Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 267

267―――――

Requiem

“I’ll be entering.”

A man’s voice was heard, and shortly after, the commander of the Lion Knights entered Lord Rechten’s office.

He was usually lightly armed, but the current Knight Commander was fully armed, though without a sword.

It was a completely different level than before. The report that Nudia’s massive army had crossed the border and was rushing in fiercely had just arrived yesterday.

Because of this, Lord Klausen’s territory had briefly returned to a state of war, leaving behind its short-lived peace.

“Welcome, Knight Commander.”

“The griffins that went on reconnaissance have returned.”

“I see.

What about the enemy’s movements?”

“The first army of Nudia, which crossed the border first, is not heading directly here but moving elsewhere.

If we had only used scouts, we would not have known where they disappeared, but fortunately, the griffins succeeded in confirming their movements from the air.”

At the Knight Commander’s words, Lord Rechten unfolded a map, wondering if the enemies were heading somewhere other than the front of Klausen’s defenses.

The Lion Knight Commander scanned the map, identified a point, and pointed to it with his fingertip.

“It’s here.”

“…They’re ignoring us and going into Hispania’s territory?”

“It seems so.”

“That might not be a wise choice.”

Lord Rechten was not surprised by the news that the enemies had bypassed them through a side road.

The border was too wide, and there was always a possibility that enemies could squeeze through the gaps.

However, neither Nudia nor Hispania considered this part important because, to use the normal route, they would eventually have to break through the defense line made up of solid castles, whether it was Klausen or another noble’s territory.

Everyone knew that it was absolutely necessary to avoid non-combat losses when losses in battle had to be minimized.

And if they marched through a place that was not a road, most of the soldiers would be exhausted or suffer injuries to their feet or legs before they even fought.

In addition, if they entered that narrow side road, the supply line would be unstable, and above all, they would not be able to transport siege weapons properly.

If they invaded the interior of Hispania without engaging in a siege, they would be torn apart by the armies of Hispania’s nobles who would rush in from all directions.

‘But they’re moving quite confidently.

Did they judge that Klausen would be too busy with the battle against the main force?’

In fact, Nudia’s main force crossed the border following the first army.

Not only the number of troops but also siege weapons and mages were included, which was certainly a burden for Lord Klausen’s territory.

In a situation where they could not carelessly use a single soldier or arrow to stop and check them, sending a separate unit to a relatively distant point was a situation that required careful consideration.

“I’m not sure if it’s okay.

I’m afraid that less than 100 rangers will be outnumbered.”

“Isn’t the person who went with them quite good?

Unfortunately, he’s not good at shooting arrows, but at least he’ll fight well against the enemies that rush in.”

“…I don’t think it’s just ‘somewhat’.”

“Hahaha!

That’s true.”

Lord Rechten and the Lion Knight Commander smiled rather leisurely despite the war.

The fact that they were only firmly defending the castle of Klausen’s territory was actually the final conclusion that came from Zion’s strong assertion.

One might ask why these people, who were not others but seasoned warriors with many battles, listened so well to the words of a mere 20-year-old boy, but considering what the young man named Zion Klausen had done so far, it was more than enough.

Their only son, heir, and future lord had accomplished things that even they could not easily say they could do.

“I’ll take care of the rear, so Father, just be the shield as you’ve always been.

Haha, geez.

It seems like my son is being too much to his father.

I can also play the role of a spear flying towards the enemy at any time, but he insists on me only being a shield.”

“That’s what I’m saying.

I also want to rush out and harass Nudia’s first army right away, but unfortunately, it seems that I’m yielding to Sebastian.”

The two men who were laughing like that put aside their brief respite and began to devote themselves to establishing countermeasures to stop Nudia’s main force that was following behind.

While Lord Klausen’s territory was preparing to pour everything into the siege against Nudia’s main force,

Nudia’s first army was facing many difficulties as it passed through a point that had quite a few problems to be called a road.

Shuk!

Shushuk!

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

Among them, the biggest problem was, as expected, the rangers who secretly grabbed their sides and poured arrows in a surprise attack.

