"Everyone, stay calm and maintain your composure! The enemy forces won't be many!"
Though Chel Brands was urgently shouting to maintain the command structure during their surprise attack—
He too was just as bewildered.
'Our surprise attack was anticipated? But why?'
How many messengers had he sent to learn about the current situation at the fortress before coming here?
He'd heard reports of what looked like preparations for a ritual, and that soldiers were standing guard vigilantly.
Crucially, hadn't he heard that Commander Epinel was moving around everywhere, personally leading the troops?
There was no possibility the messengers had lied, so that meant...
'Could they have seen through our plan in advance...?'
The moment he thought of the phrase "seeing through," he suddenly recalled what Farfalle had told him.
'Swen is an extraordinary general. He accurately foresaw that the Aishers army was conspiring with the Allepel and Charam armies to deceive us, and that a rebellion would break out in the north. He must have thoroughly prepared countermeasures for defending the fortress.'
'Could it be that all of this was within that man Swen's calculations...?'
At that time, Farfalle had said, "As long as Swen is there, we shouldn't touch the fortress"...
No, could it be that all of this... that is, Farfalle thinking and acting that way itself... could he possibly have seen through that too?
'What in the...!'
Come to think of it, he first met Swen when he went to attack the now-extinct Lunarienne army after his lord and younger sister Lynn had mentioned "an exceptional talent hiding there."
The more he thought about it, the more complicated his thoughts became, but he soon shook his head.
Just because someone showed something like a strange miracle doesn't mean they deserve such high praise.
There was no guarantee anywhere that it was Swen who had accurately seen through this plan.
With such uncertainty, becoming frightened after jumping to conclusions would prevent him from doing anything.
'Anyway, now that we've been discovered, should I withdraw the troops immediately?'
Farfalle had said:
Though the chances of this plan failing were small, if it did fail—
That is, if the Aishers army discovered their troop movements before a proper siege battle could begin,
He should leave only the minimum number of soldiers needed to hold back pursuit and withdraw the rest of the forces. He remembered her advice clearly.
That was the way to minimize casualties, she had said.
Though it felt somewhat frustrating and embarrassing to flee like this—
Farfalle was a strategist he himself acknowledged.
He knew well enough that in most situations, following her advice was the right decision.
'Then I should give the order immediately...'
Just as he was organizing his thoughts.
"There you are."
A familiar woman's voice reached Chel's ears.
Turning his head toward the source of the voice...
On horseback was Irene Juliet, a female warrior raised to serve the Brands family, looking at him with cold eyes.
"Well, look who it is. The filthy traitor who abandoned her country and ran away."
"..."
Irene glared at Chel in silence.
"Your complexion looks much better? After what you did. If it were me, I would have killed myself from guilt, but here you are, brazenly holding your head high and living well. Is that what your father taught you?"
Though Chel was clearly speaking provocatively, Irene didn't take the bait.
"How pitiful you are, Chel Brands. Because of your cursed bloodline, you can't even abandon a sinking ship. Tell me, how does it feel to be the helmsman of a nation destined for ruin?"
"What did you say? You damned woman...!"
Chel shouted in rage, pointing his sword at her.
"Are you insulting me, Chel Brands?!"
"Oh? Are you going to fight? If you want to run away, now is your only chance."
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Clang!
Chel charged at her on horseback, swinging his sword.
After exchanging a few blows with him, Irene took her stance and glared at him.
"You can't stop our army with this level of forces anyway! Accept your filthy fate. I'll personally cut off the head of a dirty traitor like you!"
"You're just as vulgar as your sister. Since you're so eager to hasten your death, I won't hold back anymore. Come at me!"
"Fine, you damned woman! This place will be your grave!"
Irene continued to face off against Chel Brands without backing down.
After exchanging a few sword strikes, Irene confirmed that Chel was indeed powerful. It wasn't for nothing that he was called the First Sword of Brands.
However, having practiced swordsmanship every single day without fail, she felt she could handle him somewhat better than before.
Moreover, she even thought he was definitely... weaker than Lunarienne.
'Good. This much provocation should be enough.'
Swen had said that if they saw through this plan, our army would inevitably be placed in an advantageous position.
And he also mentioned that it was important to eliminate as many of the Brands forces as possible here.
What Swen wanted was to eliminate the Brands forces.
So Irene would run to fulfill that wish.
In the same context, provoking the commander Chel to keep him here was her own idea.
Having once served closely by his side, Irene knew Chel's personality well.
He was certainly a powerful general. It was no exaggeration to call him the ultimate weapon of the Brands army, playing a role worth more than a hundred men.
His only weakness was that he was somewhat hot-tempered.
A powerful and fierce general who was most obsessed with the honor carried by the Brands name.
Provoking such a Chel was as easy as eating cake.
Just by touching that name he took such pride in...
"Haaaah!"
Clang!
