Game of the Monarch

While Milton was imposing, Count Carbon was dumbfounded. Truthfully, Milton was the only one here who was powerful enough in his own country to do whatever he wanted. He was the savior of the Lester Kingdom and was enthusiastically supported by the people. And before he had come to fight in this war, Milton had gotten engaged to Queen Leila. At the time, Milton thought he was raising his own death flag and was reluctant to be engaged to her, but now, it was very beneficial for political negotiations. Would a man, who was to become the Queen’s husband once the war was over, need to be careful in his own country?

That was when these lumps of burden realized it. 

‘Damn…’

‘Should I just temporarily give in?’

They had finally realized that from the very start, Milton was completely different from them. But even if they realized it, it wouldn’t change anything. Would Milton even forgive them if they were to give in now? They certainly wouldn’t if it was them. Not to mention, the idea of heading out to war when their commander disliked them was terrifying. If Milton wanted to, he could purposefully give them a bad command and they would have no choice but to obey it. 

Milton smiled with satisfaction as he watched them flounder, not knowing what to do.

‘They’re probably going crazy? Insane? Nuts? I guess I should give them a way out now?’

Milton thought he had sufficiently driven them into a corner. He finally brought out his original objective.

“I also don’t want to go to war with those who doubt my command and won’t listen to me.”

“So, you’re basically telling us to leave the army and return to our home country, Marquis.”

“No, I don’t have the right to do that. But…”

Milton let out a sigh.

“I’ll divide the army and acknowledge your right to command, so leave my army.” 

At those words, Marquis Johannes and the other nobles looked startled. What Milton said was more generous than they had expected.

“Are you being serious right now, Marquis?”

“I am. I don’t want to head out to war when my army is filled with incompetent and anxious people.”

Count Dios cried out at being called incompetent and anxious.

“How dare you insult us.”

“You think speaking the truth is insulting you?”

“Your words just now…”

“As I said earlier, if you’re dissatisfied, then stop talking and fight me. I’ll fight as many times as you want.”

“……”

Count Dios crimsoned with shame. Even if Milton said that, Count Dios didn’t have the guts to throw down his gloves and actually fight him. Instead, he ground his teeth and spoke to Milton.

“Marquis Forrest sure is arrogant when your reputation just comes from fighting in a small battle on the frontier.”

“A greenhorn who hasn’t even fought in a war sure likes to talk a lot.”

“Ha! If I wanted to, I could accomplish much more than you ever could.”

Milton sneered at him. 

“Good. Then why don’t you show off your skills during the war, though I’m sure you don’t have any.”

Count Dios stood up from his seat seething from Milton’s provocation.

“You’ll regret this!”

Marquis Johannes, Count Carbon and Count Taurus all copied Count Dios and stood up from their seats.

“Don’t forget that you’ve caused all this trouble within the army, Marquis.”

“The Stravin Kingdom’s army will fight this war separately.”

Marquis Johannes spoke to Milton as Count Carbon and Count Taurus left. 

“You’re serious when you said you’d acknowledge our command?”

“Yes, I’ll even write it down for you.”

“Then, I won’t refuse it.”

Then, Marquis Johannes left without looking back. Milton laughed as he looked at Marquis Johannes’ back.

“Giving you the command means you have to take responsibility for war related things. They’ll know once they try it.”

And once they all left the barracks…

“Now I feel better.”

Milton truly felt like he had gotten rid of the heavy burdens. 

***

That day, the Allied Forces were split into two — the four-nation Allied Forces led by Marquis Johannes and the two-nation Allied Forces led by Milton. The four-nation Allied Forces consisted of Valence Kingdom, Gloucester Kingdom, Stravin Kingdom and Hereford Kingdom with a total of 80,000 troops. And Milton’s two-nation alliance was a combination of the Lester Kingdom and Florence Principality with a total of 90,000 troops. Officially, the military had divided in order to spread out their forces, but everyone knew that it was actually because of a problem with the leadership. 

On the day the army divided, Milton spoke to Princess Violet as they marched side by side. 

“Now that I think about it, didn’t Marquis Johannes say anything to you?”

When the army had split, Princess violet had chosen Milton but there’s no way Marquis Johannes wouldn’t have tried to sway her. 

Princess Violet smiled at Milton.

“Marquis Johannes did make me an offer once or twice, but…”

“But?”

“Count Dios… how should I say it, was pretty persistent.”

“Persistent?”

“Yes. He said if I joined him, he’d protect me and keep me safe. And well… he offered me something very similar to a marriage proposal.”

“Ha… that fool.”

Milton was speechless.

‘Who’s protecting who?’

If Milton remembered correctly, Count Dios’ Strength was in the low 60s. But he wanted to protect Princess Violet who’s Strength stat was 88? His stupidity knew no bounds.

‘I wonder what that idiot’s expression would be when this war is over. Guess I’d just have to finish it first.’

“Now that there’s nothing to bother us, we’ll be jumping in feet first into the war. Are you ready?”

“Of course.”

“Good, then let’s hurry.”

Milton led the Allied Force of 90,000 troops and hurried to the Eastern Front.

***

Eastern Front.

Of the three frontlines in Strabus Kingdom, the Eastern Front faced the Kobrook Republic. Unlike the mostly mountainous Hildes Republic, Kobrook Republic had many plains. Both Kobrook Republic and Strabus Kingdom had built many fortresses and kept each other in check through a prolonged war that wore each other out. And unlike the Western or the Northern Front, the Eastern Front had always maintained a tight balance. But recently, that balance had changed.

“Marquis Volona, a request for reinforcements came from Horn Castle.”

