7. Surrounding Circumstances
The reason Ibolgeu's main fortress had been overrun in an instant.
Someone had opened the castle gates.
But even until the moment I was led to the gallows.
The family head and I had been unable to find the traitor.
Even at the Ice Wall, and even after the regression.
I had weighed every possibility, yet I couldn't hazard the slightest guess as to who it was.
There must have been an internal traitor beyond anyone's expectations.
For now, there was no way to stop the betrayal, nor any time to find the traitor.
I could only focus on surviving the approaching war.
Through the fog of the battlefield, I could faintly see the troops lined up.
The enemies I was about to face would be simple expendable troops.
The same was true for Ibolgeu; mercenaries like us had been deployed to the very front.
In other words, a battle of bait.
The only difference was that we were bait destined to lose.
'Up to here, it's going according to plan, but….'
The most important part still remained.
I spoke to Pako, the acting captain standing beside me.
"Did you know? The history of humans using animals in war."
[Hoo… If it were the history of using alchemy, I would know, but animals?]
"What would you know, dammit……. A joke? Now? It's war? I'm gonna die shaking before I even get stabbed…. Argh, seriously! Dogs? They must have raised dogs, at least. Has it been about three hundred years?"
Just then, the faint trembling of the earth.
The enemy was approaching from the horizon beyond the fog.
"It's much earlier than that. Now, here's the real question. How long has it been since humans used monsters in war?"
"M… monsters?"
"Yes, monsters. I'll give you a hint: it appears in the historical records of the ancient era of the First Emperor. 'The barbarians of the east unleashed orc units onto the heart of the battlefield.'"
"Ah, shit! How should I know? Hey, Captain! No, sir mage. Can't you just sweep away the enemies with magic?"
"I'm not a mage. If I'm confessing now."
"Ha! Ah, shit… Then we're all gonna die here. You don't even seem scared, this guy."
[You foolish boy! An alchemist is far better than those good-for-nothing mages……]
*Thud.*
I had no leisure to idly listen to an old man's nagging on the battlefield.
Pako was fidgeting with his sword anxiously. And it wasn't just him; everyone who had overheard the conversation had a similar reaction.
But it had been necessary.
I was an alchemist who, though unable to use magic, called forth miracles and victory through thorough preparation.
Those who survived today's war would lay down even their souls for me.
I ignored Pako's anxious gaze and looked toward the long forest beside us.
The Emperor's history book.
The orc units of the barbarians that had first appeared there.
I didn't know how they had tamed them, but the eastern barbarians were the first to have monsters appear as troops in the history books.
And the passage continued like this:
'A single unit of roughly thirty orcs killed or incapacitated a hundred infantrymen.'
In other words, a single orc packed the firepower of at least three infantrymen.
If so, what about a single ogre?
One ogre was compared to the firepower of three orcs.
By simple calculation, one ogre could simultaneously face nine infantrymen and still be left standing.
The combat strength of a single ogre could be said to be slightly below or about equal to an ordinary knight.
If the bandits hadn't kept their distance, they would have been annihilated and then some.
It had only been possible because they were asleep in a cave; if they had been awake or outdoors, I wouldn't have captured a single one.
Moreover, the intimidation a monster gave off was on a completely different level than the feeling a fellow human knight gave another human.
The moment a weak human met an ogre's eyes, they would intuitively realize.
That the monster standing before them was a predator,
and that they themselves were nothing but prey.
The morning fog surrounding the battlefield was slowly dissipating.
The trembling of the earth caused by the enemies' footsteps.
And that vibration would be the perfect noise to wake someone sleeping in that forest.
By now, the four ogres should be waking from their shallow slumber in that forest.
Or perhaps they had already awoken and were wandering the unfamiliar forest in confusion and rage.
The smell of humans clinging all over their bodies.
Yet not a single human trace to be found.
Add to that the hunger they'd accumulated while sleeping for days, and they would be more than furious.
The strong energy of the morning sun pushed away the fog.
With clear, open vision, the enemy's disposition became visible.
The horizon beyond the farmland.
The enemy soldiers arrayed there were slowly approaching.
A distance of barely five hundred meters. Close enough to faintly make out the enemy's faces.
I swallowed dryly and tried to ease my tension.
