Chapter 148: The End of the Simulation on the Continent of Calradia

Once the war began, the Swadian army began to operate like a precise machine. King Harlaus led a cavalry force nearly a thousand strong, plunging into Nord territory like a tidal wave. These cavalrymen included not only the King's own Lion Cavalry Regiment but also other minor lords willing to follow him; they led their own cavalry units, clustering around the King. Allen and his ten subordinates were merely a single spray of foam within this wave.

Meanwhile, Count Klauss of Dherim, as the First Marshal commanding this war, led over two thousand Elite Infantry and ten thousand serfs to surround Rudburg. Aside from Count Klauss's family troops, this force included nearly a thousand Elite Infantry dispatched to him by King Harlaus. These warriors were the subordinates of those minor lords; although most of them had taken their elite cavalry to follow Harlaus, they had all left behind trusted subordinates to command their troops.

Although the nobles had been like noisy ducks during the meeting, once they received the King's orders, they each became faithful soldiers. It must be said that King Harlaus's ability to boost morale was truly extraordinary.

As for Count Craggs of Sunor and his troops, they were seen by Allen heading toward Tibert. However, Allen knew that these hundreds of soldiers would certainly turn back toward Sunor at an inconspicuous place, then wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack on his own family's army.

But these were matters for his cheap old man, Dilinade, which he could not attend to. Allen was currently following beside Harlaus, heading toward Anbien, the largest village nearby. It was easy to imagine the miserable fate the people there were about to face.

When the Swadian cavalry crossed Rudburg and charged into Nord territory, it was like a pack of hungry wolves rushing into a flock of sheep, wantonly gnawing on the flesh and blood of the Nord people. In just a few short days, several small villages had been burned and slaughtered by some of the minor Swadian lords leading their own troops. Hundreds of villagers died at their hands; blood and fire stained the surrounding earth and sky. They had no intention of plundering the population, but rather sought to strip the last bit of wealth from the corpses.

This was King Harlaus's offensive strategy: he would raze all the villages near Rudburg to the ground, taking everything that could be taken and burning everything that could not. As for the population, which was vital to the nobles, he did not intend to bring them back to Swadia, but rather to kill them all.

On one hand, this was to clear out the forces in this area of the Nord Kingdom as quickly as possible, so that they would not be able to use the villages to launch a counterattack against the Kingdom of Swadia once they reacted. On the other hand, while the Kingdom of Swadia was attacking the Nord Kingdom, it was also fighting a civil war. Regardless of the outcome of the war with the Nord Kingdom, Swadia would be severely weakened this time. Thus, taking this opportunity, Harlaus hoped to weaken the Nord Kingdom as much as possible to buy himself and his son some time to recover their strength.

It was easy to imagine that if Ragnar's fury had a temperature, it would be enough to burn Harlaus alive for attacking the Nord Kingdom at such a time. Thus, it would be difficult for the war between the two countries to end in a short period.

As for who would till the land and serve the nobles if there were no people left? Harlaus thought this had nothing to do with him. Although he had promised land at the meeting, he had not promised that there would be commoners on that land. Moreover, most of the minor nobles had gained quite a lot from this looting, and the deals with the great nobles had already been negotiated before the war. Even if the war with the Nord Kingdom failed, as long as the losses were not too great, Harlaus had sufficient confidence to maintain the domestic situation after the war.

With such determination, King Harlaus led his cavalry force and soon approached Anbien. This was the largest village on the south bank of the Fork River, with a population of nearly two thousand. It was the fief of Fanyaer of the Nord Kingdom, who was currently fighting at Bruga Castle with most of his soldiers. The Nord people living in Anbien were currently working in the fields near the village, while a small portion were fishing on the Fork River within Nord territory, seemingly unaware of the news of the war. Otherwise, they would have fled to Tihelog Castle on the north bank of the river at the first opportunity. When they saw the boundless cavalry force, extreme terror followed their brief surprise.

