Night of the Soulless Heathens – 392



#392. Iron Mask 4

Baron Butra checked Azadin’s movements and asked Viscount Folzen.

“What should we do? Should we just charge forward like this?”

“Well but since it’s a plain the enemies noticed our movements.”

Baron Kalma warned.

“Then I will boldly denounce the enemy and charge forward. After all those rascals will not be our enemies.”

Count Folzen pulled down the visor of his helmet his eyes blazing with rage.

“Azadin the zealot! You soulless blasphemer! I Viscount Polzen have come here by royal command to judge your sins!”

As Count Polzen shouted his men repeated the call in unison and began to charge.

*********

“hmm.”

Azadin clicked his tongue as he looked at Count Folzen and his men following behind.

“King Aranggi is really careful.”

“Your Majesty please be careful.”

Prince Sram who was now in charge of the cavalry squad frowned as he thought of his father.

“The trap I prepared with great effort was not useless but it was disappointing that they took the valuable bait and ate it. But there aren’t that many of them so do you think they’ll really attack?”

“We’re going to attack. Judging by the flags it’s Viscount Folzen and Baron Butra. Oh and Baron Kalma’s there too.”

“What kind of people are they?”

“He is a fervent believer in the King’s Church. He is a person who is so frustrated that he is hurt by the fact that the Herald Clan has become a count in name only and has a higher title than them.”

“okay?”

“Yes. So wouldn’t you rush at me like you’re dying?”

“That’s right. I’m the owner of the Banreung throne. Everyone will be lower in rank than me so why are you being so conscientious about that?”

“…….”

Sram shut his mouth at Azadin’s shameless words.

It is audacious to say that he is the king of Banreung and that it is a certain future.

Since he was so bold he must have brought out a new medicine calling himself the new prophet of the Yaegasu clan.

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Then Count Polzen shouted and started charging.

“Are you going to rush right in instead of making a statement and reaching an agreement?”

“Because I hate you.”

“Yeah. I’m used to being hated. If someone hates me for no reason wouldn’t it be less frustrating if I did something to deserve being hated?”

As Azadin gave the signal the soldiers lying in ambush on both sides of the road appeared.

“Huh!”

I can see that Count Polzen is agitated.

An ambush in the flatlands with not much room to hide?

However even in places that look like flat land there are bound to be low hills and if you use the slopes of those hills to find places that are not visible you will surprisingly find many blind spots.

In addition Azadin built several ambush positions while rebuilding the structures along the road from Coxhall to Banling.

This is the difference between those who know the terrain and those who don’t.

Even if these people who are called masters for nothing seem to know everything on the surface they are not trying to gather information from locals.

Azadin was now going to teach them that fact for a high fee.

“I wish King Aranggi had been caught. It’s a shame that the bait I worked so hard to catch didn’t yield much results.”

From the moment he heard that the Inquisitors had landed in northern Bissen and begun mustering men and troops Azadin had been concerned that he would be surrounded from both the north and south.

The number of heretics is small and they have to deal with religious issues first but then they have to turn their backs on King Arangi.

What if you don’t know how King Karnago of Arangi will act in this situation?

You just need to have the means to deal with every situation.

If the Arangi Kingdom army doesn’t take this bait the infantry in the middle can be sent back to their original mission and only the advance party can go back to their original purpose and deal with the Heretic Inquisitors.

King Karnago of Arangi’s intuition that Azadin would first negotiate with the Inquisitors proved correct.

But Carnago’s shamelessness in not attacking Azadin also hit the mark.

“It’s just a bunch of disease anyway! Sweep it away!”

Count Folzen urged his men to charge forward but at that moment Count Azadin’s troops began to display surprising maneuvers.

The cavalrymen who had been blocking the road by turning the cart sideways and moving to protect the cart split into two squads and spread out to the left and right.

At the same time refugees from both sides were hurling stones with slings and approaching with spears so Count Folzen’s army which had been charging found itself surrounded.

Even if you try to break through by exerting your strength the cart blocks your way like an obstacle.

In fact this was Azadin’s last resort.

After fighting these cavalry against the Arang Knights just a few days ago one thing became clear.

Count Evecheck’s knights are incomparably weaker than the Arangi knights.

Of course if you look closely Count Ivechek is also a vassal of King Arangi so his subordinates can also be called Arangi knights but they are no match for the Arangi knights led by the central nobles.

So in order to avoid confrontations between knights as much as possible we only taught one scattered formation and rehearsed it several times.

‘Please don’t confront me.’

Azadin created a blatant siege to keep the knights alive and unharmed.

It appears to be a siege but in fact it is a formation with cavalry hidden behind supply wagons.

“this!”

“Retreat retreat!”

Azadin’s tactic was right and before the cavalry could engage each other the refugees’ stones threw the troops of Count Folzen into confusion.

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The riders of Count Polzen turned their horses to retreat from the encirclement but it was already too late.

