Chapter 131 - Clashing Arrows (1)

The city of Nassau.

One of the few port cities in the West.

Baron Iznik, its ruler, was staring at the report on his desk with his face deeply creased in a scowl.

"... They certainly picked us clean."

It was a report that made his teeth grind with only a brief glance.

Those damned northern bastards.

As if to prove they had barbarian blood mixed in, everything they did was nothing short of savage.

"They really are filth no one should ever deal with."

The baron shook his head and pushed aside the paper he had been reading.

As expected, nothing good ever came of getting involved with the North.

It was a saying rooted deep in the empire like a prejudice, but never had it struck him as clearly as it did now.

As clearly as right now.

"Baron! We have a serious problem!"

At that moment, the door to the office flew open, shaking as if it would break.

In the brief silence that followed the commotion, the captain of the knights stood leaning against the threshold, gasping for breath.

"What is it!"

"... B-Baron."

Even under the baron's shout, the captain of the knights could not bring himself to continue and merely caught his breath.

Baron Iznik had already been in a foul mood because of that man named Vlad, but at the words that followed, he could only show confusion rather than anger.

"It's... an attack!"

"What?"

With those final words, spat out like a groan, the captain of the knights collapsed as if crumpling.

Red streaks of blood flowed down from the threshold he had been leaning against.

"What in the world is..."

The baron's splendidly grown mustache began to tremble at the situation he could not possibly understand.

No matter how seasoned the baron was, it was too much for him to grasp what was happening right away.

There had been no warning at all.

The enemies were embedded in the north, and the only ones who had been roaming around the West were nothing more than a detachment of about twenty men.

"Are you Baron Iznik?"

But misfortune and accidents always came from beyond one's awareness.

The captain's corpse lay tilted across the office doorway, blocking it.

A man stepped over that corpse as if it were nothing and entered.

Through the wide-open door, screams he had failed to notice until now began to reach him.

"... Who, who are you?"

Black hair and black eyes.

The faint smile on his face was handsome, but the chill contained within it was colder than the northern snows.

"Rutiger of Bayezid."

"...!"

Rutiger Bayezid.

A knight of Bayezid whose name was known not only in the North, but across the continent as well.

"How, how did you..."

"It took some effort to get here."

Though no one had told him to sit, Rutiger dragged over a nearby chair and brought it in front of the desk.

He was an intruder acting boldly as if this were his own home, but Baron Iznik could only gulp.

"I suppose salty winds just don't agree with me."

'... The sea!'

Through Rutiger's words, Baron Iznik realized where the path had been opened.

The place he had felt safest about because it was the strongest.

The northern invaders had boldly pierced straight into Iznik's heart.

"I have come to deliver the words of Peter Bayezid, commander of this war and my father, Baron."

From the face of the man whose smile had vanished, a savage scent rose, layered thickly over time.

As a western noble and veteran merchant, Baron Iznik knew well the kind of people who gave off this scent.

"House Iznik will need to withdraw from this war."

Black eyes glared fiercely.

Beyond them, black flames were soaring from the harbor.

Together with the screams of the sailing ships docked in Nassau.

The city of Nassau had fallen.

To northern invaders who, unlike themselves, had come riding the waves.

An arrow from the North that no one had expected was burying itself deep into Gaidar's shoulder.

* * *

"The road ahead has been blocked too!"

"... They're quite fast."

The paths were gradually being sealed off.

Until now, the western lords had been like scattered grains of sand, but at this moment, they were moving as one to block the group's retreat.

As if someone behind them were giving direct orders.

"The lords are moving faster than expected. If we make one wrong move, we'll be trapped with no way out."

Marcus spoke of a desperate situation, but he did not lose his relaxed attitude.

No, it seemed more like he was trying not to.

"What about breaking through from the front instead?"

"Not a bad method, but not a particularly good one either."

At Vlad's suggestion, Marcus gestured with his eyes toward the woman riding behind them.

Her lips were turning white, as if her condition was getting worse by the moment.

The eyes of the boy swaying in her arms filled Vlad's gaze.

"We could break through, yes."

The western soldiers were firmly blocking the road, but if they accepted a certain degree of sacrifice, they could certainly break through.

