Chapter 67
Chapter 67: The Only Option is to Change the Game Myself (3)
Baron Fabro, a retainer and commander of the supply unit under Digald, paced around the tent without sleep.
He wasn’t contemplating strategies or troop organization.
He simply couldn’t sleep because he felt too good.
“Hehe, finally, I’m about to receive a fief!”
Fabro had no territory of his own.
The land he served under Digald was small and insignificant, so there was no chance for him to receive a fief.
But this time was different. If all went well, he could receive part of Perdium’s territory.
“I’m glad I sided with Desmond. It was the best decision of my life.”
Fabro had been receiving bribes from Desmond and always offered opinions in favor of that side.
Most of Digald’s retainers did the same. It wasn’t difficult to move the territory as they wanted.
“Heh, this time I might even make a name for myself!”
Though he was in the supply unit, he had participated in the war, so he would gain some reputation.
In high society, merely participating in a war was enough to gain attention.
Furthermore, as he was in the rear unit, there was no risk involved. He only needed to provide supplies to the main forces.
To be able to profit safely like this—wasn’t there sweet war like this in the world?
“By the way, I never expected Count Desmond to have so many soldiers. At this rate, he’s stronger than Raybold, right?”
Although they dressed up as conscripts and mercenaries from Digald’s territory, the scale was simply unimaginable.
Desmond only sent troops after gathering several small territories together.
Since the main forces were so large, Digald’s soldiers were barely enough to form a supply unit.
“Ugh, Perdium is finished. It’s over.”
Only if their levels were similar could they even fight back; with this much, they would crush Perdium.
Not to mention they had siege equipment, so Perdium probably wouldn’t last a single day.
A war where they couldn’t even lose if they wanted to.
That’s why Fabro felt good every day at the fortress.
Thud, thud, thud.
“Huh? What’s that sound?”
In the midst of his happy dreams, Fabro felt a strange vibration and snapped to attention.
When he stepped outside the barracks, he saw several knights looking around with puzzled expressions.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
When Fabro asked, the knight shook his head, seemingly clueless.
“I don’t know. Is it an earthquake…?”
They didn’t even entertain the tiny possibility that it could be an enemy ambush.
They couldn’t imagine that the already low-numbered Perdium would arrange a detachment to attack.
Besides, there hadn’t been any news from the main forces so far.
Thud, thud, thud.
In a short while, the vibrations grew stronger.
Fabro scratched his chin, deep in thought.
“What could it be? A herd of cattle passing by, perhaps?”
As soon as the thought of cattle crossed his mind, he realized this vibration resembled the sound of hooves.
“Ah, no way.”
He chuckled at his absurd imagination.
Although he had lit torches, the cloudy skies obscured visibility, making it hard to see far away.
Judging by sound alone took time to grasp the situation.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
They only realized the source of the sound after Ghislaine’s army had gotten close enough.
“Wake up! Wake up! It’s an ambush! Move!”
The knights who reacted quickly shouted.
However, even the commander Fabro was still wearing an expression of disbelief.
“An ambush? How? Why?”
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
“Ugh, no!”
Fabro finally snapped back to reality when the enemy was right in front of him.
He urgently shouted as he fled backward.
“Enemy! Enemy! Everyone get out and stop them!”
Even while shouting, he didn’t think they would lose.
The enemy couldn’t possibly number more than a few hundred.
There’s no way they could have reached the main forces enemy-side this quickly.
Although it was a supply unit, they had a thousand soldiers here. They could definitely fend off such an ambush.
“Move quickly! Hurry! We can stop them! We have more!”
The soldiers hurriedly grabbed their weapons from the tent.
Some hadn’t even had time to gear up, and the formation was a mess.
At that moment when everyone moved in panic—
Boom!
Ghislaine’s army sprang from the darkness.
“Ahhh!”
The soldiers outskirted were swept away in an instant.
The torches set up all around fell as bodies collided with them.
Soon the flames began to engulf the surroundings. Confused soldiers started to scramble, not knowing what to do.
A few knights from Digald desperately tried to direct the panicked soldiers.
“Gather! Form a line!”
But it was impossible to organize the formation.
The enemy used their superior mobility to shatter everything in their path as they lined up ahead.
