Royal Road of the Extra Scribe

88

The sword flew in from a sudden angle.

“Huh!?”

Even Fisher was taken aback. Without even considering blocking the weapon, he had to roll his body.

Pick! The sword tip grazed his neck.

Thud! Fisher, who had fallen to the ground, urgently grabbed his neck with his palm.

Blood oozed from his fingertips. Thankfully, it wasn’t a deep wound.

“The sword in your left hand… Are you from the Chester family, known for their swordsmanship…?”

As if ignoring Fisher, who seemed to be collapsed, Alz attacked. Fisher quickly adjusted his posture and engaged in combat.

They fought in a duel that lasted about twenty exchanges, but in the end, Alz had to retreat.

Fisher and his adversary, Alz, felt their mouths dry with the sensation of a fierce battle.

‘This guy. He might be similar to Eo or even stronger.’

Eonia usually appeared lackluster, especially compared to figures like Ilyana and Anton, but she was a considerable force.

Fisher was an equal match for Eonia.

Alz, who had been planning a surprise attack to subdue them, saw his opponent dodge and promptly backed off without hesitation. Giving space was necessary, as being too close could backfire.

Fisher found this display intriguing.

“Not bad. Your method of keeping distance suggests you’ve faced many strong opponents.”

“Well, my surroundings are filled with such individuals.”

“Hmph, and? Are you just going to retreat?”

“Of course not.”

“…?”

“Dilas! Fire!”

At the command, *Pipipip!* around fifty mercenaries simultaneously fired crossbows at Fisher.

One of the greatest advantages of crossbows was that, unlike bows that required drawing, crossbows could be pre-loaded and instantly fired upon command.

Furthermore, at close range, their power surpassed that of bows by several folds.

“Tsk!”

Fisher assessed he couldn’t dodge all the bolts coming at him. He grabbed a nearby comrade, using them as a shield with his shield.

“Sir, General!?”

“Apologies. Die in my place.”

“aaargh!”

*Brrrp!* Soldiers hit by bolts all over their bodies fell dead. As they wore metal armor, their defense was superior to regular shields.

Despite that, a few bolts pierced Fisher’s body and legs, compromising his combat ability. Luckily, reinforcements sent by Barret approached, securing their safety at close range.

Alz sneered, “You’re merciless. Look at the faces of the soldiers behind you. It’s a grim sight.”

“It’s a necessary sacrifice. I can’t afford to die.”

Fisher’s caution towards Alz was different from how he treated Ruan or Kasper.

“You… What’s your name?”

“Hah! If you thought I’d tell you, you’re truly foolish.”

“Well, fine. Consider yourself lucky today. If the situation were different, you’d be separated from your torso by now.”

“You should consider yourself lucky. If I had command authority, you wouldn’t be leaving here alive.”

“…?”

Without delay, Alz turned around. “I’m returning to our camp!”

Fisher briefly watched his retreating form before stepping back to tend to his injuries at the rear of the army.

—

As I returned to camp, Dorothy hurried over, visibly distressed. “Alz! Where on earth did you go, putting yourself in danger like that!”

“I had some matters to attend to. Besides, did you hear from General Delbadoba?”

“I heard they’re retreating as the chaos is being contained, but with the current situation, retreat seems impossible!”

“Indeed.”

The enemy forces were pushing forward aggressively.

The timing for retreat was missed. It would be better to face it head-on.

Calculating that, I went to deal with Geohan myself. It was necessary to handle him in order to stabilize the situation, even if I couldn’t kill him.

Although I couldn’t kill him, it wasn’t a bad option as he was temporarily incapacitated from combat.

General Delvadova must have thought that if he retreated, the damage to the rear would be too great, so he abandoned the retreat and engaged in battle.

“Defeat the enemy! Show the strength of Calipher!”

The battlefield was in chaos. In a position where I couldn’t command other units, I decided to protect Dorothy’s archers and hold my ground.

Just this alone exerted significant pressure on the enemy.

“Greenwood archers! Fire!”