'...he falls for it so easily...!'
As Irene parried Chel's sword, she noticed her arm trembling slightly.
Of course, from the Aishers army's perspective, provoking him to prevent retreat and eliminating the disorganized Brands forces was an extremely excellent strategy—
But focusing on Irene herself rather than the Aishers army, it wasn't such a perfect method.
She needed to buy as much time as possible by exchanging blows with him until a sufficient number of soldiers were eliminated...
But even though she had reached a level where she could face him somewhat evenly, objectively speaking, defeating him was nearly impossible.
She wasn't so inexperienced that she didn't know that much.
But.
'To fulfill Swen's wishes... I need to push harder here...!'
The man who had freed her from her cursed fate, from the shackles that bound her to the Brands family.
The man who had sincerely told her that protecting herself was more important than anything else.
For that man... for Swen, there was nothing Irene couldn't do.
With only that mindset, she continued to exchange blows with him.
After some time had passed.
Irene's expression slightly crumpled as she sensed her stamina beginning to run low.
Chel didn't miss that moment and said with a sinister smile:
"Ha! I can feel those tiny hands of yours starting to tremble. For all your big talk, you're pathetically weak! Irene! You didn't seriously think you could defeat me, did you?"
Hearing Chel's words, Irene smiled very provocatively and said:
"...Your tongue is long, Chel Brands. I pity you."
"...What?"
"Because of that precious bloodline of yours, you can't leave the Brands army ruled by an idiotic lord, so you're destined to rot there for the rest of your life...!"
"What did you say...?"
Irene could feel Chel's body trembling.
It was anger.
The true anger of Chel Brands, which even Irene had rarely seen before.
"...Irene Juliet. I swear on my sword. You will die here."
Clang!
'...Kuh!'
Chel's attacks began to come in even more fiercely.
How many generals could attack so freely even on horseback?
Although Irene had been able to land some effective hits on him while continuously defending against his attacks, at this moment she could only focus on blocking the barrage of attacks.
'I have to endure... if I don't endure...!'
"I'm glad you're safe, Lady Irene..."
Now... there was someone waiting for her return.
Someone who had found her, affirmed her existence, and was waiting for her to come back.
'I... can't... die... here...!'
Crash!
'Oh no...!'
She lost her grip on the sword she was using to block his attacks.
Chel, confirming this, once again let out a sinister laugh.
That unpleasant laughter filled the battlefield already full of soldiers' battle cries.
"This is the end, Irene!"
'Damn it, Swen...!! I...!'
At that moment.
"Aaaaargh!!"
"...!!"
She heard Chel's agonized cry in her ears.
Irene quickly assessed the situation.
An arrow had struck squarely into Chel's left hand.
Turning her head—
Emma holding a bow and Erinandorf with a giant club were riding toward them on horseback.
It seemed that soldiers who had left to invade the Allepel army had arrived here after hearing the news delivered by a messenger.
"Damn it...!"
Chel cursed, grabbing the arrow embedded in his hand.
And then...
"...Aaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
He pulled it out.
Red blood began to flow from the wound where the arrow had been removed.
Even in this situation, Chel was still thinking clearly while maintaining his vision.
Looking around, he saw Emma and Erinandorf, renowned generals of the Aishers army whom Chel himself knew well, rushing toward them.
'Damn... has the enemy's reinforcement arrived?'
Only after losing some blood did rational thought begin to return.
This was no time for this.
He should have pulled his troops back as quickly as possible...
At this rate, there was no chance of winning.
Far from killing Irene before him, if Emma and Erinandorf joined in, he might be the one to die here.
'Even now... I need to retreat...!'
"Everyone! Retreat! The operation is canceled! Prioritize withdrawal!"
Though he belatedly gave the order, his command merely echoed in the air without reaching the soldiers who were in a state of chaos.
Chel finally realized he was too late.
'...Damn it...!'
If he, the commander, died, it would truly be over.
Chel turned his horse around and fled the scene, shouting for retreat as much as possible.
Emma approached Irene, who had been watching this scene, and said:
"I'm glad we arrived in time, Irene. It's been a while since I used a bow so I was a bit nervous, but I'm glad it worked out well."
"...General Emma. Thank you."
"No, if anything, we should be thanking you. If you hadn't prevented the surprise attack in advance, we would have lost Valharat Castle."
As Emma said, if Irene hadn't set up a formation here first and stopped the soldiers attempting the surprise attack, a very difficult situation would certainly have unfolded.
"You've worked hard. Let's clean up the remaining forces now."
"Yes, understood. I'll help too."
"Don't push yourself too hard."
And so, Irene followed Emma and began to eliminate the Brands forces who couldn't even retreat properly.
The failed surprise attack on Valharat Castle.
Due to this failure, the Brands army lost over 45,000 of their main forces.
This was the greatest failure since the Brands army had effectively conquered the central continent.