Rose Empire

Chapter 52 - Two Major Victories

Unable to launch an attack on Monte Wei City, Antanas and his troops were forced to spend the majority of the night outside its inner walls.

It wasn't until the late hours that the fires within Little Sassinian's inner city began to die down, showing clear signs of extinguishing. Only then did Antanas regain his composure and prepare to launch an assault.

Suddenly, a massive eagle descended from the sky. A young, visibly panicked citizen jumped off its back and, upon seeing Antanas, cried out in a trembling voice, "Elder Antanas, please save Ambratu! Ambratu has been breached!"

"What did you say?" Antanas gripped the young man's arm. "What happened to Ambratu?"

"Ambratu has been breached! Little Sassinian forces launched a surprise attack! The city is burning!" the young citizen wailed.

"What?!" Antanas' face went pale.

"Ambratu… breached?"

"How is that possible?"

"Why did this happen?"

"Those damned Little Sassinian people!"

…

The giant eagle's descent captured everyone's attention, and the young citizen's cries were loud enough for all the Ambratu soldiers to hear the devastating news.

"How many Little Sassinian troops attacked Ambratu?" Antanas asked.

"I don't know, I don't know," the young citizen stammered, clearly distraught with tears streaming down his face. "Little Sassinian people were everywhere, killing, setting fires… Elder, please, you must save Ambratu, I beg you…"

Antanas' face turned ashen. No matter how many times he had defeated Little Sassinian, it could never compensate for the loss of Ambratu.

Often, citizens react more strongly to immediate, painful losses than to long-term gains. Apo had failed to understand this in the past, leading to the loss of his property and citizenship and forcing him into a life as a wandering mercenary. But Antanas, having served as a city elder for over a decade, knew this all too well.

And yet…

Antanas looked towards the distant Monte Wei City, a sense of reluctance weighing on his heart.

At that moment, the oligarchic elder Salius, noticing Antanas' hesitation, advised, "Sir, rescuing Ambratu should be our priority. Otherwise, the democratic faction will surely impeach you at the citizens' assembly."

"Damn it!" Antanas gritted his teeth. "There are still over ten thousand citizens in Ambratu. If the democratic faction had done their part, how could the Little Sassinian forces have breached the city so easily? They clearly allowed the enemy to run rampant in our city!"

"There's no point in discussing this now," Salius said with a bitter smile. "The democratic faction never wanted us to succeed in eliminating Little Sassinian. They'd rather let the citizens of Ambratu suffer heavy losses. If we don't hurry back, these losses will be blamed on us, and the citizen soldiers will hold us accountable!"

Antanas looked around and saw the Ambratu soldiers staring at him intently. He took a deep breath and said, the words seeming forced, "Fine, we'll go back!"

Hearing Antanas' decision, the young citizen who had come seeking help finally calmed down a little and provided useful information: "When I flew here on the giant eagle, I saw many torches along the coastal road. It seems the Little Sassinian forces have blocked the path…"

Antanas wasn't surprised. He had never expected his expedition against Little Sassinian to remain a secret. It was only natural that the Little Sassinian forces, upon learning of his attack, would deploy significant troops and set up blockades on the main roads.

However, Antanas had outmaneuvered them by taking a mountain path, bypassing the enemy's main force and rendering their defenses useless.

Thinking of this, Antanas devised a new plan. He said to Salius, "I'll take half the citizen soldiers back to Ambratu. The other half, along with the three hundred mercenaries, will stay with you. The main force of Little Sassinian is by the coast, and they've sent a portion of their troops to attack our city. That means the defenses in Monte Wei City should be weak. You still have a chance to capture it."

Salius opened his mouth, wanting to say that he had never commanded an army before. Before becoming an elder, he was just a fish merchant, unlike Antanas, who had years of military experience.

Antanas knew this well, but the problem was that he had no one else he could rely on.

In partisan politics, identity labels were far more important than talent.

Oligarchic elders typically came from the middle and lower classes of citizens, which was almost a prerequisite. However, even when middle and lower-class citizens were called to the battlefield, they mostly served as ordinary soldiers, with little opportunity to gain command experience.

Members of the democratic faction, on the other hand, had mostly served as officers, and some had even been generals. But due to their political stance, Antanas preferred to bring the inexperienced Salius on this campaign rather than appoint a democratic elder as his deputy.

The democratic faction likely thought the same way.

