Karl wanted to avoid, if possible, a situation where they would be attacked by monsters in the dark of night.
The imperial soldiers would fight well enough, but there was no telling whether the conscripts could hold their own.
To begin with, very few of them were properly equipped. Most carried crude spears made by fastening daggers to the ends of wooden poles and used random planks who knew where they had even been torn from as shields. Even that counted as relatively well-armed. Many had nothing more than a club or a single axe in hand.
Fortunately, they were able to advance without being attacked.
Perhaps because of their numbers, no minor monsters approached them either, and they simply moved forward in silence.
Everyone began to relax a little. At this rate, it felt like they might reach Axeblade Village safely.
Karl too felt a bit relieved. The first battle being a night battle…what a nightmare that would be.
“Sir Karl!”
As if his thoughts had reached the heavens or perhaps sunk into the abyss—
Something, whether god or devil, seemed to be watching and decided to interfere. A loud shout called out to him.
From far off in the darkness, accompanied by the pounding of hooves, Bilford’s familiar voice rang out again.
“The village is under attack!”
“Pick up the pace!”
The moment he heard Bilford, Karl shouted instinctively.
“We must move with the wagons.”
Karl, who had been about to accelerate with the imperial soldiers’ speed in mind, hesitated at Catherine’s words.
Then he urged his horse forward at a pace the wagons and conscripts could keep up with.
“Why is that?”
Snort!
Karl’s horse let out a sharp breath.
The horse seemed frustrated that it couldn’t break into a full sprint and had to plod along at a slow pace. And, coincidentally, Karl felt just as stifled.
At Karl’s question, Catherine answered.
“The imperial soldiers are more important than the people in the village.”
“I know that.”
“The losses incurred while they hold out behind the palisade are nothing compared to the losses we would suffer if the imperial soldiers charged into the monsters unprotected.”
“…I see.”
At that, Karl understood what Catherine was getting at.
Even if the imperial soldiers rushed ahead like this, they wouldn’t be able to wipe out all the gnolls surrounding the palisade. There were only thirty imperial soldiers which was barely enough to maintain formation and cover each other’s flanks and backs.
An aggressive push was impossible anyway. In that case, it would be better to bring the wagons forward, establish a formation, and share the burden being placed on the village.
If an opportunity arose to get close enough, they could even attack the gnolls caught in the space between the village and the subjugation force from both sides.
“Are you suggesting we build a makeshift fortress?”
In other words, a kind of small improvised stronghold.
If it worked properly, the area between the village and the subjugation force would become a killing ground. Naturally, both sides would have fewer directions to defend, yielding a tremendous tactical advantage.
If the gnolls tried to push through? Then they could simply be cut down under attacks from both sides.
“Exactly.”
Catherine nodded at Karl who had grasped the idea immediately.
Karl felt that his time spent studying in the archives had not been wasted, and at the same time, he admired how Catherine could devise such a simple yet efficient tactic.
He didn’t have the presence of mind to notice that Catherine’s voice had grown slightly louder out of admiration for him.
Meanwhile, Bilford, who had ridden hard to catch up, rejoined them. His horse was breathing heavily from the effort.
“There are too many gnolls. So many that I couldn’t even count them.”
At Bilford’s report, Karl’s expression stiffened.
“Was there anything else unusual?”
“They were crude, but they had made and were using iron weapons.”
The more he learned, the worse it got. Bilford raised his right hand so Karl and Catherine could see.
Noticing this, one of the imperial soldiers brought over a torch to illuminate it.
What Bilford held was a crude axe, smeared with blood and bits of flesh. The stench of rot hit Karl instantly, and he recoiled without realizing it.
“It seems they copied a woodcutter’s axe.”
Bilford spoke as if unaware of Karl’s reaction, his face pale as he suppressed nausea. Karl couldn’t afford to show weakness here.
Fortunately, Bilford’s words helped him regain his composure.
Forcing down the urge to look away from what was clearly human blood and flesh, Karl fixed his gaze on the axe.
The handle, as thick as Karl’s forearm, had been roughly carved from wood, its surface uneven and poorly maintained, with parts already rotting.
The axe head was unevenly colored and lumpy, clearly lacking any proper metallurgical technique. But its size was impossible to ignore. It was almost the size of a child’s head. This meant that it must have been incredibly heavy.
And they were using such heavy axes not as tools but as weapons. Something a human couldn’t manage, even if they wanted to.
No matter how weak gnolls might be, monsters were still monsters. Something ordinary humans couldn’t hope to compare with.
Karl recalled the stuffed gnoll Maldin had shown at the banquet.
The hand gripping his sword hilt trembled slightly.
For a first battle, this was far too dire to dismiss as mere experience.
Karl realized that the unease that had gripped him since arriving in Hilpin had now become reality.
