Merchant Noble is out (2/3 chapters for today)
Louis vs Leo
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When Casablanca entered Mikanda, Louis, Marie, and Leo’s forces clashed in the western part of the kingdom. And just two days after the battle began, Louis’ army was already collapsing.
“Shield soldiers! Shield soldiers remaining, protect Louis-sama!” (??)
The tense voices of the nobles by Louis’ side echoed. The formation had completely crumbled, and the remaining soldiers were moving about in disorder.
In response to Louis’ uprising, nobles across the land started rebellions, and a total of 200,000 troops were supposed to converge on Louis. However, that scenario quickly fell apart. Leo arrived to suppress the rebellion in just a few days. The speed of his maneuvering was completely unexpected. Of course, the nobles were not as careless as they had been the last time. Regardless of his personality, they were highly vigilant toward Leo, who was one of the top warriors in the kingdom.
However, Leo marched faster than they could anticipate, surpassing even their caution. On the day the news of the rebellion reached him, he gathered soldiers and departed from the capital, taking almost no rest as he advanced. As a result, Louis and his forces had to face Leo before the nobles who started the rebellion could join up with them. Even so, Louis still had the advantage in numbers. Louis’ army had 50,000, while Leo’s army numbered only a few thousand. Yet, the situation on the battlefield was constantly in Leo’s favor. The reason for this was their weapons.
“Another rain of arrows is coming!” (??)
“They’re coming… they’re coming…” (??)
The soldiers’ voices echoed in cries of despair. Louis timidly looked up at the sky, where thousands of arrows were slowly descending, blocking out the sun.
“Louis-sama, quickly! Into the shields!” (Louis’ subordinate)
At his subordinate’s urging, Louis squeezed into a small shield along with several others to block the arrows. The sound of countless arrows piercing the ground, and the shields echoed. At the same time, soldiers who couldn’t make it into the shield let out screams as they fell one after another. This scene had been repeating over and over since earlier.
It was completely unexpected that Leo’s army would attack solely with arrows. Long-distance attacks with arrows could easily be defended against with shields, but there were very few shields in Louis’ army. After all, ordinary soldiers typically fought with spears held in both hands. Even knights held a sword in their right hand and the reins of their horse in the left. In normal close combat, heavy and bulky shields were only a hindrance, and thus they were generally not brought onto the battlefield.
To the nobles and knights of the kingdom, who had mostly experienced close-quarters combat, Leo’s forces, which only shot arrows from a distance, seemed cowardly.
“Leooooooo! You coward! Fight me fair and square! Do you have no honor?!” (??)
A knight, unable to bear it any longer, stood up, only to have an arrow pierce through his face instantly, killing him.
“Leo-sama isn’t here.” (Leopold)
A strangely young voice echoed in the ears of Louis and his men, who were trembling behind their shields. Nervously, they peeked out from behind the shields, only to see a single child on horseback standing in front of them.
“He’s fighting Her Highness Marie on the other hill.” (Leopold)
“Who are you?” (Louis)
“I’m Leopold. Leo-sama’s top disciple.” (Leopold)
The boy who introduced himself as Leopold was holding a large bow. It was so big, it looked about the same size as his own height.
“How long do you plan on staying like this? You can’t do anything anyway, right? I think it would be better to run than to keep trembling behind your shields.” (Leopold)
Even though he was provoking them right in front of their eyes, none of the soldiers made a move. The reason was simple. Leopold was on horseback. If they chased him on foot, he would easily escape.
This had been the way things had gone since the start of the battle. Given Leo’s reputation for breaking the 500,000-strong royal army under Zerold’s command through sheer force, Louis’ side had expected a similar fight. But when they opened the lid, what did they find? Arrows fired from afar, and when they pursued, the enemy fled. If they stopped chasing, the enemy would approach and provoke them.
Could this even be called a battle? No. It was nothing more than a dull hunt, where Louis’ soldiers were shot by arrows without any chance to retaliate.
“I’m telling you, hiding like that is useless!” (Leopold)
Perhaps out of frustration at Louis’ army, which had completely lost the will to fight and was cowering behind their shields, Leopold fired a huge arrow from his large bow at a speed faster than the eye could follow. The arrow made a tremendous sound as it pierced straight through the wooden shield with ease. Unfortunately, the soldier hiding behind that shield died instantly without even a scream.
“You guys got lucky. That was my last arrow. Our army has run out of arrows. It might have been my fault for miscalculating. I never thought we’d run out of arrows. But, I also think it’s a bit pathetic that you all just sat there and kept taking arrows without putting up much of a fight.” (Leopold)
Leopold, panting as he spoke, either from frustration or from the recoil of using a bow so large for his small body, whispered.
“Well then. See you later~.” (Leopold)
Having said whatever he wanted, Leopold quickly withdrew back to his camp.
After the disaster passed, Louis and his men fled the battlefield in heavy silence. All the horses had been killed by the arrow attacks, as they couldn’t be protected by shields. Nobles, knights, and even Louis had no choice but to flee on foot, just like the regular soldiers. In this battle, Leo’s soldiers had used up all the 30 arrows each of them had prepared, and Louis’ army of 50,000 had been reduced to 20,000.
“Leo… I’ll never forget this humiliation.” (Louis)
Unable to do anything with the enemy commander right before him, Louis muttered hoarsely, tears welling up in his eyes out of sheer anger at how the enemy had done as they pleased until their arrows ran out.
With Louis’ retreat, the forces of the church led by Marie, who had been fighting Leo on the other side of the hill, also withdrew. And then, the news that reached Leo’s ears, just as he was triumphantly preparing to return to the capital, was the escape of Casablanca.
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