After assigning Salius to continue the siege, Antanas led half of the troops back to Ambratu. Of course, Antanas still had no intention of taking the coastal road. He planned to cross the Bion and Mashou Mountains again to return to Ambratu.

According to the young citizen, the coastal road was guarded by at least four to five thousand Little Sassinian soldiers. Antanas believed that taking that route would inevitably lead to a bloody battle, and even if they broke through, it would delay them significantly. By the time they returned to Ambratu, who knew how long it would take.

Fortunately, the miracle artifact "White Ape's Claw" that Antanas had distributed to the citizen soldiers could still be used for some time.

On the way back, Antanas didn't even need to urge the soldiers. Eager to return home, they moved swiftly.

After Antanas left, Salius launched three attacks on Monte Wei City following Antanas' strategy. However, none of the attacks yielded significant results, so he abandoned the idea of continuing the assault. Instead, he ordered his troops to set up camp and guard against the possibility of the main Little Sassinian force attacking from the rear.

In reality, the defenses in Monte Wei City were indeed weak. Apo had left only a hundred superhumans to defend the city. During the third wave of attacks, the Ambratu superhumans had already scaled the city walls. The defenders inside, fueled by their determination to fight to the death, barely managed to repel Salius' third assault. If Salius had been more resolute, capturing Monte Wei City wouldn't have been an impossible task.

But reality doesn't allow for "what ifs." After three failed attempts, Salius gave up.

Even more vulnerable than Monte Wei City was the camp Apo had set up on the coastal road. There were indeed over four thousand citizen soldiers there, but most were young recruits who had never seen battle. Only one superhuman was present Apo's old subordinate, Dean.

Such an army was almost no different from an empty camp, completely incapable of coordinating with the defenders of Monte Wei City to attack Salius from both sides.

If Salius had known the true state of the enemy forces around him, he would have been puzzled where had the main force of Little Sassinian gone?

Soon, Antanas would have the answer for him.

As the moon set and the sun rose, the next morning arrived.

Antanas and his returning troops crossed the Bion Mountain. Once they crossed the Mashou Mountain, they would be back in Ambratu.

However, just as Antanas and the Ambratu soldiers were in the valley between the Bion and Mashou Mountains, a horn sounded from the Mashou Mountain.

One by one, figures emerged from behind rocks and bushes. They wore light leather armor, each carrying a bundle of heavy javelins on their backs. Their eyes burned with hatred as they stared down at the enemies below, as if they wanted to tear them apart and devour them.

In that moment, Antanas felt a chill run down his spine.

Apo stood on a protruding rock, recognizing Antanas at the front. Seeing Antanas, he knew his plan had succeeded mostly.

The unusually fast march of the Ambratu forces had caught the residents of Little Sassinian's inner city off guard, resulting in heavy casualties something Apo hadn't anticipated.

However, as a seasoned commander, Apo knew that regret wouldn't solve anything. He calmly gave the order: "Javelins."

The Little Sassinian soldiers raised their javelins in unison.

"Throw!" Apo commanded.

A rain of javelins descended.

The heavy javelins used by the Sokya people weighed up to ten pounds or more. Their front ends were long metal rods with armor-piercing tips or barbs, giving them tremendous penetrating power and destructive force.

Some of the javelins thrown by the superhumans didn't seem fast at first, but as they flew, their speed increased, and by the time they hit their targets, the kinetic energy made them devastatingly lethal.

Charlotte would have found this scene familiar.

"Charge! They don't have many troops. If we break through, we'll survive!" Antanas drew his sword and pointed it toward Apo, shouting loudly.

Antanas' judgment was correct. Although the ambush had succeeded, the Little Sassinian forces were still outnumbered. Apo had brought fewer than four hundred superhumans, nearly the last of Little Sassinian's reserves. Even after splitting his forces, Antanas still had over six hundred superhumans under his command.

However, the outcome of a battle isn't determined solely by numbers.

The terrain of Mashou Mountain was too rugged. Even with the aid of the "White Ape's Claw," it was impossible for the Ambratu soldiers to charge up the mountain in one go.

On their uphill charge, the Ambratu soldiers would have to endure at least five volleys of heavy javelins before they could engage the Little Sassinian forces in close combat.

In fact, by the third volley, the Ambratu soldiers began to waver.

The ten-pound javelins could pin a man to a rock if they hit his torso, or blow his head apart if they struck his skull. Their armor offered no sense of security.

