The chasing ones and the chased ones.
As the retreating route was inside Istel kingdom’s territory, the pursuers increased as more time passed.
The 7th corps broke through Istel kingdom that came running to the from the sides and the front and moved towards the west.
“Pant. Pant. Pant.”
The soldiers were clearly exhausted.
The soldiers that amounted to 4.000 were now 2.000.
Already half of the soldiers have left the world.
“A little bit more.”
Aaron encouraged the soldiers.
He moved faster than anyone and at the front of everyone.
Step. Step.
When the back of his foot swept the ground, white dust rose.
When he moved three or four more steps.
Puuuuuu.
The sound of a horn trumpet was heard.
The faces of Aaron and the soldiers turned pale.
“Is it the end……”
In the end, a half giving up sound was also heard from Aaron’s mouth.
Roan, that was leading the infantry of rose troop at the back, stood to the front.
“We will stop them.”
A daring and composed voice.
And that was also the same for the infantry of rose troop.
On top of that, because of the repeated troop strategy training, the waste of their energy was low.
Roan stood at the front and gripped his spear.
‘There’s not much until we leave the territory.’
If they just won this victory, they would be able to get in friendly territory.
‘Let’s endure it one more time.’
Roan bit his lower lip.
His sight moved over the hill.
Puuuu.
The sound of horn trumpet hit his ear.
Dudududu.
Followed by that, horse steps was heard.
Flock!
At the same time, a sharp flag appeared over the hill.
“Ah……”
At that moment, a low exclamation came out of Roan’s mouth.
That flag was familiar for his eyes.
Roan turned to look at Aaron and yelled.
“They aren’t of Istel kingdom. They are friends!”
At that instant, the faces of Aaron and the soldiers turned to become that of relief and surprise.
Roan’s voice was heard.
“It’s count Lancephil!”
It was fate that he met Lancephil’s army.
Meanwhile, they had met with the 7th corps.
“Baron Tate. You have done well.”
“No, count Lancephil. We could save our lives because of you.”
Aaron bowed.
Io looked at that and smiled.
‘I thought that the movements of the enemy had become more hesitant, but it was that the 7th corps were attacking the supply lines.’
They were rendering such great merits they couldn’t even think of.
His sight naturally moved over to the one next to him.
‘Roan.’
Roan was standing next to Aaron.
And that was because of Aaron’s consideration and Io’s petition.
Following Aaron’s report, most of the merits they have rendered was because of Roan.
‘Even at this retreat, they got in charge of the rear and rendered a distinguished merit.’
It was a merit that became more surprising the more you heard of it.
And that was because of Aaron’s consideration.
And the soldiers of the 7th corps, that could save their lives because of Roan, kept that promise thoroughly.
“For now, rest for some days.”
“Thank you.”
At Io’s words, Aaron bowed once again.
Below their heads, a sigh of relief flowed.
Although they had lost half of their forces, thinking about it differently, they rescued half of their forces.
‘Although we suffered a big blow because we fell in their trap……..’
They couldn’t stop like this.
‘If we keep doing war, it’s normal for there to be defeats and mistakes.’
One couldn’t always win a perfect victory.
‘It’s enough if you learn from the mistakes and defeats.’
Looking at it with another point of view, there was also a part that he unconsciously became careless just because he returned to the past.
‘In the past, in the present, and in the future, war is still a war.’
It was normal that lives were lost.
It was the first time Roan experienced a bad thing since he returned to the past.
‘In the first place, i’m not a strategist.’
In his past life he was merely a spearmen squad commander.’
Roan clenched his fists.
‘Istel bastards. Although you would be laughing right now……’
Fire appeared in his eyes.
‘I will make you shed tears of blood next time.’
He returned as much as he received.
That was the rule of a war.
After he crossed over two entrances and was about to enter the camp.
Aaron, that was walking in front of him, abruptly stopped.
“Mmm.”
A low exclamation flowed.
Roan stayed close and looked in front.
‘Ah……’
He barely gulped down the exclamation that was about to come out.
Troop commander Richard of the special troops and his soldiers were over there.
It was the look of a sinner.
Aaron moved and stood in front of Richard.
Soldiers of other troops gathered over to the surrounding.
“Richard. What are you doing?”
At Aaron’s words, Richard replied while not being able to raise his head.
“Because of me, more than 2.000 soldiers had died.”
A serious voice.
His shoulders trembled.
