Chapter 20: Black Mountains (2)
Chapter 20: Black Mountains (2)
Marquis Crayer, the lord of the North, was belligerent and valiant enough to lead his own knights into battle.
Whenever the Black Mountains or a large reconnaissance party of the Fresyria kingdom moved towards the empire, he would always pulled out his sword and face with his own knights.
He then died on the battlefield in the Black Mountains, where his dismembered body was later delivered to the Marquis Castle.
Therefore, the Marquis Crayer, who appears in the second volume of the novel, was not Sand Crayer, but his son, Cron Crayer.
The character Sand Crayer was a character that exists only in the background.
I know who kidnapped and killed the Marquis. I also know how to stop it.
He know how to stop the kidnapping, but he didn't really mean to stop it.
However, if he could set up a debt from Marquis Crayer, he'll certainly gain something later.
In order to create the debt, Marquis Crayer must first be kidnapped. What remains is the will be dealt later.
"I'd like to take a rest for the day.
It's late at night, it's too late to head for the border.
"I'll call someone to show you to the bedroom."
He may have said that he was starting to like on him, but he didn't show enough kindness to guide them directly.
Soon a servant called by Marquis Crayer entered the Meeting room, bowed his head in a polite manner, and led Raymond into the bedroom.
His bedroom was spacious. The accommodation for the Gesteine and the Shadow Squad was a little far away from him, but it was not that far away, and above all, the bedroom where the Red Tower and the Blue Tower would be temporarily located was right next to him, so there was no safety concern.
Gesteine, who is responsible for Rayman's safety, seemed to be unhappy with the location of the Shadow Squad's accommodation, and seemed to be cautious because he didn't trust the Red tower and the Blue tower.
He tasked several members of the Shadow Squad to take turns guarding the corridor.
That night went by without a hitch and it was now the next morning. Raymond visited Marquis Crayer after breakfast.
"Thanks to the Marquis, we've had enough rest for a day, and now we would be going to the border.
"You are safer staying here. The mere presence of His Highness in the North will increase the morale of the border forces. You don't have to go to the dangerous borders."
If the imperial family is killed in a border dispute, there would be a bigger war. Marquis Crayer didn't want to deal with it.
Since the northern central army has advanced toward the border, it is not strange for the Fresyian kingdom to launch more intense provocations right now. He could not guarantee the safety of the Fifth Prince.
"Marquis Crayer. I'm here to encourage border forces under Imperial orders.
"I've received the order, but it doesn't say that I shouldn't restrict you from intervening the border conflict."
Mentioning about the Imperial Order, Marquis Crayer shook his head with a determined face.
Raymond bit his lip slightly.
It seemed that something was different from the Imperial Order received by the First Prince and the message delivered to Marquis Crayer.
"The Emperor has entrusted me to the role of his subjects. And I think that's the best part."
The Emperor was old and weak, but he was still wise.
He didn't want to send him to the border, the Black Mountains, which was now a battlefield.
However, the contents of the Imperial Order could not be mentioned because of the Imperial Rule. That is why the decision makings was passed to Marquis Crayer.
The Emperor has calculated that Marquis Crayer would not put the Fifth Prince, Raymond, in a border dispute for his safety.
"The Imperial Order only states that an Imperial family is sent to the border area, but it didn't say you would be participating."
Technically, the residence is also a border area. Marquis Crayer was not breaking the Imperial Order.
But, if the Fifth Prince heads for the Black Mountains under the pretext of Imperial Order, Marquis Crayer has no way of stopping it.
"Okay."
He didn't want to argue. Raymond nodded in front of Marquis Crayer, but he also did not intend to back down.
To make the soul sword his own, he had to go to the Black Mountains himself.
"Sir Gesteine."
"Yes, Your Highness the Fifth."
"Go to the Imperial Commander and tell him I'm looking for him."
"Okay, sir."
Late at night, the summoned Imperial Commander came to Raymond.
"What for did you call me, Your Highness the Fifth?"
"Commander, I'm sorry to call you at this late hour."
"It's fine, Your Highness the Fifth."