The spears of the refugee soldiers began to press down on the troops of Count Polzen from both sides.

And the movement of the cavalry in the rear In fact Azadin had forbidden the charge but even pretending to charge threw the enemy into confusion.

“We are not to this extent.”

Count Evecheck seemed slightly dissatisfied.

“No we just have a long way to go so let’s save up some energy.”

Azadin watched the battle unfold suppressing Count Ivechek’s discontent.

The tide of battle was now completely turned in their favor.

*********

In the end Count Polzen Baron Buttra and Baron Kalman were taken prisoner.

“Whew. Thank goodness. The fight ended before the knights clashed and revealed how weak we really are.”

“It’s not that weak. That’s because the people we faced back then were Arangian Guards.”

Evecheck felt sorry for Azadin who was unwilling to fight because his men were too weak.

It is true that I made a fool of myself back then but wasn’t the enemy at that time Prince Gislain’s unit one of the elites in the Arangi Kingdom?

In that sense when I said Arangian Guard Prince Sram who was a real Arangian Guard laughed.

“Haha. There were some Arangian Guards among them. Not all of them were Arangian Guards.”

“Hmm.”

“Okay. Let’s stop this petty pride battle and just ask how much should I ask for?”

Azadin called attention to the situation before things could get worse between Ivchek and Sram.

*********

“…….”

Carnago IV sighed as things went exactly as he had predicted.

It was as expected that Count Polzen and his friends who had run out with great spirit were captured as prisoners.

“I had a feeling it would turn out like this.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No that’s fine. I’ll pay half of the ransom. You can pay the other half out of your personal assets.”

Carnago IV declared that he would pay half the ransom for the Viscount Polzen and the barons.

They did not go out without a formal order but rather received vague permission from the king so they had to take responsibility as they were an army gathered through a vassal contract.

But the fact that he only paid half was typical of him.

‘If I’m going to give it I’ll give it all.’

‘It’s petty.’

‘This is our king.’

Although some insolent people were surprised by Carnago IV’s petty distribution…

Apart from that everyone couldn’t help but have high praise for Azadin.

‘Count Folzen may be a fool but he is a brave knight.’

‘You caught it so easily? It was a trap wasn’t it?’

‘This soulless blasphemous bastard is a real person.’

In fact Azadin himself trembled when he came up with the plan thinking that it might not work but once the plan worked Azadin’s reputation grew.

The undefeated strategist of the rise. The new mountain spirit’s mine.

Whether Azadin’s insides were burning or not from the outside it looked like he had achieved a perfect victory with little damage through an ingenious tactic.

‘The tactic itself is a common ambush tactic. Well if you keep winning you don’t have to show off but bubbles will naturally form. And if they don’t burst then even bubbles are true.’

Carnago IV calmly assessed the situation even though his army had become a sacrifice to Azadin’s exploits.

“Hmm. Okay. Anyway since we won this time he’ll be going to face the Inquisitor for real. Coxhall will be free.”

Carnatic IV thought that this time Azadin would indeed move north.

“yes?”

“Then should I hit Cox when it’s empty?”

They say that but everyone who goes looks reluctant.

Count Folzen and Lady Butra Kalma rushed in and were humiliated so there is no way they could avoid being in that situation.

“It seems to the scouts that Coxhal still has plenty of troops.”

“That guy takes in all the refugees so he has a huge number of people anyway. No matter how much the scouts look there will be a lot of troops stationed in Coxhall. However they are not equipped so no matter how many there are they are just stray soldiers. You can tell by looking at the way they operate the slingers.”

Although slingshots are a common weapon even for knights wearing plate armor there are several problems with using them as regular army equipment.

There must be a reason why it was used in ancient times and gradually disappeared in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless the fact that Azadin used slings in regular warfare allows us to see his agony in wanting to somehow provide jobs for refugees.

Carnago IV also saw right through that point….

‘There’s no law that says someone who has done it once can’t do it twice. Should I just wait until all my troops have been mobilized to deal with the Inquisitor? Or should I take the risk of hitting Coxhal first…?’

The problem with Carnago IV is that he was born a king so he has no reason to take risks.

What you have to lose by taking risks is the king’s dignity your own reputation and the well-being of the kingdom but what you have to gain is something that will come to your mouth no matter how much you do it so why take the risk?

Those who went there were also intimidated.

“Ah Azadin that ungrateful bastard is not a man who has formally studied military science so he shamelessly comes up with all sorts of nonsense that goes against common sense.”

“I can’t say for sure that he won’t come up with a plan that deviates from the same odds this time. He’s different from ordinary generals so we have to be especially careful in a fight.”

“I think it won’t be too late to move after seeing the Inquisitors move.”

‘Hmm. That’s the problem with so many people. They only think about their own safety so it’s hard to make bold decisions and they all just come up with similar opinions. My gut tells me that Azadin left Coxhall….’

After much persuasion from his subjects Carnage IV finally decided to leave Coxhal alone.