I Became the Strategist the Monarchs Obsess Over

Chapter 26

The battle was ongoing.

Emilia aimed her sword at Dian to kill him, but at that moment, Dian's cavalry charged toward Emilia.

No matter how much of a Sword Master one is, it's impossible to withstand a cavalry charge head-on. Just as Emilia slightly stepped back, the cavalry began retreating while taking Dian with them.

The soldiers surrounding Emilia simultaneously thrust their spears and shot arrows at the cavalry. However, they only managed to kill dozens of the rear cavalry. The remaining cavalry successfully retreated with Dian.

At that moment, one of Emilia's subordinates shouted toward her.

"Shall we chase that cavalry?"

"No. Winning the war is more important than the individual Dian de Balboa. All troops, follow my lead from now on!"

Emilia shouted to the soldiers. Upon witnessing Emilia overpower Dian, the morale of the soldiers skyrocketed in an instant.

"Oooooo!!!"

The deafening roar shook the surroundings, and the morale of the Northern Army soared to the sky, while the Central Army's morale plummeted.

Standing at the forefront, Emilia cut down the enemies like a knife slicing through them and charged forward, while the Central Army, tangled between the retreating cavalry carrying Dian and the advancing infantry, began to be slaughtered one-sidedly.

Furthermore, while the Northern Army mostly consisted of light infantry due to a lack of iron, the Central Army, blessed with abundant iron, had many heavy infantry and heavy cavalry.

Normally, heavy infantry would be stronger than light infantry, and heavy cavalry would be stronger than light cavalry. Otherwise, the existence of heavy cavalry and light cavalry as classes wouldn't make sense.

But it was different in the river. The heavy infantry's steel armor was filled with mud and frost as they crossed the river, severely slowing their movements.

Meanwhile, the Northerners wore cotton armor and leather armor.

They were easy to put on and take off, and even if mud got inside, they could simply shake it off, making movement much easier.

This was precisely why Charles predicted the Crown Prince's Central Army's defeat. The Central Army was not accustomed to fighting in the North.

"The enemy's clothing is filled with mud! Go wild!"

As Emilia shouted this and attacked, the Northern Army began overwhelmingly pushing back the Central Army.

The Central Army had planned to overcome the disadvantage of crossing the river by relying on the exceptional General Dian de Balboa, but now that Dian had fallen, there was nothing more they could do.

Soon, the tide of battle turned against the Crown Prince.

"Your Majesty, what should we do? Should we retreat..."

"Silence! Our soldiers outnumber the enemy two to one! If we fight to the end, we will surely win! I will never allow a retreat!"

"But the mud inside the armor makes it difficult to fight! The very idea of crossing the river was a failure!"

-Swoosh!

The Crown Prince beheaded the subordinate officer who advised retreat.

"Behold! This is the neck of a coward! If anyone dares to suggest retreat, they will end up like this!"

For a moment, it seemed as though the soldiers advanced, inspired by his speech.

But since the soldiers at the very front were retreating, those advancing and those retreating clashed, causing chaos and leading to their one-sided slaughter.

Moreover, arrows made from Northern Mountain Cedar flew down like rain from the sky.

The Crown Prince's army, initially 35,000 strong, had been reduced to less than half.

"Do not retreat! I said, do not retreat!"

The Crown Prince swung his sword at his own troops to encourage them.

But that encouragement only served to further confuse his troops, acting as poison.

The officers forcibly restrained the Crown Prince and began a forced retreat.

Meanwhile, Emilia crossed the river and relentlessly pursued the Crown Prince.

"Capture the Crown Prince here! If we capture the empire's successor, launching a counter-invasion against the empire will no longer be just a dream!"

Until now, the Central had been invading the North. But if the Crown Prince were captured, the North would have a valid justification to invade the Central.

Grand Duke Karl von Chronor shouted, and Emilia nodded at his words, then began chasing the enemy.

"Lady Emilia! A word!"

A subordinate cavalryman addressed Emilia, and riding a horse that wasn't hers for the first time, Emilia skillfully chased after the enemy.

Cutting down fleeing enemies was an easy task. The enemies, weighed down by armor filled with mud, were sluggishly fleeing. Some even failed to remove their heavy armor and collapsed to the ground.

