Suddenly, everything became clear.
The enemies and their weapons were all shattered; there was no one left to block him. In an instant, he had broken through the enemy's formation, and there were no more enemies... Behind him was... a thunderous cheer and victory!
Unbeknownst to him, the 150 Knights behind him had grown to over a thousand. Riding his horse to where the enemy commander had just stood, Artoria suddenly turned and raised her Golden Sword high.
"Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!!!" The Knights, who were in hot pursuit of the enemy, raised their weapons and cheered like a roaring mountain and sea.
Enemy general! I'll go strip his clothes!
A thoroughly satisfying victory!
After Artoria's bravery crushed an enemy ten times their number, this newly enthroned King brought her people their first victory.
When the battle report reached the homeland, the entire nation was in an uproar!
With a fervent war atmosphere, the entire country was jubilant.
Such a magnificent feat as one against a hundred was, of course, not something mortals could achieve, but Kayal, by playing a little word game, attributed all the credit to Artoria.
After Artoria's magnificent feat of leading 150 cavalry to break through 5,000 Knights, no one harbored any other thoughts about this female King. Even facing Kayal's word game, the Knights remained silent, asking themselves if they truly had the same courage as her to lead 150 men against thousands of enemy troops in a charge. It wasn't about the elite quality, but the overwhelming, mountain-like, ocean-like aura of rows upon rows of fifty-plus men extending for a hundred meters.
That kind of aura, mixed with military might and the murderous intent of a hundred battles, would cause ordinary new recruits facing such an army to collapse instantly.
Not to mention their own side only had 150 people!
This kind of courage and magnanimity was truly admirable!
The King is indeed the King!
When this thought vaguely arose in the Knights' hearts, it naturally needed to be watered by successive victories to finally grow into a towering tree!
When the Knights kept quiet, Kayal could, of course, publicize without scruple. The great victory of his 5,000 infantry over an equal number of cavalry became insignificant in the face of such big news... like sharks at the feet of a whale.
The entire battlefield was filled with slaughter and captives. Stripped of their armor, weapons, warhorses, and ornaments, the once noble Knights now, like lambs, wore only their underwear, tied in bundles. Each of these Knights was worth five contribution points, while a living commoner was worth two contribution points, clearly more valuable alive than an ear, which was only worth one contribution point.
But if they weren't directly defeated, it would be meaningless—currently, other lords in Scotland still had forty to fifty, or as few as twenty to thirty, Knights. For rangers, Knights were an irresistible fighting force, so apart from assassination, rangers could not possibly capture ordinary Scottish people alive and bring them from behind enemy lines to the front.
Therefore, assassinating enemy commoners to cause social unrest, mapping territories, destroying enemy buildings, and burning enemy granaries were their proper methods.
The Knights herded the captives towards the rear. Kayal's students were there.
The medical students were not present; they were in the rear camp, bandaging their own people, cutting away flesh that might become inflamed, and dealing with other potentially troublesome injuries, all of which required their help. Kayal was also there, conducting teaching experiments on real people. Many students surrounded him, watching Kayal work while applying his techniques to their own patients.
Another group of students had set up shop to record contribution points.
As mentioned earlier, they could also earn varying proportions of contribution points for their work in recording merits. This was a tiring task; they not only had to count the number of captives but also confirm their ownership—Knights often argued over this, and they had to mediate.
Finally, they had to write on parchment. Parchment was easy to store but difficult to dry; sometimes, a slight smudge would create an ink mark, which was truly troublesome.
The last step was to gather these captives into the camp.
For these captives, Kayal adopted the Yuan Dynasty's method of collective punishment: fifty captives formed a team, and if one person escaped, all would be executed.
In other words, as long as someone dared to escape, for the sake of their own lives, someone among the fifty would surely report them. No one could escape with fifty people in this camp of seventy thousand!
This method was very effective!
From dusk until midnight, no one was awake except for the patrolling Knights and warriors.
Outside the camp, chilling chewing sounds and wing beats could be heard, as jackals, wolves, vultures, and owls were drawn by the bloody feast.
No one would rob a bank when they were well-fed and clothed, and it was the same for animals. Although they coveted the humans in the large camp, the corpses outside were already enough for them to feast upon.
Accompanied by these eerie sounds, Kayal, with a tired expression, returned to his tent.
The two Claymores behind him naturally integrated into the defense system formed by the other Claymores, while Kayal pushed aside the tent flap and entered.
Not long after, Kayal emerged with a piece of parchment and entered the adjacent tent. Artoria, who was dozing on a horse blanket, opened her eyes alertly.
Then she relaxed.
"Is something wrong, Kay?" She rubbed her eyes slightly, then sat up from the horse blanket and asked.
"This is a pledge I wrote. You memorize it tonight, and tomorrow morning, you will issue a general mobilization order to the entire army." Kayal handed the parchment to Artoria and sat casually on the horse blanket, saying.
"This is..." Artoria took the handwritten document and, looking at the first line, exclaimed in surprise: "Isn't this a blatant declaration of a bandit?"
"Lily! Don't you understand yet! Unifying this island is necessary for the Kingdom!" Kayal suddenly felt it necessary to correct Artoria's perception.
"If there is Scotland to the north, Ireland to the west, Rome to the east, and constant pirate raids at sea, do you think the people of Camelot will be happy?" Kayal leaned close to Artoria, looking into her eyes and asking earnestly: "Your justice, when applied to other countries, is equivalent to harming your own people, do you understand?!"
Facing the serious Kayal, Artoria let out a soft "hmm" and was unable to speak...