Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!

Chapter 297: But That Day Is Not Today

This ridiculous battle threw Radensdorf into utter chaos. With refugees, enemy cavalry, and deserters running rampant in every direction, could there be a worse hell than this?

A clean death would almost be a mercy. They created this hell just for the sake of negotiations? Unfortunately, in the politics that medieval nobles pursued, harm to commoners was never even a consideration.

"The only ones left on that battlefield now would be the Offenburg Knights."

"Commander Benjamin is still out there?"

"He helped Sir Fehrt of Waldsee and the nobles escape. I never imagined a knight with such an unshakable sense of justice would serve under a greedy prince like Marquis Offenburg."

"Hmm, the common folk escaped with them too, right?"

"That I don’t know. The commoners will run on their own, won’t they?"

He seemed to have no interest in such things whatsoever. That’s probably the typical noble mindset. After asking the viscount a few more questions, I requested that he lend me troops.

"These men are all the troops I have! I cannot lose them too!"

"You would have lost them all if I hadn’t saved you."

"That is your duty as the leader of the duchy cavalry! I am going back!"

The viscount hurriedly departed for Radensdorf with his cavalry. Refusing to lend support even after being rescued. Next time you’re being hunted down, don’t expect anyone to save you.

I saved several more nobles while advancing east.

"I’m sorry, but support is out of the question. I shall pray to the Lord for your fortune in battle."

"Thank you for saving us, but I cannot lose my family’s only cavalry."

Most of them refused my requests for support. They rode around with a dozen or so horsemen each, yet wouldn’t spare even one. Through repeated small skirmishes, my cavalry dwindled from 295 to 280.

Support wasn’t mandatory, but I’d thought they would at least show some token of gratitude for being saved. Then again, that’s just how these people are. If they had lent me even a single rider despite their dire straits, I would have thought differently of them.

This time too, a court noble I’d rescued thanked me, but I’d grown indifferent to it.

"Thank you for saving me, Sir Streit!"

"It’s dangerous here. Flee to Radensdorf quickly."

"W-wait a moment!"

I intended to accept his thanks and move on, but he stopped me. I braced myself for some nonsense, but instead he offered me one of the mere three retainers he had left. Huh? Seriously?

"My retainer knows the roads well, so he’ll be of help!"

"You must need every man you have. Are you sure you can spare him for me?"

"While everyone else flees, you intend to face Bavaria alone. I want to add my strength to yours."

Through the Manager Scouter, I checked his name and disposition. He was a promising young noble with the honesty (good) disposition, a rarity among court nobles. I gladly accepted his support.

I’ll make a special note to remember you.

Beort, was it?

Besides Beort, young nobles named Drek and Ferke each lent me a rider despite their own hardship. And their dispositions were very positive. It felt like I’d discovered real talent, and it put me in a good mood.

I placed the riders they had lent me under Anton’s command and made sure they were looked after. Don’t they say that those who help you in hard times are the truly good ones? These men helped me out of pure goodwill.

"Gale Knight! We’ll join you!"

"We must avenge our master!"

"Please, let us fight alongside you!"

Small bands of cavalry that had scattered without commanders joined us one after another, and my force grew from a mere 280 to 300. Only 20 more, but this was a time when every single man was precious.

"Sir Streit! Over here!"

"Hm? Isn’t that...?"

While galloping hard toward the east, I came across part of the Offenburg Knights. The man leading them was the vice commander, a capable leader who had commanded the order in Benjamin’s place when Benjamin had been wounded before.

"Where is your superior, and why are you out here?"

"We scattered in all directions and have been gathering troops!"

"So the Offenburg Knights lost in the end too?"

"We were beaten one-sidedly without even putting up a proper fight."

"Sounds like the horse archers got you."

The Offenburg Knights are fundamentally heavy cavalry. For heavy cavalry, catching horse archers, who are even lighter than light cavalry, is extremely difficult. So they had no choice but to endure one-sided attacks.

There were few light cavalry on our side who could stop the horse archers, and order violators kept cropping up, so a proper response would have been impossible. If I had at least been there, they wouldn’t have been beaten so pitifully.

"You must save the commander! He’s still out there fighting!"

"Anyone else, maybe not—but Commander Benjamin, we save. Lead the way."