Earlier, I had spoken with composure in front of the mercenary corps, pretending not to be nervous, but I was the most nervous of all.
The disparity in strength was overwhelming, and everyone who took up arms in this war was summarily executed.
In other words, the scales the Goddess of Fate held were already tipped.
I wanted to save as many as possible, but.
The forty-three bandits who had followed me here. No, precisely speaking, forty-three lives excluding mine.
'At least about half will die.'
. . .
The night before, I had met with them one by one and talked. I asked their names briefly, and listened to their stories at length.
To slightly increase their chances of survival, I had even tried feeding Pako the lowest-grade strengthening agent, but he threw it up immediately.
Most of the agents were tailored exclusively for me, and since there had been no adaptation process to the drugs, their bodies couldn't accept them.
I had expected as much, of course. It was a shame.
Even threatening Isaac that everyone would die at this rate hadn't worked.
Isaac Newton maintained a firm stance that even modified recipes couldn't be revealed, according to the law of equivalent exchange.
As an alchemist who governed the cycle, he spouted something about how if you were meant to die here, you'd die, and if you were meant to live, you'd live….
And yet he said he'd reward me if I ran away right now…. In the end, I had failed to seize the initiative.
Seeing how he hadn't said much until now, he might have caught on to my plan.
To the dejected mercenaries, I then explained the future plans and today's tactics.
Gone were the men who had chattered innocently during the day.
I had to raise the morale of these cowards, who couldn't even attempt desertion under the strict watch, and make them fight desperately.
I needed this motley crew.
With them, I could produce results several times greater than what I had originally planned.
The subordinates gathered before the campfire looked somewhat hopeful after hearing my plan, but.
[Oho… You intend to rebuild the clan, don't you?]
[If you understand, please cooperate as much as possible, elder.]
[Hehahaha! No, lad!]
*Thud.*
At my following final words, the subordinates asked in confusion.
"Th… then we can become founding meritorious subjects of the Abanaseu Clan?"
"Yes. So stick behind me and stay alive."
The subordinates chuckled, seeming to think I was joking.
But when I didn't drop my serious expression, they nodded reluctantly.
"We don't know how far you're looking ahead. But we'll follow you to the end."
. . .
Watching my subordinates creep closer to me in the face of the battlefield's icy killing intent.
I warned them once more.
"Stick right behind me. Straight. Or you die."
I had done all the preparations I could.
Only one thing remained. Surviving.
But I was merely a single human caught in the whirlwind of war.
Where my fate would lead.
Whether a sharp blade would be pointed at me, or whether someone would stand and fight for me.
That was still unknown.
"Huu…."
To my eyes, the slowly approaching enemy looked like the Goddess of Fate.
She who wore a blindfold over her eyes, holding a sword and scales in one hand.
The Goddess of Fate was approaching.
'Was this all for nothing?'
Weren't the innocent bandits going to be annihilated because of me?
They were essentially a group of criminals, but that didn't mean they were people I could drive to their deaths.
Then,
from the very first moment of the regression.
Etan's cheerful voice echoed from within.
'Let's survive.'
The clear voice of Etan, the little boy abandoned in the tower.
As that voice resonated with something inside me, I felt an indescribable vibration from the sword's hilt.
It was a faint Aura that I had learned from my swordsmanship teacher, Maiseu.
"Yeah. Let's survive."
The enemy's faces gradually drew nearer.
"Hold your shields tight. Think that if you drop them, you die. Shields over swords, you bastards! Got it?"
"Yes!"
"Yes! Boss!"
"Got it!"
[Potions are better than shields. Drink all you have, quickly!]
The moment the enemies drew close. As Isaac had said, I gulped down all sorts of strengthening potions I had brought.
Stamina Strengthening Potion, Strength Strengthening Potion, Mental Strength Strengthening Potion……. I had taken every emergency medicine made in Adriel's laboratory without reserve.
"Remember what I said yesterday! If we stick together, we can survive!"
"Yes sir!!"
. . .
Piii—
At the sharp sound that rang out.
"Shields up!"
The subordinates raised their shields above their heads simultaneously.
A rain of arrows fell.
*Thud-thud-thud! Slish! Thud-thud-thud!*
Screams followed from arrows that couldn't be blocked by shields or that pierced through them.