A faint smile spread around Rayman's mouth as the commander bowed politely.
"May I ask why did you call for me, you Highness?"
"I need your help.
"The Imperial Army serves the imperial family until the last moment. Your Majesty the Fifth is now authorized to issue orders to the Imperial Army, including me! Tell me anything!"
The commander of the Imperial Army doesn't know the details yet but he was extremely loya to Raymond.
Raymond told him about the he had a conversation with Marquis Crayer.
"The Imperial Army can go to war right now."
He has already decided to follow Raymond's order.
"Fifth Prince, command me."
"Then Imperial Commander, go ahead and give the Imperial Army an armed command!"
"Yes, Your Highness the Fifth!"
"We will go to the Black Mountains!"
The Fifth Prince raised the flag.
* * *
The armed Imperial Army raised the flag. Surrounding the Fifth Prince, they headed to the north gate of the central city with flags at the forefront.
"Captain, we're in trouble!"
"Deputy, what's going on at this hour?"
"The Imperial Army is leaving the barracks and they are now passing through the Second City!"
"What?"
The commander was moving on Raymond's order, so he did not receive anything from the head of the central city's garrison.
He jumped out of his chair with a serious face, clad in leather armor and packed his sword.
"Call the guards! It's an emergency!"
Although his opponent is the Fifth Prince, he could not help but think of the worst case scenario from the defense leader's point of view.
Soon after the deputy ran out of the office, three hundred men were called up. The garrison leader led them to block the Imperial Army.
"Commander, what the hell is going on here, moving without permission of the city lord?"
The garrison leader was as polite as he could be.
There was an unauthorized military movement, but the other party was an Imperial Commander. He can't treat him recklessly.
"Who dares to stand in the way of the Imperial Army!"
The commander of the Imperial Army raised his voice.
Not a handful of manas were used, but his voice was so loud that it was surprised the captain of the defense army for a moment.
"Unauthorized military movement within the city is prohibited. No matter how much you call him.
"Unauthorized?! It's the order of the Fifth Prince!"
"His Highness the Fifth?"
Raymond slowly drove his horse forward, looking at the captain of the defense, who asked back in a surprised voice.
Gesteine, the commander of the Shadow Squad, and Desia, an high ranking wizard, stood by his side. His calm face was revealed when he took off the hood.
"I was ordered to encourage border forces. How dare you disobey the Emperor's orders?"
When the Imperial Order was mentioned, the defense leader's face went stiff. The weight of the Imperial Order in the Pilias Empire is never taken lightly.
"Open the gates now unless you intend to confront to the Emperor."
As the Emperor was mentioned, it was quite a pressure from the perspective of a defense leader.
Sure enough, after a short thought, he pulled the guards aside and opened the gates.
"Thanks. I won't forget your cooperation."
"May I ask where you are going, Your highness the Fifth?"
"Of course, I am here to carry out the Emperor's orders."
It means he was going to the border. Understanding the meaning, the defender bit his lips slightly.
Now, if the Fifth Prince dies at the border, the defense captain cannot avoid the next consequences.
But when He Imperial Order was mentioned, he could not help but step down.
He was really in a difficult situation.
"Don't worry too much. Because I'm now going there to die."
In conclusion, Raymond went to the north. He was followed by a hundred imperial troops and a temporarily expanded fifty Shadow Squad.
* * *
Demilitarized Treaty.
It refers to a treaty between the Heifel Empire, the three kingdom Alliance, and the Pilias Empire that prohibits the presence of any troops in the Black Mountains and the Black Forest.
It was the Heifel Empire that proposed the treaty, but also the first to violate it.
Heifel's troops were stationed in the Heifel Forest, which borders the Pilias Empire.
Upon hearing the news, skilled mountain mercenaries and dark troops were stationed in the Black Mountains also exerted their influence.
TL: I changed the name of Fresyria's army to dark troops because they aren't really ghost. They are just stealthy like ghost.
Now that the situation was like this, the Pilias Empire couldn't stay still.
They also stationed troops in the Black Mountains and in the Black Forest. A silent battle has begun.