***
Despite his urgency and rising anxiety, their movement remained frustratingly slow.
Then, from the distance, lights and commotion began to draw closer.
The torches lining the top of the palisade flickered violently, like a crown of fire.
Bark! Bark!
All they could hear were the sounds of barking.
But when that barking came from bipedal monsters as large as grown men, it was anything but trivial.
And when there were enough of them to make the entire forest echo, it became even more overwhelming.
Human voices were completely drowned out, and only the occasional tearing scream barely reached their ears.
Karl felt goosebumps rise all over his body, and sweat poured down him.
Instinctively, he knew. That place was certain death. If he went in, he would die.
“…Bring the wagons forward! Hurry!”
Even so, Karl tightened his core and gave the order, crushing the instinctive urge to turn his horse around and flee.
“Two men per wagon. We’ll form a circular formation.”
“Yes!”
Catherine followed up with detailed commands. Under her direction, the imperial soldiers moved to the wagons and began driving them forward.
“Stay close! If you fall behind, you die!”
Karl shouted loudly as he looked back, worried that the conscripts might try to run.
Even though a lone conscript fleeing in this situation would only die sooner or later, the human heart isn’t always rational.
So even with that warning, it was almost inevitable that someone would try to run.
“I-I can’t do this!”
One conscript, clutching his axe, turned and began to flee.
Karl, fully aware that if even one person fled, everything could collapse, panicked and tried to shout something—
“Leave him! It’s too late! He can’t be saved!”
Catherine cut him off with a sharp voice.
Instead of shouting things like “Don’t run!” or “I’ll kill you if you run!”, she made one thing absolutely clear to everyone. Which side they needed to be on to survive.
At her words, those who had been about to run hesitated, glanced around, and then awkwardly followed behind the subjugation force.
Karl and Catherine locked eyes.
There was something they wanted to say but there was no time.
Thud thud thud!
Rattle!
The wagons, pulled by pack horses, charged forward chaotically. A wheel caught on a rock, the wagon lurched violently, and one of them tipped over completely.
“Get up and run! This isn’t the time to lie down!”
Bilford shouted as he rushed past. At his words, the imperial soldiers staggered but forced themselves back to their feet and kept running.
Cargo spilled from the fallen wagon. The horse that was still strapped to it struggled pitifully but no one had the luxury to care.
“Hah…! Hoo…! Hoo…!”
Karl steadied his breathing as the battlefield drew closer.
As they approached, human voices finally became audible.
“Aaaagh!”
“Help me!”
“Die! Die!”
“Aaah! Let go! Let go!”
“They’re breaking through!”
Screams and cries of despair filled the air.
Everything of life and death was there.
The moment he witnessed the full horror of the battlefield, Karl’s pupils dilated sharply.
Hoo…
Karl heard his own ragged breathing.
Slowly, very slowly, as if some enormous beast were exhaling.
His body swayed with the galloping horse.
In his vision, lights stretched into long streaks.
A stinging stench filled his nose. The reek of beasts, the metallic smell of blood, and the rot of corpses.
The sound of barking dogs. Human screams.
An eerie air that felt as though it could strip the skin from his body.
There was a taste of blood in his mouth.
Karl’s expanded vision took in the battlefield at a glance, like a scene from hell itself.
And then, he felt a powerful pull, as if something were dragging him forward.
“…Turn left! Turn left! Sir Catherine!”
Drawn by a force beyond words, Karl shouted with all his strength.
Lowering his posture and spurring his horse as Catherine had taught him, the magnificent warhorse personally bestowed by Emperor Madius finally revealed its power.
The pure white horse cut through the darkness like a comet, surging forward in an instant, overtaking the wagons ahead and taking the lead.
Catherine drew her spear and rode at Karl’s right, guarding him.
Karl’s white horse and his fluttering red cloak seemed to glow in the torchlight, making it clear to all that he was charging at the very front, even in the darkness.
The wagons followed Karl as they changed direction, running with Axeblade Village that was under attack by gnolls on their right, gradually drawing closer to the gnolls’ rear.
“Hold your positions!”
Just as Karl was about to speak, Catherine shouted like thunder.
She had been startled when Karl suddenly surged forward, but what shocked her even more was how he had seized an incredibly precise and ideal position in the midst of the chaos.
It was exactly where she herself had intended to position them.
The imperial soldiers drove the wagons into a circular formation, then leapt down and, with spears and shields in hand, sealed the gaps between them.
“Run! Hurry!”
Bilford’s shout rang out as he led the conscripts forward.
Karl frantically turned his head atop his horse, scanning his surroundings.
“Sir Karl! Stay here!”
Having grasped the situation before Karl, Catherine shouted and broke from formation, riding toward the conscripts led by Bilford.
“…! Prepare yourselves!”
Aside from telling them to prepare which were words that were of little real use, Karl had nothing else he could offer the soldiers.
