I Am the Monarch – Chapter 76: Danger inside the danger (7)

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Rose troop and the 2nd rose troop was clearly different to the other troops .
They didn’t lose their ranks and formations even in the middle of the chaos .
A well ordered look .
Everyone moved as if they were one .

Slash! Stab!

Every Time the spear split the air, one soldier of Istel fell hopelessly .

“Where!”

The attacks of the enemies aiming for the openings got blocked by the soldiers at the sides .

“Scatter!”

At Austin’s orders, the soldiers that were gathered like a rock got scattered everywhere .
The soldiers of Istel, that were pushing stubbornly, got their feet tied at the sudden change .
That short instant .
At the moment that was created, the archers at the rear fired arrows .

Pubububuk!

“Kuk!”
“Kugh!”

The soldiers of Istel became porcupines and collapsed .
As Austin clenched his fists again, the soldiers that were scattered gathered once again to become a rock .
Their stabbed their spears at the hearts of the confused enemies .
There was no mercy in a war .
Then .

“Then!”

One young knight of Istel came charging in with a high intent .
As the performance of rose troop and the 2nd troop was too eye catching, he was planning to cut them off .
The sword that had mana behind in came stabbing towards Austin .
A situation of life and death .
But even so, not even one soldier of rose troop retreated or stepped back .
They rather glared at the young knight in front of them .

“Ridiculous things! Mere normal soldiers dares to a knight……”

When he talked up to there .
A sharp spear appeared from the sides .

Kang!

A heavy sound of metal .
The spear hit the side of the sword of the young knight precisely .

“Kugh!”

The young knight frowned at the numbness felt in his palms and turned his head .

‘What kind of **** dares to!’

The man that fended off his sword .
He had a childish face, but the moment he saw his face his breath got clogged .

‘Fi, fire?’

The owner of the spear resembled a red flame .

“Who, who are you?”

The young knight was asking unconsciously .
The owner of the spear swung his spear first, instead of replying .

“Kugh!”

The young knight stepped back hurriedly and swung his sword .
Sparks flew along the sound of metal .
The owner of the soldier charged the ground like that and closed the distance .

“I’m troop commander Roan of the 2nd rose troop belonging to the 7th corps of the eastern army of Rinse kingdom . ”

At those words the young knight frowned .

“Tro, troop commander?! Not a knight?”

He stabbed his sword towards Roan that was already in front of him .
Roan twisted his body calmly .
The sword split the air .
At that moment .
Roan’s left hand carved in the left armpit of the young knight .

“Uhh!”

The young knight staggered because he was perplexed .
Roan flung his waist while still having his arm in his side .
The young knight drew a line and flew to the air .

Boom!

He rolled in the ground along a heavy sound .

“Kugh . ”

His back and waist felt numb .
Roan stepped on his chest with his right left .
The young knight struggled to stand up .

‘Kuk! Just how strong is he…… . ’

However his body didn’t move as he wished .
At this point, curses of wanting to live surged up .

“I, i’m a disciple of a noble family of Istel and a knight . If you capture me, you will be able to……”

But he couldn’t continue his words .

Stab .

Because Roan’s spear had already pierced his throat .
There was no mercy in war .

‘Especially, even more in battles like this one . ’

Roan pulled his spear and faced the soldiers charging into him .
Every Time his spear danced, three or four soldiers fell .

“Ah…… . ”

A low exclamation came out of Austin’s mouth .
It kind of felt that the fire of the surroundings was dancing along with Roan .
He mumbled in a half absent minded expression .

“Perhaps, perhaps . ”

Keep, that was right next to him, frowned .

“DId you say something?”

Austin  followed Roan’s back and said .

“We may be looking at a start of a legend . ”

However Keep couldn’t listen properly because of the loud noise of the battlefield .

“What did you say!”

But Austin didn’t mind .
He now mumbled in a voice so low it couldn’t be heard by anyone .

“No, we are being together with the start of a legend . ”

He felt his chest heave up .
Austin raised his spear high .

“Follow troop commander Roan!”

