Masked Knight
chapter-192

Chapter 192: Prelude to Climax

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was winter when the decisive battle of the second crusade finally began. That battle was later referred to as the ‘Sandwich Biscuits’1.

After tense preparations by the Roland Continent Coalition Army, a large-scale retreat from the Pamir Plain began.

Tiger had already lost confidence in the war. However, as the Supreme Commander — or at least, he still was, in name — Tiger carefully arranged for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Since it was a retreat, it was inevitable to leave a few soldiers behind to guard the rear. As the various groups had different ideas, there was a heated debate to decide who should stay behind to guard the rear.

Tiger did not participate in the discussion. He just sat there and sneered as he watched the others quarrel.

Finally, they decided to leave behind the infantry regiment of the Goethe Kingdom.

The one known as the second-rate infantry throughout the war was entrusted with the important task of courting death.

After leaving behind thirty thousand of the Goethe Kingdom’s infantry, Tiger withdrew with the Royal Knights of the Sauron Kingdom and the sorcerers. They were the first to retreat from the battlefield.

Tiger no longer wanted to bother with the other groups of soldiers. As for the infantry of Goethe Kingdom, Tiger did not believe that they could accomplish the task of breaking off the enemy pursuit. The Goethe Kingdom’s soldiers were not so brave and would probably surrender.

"Let us wait and die! All of us are just waiting to die!" Tiger’s eyes were cold as he looked at the main camp behind him. "They sent us to our deaths in this war!"

Milo was an outstanding general. Prejudices aside, he actually was quite capable.

Without the Lightning God’s Whip under his command, Milo began his pursuit of the Roland army.

Milo did not dispatch all the troops at once. In the beginning, he carefully sent out a few troops to harass the enemy to slow down their retreat. He tried his best to delay them.

It would not be wise to fight directly with the enemy now.

Consume it all! Waste your time, your energy and your food supplies!

The infantry of the Goethe Kingdom who was responsible for holding the rear collectively surrendered after two days. Thirty thousand people became prisoners...

That was all as expected by Tiger. Whatever the case, the thirty thousand prisoners would be able to delay the army of the Radiant Empire from chasing them.

However, Tiger... or perhaps, everybody from the Roland Continent was shocked by what happened next.

All thirty thousand prisoners were ordered to be slaughtered by Milo within the night.

Although many officers did not support Milo’s decision and many, in fact, even complained to His Excellency the Duke... but His Excellency the Duke still did not show up. The 'Duke' remained in the tent and told them, "Go and ask General Milo.

Within the night, all thirty thousand Roland prisoners were executed. Milo surrounded the prisoners in the barracks of the Roland army. He then sent out a troop of heavy cavalry and began to attack. The sound of fighting lasted throughout the night as the soil was dyed red.

Milo did not have any intention of cleaning up the battlefield. He ordered his soldiers to burn the barracks of the Roland army along with the corpses.

Although many military officers of the Empire objected to Milo’s actions, they could not disobey his command. "If we take along those thirty thousand prisoners, we would need to allocate at least twenty thousand soldiers to watch over them! We do not have that many people and it is impossible to leave behind twenty thousand soldiers on the plain and waste them on those prisoners!"

Milo’s last sentence was also straightforward, "No mercy for invaders!"

Because of Milo’s harassment, the Roland army retreated very slowly. They left behind their treasured wagons and only took along their supplies.

Milo was clever and did not send his army to fight against the Roland army. He dispatched a few light cavalries to go back and forth to harass the Roland army so that they could not retreat peacefully. Meanwhile, his main army steadily approached from behind.

He maximized the use of that 'delaying' tactic in the current situation.

It was a full five days when the exhausted Roland army finally arrived at the south side of Thunder City. They had already put in their utmost effort.

Tiger was not surprised to find the Holy Knights at their wit's end below the city wall.

As expected, the Holy Knights were unable to recapture Thunder City.

