<h4>Volume 2, Chapter 4 – One-Eyed Dragon Part 7</h4>


    The Principality of Lichtine’s camp was in a panic at the sound of drums echoing from the Fourth Imperial Army.


    “Enemy attack! The enemy’s cavalry ising!”


    “Bring the ves forward to form a wall! And send the archers forward to shoot their arrows!”


    Marquis Ranquille looked over the bloodthirsty nobles in disgust and then gnashed his teeth in annoyance.


    “They took the initiative…”


    It was about a second ago that he learned that themander of the Fourth Imperial Army had been reced. So Marquis Ranquille tries to know the enemy general. The first thing he did was put his camel cavalry in front of them to see how they would react. Then, when he realized that the enemy was unguarded, he tried to hit them with a small number of troops to get a feel for the enemy’s situation, but just as he was about to do so――the enemy’s cavalry began to advance.


    “Is the tide in our favor?”


    They were ahead of the enemy at the perfect time. If this were the sixth princess’s ability, it would be terrifying. Even if this is not the case, it is clear that a knowledgeable person has joined them.


    As expected of the Great Grantz Empire, the dominant power in the world, they have a wealth of talent. However, there was no time to remain impressed.


    “Don’t panic! Deploy the camel cavalry to the left and right!”


    No matter what the enemy’s intentions are, they must avoid being surrounded.


    “Bring the archers forward! The enemy hase all the way out here. This is a good opportunity!”


    Then he realized that the man at the front of the cavalry was that very man.


    “As I thought… you came.”


    The wounds left by the man in ck are still deep. It’s not just the ves but also the regr soldiers who have been told the story and have fear stered on their faces. The only way to wipe it away is to give them confidence. As if to crush his anxiety, Ranquille said to himself that he would take advantage of the situation at all costs.


    “Archers ready!”


    As he gave the order, a strange scene unfolded in front of him. The enemy cavalry had spread out and dispersed. Arge cloud of dust rose up, tinting the sky brown.


    “Downwind, huh…?”


    The cavalry disappeared in a cloud of dust. Only the roar of horseshoes and shouts could be heard. The situation is not very pleasant, but he is d that the man in ck is no longer in sight. The majority of the soldiers were unaware of his presence.


    “Anyway, are they nning to hide in the sand and set up a siege? If that’s the case, we’ve been underestimated.”


    Ranquille looked around in all directions and then raised his voice.


    “Left nk, right nk forward! The first group, retreat!”


    Ranquille gave the order to set up a reverse siege.


    Sometimeter.


    “…No enemying?”


    He noticed something strange. But the sound of drums, the battle cry of soldiers, and the roar of horseshoes still shook his eardrums.


    “No… Are they moving away?”


    By the time he thought he had been conspired against, it was toote. By the time the dust had cleared, the cavalry was gone. He was about to ponder what the purpose of all this was when he was interrupted by the voice of a soldier.


    “I-it’s the man in ck! He’s here again!”


    Such a voice came from the front row. Confusion blew through their army and spread rapidly.


    “What the hell…?”


    It doesn’t even give him time to think. When Ranquille looked up in surprise, the area was in an uproar, and there was a breakdown in the ranks. Not only that, but the soldiers hade to aplete halt.


    Ranquille felt a headacheing on and ran his hand over his forehead, looking at the same ce as the soldiers.


    A man in a fluttering ck robe was standing there.


    The sight of a thousand soldiers being ughtered came back to his mind. His body trembled with fear. However, Ranquille was not foolish enough to stop thinking.


    After pping his own cheek to regain hisposure, Ranquille took a small breath and opened his mouth.


    “Don’t break ranks! It’s only one man, after all. What are you afraid of?”


    “B-but that man can take out a thousand men by himself!”


    “Don’t be scared. We are prepared for this.”


    In order to deal with the man in ck, they gathered a hundred skilled men and made a squad. For those who can take on 1,000, even though they are elite, 100 is not enough, but as long as they can buy time, there is no problem. While the man in ck was glued to this spot, they would kick out the exhausted Fourth Imperial Army.


    After all, they are outnumbered, and there is no way that a single person can chase after a dispersed enemy.


    “You’ll get what you deserve.”


    Ranquille drew his sword from his waist and pointed it at the bannerman. A hundred camel cavalrymen were selected to spearhead the attack. After a short distance, the whole army started to advance again.


    “When the battle between the spearhead troops and the man in ck begins, we will attack the Fourth Imperial Army. Until then, we’ll follow the spearhead team without being detected.”


    “Yes, I’ll notify the troops.”


    “Yeah. Thank you.”


    However, the battle did not begin for any length of time. A messenger came back to Ranquille, who wondered what was going on.


    “It was a fake! The man in ck is a fake!”


    “Huh…? What do you mean, fake?”


    “It was just a log strapped to a bag of dirt and covered with a ck cloth.”


    There was a heavy thud. It was the sound of something the messenger had dropped from his back. It was, as the messenger had said, just a log with a ck cloth over it.


    “…Huh, what the hell is this?”


    He was so shocked that he could not speak. Perhaps he was so terrified that he fell for this childish trick that he mistook for the real thing.


    “The same things are still up ahead.”


    “…What?”


    This was the ce where the Fourth Imperial Army and the rebel army had fought. There was arge depression in the ground that could be looked down on from all sides. In the midst of the corpses stood many logs covered with ck cloth, as if they were tombstones.


    “I feel like a fool.”


    But it was a very effective strategy. Everyone knew that the man in ck was good at what he did, but there was no guarantee that he wasn’t hiding behind the logs or that the real man was mixed in. Many people think the same way. That’s why they hesitate to do so.


    “I wondered if the whole purpose was to get out of here, or if they wereying down troops on all sides. Either way, I never thought we’d be so well outmaneuvered.”


    Across the road from the graveyard, the Fourth Imperial Army was retreating, showing their rear. It’s the perfect bait that makes them want to chase it. If they were going to attack them, they would have to go straight through here. If it was a trap, not only would they lose the advantage of thend, but they would also go to their deaths.


    Furthermore, if the man in ck was hiding, there was no way they could see him. It would be a losing battle for sure.


    “If we bypassed this ce and pursued the opponent…”


    It’s not only that the opponent will take an intercepting stance, but there’s also the possibility that their ranks will be disrupted, and they’ll move into battle. It was very cleverly thought out and beautifully executed, as an example.


    “Even though this is the enemy’s territory, to be able to manipte the battlefield in such a way as to change it so freely, it seems that… the opponent has a monster like the God of War.”


    After a smallugh of self-mockery, Ranquille looked up at the sky. The nightfall is about to descend. If they let go of the heavenly time, the only thing that awaits them will be destruction.


    Ranquille’s expression was gloomy. The road to victory was now darkly closed. The army’s will to fight is waning, and morale is declining. If they didn’t find a way out of this, they would lose.


    Ranquille could see an invisible wall loomingrge in the distance.