They constantly followed Ive’s [Commander of Nudia’s first army] Nudia’s first army, avoiding close combat at all costs, only harassing the enemy from a distance and aiming to scout, forcing a certain amount of attrition, albeit slight.

Eventually, Nudia’s first army, unable to bear it any longer, decided to hunt down the Hispania rangers.

The best way to catch rangers was to use the same rangers to deal with them, and Nudia’s first army naturally included rangers for the purpose of reconnaissance and small-scale engagements.

As soon as the Hispania rangers took their positions again and started their surprise attack, the Nudia army showed a bewildered appearance, trying to make the enemies stay in that position for a long time and shoot arrows.

In the meantime, the rangers on Nudia’s side quickly moved to take the rear of the Hispania rangers.

“Hispania rangers.”

“Good, let’s move.”

The terrain was roughly understood, and above all, the enemies were busy attacking their allies who were frantically panicking.

The enemies would not focus on the attack for a long time, so they had to move quickly to take the rear, or at least aim for the flanks to inflict damage.

The Nudia rangers moved out of the flanks of their allies as quickly as possible and moved quickly to the place expected to be the attack point.

And after a while, they were able to find the Hispania rangers who were shooting arrows at the Nudia army from a certain distance.

The Nudia rangers quickly took their positions as soon as they found the enemy, and at the moment they were about to hold them back so that their allies could push back and complete the encirclement.

Skeok―.

“Ugh!”

A ranger on the far end of the formation, also called the wing, collapses with his chest pierced.

Immediately after, another member next to him had a blood line drawn precisely on his neck before he could even turn his body, making a sound like air escaping, and then died.

“What…”

“Gasp!”

These people were trained to silence their voices for the sake of surprise.

However, when they met someone they did not expect in a place they did not expect, someone the rangers would never want to face head-on, they could not help but scream.

“Tsk.

I was supposed to be serving a cup of tea to the lord right now.

What is this I’m doing.”

The hands of the old butler who was pouring tea moved much more freely now that he was holding a sword.

Every time his neatly trimmed mustache shook lightly in his breath, blood splattered and someone’s breath went out.

He himself said that he was old and sick, but if Zion saw this scene, he would have grumbled that he would have to reset the standards for an old and sick body.

“Damn it!”

It is not that rangers cannot handle a sword.

Rather, these are the rangers who are trained to kill the enemies who stick to them in such a narrow place with one blow.

But the opponent was a being who was trained to wield a sword and kill the enemy in any situation, and even the place where he was was none other than the ‘Royal Secret Guard Knights’.

Now he was old and his reaction speed was slow, so he judged that he could no longer perfectly fulfill his duties, and instead chose to enter Klausen, the shield of Hispania, to serve Lord Rechten in order to be loyal to the royal family in other ways.

‘I came forward to minimize the damage, but seeing blood is still not pleasant.’

The butler of Klausen’s territory, who was always smiling, briefly took off his suit [metaphorically, meaning he became serious].

The current Sebastian became a warrior who mercilessly wielded a sword for Hispania in the past, and steadily slaughtered Nudia’s rangers with a completely expressionless face.

Eventually, the Nudia rangers had to quickly leave their positions to prevent further damage, as they could be attacked by the enemy rangers if they continued like this.

But Nudia was not stupid either, and in the meantime, they moved their troops, managed to drive out the Hispania rangers, and succeeded in passing through the narrowest road.

“We were prepared for some attrition anyway.

But once we pass through here, it won’t be easy from now on, people of the Kingdom of Hispania.”

As soon as Ive’s allies passed through the narrowest passage, he focused on clearing the area.

After that, they had to secure at least a minimum of routes for supply problems, reserves, and even retreat routes in the worst case.

No matter how many rangers there are, there is no way to deal with a regular army that pushes with numbers.

Since they had expected damage to occur anyway, Nudia’s command quickly assessed the surroundings and eliminated the places where the enemies could hide themselves.