Tiger had a ridiculous thought when he looked at the banner of the Tulip Family above the city wall — he felt like he was just a bystander and the predicament in front of him had nothing to do with him.

It was now necessary for a last-ditch effort. The Roland army became desperate in the face of the predicament. The coalition armies gathered their final courage, regardless of which kingdom they were from, and charged towards the banner of the Tulip Family, which was fluttering above the wall of Thunder City.

They were greeted with arrows and stones.

The joke was that those arrows and also the food used by the Lightning God’s Whip, in Thunder City, were all initially the hoarded supplies of the Roland army.

So, a strange battle began. The Roland army was caught between Thunder City and Milo’s army. In front, the Roland army began a fierce battle at Thunder City while they were being attacked from behind by Milo’s army.

Frankly speaking, if it was just the tens of thousands of the Lightning God's Whip fighting against the hundreds of thousands of the Roland army and also their team of skillful sorcerers, the city would be destroyed sooner or later.

However, Milo, behind the Roland army, was giving them a headache.

Tiger was confident of ending the battle at the Thunder City if the Roland army had a month's worth of time.

Milo's army had already left its line of defense at the plain. In an open area, their superior army should be able to defeat Milo's army. However, that would still take time.

Although Thunder City's defense was solid, the tens of thousands Lightning God's Whip were obviously outnumbered by the hundreds of thousands of Roland army. Tiger was confident of winning back Thunder City if he had sufficient time.

Unfortunately, the problem was still time. The food supplies left in the army would only last for two more days.

Two days… Tiger could not help but laugh dryly. What is next? First, we go hungry. When we can no longer tolerate the hunger, we will start killing the horses. After losing the horses, the Holy Knights possibly could not even defeat the enemy’s heavy armor infantries. After that, what would we do? Will we start eating people? Hahaha… This is ridiculous!

The 'Sandwich Biscuit' battle lasted four days before the Roland army announced that they had given up.

Both sides sent messengers to and fro for a day. After that, the Radiant Empire’s Regiment Commander, the Duke of the Tulip Family, announced the acceptance of the surrender conditions and ensured that the prisoners of war would not be slaughtered as Milo’s actions had already caused a deep fear in the Roland army.

It was during that winter that the second crusade, that had lasted two months, finally ended.

At the city walls south of Thunder City, five hundred thousand of the Roland Continent Coalition Army surrendered to the Radiant Empire. The Northern Legion of Radiant Empire had accepted the surrender of the Roland army. In that war, the Roland Coalition Army had invaded with eight hundred thousand soldiers. Almost three hundred thousand perished while the remaining became prisoners of war.

Likewise, the Empire also paid a heavy price. Ten million gold coins had been spent on the war. Besides that, less than three hundred thousand soldiers remained of the four hundred thousand soldiers that went to the North. Among the casualties, the Flame Warriors had lost thirty thousand soldiers while the Northern Legion lost one hundred thousand soldiers. The elite Lightning God’s Whip had fifty thousand soldiers before the war but after the war, they only had less than thirty thousand soldiers remaining.

Most of the Lightning God’s Whip were killed in the final 'Sandwich Biscuit' battle, during the Roland army’s last siege of the city.

The Empire had the time advantage and eventually won the battle.

At Thunder City, all the hundreds of thousands of the Roland army soldiers, including the Holy Knights, had put down their weapons. After that, they were put under custody of the fifty-thousand strong heavy infantry from the Northern Legion and twenty-thousand strong Lightning God's Whip. They were gathered at their original barracks. All the daily foods and supplies were sent directly from Thunder City.

Following His Majesty's summons, Sieg was left behind as the Supreme Commanding Officer in the front lines. Under the escort of ten thousand of the Lightning God's Whip, the Duke of the Tulip Family together with His Excellency Milo of the Northern Legion returned to the Imperial Capital.

The only unusual thing was that even during the ceremony of accepting the surrender of the Roland army, the Supreme Commander of the Empire, the Duke of the Tulip Family did not appear. The ones present at the ceremony were Sieg and Milo.