Dorothy repeatedly shot arrows towards the enemy’s vanguard. This caused the enemy’s vanguard to be hindered, creating a gap between their vanguard and center.

The enemy commander, irritated by this, targeted Dorothy’s archers and deployed 2,000 troops.

“The enemy is advancing! Illine infantry! We will counter them!”

I stood at the forefront myself and intercepted the enemy.

“How many men are in this battle…!”

My arm grew heavy from incessantly thrusting the spear. Bodies piled up below, leaving little room to step, and the swirling blood made my vision dizzy.

As far as I could recall, the chaotic battle at the Pauldic Mountain was my first and last experience in such a melee.

After that, with the support of gods like Eo and Yumir, there was no need to endure such intense battles.

Even if I were to face a thousand-man battle, knowing that sturdy comrades were protecting me, I didn’t feel the sense of imminent danger. But now, I was on edge, not knowing when I might die.

The sense of standing on the brink of death.

“This must be what my mentor wanted to teach me.”

As my nerves tensed, my focus sharpened, and my combat skills and efficiency improved. I could even see things that were not visible before.

From Noble mtl dot com

“Die!”

The life force of enemy soldiers rushing from the side.

Instinctively, I swiftly thrust my spear in that direction.

Although I didn’t see it, upon confirmation, the spear was precisely lodged in the enemy’s vital spot.

“Hah! Hah…!”

A boiling sense of excitement.

I condensed that excitement, honing it sharply.

“Captain!”

In the midst of this, Dilas shouted to me.

“Some of our troops are bypassing and heading towards the archers!”

“Tsk!”

If Eona or Yumir were here, they could easily handle such a crisis.

Being alone and stripped of authority, I found myself burdened with too many responsibilities.

“Send reinforcements immediately to protect them! No… I will go myself!”

I entrusted Dilas with the remaining battle and headed towards the location of the archers with 300 troops.

The enemy forces that broke through numbered 200. Their objective was to get close to the archers and prevent them from shooting arrows.

However, archers were not just about shooting arrows.

They were equipped with swords and wooden shields as auxiliary weapons.

In cases where troops were too numerous, they might not receive such equipment, but this time, our Calipher army consisted of only 20,000, so the soldiers were well-armed.

As the enemy approached, the archers put away their bows and drew their swords and shields.

That alone is sufficient. The opposing force that has approached numbers a mere 200.

On the other hand, even though they are archers, Dorothy’s unit consists of 2,000 troops.

If they are hit head-on, they will be wiped out just like that.

That’s why the enemy aimed for the weak spot and advanced.

“Target the officers!”

The Achilles’ heel of the archer unit was the officers. Without officers to command, the efficiency of the archer unit would plummet.

The enemy knew this and tried to hunt down the officers.

The first unsuspecting target standing at the front was Dorothy.

Dorothy, trembling with fear. Though she held a sword, when the enemy officer swung their weapon, the sword slipped out of her grasp without a fight.

The enemy officer, perhaps unaware that Dorothy was a commander, casually swung their sword as if dealing with a pest.

“Ah, ah…!”

Dorothy, bewildered, watched as the sword fell above her head.

“Damn it!”

I tried to throw a spear from a distance to save her, but the spear I threw suddenly impaled the chest of an enemy soldier who had entered its path.

A desperate situation.

I couldn’t bear to watch and tightly shut my eyes.

But then.

“Charge!”

Swish, swish, clang! A lad wielding a cheap sword given to ordinary soldiers, guarding Dorothy’s front and sweeping away the enemy soldiers.

“hehehe, now it’s my turn!”

It was Agent, who was assigned to protect Dorothy’s military leader.

With fierce eyes, he faced the enemy soldiers.

“Come on! Bring it on all at once!”

With natural agility, he overwhelmed the enemy. The number of enemies he took down in an instant exceeded ten.

Securing immediate safety, Agent reached out his hand to Dorothy.

“Our commanders are fragile. I’ll protect you, so get up quickly.”

“Uh, okay. Th-thank you.”

The crisis was far from over. As Agent brushed off an enemy, mistaking him for an officer, more enemy soldiers swarmed in.

