I am the Monarch
chapter-76

Chapter 76: Danger inside the danger (7)

A well ordered look.

Everyone moved as if they were one.

Slash! Stab!

Every Time the spear split the air, one soldier of Istel fell hopelessly.

“Where!”

The attacks of the enemies aiming for the openings got blocked by the soldiers at the sides.

“Scatter!”

At Austin’s orders, the soldiers that were gathered like a rock got scattered everywhere.

The soldiers of Istel, that were pushing stubbornly, got their feet tied at the sudden change.

That short instant.

At the moment that was created, the archers at the rear fired arrows.

Pubububuk!

“Kuk!”

“Kugh!”

The soldiers of Istel became porcupines and collapsed.

As Austin clenched his fists again, the soldiers that were scattered gathered once again to become a rock.

Their stabbed their spears at the hearts of the confused enemies.

There was no mercy in a war.

Then.

“Then!”

One young knight of Istel came charging in with a high intent.

As the performance of rose troop and the 2nd troop was too eye catching, he was planning to cut them off.

The sword that had mana behind in came stabbing towards Austin.

A situation of life and death.

But even so, not even one soldier of rose troop retreated or stepped back.

They rather glared at the young knight in front of them.

“Ridiculous things! Mere normal soldiers dares to a knight……”

When he talked up to there.

A sharp spear appeared from the sides.

Kang!

A heavy sound of metal.

The spear hit the side of the sword of the young knight precisely.

“Kugh!”

The young knight frowned at the numbness felt in his palms and turned his head.

‘What kind of bastard dares to!’

The man that fended off his sword.

He had a childish face, but the moment he saw his face his breath got clogged.

‘Fi, fire?’

The owner of the spear resembled a red flame.

“Who, who are you?”

The young knight was asking unconsciously.

The owner of the spear swung his spear first, instead of replying.

“Kugh!”

The young knight stepped back hurriedly and swung his sword.

Sparks flew along the sound of metal.

The owner of the soldier charged the ground like that and closed the distance.

“I’m troop commander Roan of the 2nd rose troop belonging to the 7th corps of the eastern army of Rinse kingdom.”

At those words the young knight frowned.

“Tro, troop commander?! Not a knight?”

He stabbed his sword towards Roan that was already in front of him.

Roan twisted his body calmly.

The sword split the air.

At that moment.

Roan’s left hand carved in the left armpit of the young knight.

“Uhh!”

The young knight staggered because he was perplexed.

Roan flung his waist while still having his arm in his side.

The young knight drew a line and flew to the air.

Boom!

He rolled in the ground along a heavy sound.

“Kugh.”

His back and waist felt numb.

Roan stepped on his chest with his right left.

The young knight struggled to stand up.

‘Kuk! Just how strong is he…….’

However his body didn’t move as he wished.

At this point, curses of wanting to live surged up.

“I, i’m a disciple of a noble family of Istel and a knight. If you capture me, you will be able to……”

But he couldn’t continue his words.

Stab.

Because Roan’s spear had already pierced his throat.

There was no mercy in war.

‘Especially, even more in battles like this one.’

Roan pulled his spear and faced the soldiers charging into him.

Every Time his spear danced, three or four soldiers fell.

“Ah…….”

A low exclamation came out of Austin’s mouth.

It kind of felt that the fire of the surroundings was dancing along with Roan.

He mumbled in a half absent minded expression.

“Perhaps, perhaps.”

Keep, that was right next to him, frowned.

“DId you say something?”

Austin  followed Roan’s back and said.

“We may be looking at a start of a legend.”

However Keep couldn’t listen properly because of the loud noise of the battlefield.

“What did you say!”

But Austin didn’t mind.

He now mumbled in a voice so low it couldn’t be heard by anyone.

“No, we are being together with the start of a legend.”

He felt his chest heave up.

Austin raised his spear high.

“Follow troop commander Roan!”

At that order, rose troop took formations once again.

Roan had already opened a path.