But that was enough.
The imperial soldiers, even as they faced the gnoll horde surging like waves, fixed their eyes on Karl’s back as he charged at the very front, carving a path ahead.
“Ha!”
Clang! Clang!
The soldiers responded, lowering their stances and aiming their spears over their shields. The sound of their armor merged into one, ringing out clearly even over the countless cries of the gnolls.
There are too many gnolls, and they’re spread too wide to use the punitive force’s formation as a defensive stronghold.
He hadn’t expected their numbers to be this great. To use the punitive formation as a fortified position, they would have to move closer to the palisade, but the entire plain around the village was already filled with gnolls.
The thought that they might all die here, before securing reinforcements through Harmon, flashed through his mind.
But such weak thoughts were useless. Karl clenched his teeth and glared at the gnolls charging toward them.
“Bilford!”
“Yes!”
Meanwhile, Catherine who had moved to protect conscripts about to be struck from the flank shouted for Bilford. He slipped away from the conscripts and moved to the right, toward the oncoming gnolls.
Instead of his sword, Bilford pulled the spear hanging from his saddle in one swift motion, stepped in front of the gnolls, and began whirling it as he swept through the area.
Grr! Grr!
Gnolls possessed intelligence but were closer to beasts, driven more by instinct than reason.
They did not distinguish between horse and rider, perceiving Bilford and his mount as a single massive entity. And with the long spear spinning in wide arcs, they hesitated, unable to approach, only snarling.
In that brief hesitation, Catherine raised her spear high and struck hard into the flank of a halted gnoll.
Whoosh!
Thud! Thud!
Rather than making the mistake of thrusting the spear in, Catherine wielded its length with fluid precision, avoiding an axe aimed at her horse and splitting the gnoll’s head open.
Then in an instant, she channelled her mana and moved her spear like a streak of light. She deflected the simultaneous attacks of the gnolls blocking her path, cutting them down.
Boom!
“Ha!”
Gnolls fell defenseless before Catherine’s spear. Trusting in its barding, her warhorse slammed its chest into them with force, knocking them down and crushing them underfoot.
Catherine released the reins and gripped the horse’s sides tightly with her legs. In that state, she swept her spear left and right, tearing through the gnolls in all directions, then broke straight through and rode on, guarding the rear of the conscripts.
Intimidated by the fearsome presence of the imperial knight, the gnolls faltered. Thanks to that, the conscripts were able to safely join the punitive force’s formation.
Bilford held his ground, killing and pushing back gnolls with his spear until Catherine arrived. As she drew near, he entered the formation ahead of her.
For Bilford, nothing more than a common soldier who could not even wield mana, worrying about Catherine was a foolish thing.
“Those with spears, step forward!”
Karl picked out those among the newly joined conscripts who carried long spears and had them block the gnolls trying to climb over the wagons.
He then placed those armed with axes or clubs in the gaps, ordering them to strike down any gnolls that made it over the wagons.
Though crude, the hastily arranged force stood taut, spears bristling like a hedgehog.
“Focus only on the gnolls climbing over the wagons! Soldiers of the Hardion Empire will protect you! Not a single gnoll will dare cross the Empire’s shield!”
“Ha!”
At Karl’s shout, the imperial soldiers responded. Stirred by their fierce momentum, the conscripts cast off their anxiety and steadied their ragged breathing.
Catherine and Bilford took position in the direction of the village, where the gnolls’ attack would be concentrated, holding their spears at the ready. Milton, his face slightly pale, dismounted and took his place at the center where Karl stood.
Despite having said he would entrust command to Catherine once the battle began, Karl skillfully reassured the soldiers, formed the lines, and stirred their fighting spirit.
“Reinforcements have arrived!”
“Waaahhh!”
At those words, hopeful cheers erupted from Axeblade Village.
It was not merely that morale had risen with the arrival of reinforcements. The gnolls who were now caught between two sides could no longer hold back and surged toward the punitive force, visibly easing the pressure that had been bearing down on Axeblade Village.
Though it could not function perfectly as a fortified stronghold, thanks to Karl striking in at the right moment and securing the right position, they were able to form a line that could pressure the gnolls without taking losses.
Watching the gnolls charge at him from atop his horse, Karl gripped the hilt of his sword with trembling hands and pulled it free with force.
Shing!
Unlike his hands trembling with fear and tension, the sound of the blade leaving its sheath sliced sharply through the air.
Karl bit down hard on his lip. Blood flowed, gathering at the tip of his chin before dripping off.
Suppressing the tremor in his voice, Karl shouted with firm resolve.
“Fight! For the Empire!”
His voice rang out clearly even amid the noise of the battlefield, and at that signal, the punitive force thrust their spears toward the oncoming gnolls.
Karl’s first battle had begun.
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