On the distant main road, a group of shadows, one after another, appeared and walked down the path in pairs or in small groups. The road went straight through the middle of the wilderness, but it seemed as if there were at least a thousand of them.
From the uniform point of view, these people wore Byzantine styled armor, but most of them were badly-damaged. There were some guys that weren’t even wearing shoes, armor, or even a robe, and walked half naked just had a pair of underwear to cover them. These feeble people walked toward them absentmindedly and depressedly, like stray dogs. Most of the men were wounded, and their clothes were covered with bloodstains. Many of them were either supporting each other or limping, and had a miserable appearance!
After a while, some warhorses finally appeared in the distance, but only the two at the front were mounted. All the horses behind them had no riders, and even the knights that were riding them looked extremely weak. One of the knights was already lying on his horse, and it couldn’t be determined from afar whether he was still alive or not.
The rider very soon passed the defeated troops, and arrived first in front of the camp entrance. The guarding officers however didn’t open the door, but stood at the observation platform while staring sternly down below. The archers on both sides were also still holding their bows and arrows, ready to shoot them at any moment while aiming below.
“Who are you?! Report your status! Otherwise, we will shoot to kill!!”
The knight on the left who was riding on a horse wore a broken light armor, his whole face was covered in blood, and had an arrow still sticking out the back of his left shoulder! With a hoarse voice that could barely speak, he said with a weeping voice: “I am the 9th Army scout battalion Sergeant! This is our battalion officer, Captain Ross. He was seriously injured!! The 9th Army was almost completely annihilated! The Odins launched a surprise again on our camp! Our general led the Praetorian Guards and all of our men of the scout cavalry in camp, to cover the back in order to allow the remnants to evacuate. The general died in battle! Only the two of us managed to come out!”
After finished this sentence, he exhausted his strength at last and fell down from his horse. After landing on the ground, he took out a badge with trembling hands, but was unable to utter another word.
The garrison officer was an experienced veteran soldier, and didn’t immediately order his men to open the door. Continuing to stare at the two people below, he whispered: “Don’t open the gate and remain vigilant!”
After giving the orders, he jumped down from the observation platform and landed outside the wall. Keeping a hand on his sword hilt, he went towards the man on the ground and took a look at the badge. Only when he took a look at the other dying officer on the horse by raising his messy hair, did his expression finally change greatly!
“Battalion Captain Ross? I know you! We drank together! You, you ……”
That dying officer who was lying on the horse finally reluctantly opened his eyes and swept over the person in front of him. His lips shivered a bit and tears started to flow down from the corner of his eyes.
“Dead ……Everyone is dead ……9th ……The 9th Army is dead……2nd, the 2nd Army is also ……Also dead ……it’s, it’s Ha, Hasting. Odins, outflanked ……outflanked us ……surprise attack ……”
When he finished the last sentence, blood gushed out of his mouth and he stopped breathing!
The garrison officer’s expression immediately distorted as he turned around and shouted: “Open the gate! Quickly open the gate!! Medical officer!! Call a medical officer! Immediately!!!”
When the camp gate opened, these defeated soldiers who were stricken with panic finally obtained a glimmer of hope in this desperate situation and started to madly flood towards the gate.
With a solemn face, the garrison officer clenched his teeth and grabbed a subordinate next to him: “You will immediately lead a team and search the vicinity! Bring back the routed troop……but simultaneously stay alert! If you run into the enemy, don’t make contact, and immediately return and report it!!”
The officer then immediately gave several other orders, before fiercely rushing towards the main tent.
The news of defeat was like a dark cloud, and spread throughout the entire camp in just a few moments!
The 2nd Army who was positioned in the middle and the 9th Army who was placed in the east were both defeated! The Odin Empire’s most renowned general, and the Byzantine Army’s biggest nightmare, the Lord of War Hasting outflanked them and launched a surprise-attack with his forces. In just a few days, he broke through the 2nd and the 9th Army, and chased them down for 200 miles, while beheading innumerable men. Right now, his whereabouts were unknown!!
Although the special envoy was sent by the military in order to observe the war, many people were well aware of the fact that this Sir Bonfret came to the frontline to play a bit and get an easy achievement out of it. When the main force set out north for battle, this respected knight remained in a camp several hundred miles away at the rear. What sort of “observer” would that be?
Now that the army went north, they only left behind a few soldiers to guard the camp – some auxiliary soldiers and staff responsible for the logistics. Right now, the highest military officer in the camp was the garrison officer. According to the ranking, Sir Bonfret, who had the title of special envoy observer, became the highest commanding officer in the camp.
Just when the garrison officer was dashing towards the main tent, the respected Sir Bonfret was just getting out of his bed. When the garrison officer arrived, he forcefully kicked the attendants who were guarding the door away, and rushed into the tent. The respected knight was still wearing his white silk sleeping robe, and sat there while a blond young and handsome squire was holding a mirror for him. At that moment this Knight, Sir Bonfret, was cautiously smearing a cream made of milk and honey on his extraordinarily beautiful face. It was said that this was one of the most popular skincare products in the aristocratic circle of the Royal Capital. This consisted of goat milk, honey, and several special spices transported from across the sea.