In front of the charging Swadian cavalry, even the regular army of the Nord Kingdom needed to rely on the advantage of the terrain to resist them, and most of the time they were broken by a single charge from the cavalry. At this moment, the very few garrison soldiers, coupled with the unarmed residents, could only die helplessly under the iron hooves of Swadia.

For a time, miserable wails and excited roars, mixed with the neighing of horses and thunderous hoofbeats, rose above Anbien like a symphony. The blood-soaked earth, the Nord people lying in heaps, the raging fires, and the Swadian cavalrymen with blood-stained faces waving their butcher knives staged a human purgatory in the concerto of this symphony.

Due to King Harlaus's orders, Allen and his subordinates did not participate in any of this, but sat quietly on their horses beside the King, watching everything that was happening before them.

If it weren't for Count Klauss's repeated instructions before leaving, Allen would have wanted to use the mace at his waist to send the expressionless Harlaus and the excited Edward away. There was no need to be so ruthless; how was this any different from slaughtering a city?

King Harlaus did not think he had too many people; he actually had a bit of a hidden motive. He had only brought nearly a thousand cavalrymen this time, basically with a configuration of two horses per person, and had not brought any other auxiliary troops. Whether it was transporting prisoners or guarding them, it would weaken his mobile force. Additionally, he wanted to use these lives to educate Prince Edward. However, his son's excited expression was unexpected to Harlaus. But this did not matter; in his view, as a king, cruelty was always better than kindness.

Facing the encirclement and interception of hundreds of cavalrymen, the screams of the Nord people soon ended. Harlaus, who had implemented the "three-all" policy, led his troops away before dark. Only the still-burning flames and the desolation covering the ground told of what had happened here.

However, there were still some villagers who escaped this massacre—namely, those Nord people who were fishing in the river. Upon seeing the raging fires of Anbien, they fled in panic toward the north bank of the river, where Sargoth, the royal capital of the Nord, was located.

When such news reached Ragnar's Council of Elders, they finally realized that their actions had been far too slow. Although these elders had been the ones to initiate the conflict this time, they had no other choice. The King's merchant caravan had been plundered by nobles of another country; sending a letter of condemnation was the bare minimum, otherwise, where would the King's face be?

While sending the letter of condemnation to Harlaus, an urgent letter was simultaneously sent to Bruga Castle. However, the Council of Elders had not expected the Kingdom of Swadia's reaction to be so intense and so fast. Before King Ragnar's reply had even arrived, King Harlaus's declaration of war had already been delivered to their round table. Just as they had dispatched envoys to spread the news of the war throughout the country, King Harlaus's cavalry force had already swept across the south bank of the Fork River. Everything was too fast.

However, the actions of these elders were not entirely useless. Although the Nord Kingdom did not have enough troops at this time to intercept the Swadian offensive at the Fork River, all the villagers who had not yet been attacked were migrating toward the nearest castle. By the time King Harlaus led his cavalry to Jelberg, there was no one left. According to the scouts' reports, the villagers should have fled toward Jelbegi Castle, and they had not left long ago.

Harlaus did not issue an order to pursue, because in his view, the stronger Jelbegi Castle was, the more favorable it was for his plan. He had basically completed his pre-war plan; except for Rudburg, there were no Nord forces left on the south bank of the Fork River. Now he could fully lead his cavalry to defend the river. As long as any Nord soldiers dared to cross the river, he would lead a large-scale cavalry force to crush them at the first opportunity.

Rudburg was also facing a fierce Swadian attack at this time. Although there were many enemies besieging it, fortunately, the lord of Rudburg, Solton Yarl, had not followed his own king to fight in Vaegirs. At this moment, he was leading all his subordinates, over four hundred elite warriors, fighting on the front line of the castle, resisting more than two thousand Swadian soldiers and countless serfs.

