The mercenaries from the Principality of Leese were, as always, engrossed in pillaging.
There was no force capable of stopping them, comprised as they were of eight mounted soldiers and twenty infantrymen armed with axes and swords.
Even if Baron Yaben tried to stop them by hiring mercenaries, the Leese mercenaries would easily win unless he personally led knights and elite soldiers.
Thus, they were unrestrained. They set fire to villages inhabited by Empire bastards, stole the peasants’ property, and raped the village women.
The Leese would plunder everything.
It was the very definition of ‘robbery.’ What mercenary hadn’t raided a village at least once in their life? But the mercenaries from the Principality of Leese took it to another level.
However, it was just daily life for the Leese.
Due to their geographical circumstances, living in an environment as barren as the northern Empire, it was considered natural to sustain their livelihood by taking from others.
Especially if it concerned another country.
Igor wiped the blood from his short sword and smirked. He had just discovered a woman with an appealing appearance.
“P-Please, spare me! Please…!”
A tear-soaked face turned towards Igor. Igor couldn’t understand even a tenth of what she was saying.
Since he would kill them after robbing and raping them anyway, there was no need to learn the Imperial language.
But now, he might regret it a little. Igor, seeing a woman he found attractive for the first time in a long while, lowered his shield.
Watching her cry and beg, Igor felt an intense throbbing in his groin. When was the last time he held a woman?
Of course, none of that mattered. Soon, the answer to that would be ‘just now.’
“Aaaah! Have mercy!”
A loud scream echoed. But the thought of that voice soon being filled with moans was exciting in its own way.
However, the enjoyable time came to an end before it even began.
“…?”
Igor, who was slowly trying to take off his armor, turned his head towards the commotion.
It was coming from the village entrance.
☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩ ☩
Keldric’s plan for this charge was simple.
The village was surrounded by a low wooden fence, so unless they were in the middle of looting, the enemies would naturally gather at the village entrance.
If he and Lord Henri rushed in there, they would face the two knights without having time to form a proper formation.
By that time, the soldiers Keldric had brought would join in, and he was confident with Alyssa and the archers providing solid support from the rear.
The enemies, unable to properly group up and falling apart, would be defeated piecemeal.
Keldric and Lord Henri leveled their lances without a word.
Though their shapes and lengths differed, two knights charging together would easily cut through that many soldiers.
Eyeballing it, there were about six mounted soldiers. Some of them hurriedly turned their horses around, but Keldric and Lord Henri were much faster.
Clang!!
Two soldiers from the Principality of Leese were skewered, and three were sent flying, crushed by the large warhorses.
The limbs of those impaled were twisted in strange directions.
Seeing that, Keldric immediately kicked Avelin’s flank.
“Hyah!”
Taken aback for a moment, the enemy soldiers who regained their senses grabbed their axes and swords, trying to pull Keldric down.
In this era, the way infantrymen dealt with cavalry or knights was simple.
They would stab the horse with a spear to make it fall, or pull the rider down with an axe or something similar and then hack them to pieces.
The knights from the Principality of Leese were all armed with long spears and javelins, but many of the infantrymen carried axes.
That was deadly even for knights if they got too close. If they were caught off guard, they would be chopped into firewood by the axe.
However, Keldric had no intention of giving them an opening.
“Hmph!”
Crack-!
A short, intense shout and a gruesome sound echoed simultaneously.
Keldric’s lance had pierced through two soldiers who were charging at him with axes at the same time.
The eyes of the soldiers from the Principality of Leese widened at the sight.
It was true that their chainmail was weak against thrusting attacks, but it was another story to skewer two people at once.
Keldric readjusted his grip on the lance and then pulled it back without hesitation.
The lance, pulled by his immense strength, came out without resistance. Two soldiers with holes in their chests tumbled onto the snowy field.
“Come at me! You scum!”
Lord Henri was also fighting well in his own way. A knight was a knight, even a rotten one.