“Marquis, requests for reinforcements came from Carno Castle. If you can’t send it within two days, they’re asking you to give them permission to retreat.”

Bang!

Marquis Volona slammed the table with his fist after receiving the messenger’s report. 

“Why! Why can’t I get any good news?!” 

Marquis Luke Volona. He was Strabus Kingdom’s Marquis and the person in charge of the Eastern Front. Recently, he had been suffering from extreme stress as the situation on the Eastern Front grew worse, bit by bit, once the war had started. 

“How many reserves are left in Andemar Castle?”

“They said about 10,000 troops, Marquis.”

“10,000? Damn it…”

Both Horn Castle and Carno Castle that had requested reinforcements were key locations on the Eastern Front. Both places needed to be saved at all costs, but there weren’t enough reserves to send to both of them.

‘What should I do? Should I split them and send 5,000 each? No. Then, we’ll lose both of them. We have to keep at least one of them.’

Marquis Volona ground his teeth as he made a painful choice. 

“This damn thing is all because of the idiots on the Northern Front.”

Even if nothing would change, Marquis Volona couldn’t help but complain. There was a reason he was unhappy with the innocent(?) Northern Front. When the war had started, most of the enemy forces had concentrated on the Northern Front. Although the enemy had aggressively attacked the East and the West, that was only to keep them in check. 80% of the Republic’s forces had been concentrated on the Northern Front. 

However, the problem was that the Northern Front was slowly being pushed back during the battles. Several fortresses and castles had already been lost, and the Republic was slowly gaining ground in the Northern Front. Naturally, Strabus Kingdom concentrated their forces in the North. Both Duke Ryan Catel and Duke McCarthy O’Brian’s reserve forces, which had been in a state of readiness, were sent to the North. But even with them, the situation did not improve. Eventually, even the Eastern and Western reserve troops were sent to the North. 

Compared to the Western Front, which had fewer large-scale battles due to its rugged terrain, the Eastern Front had more sieges and battles on the plains. What this meant was the battles clearly reflected the difference in troop size. In order to support the Northern Front, the Eastern Front’s army decreased and was slowly pushed back while the enemies began to attack more aggressively. As their numbers continued to be smaller than their enemies, their situation progressively got more dire. 

It was only natural that Marquis Luke Volona, as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, cursed the Northern Front. Even after draining his reserve army for their own, the situation on the Northern Front hadn’t improved at all. Instead, the impact of the Northern Front’s situation was affecting the Eastern Front.

“Damn it… I don’t have enough troops. The troops…”

Just as Marquis Volona was grinding his teeth while trying to find a solution to this troublesome problem…

“Marquis, there’s an urgent report.”

Another messenger hastily entered through the door.

“What do you want? Did something else happen?”

‘Was one of them captured?’

The messenger spoke excitedly to the anxious Marquis Volona. 

“The… the Republican forces that were attacking Horn Castle have retreated, Marquis.”

“What?”

“Marquis Forrest appeared with the Allied Forces and fought off the Republican forces and saved the Horn Castle. And they said that he killed at least 5,000 when he pursued them, Marquis.”

“Marquis Forrest? …Ah! The one from Lester Kingdom?”

A broad smile appeared on Marquis Volona’s face. 

‘Finally… the reinforcements have finally arrived.’

It felt like there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. 

“Marquis Forrest. I’ve never seen him, but I feel like I can hug him to death.”

Marquis Volona wanted to kiss Milton if he was standing in front of him right now.

***

“Wow… that’s terrible.”

Milton sighed.

Viscount Sabian nodded in agreement next to him as he said, “This is… worse than I imagined.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen someone with a worse temper than me.”

Even Bianca nodded her head in agreement.

The person receiving their combined attention was Princess Violet who was returning with Jerome. 

“Marquis Forrest! How was it? Would you be satisfied with this?”

She was covered in blood and smiling very brightly.

***

This was the situation.

When Milton arrived on the Eastern Front, he had gone directly to the battlefield instead of the headquarters. Based on the information Bianca had gathered with her magic, the situation on the battlefield looked alarming.  

“Did you say it was the Horn Castle? That one’s looking dicey, it’ll fall today or tomorrow.”

Once the castle was lost, it would be twice as hard since they would have to lay a siege to take it back. That’s why it was crucial to save it before then. Milton immediately led his troops to attack the Republican army, who was attacking Horn Castle, from the back. 

“Attack!”

The enemy had been occupied laying a siege on Horn Castle, when Milton attacked them with his army. Excluding his rear guards, Milton had 50,000 troops. He unhesitatingly ordered them to attack.

“Wahhh!!”

“Everyone, charge!”

The elite soldiers of Lester Kingdom who had gone through intense training attacked with overwhelmingly destructive strength.

“It’s the enemy! Immediately respon…gah!”

“Kughh!”

“The right… the enemy’s on the righ… ugh…”

The Republican forces fell before they were able to fight back. Nonetheless, the enemy’s commander was quick to judge the situation and in less than a minute after the battle line had collapsed, ordered his entire army to retreat. 

“Retreat! We’re retreating!”

“We’re retreating to Sorun Castle! Platoon leaders, take your soldiers and retreat!”

Milton immediately called for Jerome as the Republican forces began to retreat.

“Jerome, take the knights and the cavalry and attack the enemy’s rear. We will try to maximize our results, kill as many of them as possible.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

Dependable as always, Jerome left to fulfill his duty. 

At that moment, Princess Violet spoke up from next to Milton.

“I will go with him. Please give me and my knights a chance as well.”

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