It was already the fourth volley.
Before the screams even subsided, a long horn blast echoed across the battlefield.
The enemy had begun their charge.
A charge immediately following, before recovering from the damage of the barrage. It was a typical tactic.
If those approaching now had been cavalry, the Ibolgeu forces would have already fallen like leaves scattered in the wind.
But the enemy had no cavalry either.
Only a desperate infantry versus infantry battle awaited us.
The Aseuta Clan too intended to grind up expendables instead of elites.
A meaningless war of attrition.
The battlefield was already filled with a thick scent of blood.
The very scent that monsters loved.
"Kuaaaaa!"
As if the war horn had become a reveille.
The awaited sound came from the forest on the left front.
A roar that changed the atmosphere of the battlefield.
A sound that climbed through the forest trees and scattered across the plain.
"Kuaaaaa!"
The charging enemy forces abruptly halted and looked toward the right forest.
Several ogres were bursting out of the forest.
Predators that no ordinary human could feel anything but terror toward.
They were striking precisely at the enemy's flank.
*Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump….*
Only faint shapes could be seen running from afar, but the reverberation of their footsteps seemed to reach all the way here.
Then, our side's commander blew a long horn blast.
It was the charge signal.
"Chaaaarge!"
"For House Ibolgeu!"
"Iyaaaaah!"
The banner of House Ibolgeu.
A boy holding the banner emblazoned with a black two-handed axe leaped to the very front of the battlefield.
The soldiers and men of House Ibolgeu who saw him ran all at once.
Stepping over comrades riddled with arrows.
Trampling grass blades covered in morning dew.
I couldn't stand still either.
"Chaaarge!"
I drew my sword and charged with the ranks.
But our charge direction was strangely not straight, but diagonal.
As I had ordered, the subordinates were also running diagonally after me.
It was a subtle movement that wouldn't catch the allied commander's eye.
About roughly eight hundred from our side, and several times as many enemies.
And ogres that were closer to a neutral force rampaging through—a battlefield of utter chaos.
'We can do this.'
"Uaaaah!"
The charging soldiers from both sides closed the distance in an instant.
The moment both sides collided.
The roars and shouts ceased.
A brief silence that followed after sword and shield first crossed.
What immediately shattered it were screams and groans.
The sound of clashing steel.
*Crack! Crunch! Slish!*
*Clang! Cla-clang!*
*Crunch! Crick!*
"Kuaaaack!"
"Kuhk……."
"D-die… kuhurk……."
I beheaded the approaching enemy soldier in a single stroke.
*Crack!*
A concise horizontal rising slash.
It was my first kill.
But engulfed in urgency, I felt no emotion whatsoever.
Simply, if I didn't kill, I would die.
That was all.
"Group up! Behind me!"
In the chaotic situation, I couldn't tell how many subordinates were keeping up.
I turned my head quickly.
*Crunch!*
I saw a subordinate about to have his head split by an axe.
I blew off the head of the axe-wielding bastard in an instant, but.
*Swhack! Crunch!*
"Stick to my back!"
"B… Boss……."
Those were the subordinate's last words.
With almost half his face gone, he had mustered all his strength to speak. I could barely make it out from the shape of his lips.
"Behind me! Stick to the back!"
They were the ones who had trusted and followed me. I couldn't let them die like stray dogs.
Above all, they were still valuable. I couldn't lose them pointlessly.
I cut down two, then three in an instant.
Every single one I encountered.
Every enemy that touched my blade was cut down without fail.
When none were approaching, I went to find my subordinates.
"Boss!"
"Captain! Thank you!"
Two. Four. Eight. The number of subordinates gathering behind me gradually increased.
*Slish! Shlack! Thud!*
When I thrust my sword into the enemy's neck and pulled it out, blood spurted like a fountain.
I wiped away the blood covering my face to clear my vision.
'How many can I save?'
I didn't know. I just cut down the enemies before me so they couldn't reach the subordinates behind me.
Those who awkwardly thrust their swords at me immediately lost their lives.
The more I saved here, the higher the probability of my plans succeeding.
*Slish! Clang! Shlack! Slish!*
All around was loud with the sounds of slaughter and cold steel.