At that order, rose troop took formations once again .
Roan had already opened a path .
The soldiers aimed for that and massacred the enemy .
Austin yelled in a loud voice towards Roan .

“Troop commander Roan! We will follow you until the end!”

In this battle, and even after this battle ended .
You couldn’t know if Roan knew that meaning or not, but he raised his thumb after he cut off the neck of an enemy .
And then, he slightly turned his head and looked at his troop .

“I told you before . ”

There was a comforting smile still in his mouth .

“To follow me while trusting in me . ”

The battle was coming to a close like that .

*****

The dawn that could be seen from the east .
The battle had ended .
The supply storage of Istel had been swept up by red flames .
Huge flames that seemed to be there forever .
However they didn’t have time to rest while extending their limbs .

“We will chase the **** that escaped to the southwest of our Lancephil’s territory . ”

The soldiers that were protecting the storage, fled to the sides when the battle was coming to an end .
It didn’t matter for the ones that fled to the east, but they couldn’t just stay still at the ones that fled to the west .
At Kali’s words, Aaron nodded .

“My 7th corps will also chase and kill them and after that go to the headquarters of the eastern region . ”

A short farewell .
Kali lead his army first and departed to the southwest .
Aaron hurriedly gathered the troop commanders and reformed it .

“Our actual number is approximately 4 . 000 . We will divide the army in two . ”

The decision was fast .
Although they had burnt the supply storage, it was still too early to relax .
There was still the main army of Istel kingdom, and there were still many knights and soldiers in the fake storage .

‘If we stay here any longer, we may get left behind in enemy territory . ’

They had to chase the ones that fled the quickest possible and regroup with the main army .

“I will be leading one, and the other one will do it Roan . I will go to the southwest, so Roan, you go to the west . ”

Several troop commanders had died in battle .
Now, even by taking into account the merits, performances, trust, etc . there was no such commander like Roan .
Although there also was Gale, he was performing the role of staff officer next to Aaron .
So Roan became the provisional vice corps commander .

“Yes . I understand . ”

He didn’t dare to decline .

‘I receive moderately what needs to be received . ’

That was Roan’s way of thinking .
The reforming of the group was done quickly .

“have a good fight . ”
“Let’s meet at the headquarters of the east . ”

Aaron and ROan looked at each other and smiled faintly .
Each troop put the burning storage behind and went to the south and the southwest .

*****

The 2 . 000 soldiers conforming the 2nd rose troop .
They received Roan’s command and annihilated the scattered forces of Istel .
In this process, the abilities of Pens and the information agency shone once again .
Although it wasn’t systematized properly, they found the feeling route and traces of the enemy and their tracking ability was towering above the rest .

“It seems like we took care of most of them . ”

Austin’s report .
Roan looked at the corpses of Istel’s soldiers and nodded .
This was already the 13th subjugation .
Meanwhile, they had perfectly annihilated the small and big groups .

‘The side of corps commander Aaron would already have regrouped with the main army . ’

Looking at the direction, Aaron’s side was closer to the headquarters .
Roan turned his head and looked at the south .

‘Here on, it would be better to leave the western region to the army of count Lancephil . ’

It was now time to return to the headquarters .

‘The main force of Istel won’t be able to last much either . ’

They were out of supplies, and the supply line got cut off .
On top of that, excluding the main army, all the other groups were getting massacred .
Although they still had many soldiers left in the headquarters, they didn’t have the leisure or the morale to do so anymore .
On top of that, the supreme commander leading Istel kingdom’s forces was Mark Istel .
He was a royalty that was quite close to the king of Istel .
They wouldn’t leave someone like Mark in the cave of a tiger .
Retreating was a clear thing .

“We are going to the south . ”

A voice with strength .
Austin and the soldiers saluted shortly and bowed .
They put the battlefield under control and moved towards the south .
As most of the soldiers were infantry, the movement speed wasn’t as fast as he had thought .
On top of that, most of them were exhausted at the continued battle .
Roan rested moderately and moved .

‘Soon, the last battle will happen . ’

He needed to save energy for that .
The second day of travelling .
He could finally see the camp of the eastern army .
Roan, that was at the front, frowned .
Because the camp seemed kind of weird .

