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Volume 7 Chapter 4 Part 6

「In other words, he’s not the true leader. 」

Milza called out and immediately ordered his troops to move to the right.

「Not a true leader? 」

Terius asked while desperately trying to keep his horse under control.

「Yes. That is what Theo Cornero is instead. And that’s why Lassic David is probably planning to use himself as bait in order to rain us from all our strength for Theo Cornero’s sake. 」

「No way… 」

Terius wondered if something like that would really happen, but if Milza’s words were true, he could certainly understand the reason why Lassic ordered his men to form sucha peculiar formation.

「You did well to notice all of that on your own. 」

「That’s because that’s something that I also would’ve done if I was in similar situation. 」

Mirza answers

「I didn’t join the Factory Alliance because I wanted to be an Emperor myself. All I want is to be the sword of Marine Kraische. That is the path that I’ve decided on for myself.

「Lord Milza… 」

And because of that, the Viceroy of Dartania made the decision to leave Castle Unicorn so that he could protect Marine Kraische from danger. However, even though he was saying that he’s going to win and that he had no intention of losing, Terius didn’t think that he really meant it. The forces of the Artuk Treaty have them outnumbered, and he should know that.
「Now we’re going to turn back and attack Theo Cornero’s camp directly. There’s no need for us to be fighting Lassic David if his defeat is not going to cause the Artuk Treaty to fall apart. 」

He said as they continued riding forward.

「As you wish.」

Terius nodded his head in response.

He originally felt that Theo Cornero was going to be the most dangerous enemy that Milza would have to face, and the recent events have only proven him right about that. He managed to defeat Milza back in The Forest of Eternal Darkness, possesses charisma that allowed him to rally the people of his territory to his cause effortlessly, thanks to which he managed to amass such a big army in a span of a few days.

But if Milza really manages to defeat Theo Cornero, that victory of his should leave the entire battlefield in a daze, which is going to allow Milza’s forces to meet up with the reinforcements from Waldrind that are on their way, and together they should be able to make short work of the remaining forces of the Artuk Treaty.

That victory will have to come at the cost of them abandoning Castle Unicorn, and maybe Artuk itself if things will go especially bad, but in the end, all they’d have to do is to recapture them again after a while.

And so, Dartania’s army continued to advance towards Theo’s army. Even from a distance, Terius could clearly see that they were holding strong positions.

They were encamped on a slightly elevated area that was too small to call it a mountain but not high enough to be called a hill, and the lowlands that surrounded the were all filled with mud and tall grass. Theo Cornero was giving orders to his subordinates, and they were running all over the place trying to fulfill them.

It was all too obvious that they were preparing themselves for the final battle.

(As expected of Siluca Meletes…)

Although she could be called prideful and arrogant at times, no one could deny that Siluca Meletes was an incredibly hard worker.

Just like Aubest Meletes, the person who became her adoptive father, she believed that battles should be approached in a straightforward manner, and that instead of employing strange tactics and trickery, it was more important to always keep things in perfect order.

However, back when Stark was planning to leave the Factory Alliance and join the Fantasia Union instead, even someone like Aubest Meletes didn’t think twice about using miasma from the nearby demonic sea in order to swiftly dispose off the rebels who barricaded themselves in the nearby fortress while there was nothing they could do about it.

(I wish there was some kind of clever way to turn the situation completely to our favor…)

Terius thought to himself, but unfortunately nothing was coming to his mind, but when he was looking at the strong positions that Siluca managed to secure for her Lord, he felt that it has now become a manner of personal pride for him.

The battle between two Lords is not only a battle of Lords themselves, but also a battle of their contracted Mages. This is also why the Banners used by the Lords grant various kinds of abilities to their soldiers, individual for each Lord.

Of course, with his presence alone Milza commands absolute authority among his soldiers, and the power of his Banner, 「Fedayn 」, his soldiers could become even more cruel and efficient. The way they are now, they should have no objections about charging the stronghold of their enemy head-on.

At that time, one of Milza’s warriors dispatched to act as a messenger approached him while riding his horse at full speed.

「Someone as fast as us? Could it be that Lassic David is actually pursuing us? 」

「No, according to the reports, they are the members of Regalian cavalry archers. Their number is a thousand soldiers. 」

「Regalia? Really? 」
Milza laughed loudly.

「Also, a report from yet another scout indicated that there is yet another army that’s also trying to chase us from another side, but their numbers are unknown for the time being. 」

After the messenger finished his report, he returned back to his unit.

「In all likelihood, that other army is probably the cavalry from Selvis. Now that we’re aiming for the camp of Theo Cornero, they’re probably thinking that they should be able to catch us off guard from behind and crush us. 」

「Yes, that seems to be the most likely scenario. But in that case, we have no choice but to divide our forces again if we want to make sure that nobody is going to disturb us. 」

Milza then called one of his aides to his side. He was the one who was always in charge of the other half of the army whenever Milza needed to divide his forces for any reason.

「Make sure you’re going to stop those who’re chasing behind us. 」

「As you wish, my Lord! 」

He said, and then he gestured with his hand in the air twice.

That was the signal for the soldiers whom he was commanding over to mobilize, so they turned their horses and started heading back.

「Let us meet again. 」

Milza called out to him quietly.

(Half of Lord Milza’s current forces… that means about 2000 soldiers.)

Theo Cornero’s army was so large that he currently possessed an overwhelming advantage against Milza. And moreover, Dartania’s biggest strengths could be fully utilized during field battles, but in the current situation, Terius doubted if they’ll really be able to utilize all of their strengths to their fullest advantage… but then he realized that it was probably useless to think abouts things such a superiority on the battlefield right now.

(The only thing that Lord Milza is thinking about is defeating Theo Cornero, after all.)

That was his ultimate goal here, and in order to see that goal of his realized, he was ready and willing to sacrifice his entire army.

That is what Terius prayed, not to the regular Gods, but to all the Evil Gods from the Extreme Chaos period and other forces who were willing to listen him, for that to not happen in the end.

* * *

「Milza’s army is heading your way. Your Lord is his target. 」

Using his magic wand, Moreno informed Siluca about the latest movements of Milza’s army, who was getting closer and closer to Theo’s camp. Normally she’d be worried to hear such an information, but right now, it was a reason for her to feel overjoyed.

「Lord Theo… 」

Siluca spoke while turning towards Theo.

「So the time has finally come, huh? 」

Theo nodded his head.

「How many troops does he have with him? 」

「Considering the fact that he’s going to have to divide his troops in order to take care of both the army of Regalia and the army of Lord Lassic, I’d say anywhere between 2000 and 3000 soldiers. 」

Siluca made a guess based on the information that she received from Moreno. Personally, she expected there to be more enemies than that.

「If our opponent was anyone else but Milza, I’d say that those are some impressive numbers… 」