"Areuhan Mercenary Corps! Regroup!"
I steadily checked on my subordinates and reformed our ranks.
I had to read the flow. How things were progressing. When the right timing was.
Where the breakthrough was.
I couldn't stop thinking.
'Left? Right? Where. Get a grip, Areuhan! The path that can save the most…….'
I saw enemy troops fighting ogres up ahead.
The fact that their formation hadn't collapsed meant they likely weren't troops composed of simple mercenaries.
Among them, one soldier was caught by an ogre.
And the following sight was horrific.
The one grabbed by the leg was wielded like a weapon by the ogre before being flung away.
When everyone was frozen stiff.
A sword embedded itself in another ogre's skull.
Then, as a dark fountain of blood burst into the sky, another ogre collapsed to the ground.
'This fast? How?'
There was a strong being somewhere.
Whether it was a commander-level figure. Someone was hunting ogres.
And at an absurd speed at that.
We hadn't even entered the forest yet.
I darted my eyes around. But I could only see large ogres falling one by one.
The moment I spotted the remaining ogre, I saw a flashing blade pierce its jaw.
"Aura…! Mercenary Corps, regroup!"
'There's an Aura user.'
The subordinates echoed my command and assembled.
"Regroup!"
"Regroup!"
Those who survived and gathered beside me were only sixteen.
No, fifteen. A spear was lodged in the neck of one who had just joined.
Naturally, a wedge-shaped defensive formation formed with me at the forefront.
Though I couldn't block all those charging along that line.
*Slish! Shhhhlack—!*
When I cut down two in an instant, space opened up around me.
I slowly led the subordinates and steadily shifted our formation to the left.
While keeping the enemies in check. I intended to withdraw from the battlefield earlier than planned.
'If that Aura user attaches himself to my subordinates… it'll be annihilation in an instant.'
Sure enough,
the situation tilted in an instant.
Because the moment the ogres fell, they reformed their lines and pushed in instantly.
Like an enraged bull scraping its hind legs before charging.
The formation couldn't withstand the twofold difference in numbers charging in and collapsed.
But I succeeded in taking the troops near me and narrowly breaking away from the front lines.
Since it was the far left end of the front line, the commander and Ibolgeu forces had no opportunity to do anything about us.
The troops that had withdrawn from the battlefield with me quickly concealed themselves and hid in the forest.
I quickly checked the number of men who had hidden in the forest with me. A few more had caught up during the escape.
The number I had been able to save was twenty-three, including me.
'Just over half, huh….'
It was similar to the realistically predicted number, but I had thought I could save more. The war had lasted perhaps about thirty minutes subjectively.
Yet in that short time, half the subordinates had died in an instant.
Looking at the battlefield from the forest a step away, something suddenly came to mind.
'The greatest misconception about war is that victory is won by fighting. No. War is not such a thing.'
The most famous anecdote written in the strategy book of the tactician and general who led the Emperor's era.
One day, a disciple asked his teacher.
What strategy should be used in a losing battle.
Then the teacher answered without a moment's hesitation.
'War is fighting only the battles you can win. The answer to a war destined for defeat is but one. Run. And wait for a battle you can surely win.'
Perhaps because the tension of having survived was released, the subordinates collapsed onto the ground.
Perhaps due to the aftermath of war, the forest was incredibly silent.
Had I not taken additional Stamina Strengthening Potions and potions to reduce fatigue in my lower body before the war, my legs would have been shaking long ago.
While catching my breath briefly, I reviewed the plan.
The battle in this plain had been completely pushed back. Just like in the previous life.
Of course, winning the war wasn't important.
Because the goal was to escape, whether we won or lost.
Ogres?
They were only a means to induce chaos for the sake of escape.
Even if that purpose had been blocked by an unexpected Aura-user knight, there was no problem since we had achieved the goal of escape.
'A knight who takes down three ogres at once. At least an Aura Expert….'
"Wait… three?"
I turned my head toward the forest with a foreboding feeling.
The forest we had entered was.
'The left forest…!'
"Kuaaaaa!"
A roar that shook the earth and air as if to tear them apart.
"Huh… huaaaaaack?"
"O… o… ogre!"
It was right in front.
In the darkness of the forest. An ogre's blood-red eyes were glaring at us.