The Book and The feast (5)

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Artirian POV

"Dignity over Honor or Honor over Dignity" It is not about the way of thinking it is about the sense of what you are living for. And what is right is the exact words that came in my mind when I heard the story. I would walk away and look up in the sky. The sky was pretty clear and it was blue. The wind was hot but it was windy.

The plain grass you can see the waves when the wind passes by. And as I look from afar I see dust that was coming from a group of trotting cavalry up ahead.

I would look around and see the group of knight that were laughing I immediately walk towards them and said "Sir Knight I found a group of trotting cavalry up ahead I wanna ask if we have cavalry in this neutral zone"

The knight would look startled and immediately stand from where he was seated and run towards ahead as he saw it was not from the Empire forces but from the forces of the Republican cavaly that was going to the outpost.

Luckily the knight knows a shortcut to the outpost. The knights that were apart from the routine warm up would run back as they can. While I would barely catch up to them from that. I noticed the huge gap between my experience and their expertise.

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Soon they would reach the outpost and quickly report to the General on what they have seen. The general quickly alarmed the two of his Aide de camp to prepare and let the other merchants to quickly fix their goods before something inevitable happened. The Aide de camps would signal an enemy was approaching and from that day on they have moved their companies to a defensive formation and started to man the trenches and wall of the outpost. The merchants would quickly bustle to get their goods to safety as the General had already informed them on what would happen.

The battle would soon come, the trotting cavalry with the number over 400 would come, the dust would thick Artirian would seem to watch the upcoming Republican forces and from the looks of it they had almost 600 conscripts that were marching behind them. The conscripts muskets and some of them that are wielding swords start to grip them hard.

I saw the General eyes and from the looks of it. The General won't be defeated as he already planned that something like this will happen so he already prepared what is to happen in case this scenario begins. But as he expected it was the time like this. The general was calm and collected while his Strategist Left Aide de camp is nervous while the Right Aide de camp is getting itchy hands that want to go to a battle.

Then when Cavalry was within the range the line knight officer would give the order of "Fire at will!" Then volley after volley of gun powder and black steel balls would penetrate the cavalry armor as it entered through the armor and to the knight body and the knight would fall on the ground leaving the horse charging.

The bodies would be like a killing massacre as it became the blood would be seen that it goes through the body as the blood would drip out from the armor and onto the ground. But the reload of the conscripts were too slow and the cavalry would also decapitate some conscripts and knight line officers. Their heads would be seen flying and also some are slashed through their armor and one by one the conscripts would lose morale as they have seen that the Republican army is too many to fire from the volley so the other conscripts would unsheathe their sword and fight with the cavalry but they were no avail the knight from the Republican forces were to experienced and proficient in terms of skill and ability to have slain a few more Empire conscripts.

Artirian would look at the General eyes and the General was still collected on what is to happen and as it was ongoing the General would send the RIght Aide de camp as the General saw the incoming another wave of republican regulars and Republican conscripts the republican regulars who are composed of pikes and spears and a flintlock as their weapon while the republican conscripts wield a weapon of a musket and a swords.

The cavalry of the Right Aide de camp would be formed and then the Right Aide de camp said "OPEN THE GATES" He then pulls out his sword from where it s was sheathed and put down the face armor face shield and quickly trots his horse and as they trot out of the outpost I could see the strength they have proven and it was fantastic. They would clash with the enemy, their lances would pierce through the enemy and same with the enemy lances both cavalry would be in a state of battle frenzy.

Some knights would get the upper hand some were not and quickly died from the first clash. The second clash was not clearly visible due to the dust that was covering the the battle of the cavalry but from what Artirian see it was gruesome as expected. But the screams were real and from what I heard it was a constant scream of pain and help from the bodies that were laying on the ground. The General would order the Left Aide de camp to send the medical team on the trenches and retrieve those who survived but it was too late the upcoming Republican regulars quickly charged through the trenches and the conscripts that were deployed were quickly being massacred to death.

