The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 236

177. The Duchy Civil War (1)

“Reporting in! The battle at the mouth of the Vinfredo River concluded at 10 AM.”

“Concluded…? Are you saying the defense line has fallen?”

“On the contrary. The 3rd Wyvern Brigade, dispatched from White Bunker, was annihilated. The enemy has retreated.”

“…What?!”

Anthem Howard frowned in disbelief at the soldier’s report.

His once smooth face was now haggard, covered in a scruffy beard, as if he hadn’t washed or slept properly since the war began.

“The magic sphere connected to the defense line? The magic corps stationed there was the 72nd, right? Can we contact them? I need to confirm immediately!”

Anthem Howard pushed up his glasses and spoke as if shouting. The soldier giving the report looked at him, slightly flustered.

“There’s no need. If the 72nd Corps refers to the wizards in green robes, they were annihilated long ago. There was no one alive when we arrived.”

It was then.

Anthem Howard quickly turned his head towards the voice coming from behind the door.

“……!!!”

“A 4th class magic corps against a Drake [a type of lesser dragon]… It’s like throwing them to the wolves. I can’t believe that came from Anthem Howard’s head.”

“You are…”

Anthem asked, looking at Carryl standing at the door with a bewildered expression.

“How did you get here…?”

But he realized how foolish his question was.

“Are you the one who defended the defense line?”

“If not, would I be here?”

Thud-

Carryl threw something in front of him.

The object, wrapped in cloth, rolled and stopped against Anthem’s desk leg.

“It’s hardly a welcoming gift, but it’s the head of what appears to be the Wyvern Brigade commander. Judging by the Wyvern Brigade’s retreat after I cut him down, I’m probably right. His armor was more ornate than the others, too.”

Anthem couldn’t bring himself to check the enemy’s head at his words, and he couldn’t close his mouth.

‘The 3rd Wyvern Brigade is the most elite unit among those advancing south… Could it be…’

He unwrapped the cloth with trembling hands.

“……!!”

He looked as if he hadn’t even realized his own death, still shouting the war cry of the advance.

‘It’s really him.’

Stephan Hugh, commander of the 3rd Wyvern Brigade.

Not quite a Sword Master, but a warrior who wielded the Hugh family’s massive halberd, passed down through generations, with his innate strength.

It was a halberd made of special materials weighing over 50 kg, so few knights who had reached the rank of Sword Expert could use it properly.

‘Stephan Hugh is dead…’

The greatest enemy that threatened the southern defense line of Vinfredo was now rolling at his feet.

“It seems like they were trying to block the flames spewed by the Drake with a shield as a last resort and counterattack, but a 4th class shield can’t block it. Have you ever heard of harpoon hunting?”

“…Harpoon?”

“It’s safe to say that the Duchy has no experience in dragon hunting. It’s a method that remained from the old empire era.”

Anthem Howard looked slightly embarrassed at Carryl’s words.

In fact, it was natural that he didn’t know.

The dragon hunting method devised in the old empire era had no records of successfully hunting dragons except for Kaie Essir, so it was not well known even to the Imperials.

A hunting method that only remained in literature.

However, this forgotten hunting method was reborn as a way to deal with giant species among the corrupted after the War of the Divine Decree broke out.

“Gather the alchemists right now.”

So, Carryl would be the only one who knew about the harpoon hunting method now.

“Among the high-level alchemists, there will be those who can melt soft branch grass, wave leaves, Orto fruit, tin, and brass at the same time.”

There was a reason for mentioning the name of the hunting method that was not even known.

“Originally, the melted medicine is applied to a giant harpoon and used for dragon hunting… But it’s difficult to make a harpoon right away, and a Drake doesn’t need that much.”

“Wh, what are you…”

Anthem Howard stared blankly, as if he didn’t understand what Carryl was saying.

“A Drake is just a subspecies of a dragon. The size is different, but the properties are similar. If you apply the melted medicine to a weapon, you can melt the Drake’s scales.”

“……!!”

“It’ll still be difficult, but you need to inflict direct damage to the muscles inside the scales to inflict fatal damage to them. It’s a much more promising fight than sacrificing incompetent wizards.”

Anthem was so surprised that he couldn’t close his mouth.

He hadn’t even adjusted to his sudden appearance, but he appeared and talked about a solution to the Wyvern Brigade that he hadn’t found even after agonizing over it for days and nights.

“Well, if we step in, that won’t be necessary, but we can’t be deployed to every battlefield.”

“…Deployment?”

Carryl crossed his arms and nodded.

“From now on, the Tatur Free Army will support Fran Lurein. The situation is urgent, so the troops I brought have been immediately deployed to each battlefield. So contact them immediately with the magic sphere.”

“……!!!”

Anthem said in surprise at Carryl’s words.

“Hmm. Is this a military map showing the war situation? Just by looking at it, the situation is terrible.”

Then he scanned the map spread out on the table.

Numerous pieces were scattered haphazardly, intertwined and meshed together.

Just by looking at it, there were a dozen or so battles in progress.

The situation was obvious.

Anthem Howard was commanding all these simultaneous battles alone.

“The biggest piece here is Fran Lurein, right? What is that bastard doing here while you’re doing this alone?”

Anthem was unknowingly amazed by Carryl’s insight, who had grasped the war situation at a glance, rather than feeling uncomfortable with the fact that he called his lord a bastard.

“Doesn’t he know where the really important battlefield is? Or does he still think he’s just a simple commander? Even a child knows that winning one battle is useless if the rest lose.”

Anthem Howard’s expression darkened at Carryl’s scathing words. The place where the largest piece symbolizing Fran was located was none other than Korb.