Milo received the sword from Tiger, the Commander of the Coalition Army of Roland Continent, while Sieg signed on the book stating the terms of surrender.

Ten thousand Lightning God's Whip cavalrymen nervously escorted a tightly sealed carriage towards the Imperial Capital. The soldiers worriedly looked at the tightly-sealed carriage and thought to themselves. Is the rumor really true? Is our great commander, His Excellency the Duke, really sick?

Following the Emperor's instructions, the original welcoming ceremony was not carried out and a false date of the Duke's triumphant return was published by the newspaper. Tens of thousands of civilians of the Empire and the fans of the Duke of the Tulip Family waited in vain. They were so disappointed and angry that they fought against the security soldiers. Meanwhile, the Duke of the Tulip Family and his carriage team had already sneaked into the Imperial Capital the night before.

There was a grand feast in the Imperial Palace but the Duke of the Tulip Family did not participate in the feast. According to the Empire’s official statement, His Excellency the Duke was injured and needed to rest.

In that grand celebration banquet, Milo was the only one among the high-ranked generals from the northern war zone who attended. He was in the limelight. His good noble upbringing helped him to cope with the adulation piled by the nobles in the Empire. By being both noble and modest, he had the perfect image of a brave, young and loyal general of the Empire.

Marquis Garoline finally felt relieved when saw the smile on the Emperor's face and also the crowd surrounding his nephew. The public image of the Lionheart Family finally had turned for the better.

Taking advantage of the interval during the banquet, Marquis Garoline took his nephew to the side and carefully asked him about the Duke's injury.

The smile that Milo kept up throughout the night disappeared as he sighed and replied, "I don’t know!"

"You don’t know?" Marquis Garoline was surprised.

"It's true." Milo whispered, "In fact, Seth has not appeared for a very long time. He rarely appeared in front of anyone during the battle at Pamir Plain. I was in command the entire time until the decisive battle at Thunder City." At this moment, Milo frowned and continued, "I also have some doubts. That day, when he returned from the battlefield, he looked as if he did not have any injury. However, he then hid in the tent and refused to see anyone. Is the Paladin of the Roland army really so powerful?"

Marquis Garoline pondered for a moment and asked, "So, is it possible to interrogate that Paladin?"

Milo shook his head and replied, "The opponent's team of sorcerers and the Paladin had already escaped. At that time, the situation was very chaotic. When their army surrendered, the sorcerers, the Paladin, and the Senior Knights — those who could fly all flew away." Milo sneered, "Thunder City is not big. Although sorcerers are not able to fly long distances, it is still possible for them to fly to the beach from Thunder City. However, I am not sure if they could fly across the Straits of Thunder."

Garoline, the old fox, became silent for a while. After that, his eyes shined with a cunning look as he whispered, "Was Seth seriously injured? Perhaps, he would die?"

Milo shook his head and firmly said, "He will not die!" He had a strange expression as he continued, "I believe nobody in this world can kill him!"

Marquis Garoline looked at his nephew’s expression before he sighed and whispered, "No matter what, we have won the war! His Majesty will reward you generously. If… If Seth is dead, then you would be the remaining and greatest hero of this war! Sieg does not have the support of a noble family and would not achieve much. Milo, have you ever thought about it? If Seth is dead, you would be the number one person in the Empire!"

Milo's body suddenly trembled and his eyes flashed as if he thought of something. After that, his eyes turned gloomy. He looked at his uncle with a complicated expression. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "My beloved uncle, I know you have high expectations of me… However, what you do not know is that after this war, I have a strange feeling about Seth... No, I should say about the Tulip Family..." Milo gave a long sigh before he continued in a low voice, "Perhaps in my entire life, I would not be able to surpass that guy, Seth. As for that family... they made me feel hopeless. They have a real power of appeal."

Milo's eyes then was a mixture of emotions. It was filled with respect, jealousy, disappointment, desperation but mostly admiration.