The soldiers aimed for that and massacred the enemy.

Austin yelled in a loud voice towards Roan.

“Troop commander Roan! We will follow you until the end!”

In this battle, and even after this battle ended.

You couldn’t know if Roan knew that meaning or not, but he raised his thumb after he cut off the neck of an enemy.

And then, he slightly turned his head and looked at his troop.

“I told you before.”

There was a comforting smile still in his mouth.

“To follow me while trusting in me.”

The battle was coming to a close like that.

*****

The dawn that could be seen from the east.

The battle had ended.

The supply storage of Istel had been swept up by red flames.

Huge flames that seemed to be there forever.

However they didn’t have time to rest while extending their limbs.

“We will chase the bastards that escaped to the southwest of our Lancephil’s territory.”

The soldiers that were protecting the storage, fled to the sides when the battle was coming to an end.

It didn’t matter for the ones that fled to the east, but they couldn’t just stay still at the ones that fled to the west.

At Kali’s words, Aaron nodded.

“My 7th corps will also chase and kill them and after that go to the headquarters of the eastern region.”

A short farewell.

Kali lead his army first and departed to the southwest.

Aaron hurriedly gathered the troop commanders and reformed it.

“Our actual number is approximately 4.000. We will divide the army in two.”

The decision was fast.

Although they had burnt the supply storage, it was still too early to relax.

There was still the main army of Istel kingdom, and there were still many knights and soldiers in the fake storage.

‘If we stay here any longer, we may get left behind in enemy territory.’

They had to chase the ones that fled the quickest possible and regroup with the main army.

“I will be leading one, and the other one will do it Roan. I will go to the southwest, so Roan, you go to the west.”

Several troop commanders had died in battle.

Now, even by taking into account the merits, performances, trust, etc. there was no such commander like Roan.

Although there also was Gale, he was performing the role of staff officer next to Aaron.

So Roan became the provisional vice corps commander.

“Yes. I understand.”

He didn’t dare to decline.

‘I receive moderately what needs to be received.’

That was Roan’s way of thinking.

The reforming of the group was done quickly.

“have a good fight.”

“Let’s meet at the headquarters of the east.”

Aaron and ROan looked at each other and smiled faintly.

Each troop put the burning storage behind and went to the south and the southwest.

*****

The 2.000 soldiers conforming the 2nd rose troop.

They received Roan’s command and annihilated the scattered forces of Istel.

In this process, the abilities of Pens and the information agency shone once again.

Although it wasn’t systematized properly, they found the feeling route and traces of the enemy and their tracking ability was towering above the rest.

“It seems like we took care of most of them.”

Austin’s report.

Roan looked at the corpses of Istel’s soldiers and nodded.

This was already the 13th subjugation.

Meanwhile, they had perfectly annihilated the small and big groups.

‘The side of corps commander Aaron would already have regrouped with the main army.’

Looking at the direction, Aaron’s side was closer to the headquarters.

Roan turned his head and looked at the south.

‘Here on, it would be better to leave the western region to the army of count Lancephil.’

It was now time to return to the headquarters.

‘The main force of Istel won’t be able to last much either.’

They were out of supplies, and the supply line got cut off.

On top of that, excluding the main army, all the other groups were getting massacred.

Although they still had many soldiers left in the headquarters, they didn’t have the leisure or the morale to do so anymore.

On top of that, the supreme commander leading Istel kingdom’s forces was Mark Istel.

He was a royalty that was quite close to the king of Istel.

They wouldn’t leave someone like Mark in the cave of a tiger.

Retreating was a clear thing.

“We are going to the south.”

A voice with strength.

Austin and the soldiers saluted shortly and bowed.

They put the battlefield under control and moved towards the south.

As most of the soldiers were infantry, the movement speed wasn’t as fast as he had thought.

On top of that, most of them were exhausted at the continued battle.

Roan rested moderately and moved.

‘Soon, the last battle will happen.’

He needed to save energy for that.

