/
Bahara’s general, Yamanta.
He was rushing toward Ian’s camp with a murderous look on his face.
“How dare there be a madman drowning in booze on the battlefield! Really, what a foolish kid he is.”
“That’s right, General. I checked if it was a trap, but there were no soldiers lurking around.”
“He looks down on war. Then he has to die.”
Behind him, bloodthirst from thousands of Bahara warriors blazed up.
Even though their number was smaller than Ian’s, they were warriors who had been fighting against Lavaltor so far. There was no way they would lose against the army of an immature kid who was having a drinking party on the battlefield.
At least, the reason why Ian was drinking was obvious.
“I can’t believe he’s thinking of going out to war and playing around without doing anything. I will teach him that he is sorely mistaken.”
“That’s right. General Yamanta and our castle are invincible. They are probably just stalling for some time and then going back, claiming they’ve got us.”
Of course, it wasn’t without any concerns.
‘How did those bastards catch the scouts?’
His subordinates weren’t at the level to be caught by those who took the war lightly. Not to mention, they rode the goats that had been through careful selection by the military.
No matter how he looked at it, Yamanta couldn’t figure out how the scouts were caught.
But it didn’t matter anymore.
“Don’t let a single man live!”
“Woohoo!”
Yamanta and his soldiers’ eyes flashed.
Even if led by a child who was still wet behind the ears, they were against a large army numbering close to ten thousand soldiers.
What if they could defeat such a great army here?
‘I’m sure morale will rise in other places.’
If they caught that youngest prince, they would have a good bargaining chip to negotiate with Kaistein.
He was a prey too good to be missed.
However, the adjutant tried to stop Yamanta until the end.
“General! Please think this through! No matter how inexperienced their army is, it’s a large army consisting of close to ten thousand soldiers. We should be defending as usual…”
“Are you telling me to just look away at this golden opportunity?! In the face of a snotty brat who doesn’t even know war?”
“General!”
“Silent! Today, I will defeat those insolent Kaisteins and raise Bahara’s honor!”
Of course, Yamanta was not an idiot either.
He left a few soldiers behind for his adjutant who was still worried. If the soldiers were there, he could defend himself.
“Come on! Crush them, warriors!”
Although he was only a general of one castle, Yamanta was one of Bahara’s warriors. Just like the others, he roared, raving about blood and battle.
Besides, he wasn’t alone.
As if letting loose all of what they had been enduring so far, the momentum of Bahara’s troops descending the mountain was terrifying.
“Beat those f*cking bastards!”
“Kill them all!”
All was charging with the momentum to destroy Ian’s troops. They accelerated as they descended from the mountain.
Although there was a wooden obstacle at the front of Ian’s camp.
“This is nothing! Jump over everything!”
“This can’t stop us!”
It was too low an obstacle for the goats. The mountain cavalry, following Yamanta, overcame the obstacle with great ease. At this rate, Ian’s camp would be destroyed at once.
However, General Yamanta’s expression changed in the next second.
He had no choice but to.
‘What the hell is this ominous feeling?’
It was because Ian’s soldiers did not show any agitation.
Surely, he had confirmed that they were dead drunk after being wasted just a moment ago.
Normally, one would get surprised when an enemy attacked them while they were drinking.
However, none of Ian’s soldiers were surprised or ran away.
No, rather, they threw their glasses and lifted the weapon at their side as if they had been waiting.
Yamanta sensed something was wrong.
“General! Slow down! Something is off!”
“What?”
But it was too late.
Even before Yamanta finished issuing his command, Bahara’s mountain cavalrymen were already jumping toward Ian’s camp.
And it was then.
“Raise it up!”
A young but deep voice was heard. No, it wasn’t just that voice.
There was the sound of something being pulled by chains.
Creeeeaaakk!
And then the ground shook in front of the jumping goats. It was a wooden fence tied to chains. Spiky logs were revealing themselves, aiming at the cavalrymen.
The cavalry, which had jumped high, screamed.
Crack! Crash!
“Aaargh!”
They naturally couldn’t overcome the acceleration building up so far and collided with the trap at full speed.
Yamanta hurriedly pulled the reins and stopped.
“It’s a trap! Turn sideways and attack!”
Now that they had come this far, running away was not an option. They must have been setting up these traps all this time.
The mountain cavalry quickly split into two groups and aimed at both sides of Ian’s camp.
It was the moment they entered the camp in such a formation.
Plop!
The cavalryman beside Yamanta disappeared. No, it seemed as if he had disappeared.