Anyway, Klausen cannot immediately pull out more troops to stop Nudia’s main force, and unless the troops coming from other noble territories are of a certain size, it is close to suicide to fight head-on.

Originally, the war between Hispania and Nudia was always conducted for the purpose of ‘territorial war’.

If Klausen was captured, the nobles in the area would lose their will to resist and surrender, and that much territory would become Nudia’s land, so all the wars so far have always been focused solely on Klausen.

However, this war was proceeding in a slightly different way for Nudia than before.

The purpose was not to acquire territory, but to break the opponent’s will to fight and make each other come to the negotiating table before seeing blood.

So their attack was right, and the main purpose was to make Hispania say that there were followers of the demons themselves and not lose their justification [for war].

‘So we have to avoid real battles, but we have to keep the pressure on.

Anyway, Hispania is being ravaged, and the country is in turmoil because a new king has just been enthroned.

In times like these, no ruler can continue to leave the turmoil that comes from outside unattended.’

Fortunately, almost all of Nudia’s forces were mobilized for this war.

And the nobles who knew the seriousness of the matter were reacting almost fanatically, not just passionately.

At least, there was no chance that the home country would suddenly stop the war and slap the back of the heads of the soldiers fighting on the battlefield, preventing them from doing anything.

‘What are you going to do, Zion Klausen?

You know it too.

Our Nudia will continue to fight this war at all costs to protect our justification, and we will also try to win.

So, no matter how much Hispania is damaged, there will be enormous damage.

In addition, there are followers of the demons in Hispania, and there are people who are talking about ominous things happening not only in Nudia but also in their own country, so they can’t put all their troops here, can they?’

The possibility was very low, but Ive still had the expectation that Hispania might propose negotiations first.

Anyway, what changes more easily than people’s words is the words between countries.

At the negotiating table, they might say, ‘Yes, there are followers of the demons in the Kingdom of Hispania.

We will catch them all and burn them at the stake, so please return to your country!’ and when Nudia retreats, they might say, ‘There are no followers of the demons?

Nudia was just lying!’ and point fingers.

Perhaps many of the nobles who made a fuss about starting the war this time thought so.

Since it was a war started with words, they could end it with words, and they could repay it with words again later.

So, they may have thought that they should shake Hispania while it is still in turmoil due to the change of power and put it in a similar situation to their own country.

To do that, they must first win several battles.

They had to make Hispania feel the burden of this war and accept that it would be a fight that would only end when one of them was destroyed.

For that reason, Nudia’s first army passed through Lord Klausen’s territory and poured into the interior without hesitation.

Along the way, the troops of several noble territories seemed to be lurking around them, looking for opportunities, but the scale of the troops was so different that they could not rush in recklessly.

Thanks to this, Nudia was able to give the people of the Kingdom of Hispania the feeling that their royal family had something to hide and could not recklessly confront Nudia’s forces.

“…Hmm?”

Then one day.

A Nudia scout spotted a group of dust clouds running towards their army.

It was a sight that could never be seen as ordinary infantry moving, so he narrowed his eyes and tried to understand the situation in more detail.

After a while, he wondered if he had seen something wrong.

He had expected cavalry or knights, but the appearance of those approaching from afar was by no means cavalry or knights belonging to a noble territory.

“What is that… Ha, it’s not even a child’s play.”

A group that could rather be called a band of robbers.

They were not wearing shiny armor, but strange clothes that were almost worn out, and they had no fancy helmets, but only hats made of fur.

They also had no powerful weapons such as lances or maces for charging that knights carry.

Even the horses they were riding looked so shabby that they could be believed to be donkeys rather than horses.

The scout was about to turn his horse to report to his army’s command.

Hispania must be very desperate.

He thought that they were trying to slow down Nudia’s advance even a little by putting hastily assembled soldiers on anything, and he thought it was truly absurd and ridiculous.

Swoosh!―

Crack!

Until something that flew like lightning from somewhere pierced through the gap in the armor worn by the scout and took his life by hitting his neck precisely.

―――――――Afterword―――――――

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