Asha used to think that the barbarians were as pitiful as the people of Pervaz, so she once asked her father if they should be accepted as Pervaz citizens.
But her father sighed and shook his head.
[The reason we can’t accept the barbarians and the reason they can live in the abandoned land is because they are contaminated with magic.]
[What is magic…?]
[It is usually called the ‘strange energy that comes out from various places in the abandoned land’, but no one knows its exact identity.]
[What happens if you are contaminated with it?]
[You become aggressive and destructive. In fact, if the barbarians had only tried to solve their material shortages, Pervaz wouldn’t have suffered so much… .]
When Pervaz was a kingdom, their king also tried to appease the Luere tribe by distributing some supplies.
However, they always chose the method of attack and plunder instead of negotiation, and it was the king who, unable to withstand it, offered Pervaz to the empire.
At that time, Asha first questioned the identity of the ‘abandoned land’, but even the empire was unable to properly investigate the abandoned land.
Anyway, here are some of the things her father told her about the barbarians of the abandoned land at that time.
[It seems that they have no education or low intelligence, so they cannot create sophisticated buildings or objects. Even their jewelry looks crude.]
He also said that their fighting skills are threatening, but they are not systematized, which makes them difficult to understand.
The fact that such people were building a structure that could be seen from a distance was a bad sign.
And that sense of unease was right.
Ding dong ding!
The ‘warning bells’ located all over Pervaz rang loudly.
“The barbarians have attacked! It’s the barbarians!”
The barbarians had invaded again.
And Asha could see what the structure she had seen dimly a while ago was.
“The barbarians are using catapults…!”
They had built fixed large catapults to throw rocks in order to destroy the well-built fortifications.
As a result, several fortifications that the Pervaz citizens had built with great care were completely destroyed.
However, Asha was more shocked by the fact that the barbarians were using catapults than by the destruction of the fortifications.
Anyway, this was not a situation where she could just stand there and be surprised.
Preparations for the expedition were quick, as they had already been preparing for war since they saw the catapult hidden under the camouflage.
“Report!”
“It’s bigger than last time!”
“Can you confirm which tribe it is?”
“It’s the Igrams!”
“The Igrams?”
It was another shocking piece of news.
‘They were defeated like that, but they’re counterattacking so quickly?’
Everything was going beyond common sense.
“How many of them are there?”
“About 2,000! The rear guard has not yet been identified!”
“How many cavalry?”
“There are more than last time! But there are many more horses that are not wild horses.”
Asha swallowed her dry saliva, feeling like she was falling deeper and deeper into a maze. She instinctively felt that she had to ask Carlyle for help this time.
Asha put on her armor and sword and headed to Carlyle’s office.
He was leisurely smoking a cigar.
“Ah, you’re here. I heard the news.”
Asha felt a sense of déjà vu in his completely relaxed demeanor.
The arrogant prince.
He was like that then, he is like that now, and he will probably be like that forever.
It seemed like a joke to expect human warmth from him.
“Please help me.”
Asha said curtly. Explaining the details felt too cumbersome.
However, it would be shameless to simply ask for help.
“I will definitely pay the price.”
“The price…?”
The corners of Carlyle’s mouth, which seemed to be smiling, hardened and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.
“As I said last time, if the Pervaz army is wiped out, we will also suffer a lot of damage. It’s a battle we have to go to anyway.”
“If Your Highness had not come to Pervaz, You would not have had to suffer such damage. That’s why we tried to stop them on our own, but….”
Asha clenched her fists.
“The Pervaz army is not yet capable of stopping an enemy of that size. Please help me.”
“Look…”
Carlyle sighed deeply, looking down at Asha with a somewhat displeased expression.
“You may think I’m arrogant.”
Asha’s heart ached.
However, the words that followed felt like a blow to the back of the head.
“But you, who are trying to protect Pervaz alone, are just as arrogant.”
There was a moment of silence.
She recalled what she had confessed to Decker not long ago: “I guess I wanted to rebuild Pervaz myself.” Carlyle had already seen through her intentions.
‘But… I’m the lord of Pervaz…!’
Even though she had nothing in his hands, she felt like she he would completely lose the sense of being the lord of Pervaz, the pride of protecting Pervaz herself, if she didn’t pay the price for something.
Moreover, she couldn’t believe in “free favors.”