They struck so fiercely that some mercenaries ripped through the tents completely.
Thud, thud, thud!
Upon noticing Ghislaine charging forward, a Digald knight drew his sword.
With distinctly different attire and unmatched horsemanship.
The knight instinctively realized the figure before him was the enemy’s commander.
‘If I can just kill him!’
As he aimed to slash down the approaching figure,
Thud, thud, thud!
The flames spread everywhere, obscuring the face of the approaching figure.
Backlit, just barely outlining a shadow, the knight perceived something awful.
The terrifyingly blazing red eyes of the opponent.
At that moment, feeling an indescribable hatred and unending rage, the knight’s body froze.
“Ahhh!”
He tried to summon up his mana, forcefully shaking off the fear, and charged forward with all his might.
“Die!”
Ghislaine shifted slightly to the side.
Then, with all his strength, he swung his axe from below to above.
Slick!
In one blow, the approaching knight was split in half from groin to head and fell.
The mercenaries following Ghislaine cheered and whistled.
Slick! Slick!
The soldiers in front of Ghislaine met the same fate, their heads crushed by the axe or their necks severed.
Belinda watched Ghislaine with a worried expression.
It must be his first time killing someone directly; she worried he might be hiding his agitation.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine swiftly turned his horse’s head after reaching the far end of the camp and said,
“Keep sweeping them out.”
At his dry command, the mercenaries turned again and charged toward the remaining enemies.
The Digald soldiers, having lost a few knights, crumbled helplessly.
There were no pits or obstacles to stop the cavalry.
It was also the commander’s ability to anticipate locations and timing that would be easy to ambush. Fabro was not a very good commander.
“Gillian and Kaor, deal with the remaining knights.”
Thud, thud, thud!
The mercenaries split into two and surrounded the enemies.
Moving in perfect harmony without a hitch, they resembled a skilled cavalry formation.
“Training went well.”
Ghislaine nodded in satisfaction.
In his previous life, he loved using mobility for ambushes and charges.
Ghislaine had spent money to equip mercenaries with the right gear and horses specifically for this shock tactics.
Although the personal strength of the Mercenary King was rated as the seventh among the continent’s seven strong, his capabilities in conducting warfare were among the top three.
He was both a slaughterer and the king of the battlefield.
The Digald soldiers screamed.
“Ahhh!”
“We have to stop them! The shield, where’s the shield?”
“Gather! We need to gather!”
They, who had rushed out without any gear, couldn’t possibly block the mercenaries’ charge.
Infantry couldn’t exert proper strength without formation, and furthermore, commands didn’t reach in such chaos.
The massacre began again.
One by one, the Digald soldiers began to drop their weapons and flee.
“Don’t let a single one escape!”
Under Ghislaine’s command, the mercenaries chased after the dispersing soldiers.
The fleeing soldiers, scared of the mounted foes, were easy pickings.
Though some opposing knights fought back fiercely, they were captured and killed one by one by Gillian and Kaor.
Since they were simply a supply unit, there weren’t many knights, and thus they crumbled quickly.
“Hahaha! This feels so good!”
Especially, Kaor and the Mad Hounds reveled like fish in water.
In the Forest of Monsters, there were too many and too dangerous monsters for them just to hold their ground.
But if the opponent was human, they could unleash their madness freely.
Some even dismounted and charged at nearby soldiers.
“Yahahaha! Die! Die!”
“Too weak! You bug-like bastards!”
Though some of Digald’s soldiers banded together to resist, they couldn’t change the tide that had already turned.
Ghislaine didn’t rest, moving through the battlefield.
As soon as he saw even a slight gathering of enemies or if the mercenaries seemed in danger, he would charge in and split an enemy’s head with his axe.
More than a thousand Digald soldiers were thus swept away almost effortlessly.
“It’s over.”
Belinda looked at Ghislaine with a peculiar expression, as if to say it was only natural.
‘What’s with him? This must be his first war!’
Killing a monster and killing a human were entirely different matters.
Anyone experiencing war for the first time would struggle to keep their sanity.
But her worries were unfounded.
‘Why is he so composed!’
Ghislaine handled enemies as if it was simply something he had to do.
At this point, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him a born warmonger.
‘He’s not composed!’