When the garrison officer burst into the big tent, the respected Sir Knight’s face was covered with a layer of white cream. Seeing this officer rushing in without warning, the Sir Knight immediately screamed with a shrill voice: “Scoundrel! Who allowed you to come in?!”
“Lord Observer……there is an important matter that I need to report.”The garrison officer hurriedly told him the things that happened outside with a stern face.
Bang!
The gold box in Bonfret’s hand fell on ground, while spilling the mixture of milk and honey on the wool blanket. This knight’s body immediately started to tremble uncontrollably.
“You, you, what, what did you say? De, de, defeated ……Ha, Hast ……Hasting ……aaa, aatt, attacked……”
The esteemed knight looked as if he would faint any moment. The garrison officer shouted: “Lord! Now you are the highest commanding officer in this camp. Please immediately give us your orders!”
“Agh! Oh, uh……” Only after hearing the officer’s shout, did Bofret recovered from his shock and suddenly jumped up like a rabbit: “Order! What, what order!!”
The garrison officer expression turned ashen and continued to shout loud and clearly: “Of course, it’s giving military orders!! You are the highest military officer and we need you to order us what to do!”
“What, what to do….” Bonfret shivered and suddenly called out half mad: “Of course we run!! Damn! Damn! The damn 2nd Army! Damn the 9th Army!! They were actually defeated!! Hasting is coming! Would we have any way to survive? Who could win against Hasting?! Quick, let’s run! Run for our lives!!”
Like mad, he rushed toward the back of his tent while running barefoot and screamed pitifully: “Men! Pack my stuff! Damn! My coat! My helmet and armor!! Idiot, go quickly fetch me a horse!!!”
The garrison officer’s face started to twitch and dashed in front of him to stop him: “Lord! At time like this, you cannot run! You are the commanding officer here and once you run, the morale of the troops will be inevitably in chaos, we ……”
“Bastard! What did you say!” Bonfret maliciously shoved away this military officer and screamed with shivering voice: “Aren’t you the strongest! Aren’t you the 13th Army! You will resist Hasting until the bitter end! Damn! You should know who I am! What my status is!! If I received an injury, you, you are all going to……”
Giving up on shouting and cursing, he rushed inside the tent and brought several attendants to start collecting his things.
This military officer seemed as if he would spit blood soon. Both of his eyes were red, and his teeth were making a clattering sound.
Exactly at that moment, shouts could be heard from outside the tent, “You aren’t allowed to go in!” Followed by two punching sounds and some other painful noises, the curtain of the big tent was suddenly torn open. Walking in with big steps, Shaar looked at the garrison officer and gave him a nod while saying in a low voice: “You go out first and take care of things. I will deal with this guy.”
The garrison officer naturally recognized Shaar who was one of General Adrick’s Praetorian Guards and constantly at his side. His status was much higher than ordinary soldier, and moreover he heard that Shaar achieved great merits while getting wounded this time. It was said that he would soon get a promotion. His reputation was quite well-known by officers of the rear camp. Although this garrison officer had a higher military rank than Shaar, he was still usually polite towards him. Seeing Shaar coming in, he thought that it was best for him to let Shaar talk to Bonfret since a Praetorian Guard should have more success than a garrison officer. Returning a nod towards Shaar, he went outside anxiously.
Ignoring everyone, Shaar directly went inside while punching and kicking all the attendants who wanted to stop him. When he got inside the inner tent, he saw the knight whose face was still covered with white sheep’s milk and noticed that he was still putting on his robe in panic. Once inside, Shaar immediately grabbed the scruff of the queer knight and lifted him up, before throwing him outside.
This fall nearly broke Bonfret’s waist and he continued lying on the ground for a while and cursed: “You bastard! How dare you act rude towards me! Don’t you know who I am ……”
“I know, I know.” Shaar impatiently waved his hand and curled his lips while replying: ”Aren’t you that pretty boy from the Royal Capital who sold his ass?”
“…………” Bonfret was so shocked that he stared at Shaar dumbstruck. Although his face was smudged with a thick layer of white milk and the colors couldn’t been clearly seen, his face started twitching full of anger after listening to Shaar. Opening his mouth, he suddenly screamed: “You – You bastard! What did you say just now?!”
Getting annoyed, Shaar backhanded Bonfret’s face and half of it immediately began to get swollen. When Bonfret screamed in pain, Shaar pulled out the dagger that general Adrick gave him out of his boots with lightning speed and pressed the sharp blade against his throat while grinning evilly: “Honored knight, this uncle doesn’t care if you sell your ass or sell something else. If you dare to scream again, I will stab you in the throat with this dagger. I’ll let you be the judge of whether or not I’ll do it?”
Although Bonfret didn’t believe in his heart that the other party would kill him, with a dagger pressed against his throat, he didn’t dare to gamble against the guts of this fellow with his precious life – this guy’s face was to ferocious and looked up to no good. With his body which was worth more than a million gold pieces, he could not lower himself to the same level as this lunatic……