“I apologize if I have shown disrespect to Your Highness. I will ask for punishment after the battle is over. For now, I earnestly request the order to go out to battle.”
Carlyle frowned deeply, looking at Asha who seemed to be ignoring him by covering his ears with both hands.
Even though he had already given the order to the knights to prepare for battle, what was the point of asking for it “earnestly”?
‘I may have been a little rude, but is it worth putting up such a wall?’
He felt bad. Maybe he was even feeling resentful. Even so, he thought they were getting closer…
Carlyle replied to Asha, who was kneeling on one knee and seemed to be waiting for his judgment, in a crooked voice.
“It seems that Pervaz’s foundation is the same now as it was before, but whatever, if you insist on paying the price, I’ll let you do it later.”
Then he ordered outside.
“Bring me my sword!”
It was the same as Asha waiting for the order to go out to battle.
***
The momentum of the Igram tribe, rushing across the border, was astonishing. They looked nothing like the ones who had been defeated and fled just a few months ago.
“They seem determined. They’re prepared in every way, more than last time.”
Carlyle, standing side by side with Asha at the forefront, spoke as he looked down at the Igram tribe.
“That’s what’s strange. There’s no way they could have that much supplies on their own…….”
“Hmm…….”
Carlyle, who had been lost in thought for a moment, clicked his tongue.
“If they didn’t have that much supplies internally, then the answer is simple. It came from outside.”
“Outside, then……?”
“Well, who could it be? Who would be willing to incite the Igram tribe to invade Pervaz, spending money and supplies that they won’t be able to get back……?”
Asha, who seemed to know the answer but asked anyway, felt her breath catch in her throat when she heard Carlyle’s answer.
Only now did she seem to understand exactly what it meant to give up Carlyle’s residence in Pervaz.
‘So in the end, even Pervaz is going to be hurt like this.’
Of course, she knew it in her head.
She hoped that it would end with just her sacrifice, but she knew that it wouldn’t be easy.
“Why? Are you scared?”
Carlyle asked teasingly.
“Scared, you say?”
As she chewed on his question, her heart gradually grew stronger. After all, she had come to realize that her vague worries and fears were actually illusions.
Scared? What she really feared was not the barbarians or the empress, but hunger and cold.
Compared to the sense of powerlessness and despair of being slowly conquered by an intangible enemy, a war with a clear opponent was rather exhilarating.
“Would we be scared of something like this?”
“Your expression doesn’t look good.”
“I’m angry, that’s all.”
She had already made up her mind.
As she had told Decker before, she would rather die fighting the Imperial Knights than starve or freeze to death.
The only difference now was that the Igram tribe had replaced the Imperial Knights.
However, there was one thing that bothered her.
“This is the first battle that His Highness’ Knights and our army will fight together…… I don’t know if it will be okay.”
“Well, it’s said that you get used to it as you fight.”
Although he answered as if it were a joke, Carlyle didn’t have any laughter in his voice either, as if he was also worried.
Even now, on the eve of war, the two armies stare straight ahead, ignoring each other, as if a high wall had been erected between them.
He looked around the lined-up allied forces and summarized the battle direction once again.
“Divide into three groups, 1, 2, and 3, and carry out the attack and defense as I said during training! I and Countess Pervaz will be in the lead, Sir Bailey will take the left, Sir Solon will take the right, and Sir Donovan will guard the castle!”
“Yes!”
“In fact, the commanders are not the problem. The problem is the knights, the warriors, and the soldiers under their command.”
Of the many attack paths that Giles had predicted, he had chosen the most threatening one and had been teaching them the formation and the attack sequence that would take advantage of the characteristics of each attacking unit.
Although they seemed to be following along during training, the lack of cooperation between them was a dangerous factor.
‘If they want to survive, they’ll have to cooperate, whether they like it or not.’
Carlyle decided to trust the survival instinct of the soldiers and turned his gaze forward again.
The Igram people were armed with shields that could block arrows, apparently aware of the archers.
“Now, shall we go out and fight?”
“Yes.”
“Any last words?”
“The same as I told you last time.”
“…I see. Then, let’s go.”
At Carlyle’s signal, the trumpeter of the Knights blew a loud trumpet, and the defenders of Pervaz Castle sounded the drums.
“All forces! Forward!”