The second day of travelling.

He could finally see the camp of the eastern army.

Roan, that was at the front, frowned.

Because the camp seemed kind of weird.

‘Something’s lacking.’

The camp was empty.

His footsteps became quicker at the uneasy feeling.

“Stop!”

The guards that were protecting the entrance crossed spears and yelled.

Roan stood at the front and yelled.

“It’s the 7th corps!”

The guards checked the flag and the rank badge.

“Ah! It’s troop commander Roan of the 7th corps!”

On top of that, Roan’s face was quite famous.

The guards hurriedly opened the gates.

“Sir!”

Roan lead the troop and got inside the camp.

He ordered the soldiers to rest and moved towards the centre of the camp.

A place that had tents for the corps commanders.

However, most of the tents were empty.

‘Ah!’

Then, someone got in his eyes.

It was corps commander Phillip Hass of the 5th corps.

“Commander Hass!”

“Mmm?”

Phillip turned his head at the sound calling out to  him and then smiled.

“It’s Roan of the 7th corps.”

“Sir.”

Roan approached even more and saluted.

“I heard the notices. You have raised quite a big merit.”

“Thank you.”

At Phillip’s compliment, Roan bowed and then looked at the camp.

“But the camp feels quite empty.”

At those words, the smile in Phillip’s face became even denser.

“Everyone went to chase the main army of Istel.”

“The enemy’s main army? They had already retreated?”

Although he certainly expected for a retreat, the time was just too fast.

As Roan asked back in a surprised face, Phillip’s nodded.

“Right. Although it was yesterday that we realized that they had retreated, actually it was way before that since they retreated.”

“Can you tell me in detail?”

Roan wanted to know where the situation was flowing to.

Phillip explained with a composed voice.

“Corps commander Aaron regrouped in the camp and a force also regrouped in Istel’s headquarters. They say it was the force waiting in the fake storage.”

He looked at the east.

“Not even preparing to retreat, but they had regrouped? We certainly thought that they would be preparing for the last attack. Although small troops of each side has clashed against each other, it didn’t have that big of a meaning. Because we thought that the real battle would happen later on.”

Phillip looked at Roan once more.

“But four days ago, the small scaled battles got cut off. They didn’t come out of their camp. Instead, they just hit jings and drums. We thought that it was to raise the morale for the last battle. But that was a completely mistaken thinking.”

A hopeless look was in his eyes.

“They didn’t move even after 4 days had passed. So we sent a troop to their camp and provoked them. But even so, they didn’t show any reactions.  We fired arrows and threw rocks but it was the same. In the end, we got determined to die and charged in their camp. But…….”

“It was empty.”

At Roan’s words, Phillip nodded.

“The sound of the jing and  drums was a fake sound made with a recording magic. They had retreated rather early. Just like when we retreated in the region of Bink.”

“Mmm.”

Roan gulped the exclamation.

‘It’s earlier than what I thought.’

It meant that the situation was that bad.

‘Or they may have summoned Mark Istel a bit in a hurry.’

Although you couldn’t do anything about a defeat, you had to save the life of a royalty.

If the supreme commander was a normal soldier instead of a royalty like Mark, they would have continued doing war regardless of dying.

‘Anyways, even if they returned to their kingdom, there was a high possibility to get beheaded or lose a territory.’

Defeat in a war was that much of a sin.

‘However, a severe punishment isn’t always a good thing. ANyways……’

Roan’s eyes slightly trembled.

‘Recording magic……’

It certainly was uncommon.

But even so, retreating more than 5.000 soldiers without getting caught was quite a difficult thing.

‘Was there a commander that outstanding in their ranks?’

He had perfectly grasped the situation of the commanders of Istel while preparing for war and while the war progressed.

However, there wasn’t that kind of dangerous existence among the commanders.

‘Now that I see, the strategy of the fake storage wasn’t that easy……’

As he reviewed it again, he thought that there were many things he had thought of lightly.