‘Something’s lacking . ’

The camp was empty .
His footsteps became quicker at the uneasy feeling .

“Stop!”

The guards that were protecting the entrance crossed spears and yelled .
Roan stood at the front and yelled .

“It’s the 7th corps!”

The guards checked the flag and the rank badge .

“Ah! It’s troop commander Roan of the 7th corps!”

On top of that, Roan’s face was quite famous .
The guards hurriedly opened the gates .

“Sir!”

Roan lead the troop and got inside the camp .
He ordered the soldiers to rest and moved towards the centre of the camp .
A place that had tents for the corps commanders .
However, most of the tents were empty .

‘Ah!’

Then, someone got in his eyes .
It was corps commander Phillip Hass of the 5th corps .

“Commander Hass!”
“Mmm?”

Phillip turned his head at the sound calling out to  him and then smiled .

“It’s Roan of the 7th corps . ”
“Sir . ”

Roan approached even more and saluted .

“I heard the notices . You have raised quite a big merit . ”
“Thank you . ”

At Phillip’s compliment, Roan bowed and then looked at the camp .

“But the camp feels quite empty . ”

At those words, the smile in Phillip’s face became even denser .

“Everyone went to chase the main army of Istel . ”
“The enemy’s main army? They had already retreated?”

Although he certainly expected for a retreat, the time was just too fast .
As Roan asked back in a surprised face, Phillip’s nodded .

“Right . Although it was yesterday that we realized that they had retreated, actually it was way before that since they retreated . ”
“Can you tell me in detail?”

Roan wanted to know where the situation was flowing to .
Phillip explained with a composed voice .

“Corps commander Aaron regrouped in the camp and a force also regrouped in Istel’s headquarters . They say it was the force waiting in the fake storage . ”

He looked at the east .

“Not even preparing to retreat, but they had regrouped? We certainly thought that they would be preparing for the last attack . Although small troops of each side has clashed against each other, it didn’t have that big of a meaning . Because we thought that the real battle would happen later on . ”

Phillip looked at Roan once more .

“But four days ago, the small scaled battles got cut off . They didn’t come out of their camp . Instead, they just hit jings and drums . We thought that it was to raise the morale for the last battle . But that was a completely mistaken thinking . ”

A hopeless look was in his eyes .

“They didn’t move even after 4 days had passed . So we sent a troop to their camp and provoked them . But even so, they didn’t show any reactions .  We fired arrows and threw rocks but it was the same . In the end, we got determined to die and charged in their camp . But…… . ”
“It was empty . ”

At Roan’s words, Phillip nodded .

“The sound of the jing and  drums was a fake sound made with a recording magic . They had retreated rather early . Just like when we retreated in the region of Bink . ”
“Mmm . ”

Roan gulped the exclamation .

‘It’s earlier than what I thought . ’

It meant that the situation was that bad .

‘Or they may have summoned Mark Istel a bit in a hurry . ’

Although you couldn’t do anything about a defeat, you had to save the life of a royalty .
If the supreme commander was a normal soldier instead of a royalty like Mark, they would have continued doing war regardless of dying .

‘Anyways, even if they returned to their kingdom, there was a high possibility to get beheaded or lose a territory . ’

Defeat in a war was that much of a sin .

‘However, a severe punishment isn’t always a good thing . ANyways……’

Roan’s eyes slightly trembled .

‘Recording magic……’

It certainly was uncommon .
But even so, retreating more than 5 . 000 soldiers without getting caught was quite a difficult thing .

‘Was there a commander that outstanding in their ranks?’

He had perfectly grasped the situation of the commanders of Istel while preparing for war and while the war progressed .
However, there wasn’t that kind of dangerous existence among the commanders .

‘Now that I see, the strategy of the fake storage wasn’t that easy……’

As he reviewed it again, he thought that there were many things he had thought of lightly .
A feeling a lightning thundered in his head .
Roan rummaged through the memories of his past life .
Several battles and wars passed through his head .