Of course, the problem was that they could not guarantee the boy's safety in the process.

"Then what do we do?"

"There are still a few escape routes I have identified."

Along with Marcus's words, crows continued to fly in from ahead.

But unlike before, the decreasing number of crows looked ominous.

"... But let's not go that way."

"Pardon?"

It was a contest of intentions biting and being bitten, but Marcus was able to discern Gaidar's intent before it was too late.

"Turn the horses! We're heading for Nassau!"

If they broke through only one or two roads, they would be on the path straight to the North, but Marcus deliberately decided to turn and head for Nassau.

The road visible before them was not an escape route, but a road toward a grave.

"If it's Nassau..."

"I know someone there. Let's borrow a ship from him."

"..."

Marcus, who knew Bayezid's internal circumstances, knew that by now Rutiger should have taken Nassau.

But there was no time to explain the entire situation to Vlad beside him.

"We're going to the wasteland! We'll cut straight through!"

At Marcus's order, the members of the secret intelligence squad turned their horses without delay.

Age and Stefan hesitated at the sudden change of direction, but when they saw Vlad grit his teeth and follow, they too turned their horses.

"There are men catching up from behind!"

"Of course."

Seeing Marcus's faint smile, Vlad turned his head and checked behind them.

Groups that had not been visible until a moment ago.

But seeing them suddenly begin to close in, Vlad felt a chill run through him.

'... I can't handle this kind of battlefield.'

A knight was a swordsman in peacetime, but a commander in wartime.

Vlad, too, had been put in command of a strike force, but this was his first time experiencing such a complicated clash of intentions.

If not for Marcus's judgment, they would have been caught exactly as the enemy intended, blocked front and back.

"Don't just look ahead. Try looking beyond that too."

"..."

The world was wide, and there was much to learn.

Watching Marcus, who still had not lost his composure, Vlad keenly realized that he was still only half a knight.

"Arrows!"

Arrows began flying from behind, as if there was no longer any need to hide.

Among them, one arrow filled with malice pierced the frailest target.

"Aaaah!"

Seeing the arrow lodged in the woman's shoulder in the blink of an eye, Vlad shouted loudly.

"Goddammit!"

The bloodstain spreading from her shoulder grew clear.

Along with it, the woman's complexion grew paler and paler.

"Marta! No!"

The child's wail as he clung to the woman in his arms seized one of Vlad's memories and shook it violently.

"... Everyone, sling your shields!"

At Vlad's shout, the members of the Thorn Tree Mercenaries strapped their shields to their backs.

They were wooden shields made from the thorn trees that symbolized them.

"Thorn Tree, to the rear!"

At Vlad's order, Age and Stefan, who had been covering the rear, began to cross past each other.

And so the Thorn Tree Mercenaries took position at the very rear.

When they set up a makeshift wall, the incoming arrows began to lessen somewhat.

"We won't last long!"

At Stefan's shout, Vlad quietly bit his lip.

In any case, blocking with small shields was only a temporary measure.

Seeing the pursuing force behind them growing larger and larger, Vlad found himself shaken.

"The wasteland."

"Pardon?"

Marcus's voice spoke as if soothing Vlad.

No sooner had Marcus finished speaking than a bright yellow wasteland began to spread before their eyes.

So suddenly that it was hard to believe it had been a forest road just moments ago.

It was the beginning of the endless West.

"Those are Gaidar cavalry. Men called outlaws of the wilderness."

Once they emerged onto the wide plain, the pursuers could finally be seen in full.

Above men whose eyes were sharp to the last, a single flag was fluttering.

A flag engraved with an eagle of the wilderness.

It was the emblem of Gaidar, ruler of the West.

"What do you think? Can you handle them?"

Judge it once as a commander.

Whether you can stop them.

"..."

At Marcus's question, Vlad quickly closed his left eye.

Amid the wildly whipping dust, the aura he shot through his gaze detected the wavering tide of enemies.

'Five knights.'

Five knights reacted to Vlad's aura.

They were Gaidar's knights, men said to display more than their true ability while on horseback.

Could he really do it in this situation?

"... I can."

"Is that confidence backed by reason?"

Vlad looked at Marcus with his closed left eye.

