The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 385

The next morning, Prince Gislain’s soldiers awoke utterly demoralized.

They had been careless, bringing minimal supplies, as the King’s Aura had restored warmth to the area around the Banreung Kingdom. But then, the temperature had suddenly plummeted, and a blizzard had raged throughout the night.

Some soldiers, battered by the storm, had frozen to death overnight.

The army of the Arangi Kingdom, hailing from the southern region where winter was unknown, naturally lacked proper winter gear.

The cavalrymen who had slept close to their horses managed to avoid freezing to death, thanks to the animals’ body heat, but now the horses themselves were a problem.

“We need to feed them a lot of fodder.”

“Ugh, the fodder is all frozen! No, more importantly, where did the fodder go?”

“Hehe. We were cold, so we used it to cover ourselves.”

The soldiers, having spent the night shivering and looking like beggars, had taken the supply of hay to keep warm. Even so, many had still frozen to death. Normally, they would have been flogged for touching the supplies, but in their current, cold-ravaged state, such punishment might prove fatal. It was fortunate that they had survived by being resourceful.

The soldiers’ eyes were hollow, but their gazes were strangely sharp. If anyone were to punish them for taking the hay, they looked ready to revolt against anyone, be it an Arangian guard or the prince himself.

The officers were not fools, so they did not hold the soldiers accountable in this situation.

“Southern ponies can graze on fresh grass, but all the fresh grass is under the snow. Can we even feed them this?”

“The horses are thirsty.”

Because of the battle the previous day, the horses were suffering from hunger and thirst. But there was a shortage of both water and fodder to feed them.

“There’s a well over there.”

The well in the village, ruined by Death Knight Planck, was visible. The old well had collapsed under the weight of the snow, but the soldiers cleared it away and dropped a bucket down.

A clear metallic sound rang out.

“What? The well is frozen?”

“Damn it. I knew it….”

The cavalrymen shuddered. It was so cold that the well had frozen solid. No wonder so many had frozen to death.

But….

“…Are we seeing things?”

A soldier, who had climbed onto the roof of a ruined hut near the well and was looking north towards Coxhall, clicked his tongue.

Coxhall, visible in the distance, was completely free of snow.

It was still basking in the warm sunlight, protected by the King’s Aura.

*********

“The morale of the soldiers is terrible.”

A staff officer reported to Prince Gislain.

This staff officer was someone Prince Gislain’s mother had assigned to him, and he was Prince Gislain’s milk brother—the son of his wet nurse. He was practically a brother to him, so he spoke with a somber expression.

“Terrible morale? Why? We crushed the enemy yesterday!”

“It’s said that the King’s Aura still surrounds Count Azadin’s territory. We were the only ones who suffered from the cold last night. So, among the soldiers, there are whispers that Count Azadin might be the real king….”

“Enough!”

Prince Gislain glared at the staff officer.

“Do you want to die? How dare you say such things….”

“Ah, no, but….”

If this staff officer had not been Prince Gislain’s milk brother, he might have already been beheaded. Prince Gislain was that furious.

“Hey. Where’s Sram? Bring Sram and that enemy commander, the infantry commander, here.”

Prince Sram and the infantry commander, who had been tortured and had his finger broken, were brought in.

The infantry commander was in terrible condition, having been tortured and left out in the cold, but he had somehow survived.

He was used to the cold, having lived in the Chadra Highlands, which were much colder than the Arangi Kingdom.

“Hmm. Gislain. Are you going to kill the hostages?”

“Shut up. My men froze to death. I didn’t try to kill the prisoners. If this guy died, it’s not my fault, but that damn soulless monster’s fault!”

“Oh, my. Gislain. Are you saying that last night’s blizzard was Count Azadin’s fault? That makes it sound like Count Azadin can freely manipulate the King’s Aura?”

“………”

“Even the Golden King Manza Zadek, who was said to be highly skilled, and Cohen Lyonne of the Northern Empire, couldn’t manipulate the King’s Aura to this extent.”

Prince Sram was expressing his admiration in a way that was unclear whether he was genuinely impressed or trying to provoke Prince Gislain.

“I’m going to kill all the prisoners by this morning!”

“Why? Why not surrender instead?”

“Surrender? Do you think an Arangian would surrender without a fight? I won yesterday’s battle!”

He had won tactically, so why would he surrender?

Moreover, Prince Gislain was the advance unit of the Arangi King’s personal expedition. If the unit tasked with establishing an advance base surrendered arbitrarily, the King of Arangi would never forgive him.

Unless he was certain that Azadin would actually replace the King of Arangi, he could not surrender to him.

“You’re bragging about winning against people who were peasants a month ago.”

“Shut up, Sram! Whose side are you on?!”

“Originally, I was a loyal prince of the Arangi Kingdom, of course. But after being taken prisoner, well, isn’t this a situation where I can play both sides?”

“………”

“I didn’t understand why Count Azadin was doing such crazy things, but now I see that it’s worth doing crazy things.”

If a miracle is not proven, it is just the ravings of a madman. But the moment a miracle actually happens before one’s eyes, a person quickly falls into belief.

Why has Count Azadin been doing such crazy things? If it is because he is actually the master of the King’s Aura, then everything makes sense.

“Don’t talk nonsense. Even if he is the master of the throne, do you think the King’s Church and my father would acknowledge that? We are just an advance unit!”

