When Demacia arrived at Red Leaf Ridge with five hundred knights, he was deeply shocked by the scenery of Red Leaf Ridge.
Furthermore, the lives of the residents of Red Leaf Ridge also surprised him.
Looking down from above, there were beautifully planned farms and estates with red flowers and green tiles.
The roads were made of crushed stones mixed with stone powder and water, then compacted with a stone roller, making them perfectly suited for cavalry to gallop on (cavalry are best suited for plains; running on modern roads without horseshoes could cause a horse's hooves to crack, as hooves are quite brittle...).
Carriages could travel four abreast without hindrance.
From there, looking towards the city, there was no clutter or dirt; small ditches drained wastewater into a large pond, and the city was neatly arranged in rows, appearing very orderly and beautiful.
Although he knew this battle was not a righteous one, Madesia was still excited by the prospect of the people enjoying the same treatment as Red Leaf Ridge, as described by the Lord.
Calming himself, Madesia raised his Knight Lance, a signal that he was about to charge.
As someone named after the land of Madesia, and even having earned the 'Glory of Madesia,' he naturally possessed skills to be proud of.
However, the five hundred knights behind him were all ordinary knights without titles.
While they could easily crush infantry, he genuinely felt that he had no advantage in either quality or quantity against the three thousand Red Leaf Ridge Knights personally conferred by the Great Emperor.
Only when all three thousand knights were deployed did he feel a glimmer of confidence in winning.
The knights slowly rode their horses down the hillside.
They were still too far from Red Leaf Ridge; if they started charging here, they would likely be exhausted before even reaching the city, as they were not as wealthy as Red Leaf Ridge to possess hybrid horses.
Watching the infantry slowly emerge like a swarm of bees, all the knights burst into laughter.
Even though they had no titles, this did not diminish their absolute confidence in their own martial prowess as knights.
As qualified knights, they had trained in martial arts continuously from the age of eight until twelve, after which they were adopted by other famous knights as Knight Marquises.
Don't assume that being a Knight Marquis is a good job just because Artoria had it so easy under Kayal; Kayal is not a knight!
A true knight has Knight Armor, a Knight Lance, a Knight Sword, a saddle, and a horse.
A Knight Marquis had to maintain the Knight Armor, Knight Lance, and sword for the knight every day, feed the horse, clean up horse dung, clean the stables, and so on.
Some less fortunate ones even had to serve as attendants, cooking and driving carriages...
As knights, they all had such experiences, just as university freshmen and new recruits have similar experiences when they arrive at university or the barracks.
It's like a tradition to pressure newcomers, suppress their arrogance and ambition, and allow them to learn with a calm and normal mindset.
And so it was for the Knight Marquis.
They learned the strengths and weaknesses of Knight Armor while maintaining it.
They learned the length and weight of the Knight Lance from polishing it.
They learned the sharpness and width of the Knight Sword from maintaining it.
They developed a close and good relationship and rapport with their horses from feeding them and cleaning their stables.
Their Knight Lances could accurately strike the weak points of an enemy's armor while galloping.
Their Knight Swords could, in milliseconds, use their very edges to sever an enemy's throat through the gaps in their armor.
They could turn sideways to block an opponent's swing with their strongest Knight Armor.
They could also pull on the reins to have their horses trample shorter infantry.
Their strength was not without confidence!
Cavalry is the most luxurious and also the most powerful branch of the military, known as the 'King of War,' and their pride has never faded.
Although he defined this war as an invasion, Madesia couldn't help but feel a surge of anger as he looked at the infantry's battle formation.
Are you looking down on us, Sage!
This kind of desperate struggle could only be the work of Sage Kayal, who possessed a literary title and was rumored to be a magician.
Moreover, the man in a white robe with silver hair, dressed in a tight white robe, riding a white horse at the front of the infantry formation, was brandishing a gleaming longsword as if giving a pre-battle pep talk.
But ah, this was precisely the greatest insult to the knights! The greatest!
"One breath!" Madesia raised his Knight Lance high and shouted loudly.
He was at the very front of the entire cavalry formation: "I will only give you one breath to break through! No blocking, no stopping! I want to capture that Sage!"
"Heigh-ho!!!" The unified roar excited the knights.
They tucked the hilts of their Knight Lances under their armpits, allowing them to leverage the power of the horse, their own bodies, the impact force, and the weight of the Knight Lance itself.
Don't underestimate the ancients; they simply hadn't meticulously categorized science into terms and systems.
Their wisdom was far, far greater than that of us ordinary people who grew up in pollution!
Their horses began to trot, a unified but effortless trot that actually exerted even greater psychological pressure on people.
They could slowly approach the enemy and then, at a distance of about one hundred to fifty meters, launch a deadly charge, carving a corridor of death through the crowd.
Meanwhile, Kayal's 'Ten Years of Sharpening a Sword' infantry regiment.
Kayal was giving a pre-battle pep talk.
There was no doubt; they had no concept of certain victory in their hearts.
In fact, as native-born locals, they understood far better than Kayal what a powerful weapon cavalry was.
But Kayal didn't expect them to win!
"Turn around and look behind you!" Kayal shouted.
In front of this five-thousand-man square formation, his Unicorn would have to run five hundred meters to get from one end to the other.
"Your relatives, your families, your wealth are all behind you! Can you retreat?!"
A deathly silence fell, but everyone gripped their spear shafts tightly, their knuckles white, showing their nervousness and internal struggle.
"I know the power of knights, but are all of us so many people just useless?
What have I trained you for for ten years?"
Kayal raised the sword in his hand and shouted loudly: "It is so that you can protect your families, your loved ones!
Our goal right now is not to defeat them; we just need to hold on until my father returns!
Do you have the confidence to withstand them?!"
Kayal, as expected, lied.
The talk of holding on until his father returned was all nonsense.
The maximum impact force of knights only needed one encounter to breach a battle formation, and then they would split into small teams to slaughter the routing soldiers!
All they could do were two things: be slaughtered, or force the knights to stop and then use six-to-eight-meter-long Macedonia pikes to halt their charge, finally annihilating them with superior numbers.
However, could these rookie soldiers, who were physically at the peak for this era but incredibly timid in spirit, truly defeat the most powerful military branch in the world...?
Looking at their pale faces and tightly clenched fingers, Kayal knew that if it weren't for ten years of training that prevented them from speaking out no matter what, they would probably already be whispering among themselves!
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