‘Among the outstanding existences in Istel kingdom………’

In the age of great wars, geniuses appeared not only in Rinse kingdom, but in each continent .
Precisely because of that was that the age of great wars happened .

‘If it wasn’t for that, a kingdom or empire would have gotten annihilated . ’

Roan shook his head .

‘If it’s an existence of Istel kingdom, it would be at most the fox of the battle field count Peid Nail………’

But there wasn’t a name like that among the names of the commanders Chris’s agency and the information troop provided him .

‘On top of that, he’s merely in his twentie… . . ’

WHen he thought like that .
Roan’s eyes opened .

“Ah!”

An exclamation came out of his mouth .

“What happened?”

Phillip tilted his head and asked .
However Roan didn’t even have the mind to reply .
He bowed towards Phillips .

“I’m sorry . An urgent thing occurred suddenly, so I will have to leave . ”
“Huh? Right . Then…… . . ”

Phillip couldn’t end saying goodbye .
Roan was already showing his back .

“Cheop . ”

Phillip smacked his lips with an awkward expression .

‘Just what’s the urgent thing…… . . Hhm . ’

His sight followed Roan’s back .
Roan ran towards the  place the soldiers were resting without stop .

“Mister Pens!”

An urgent yell .
Pens, that was resting between the soldiers, stood up .
Roan made hand signs with an urgent expression .

“Give me the register of Istel kingdom . ”

Pens tilted his head at the sudden request .

“Register? If it’s the register, you would probably have… . . ”

Roan shook his head .

“Not commanders above troop commanders, but the registers of adjutants . ”
“Adjutants? That was too massive so we couldn’t organize it yet . ”

Pens replied with a perplexed expression .
Roan nodded as if it was fine .

“It doesn’t matter . ”
“Wa, wait a moment . ”

Only then did Pens realize that something wasn’t right .
He rummaged his bag and then took out a pile of papers the size of two palms .

“It’s here . ”
“Thank you . ”

As soon as he received the papers, ROan sat on the ground .

Flip . Flip .

The sound of flipping paper was heard clearly .
Pens and the other soldiers started to gather one by one .
However Roan didn’t mind and concentrated on the letters of the paper .

“Peid . Peid . Peid………’

For now, it was important to find that na,e .
The names that were written in a disorganized way .
His finger swept up the letters quickly .
How long has it passed .
Almost half of the papers were flipped .

‘Right . Please, don’t appear . ’

Roan gulped dry saliva and flipped the paper once again .

Flip . Tuk .

At that moment, the finger stopped like a lie .

‘Peid . ’

There was . The name he didn’t want to see was clearly written .

<Peid . Expected to be in his early twenties . Commoner . Adjutant of Port troop of the 2nd corps of the western army of Istel kingdom . There’s a rumour that he’s a descendant of a ruined noble family . >

The contents written was just that .
But it was enough even with that .
Roan’s face stiffened .

‘It’s that **** . The fox of the battlefield . It is that guy . ’

He abruptly stood up .
He couldn’t think of it .
The geniuses that represented each kingdom in the age of great wars .
As he concentrated on the battles and the war, he had forgotten the truth of their existence for a moment .

‘The commanders had to ignore him and neglect him……’

However, if it was him that incentivated the retreat, it meant that his position had risen to a place .

‘The fox of the battlefield wouldn’t simply retreat . ’

Even Ian, that was one of the genius strategists and the pride of Rinse, get done in by him 3 times .

‘I have to chase the army of the eastern region . ’

He had to stop them so they couldn’t chase them anymore .
Roan gave the papers to Pens and called Austin .

“Get ready to depart the quickest possible . ”
“Charging?”

Austin asked back with an expression as if what had happened .
Roan looked at the east .

“We are going to the east . ”

At those words, some soldiers said .

“Are we chasing the enemy?”
“Are we chasing the main army of Istel?”

Expressions and voices that were a bit excited .
They had finished the war and were quite excited .
However Roan was calm .
No, it rather felt like he was kind of low .
He said in a voice he seemed to be mumbling .

“We are rescuing our allies . ”

< Danger inside the danger (7) > End