Chapter 6: Rogue Lords (6)

 

Ethan Randall, one of the ten Narja warlords, continued his march with a bored look on his face. The second-in-command, Gethan, also looked bored.

“You can’t just put a warlord in charge of a decoy squad instead of the main army.”

Randall did not respond to Gethan’s words, he did not even stoped him from speaking.

“More importantly. Is the Aintorian territory like in the report?”

“Yes, commander. According to the agent, the Territorial Army is no better than trash and the lord is incompetent.”

“Kukukukukuku. He’s probably playing with a bunch of women right now, right?”

“Probably something like that. He’s addicted to alcohol and women.”

“I can’t bear to have my spear stained with the blood of such scum. It’s the king’s order, so I have no choice but to go……. I’m not going to be able to do anything about it. I’ll destroy Aintorian as soon as possible that should prove my greatness!”

***

[Narja’s Royal Army: 12241 men]

[Aintorian Territorial Army: 4,914 men]

I scanned the troop strength through [Information Check]. If only they had followed my orders, they wouldn’t have suffered so much damage. My army’s numbers were rapidly decreasing.

[Aintorian Territorial Army: 4,414 men]

Just as I feared. There’s no way these people, who are as good as a bunch of fools, would do exactly as I told them to do. I couldn’t train them perfectly in just one day and I had no choice. I was steadily losing soldier, it was clear that the enemy’s force had changed.

So far it’s working; In fact, the ambush strategy had a greater purpose than reducing the enemy’s numbers. I didn’t know if it would work, but I was betting the battle on it.

For that reason, the moment the commander of the enemy came out of the mountain and got stuck in a pit I launched a volley of attacks. This would create a situation where arrows would rain down on the enemies, making it difficult for the rest of their troops to get out of the mountains.

It would be meaningless if I can’t defeat them here. A siege battle with the enemy’s total military strength fully assembled is impossible to win. The best strategy was to kill the enemy commander in a situation where the enemy’s forces were dispersed.

I appeared in front of the pit leading a troop of more than 1.000 men, excluding the 4.000 ambushers. Of course, I have no intention of fighting here. Even though they were caught in the ambush, there were still far too many enemies to fight here.

What if the enemy commander appeared away from the main force in this situation? The chances of killing him are greatly increased.

A unit of 1,000 men killing a commander hiding among 1,000 enemy troops it’s different from a unit of 1,000 men killing a commander hiding among 10,000 enemy troops. So I had to lure the enemy commander.

As far as I know, one of the most famous warlords in the Kingdom of Narja is the one who leads the decoy force. The more famous a warlord is the more pride he has.

The commander takes the lead for smaller units, which is standard practice in military law. It was the enemy’s cavalry that fell into the trap. I was sure that the commander was among them, so I shouted.

“How dare you invade my land? Narja Royal Army listen carefully you will be held accountable for your stupidity!”

After shouting this I looked for the commander’s flag. Underneath the banner, I noticed a man equipped with extraordinary armor.

[Ethan Randall]

[Age: 37 years]

[Martial force: 85]

[Intelligence: 59]

[Command: 70]

[Affiliation: Narja Kingdom Second Army Commander]

[People’s spirit: 62]

“Kuhuhahahaha! How dare you underestimate me? The cavalry that can move follow me!”

The enemy’s commander was well aware of my provocation, the problem that his martial force is a whopping 85.

He is a famous military commander. I had expected this to be the case to some extent, but I was a little surprised by the figure of 85. However, there is no time to get flustered. I have to move forward with my strategy now.

“Bente! We’re pulling out!”

I fled with Bente from the commander’s charge.

[Narja Kingdom Army: 1221 men]

As I ran away, I saw that about 1200 cavalrymen were in pursuit, with more than 10,000 men being blocked in the mountains, there was no better opportunity than this.

“Activate the trap!”

Since my army’s direct warfare was utterly unreliable, I set a trap in advance.

The trap went off, the scene soon turned into chaos as the horses of the cavalry running behind us were stabbed by bamboo spears, and they fell from the horses while trying to avoid the spears.

“Okay, now! Shoot all the arrows at once!”

Bente shouted as he rushed the soldiers. He also shot a few cavalrymen coming towards him then drew his sword and ran to cut down soldiers one by one.

The number of cavalry rushing in began to decrease rapidly due to the effect of the bamboo spears and rain of arrows. In the blink of an eye, the morale of my army increased.

[Aintorian Territorial Army: 902 men]

The number of enemy troops was significantly reduced, but the problem was still the enemy commander. He rushed forward, blindly brandishing his spear. Both arrows and bamboo spears were destroyed at every turn by his spear.

[Aintorian Territorial Army: 700 men]

Due to the enemy forces struggle around the commander the number of our troops began to shrink rapidly.

He was indeed strong, a warlord that strong must have unique skills. But at my current level, those unique skills do not appear in the system. I have to defeat such a strong enemy; that’s the condition for victory. Of all things, that enemy is a monster with a martial force of over 85!

“Hey, there! Are you the lord? Die!”

He threw a spear at me, screaming from the top of his lungs. The spear was spinning at high speed as if he had used some kind of skill! Indeed, the difference in force, which is 27 in this case, is absolute.

To defeat a general with such a high martial force in a war, I need to have enough troops to overwhelm the enemy.

If the current enemy is about 700 men, I need at least five times as many troops to gain the advantage.

A strong general in this game is essential but I think I can do it. I’ve prepared a method. The moment I thought that, unfortunately, Bente blocked Randall’s spear.

“Out of the way, Bente! It’s an order! Trust me!”

Protecting your lord at all costs that is a loyalty worthy of respect. But in the current situation, it was clearly a liability.

My martial force is in a terrible state right now, but I knew how to fight Randall! I quickly prepared the item. This item was the reason why I was able to leap recklessly into the battle. The best weapon and insurance I have!

[Do you want to use the bonus item Daitouren?]

The message twinkled in front of me, I nodded, and the item was activated.

***

The lord’s castle the day before.

After ordering the soldiers to set up a pit and ambush, I came back to the lord’s castle because I remembered an important thing. The system said it would give me a chance to challenge for the glory.

When I woke, I was already into this world. The night before the transition, the word “perk” confused me, and I played the game just before I went to bed.

In the end, I couldn’t find the perk, no matter how hard I looked for it. But if the perk was something that could be obtained after transferring to this world, it was only natural that I couldn’t find it in the game.

As I recall, the message said that perks should be acquired through exploration from the beginning MAP. That means there must be a perk hidden somewhere.

So what the heck is the beginning MAP?

The MAP of the beginning, so…….

The place where I first opened your eyes? The bedroom of the lord’s castle?

I went into the bedroom and looked around the room, but there didn’t seem to be any space to hide anything there.

Since it’s called a map, doesn’t that mean the entire lord’s castle, not just the bedroom?

Soon I searched everywhere in the lord’s castle. I looked in every room, including the bedrooms, the study, the maidservants’ and maids quarters, and even the kitchen. But I couldn’t find anything that could be called a ‘perk.’