“…You sound like you’re very afraid of him.”

Prince Sram was surprised to realize that Prince Gislain was speaking as if he was assuming that his advance unit would be defeated.

He was pretending not to be, but last night’s blizzard had clearly dampened Prince Gislain’s spirits.

At that moment, a scout’s message came in.

“Prince Gislain! The rear supply unit!”

“What?”

“The rear supply unit was attacked by Count Azadin’s army, and all the supplies were taken!”

“…What?!”

*********

The only proper cavalry force in Count Azadin’s army was Count Ibechek’s retinue [a group of attendants or followers].

But their numbers were terribly small.

The majority of the retinue were light cavalry, and even their numbers were few. There were only five heavy cavalrymen, including Count Ibechek, who were equipped with heavy armor.

“Our cavalry force is certainly pathetic.”

“But we have hippogriffs! And I can run super fast!”

Selim boasted.

What good would it do if you were the only one running fast?

Cavalrymen are subjected to concentrated arrow and catapult attacks, so even the most powerful cavalrymen are usually cut down before they can approach the enemy.

That is why cavalry units maintain a certain number and form a formation.

The people around him were bewildered by Selim’s childish remarks, but Azadin nodded.

“Well, hippogriffs are certainly important from a strategic point of view.”

“What are you going to do? Count Azadin. Sending Prince Sram as an envoy. If he betrays us….”

“He won’t betray us.”

“Why not?”

“Well, if I send him as an envoy and he uses that as an opportunity to escape, he’ll be treated like an idiot when he returns to the Arangi Kingdom. And I’m so mysterious, aren’t I?”

Is he saying that himself?

Count Ibechek was flustered, but Azadin continued with a brazen smile.

“I’m overly confident, and yet I don’t explain the reasons to my staff very well.”

“You know that well.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing. So, why does that prove that Prince Sram won’t betray us?”

Ibechek accidentally misspoke and was startled, so he covered up his mistake with a question.

“Well, Prince Sram doesn’t know why I’m so confident. If he doesn’t know all my information and betrays my trust and returns to Arangi, what if the kingdom’s army is defeated? He has too much to lose, right? On the other hand, if he stays here because he feels obligated to the person who trusted him as an envoy, Prince Sram has nothing to lose. He might even be seen as a man of personal integrity, even if he is treated poorly. If you think about it from a purely self-preservation perspective, there’s no reason for Prince Sram to return to the Arangi Kingdom at this stage, is there?”

“Indeed….”

If you thought about it calmly, it was more advantageous for Prince Sram to fulfill his mission as Azadin’s envoy.

“But that only holds true if we crush the advance unit of the Arangi Kingdom, right? It’s not very honorable to attack after sending an envoy. And even if we can win against an advance unit, if the damage is too great….”

Count Azadin’s army had a large number of soldiers, but most of them were refugees. They were not even equipped with metal armor.

If such troops were charged simply because they had a large number, and suffered enormous casualties against the Arangi Kingdom’s army, what would happen?

You might win the battle, but you would lose the war.

Right now, they are afraid because there are so many of them, and Azadin is expanding his power at a rapid pace, but once it is revealed that most of his troops are paper tigers, there is no reason to be afraid.

“That’s why I gathered the cavalry. Follow me. We’re going to raid the enemy’s supply unit now.”

“What?”

“We’ll use the cavalry to bypass the enemy’s main force and raid the supply unit coming from the rear.”

Azadin could see the terrain from above, as if he had the eyes of a scout, or rather, the voice of Araiel.

He could see where the enemies were stationed, how much supplies they had, and where the supply unit was coming from, as if he were looking at the palm of his hand.

“But this is a plain, so there are no places to hide? There are a few hills and a small forest that block the view, but they must have placed sentries. Above all, they can use magic too.”

What if they were discovered while trying to bypass the enemy’s main camp with a small number of elite cavalry? They would be surrounded from the front and back, or their line would be cut off.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Azadin made a bold statement, and as soon as he finished speaking, dark clouds began to gather in the sky.

*********

Count Azadin successfully bypassed Prince Gislain’s army while their vision was obscured by the blizzard and succeeded in attacking the supply unit.

Throughout history, the combat power of supply units has always been extremely weak.

They have to load supplies onto carts and wagons, and if they attach a lot of escort troops, half of the supplies they carry will be eaten by the escort troops.

In the end, supply units are only equipped to fend off wild animals and bandits, and if they encounter a proper military force, they will be completely plundered, even by a small cavalry unit.

Azadin simply took the supplies from the supply unit and sent the supply unit back to Prince Gislain’s side alive.

“The more people there are alive, the faster the supplies will be consumed.”

“Aren’t you tightening the supplies too much? They might kill all the prisoners.”

“We’ll have to hope that Prince Sram can do something about that. I don’t intend to drag this fight out anyway.”

If Prince Sram was perceptive, he would somehow persuade Prince Gislain not to kill the prisoners or provoke him.

“This is really something. You keep spouting nonsense and using strange tactics, but at this point, I can’t help but believe you.”

Count Ibechek touched the New Testament Declaration he had placed in his breast pocket inside his armor.

He had thought it was nonsense when Count Azadin wrote it, but after seeing the blizzard raging only in the enemy’s camp today, he had changed his mind.

He should read it carefully and try to impress Count Azadin more. That was the feeling he had.