The Southern Front

Translator: Cinder Translations

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In the southern region, Princess Catherine of the Aldor Kingdom's pacification army faces off against the rebellious forces of the Greedy Wolf Giles.

In March, the main forces of the kingdom's army arrived at Thorn Fortress, joining the defenders stationed there. Catherine immediately launched an attack against the rebel troops under General Samal, using their numerical superiority to secure a series of victories.

The situation in the Thorn Fortress region reversed, with the kingdom's army encircling Samal's rebels.

At a critical moment, the accompanying wizards, such as Scott, once again played a crucial role. They organized a suicide squad with enchanted items and potions, attacking the vulnerable points of the kingdom's forces. After breaking through, the suicide squad took on the rear-guard role, covering the main army's retreat to the south.

After losing about one-fifth of their forces, Samal led his troops to retreat to the Fueral region, merging with the main rebel forces coming from the north and halting the kingdom's army's advance south.

General Giles, having cleared all defiant forces in the southern region, finally turned his attention to the north.

The kingdom's army, with around 50,000 troops, faces off against the rebels, who number over 40,000. Though the numbers are not vastly different, the kingdom's army is better equipped, especially the royal troops who are almost all armored. The number of knights in the kingdom's forces significantly exceeds that of the rebels.

However, in actual combat, the rebels' fighting power seems to match the kingdom's army equally.

Veteran generals under the princess observe several unusual aspects of the rebels:

Exceptional Reconnaissance: The rebels always manage to detect and set up their battle formations before the kingdom's troops arrive on the battlefield, unless there is cover like forests.

Incredible Defense: The protective capability of their leather armor rivals that of metal armor. Have the rebels mastered an advanced manufacturing technique?

Unusual Combat Frenzy: The rebels fight with a frenzied recklessness, which even the most devout paladins of the church cannot match. Fortunately, these madmen have poor discipline and coordination, only knowing how to charge and slaughter. Are they barbarian soldiers recruited by Giles? Observations note that these bloodthirsty maniacs often cannot distinguish between friend and foe in battle.

Effective Longbowmen: The rebels have a large number of longbowmen who make the kingdom's troops suffer with their rain of arrows.

The kingdom's army's only decisive advantage over the rebels is their cavalry, particularly the knight units.

In addition to the royal knight order, many noble youths from the northern territories have joined, having trained in martial skills from a young age due to their privileged backgrounds. After some integration, they form a powerful cavalry force. Since the outbreak of the southern rebellion, countless ambitious noble knights have joined Princess Catherine's forces, seeking fame and fortune through their lances and swords.

Of course, if they could also win the princess's favor, it would be even better.

Before June, both sides engaged in a protracted struggle in the Fueral region, alternating between attacking and defending, with victories and defeats on both sides. By June, the southern rainfall increased sharply, greatly reducing the frequency of battles.

Fort Aleza, a key transport city in the Fueral region, became Catherine's headquarters.

Today was another rainy day, with the city shrouded in a continuous light rain.

Catherine had just finished dining with the generals, and as the attendees dispersed, the high-ranking officers of the army stayed behind. As usual, if there were no special arrangements, this would be the time for them to discuss the war situation with the princess.

The most important topic was the imminent threat of Giles' rebellion. Since the siege of Thorn Fortress, the kingdom's high command had noticed many strange aspects among the rebels, and contact with Giles' main forces revealed that these peculiarities directly impacted the outcome of the war.

"There might really be some kind of mysterious force aiding Giles," Duke Dodge said helplessly, shrugging his shoulders.

Catherine frowned, recalling the fire that reduced the grain warehouses in the capital to ashes last year. The intelligence gathered then had also been quite baffling.

Moreover, according to the prisoners' testimony, there were indeed mysterious figures among Giles' forces, called "Holy Priests," who could pray to gods to grant their soldiers extraordinary power.

This led to the association with legendary wizards.

As whispers arose among the attendees, a strange atmosphere spread in the meeting room. Though reason told them not to indulge in fanciful thoughts, everyone had grown up hearing strange tales about wizards.

Klein encouraged the attendees, saying, "So far, we haven't encountered any unsolvable problems. Even if the enemy soldiers fight with madness, they can still be killed by swords and spears. No matter how high their defense, blunt weapons can still cause damage. As long as we maintain our composure and use appropriate tactics, we can defeat them with our numerical advantage. The only real challenge is the longbowmen. Giles has evidently prepared for the rebellion for a long time, training a large number of longbowmen who were immediately put into action when the war started."

This was indeed a tricky problem. In the rain-soaked southern environment, the effectiveness of cavalry was significantly limited on the soft ground. As the knights struggled through the mud, the longbowmen could shoot arrows indiscriminately, harvesting lives with ease.

As the discussion continued, the female knight Ophina suggested, "In the northwest bay, the local lords have used two powerful weapons unheard of before—thunder hammers and fire crossbows. The thunder hammers have tremendous power and can kill enemies from a distance of one mile. They seem to be the perfect counter to the longbowmen. Could we procure a large number of such weapons for the kingdom's army to deal with the rebel longbowmen?"

Ophina had been in the capital to gather supplies and recruit soldiers for the southern army and had been tasked by Catherine with monitoring the situation in the northwest bay—primarily to protect her runaway sister. Hence, she was quite familiar with certain situations in the northwest bay.

Most of the high-ranking officers shook their heads at Ophina's suggestion. The rural lords of the northwest bay were inexperienced in warfare. Even though some of them had come to participate in the recovery of Crystal Glare, their arrogance, inferior equipment, and lax discipline were common traits.

Of course, there were some commendable commanders and troops, such as Baron Andrew from Byerldine and Viscount Jaius from Emden. Their military skills and troops were quite impressive. Baron Andrew had even been rewarded by Princess Catherine for his excellent performance. However, it would be a mistake to generalize from individual cases. These were rare exceptions among the northwest lords, and their troops were only a small but elite force.

In the minds of most kingdom military leaders, the conflict in the northwest bay at the beginning of the year was nothing more than a bunch of peasants fighting with weapons. Perhaps someone had developed a few strange weapons, killed a few more people, and was then hyped up as invincible.

(End of the Chapter)

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