v5c25
The Tinder of Aouine

The sudden situation on the battlefield disrupted all the deployment, so that Brendel understood for the first time, the so-called sophisticated plan in this era’s art of command was basically equivalent to the decree of Heissian The First – a joke. The noble army, especially the hierarchy between different knight rankings and the lack of discipline was the enemy of all commanders. Praying that there would be no mistakes in such a situation was not what one would have to think about, but instead to pray that there would be no mistakes. A plan with more complexity would have more flaws.

The Slofavien region was located north to the Cielmann Valley, southeast of the Tusankard Forest, and the end of the Mountains of Chablis in the Grinoires Province. The low river valley hills cut off Lake Vallendaren’s plain from the Cielmann Valley, acting as a natural barrier. Several tributaries that feed into Lake Vallendaren cut through the hills, forming several relatively gentle valleys along the path of which the Bloodstaff’s army was advancing, and Cowan’s men had long trailed to spy out the direction of their march, detecting that these skeletons might pass between the two river valleys of Krivan and Chenier.

Krivan and Chenier were two of the most important passages in the Slofavien hills. These two river valleys were surrounded by the Jondel Mountains and spread in a forked pattern to the north, with many small hills between them and many large linden forests spread on the gentle slopes that could be used for ambushes at this time of year. This place was probably the most ideal place to set up an ambush in addition to the fact that the Bloodstaff seemed to have never considered that an allied army from Lantonilan and Viero would ambush them here. The previous victory made him arrogant and, so, a new history would be made in this place.

In Brendel’s original plan, the four armies of Viero, Lantonilan, Trentheim and the Highland Knights would set up ambushes in the two river valleys of Krivan and Cheniel, opening a circle of about 20 miles in circumference, so that Lantonilan’s army would be the first to launch a blockade, and then Viero and Trentheiml’s cavalry-based army would go around to the back of the gentler river valley to attack and completely destroy the Bloodstaff’s army.

But the current state of affairs has developed beyond everyone’s expectations.

The Bloodstaff’s army divided into two, distributed in the river valley about seven or eight miles apart from each other. When one wing of vanguards encountered Viero’s army, Viero’s knights of the squire could not contain the fire of passion in them and launched an attack first. As a result, the Bloodstaff’s spread-out army did not enter the encirclement at all, except for a small number of pioneers. Its main force was in fact still in the front of Lantonilan and Viero’s army, and farther away from Trentheim’s army, an ambush started a battle.

What was even more dangerous was that Viero’s army had been completely exposed to Madara’s army. They had lost one wing and their morale was collapsing. For the others, especially the Lantonilan army and the Highland Knights, they were unaware of what was happening on their flanks, and after learning that Viero’s army had attacked first, they immediately changed their battle plan to try to get around to the flank of the Bloodstaff’s army, not knowing that their own people have created a hole in the encirclement.

Eikkel, along with a few of his cavalry, were still rushing through the mountains and forests, praying that Viero’s damn knights would not stir up too much trouble. But both Makarov and Audine were not too optimistic about that, they knew too well these noblemen of the private army. Those people could execute 70% to 80% of their strength in attacking or holding their ground , but once they were faced with a head-on attack, they would most likely collapse in a matter of seconds.

It must be said that these two old nobles knew very well the strengths and weaknesses of their land, although not seen with their own eyes, there was a high chance that they were right.

Among everyone who participated in the war, Brendel received the earliest news from Eikkel through magic transmission. Magic transmission was rarely used in the wars during this era, because it could only transmit words and Vaunte had terrifyingly incredible decryption skills. They had some sort of “Decrypt Text” magic that could restore the original meanings of ciphertexts, and commanders were naturally unwilling to have their commands leaked to opponents.

However, “Decrypt Text” was not flawless, there was a simple way to restrain it. As long as the person sending the message was divided into groups of two, with one person responsible for writing the text and the other to send it out. As the Mage apprentice would only need to copy it through magical transmission and the sender would only be thinking of the original text, the hidden message would not be leaked out. It was a simple thing after understanding the theory of magic, but the problem was that most mortals of the era did not possess that level of understanding of magic yet. They were still at the stage of knowing what it is but not how it worked. Silver Mages called them quacked warlocks. True interited Mages paid more attention to the knowledge of magic principles. Most Bugas were scholars, while most human Mages were magic casters, and this was the gap.

In fact, the Buga Mages had long found a way to restrain this magic, but this was their secret and it would not be popularized in the army of the Black Iron until after the Slate War. But Aouine now had an exceptional existence in this situation – Brendel. Therefore, knowledge was not inaccessible and he directly plagiarized the Mages’ methods for use.