We reached the plain where the Bavarian vanguard and the interception force had clashed. There was no enemy in sight. The corpses of men and horses lay strewn everywhere, and crows and vultures were holding a feast.

As I surveyed the area, a clearing centered on a mountain of corpses caught my eye. In that clearing, a severed head had been mounted on a spear shaft. With a sinking feeling, I rode closer.

And I was struck dumb with shock.

"...God dammit!"

The head was Benjamin’s. Cutting off a noble’s head and putting it on display like this—isn’t this the kind of cruelty only barbarians would commit? The Offenburg knights wailed in anguish.

"How could this happen!"

"Commander! Aaaargh!"

He was a knight with the justice (good) disposition, someone I’d wanted to build a long relationship with, and now he was dead, just like that. No, the marquis might as well have killed him himself. Trust should only be placed where it’s deserved. Making him lead those greedy fools!

He resisted to the very end and fell gloriously as a knight, yet cutting off his head to mount and display on a spear shaft is unthinkable in Beren. Were the Bavarians always such savages?

"That looks like the work of the Hungarian mercenaries."

Barosi explained cautiously.

Mounting and displaying heads is a Hungarian custom, he said.

"Aren’t Hungarians Christians too? If they cared at all about appearances, it would be hard to do something like this."

"Sadly, barbaric tribes still remain among my people."

It was a kind of psychological warfare, instilling terror and rage in the enemy so they couldn’t fight properly. Yes, psychological warfare indeed. To think it could enrage me this much!

We weren’t as close as Old Man Bertheim and I had been, but witnessing the cruel death of a man toward whom I had shown goodwill, I couldn’t help but burn with fury.

A single horse and rider suddenly appeared on the hill above the plain.

Barosi, beside me, said it was a Hungarian horseman.

"Must be a scout."

"No, they’ve come in a horde."

The enemy cavalry the Commander Scouter detected beyond the hill numbered around 1,000. More than three times our number. I immediately gave the order to assemble. Anton waved the flag vigorously, and all our forces gathered.

Thud thud thud thud thud!

"Raaaaah!"

A massive war cry and earth-shaking hoofbeats surged toward us from beyond the plain like a tidal wave. The cavalrymen swallowed hard at the sight of the enormous host of horsemen filling the horizon.

By the numbers alone, 1,000 riders isn’t that many, but a mounted man looms so large that the host seemed to blanket the entire horizon in overwhelming grandeur.

I positioned myself in front of my cavalry.

I could see eyes brimming with fear. And the Hungarian mercenaries seemed the most shaken of all. Barosi was trying to calm them, but they looked like they were plotting to run the moment things went south.

From the cavalrymen’s view, the tidal wave of enemy horsemen charging madly toward us must have been visible right behind me. The war cries and hoofbeats were deafening, but their attention was fixed on my words.

"Who is it that leads you?!"

"The Gale Knight!"

"The great knight! The hero of Beren!"

"Veretlen tábornok!"

As if to drive away their fear, the cavalrymen shouted with all their might.

I looked around at them and said,

"I have never once lost! But someday, I will lose!"

Leaving the bewildered cavalrymen behind, I turned my horse around.

The Bavarian vanguard had already drawn near.

"But that day is not today!"

I lowered my visor. Within my narrowed field of vision, the enemy horsemen charging fiercely toward us grew larger and larger. The cavalrymen raised their swords and shields in unison. I thrust my halberd high toward the sky.

"The glorious Lord watches over us!"

"Glory to the Lord!"

"Victory to us!"

"Győzelem! Csak nyerj!"

"Charge, warriors of Beren!"

"Raaaaah!"

Thud thud thud thud thud!

With me and the Gale Knights at the head, the duchy cavalry and the Hungarian mercenaries followed. They may not have understood what my words meant, but the message seemed to get through to them all the same.

The charge naturally formed into a wedge formation.

I rode at the very front, halberd leveled.

Honestly, I was just as terrified, weak in the knees like everyone else. But I had something to fall back on. A transcendent power I wouldn’t trade for anything in this world was on my side.

[Using Cavalry Breakthrough 200% Increase]

[Partially applied to the cavalry of the user’s unit]

[The user temporarily becomes invincible]

Bavaria will pay the price in death!