“Cut off my head. Only, save my underlings as they solely acted at my orders.”
“Richard…….”
Aaron bit his lower lip.
Especially in this case, you had to punish Richard that had the most responsibility in a big way.
“Whew.”
A long sigh flowed from Aaron’s mouth.
Then Roan, that was looking at the situation from the back, kneeled down between Aaron and Richard.
“The one that proposed to attack the enemy’s supply line and storage in their territory was me. The cause of all this is in me. Rather, punish me and save troop commander Richard’s life.”
They had lost more than 2.000 lives.
On top of that, although Richard has made a mistake in this battle, the merits he had accumulated couldn’t be seen lightly.
Roan bowed towards the ground.
Then, a loud voice was heard.
“If that’s the case, it’s also difficult for me not to receive the punishment.”
The owner of the voice was Gale.
He passed over the soldiers and kneeled down next to Roan.
“It’s also a big sin not having taken care of troop commander well.”
Kennis, and the adjutants of rose troop followed his back.
“We will also receive the punishment.”
The soldiers of rose troop that were looking, kneeled down next to the special troop’s soldiers.
“We will also receive it.”
“We didn’t fare that much better.”
The 2.000 soldiers that survived.
Soon, all the adjutants and soldiers kneeled down.
He looked at the soldiers of the 7th corps and slowly kneeled down.
“I also became careless and made a mistake, so I must also receive a punishment.”
Aaron bowed.
At that look, Richard and the troop commanders yelled in one voice.
“Corps commander!”
A strong heat flowed over.
Aaron raised his head once again and looked at everyone.
“We all made a big mistake. And because of that, many of our allies died.”
There was a strong resonation in his voice.
“We will fight by carrying the names of the friends that left first.”
He stood up and unsheathed his sword.
A sharp sound hit the ears.
Slash!
Aaron sliced the tight rope that was tying Richard.
“This isn’t the place for us to die.”
He raised up the soldiers and yelled.
“We are dying on the battlefield! Raise some merits and be exempt of the punishment!”
His voice became louder.
“Let’s tribute the heads of the enemies to the ones that left ahead of us!”
Roan and the other soldiers stood up.
Chuk!
They saluted.
“Sir!”
They lost half of their force.
They would carry the names of their comrades and fight.
The 7th corps was born once again.
No, evolved.
Rarely enough, there was a shaman in the camp of count Lancephil.
The other troops of the 7th corps heard of the news that they fell in the ambush in the fake storage and started to regroup one by one.
Aaron controlled the troops that got annihilated or suffered losses and re organized them.
They made a 2nd rose troop gathering the infantry that originally received strategy training and some cavalrymen of other troops.
As Gale recently became Aaron’s staff officer, his role was transferred to Roan.
“When the war ends, I will formally give you a troop.”
After that, some more good news was heard.
On top of that, as they had joined hands with Dies kingdom, the 40.000 soldiers that were in the south were moving towards the east to help them.
The situation was becoming better by the time.
They gathered in the tent of the corps commander everyday and reviewed the battle of the fake storage.
Richard, the troop commanders that got attacked, and the ones that weren’t with them were reviewing carefully to see what went wrong that time.
“Now that I see, the movement of the wagons were certainly strange.”
“Rather than going inside, it would have been better to fire arrows and set it on fire.”
Several opinions came and went.
Now the troop commander, no, Roan that was being treated as the most senior among troop commanders because of the merits he had accumulated until now, organized the contents and was filling the lacking points.
‘I can’t make the same mistake.’
Roan’s strongest point and virtue was the endless effort.
Then, the doors opened up and one soldier showed up.
“Corps commander. Count Lancephil is looking for you. He says that troop commander also has to assist.”
“Understand.”
Aaron didn’t get perplexed at the sudden meeting.
‘Even so, I wanted to go and find him once……..’
He had rested plentily.
Now was the time to move.
Excluding Io, you could see Kali Owells, the leader of the mages Tairon Bess, Perry Wison that was the leader of the territory’s army, etc.
Their expressions were kind of flushed.
“Corps commander Tate. Come sit over here.”
Io smiled brightly and sat on the empty seat.
Aaron tilted his head slightly.
He looked at the youth standing alone at the other side of the table.
The youth that seemed to have three or four years more than him was quite familiar.
‘Who was he?’
A tickling feeling he may remember at any time.
Then, Io’s voice was heard.
“The name of that youth is Oren. He’s someone sent from the Phillip’s family.”