Of course,

That place was also a battlefield.

The betrayal of the 5th Duke, Rakiel.

However, they were unable to even properly deploy in the face of the southward-bound enemies and were tied down.

Anthem had repeatedly argued for abandoning Korb and confronting Tully first.

‘Of course, abandoning his base is not an easy task…’

However, the fact that he, the leader of the 2nd Duke faction, was still here months after the war broke out was a fatal mistake.

“It’s not a good feeling to have an enemy at your back. But just like the Steel Fleet, Rakiel’s Silver Wing Fleet also needs a ship in the end. It would have been more manageable if you had abandoned Korb and moved the troops here.”

Carryl pulled out an Ice Claw [Carryl’s signature weapon] and moved Fran’s piece to where the defense line that had blocked the Wyvern Brigade was located.

“…….”

“If Bonitos blocks the swamp, the cavalry of the 7th Duke, Ruiche, will be able to move much more actively. Because of one stupid commander, they can’t even go to the battlefield where they can actually use their strength.”

Anthem paid attention to every word Carryl said. His eyes trembled.

Because everything he said matched the strategy he had argued with Fran.

‘Damn it…’

Anthem bit his lip without realizing it.

“Certainly, the Steel Fleet led by Fran is excellent, but if it’s tied down by Rakiel, it’s worse than nothing.”

Carryl knew the outcome of this war well.

That was the decisive reason why Anthem left Fran.

‘Fran will try to defend Korb until the end of the war and eventually lose.’

In a normal battle, it wouldn’t have taken this long, and Rakiel wouldn’t have been Fran’s opponent.

But the battlefield was the worst.

The place where the fleet was stationed was Korb, which could be said to be Fran Lurein’s base, so he had to fight with the decisive burden of the city being destroyed.

“Unless they annihilated the Silver Wing Fleet… There will be countless soldiers who will die fighting without seeing Fran’s face until the end of the civil war.”

Carryl said to Anthem Howard as if scolding him.

“What is the current troop situation?”

“…Not good.”

Anthem said, hurriedly organizing the map.

“The remaining troops… We have 20,000, and the 1st Duke’s side currently has 60,000.”

“20,000?”

But after answering, he lowered his head.

Because it was a shameful report himself.

At the beginning of the war, the military power was equal.

Tully’s side had 70,000, and Fran’s side had 50,000.

Of course,

Rakiel’s betrayal existed, but even considering that, the enemy had only suffered 10,000 casualties while 30,000 troops were exhausted.

“In a situation where you are outnumbered, the number of casualties is more than double. Does that mean you have lost most of the battles? This war. The outcome seems obvious.”

“I have no excuse…”

Carryl looked at Anthem and thought.

‘Something’s wrong. Even if Fran is tied down in Korb, the difference is too great…’

Fran Lurein has a stubborn disadvantage, but he was also a veteran on the battlefield.

In particular, he had outstanding skills compared to his age, so he liked to lead the fleet himself and fight.

Therefore, the battles he participated in had been won quickly and perfectly to the point of boasting invincibility.

But the current result is too terrible. Besides, Fran’s abnormal behavior.

‘It’s like he’s trying to lose on purpose.’

After much deliberation, Carryl came to a conclusion.

‘There is a mastermind behind the civil war.’

He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Anthem.

“What about Wooden Cloud?”

If he had to find a reason, it was those guys.

Of course,

He knows that Fran is a member of Wooden Cloud. But that doesn’t mean that Tully isn’t a member of Wooden Cloud.

‘If this war is not just a civil war of the dukes, but a pruning done by Wooden Cloud…’

If they chose Tully instead of Fran, the 2nd Duke’s unilateral defeat would not be unreasonable.

‘What the hell are those bastards… What are they?’

They were enemies shrouded in mystery, whose existence he didn’t even know when they existed, but every time he learned a secret, it was a series of surprises.

The relationship with the cult is the same, but they have influence deep in the duchy, and now they even have connections to the Demon World.

‘It’s not just a secret organization in the duchy. Maybe… They may be exerting power in the empire as well.’

But that was a problem for later.

Now, the urgent task is to end the civil war in the duchy.

“Suddenly Wooden Cloud? What do you mean…”

Anthem looked slightly embarrassed at Carryl’s question.

“Well, I’ll hear it directly from Fran.”

Carryl shrugged lightly.

“I’m going to Korb right now. Tell Fran in advance. Once I clean up that place, he can move.”

“But how many troops did you bring…?”

Anthem asked with an expectant voice.

There was no choice.

In a situation where they were outnumbered, they had the courage to drink whatever it was, whether it was poison or a holy grail, as long as it could change the war situation.

‘He must have been very urgent.’

Carryl smiled faintly at his appearance.

The difference in power was as much as 40,000.

But beyond the simple numerical difference, Tully had Golems and Wyvern Brigades.

‘So I took out the magic artillery mounted on the Steel Fleet and put it into the ground war…’

Rather, because of that, the combat power of the Steel Fleet facing the Silver Wing Fleet was halved, and the long-term battle with Rakiel made Korb neither Korb nor the border war, and it became neither here nor there.

“I brought as much as I needed. Don’t worry.”

“…Yes?”

Carryl said, spreading his fingers.

Anthem looked at the three fingers spread out towards him and asked with a slightly perplexed expression.

“…Thirty thousand?”

Carryl snorted at his question.

“No, three people.”

“Wh, what do you mean!! Then the reinforcements to send to Korb…?”

At Carryl’s answer, Anthem shouted as if he was angry, forgetting his position.

They were at a crossroads of life and death.

It felt like they were being teased.

“Me. What more do you need than that?”