Chapter 37 – Opposing Forces

After leaving the imperial capital, Barkdine and the Imperial Knights headed straight for the Alcarol territory. Since they had prepared in a hurry, they were making progress while receiving supplies along the way through the territories they passed.

‘The Thunderstrike Knight Order and the Alcarol territorial army will be under my command. The enemy is just a few barbarians… Hehehe, I’ll trample them…’

Even Barkdine knows that leaving the man who calls himself Vilgard and the imperial princess alone would be troublesome for the empire.

However, he did not expect Arloston to organise such a large military force as a punitive force.

‘That’s what happens when a young brat doesn’t know the battlefield…Well, it seems he can at least accommodate me by letting me achieve military exploits.’

Besides, since they had already mobilised a large army, Arloston had no intention of using it solely for suppressing the rebellion.

After the suppression, he planned to have the Thunderstrike Knights remain in the Alcarol territory and then advance northward… in other words, invade the Lord’s Alliance.

Barkdine has the task of escorting the Lord of Dockward territory to the imperial capital. He was in a good mood after being appointed as a general of the large army.

And finally, the force of 40,000 entered the Alcarol territory and merged with the 20,000-strong territorial army.

On the eve of their departure the next day, Barkdine and Roglain Armales, the commander of the Thunderstrike Knights, were being welcomed by the lord.

“It is an honour to welcome the mighty Lord Barkdine to my humble residence! And Lord Roglain, I hear you are an exceptional individual, having been appointed as the knight commander at such a young age!”

Barkat, the lord, had scantily clad women serve them. After the banquet, Barkdine and the others would take the women they fancied to their bedrooms.

Barkdine, satisfied at being treated as a superior, kept drinking one cup after another. Meanwhile, Roglain hardly touched the cup filled with alcohol.

“Gahahahaha! It’s not often I come to such a frontier, but the women aren’t bad at all!”

“Thank you! Yes, yes! We gathered the most attractive ones from the neighbouring areas!”  

“Oh, is that so? Gahyahahaha!”

Barkdine’s face was already flushed red. Glancing sideways at him, Roglain spoke calmly.

“Lord Barkat. If I may ask…are the bandits who call themselves the sons of the former emperor still ravaging the Dockward territory? How many of them are there?”

“Eh? …Ah, well, about that. They haven’t shown their faces in my territory at all. They’re probably still doing as they please…”

It seemed they had not properly gathered information…Roglain was exasperated, but he could understand to some extent.

Territorial armies were fundamentally meant to defend their own territories. Even when summoned by the emperor to join an invasion force like this and fight together, if they managed to subjugate another territory, it would not become their own land.  

In other words, they lacked a sense of personal stake. In this case, they probably thought it would suffice to join the knights coming from the capital and defeat the bandits together.

Moreover, their combined force now numbered 60,000 strong. Since victory was assured, they were less attentive to the finer details.

“Hah! Those bastards must be trembling by now!”

“…It would be troublesome if they fled to the plains.”

“Then we’ll chase them all the way there and burn the plains! Those who were originally dispatched to the plains must have intended that, right?”

Before departing, Roglain had been warned by Arloston not to let his guard down.  

However, with only the information they currently had, he could not even judge what he needed to be cautious about.

“Lord Barkdine. Shouldn’t we take some time here?”

“Aan?”

“We should organise a small scouting party and send them to the Dockward territory. To ascertain where the enemy is gathering, their scale… And then proceed accordingly…”

“Unnecessary.”

Before launching a full-scale military operation, Roglain tried to argue the necessity of gathering intelligence first. However, Barkdine, drinking alcohol, made no attempt to hide his displeasure.

“But…”

“We have 60,000 men here. Why must we be wary of mere bandits claiming to be royals and stop our march in this land? Are you trying to brand me a coward?”

“………….”

Roglain thought this was the ugly side of the old Imperial Knights culture coming out. 

Barkdine was the supreme commander of this force, a general who had fought his way through by overwhelming enemies with sheer numbers.

From his perspective, having to halt their advance here for the sake of a mere handful of bandits was something he likely wanted to avoid. And that stemmed from his confidence in victory.

Of course, Roglain himself believed victory was unshakable. 

However, the enemy, though bandits, had managed to occupy the territory of Dockward with 10,000 troops in a short period. He wanted to take precautions to avoid unnecessary casualties.

“Tomorrow, my army will march straight into Dockward territory. We’ll head for the capital city first, and keep advancing. This is decided, you have no say in it.”