At that moment, Roan opened his eyes roundly.
‘Oren Part……’
A feeling his tickly feeling got refreshed.
The moment he heard the name he could remember.
‘The vice director of the agency.’
One of the existences that helped Chris lead the agency was Oren.
Oren bowed deeply and said in a composed voice.
“Hello. I’m called Oren and i’m serving sir Ian Phillips. I’m the responsible of the information agency sir Phillip’s has established in his plans.”
“If it’s Ian Phillips, he’s an existence shaking the kingdom nowadays.”
Io nodded with a gratified expression.
Oren continued speaking.
“I received sir Phillip’s order and focused on grasping the movements of Istel kingdom in the eastern region along the agents. And we finally succeeded in obtaining the information you wanted.”
Io continued saying.
He looked at Aaron and Roan and said.
“They had found the location of the supply storage of Istel kingdom.”
“Ah……”
Aaron let out a low exclamation.
But the meaning of the impression was different.
Different from Aaron, that was surprised at the fact that they had found the supply storage, Roan was more impressed at the truth that Ian Phillips made an information agency and operated it more quickly than what he had thought.
‘On top of that, to already find Oren……..’
In his past life Chris discovered Oren while he was gathering information and chose him as his right hand man.
That was the start of the agency.
‘How did Ian meet Oren and find him? Would he have convinced him more than ten times like Chris?’
He got many questions.
No, He got amazed one more time at Ian’s abilities ahead of his questions.
‘To use the information agency running in the capital of Miller and find more information in the territory and faster than us………’
A genius was a genius.
Then, Io’s voice was heard.
“Originally, it seems like he had went to the eastern army first, but it seems like commander Doyle wasn’t that interested.”
He just said that it was not interested, but it actually meant that he was ignorant.
As Io made an eye sign, Oren took out two pieces of paper from his chest and gave it to Aaron and Roan.
Quite a well drawn could be seen with a short information.
“In the case of the 7th corps, as they went through the fake storage, I wondered if you would act together with us.”
“Hhm.”
At those words, the head of the knights Kali Owells showed a displeasing look blatantly.
He couldn’t refute his retainer in a place like this.
“Will we be able to do so?”
Aaron asked.
Io smiled faintly and shook his head.
“In the first place, it was the 7th corps that had attacked the supply lines and cutting it off. If we see it in another way it’s just like snatching away the merits of the 7th corps.”
At those words, Aaron looked at Roan.
Roan was still checking the contents on the paper.
‘It’s information organized really well.’
He thought that it certainly was Ian.
‘However, this can also be another trap of the enemy.’
He felt Aaron’s gaze late and slightly shook his head.
They had clearly grasped their mistakes while reviewing the attack they suffered last time in the fake storage.
Whether this information was true or not, they couldn’t just bite it.
“For now, we will have to investigate thoroughly if this information is true or not.”
“Right. As there’s also what happened last time……..”
Io nodded.
He looked at Aaron’s eyes fixedly and said.
“Will the 7th corps take care of that?”
At those words Aaron didn’t modest anymore.
“If you give us the opportunity, we would like to.”
The decision was set.
He wanted the 7th corps to start that.
Io smiled brightly and nodded.
“Good. I will believe in you and entrust it to you.”
“Thank you.”
Aaron replied shortly and stood up.
Although he felt Kali’s hot gaze, he forcefully ignored it.
“Then. We will leave.”
Aaron and Roan bowed towards Io and then got out of the tent.
The steps returning to their camp was light.
“For now, we will have to gather the troop commanders.”
At Aaron’s words, Roan nodded.
“I will send the gathering order.”
“I will be troubling you.”
Aaron hit Roan’s back once and then returned to his own tent.
Then, a familiar faced man approached quickly.
‘Pens?’
He was the responsible of the information troop Roan created and a staff of Chris’s agency.
He ran with a really excited expression.
“You seem really bright.”
At Roan’s words, Pens nodded and took out a piece of paper in his chest.
“We finally found the location of the storage supply.”
“Ah…….”
Roan let out a low exclamation.
He received the paper Pens was giving him.
‘Chris’s agency doesn’t fall back at all.’
A proud and satisfied feeling.
But the moment he checked the contents of the paper, his smile disappeared completely.
Perplexed eyes.
Roan took in a deep breath and ground his teeth.
‘The location is different.’
< Danger inside the danger (4) > End