Regarding whether he could hold the castle, Solton held a pessimistic attitude at this time. It was not as if the Nord had never had a war with Swadia. Take the one that happened seven years ago, for example: at that time, Rudburg was also surrounded by thousands of infantry, and nearly a thousand cavalry had simultaneously invaded Nord territory. However, King Ragnar had decisively dispatched a two-thousand-man army, relying on the forest to form a deterrent against the besieging troops at that time.

King Ragnar had even personally led the most elite Nord warriors to enter Swadian territory secretly through Jelbegi Castle, capturing Rebolite Castle at lightning speed. After resolving his worries, he had force-marched directly to surround the weakly defended Praven, forcing the then-King Harlaus to take his cavalry back to save his home.

Without the help of the cavalry, the Nord elite infantry had engaged in a head-on decisive battle with the besieging Swadian army under the walls of Rudburg. Even though Swadia had the numerical advantage, the fierce Nords had still beaten them into a rout. That battle was a victory for the Nord in every respect. However, King Ragnar also knew that he could not hold Rebolite Castle, which was built on the plains, relying solely on the troops in his hands, so he had abandoned it. Although Swadia had lost many soldiers in that war, its territory had not suffered any losses.

But at this time, it was a different scene. Now most of the Nord Kingdom's troops were out on an expedition; it would be impossible for them to return in less than two months. Moreover, they must have suffered heavy losses in the battle against the Vaegirs, and whether they could defeat the current Swadia was unknown. However, Solton did not intend to surrender at this time. In front of his subordinates, he still maintained a confident appearance, asserting that King Ragnar would definitely provide support. The real reason, however, was that the siege had not lasted long; even if he were to surrender, he had to wait for a suitable opportunity to sell himself at a good price.

Holding this attitude, Solton resisted for nearly two months. The soldiers in the castle were exhausted. If there were no accidents, he intended to surrender during this period. However, what he found strange was that the Swadians outside the city did not seem to be attacking his castle with all their might.

A week later, something even more surprising happened to him. An army of several hundred people arrived from the west, and that night, a fire broke out in the camp outside the city. The shouts of battle lasted from midnight until dawn before ending. However, because most of Solton's soldiers refused to leave the city, he did not seize this excellent opportunity.

Soon, Rudburg was surrounded by the Swadians again, but this time they did not launch an attack. Instead, most of the army headed toward the territory of the Nord Kingdom, seemingly to find their king.

Those Swadian soldiers who came from the west were naturally the family troops of Dilinade and Harringoth. At first, they had indeed followed orders to build a camp near Jelbegi Castle, putting on a show there, but most of the people living in the camp were serfs. The real thousand-plus elites were hidden in the nearby valley, keeping a close eye on the road they had come from.

And Count Craggs of Sunor, without any surprise, appeared before their eyes a month later. Besides him, the old enemy of Allen's family, the lord of Tibert, the banner of Count Tredian, also appeared in the ranks. The soldiers they led also numbered over a thousand.

The following events were without suspense. At the beginning of the ambush, Count Craggs was shot dead by an arrow from a crossbow, and Count Tredian and his personal guards fled at the first opportunity when Harringoth personally led the cavalry charge. Having lost their lord and being completely unprepared, the remaining army declared surrender after a slight resistance. Everyone was Swadian; there was no need to fight to the death for a dead lord and a runaway noble.

Originally, things could have ended perfectly here, but the Nord barbarians of Jelbegi Castle brought an unexpected "surprise" to Dilinade. They suddenly appeared behind Dilinade, roaring loudly as they charged toward the Swadian soldiers. In the short exchange, axes took the lives of countless Swadian soldiers. In the end, it was only through the concerted efforts of the two units, plus the reinforcements of Harringoth and the cavalry, that these Nord soldiers were driven away. It was truly a story of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

Dilinade had not expected that the Nords would really risk charging out of the castle. What he did not know was that due to King Harlaus's ruthless massacre, all the Nord soldiers were looking for an opportunity to take revenge. Harold Yarl, who had already received the news and discovered the clues, decisively seized this opportunity. If it hadn't been for Harringoth's reinforcements, the outcome of this battle would have been unknown.

