Chapter 309
Walking in Twilight (3)
Count Branburt looked down from the castle walls with a stiff expression.
The soldiers of the imperial army were clamoring below.
“……!”
“……!”
Their ears were deafened by the terrifying racket of malice, murderous intent, and fear.
The situation was no different at the top of the walls.
“Ladder! Push down the ladder!”
“Take down the ones who come up first!”
Ally commanders urged the soldiers with cracking voices. Soldiers grabbed onto the poles with split ends and screamed as they pushed the ladders away.
“Die!”
Others were busy fighting the enemy soldiers who had climbed onto the ramparts.
Right beside them, the Iron Hawk Archers constantly searched for and shot at the enemy commanders and senior soldiers.
No one was idle.
Everyone desperately faced the enemy.
Even so, the situation showed no signs of improving.
There were too many enemies.
Even just counting the ones who managed to climb the ladders and step foot onto the wall, there were too many.
“Gwah!“
All around, soldiers of the kingdom collapsed while spraying blood.
“My eyes! It hurts! It hurts!”
The soldier whose eyes had been torn out cried and rolled down the wall.
“You bastards! Everyone is dead…”
A soldier who was shocked by the death of his comrades went crazy and was killed by an arrow that came out of nowhere.
A soldier who was running around picked up his severed forearm. Not far away, a soldier with his stomach ripped open picked up his spilled internal organs.
The air was filled with the smell of blood and filth.
The stench made his stomach turn.
He wanted to vomit.
“Don’t take a single step back!”
However, instead of raising a fuss, Count Branburt shouted loudly and encouraged the soldiers.
Hwaeg.
A blue blade suddenly flew out.
The count did not panic and raised his shield to block the blade. Simultaneously, he thrust his sword forward.
“Grrgh.“
The imperial soldier who had attempted the sneak attack on the crowded castle walls breathed his last with a sword stuck in his chest.
“It’s dangerous! Stay back!”
A knight belatedly shouted as he cut down an enemy soldier who came close to him.
“I will not back down! I will fight here with the others!”
Count Branburt responded loudly so that all of his soldiers could hear.
It had already been ten days since the enemy’s relentless offensive began.
The leader of the castle could not appear weak in front of the soldiers who were sent into battle without proper sleep.
“But…!”
“If you have the strength to make a fuss here, help the soldiers drive out the enemy!”
The count scolded loudly and then rushed towards the soldier who had climbed to the top of the wall.
“Kugh!”
The enemy soldier who had just climbed up was stabbed by his sword and fell limp.
The count lifted his foot and dropped the corpse down from the walls. As he adjusted his sword again, a loud noise was heard from the castle gate.
“Charge!”
A clear voice rang out from below the castle walls.
Immediately after, screams from the imperial army erupted down below.
Count Branburt followed the sound of the screams and looked in that direction.
The crown prince’s knight was there.
A knight of steel who led the Iron Lion Knights to the enemy.
A flash of starlight fell in the midst of the imperial forces.
Bang!
The group of imperial soldiers collapsed.
The Iron Lions advanced, trampling the fallen enemy soldiers.
Soon, the imperial army’s offensive began to falter.
At that time, a clear voice echoed throughout the battlefield.
“I, Arwen Kirgayen, have taken the general’s head!”
Count Branburt looked to a spot on the plains, some distance from the castle.
In the midst of the crowded battlefield, the image of a knight raising up a head dripping with blood could be seen clearly.
Dong dong dong!
A little later, drums sounded.
A somewhat urgent sound, different from the one that announced an advance.
The imperial troops who had clung to the castle walls turned around and began to flee.
Count Branburt looked at his enemies with an exhausted face.
A knight came over and helped him stand up.
However, instead of descending the wall, he chose to remain behind with his soldiers.
“Good work. You fought well. I am proud of you.”
The Iron Hawk archer, who had a long gash across his chest from an enemy’s sword, looked at him and dropped his head.
The count quietly laid the Iron Hawk archer down onto his back.
The elite members of the family he had raised with his own hands were now lying all around him as cold corpses.
He looked at the bodies of his soldiers with a sad face.
However, it was not possible for him to only care about the corpses.
There were far more soldiers who were wounded groaning all over the walls than there were dead.
“We can still fight!”
“Look! I’m left handed! Even if I don’t have my right arm, I can still do everything I need to do!”
Among them, there were those who insisted on remaining on the walls until the end, even after losing a limb.
It was the job of the leader to convince those people to take care of themselves.
The count went around the castle walls and persuaded the wounded one by one.
“Leave the castle walls to the others and look after yourself.”
“I can still fight! Count! So don’t send me to the rear!”
“I won’t, so go down for now and treat your wounds first.”
