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Volume 6 Chapter 3 Part 6

Soon after that, a force consisting of three hundred soldiers and their Lords guided by Eugen Niklae left their hideout in the forest and decided to raid the positions of Dartania’s army, which was stationed in front of the gates of a nearby fortified village. And although Dartania’s forces have been dispersed to cover all of the fortified villages in the Artuk’s territory, the numbers of the unit they were to attack was nearly twice as big as the unit that Eugen put together.

However, soldiers of that particular unit of Dartania’s army didn’t expect that Eugen Niklae would appear in this village of all possible places, and because of that, their attention was turned towards the fortified village itself rather than the outside of it.

Eugen and his people took advantage of that negligence of theirs and attacked Dartania’s forces from behind, throwing them into utter disarray. Moreover, every one of Eugen’s soldiers was prepared to die in that battle, so they were aggressive right from the beginning of their assault.

Pushed by the onslaught that they were not expecting, the structure of Dartania’s army collapsed almost immediately, and its soldiers started fleeing towards their friendly camp, hoping to receive reinforcements form them.

When another unit of Dartania’s army learned that their comrades have been attacked by Eugen Niklae, they wasted no time in rushing out to their aid. However, when they were on their way to provide reinforcements, they ended up being caught in the middle of the retreating forces of the unit they were supposed to help, making the entire battlefield even more chaotic than it already was.

Eugen and the others took that opportunity to strike against Dartania even harder.

While Eugen was riding in the lead, the rest of the Lords of Artuk rampaged together with their forces in all directions, and with no one to stop them, the second camp of Dartania’s army was soon routed as well, but since Eugen’s forces were tired from going all-out so much, they didn’t have the strength to pursue the fleeing Dartanian soldiers any further.

Instead of chasing the enemy, they used the chance they won for themselves for a moment of rest to catch their breaths and tend to the injured.

During that brief time of respite, Eugen’s former subjects tried to leave the fortified village to provide whatever assistance they could to their Lord, but Eugen himself stopped them from doing that with a sharp voice.

「Don’t concern yourselves with us! You’ve always supported us and were helping our guerilla warfare against Dartania as best as you could, but if you get involved with us any more than that, Milza will no longer have any restraints about killing all of you without mercy for collaborating with us! I know this is going to be frustrating for you, but from now on, I want you all to back down, clench your teeth and accept Dartania’s rule and endure it as long as you can. It’ll require discipline and patience, but you’re all going to be rewarded for it sooner than you think, because it won’t be long before Theo Cornero will come back to the continent! He’s a hero whom late Lord Vilar trusted and valued the most, but he’s not going to be alone! In the Southern Regalia, there are Lord Serge Constance and Igor Constance, and in Selvis, the return of the Great King in the person of Lassic David is also imminent! With all of them fighting for Artuk’s freedom, Milza and the rest of his sand-eating snakes will soon be purged from our homeland for good, so be patient until that time comes! 」

Now that his people bore witness to Eugen’s determination, they silently returned back to their village and closed the gate shut behind them.

「Good, that’s how it’s supposed to be. 」

Seeing that, Eugen smiled and nodded with satisfaction.

Not long after that, Dartania’s army returned to the village with more soldiers and prepared to launch a second attack against Eugen. This time the army was led by Milza, the Viceroy of Dartania, himself.

「So he finally decided to show himself, huh? 」

Eugen declared and then let out an insensitive laugh.

「Listen well, you despicable bastard of a man who betrayed Lord Vilar and killed his father for his own ambition! I’ll show you the pride and determination of the people of Artuk! 」

「Is this supposed to be a joke? It only took so little soldiers to capture two of our camps?! 」

Milza looked back and forth between Eugen’s soldiers and his aides, astonished at what he was seeing right now.

「Apparently it’s because Eugen Niklae’s forces caught them by surprise. 」

And then when the soldiers from the first camp were running away from them, the forces of the second camp which were supposed to help them got caught up in them, resulting in chaos.

Milza’s subordinate Lords who were leading the first and second camps respectively proceed to make excuses before their Lord.

「It would seem that you guys have proven to be unworthy of the Crests that I’ve shared with you. Once this battle is over, you are to hand them over to me immediately, and you’re also going to be degraded to common foot soldiers. If you want to earn my trust again, you have to work for it. 」

「N-No way… how can this be…?! 」

The two of Milza’s subordinate Lords were holding their heads with their hands in despair.

「In any case… so you’ve chosen to show yourself up after all, Eugen Niklae… 」

It would seem that the Lords of Artuk were willing to go as far as to sacrifice their own lives if it meant that they could protect the people of their territories, and even if their Lords were against it, their soldiers have chosen to follow them to war and into certain death to the bitter end.

Even during the battle of Castle Unicorn, after Vilar Constance died, his subordinate Lords and their soldiers refused to surrender and were willing to continue the fight to the last soldier standing. Their tenacious resistance ended up inflicting huge losses to both the forces of Dartanian army and the Nords that attacked the castle with them.

When it comes to the attachment to their homes and homeland, the people of Artuk truly had no equals in that field on the entire continent, and that’s because they’ve been uniting in order to defend their country from both external and internal threats ever since the time of Extreme Chaos. And what’s even more astounding, that loyalty and patriotism of theirs seemingly had nothing to do with the peerage system at all. They simply wanted to repay their Lord whom they looked up to for loving the land of Artuk more than anyone else and being ready to protect it at all costs.

「I think we shouldn’t expect the people of Artuk to become more obedient towards Dartania even after I’ll defeat Eugen Niklae. 」
Milza looked back at Terius and commented as such.

「I actually feel the same way as you do for once, my Lord. 」

Terius nodded his head in agreement with Milza.

「However, after you’re going to be done with him, the people of Artuk should no longer harbor any desire for an open rebellion towards you. There is no need for you to be loved by the people of Artuk in the same way Lord Vilar was. All you need the people of Artuk’s territory to do is to remain loyal enough to pay taxes and do manual labor. With Eugen Niklae out of the picture, you should be able to launch your invasion on Regalia without any issues. Once Serge and Igor will be defeated as well and the entire Constance family is going to be reunited in death, the people of Artuk should finally give up all hope of resisting, believing that with their heroes gone, their country will never be liberated. 」

「If only things could really be that easy. 」

For a moment, Terius had a worried look on his face.

「Are you talking about Lassic David? 」

「Of course. Lassic David is still a formidable enemy, after all. 」

Terius nodded his head once more, confirming Milza’s suspicions.

「However, right now the person that I am more concerned about than Lassic David is Theo Cornero. If he really decided to return to Artuk one day… 」

「THEN I’LL JUST NEED TO CRUSH HIM WHEN THAT HAPPENS!!! 」

Milza has openly shown anger, swinging his fists wildly as he shouted.

「I don’t approve of him. Didn’t he incite the people in Sistina and overthrow the Rossini family in the end with their support? It’s a trick even more despicable than guerrilla warfare! But even so, he has become the Lord of Sistina and pretends to be the hero! 」