The world flowing little by little from Vlad was undoubtedly filled with certainty.

Auguste's traces were showing Vlad the way.

"As long as there's no one to protect."

"Good."

If he was alone, he could break through.

Because there would be nothing getting in his way.

The single path pointed there.

"Then I'll see you in Nassau."

At Marcus's glance, the members of the secret intelligence squad lifted the staggering woman.

From among them, the boy's eyes met Vlad's.

The tear that fell from the boy's eye rode the wind and touched Vlad's cheek.

'...'

A single tear, passing from one boy to another.

Just like that child before him, everyone had a frail time when they could do nothing but shed tears.

"Age!"

"What!"

But even before the tears he faced, Vlad chose not to open his closed eye.

Because now, he was someone who could do something.

"They say those bastards are the fastest cavalry in the world!"

"... Who says that!"

Age knew it was a clumsy provocation, but he decided to take the bait with all his might.

Because the seasoned barbarian warrior had clearly understood Vlad's intent.

Lawless men who would not be outdone before the outlaws of the West.

"Who dares say that with the Budaat Tribe before their eyes!"

Following Vlad's intent, Age began shouting loudly to raise the warriors' morale.

At his cry, the warriors of the Budaat Tribe raised their weapons high.

"Stefan! Follow Sir Marcus!"

"But!"

"Make sure the mission is completed!"

The right people in the right places.

Now was not the time to protect with shields.

"Understood!"

With a nod, the Thorn Tree Mercenaries seemed to be sucked up through the formation Age had opened and joined Marcus.

Watching the group grow more and more distant, the warriors of the Budaat Tribe began shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Ready?"

"Of course."

Gaidar cavalry could be seen closing in from behind.

Threatening, but certainly an opportunity to prove themselves.

Toward the approaching threat, the warriors of the Budaat Tribe all began to look back at the same time.

Horses that did not stop running.

On top of them, the warriors of the Budaat Tribe turned backward while keeping their balance with only their thighs.

The arrowheads hanging at the ends of their bowstrings were as sharp as their fierce gazes.

Vlad found a path in the ways of these lawless men.

"Shoot!"

Sharp arrows shot from the barbarians' hands.

A special posture that could not be imitated through training, one passed down only through inborn blood.

The barbarians' unique backward-shooting technique, which had tormented the warriors of the North all this time, was being displayed in the wasteland of the West.

* * *

"Enemy! They're turning around!"

"What?"

Wagner, captain of Gaidar's Third Cavalry, was startled as he saw the northerners suddenly reverse.

"No, only their bodies, only their bodies turned!"

"What bizarre..."

A strange posture never seen in the West.

From that posture, one that made him wonder if it was even possible, sharp arrows began to shoot out.

"Gah!"

"Urgh!"

Cavalrymen began to fall away one by one before a tactic they had never faced in their lives.

Seeing arrows that boasted accurate aim even while fleeing, Wagner could only click his tongue.

"What the hell is this..."

But though he was flustered, he did not waver.

Even while his subordinates were dying, the eyes of the West seeking an opening were sharp.

"Increase speed!"

Since they were not holding the reins, it was only natural that their speed would drop.

The outlaws of the wilderness, thoroughly enraged, began to increase their speed.

Rather than using such petty tricks, it would be more effective to get close and strike them down.

"Hm?"

But the arrows that had begun at the northerners' fingertips were not the end.

"What!"

The barbarians' formation split in the blink of an eye.

From within it, a pitch-black horse charged out.

A horse with a horn hanging from the center of its forehead, shining white.

"... Now this is thrilling."

The speed of pursuit and the speed of the charge.

Even in the dizzying moment of rushing headlong at each other, Vlad's blue eyes did not waver.

"Let's go!"

A small flag of the North began charging fiercely toward Gaidar's flag.

In the left eye of the knight who had proved himself, a world born from a boy's tears was flowing.

At the end where touching worlds met, the charge of knight and horse expanding their limits held not the slightest hesitation.

BOOOOM!

A terrible impact, so violent that even sound could not remain.

Along with it, someone's bodies began to fly up mercilessly.

Red blood began to splash over the noonday moon that had risen too early.