Even though they were victorious, Dilinade's army suffered hundreds of casualties, and their strength was reduced to only about one-third, most of whom were cavalry. As for the prisoners who had helped him in the battle against the Nords, Dilinade generously stated that if they were willing to defect to him, he was willing to let bygones be bygones and accept them all. Those who wanted to leave could also do so, but they needed to leave behind their weapons and equipment.

Most of the civilian soldiers accepted Dilinade's recruitment. Homeless and jobless, it was all the same to them whose side they were eating on. However, some warriors with families, as well as those minor nobles who originally belonged to Count Craggs, chose to lay down their weapons and leave.

Harringoth originally wanted to lead the cavalry to chase them down and kill all these departing soldiers, but Dilinade stopped him. If he could truly rule Swadia, then these people would all be his soldiers and subjects in the future; there was no need to kill them all at this time. Moreover, in this confrontation with King Harlaus, he had already won the first battle regardless. The rest depended on whether Allen could successfully kill Harlaus before the two armies.

In his conspiracy with Count Klauss, Dilinade emphasized that he must wait until he had defeated Craggs before sending a message to Allen. If he failed, then it would just be considered that he had been killed by the Nords, and Allen would not need to avenge him; finding a way to escape the country and preserve the family's bloodline to wait for the restoration of the family's glory in the future was the right path. And Count Klauss would not need to risk betraying Harlaus to participate in a civil war; as long as he could save Allen's life, that would be enough. Of course, there were unspeakable calculations and checks and balances in this.

At this time, Allen was still listlessly following beside Harlaus. Although the King had not completely disarmed him, Allen's personal freedom was still restricted to a certain extent. It was ostensibly to hope that Prince Edward would get closer to him, but facing Edward, who had recently started to enjoy killing, Allen really could not maintain a peaceful state of mind for a long time. Perhaps Prince Edward himself did not know that he had already wandered outside the gates of the ghost gate several times.

It was not until one afternoon that Allen saw the banner belonging to Count Klauss. At this time, the news King Harlaus received was that Rudburg had been taken, and the progress of the other matter was also very smooth. Overjoyed, he promised the approach of Count Klauss's army and brought most of the cavalry to welcome his meritorious minister. In addition, he also brought Allen. If things went very smoothly, he could follow the plan and shift the blame to the Nords, and then Allen could assist his son in the days to come.

It was not until the distance between the two sides was closer that King Harlaus, looking out into the distance, saw that Count Klauss's army was in a state of full armament. This situation made his face change drastically. Just as he was about to draw his weapon and turn his head to shout with a vigilant face, a mace, under the horrified gaze of Prince Edward, rushed toward his father's skull. And the position Harlaus was looking at at this moment was exactly Allen beside him.

With a "puff," Harlaus, who had ruled the Kingdom of Swadia for nearly twenty years, fell off his horse at this moment. The mixed liquid flowing out of his head indicated that he was already dead beyond any doubt. Until the moment before his death, King Harlaus finally thought of a terrible possibility: that his childhood friend, the "loyal" minister who had accompanied him for decades, Count Klauss, had betrayed him a long time ago, and Allen beside him might have already known all his plans. That was why he subconsciously looked at Allen before he died.

It was just that he realized it too late. Allen raised his hand and killed him the moment he noticed Harlaus's sudden change in expression. If Harlaus had not made these unusual movements, Allen might have continued to wait. After all, he needed to rush into the opposing army immediately after killing the two, to escape the pursuit of the army. But even in the world of the Simulator, there were no "ifs."

Seeing the King's death, the scene instantly fell into chaos. The cavalrymen who saw this scene with their own eyes, after a brief moment of stagnation, drew their weapons at the first opportunity and rode their horses to surround them. The fastest was a heavy cavalry lance flashing with cold light, which was currently stabbing toward Allen. This was King Harlaus's captain of the guard. As a martial man, he did not know what had happened, but Harlaus's death made him immediately choose to take revenge.