A feeling a lightning thundered in his head.

Roan rummaged through the memories of his past life.

Several battles and wars passed through his head.

‘Among the outstanding existences in Istel kingdom………’

In the age of great wars, geniuses appeared not only in Rinse kingdom, but in each continent.

Precisely because of that was that the age of great wars happened.

‘If it wasn’t for that, a kingdom or empire would have gotten annihilated.’

Roan shook his head.

‘If it’s an existence of Istel kingdom, it would be at most the fox of the battle field count Peid Nail………’

But there wasn’t a name like that among the names of the commanders Chris’s agency and the information troop provided him.

‘On top of that, he’s merely in his twentie…..’

WHen he thought like that.

Roan’s eyes opened.

“Ah!”

An exclamation came out of his mouth.

“What happened?”

Phillip tilted his head and asked.

However Roan didn’t even have the mind to reply.

He bowed towards Phillips.

“I’m sorry. An urgent thing occurred suddenly, so I will have to leave.”

“Huh? Right. Then……..”

Phillip couldn’t end saying goodbye.

Roan was already showing his back.

“Cheop.”

Phillip smacked his lips with an awkward expression.

‘Just what’s the urgent thing……..Hhm.’

His sight followed Roan’s back.

Roan ran towards the  place the soldiers were resting without stop.

“Mister Pens!”

An urgent yell.

Pens, that was resting between the soldiers, stood up.

Roan made hand signs with an urgent expression.

“Give me the register of Istel kingdom.”

Pens tilted his head at the sudden request.

“Register? If it’s the register, you would probably have…..”

Roan shook his head.

“Not commanders above troop commanders, but the registers of adjutants.”

“Adjutants? That was too massive so we couldn’t organize it yet.”

Pens replied with a perplexed expression.

Roan nodded as if it was fine.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Wa, wait a moment.”

Only then did Pens realize that something wasn’t right.

He rummaged his bag and then took out a pile of papers the size of two palms.

“It’s here.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as he received the papers, ROan sat on the ground.

Flip. Flip.

The sound of flipping paper was heard clearly.

Pens and the other soldiers started to gather one by one.

However Roan didn’t mind and concentrated on the letters of the paper.

“Peid. Peid. Peid………’

For now, it was important to find that na,e.

The names that were written in a disorganized way.

His finger swept up the letters quickly.

How long has it passed.

Almost half of the papers were flipped.

‘Right. Please, don’t appear.’

Roan gulped dry saliva and flipped the paper once again.

Flip. Tuk.

At that moment, the finger stopped like a lie.

‘Peid.’

There was.The name he didn’t want to see was clearly written.

The contents written was just that.

But it was enough even with that.

Roan’s face stiffened.

‘It’s that bastard. The fox of the battlefield. It is that guy.’

He abruptly stood up.

He couldn’t think of it.

The geniuses that represented each kingdom in the age of great wars.

As he concentrated on the battles and the war, he had forgotten the truth of their existence for a moment.

‘The commanders had to ignore him and neglect him……’

However, if it was him that incentivated the retreat, it meant that his position had risen to a place.

‘The fox of the battlefield wouldn’t simply retreat.’

Even Ian, that was one of the genius strategists and the pride of Rinse, get done in by him 3 times.

‘I have to chase the army of the eastern region.’

He had to stop them so they couldn’t chase them anymore.

Roan gave the papers to Pens and called Austin.

“Get ready to depart the quickest possible.”

“Charging?”

Austin asked back with an expression as if what had happened.

Roan looked at the east.

“We are going to the east.”

At those words, some soldiers said.

“Are we chasing the enemy?”

“Are we chasing the main army of Istel?”

Expressions and voices that were a bit excited.

They had finished the war and were quite excited.

However Roan was calm.

No, it rather felt like he was kind of low.

He said in a voice he seemed to be mumbling.

“We are rescuing our allies.”

< Danger inside the danger (7) > End

Translator’s note: Regular chapter