Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 137

The Royal Ceremony (6) – An Experience

(T/N: 10 Knigths Bow -> 10 Knights Crossbow)

***

Zeland’s POV

Although I already knew that our enemies had a far greater number than us, seeing it myself made my stomach clench.

At the town, Roa-dono and the captains seemed quite relaxed when they heard the news, so I also felt relaxed. But now, seeing with my own eyes how many people were trying to kill us, I couldn’t help but feel anxious.

Despite that, I couldn’t and didn’t want to just return to the town and stay inside a safe mansion while Roa-dono and the captains were fighting, even though I knew my role had ended after I finished when I gave the speech at the plaza.

Contrary to me who couldn’t even hide my expression, the commanding officers of the 10th Division, including Roa-dono and Wickharlt were so relaxed that they were even smiling. They were truly dependable.

Perhaps noticing my expression, Roa-dono turned to me with a concerned expression.

“Prince Zeland, are you okay? Our opponents might have numbers, but they are just thugs. It will be fine. You just need to stay and watch us from here.”

I tried to put on a smile in response, but my face was so tense that I didn’t know if I managed to smile properly or not.

Roa-dono gave me a small smile, then he started to give instructions to his two captains.

“Luzel, can you please take half of our soldiers and beat them up? Frein, you take 300 men and attack anyone who tries to escape. There are a lot of them so reducing their number a bit should be fine. Just leave those who surrendered and didn’t try to escape alone so that we can get info on who gave them the orders to attack us. Thanks in advance.”

“Ok.”

“Sure thing.”

“Ah, right, take some10 Knights Crossbow with you. It’s a good opportunity to test how many arrows you can shoot and how easy it is to use them while being on a horse on the real battlefield.”

“Good idea. I mean, it’s not often we got such a perfect living shooting target,” Luzel replied, with a tone as if this battle was a great stroke of luck.

“I think we can defeat them with just the 10 Knights Crossbow.” Frein boasted.

“Regardless, make sure to put your safety as the number one priority. Take care to not get injured,” Roa-dono said, and the two captains left with their soldiers.

The Roa Brigade which was made up of only cavalries, began to move and quickly approached the large group of thugs. As soon as the thugs and Roa Brigade clashed, screams began to rise from the thugs’s side, and in the blink of an eye, the army of thugs that clashed with Luzel Unit was crushed. I was stunned.

Soon, the thugs began to flee in all directions. They could no longer maintain their formation.

The thugs who escaped were quickly being taken care of by the Frein Unit. At this point, I truly understood why they were so relaxed.

The Roa Brigade. The cavalry of the prestigious 10th Division who had made great achievements in the Zeta Great War. The difference between them and those thugs was heaven and earth. It was as if watching an adult fighting a baby.

While I was in awe, I saw 10 thugs heading toward us.

“Hm? They managed to escape Frein?”

Next to me, Roa-dono tilted his head.

“It’s not that, sir. Frein must have left some for me. I also want to test out our new weapon,” Wickharlt replied.

“But I don’t think you need 10 Knights Crossbow, though.”

“Though that might be true, I still want to try using it.”

“Alright then, I’ll leave them to you. Anyone who wants to go with Wickharlt, go! First come, first served!”

Wickharlt left with several soldiers of the Roa Brigade following him.

Yet again, in the blink of an eye, the thugs who were rushing toward me fell.

“It’s almost over.”

As Roa-dono said, the thugs were completely overpowered by the Roa Brigade. There was hardly anyone left who was resisting.

Actually, I was extremely nervous about the ceremony. What if I failed? Will I be able to perform the ceremony with dignity so as to not bring shame to my Father’s and the royal family’s name? What if I make a mistake? The more I thought about the ceremony, the more nervous I felt.

But…

Here, on a battlefield, I began to realize how insignificant my worries were.

Now that I had experienced the exchange of lives, my worries seemed to be incredibly foolish.

***

Roa’s Pov

…What should I do?

More thugs surrendered than I had expected.

“Roa-dono, Should we reduce their numbers a little more?” Wickharlt casually suggested something terrifying but now we had won, I didn’t want to kill people needlessly.

Besides, we didn’t know who among these thugs had important information. For now, we had no other choice but to capture them all and ask them one by one…what!? Even excluding the injured there were about 800 thugs left!!??

I sighed.

“Let’s just question everyone. We need to get information on who paid them. After that…haah… I don’t know. I really want to just ask for Rays-sama’s instruction.”

Let’s just wait for Lapilia-sama. She knew Rays-sama for a long time, so she should be able to help with stuff like this.

“So that means we just have to wait here until Lapilia Brigade returns,” Frein said, and I sighed again.

“Wickharlt, could you please take Prince Zeland back to the town and tell the townspeople that the bandits have been taken care of? Then, when Lapilia-sama came back, bring her here.”

“How about I stay here and you go instead, sir?” Wickharlt offered to switch roles with me, but I lightly shook my head.

“If we want to get as much information as possible while waiting for Lapilia-sama, it’s better for me, the commander, to stay.”

“…That’s true. I shall go then.”

“Take 500 soldiers with you. It won’t look good if you went back with too few soldiers.”

As Wichkarlt and I were conversing, Sazabi interjected, “Can I suggest something?”

We turned to him.

“How about I go look around the area to find Lapilia Brigade? It might be quicker than just waiting.”

“Good idea. Then, can you please do that?”

After Sazabi left, I looked and the thugs who had surrendered, and again, I sighed. This part of my job was really annoying.

Prince Zeland chuckled.

“Is something a matter?”

“Ah, no, I’m sorry. It’s just, it’s funny to see you being troubled because of your own brilliant victory.”

“You think so? This kind of thing is really annoying, you know?”

After hearing that, Prince Zeland seemed to think of something and continued chuckling. I looked back at the thugs and for the umpteenth time, I sighed.