To be more precise, he fell through a hole in the ground.
He wasn’t the only one.
The cavalry, which had been running vigorously, fell into the hole one by one. Kaistein’s camp had installed more than one trap. To top it all off, arrows were flying over their heads.
Thunk thunk thunk!
“G… General!”
Traps in front, arrows above. Bahara soldiers lost their lives within seconds. Despite some warriors’ efforts to protect Yamanta, everyone was eventually hit by arrows and collapsed, with arrows jutting out of their bodies like hedgehogs.
Yamanta gritted his teeth.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
Their raid ended up futile, but he had no other choice. They didn’t know what other traps were lurking ahead.
Fortunately, there were no traps along the way. He would go back and avenge his dead men.
As Yamanta thought so.
“Now! Fire!”
The young voice was heard again from behind him. Yamanta gritted his teeth.
‘What are they up to this time?!’
Innumerable arrows showered on their heads. They couldn’t possibly use siege weapons, could they? That was when Yamanta thought so.
Whiiik!
Something zipped past his head. It was a fire arrow. Even mountain goats were not scared of fire of this intensity.
‘This time, it was for nothing.’
He vowed to come back alive and take revenge on their enemies, but that thought never came to fruition.
Blaaarrr!
An enormous blaze began to spread before him at an unbelievable speed. No matter how much of the grass caught on fire, the fire trapped Bahara’s cavalry within its tongue too quickly, at a speed visible to the eye.
Yamanta shouted in despair as he realized what was happening.
“Just from one fire arrow? What the hell is going on—”
“General! It’s the obstacle we crossed earlier! They hid oil there!”
“What?!”
It turned out to be true.
The seemingly insignificant wooden wall was burning down rapidly. Even the mountain goats couldn’t cross over under these circumstances. Yet, amid all that, arrows continued raining down from behind them relentlessly.
Thunk thunk thunk!
“Aaaargh!”
The soldiers at the back lost their lives first.
Yamanta had to quickly make a decision.
“I will take the lead. Follow me!”
“B… but General! What are you going to do?”
Yamanta untied the cloth wrapped around his arm and covered his goat’s eyes before taking off toward the burning wall ahead of them at full speed.
“Giddy up!”
With fierce determination in his eyes, Yamanta charged toward the wall while riding the mountain goat.
Kraack! Kraack!
Of course, it wasn’t an easy feat. The debris from the broken wooden wall pierced Yamanta’s body, and flames caught onto his clothes. But he didn’t care.
“Hurry up! We must return to the castle before they come!”
“Aye!”
The soldiers hardened their resolve and followed their leader. They broke down the wooden wall for others to pass safely, even if they had to sacrifice their own bodies. With burns all over his body, Yamanta clenched his teeth and glared at Ian’s camp.
“I will never, ever forget this debt.”
Blood flowed from his eyes, burning with incredibly thick killing intent.
However, the one at the receiving end of that gaze merely smirked back at him.
It was none other than Ian himself.
***
“Your Highness! This is a great victory!”
Fiosen exclaimed, surprise was evident in his voice.
His reaction was understandable.
They were just disguising things to make it look like they were having a drinking party, but he never expected the enemy to come charging like a bull. However, thanks to the traps, Kaistein had no casualty on their side.
It was truly an outright victory.
But Ian wasn’t very content.
‘There’s still a lot of traps left. The general over there is pretty smart, too.’
It was no wonder Ian felt so. This was a collaboration between the Second Princess and Huntill.
The duo’s skills weren’t just at the level of making the enemy retreat. It wouldn’t even be an understatement if they were completely annihilated.
However, the enemy’s general was quite strong.
Galon also nodded.
“I didn’t expect him to break down the burning wall with his body and escape. There seems to be a pretty great man among the savages.”
“Well, anyway, it won’t work for our prince, am I right?”
“That’s true.”
At Nathan’s words, Galon nodded again.
The enemies would think they were lucky to be alive. But this was only the beginning of their suffering.
Ian asked Fiosen.
“Have you sent the signal?”
“Yes. I told them to initiate action if the fire rises over here, Your Highness. We should be hearing from them soon.”
As soon as Ian arrived here, he divided his forces into three.
One was to engage in the drinking party to catch the enemy off guard. The other made the traps while avoiding the eyes of the enemies.
And the other one.
Whiiiik!
Ian smiled as he saw a fire arrow flying up into the sky.
“They must have succeeded.”
“Then we’ll hurry and get ready, too.”
“Please do.”