The knight’s shocking combat prowess against individuals stemmed not only from skill but also from their sturdy and expensive armor.
Even if axes or swords scratched the armor a few times, it was not easy to pull them off their horses if they shook them off with their immense strength.
The more the two knights tore through the formation, the more helpless the soldiers from the Principality of Leese, who were gathered in a group of about a dozen, became.
Even if they managed to strike with their swords, it was useless. They bounced off the hard armor with a ‘clang!’
If they tried to pull them down with an axe, they would instead be dragged onto the snowy field by the knight’s powerful force.
The power of a knight, a human weapon that once dominated an era, was not something that could be easily withstood.
After tearing through them once, Keldric and Lord Henri retreated to the opposite side almost simultaneously.
“Lord! Are you alright?”
“Hahaha! Yes! This is a real battle!”
Lord Henri’s eye sockets gleamed ominously. Red blood streamed down his helmet, which he had no time to wipe.
His terrifying appearance sent chills down the spine. In fact, some of the soldiers from the Principality of Leese hesitated in fear.
“Help Lord Keldric!”
“Support Lord Henri! Watch out for the cavalry!”
“The lords will take care of the cavalry! Kill all those bastards!”
And just in time, Keldric’s soldiers arrived.
The soldiers immediately charged into the disorganized enemy ranks. Just as Count Bogenberg had said, they were elite soldiers. Their movements were quick and they aimed for the enemy’s vitals in an instant.
At this point, the soldiers from the Principality of Leese were on the verge of collapse.
Keldric spotted six enemy cavalrymen who had barely managed to regroup, drawing their javelins.
If they circled around and threw javelins, it would be fatal for the soldiers without horses.
“Lord Henri!”
“I know! Let’s go!”
Lord Henri was half-crazed with the excitement of the glorious cavalry charge.
Even before Keldric called out, he had already readjusted his lance and stood side by side with Keldric.
Although it was a small charge consisting of only two knights, breaking through the center of the enemy lines and causing chaos was truly excellent.
“Charge!”
“We’ll tear them all apart!”
Keldric charged again with Lord Henri. Their target this time was the cavalrymen from the Principality of Leese, who were running in a group of six.
Enemies that posed no particular threat to Keldric, who had experience dealing with bandits.
The cavalrymen from the Principality of Leese were horrified and turned their horses around.
However, they could not have been riding expensive warhorses, and at best were riding hunting horses, so they could not freely navigate the chaotic battlefield.
Whoosh!
Several javelins, thrown desperately, flew towards the two knights.
Keldric quickly ducked his head, and Lord Henri skillfully pulled out his shield and deflected them.
The javelin skills of the cavalrymen from the Principality of Leese were noteworthy. They continued to throw them until they ran out.
“You lowly things!”
Lord Henri, who was frantically blocking the javelins, was furious. Keldric, who had also pulled out his shield, was also starting to get annoyed.
However, apart from being angry, the situation was not bad. Most of the javelins thrown by the cavalrymen were concentrated on Keldric and Lord Henri.
“Kill them all! There is no life allowed for those who engage in robbery!”
“You fucking bastards!”
Thanks to this, Keldric’s soldiers had the opportunity to wipe out the panicked enemy soldiers without interference.
The soldiers from the Principality of Leese, who had been scattered here and there to avoid the knights’ charge, barely managed to resist, but the elite soldiers, who were united and thrusting spears and swinging swords, had exceptional morale.
From the beginning, they were soldiers who were skilled at dealing with bandits even when they were in Bogenberg.
In the midst of all this, the villagers, who shared the same language, were being ravaged by foreign soldiers who could not understand them, so anger naturally boiled over.
The presence of Keldric and Lord Henri fueled that anger.
No matter how much these damn Leese bastards fly and run, we have two knights!
“Aaaagh!”
“Fire!”
“The wizard is here!”
“Arrows! Fall back for a moment!”
Moreover, with the archers and Alyssa’s magic mobilized, it was not a battle, but almost a massacre.