Ghislaine, sweeping through the battlefield, appeared as if he was forcefully swallowing a raging flame.
It was incomprehensible.
What on earth could motivate Ghislaine to bear such a great grudge against Digald?
While she wondered, the screams of the enemies began to dwindle.
That was a sign that the fight was drawing to a close.
Moments later, Gillian dragged someone and threw them at Ghislaine’s feet.
“I think this bastard is the commander.”
Fabro trembled and looked up at Ghislaine.
Even though the Digald soldiers had been poorly trained and weak, to see over a thousand troops wiped out in an instant was shocking.
“Ugh, p-please spare me.”
Fabro had relied too much on the number of soldiers and missed his chance to flee.
He managed to escape somehow but was caught by the pursuing Gillian.
He couldn’t die so unjustly.
‘The main forces will surely win.’
As long as he clung to life, he had a chance to be released.
In typical wars, when nobles are captured, they are usually taken as prisoners rather than killed.
It’s more profitable to extract a ransom from their lord or family.
Thus, Fabro could surrender with peace of mind.
“Please spare me! Count Digald will surely pay a ransom! I surrender! I surrender! I surrender!”
Ghislaine silently scanned Fabro’s face back and forth.
The moment their eyes met, Fabro, who had been frantically pleading, felt a choking terror and shut his mouth tightly.
Those cold snake-like eyes, an expression devoid of emotion.
The gleaming predator’s eyes were watching him.
As if contemplating whether or not to devour him.
“Your name.”
“B-Baron Fabro. W-who are you?”
“Ghislaine Perdium.”
“Ghislaine…? The Grand Duke of Perdium?”
Fabro gaped in shock.
He recognized Ghislaine’s name. He was known as the wild card that stood alongside Gilmore, heir of Digald, in the North.
Was that person actually the one who audaciously ambushed and slaughtered over a thousand soldiers?
It would be more believable if Count Perdium were a dragon.
But there was no way he could insult Ghislaine Perdium as a wild card in front of him.
Fabro concealed his feelings and quickly bowed his head.
“Your Grace, please accept my surrender. It will not be bad for you either. You would surely receive a large ransom.”
However, Ghislaine offered a bizarre reply.
“I still can’t remember you even after thinking about it.”
“W-what do you mean?”
“It means you’re such an insignificant person that you wouldn’t even be remembered. Well, either way, the outcome will be the same.”
Ghislaine grabbed Fabro’s hair with one hand and raised him up, while raising the axe with the other.
“Ahhh! Spare me! I’ll pay a great ransom!”
“I don’t do transactions with scum like you.”
“W-what do you mean? I’m a noble! A noble should observe the customs!”
“There are no customs on the battlefield.”
Ghislaine said, as if it was funny. But there wasn’t a trace of humor on his face.
“Indeed, there’s one thing I should receive from you.”
With that indifferent tone, the axe came crashing down.
Slick!
“Your life.”
*
Clang, clang!
Ghislaine walked into the castle.
Armored mercenaries followed him, chattering loudly.
As soon as the people inside the castle saw Ghislaine, they lowered their heads and backed away.
With each step Ghislaine took, he left behind a trail of blood that looked like it had been painted.
Blood dripped from him, coated from head to toe. Yet, Ghislaine didn’t even bother to wipe his face.
What was even more terrifying were Ghislaine’s eyes.
His indifferent gaze hadn’t changed even slightly.
If they were gleaming with murderous intent, it might have been less terrifying.
If the old Ghislaine had been an annoying troublesome matter to avoid, now he was a source of fear that one should never entangle with.
Boom!
Ghislaine opened the great hall door and stepped inside confidently.
Zvalter and the retainers who had been having a meeting gaped in surprise at Ghislaine’s sudden appearance.
They thought the Grand Duke had escaped, but here he was, covered in blood from some recent fight.
“What the hell have you done?”
Zvalter asked in a trembling voice.
Without answering, Ghislaine simply bowed his head to greet them and plopped a box he had brought onto the table.
Seeing the blood-soaked box, the retainers gasped.
No one could properly comprehend the situation.
At that moment, Ghislaine’s voice resonated through the great hall.
“The supply unit has been annihilated. Now let’s start the siege.”
