chapter 18 : Thunderbolt War

"...so it happened. Nevertheless, this was an excessive reaction, my son. Properly send the body and the remaining Moritan students back to their countries. Although I don't believe it, I hope they won't declare war on us. And Ethan, there might be assassination attempts during this time, so it's forbidden for you to leave the palace without my order," Richard spoke in an authoritarian tone as he sat on the throne.

The killing of the Moritan prince by the prince of the Asina kingdom in a peaceful duel had spread across the continent, and both nobles and commoners were gossiping about it. Following this, Ethan had begun to be referred to as the prince killer. It was the first time in history that a prince from another kingdom had killed another prince in a peaceful duel. Naturally, this caused astonishment.

Now, many states were expecting a war between the two kingdoms and were trying to determine their moves accordingly. Like every king, Richard had a bit of pride and refused to apologize as a king, but he offered a large sum of money to continue this matter amicably between the two kingdoms. After all, even the winning side loses some things in a war.

Ethan nodded and saluted before leaving the hall. He thought what he did went too far, but strangely, he didn't feel any regret or guilt, even though it was his first kill.

However, in a strange way, he didn't feel bad either. Of course, he didn't feel good either. He had already set his goal after coming into this world and knew he would take many lives for that goal, but at least he thought he would feel bad about his first murder. Perhaps he didn't feel bad because the person he killed was a third-rate idiotic villain. With these thoughts, he lay down on his bed and soon fell asleep with mixed thoughts.

Books were highly valued in this world, so Ethan enjoyed spending time in the palace, which had the largest library in the kingdom. Despite containing more books than even the academic library, Ethan thought some of the books in this library were worthless because there were many books about fortune-telling, legends, or epics that were practically useless. There was even a book describing a belief similar to horoscopes. Spending the last few days here, Ethan headed towards the throne room upon hearing that the envoy sent to the Moritan kingdom had arrived.

A dozen envoys and a baron to lead them had been sent to the Moritan kingdom, but the baron was not present. The envoys were carrying a chest, and it was soon understood that the chest was meant for the baron's head. Richard was angered by this situation, but he was not sure if he would do the same thing in the same situation. But the message was clear; this was a declaration of war, so Richard looked at the figures in the room and spoke in a loud voice.

"Prepare immediately and gather your armies! I will lead this army myself."

---

A few months later, the main army had gathered around the capital and its vicinity. In front of the palace, the most elite units stood tall in their armor. Richard had put on his armor and wielded his legendary sword. As he mounted his muscular white horse, a tremendous drumming sound echoed around the palace. These were war drummers. Hundreds of drums were beating in unison, and their sound could be heard throughout the capital.

Richard led the cavalry unit towards the gates of the capital. The journey took a month and a half, and when they reached the border of the Moritan kingdom, three different fronts had formed. The main army of the Moritan kingdom had not yet arrived, so Richard made a quick decision to advance towards the rightmost front and captured a Moritan castle within a few days. The castle had already surrendered when the large army reached its walls.

In the following three weeks, three fronts resulted in victory for the Asina kingdom. Two months after Richard set out, the Moritan kingdom finally managed to bring its main army to join Richard's army. The reason for the delayed arrival of the Moritan army was their desire to gather more troops than the Asina kingdom, which they had achieved.

While there were around 25,000 men in the Asina kingdom, the Moritan kingdom had nearly 35,000. This was the largest number in the history of the Moritan kingdom, but half of them were mercenaries. The two armies faced each other on the lightning plain. Both armies were personally commanded by their kings. Both kingdoms had sent envoys to each other and offered peace, but especially the Moritan kingdom had demanded vassalage from the Asina kingdom as part of the peace terms. Therefore, war was inevitable.

Eventually, the sound of horns was heard from the Moritan kingdom's army, and they charged into battle. Soon, the plain was soaked in blood. The intense smell of blood could be felt all around.

The first attack had caused significant damage to the Asina kingdom, but the heavily armored infantry still stood firm in the center. Soon, the two armies were fully engaged in battle. It was difficult to estimate the numbers of the opposing army during a battle, especially when they numbered in the thousands. However, it was somewhat easier for the cavalry, and the cavalry had attacked the rear of the Moritan kingdom's infantry. This attack alone had a great shock effect on the entire Moritan army, and soon the morale of the army plummeted.

Morale was one of the most important things in an army, especially in armies with many mercenaries. Currently, Moritan soldiers were being cut down by an unforeseen number of cavalry. It was difficult to estimate the enemy's numbers during battle. Soon, the mercenaries started fleeing the battlefield, and the fear replaced the already depleted morale of the kingdom's own soldiers. The main Moritan unit in the center consisted of elite knights who were protecting the king at all costs.

While Richard struggled to break the final resistance in the front line, he was severely challenged, but soon the royal knights were annihilated, and the Moritan king was captured, ending the battle in just three hours. This victory would significantly increase Richard and the Asina kingdom's prestige, and after this triumph, Richard would be dubbed "Thunderbolt" and would go down in history as "Richard Thunderbolt Lenistark". This name was given both because of the name of the plain and Richard's speed in battle.

As the battle ended, Asina soldiers began looting the bodies of the fallen soldiers, trying to identify the identities of the fallen soldiers from the Asina kingdom. Just then, as Richard looked at the pile of corpses, a soldier feigning death took the opportunity of Richard's approach to aim his sword at Richard's right eye. Although Richard was shocked for a moment during this sudden attack, he immediately drew his sword and tried to block the attack, but although he managed to slow down the enemy's attack, he couldn't stop the blow to his right eye and lost his right eye, and the knights beside him immediately incapacitated the attacker.

Despite efforts by healers, Richard would never use his right eye again.