Starting with that, in the two areas dominated by the battlefield, there were no days when blood did not flow even if there were no grand battles between the nations.
And today, as usual, there were screams and blood in the black mountains.
"Argh!"
"Sa, save me!"
An arrow flew in the sky and tore the flag of the Pilias Empire.
"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Pilias Empire!"
The knight shouted with several arrows stuck in his whole body. He struggled to forget the pain, burning his dying life and never letting go of the ruined flag until the end.
Not as much as the General's Spearhead, but the flag of the Pilias Empire also meant a lot to the soldiers.
Knowing that, he held the flag tightly before he would die.
"Hold yourself! We will protect this place!"
Soldiers in red uniforms rushed forward, but the terrain was too harsh to reach the enemies at once.
The army of the enemy preoccupied the highlands and continued to shoot bows, the soldiers of the Pilias Empire fell helplessly.
"Mountain mercenaries, damn it!"
Cron Crayer, Marquis' son, uttered.
He has been in command of the Fifth Infantry Division of the Border Force for some time, following the family tradition that he should always learns from the battlefield itself.
Border forces took turns sending troops up the Black Mountains to patrol for a period of time. Although Cron is the eldest son of the Marquis, there was no exception for him from the tradition.
As a result, his Fifth Infantry entered the Black Mountains.
On his way to the makeshift base, he was attacked by the mountain mercenaries from the Kingdom of Fresyria.
The Fifth Infantry, led by Cron, was a regular army of border forces, it did not possess enough power to deal with mountain mercenaries who are always operating in the rigid environment of Black Mountains.
"Shoot the flare! I'm calling for backup!"
Heavy arrows poured down like sticks and intermittent magic attacks shook the formation of the Fifth Infantry.
In a short time a considerable number of infantry are now unable to carry out proper combat. Cron had no choice but to ask for support.
A red flare soared through the pitch of the night sky. But the reinforcements did not come.
"Leader, this is total annihilation!"
"We have to retreat!"
The soldiers were clamoring.
Cron had a lot of pride, but he couldn't watch his men sacrifice themselves so he made the decision.
"Retreat!"
On behalf of the fallen knight holding the imperial flag, another waved the flag as a signal of retreat.
The soldiers slowly widened their distance from the enemy, following Cron's orders. The idea that they might be able to survive raised their morale.
"The retreat has been blocked!"
It was a false hope. There were mercenaries from the Fresyrian Kingdom behind them.
They advanced slowly with heavy shields and heavily armed mercenaries with swords.
"Darn it!"
Cron stepped forward, throwing up abusive language. To think that even the retreat path was blocked and that the reinforcements would not be able come.
By the time they gave up everything and started fighting with the determination to be buried in the Black Mountains, a huge ball of fire fell from the sky.
Whaaaaaaaaa!
"Argh!"
"Argh!"
Screams erupted from the camp of mountain mercenaries. A cold wind with a sharp ice blade followed them.
The attack is obviously magic.
"Hey, it's a wizard!"
The body burns in flames and is torn apart by ice.
Dozens of mountain mercenaries fell helplessly.
The mercenary wizard, who was mixed among the mountain mercenaries, thought that the storm would pass and a time for the counterattack would come.
But the disaster was not over. The scattered pieces of flame gathered to form a dragon, and the harsh winds and ice clumped together to form a wind golem.
Fading magic reinforcement and higher level of mana. The mercenary wizard's complexion turned pale. He had no choice but to change his mind.
"Oh, why is a high-ranking wizard here.
The fear of battle, which could exterminate a white man with one magic, emerged. What's worse is that it's not just one person. Two attribution spells were tried at once, so there are at least two.
It's even more terrible if one wizard does it.
He'll have to call that a Great wizard, not a high-ranking wizard.
Poo-oo-oo-oo-oo-
The sound of horn trumpeting.
"Captain, reinforcements are here!"
An officer approached and reported. He was so moved that he stammered a little bit.
Flags stuck out over the hills of the mountain range, where horn trumpets rang.
The golden flag. Cron knows what it stands for.
"Hua, A Prince?"
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