But this method had no technical content so it would be extremely simple to spread out. Moreover, once Magic Transmission was popularized, countries with strong military forces such as Madara and Kirrlutz would benefit from it far more than Aouine. Therefore, Brendel had never publicly used this skill in the military, and only used it in some information exchange with his trusted men. Unless he was convinced that it would benefit Aouien in large-scale wars in which they could take enough advantage to offset the subsequent impact, otherwise, he would never spread this secret for the Bugas easily.

In fact, Brendel already had plans in mind, but the war with the Bloodstaff was not in such a crucial stage yet.

He put away Carglise’s magic letter in the drizzling rain. He had expected Madara to defeat Viero’s old army, but it certainly caught him by surprise that Viero’s commander gathered the rebellious knights and put them in the left wing. I don’t even know if this is overconfidence, or the self-cultivation of the actors. Brendel thought to himself. If those ‘things’ were handed to him, Brendel would rather gift them to Madara and be their enemies rather than having them under him. He described the subservient knights as ‘things’ as these armies composed of insignificant landlords, wretched knights and opportunists left him with a deep impression. In history, they sacrificed the northern knights which was the same as today’s stupidity. “But the commander may also be in a hard situation, at least these knights were still vassals of Duke Viero by time. If they are willing to wave the flag for their master and Duke Viero dares to not accept them, then his reputation would be in ashes.”

Brendel knew very well the game rules of these nobles. Knights and lords were the foundations of this era. Unfortunately, the foundation was starting to tremble at the bottom. “Dear lords, your time has come to an end-” He still had the time to revise a poem recited by a poet in the game.

Luckily. Brendel thought.

Luckily Madara defeated Viero. He was most afraid that Duke Viero’s army would launch an attack first and alert the Bloodstaff instead. If so, the Black Leader who was famous for being careful would have redirected the entire army and retreated back to Cielmann which would then be big trouble because Aouine still had a place called Radner, which was where they were ambushing the Bloodstaff and fighting time. If Bloodstaff died in the ambush, then Radner would lose support as well as the retreat route to Madara. The army would then collapse.

But if the Bloodstaff reiterated back to Cielmann and gave Radner a chance to break through in this direction, then the trio of Trentheim, Viero, and Lantonilan would be in the conserved hills and they would not be able to hold on for long.

Once Rader and Bloodstaff merged, then nobody would see an end to the chaos in the sourthern border.

Brendel knew how bad Viero’s knights were but he was caught by surprise as he found out how much they actually sucked. When Carglise’s letter said that Viero’s left wing was being defeated by hundreds of skeletons, he almost thought that it was a joke. But Carglise would not joke with him at such a moment. Indeed, Viero’s army was defeated.

Miraculously stupid.

He flicked the letter,walked to the side and grabbed the saddle as he got on is horse. Under the drizzling rian, the army was pulling out and everyone was getting on their horses one by one. Further away, Trentheim’s young Mage group was being led by Ciel to be assembled. The Mages climbed onto the Phantom War Horses they summoned, wearing their silver-gray robes and hoods, they turned their heads in one direction one after another. Among them, there were warlocks originally from the mercenary group, the young people who have just completed their apprenticeship trials in Valhalla and Coldwood Castle, a small group of Druids brought by Danir, and a group of Witches convinced by Babasha and two other Witches who mostly had pale faces and no expression were here to join Brendel – the future Darkness Dragon.

But in any case, Brendel finally had the first group of magicians in the South after all these people were put together. A total of 120 people with various strengths – a quarter of them were from the various mercenary regiments of warlocks and Mages, two quarters were from the Royal Cavalry Academy and the academy of Trentheim, and the last quarter were Witches and Druids. This group of magicians was like beggars in the eyes of the regular army, but in the South, it was an unprecedented first.

The head of the magician group was naturally Ciel, but the deputy was Amandina. Ever since the Trendsetter saw her talent and took her as an apprentice, Amandina began to learn magic knowledge systematically. Although she was still an apprentice, her attainment in magical guidance technology was beyond the reach of most people. Brendel was very clear about the magician group’s future, so it was only natural for Amandina to take this position.

Then came the Wind Archers.

The legendary army of the Princess’s Guard, an offshoot of the Silver Elf Linge Legion, had their commander of both the present and the past, Medissa, sitting on a Unicorn with her lance hanging from her saddle, her hands folded in prayer. Like the warriors of the ancient Silver Elves, she prayed for the Elite Elves of the sages of the forest to shelter them and give them courage to defeat their enemies. It was also a prayer for the souls of those who had died in the war. The Silver Elf’s song was ethereal, causing all the Tree Elf Archers to stop and listen, with a look of adoration on their faces.