By the fifth volley, the morale of the Ambratu soldiers hit rock bottom. They crouched on the ground, hiding behind rocks, unwilling to charge toward certain death.

With the Ambratu soldiers refusing to advance, Apo ordered the Little Sassinian soldiers to stop throwing javelins. Whenever an Ambratu soldier peeked out, Apo had his troops focus their fire on that individual, picking them off one by one.

"Charge! I order you to charge!" Antanas roared in fury, but faced with such a deadly path, the soldiers ignored his commands.

Finally, Antanas despaired. He raised his short sword and charged up the mountain alone.

"Throw!" Apo commanded again.

A dozen javelins struck Antanas simultaneously, turning him into a porcupine.

Ambratu

The "reinforcements" from the Earl of Lanwan's territory had been dragging their feet all night, finally arriving at the outskirts of Ambratu at dawn.

Coincidentally, the Little Sassinian detachment that had been looting and burning the city all night was just withdrawing from Ambratu.

Seeing this, Charlotte's eyes lit up. She commanded, "Knights, charge! Let's save Ambratu!"

Hearing this, the knights and their squires, who had been bored all night, perked up and raised their weapons, ready for battle.

However, something absurd happened again.

Charlotte shouted "Charge!" and "Save them!" but her horse continued to amble along slowly.

At first, the Little Sassinian forces were tense upon seeing the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar heavy cavalry. Their leader, Sandro, ordered his troops to form a defensive formation. But when they stopped to prepare, the heavy cavalry also stopped.

After waiting for a while and seeing no movement from the enemy, Sandro ordered his troops to continue their retreat.

As the Little Sassinian forces retreated, the heavy cavalry followed at a leisurely pace. When the Little Sassinian forces stopped, the cavalry stopped. When they moved, the cavalry followed.

Exposing their backs to cavalry was a grave mistake for infantry, but strangely, the heavy cavalry simply followed the LittleSassinian forces all the way to their ships, watching them sail away. Some of the cavalry even waved goodbye to the departing ships.

One could say they were quite polite.

"Excellent. We've driven away the enemy for our neighbors without losing a single soldier. This is a great victory."

Charlotte waved her hand in satisfaction and then turned to her subordinates with detailed instructions.

"Later, when we enter the city to rescue the suffering citizens of Ambratu, make sure to emphasize to everyone that it was us, the Earl of Lanwan, who repelled the Little Sassinian invaders!"

"Uh…" The knights exchanged puzzled glances.

"Do you understand?" Charlotte frowned.

"Yes!" the knights replied in unison.

Just as the Little Sassinian infantry left, another group of cavalry entered the city. The citizens of Ambratu were initially terrified, but they soon realized that this cavalry wasn't there to slaughter or plunder.

Following Charlotte's orders, the knights and their squires helped maintain order, put out fires, carry the wounded, salvage supplies, and, of course, tell everyone that the Earl of Lanwan had led them to repel the evil Little Sassinian soldiers and save the beleaguered Ambratu.

The citizens of Ambratu were deeply moved by the assistance of their "good neighbors."

John Rice, an oligarchic elder who was too old and frail to join Antanas' expedition, had led the residents of the slums in resisting the Little Sassinian forces all night. He had expected the citizen soldiers to arrive soon, but by dawn, the democratic elders still hadn't organized any resistance.

Instead of citizen soldiers, a group of strangers arrived.

"We are knights from the Earl of Lanwan's territory. Do you need any more assistance?" Herman Green helped John Rice and others move a collapsed ruin to rescue the injured inside. He introduced himself and then added somewhat awkwardly, "The Earl of Lanwan has led us to repel the Little Sassinian forces."

"You repelled the Little Sassinian forces?" John Rice glanced at Herman Green's spotless armor and couldn't help but wonder how exactly did you repel them?

Herman Green felt extremely awkward under John Rice's skeptical gaze.

At that moment, Olivier Capino shared the same sentiment.

Just moments ago, Charlotte had boasted to him about how they had fought a bloody battle, suffered heavy losses, and achieved a miraculous victory against overwhelming odds.

Looking at Charlotte's perfectly neat hair, Olivier couldn't help but think how exactly did you repel the Little Sassinian forces?

For the first time, the long-divided democratic and oligarchic factions of Ambratu found themselves pondering the same question.

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