops from behind.

So, I calmly surveyed my surroundings to find a route to retreat.

First, I needed to turn left or right to escape, but there was no space to gain speed and get away.

This was because many other knights were already in close combat.

Ultimately, looking around the battlefield I was fighting on, the only path left for me to retreat was to attack the enemies head-on and circle wide.

In that case, I should resolve to strike down the knight before me with my own hand.

And to deceive him as if we were going to duel at the battlefield, I shouted loudly to the knight in front of me and charged.

“I am SIEL von Croilet! Take my blade!!”

Assuming I was requesting a fair duel by announcing my name and saying I was the lord of such and such, perhaps he was caught off guard, as he began to gallop a bit slower than me.

Seizing that gap…

I struck the enemy’s helmet with the head of the halberd, knocking him off his mount.

Seeing him tumble headfirst, I couldn’t determine who it was, but it certainly was fatal.

**

Afterward, I did not leave the battlefield but watched the situation while keeping the enemy cavalry at bay in the knight formation in the sixth row.

Currently, the enemy cavalry appeared exhausted, no longer able to run, while our cavalry, though panting, still had some strength left.

Given we had pushed this far, it felt as though we had essentially won the battlefield of knights.

Not long after, I heard the sound of a trumpet announcing even better news in my ears.

‘Buuuuuu’

The trumpet’s sound signaled that we had broken through the enemy infantry formation.

Upon hearing that, the knights raised their swords overhead and shouted.

“Hooray!!”

“We have won!!”

“Long live Deus! Long live Count Croilet!”

Then, Frost, who had been leading the knights in my stead, approached me and said.

“Our knights still have some strength left. Shall we go support the infantry?”

To be honest, I felt like I’d be dead soon.

Even though my body has the energy to engage in cavalry warfare, I had essentially fought non-stop for what felt like several tens of minutes.

However, considering the situation rationally…

Whether or not I supported the infantry would affect the scale of casualties among them and the scale of victory in this battle.

Therefore…

“All knights with strength, follow me! You need not push yourselves!”

Upon hearing my words, one-third of the knights detached from the battlefield to return to the main camp, while the remaining knights followed behind me.

Once I confirmed that, I began to charge toward the spot where our infantry was fighting, approximately one kilometer away.

One kilometer was a distance that could be covered in just about 10 minutes on horseback, but that time felt incredibly long to me, having become utterly worn out.

After briefly halting about 100 meters from where the infantry was fighting to catch my breath and assess the situation, I looked for a place to charge.

Upon closer inspection, our infantry had surrounded the enemy’s infantry from the front, right, and left, with their rear exposed.

Since the enemy was unlikely to have the relaxation to observe us…

If we charged with full force faster than the cavalry did, we could deal a substantial blow.

From the state of our knights, it seemed we would have to charge once and disengage.

However, that one impact would greatly shake the course of the infantry battle.

For that final charge, I raised my halberd high with my right hand and surveyed the knights around me.

“All! Attack the enemy infantry’s rear and then disengage back to the main camp! Pour in your last ounce of strength! Charge!!”

Then, my knights and I charged forth with all our might to stab at the backs of the enemy infantry.

A few seconds after our charge began, several enemy infantry soldiers began to raise alarms, realizing they had to be on guard.

“50-man commander!! 50-man commander!! Look behind you!!”

“We’re all going to die like this!!”

“But, there are even enemies coming from the front…”

Even though they realized we were charging, the enemy infantry, already on the verge of collapse, were completely unprepared for our assault.

As a result, we attacked their soft rear in a wedge formation with nearly no resistance.

With horses over 500 kilos clad in heavy armor trampling down the enemies, those struck were sent flying, and we followed up with accelerated strikes from our swords and axes.

As a result, the enemy infantry began to bleed, their insides being crushed, and they started to die with holes in their heads.

Occasionally, the remaining enemy soldiers who had survived where we passed seemed to have lost all will to resist, falling to their knees and beginning to wet themselves.

Just as we finished our charge and prepared to head back to the main camp…

When I looked back, the enemy soldiers had completely lost their will to fight, and even the last bulwark upholding the enemy morale, their commanding officers, began gazing at our troops with eyes that indicated they had given up.

At that moment, I instinctively realized that this battle had concluded as “a complete victory for our side.”

So, I grabbed the flag planted on the left side of my horse with both hands and waved it to show we had won before declaring.

“Surrender!!”

Hearing my words, the enemy soldiers quietly lowered their weapons and knelt, expressing their intent to surrender.

It was the moment we had secured a complete victory in this war.

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