The Emperor and the Knightess
chapter-25

Chapter 25

The Acreian soldiers turned into carpenters. They were professional soldiers, but if and when their superiors ordered them to become something else, they had no choice but to obey. Men grabbed the shovels, hammers, and nails. If they didn’t have what they needed, they would go to the cities to get them or made them themselves. One good example was the catapult.

The Acreians were planning to conquer the world, which meant they could not carry something like a catapult, so they didn’t. Lucius the First expected the need for one would begin once they reached the kingdoms with bigger castles, like those in the middle of the continent, but he was proven wrong.

The newly and hurriedly built catapult was not capable of launching large rocks. But then, the catapults owned by Bebero also had the same problem. Besides, it was going to be difficult to find large rocks and transport them to the catapults anyway.

There were a few small docks at the river before the battle, but most of them were damaged or completely destroyed by now. It was possible to build new ones, but they were going to be wrecked by Bebero catapults anyway, so there was no point in rebuilding them yet.

The Acreians also were short on wood. They couldn’t waste them on anything that wasn’t going to last in this battle.

A makeshift camp near the river was a day’s walk away from Poliana’s supply division. With Sir Baufallo’s permission, Poliana approached the Koemong River.

Poliana watched the Acreian soldiers standing around near the riverbanks. When the wind calmed down, one soldier suddenly shot an arrow to the other side. When it reached the middle of the river, the wind began to blow again and it dove into the water.

“Oh, that was so close!”

“What are you talking about? That was not even close!”

“Listen, I used to be very famous for my archery skill back home.”

The soldiers chatted loudly. It seemed that their morale was still intact. Poliana sighed in relief.

After the first failed crossing, the Acreians didn’t give up. They tried again and again.

Second attempt…

Third attempt…

They all led to failures, with each one worse than the one before. Bebero’s soldiers seemed to able to shoot their arrows and stone farther now. The docks on Bebero’s side were still intact, so they could stand on its edges and attack. They also got into their ships to get even closer to the Acreian side to attack.

There seemed to be no solution to this problem.

One knight suggested that they should create a large wooden shield for their boats. Bebero’s arrows were weak, so perhaps they could cross in their vessels this way. But then, one knight voiced a concern that what would they do if their enemy started shooting them with arrows lit with fire? It was going to be a massacre.

“DAMMIT!”

Sir Rabi screamed angrily nearby. Those men who were standing around him slowly backed away, fearing that they might become the victims to the knight’s frustration.

Only Poliana was left. Sir Rabi pointed his finger at her and stuttered, “Umm… Umm… You…”

He remembered seeing her and knew who she was, but Sir Rabi couldn’t remember her name. When he continued to frown, Poliana saluted him and replied, “Sir Poliana Winter, the aide of Sir Baufallo of the Supply Division, reporting for duty, Sir!”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. I remember. Why are you here?”

He didn’t look very happy to see her. Poliana then answered, “I came here to see the Koemong River. I have never seen it before.”

“Aren’t you originally from Aehas? Good, then do you know anything about this river? You must’ve heard things growing up so nearby. You know, like any battle records between Aehas and Bebero or something.”

“Sir, this is the first time I saw the Koemong River! And there has never been a battle between Aehas and Bebero!”

“Dammit! Then why did you come here?”

“I have never seen the Koemong River, so I came to see it, Sir!”

“So you came here for fun? Do you think this is funny?! Huh!?”

Poliana came here just to see the river, and she didn’t mean anything by it, but the angry Sir Rabi took it the wrong way. Given the role of leading the battles was a huge honor, and failing the emperor’s expectation was a horrible feeling indeed. Sir Rabi was not a happy man at the moment.

Lucius the First did not blame Sir Rabi at all, but this made Sir Rabi feel even worse. Every day, Sir Rabi screamed at the river angrily. Some times, the Bebero soldiers would shoot a few arrows at him in reply. By the time a few of the arrows reached near Sir Rabi, they were too weak and slow to the point that it was easy for him to just knock them off with his sword. Those arrows could never hurt him considering where he was, but he still got angrier.

The only way Sir Rabi could relieve his stress was to spar with other men. But after the first few times, his men began to avoid him. At the moment, Poliana was the only one visible to him, but he remembered her gender. She didn’t look like a woman, but she was.

He grumbled, “Dammit… I can’t even spar with you because you are a girl.”

“If you need a sparring partner, I would be honored, Sir!”

Sir Rabi grabbed her collars and lifted her off the ground with only one hand. She wasn’t very heavy, but Poliana was still well-armed with leather armor, a sword, and two daggers. Lifting her off the ground with only one hand… That was quite a feat and Sir Rabi didn’t seem to be even out of breath.

The interesting thing was, Sir Rabi didn’t look muscular or manly. He, in fact, looked almost too pretty for a man.

‘He is incredibly strong.’

Only

Poliana now could understand why he was appointed to lead this battle.

“DAMMIITTT!”

Sir Rabi shouted again, louder this time. Poliana almost felt like her ears were bleeding from it. She suddenly realized that perhaps the real reason why he was given this position was for his loud voice, which could be useful in leading the men during noisy battles.

“If you will allow me, I will be honored to spar you, Sir!” Poliana replied.

“If you have a death wish, then go for it, you idiot! AAAHHH! What does everyone want from me?!”

Just then, a beautiful voice commented from behind them.

“Perhaps I demanded too much from you, Sir Rabi.”

It was their emperor, Lucius the First.