Only then did the wounded soldier head down with a relieved expression.
Looking at that scene, Count Branburt sighed inwardly.
In fact, there was no place for them to evacuate the wounded.
Not only the nearby forts, but also the forts and strongholds far behind the front lines were under attack by the imperial army.
It was even said that there were places where the war situation was so bad that it would not be surprising if those strongholds fell immediately.
Of course, he couldn’t tell the soldiers that fact straight away.
Hiding his true feelings, he continued to comfort the wounded and the surviving soldiers.
“Huk…!”
A soldier hugged a cold corpse and sobbed.
“Ugh…”
A soldier, crouching down and hugging his knees with both arms, continued to moan.
“Damn Empire!”
Some of the soldiers, whose fervor had yet to subside, started spitting and kicking at an enemy’s corpse.
The atmosphere on the walls was not very good.
Although they had achieved a brief victory, the enemies would soon return.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the castle collapsed at any time.
Everyone was getting tired.
If the Steel Knight had not led the Iron Lions out of the fortress and defeated the enemy commanders, one of the walls might have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
All bases on the southern front were under attack.
The burden here was especially severe.
Out of the 20 enemy legions and 25 knight corps that had advanced into the south, nearly 40% of them were concentrated here.
In contrast, this fortress only had 1 legion and 2 knights.
The Iron Lions, led by Arwen Kirgayen, were firmly guarding it, but overcoming the overwhelming difference in troops was not an easy task.
Their side was unable to rest and suffered through battle all day, while the enemies took turns attacking the fortress and were able to take breaks.
It would be nice for his troops to at least have some hope that support would come.
With the imperial army attacking on all fronts, it was just wishful thinking.
There could be no retreat.
This was the most important strategic point on the southern front.
If this fortress was given over to the enemy, the other southern strongholds would soon fall one after another.
The collapse of the southern front was tantamount to the collapse of their line of defense.
Even if they would die, they had to fight here until the end.
Count Branburt looked toward the castle gate with a determined gaze.
The Iron Lions who had charged outside were returning.
Because they had fought so fiercely against the enemy in such a brief period of time, their entire bodies were dyed red.
Among them, Arwen Kirgayen was particularly noticeable.
The count saw Arwen Kirgayen soaked in blood, as if she had bathed in the blood of her enemies.
He didn’t know how many times already.
In moments of crisis, she stepped up and pushed the enemy away.
There were several times when she had been ambushed by paladins who had taken off their fancy armor and disguised themselves as ordinary soldiers.
Nonetheless, she defended the fortress admirably.
And while only in her mid-twenties.
She was supporting this huge fortress, and, by extension, the entire southern front.
Arwen Kirgayen, the Steel Knight, was a treasure of the kingdom.
Unlike an old man like himself, she was a talented person who should not be wasted in a place like this.
“In the worst case scenario, she and the Iron Lions…”
Count Branburt’s eyes sank deeply.
Then Arwen Kirgayen, who had taken off her helmet, looked at him.
Step, step.
She suddenly approached him.
Then she stopped before him and said.
“If the commander is thinking about defeat, the soldiers will be easily discouraged.”
The count inadvertently looked around at her words.
The soldiers on the castle walls were looking sideways at him, whether or not they realized it.
The light of despair glimmered in their eyes.
The count raised a hand to his face.
His fingertips touched his wrinkled face and frozen mouth.
Only then did he realize.
What kind of face he was looking at his soldiers with, and what they were thinking when they looked at him.
“We will never lose. Unless we have already given up.”
The count’s face burned at her words.
How long had it been since the battle started, that he had already begun to think about escaping?
He must be getting older. He supposed he had become a coward because he thought too much about unnecessary things.
He wasn’t like this when they faced the Warlord at the Lheintes River.1
He smiled bitterly.
“When your body is tired, all kinds of thoughts start to come to mind.”
Arwen Kirgayen comforted him with a soft voice.
She said that even though she had been guarding the castle walls without sleep for several days already.
Count Branburt took a deep breath.
And he shouted loudly.
“Other than the minimum amount of guards, everyone else should go rest!”
The count’s voice was no longer as weak as an old man’s.
In the past, when the lords of the central region had fled in fear of the Warlord’s power, they were just as resolute as when they had rushed towards the large army of Orcs with their cavalry.
Arwen Kirgayen, who was quietly watching the scene, suddenly looked at her hands.
It had been a long time since she had taken off her battle gloves.
Her exposed hands were full of blisters and wounds.
Her fingers twitched frequently.
Her whole body screamed.
She couldn’t help it.
The situation did not allow her to hold back and maintain her physical condition.
Every day was a crisis, every day they were on thin ice.