"You will never be able to imagine that kind of scene. As long as the banner of the Tulip Family was fluttering, millions of soldiers would worship it like they worship God. For the banner of the Tulip Family, those soldiers were willing to die without a trace of hesitation or fear. That kind of sincerity towards the Tulip Family, that craziness and absolute loyalty, was something we could never achieve!"

Marquis Garoline did not say anything. He looked at his nephew’s expression and sighed.

The newspapers in the Imperial Capital were filled with the joys of victory. Every day, there was a large crowd outside the Duke's mansion and the security soldiers did their best to guard the Duke's mansion.

Under Andy's arrangement, news of the Duke’s injury was slowly released.

As a result, there was an increase in the number of religious people in the Imperial Capital. Numerous civilians went to the church to pray. They prayed to the great God to bless the Empire’s guardian for health and longevity. Outside the mansion of the Duke of the Tulip Family, there were also countless infatuated women silently praying while holding a blossoming tulip flower in their hands.

However, those people made sure they stood several tens of meters away from the mansion of the Duke of the Tulip Family as they were afraid of disturbing His Excellency the Duke, who was nursing his injuries, from resting.

Every day, a team of Royal Guards would visit the mansion of the Duke of the Tulip Family. It was said that His Highness the Emperor had personally dispatched the palace doctors to treat the Duke’s injuries.

The various newspapers, in the Imperial Capital, had also dispatched countless people to watch the Duke's mansion every day and night. Every day, the various newspapers would publish information about the Duke of the Tulip Family.

"News Report: According to one of the servants from the mansion of the Duke of the Tulip Family, His Excellency the Duke was already able to get out of bed yesterday! "

"News Report: Based on leftover of a beef steak at the rubbish dump outside the Duke's mansion and that steak was the Duke’s favorite food, we think that His Excellency the Duke was recovering and had started eating."

"News Report: According to the younger brother of the wife of the nephew of the wife of the neighbor of the medical officer responsible for treating the His Excellency the Duke, he had already fully recovered."

Every day, the newspapers were filled with all kinds of news and speculations about the recovery of His Excellency the Duke. Various newspapers then began to blame other newspapers for reporting false news for the sake of their sales. With all the disputes, the public in the Imperial Capital became confused. Nobody believed in the news anymore, regardless whether it was true or false. One fine day, a newspaper boldly reported that His Excellency the Duke was gravely injured. An angry crowd then rushed to the newspaper headquarters and beat everybody up. After that, all the newspapers abstained from reporting...

Three days later, the Central Command of the Empire released the list of heroes of the war to be conferred awards by His Majesty the Emperor.

It was a lengthy and cumbersome commendation order... the only thing that drew the attention of most people was that, at least, the Duke of the Tulip Family was mentioned in the list of commendation order.

"Duke of the Tulip Family - Seth Rudolph, Appointed as Marshal Commander of Central Command of the Empire!"

"Former Deputy Commander of Central Cavalry, General Sieg, is promoted to Regimental Commander of the Central Cavalry. He will also be conferred the title of Earl!"

"Former Regimental Commander of the Northwest Legion, General Milo, is promoted to Deputy Military Minister! He will also be conferred as an Earl…"

"Former Commander… Is given the title of…"

"Former Deputy Commander…"

After all the awards were announced, the grand ceremony was held in the Radiant Hall of the Imperial Palace. However, the Duke of the Tulip Family was still unable to attend the ceremony.

It was worth mentioning that among the lengthy awards, there was a humble name.

"Former Deputy Captain of the Duke’s bodyguards in the Lightning God’s Whip, Rody, because of outstanding performance at the battle in capturing the Thunder City, is transferred to the Imperial Guards. He is conferred with the noble title of Viscount and the position of Palace Warrior!"

1. Yes. 夹心饼干 jiaxin binggan. Sandwich Biscuits. It did not say 前后攻击 Qianhou gongji, for pincer attack.