“Alright, come at me!”

Agent entered combat stance.

Before that, I rushed in and swept away the enemies.

“Haaa!”

Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang! A full-force 6-hit combo. Without stopping, I drew my left-hand sword and swiftly swept away the enemies.

Subsequently, I effortlessly decimated the approaching soldiers with Chester Ryu’s distinctive movements, akin to dancing.

“Phew…! Agent, just focus on protecting Dorothy. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Uh, alright, fragile commander… No, not fragile!?”

Leaving Dorothy’s protection to Agent, I calmly proceeded to clean up the group that had attacked the archer unit.

* * *

The battlefield where the fierce battle unfolded.

Barrett furrowed his brow at the unexpectedly strong resistance.

“You fight well. Is that the army that defeated Lexit?”

The situation was tense. Both sides had similar casualties.

“It’s a pity Fisher left the battlefield early. This… it’s not desirable for the losses to escalate too much.”

At that moment, a scout bowed before him.

“A message from General Randon Crow! The Beccabia army is assembling reinforcements as expected! They will soon march to aid the Calipha army!”

“Alright, we need to inflate the numbers of those reinforcements as much as possible. Relay to Randon Crow. Apply maximum pressure!”

“Roger!”

The strategy began to unfold.

“We’ve bought enough time. Good, Sunjin, retreat!”

Barrett outmaneuvered the enemy around noon. The casualties were nearly equal, with the West at 6,000 and Calipha at 5,500.

As the West forces retreated, the Calipha army, after tending to their wounded briefly, immediately started to withdraw.

Our forces, in retreat, could only rest deep into the night.

With no supplies available, soldiers wrapped their hungry stomachs and forced themselves to sleep.

Even for us officers, the food supply was insufficient.

“I knew this would happen!”

It was the emergency Eo lunchbox.

I untied the bundle in the right pocket of my uniform.

Inside was jerky made by Eo herself.

Usually, such jerky was tasteless, but Eo had the skill to make it top-notch. The taste reminded me of the premium jerky full of flavor one would buy at a department store.

I chewed the jerky hungrily, satisfying my hunger.

“Oh, I ate it all without realizing.”

Just in case, I decided to save Eo’s lunchbox.

I took out the second emergency ration, the Yumir lunchbox, from the left pocket of my uniform.

Yumir had made hardtack. The most distinctive feature of this hardtack was its deep green color.

After tasting it, I felt the hearty taste of grass.

“Ugh!”

I almost gagged, but as it started to digest, I felt a warmth and a sense of health returning.

“Alce? What are you doing?”

It was Dorothy.

She spoke with a weak expression.

“The military council is about to start. If you don’t go soon…”

Dorothy’s gaze was fixed on the jerky I hadn’t touched yet. She seemed to be regaining her appetite.

“What’s… that?”

“Emergency ration from home. Didn’t you bring one too?”

“I did, but… I gave it away.”

“Gave it away. To whom?”

“To Agent. It’s strange for me to eat while that kid goes hungry.”

“Oh, you’ve given away all the rations provided for officers?”

“Yeah…”

“You’re too kind. Here, have one. It’s highly nutritious, so one should be enough.”

“Can I really have some?”

“It’s fine. The Beccabian folks will bring supplies by tomorrow anyway. And it would be even more troublesome if you collapse from hunger.”

“Okay, then I’ll gratefully accept.”

As Dorothy crunched on the jerky, a look of ecstasy soon crossed her face.

“What is this? I’ve never tasted jerky this delicious before!”

“Well, of course.”

“You didn’t make this, did you? Wow, your cook is amazing!”

“A cook?”

A cook, she said. Eo could imagine the expression she would make upon hearing this.

“Well, I can’t argue against that.”

For me, Eo is also the best cook.

After finishing all the jerky, Dorothy’s expression brightened considerably.

We headed to the top barracks where the military council was being held.

Sounds could be heard, indicating that the others had already arrived.

“Do you know what you’ve done wrong?!”

The cadet commanders, including Casper, were being reprimanded.