“But…”

“Now, now! There’s still more to drink! Hey, bring out more food too! We must entertain the brave heroes who will defeat the imperial bandits!”

Barkat showered them with obvious flattery while increasing the number of women. This immediately put Barkdine in a better mood.

“…Lord Barkdine. At the very least, when we enter Dockward, we should proceed with a proper formation…”

“Fine, Fine. You really are cautious…no, cowardly…no no, overly cautious. Gahahahaha!”

Intoxicated, Barkdine’s mind was hazy, speaking without deeply considering his words. And once satisfied with the drink and food, he took two women and headed to the bedroom.

■

The next day, Barkdine had his forces form up and proceeded along the highway, having nominally heeded Roglain’s advice.

Ordinarily on such a narrow road, priority would be given to marching speed, forming a long column to quickly enter Dockward territory.

“Hmph…the marching speed is too slow as expected. Honestly…”

Currently, 5,000 cavalry were deployed on each flank, with 50,000 infantry arranged in a horizontal line in the centre.  

However, with the limited width, they could not spread out widely, resulting in a thick column formation instead.

“What are you so afraid of…With such a large army, detailed orders are pointless anyway. If there are enemies, we’ll crush them with numbers. Is there any other way?”

Barkdine’s thinking was not wrong. The larger an army becomes, the simpler the commands that can be given.

This does make them more intimidating to the enemy. And even with some disadvantageous terrain, they can ultimately overwhelm with sheer numbers.

Minimising casualties to secure victory is also important, but this was a way of fighting that the numerically superior Imperial forces tended to fall into.

Of course, Barkdine did have the capabilities that earned him his current position. If the opposing enemy were pike infantry entrenched in defensive positions, or if terrain suggested potential ambushes, he would remain properly vigilant.  

However, this highway did not have terrain suitable for laying ambushes. To the east was a cliff, with a river flowing below. To the west were rocky mountains, making the march itself impossible.

The troublesome scenario would be if the enemy had constructed solid defensive fortifications up ahead.  Digging trenches, setting up wooden stakes and palisades, building stone walls to fortify their positions. Depending on how formidable, it could take some time to breach them.

But in this case, that was unthinkable. The opponents were mere barbarians not even numbering 20,000.  

Those who had not received advanced knightly training would never be able to devise such defensive tactics against a massive army.  

They were likely still freely pillaging the territory…or so Barkdine thought, until the scout’s shocking report.

“General! The enemy has…taken up defensive positions ahead…!”

“What…?”

As they marched south along the road, they indeed saw the enemy arrayed in defensive positions. Their numbers also seemed greater than they had heard.

Roglain tried to caution Barkdine.

“Lord Barkdine…this is strange. The number of bandits appears more than we were told. And the way they have arrayed themselves adheres to theory. More importantly, by waiting for us here, it means they knew beforehand that we were…”

“Fufufu…”

“…? Lord Barkdine…?”

“Fu…GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! Just what is that pathetic army formation! It’s almost not even worth mentioning!”

To Barkdine, the bandits’ leaders must have been insane. Arranging infantry in a central horizontal line, with cavalry on the right and left flanks, was considered basic doctrine.

Cavalry was supposed to be positioned on the sides to prevent the central infantry from being flanked, as well as to strike at the enemy’s flanks themselves.

Since cavalry had to move widely across the battlefield, placing them on the wings also secured their mobility space.

Hence, Barkdine too had arrayed his 60,000 troops this way. While the enemy had adopted the same formation, to him the outcome was already clear before blades even crossed.

First, the numbers were mismatched. While slightly more than they had heard, the Imperial forces still overwhelmingly outnumbered them.

Moreover, the enemy had not constructed any defensive fortifications and seemed intent on engaging head-on. It defied all reason.

On an open road with no obstacles, if opposing forces with the same formation collided, the obvious outcome was that the better-trained and more numerous Imperial army would prevail.

“There are no ambushes, and on this road we can’t even attempt flanking manoeuvres with our cavalry! We’ll engage them directly head-on! With our overwhelmingly superior numbers, we’ll crush them!”

While wary of the bandits’ movements, Roglain’s tactical approach did not differ from Barkdine’s. With no risk of being outflanked here, a frontal clash assured victory.

Which was precisely what made it so strange. Were the enemy unaware of this? Or were they resolved to fight to the death?

No, such high morale seemed unthinkable for mere bandits.

“The entire army, advance! Have the flanking cavalry proceed as well!”

Thus began the battle that would be long recounted in history as the Battle of Schleitocker Road.