As for their second-in-command, Fina, haf long been the most ardent fan of the little Silver Elf Princess.

Of all the troops under his command, only the White Lion Battalion was the quietest and most orderly. Those young men from Trentheim seemed to be used to this atmosphere under Brendel, while the non-commissioned officers and soldiers who were brought in from the original White Lion Legion were full of curiosity. But they all had a sharp sword in their eyes, which shone in Freya’s hands, and since this sword reappeared, the new White Lion had a soul.

Their deputy commander, Carglise, who was currently in the South of the Cielmann mountains, naturally could not be in this army at the moment.

Only Hipamila and Shitah were left at Brendel’s side. Hipamila was wiping the heavy surface of the Genus of the Mountain Range as rain fell on the stone scepter. The scepter emitted a circular green aura, as if it was burgeoning life in the mud, full of prosperity. But the Little Dragon did not dare to say another word at that time. She had roasted Hipamila’s shrimp and ate it herself, but the magistrate girl did not give her any trouble during dinner. Instead, Hipamila went and got the Genus of the Mountain Range right away.

It had to be known that Hipamila was the biggest winner in the Dead Tundra Forest’s battle and her strength had recovered to the levels of Elemental Awakening. Plus the nearly invincible Gaia’s scepter, Shitah could imagine the worst outcome that might be waiting for her. Since then she was like a rat whenever she saw Hipamila.

The last group of people to appear in Brendel’s view was the Kirrlutz’s Knights of the Folded Sword.

One by one, these proud knights crossed the hills below, raising their swords in greeting to him, and although they were few in number, only a few understood the fearsome nature of this group of knights. Little Pero, still wearing his thick cloak, with his crossbow stuck underneath it, looked up at Brendel with his head held high.

“My lord, is the news reliable?”

“No doubt.” Brendel replied. Little Pero looked slightly surprised. In this era, scouting the Madaran Army was difficult from two aspects. First, the Black Rose of Bromantonu rarely appeared in the eyes of the world before that, even in the eyes of Aouine, that dark kingdom was also a fractured and weak kingdom. Less than ten years before the first War of the Black Roses, the lords of Karsuk at that time still often led armies into the Madara territory to carry out revengeful plunder.

Although the Undead during that era was horrifying, the Black Leaders were so scattered that they wished to see the humans attack their fellows so they could take advantage and seize the land. Moreover it was impossible for a Madaran leader to go against the entire Aouine empire. Therefore, except for the victimized people by the Madarans in the borders, Aouine nobles had always seen Madara as a weak country full of thieves. Nobody bothered to further understand this country.

The War of the Black Roses was a nightmare for the entire kingdom of Aouine, and in fact, the nobles did not know exactly why they lost even up till now, as illustrated by the earlier disastrous defeat of the Viero Army against the Blood Staff.

So this was a kingdom that knew nothing, a mystery in itself.

Secondly, the vast difference between the Undead and the living made it hard for human scouts to get close to the Undead army. This problem remained the most difficult one to solve until Madara fought with Sanorso. Although Madara had not bordered the Kirrluz Empire on land, but Little Pero and the others who were scholars from the science class, still knew this very well, and were very skeptical of Brendel’s words.

Brendel’s confidence came from knowledge beyond the time. In the latter days, the Wind Elves came up with many ways to deal with these skeletons, and Carglise was personally taught by him, so bypassing the Bloodstaff army was actually not difficult. At that time he had personally led the refugees to escape from Madara when he was in Bucce, while Carglise only led a few scouts to follow the army, which was even simpler, not to mention that this era’s Madara actually did not understand their own means of detection had so many loopholes.

Little Pero rushed to the Lord and saluted from afar, “Since your Lordship is sure that the Bloodstaff would not retreat for a while, let’s wait for our good news.”

Brendel nodded, and the young men of the Knights of the Folded Sword pulled on the hoods of their cloaks in unison under his watchful eye, turned around and headed south. But in a short while, only the shadows of the tumbling cloaks remained in the rain. By this time, Freya had arrived at the front of the White Lion Battalion.

“Brendel,” she called out, “Eikkel contacted us.”

“Then let’s go.” Brendel replied, standing proudly in the rain. “Let those knightly lords of Viero understand that the times have abandoned them. Welcome to the future, this new age!”

Freya froze slightly for a moment.

Ciel whistled and laughed, “Come on Freya, the Lord mean to save whoever.”

……