The conscripts would give some fight but they cannot fully outwit the republican regulars based on experience. The general looked at Artirian and Artirian would know that sign and replied. "I will get into it Sir" The General would quickly give a smile and nod. The left Aide de camp would give Artirian a letter of recommendation from the one of the platoon that will be sent. "Here are the people that will help you outside of that gate." The Left Aide de camp would walk back while Artirian would wear his first armor and he would also grab his Bokken sword. And then he would form up the new platoon under him and from the looks of it. It was the knight's routine warm up so they got already a pretty good closure for both of their knowledge. The Knight would stand straight and look ahead Artirian would then give an intimidating aura that the knights didn't notice so when Artirian stood in front of them they saw a different version of him. The Artrian would give an assertive tone of voice "Left Face!.... Prepare March!... March!"

The platoon would march with their shields and swords ready the gate opens and as Artirian saw it was gruesome as it gets bodies were decapitated limbs would be torn of the blood would stink the dust and the smell were all combined and then Artirian would order "Flank wall!" The flank wall is a kind of strategy where the flank would only raise their shields with a 80 degree angle.The the Republican conscripts fire their musket and the platoon would lose a few then when Aritiran saw that they were reloading he gave the order to charge.

Artirian would dash forward while he unsheathed his sword His sword would give a strange aura of a mostly black as it slash through the enemy thick armor it cut through the flesh the blood would spurt all over his body and Artirian would continue his fighting skills.He slain almost 4 conscripts. The knight would look at Artirian like a berserker.

The blood would be much more seen that it was spraying onto the air. The next scene would Artirian standing on four conscripts bodies while his Bokken sword was full of blood stains his armor was also color read because of the blood that was spurted on him by the conscripts blood. The faces of the conscripts would be dirtied with the dirt.

The knights would still be clashing with swords with other regulars. Artirian would call for a regroup as he saw that his men are scattered like ants without a leader. The knight would notice Artirian is ordering the regroup so they followed and they also noticed that they were scattered. Artirian would then order to make a form of an Oblong formation with shields up.

Artirian would then order the knights to be firm as he analyzed the battle field; the cavalry clash was still ongoing; the half of the trenches were already secured by them the other half the conscripts were still fighting and the incoming Regulars were already repelled. The Artirian would then order to move out to the south trenches to reinforce the current defense of the conscripts. The knight would quickly march towards the south.

The movements they did was the charging fast attack formation where the leader would be at the point of the charge. Artirian would then leap forward and slash through the enemy lines that were surrounding the other conscripts. The Republican conscripts and regulars would be in a state of shock on how they did not see that it was coming from the back. Artirian would easily cut through their armor as Artirian Bokken sword would get much sharper as it sliced an enemy.

The bloodlust that the Bokken sword receives the much aura Artirian release and as it affects the enemy by weakening their morale and affects their own knight boosting their morale were they can evenly fight even if they face a cavalry charge.

When they rushed the enemy from the back the knights would also disperse clashing to the enemy they got them caught off guard that is why they reduced the count of them immediately decreasing the other conscripts who were trapped got the motivation to fight and join in. Then soon the cavalry forces who were with the clash with the Right Aide de camp officer would break and their cavalry would retreat.

The men would cheer for victory but around the outpost would see bodies from both sides. Soon the General would order to dig a big grave for the enemy forces and burn them while the conscripts who died would be given an honorable grave near the outpost cemetery. Then the General would call for a feast at the makeshift tent that was called the gathering hall.

By the evening Artirian would see the knight and conscripts getting drunk and having fun. So that they can release the stress that they uphold earlier. Artirian would walk towards his tent and would see a dusty old book from many shelves that were free to read that he got earlier. Artirian would touch the tip end of each book and one of the books there gave a strange vibe as he read the title with a writing on it "Sapientis Verax". It looks like a Human thinking analogy.

After looking at its first chapter he gets some information about diplomacy and intrigue in the political world.