Nonetheless, she did not waver.
It was different from before.
It was different from the past when they had done their best to protect Winter Castle without the crown prince, only to realize their own shortcomings.
Now she had the power to protect the fortress.
No, she must protect it.
The messenger who visited the fortress before the beginning of the enemy’s offensive had said this.
The crown prince had left the duchy with only a few knights.
It was almost palpable how the crown prince must have felt as he left the fortress in the middle of that urgent situation, when the enemy’s blade was aimed at the kingdom.
He had probably thought it through countless times. Even then, it couldn’t have been easy for him to leave. It must have felt like he had shackles bound to his feet because of his concern for those who remained.
Therefore, the front line had to be strong for the crown prince who took a path he did not want to take.
So that the crown prince, who would finally return after accomplishing what he set out to do, would not blame himself for being away.
“I am the Steel Knight.”
Arwen Kirgayen clenched her fists.
“I am your first knight.”
Her hand, which had been twitching intermittently, had suddenly stopped trembling.
* * *
Fifteen days had passed since the imperial army’s general offensive began.
In this desperate situation where they could not even expect support, the Leonberg army continued to fight.
Considering the power difference, it was strange for them to be able to hold on.
Even if they were able to endure for some time, they should have fallen long ago.
However, the kingdom’s strongholds held on tenaciously even though they looked as if they would collapse at any moment.
At the center were all the seeds sown by Crown Prince Adrian Leonberger.
The knights and the Silver Lions who had been raised by the crown prince himself.
The wizards of the White Night Tower who continued the progress of the White Night through the arrangements of the crown prince.
The kingdom’s nobles and knights who had regained their pride and grandeur due to the crown prince.
The gunmen in heavy armor who had been revealed to the world by the crown prince.
The Silver Foxes who had previously worked as mercenaries and eventually made their way to Winter Castle, where they had met the crown prince to become knights of the kingdom.
All of them were supporting the castles and fortresses of the kingdom.
But even that was now at its limit.
Unlike the front lines where elite troops were stationed, the relatively weak rear bases began to fall to the imperial army one by one.
“Nantes Fortress has fallen. There were no survivors.”
“Denien Fortress is under siege by the enemy, and communication has been cut off after they reported that they will fight to their last.”
“Four rear supply bases have been occupied by the Imperial Army.”
The cracks that had started in the rear were spreading little by little.
It had been a month since the empire’s general offensive began, and it would only be a matter of time before the entire front collapsed if things were to continue like this.
But the front line did not collapse.
“Many of the imperial legions in the rear have been annihilated!”
“Prince Maximilian! His Highness has arrived at the front lines with some of the remaining troops from the mainland!”
“The fortresses in the rear have collapsed! All of them have been recaptured! I-it’s the dwarven army!”
“The centaur calvary is with us!”
Unexpected reinforcements joined from the rear.
That wasn’t the end.
A letter filled with the sea breeze flew into the Briand citadel.
It was a letter from the new queen of Teuton, Hestia Neumann Tudor.
It contained only one line.
[Leonberg is not alone.]
“The Teuton army has crossed the western border of the empire!”
Subsequently, the Knights of the Sky, who had left the front lines after the death of Prince Doris, returned one after another and reported the good news.
“The western kingdoms have all declared war on the empire!”
Just in time, there was also news that the kingdom of the Dawn Alliance had drawn their swords against the empire.
And then.
“The enemy reserve unit! 20,000 legions directly under the emperor! They have been wiped out!”
News of victory arrived from all directions.
“800 Burgundy knights have been annihilated! 34 were paladins under the emperor’s direct command, all champions!”
“Among the champions, many of the Penta knights hidden by the imperial family were confirmed!”
The mighty power that the empire had been hiding was destroyed without a chance to properly display their might.
“The strongholds in the central part of the empire! Seven of them have fallen!”
“Many of the imperial troops attacking the front lines have deserted! They were all legions based in the central region!”
The imperial troops on the front began to waver.
“His Highness the Crown Prince continues to move south!”
The situation had turned.
This happened around chapter 70. The other translator used the names “Lheintes River” and “Count Brandenberg” ?
Notes: I thought I’d have more time near the end of the year. I was very wrong.
Some announcements. I noticed that the author updated a couple of the chapter titles, probably for the physical releases. As far as I can tell, none of the chapters that I have done or will work on have changed. The content also doesn’t seem to have changed since there are still some typos.
There’s a not-so-new-anymore cover you can see at Ridi.
The author said on his blog that he is planning on releasing more side stories around the time of the webtoon launch. The board game is almost complete as well (pictures in his blog), and it should hopefully be released at the same time as the webtoon.
Next chapter is back to Adrian.
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