It was a squad consisting of the Blue Kings. While this side was drinking and drawing attention, they climbed up the valley without anyone noticing. Their destination was behind the enemy’s castle.
Perhaps the general would see quite an interesting sight when he returned to the castle.
Then Fiosen shouted excitedly.
“If you capture the Molar Castle like this, Your Highness, you will have accomplished a great feat that will be recorded in history.”
After all, the Molar Castle had never once fallen in the long history of Kaistein.
No one would be able to ignore this merit he made.
But Ian just smiled.
Because his goal was not just the Molar Castle. He was aiming higher.
Then someone shouted at Ian.
“This is not a warrior’s fight! You know nothing about honor!”
It was the Barbarian they caught in Labadom.
The face of the man who identified himself as the youngest prince of Bahara, Olak, was flushed red. His wrath at Ian, who drove the brave warriors of Bahara into a trap instead of fighting them head-on, was visible.
But Ian smiled as if what Olak said was absurd.
“This is not a fight; this is a war. And you are our enemies.”
“!?”
Olak shivered.
Ian’s cold voice continued to echo in his ears.
“It is my people here. I don’t intend to use their sacrifice as a stepping stone. It is enough to have you shed blood.”
“Th… that!”
“You want a fair fight? Then you should have done better. It was your general who drove your soldiers into an obvious trap. Don’t you think you directed your anger wrong?”
“…”
Olak clenched his teeth.
It was because he could not refute Ian’s words.
Then the Second Princess stepped in.
“Now is not the time to do this. If you don’t hurry, you can’t take over the Molar Castle. Wouldn’t it be possible to occupy it with a little sacrifice now?”
She already knew that the other squad had moved.
However, the defense would be strengthened again once the soldiers who had invaded their camp returned to the castle. In order to reduce the damage even a little, they must move quickly.
But Ian shook his head.
“There is no need for such a sacrifice. It’ll be over before then.”
Then he glanced at Olak.
“Isn’t that right? Won’t it be over easily if you help me?”
“What…”
Olak was bewildered.
He couldn’t glean what Ian wanted.
And so, he answered firmly.
“I will tell you in advance that it would be impossible to negotiate with my life. We Bahara warriors will never yield over hostages…”
“Even if it is the next successor?”
“!?”
Olak’s eyes shook.
How the hell did Ian know that?
But it was thanks to Fionia, the young lady of Lavaltor, that Ian found out.
“He is the youngest child that the king of Bahara cherishes the most.”
“What?”
“We’ve met at the border area before. Unlike the crown prince, the king greatly favors him.”
Ian also only found out then.
The reason Bahara continued to rebel even though they were conquered by Kaistein in his previous life.
‘I heard why they didn’t admit defeat even after losing.’
It was because the king had lost the child he cherished.
It was also possible that he died in the plague while attacking Lavaltor Castle due to Cantum’s plot.
If so, the rebellion at the time also made sense.
‘In my previous life, the first prince, Arak, gathered people saying he would avenge his younger brother.’
He seemed to have heard of a prince who was beloved by the whole nation.
This time, however, Olak survived because he came to Labadom instead of Lavaltor.
Ian naturally couldn’t stop his lips from rising as he looked at Olak.
“But don’t worry. I have no intention of asking for your castle with your life as collateral. Aren’t Bahara warriors supposed to be like that in the first place?”
“Then what the hell do you want from me?”
“Your banner.”
“!?”
“Will you give it to me?”
Olak’s expression hardened. It was only natural. What Ian asked for was not just any banner.
Every warrior in Bahara had their own banner.
There was only one time when a banner was handed over to another.
‘It represents a great warrior who fights on his behalf.’
Bahara respected the honor of battle more than knights, who calculated honor. If Ian raised Olak’s banner and absorbed his warriors, he might enter the Molar Castle without spilling even a single drop of blood.
Not to mention, he had heard rumors about the knights Ian had.
Unless they were Bahara’s No. 1 warriors, Ian’s knights would definitely be difficult to stop.
Olak gritted his teeth.
“You think I’ll give you the banner even though I know it! I am Olak! I will never betray my kin!”
“But with this, we can shed less blood. For both Kaistein and Bahara.”
“!?”
Ian continued his words calmly to Olak’s face.
“And didn’t you say you wanted a warrior’s fight? We will have a proper fight. But by duel, not by war.”
Of course, the price was the castle and all of Bahara’s troops.
Ian reached his hand out to Olak, who couldn’t readily answer.
“How is it? Will you give me your banner?”
His smile was brighter than ever.