Those who fell were trampled to death by galloping hooves, while the rest, running away with their backs turned, were cut down.

The enemy fled toward the forest, and Emilia followed closely behind.

It seemed possible to annihilate all 35,000 enemies tonight.

Until that man, Charles Jean Rochefort, appeared.

Emilia continued to pursue the retreating Crown Prince's soldiers.

35,000. Though the number sounded impressive, most of them had only joined to claim spoils of war.

Their mindset was entirely different from the Northerners, who had risen to protect their homeland.

As a result, they abandoned their comrades to save their own lives, seeking survival over killing the enemy.

Cutting down such individuals was not a difficult task. That was, until that man appeared.

Behind the Crown Prince's army's formation was a forest. Most of the soldiers fled into that forest.

Emilia also entered the forest, chasing the fleeing soldiers. But the moment she entered...

"Fire all arrows!!!"

A familiar voice rang out. It was none other than Charles Jean Rochefort's voice. And then...

-Whoosh!

Hundreds of arrows flew through the air. While Emilia's exceptional senses allowed her to dodge them, dozens of cavalry following her were struck and fell.

Looking around, archers had set up positions on various hills. These archers were protecting the retreating soldiers.

"D-Damn it. He's really here."

"Did you think he wouldn't come?"

"I thought he was just an eccentric strategist. I didn't expect him to be this precise..."

At Gabriel's words, Charles laughed softly.

"Emilia von Chronor."

The strongest in the worldview had arrived. If Dian de Balboa was the second most powerful warrior in the worldview, then Emilia von Chronor was the first.

She firmly believed she was loved by the Goddess of War, but in truth, she was loved by a slightly different being. While Princess Leonia was perfect in every aspect of her stats, this woman had poured all her stats into war.

"Charles Jean Rochefort."

Emilia whispered softly. She knew the name Charles Jean Rochefort because she had witnessed a mock battle between Yuria Russell and Charles Jean Rochefort.

It was a spectacular match. There was no better way to describe it than with the word "spectacular." Charles Jean Rochefort was a perfect tactician and also a brilliant strategist. Thus, Charles's name was deeply etched into Emilia's memory. Moreover...

[It's that child.]

Even the Goddess of War had shown interest in him. She had even told Emilia to personally observe him. On the night before leaving the academy for the North, Emilia had encountered Charles Jean Rochefort reading a book alone in the academy hall late at night. Although he wasn't handsome by Northern standards (over 2 meters tall and weighing over 120 kilograms), she remembered him having a remarkable aura.

And now, that same Charles Jean Rochefort stood in her path.

"Lady Emilia, what will you do? Shall we attack?"

"..."

Emilia hesitated. Charles had likely predicted the Crown Prince's defeat and stationed soldiers here. In hindsight, it made sense. Attempting a river-crossing operation with heavy infantry and heavy cavalry was bound to lead to defeat.

That's right. Charles had known from the start that the Crown Prince's army would lose. If he stationed ambush troops here...

'If it were me, I would have stationed at least 5,000.'

Emilia thought. If the ambush numbered only 1,000 to 2,000, breaking through would suffice, but Charles would never station just 1,000 to 2,000. Surely, he must have stationed at least 5,000. In that case, even for Emilia, breaking through would be difficult. Attacking recklessly without considering the geographical advantages would cause her to repeat the same mistakes as the Crown Prince.

"All troops!"

Emilia shouted.

"Retreat!"

Hearing those words, Charles Jean Rochefort sighed in relief. Meanwhile, Scout Officer Gabriel looked puzzled.

"Why are they retreating? If we fight, we'll lose."

"It's night, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And this is a forest."

"Correct."

"That means they can't gauge how many of our troops are here. If they knew we only had a thousand soldiers, they would have charged in. But they might think we have three or five thousand."

"Ah~"

Emilia was a competent commander. As such a capable commander, she wouldn't take unnecessary risks. Charles had predicted this, and his prediction was spot-on.

Thanks to this, the Crown Prince's army managed to retreat safely, preserving nearly half of their soldiers who were on the brink of annihilation—all due to the efforts of Charles and a mere thousand soldiers.