Meanwhile, Keldric and Lord Henri finally caught up with the cavalrymen who had run out of javelins.
“The gods have ordained a glorious victory for me!”
The clash between heavy cavalry and heavy cavalry is a battle of momentum.
The two knights, riding strong warhorses, were chasing the cavalrymen, and the cavalrymen who were fleeing had only just turned their horses around.
Bang!
“Cough!”
It was clear which side would be knocked down.
Keldric and Lord Henri’s lances, thrust with divine skill, pierced through two cavalrymen.
At that murderous momentum, the remaining four cavalrymen charged desperately.
Seeing that, Keldric immediately released his lance. The ink-black blade that was already in his hand was swung like lightning.
Clang!
The chainmail of the cavalrymen from the Principality of Leese was torn apart with a crisp sound. They could not tell whether it was because the sword was good or because the knight was strong.
Unfortunately, Keldric had both.
Keldric’s meteoric iron longsword surged forward without hesitation. There was no time to dodge. The cavalrymen, splattered with warm blood, fell one by one.
As he knocked them down one by one, Keldric was wiping out the remaining enemy stragglers.
“…”
Keldric stopped Avelin, catching his slightly rough breath. Avelin’s black fur, which was sweating and glistening, was covered in sweat.
Over a dozen lifeless bodies lay strewn across the pure white snow.
“Lord Keldric!”
Lord Henri rode his horse to Keldric’s side. He shook the blood off his lance in a picturesque manner, and then called for a servant to change horses.
“You’ve worked hard! It seems the bastards have been mostly dealt with!”
“…It seems so.”
The heat of battle, which had risen like foam, fell as quickly as it had risen.
With his head cooled down, Keldric slowly replayed the battle from earlier.
He stabbed, struck, and slashed. Keldric fought like a madman. He focused all his attention solely on killing the enemy.
“K, Knight!”
“Stand back!”
A few surviving villagers approached Keldric and Lord Henri hesitantly.
Lord Henri’s servants panicked and reached out their hands, but Keldric let them approach.
The approaching residents were terrified by the two knights, who exuded a menacing aura.
The blood splattered on their surcoats, as well as the sight of them holding lances and longswords covered in flesh, was enough to inspire fear.
“Thank you so much…”
“T, Thank you!”
However, the story was different if the object of their fear was on their side.
They were grateful for the killing. Unlike usual, Keldric felt a little strange.
It wasn’t that he was belatedly averse to killing, but he couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the thought of doing this for a very long time.
They were now entering the beginning of the territory war. How many more would he have to kill if he joined Baron Yaben’s army and fought in earnest?
Suddenly, a stream of blood trickled down and dangled in front of Keldric’s helmet eyehole.
Keldric wiped it off with his gauntlet-clad hand. The blood on the leather of the gauntlet quickly froze on the surface and crackled.
“Lord Keldric. The soldiers are waiting.”
“…Alright.”
There was no time to wallow in sentiment. The soldiers naturally flocked to Keldric.
“Quickly extinguish the fires and, if there are any remnants, capture them alive if possible! This is Lord Yaven’s land, so don’t do anything unnecessary!”
“Yes!”
“Gather the corpses in one place and burn them! We must prevent the spread of disease!”
After sending the soldiers into the village, Keldric called over the archers and Alyssa, who had been held back.
Arno and Helga, who had come closer, stared blankly at Keldric.
The sight of him splattered with blood might be frightening to some, but it was different for Arno and Helga.
Their lord, who had rescued the village from becoming a pile of ashes, and the villagers who had almost suffered the same fate.
Courage and honor in the face of injustice are radiant. Keldric had rushed forward without hesitation.
Arno squeezed the hand he held with Helga.
It was said that a man must be able to step forward to protect what is precious.
People call that courage.
“Well, are you hurt anywhere?”
Thump! Thump!
Arno’s heart, only fourteen years old, began to pound violently.
Could a knight be such an object of admiration?