Free Web NovelChapter 139: Chapter 131: Second Brother
"Sir, everything is basically ready," said Viscount Leo.
"Those mules from before were a huge help. If it’s as you said, Sir, and there are many more in Sirich City, then my journey ahead will be much easier," said Viscount Fuman.
Marquis Oscillate, due to their family ties, would usually send frontline battle reports directly to Valentino. Since Valentino happened to be at Qimo Fortress, Robson was able to take advantage of this convenience.
Just as the Marquis had predicted, the moment the fortress garrisons on the front line made a move, the entire Beastman Army reacted in concert.
Once human Soldiers were in the open field, having lost the geographical advantage of their walls, defending against the Beastmen’s overwhelming numbers became much harder.
As long as the Beastmen’s Wolf Cavalry could tie them down and prevent the human nobles’ Soldiers from moving freely, the goblins and Kobolds would slowly close in, and the Human Corps would gradually be whittled down.
This was not an uncommon situation. All across the Siriel Defense Line, especially for the corps heading to Deville City, most had encountered something similar.
If the Marquis hadn’t directly ordered everyone to march for Deville City and discuss rescuing the Prince later, the losses would likely have been even greater.
After all, the Beastman Corps currently blockading O’Neil Fortress was not to be trifled with.
It was foreseeable that the entire Western Front would soon face a major crisis, so the ability to flee would become exceptionally important.
Right now, both Viscount Fuman and Robson placed a particularly high value on that herd of mules.
After all, if the situation truly spiraled out of control, being able to outrun your allies was a skill in itself.
Of course, this was all based on worst-case scenarios.
For now, at least, if the Beastmen wanted to cause a complete collapse of the human armies on the front line, they still needed to break through the three major cities of the Western Front: Sirich, Deville, and Hanswick.
"Mm, and what about our troops’ preparations?" Robson asked, looking at Bo Yang behind him.
"The First, Second, and Third Regiments are ready. The newly formed Fourth and Fifth Regiments are still a bit busy, but by the time we’ve all moved out, they should be about done.
But... are we really taking this thing with us?" Bo Yang had a strange look on his face as he pointed to a behemoth behind him. freewebnøvel.coɱ
It was Lord Robson’s prized possession, the Qimo Fortress defensive cannon.
That’s right. Robson, unwilling to let anything go to waste, had decided to bring the thing along.
Normally, such a weapon would be destroyed on the spot. The fighting on the front lines was tense, and the Frank Kingdom had been on the back foot in the early stages. Not to mention, engineers who knew how to disassemble a Magic Crystal Cannon were highly skilled technicians, of which the Frank Kingdom had very few.
But for some unknown reason, the Beastmen opposite them had been slow to act, only recently starting to make moves.
Conveniently, Robson also knew a little about Magic Crystal Cannons.
It was just a bit troublesome, as it required a large number of mules to pull and was difficult to coordinate.
He happened to have brought some Extraordinary Cavalry with him, and Robson had a flash of inspiration: he would borrow them to pull the cannon.
At first, even with Valentino’s orders, these Extraordinary Knights were quite reluctant.
But under the temptation of a few of Robson’s Gold Coins, they all accepted the task with beaming smiles.
’The money isn’t important,’ they thought. ’The main thing is giving our mounts a good workout.’
"Alright, let’s move out," Robson said, looking at Huang Na on his shoulder and nodding his command.
Bo Yang accepted the order and went to summon the messengers.
Soon, the sound of horns signaling the advance spread throughout the army. Led by the First Regiment, the entire force began to move slowly.
.....
The distance from Qimo Fortress to Sirich City wasn’t actually that far. In Robson’s previous life, it would have been like the distance between two large county seats.
Most importantly, Robson had connections in high places.
Not just Valentino, but also Viscount Luke, who had been arranged in advance.
Following instructions from Valentino, Sirich City had even specially allocated a few more ships at Blue Scale Port. And as it happened, the person in charge of Blue Scale Port was none other than Viscount Luke.
One could only say that the world was never short of coincidences.
Thanks to this miraculous arrangement, combined with Robson’s already widespread fame, his march was completely unopposed.
He even took a batch of emergency grain that had been stockpiled at Blue Scale Port.
In any case, once Robson’s army passed through, Blue Scale Port was set to be burned down. After all, the port and its ships couldn’t be left for the pursuing Beastmen to use.
This was a tactic to hinder the enemy, though in a world filled with Magic, it was unrealistic to expect it to stop the Beastman Army.
For one thing, the enemy could just send a group of Mages to freeze the river or build a bridge on the spot to cross it.
Although this world had no formalized discipline of Earth and Wood Mages, that didn’t mean no one had ever used such methods. If a simple obstacle like this could stop the Beastman Army, they would have been wiped out by the first Knight King long ago.
Although Valentino had said there was no rush, Robson maintained a normal marching speed just to be safe.
According to Valentino, the troops designated for the field battle outside the city had already been selected and were ready in Sirich City.
Under Marquis Oscillate’s arrangement, Valentino had of course faced the danger without fear and gloriously accepted the difficult mission of defending the city.
As someone working under Count Valentino, Robson naturally followed the Earl’s lead.
But no one knew when the Beastmen behind them would catch up.
After Robson led the First Regiment through Blue Scale Port, he started encountering more and more nobles.
The vast majority of these people were looking to curry favor.
After all, Robson’s fame had spread far and wide recently. The original feat of defeating twenty thousand Beastmen had become more and more exaggerated with each telling.
Now, in some people’s mouths, if it weren’t for Robson’s decisive battle, the entire Western Front would be in a much worse state, perhaps even pushed back all the way to Sirich City.
Of course, this was just talk. Anyone who actually believed it wasn’t capable of much thinking on their own.
But it was an undisputed fact that while everyone else was being pushed back by the Beastmen, Robson had single-handedly crushed a Beastman army.
And when they looked at Robson’s army, and then back at their own...
The elite quality of an army wasn’t always obvious, but it became clear as day during a march.
An army that marched in neat, silent formations, advancing and retreating according to orders, was simply more reliable than a noisy, disorderly one.
Of course, these nobles’ armies were also much stronger than they had been at the start. After so many days, their Soldiers had been tempered by battle and could at least be considered veterans. freewёbnoνel.com
The Frank Kingdom’s war machine was slowly starting to run properly.
As Robson marched, people constantly came to visit and offer him gifts. In wartime, strength was the ultimate currency. In the future, they would all be comrades on the same battlefield. Making a good impression now might mean getting a helping hand when they needed it later.
Robson was happy to see it. In any case, he could accept the gifts offered as a sign of respect.
’If they run into trouble in the future, I wouldn’t mind lending a hand. After all, as nobles, they’re all Extraordinary, so they must be useful for something. It would be even better if I could use this opportunity to bluff a few of them into letting me absorb their troops.’ The two biggest things worrying Robson right now were his army’s numbers and the future problem of rations.
But what Robson never expected was that among the crowd of strangers trying to claim a connection, a real relative would actually appear.
While making camp that night, a guard came to Robson’s tent and told him that a man named Fioro Odogin, claiming to be an old acquaintance of Robson, had come to visit.