Allen's left hand, wearing gauntlets, easily grabbed the lance that was attacking him, and then pulled it with force. The captain of the guard felt as if he were wrestling with a Giant Bear. In shock, he had to let go of the weapon in his hand; if he didn't, he felt he would definitely be pulled off his horse.

After Allen got the heavy cavalry lance, he backhanded it toward the enemy in front of him. The butt of the lance hit the captain of the guard's face directly. With just this one strike, the big man with a face full of flesh was knocked unconscious. Allen then turned his gaze to Edward and threw the cavalry lance in his hand toward him with force.

Even though Allen's throwing skills were poor, a distance of only a few meters was not enough for him to miss. Edward, who was physically weak and unable to wear plate armor, was directly pierced through the chest by this cavalry lance. According to his constitution, even if James treated him immediately, the possibility of surviving was extremely small.

All of this had only taken a dozen seconds. The surrounding cavalrymen gradually surrounded them. After waving his hand and smashing to death two "former colleagues" who were preparing to attack him, Allen let out a whistle and rode his horse toward Count Klauss's army.

The ten subordinates who had been following Allen all along drew their weapons and kept up with him, while constantly intercepting the fast horses charging toward Allen to buy more time for their lord's escape, but there were simply too many enemies, and soon they were submerged in the enemy's sea of waves.

Without the protection of his subordinates, some cavalry riding fast horses gradually approached Allen, and at this moment, hundreds of cavalrymen charged out from Count Klauss's army, led by the hot-tempered Harringoth; they were naturally going to meet Allen, while Count Klauss's infantry and crossbowmen were also advancing toward this side under the direction of the Flag.

But the distance between Allen and Harringoth was still too great, and the cavalry on both sides had by now gradually overtaken Allen, who was galloping, while simultaneously closing in on his position; these men's horses had higher explosive power and their equipment was lighter, making them the most elite scout cavalry under Harlaus.

Allen knew he could not be surrounded; even if he himself feared no attacks from all directions, the horse beneath him could not withstand it, and if he lost his mobility at this moment, the hundreds of heavy cavalry behind him could trample him to death just by riding over him, even if his physical constitution was several times that of an elite soldier, he could not withstand such an attack.

Thinking of this, Allen drove his horse directly toward the enemies on the left; at this moment, he only had a Mace and a Knight Shield in his hands, which was a great disadvantage in mounted combat, so the moment he made contact with the enemy, Allen threw the Shield out, knocking over a light cavalryman closest to him, then dodged to seize a lance thrusting at him, and the Mace in his right hand was also thrown out, knocking over another cavalryman who had caught up.

Then Allen no longer just ran blindly forward, but directly commanded his horse to engage in close-quarters combat with the light cavalry that had caught up; holding the lance, Allen relied on his powerful physical constitution to gain the upper hand in the fight against these light cavalrymen, and even when facing attacks from multiple enemies, Allen could rely on his heavy armor to tank some non-critical attacks, while every time he swung the lance, an enemy would be knocked off their horse and lie motionless on the ground, and in a short period of time, dozens of horses had already lost their masters.

At this time, the cavalry pursuing from behind slowly came to a halt; besides the fact that Harringoth's cavalry unit was already approaching them, in the setting sun, Allen's figure, covered in blood and revealing a faint white light, looked like a demon god in their eyes; one had to know that those dozens were all elites, and they could not help but wonder if they would be able to retreat unscathed when facing Allen, and such a thought was enough to make them stop their pursuit.

When Allen killed the last enemy beside him, he suddenly discovered that there were no more enemy figures around him, then he turned his horse's head to look at the "colleagues" who had stopped their pursuit not far away and laughed out loud; he knew that he had won, and his prestige would spread throughout Calradia after today.

Amidst his laughter, he urged his mount, which was already covered in sweat and foaming at the mouth, to walk slowly into Harringoth's cavalry ranks, treading through the sunset, and under the gaze of everyone on both sides, he arrived at the side of his cheap father.

This second clash, in the end, I still won.