The sun shone it’s light seductively into the woods, spilling waves of luminance on its dark green leaves. The wide, expansive woods were colored with a hint of lethargy, the afternoon heat silencing the tireless birds. However, a sudden flock of great tit birds leapt into the air, as if startled, agitating the peacefulness of the forest. The birds formed a cylindrical pillar, landing in a field not far from the woods.

On Light’s Year 791, 3rd Day of 8th Month, the sky of Narcissus County was as clear as crystal. Not one cloud was seen in the air, hinting at its appropriateness for a road trip. It wasn’t so for Prince O’Neil, however, he thought it to be intolerable.

“No! Not there!” Oscar winced and whined. “Oh Percy! Can you please be softer! Oh, not there! Higher!”

The Poison Doctor was a little impatient, the poor kid’s injury wasn’t that bad, but the damage to his viscera wasn’t easy to take care of.

“Your Highness, can you tell me where exactly feels bad? I feel like I’m wasting my precious herbs on the wrong spots. Besides, no massage can treat your pain right now.

Oscar scratched himself on his back, to be honest, he didn’t know where it was either.

“Fine! Just forget it alright?” The teenager stood up, somewhat distraught. A knight brought him his stallion knowingly.

Little Oscar mounted his horse while continuing to wince. The pain became worse whenever he moved.

Right now, he missed the massive four-poster bed in his mother’s bedroom. He remembered it was made of Ollier Red Pine, that was such a good material to fall asleep in. What he lacked was a good night’s sleep, he and his direct division had been in pursuit of their enemy for a whole day and night.

“What’s happening in front?” The Prince asked a regimental commander beside him.

“Not clear, sir, Division Commander Murat had led the Seventh Assault Team onward, maybe they’ll be the last pursuing troop, but we still may need the Eight or the Ninth Assault Team. I don’t know what else we can do to stop these Persians!”

Oscar glanced at the hill ahead of him and shook his head, “I don’t want to know how they are, because they will definitely lose their life here.”

“Yes sir! However, we would be paying a high price here as well. Those Persians weren’t choosing their escape route haphazardly, but specifically terrains that are difficult to form a cavalier formation. I don’t like admitting this, but from the few times we exchanged attacks, there’s still some distance between our knights and these guys, it’s the truth.”

The teenager patted his shoulders, “That’s right! But once the exhaustion and expiration of soldiers accumulate, they would give up eventually.”

“Hope so.” The regimental commander smiled wryly. Waiting for the enemies to crumble, that’s the last resort.

***************

Near noon, about 70 miles from the Traisen Front’s headquarters Werksan City, Fort Oak was in such a chaotic state, people would think enemy had already arrived at the city gate. The cavalry stopped outside the arched entrance to equip their horses with heavy armor. Even though the warhorses of Narcissus Knights had been heavily trained, some horses were still reluctant wearing a full set of armor at forty degrees*. The knights persuaded their partners patiently, so if you saw a knight talking to himself while stroke a horse’s mane, don’t be weirded out, that’s a warrior negotiating with his partner.

The officer who was in charge of the tools of war allowed access to the basement of the fort, he arranged for soldiers to retrieve bunches of arrows, coupled with new bows, to be handed over to each combat personnel according to their portion.

The archers in the Narcissus Knights were famed for their meticulousness, in addition to their accuracy. To achieve optimum accuracy, they had to have a good bow.

The first thing archers do after they receive their bows was to examine the tension of itw bowstring, usually that is enough to tell us what type of archers they are. Marksmen would usually tune their bows tight beyond normal bows, only they would need the arrow to have the power and speed to pierce armors. Those who tune their bows loose were the Bow Brigade, they need the arrows to soar, riding on the wind before gaining momentum at the down movement for an indiscriminate attack. The ones who had normal tension in the bowstring were definitely rangers, they need to switch between the two extremes.

The most important weapon of a lancer is, of course, a lance about three meters long. This type of weapons are usually heavy and expensive. The armory officer was clutching his heart at the soldiers choosing from his weapons until they decided on one. The easiest weapons to part with were the swords and axes. These weapons were the most vulnerable to destruction, because after each battle, these weapons would basically be considered broken. As long as the weapons were thrown into the smelter, it could be reforged with relatively similar quality. As the ax and sword warriors put it, “No matter its length, breadth, and thickness, as long as it’s a sharpened blade!”

The ax and sword warriors gathered on the field west to the fort. Their formation seem chaotic, but if one paid attention, they would notice the disorganized formation were clearly divided into teams. The warriors subconsciously clustered together into teams with differing number of people, some were less than a ten, some a dozen, and some even formed into teams with scores of soldiers. On the tumultuous battlefield, ax and sword warriors were grouped together as a supporting attack unit.

These knights who were examining their armors on the clearing were the best and second best cavalry units that were grouped into a regiment, they were enlisted secretly at Werksan City. They were a level higher than the divisions, at full number, they would have ten thousand people a column. The first thing they did at Fort Oak was to rest, after a long night of travelling, the soldiers were exhausted. Fort Oak didn’t have enough space to accommodate them, so a large number of knights slept in the hallways, wrapped in their clothes and blankets. Fortunately, the weather is warm, so the knights weren’t in discomfort.

Like all elite troops, these knights directly belonging to General Figg Andrew Tibotty understood, if they were dispatched to the battlefield, the battle must be in a pretty intense situation, so they prepared meticulously, filling up their warhorses’ food supply, oiled their weapons, prayed for their family and comrades. After the ritual was done, they could finally rest easier. They stared at their own leader. When the order to attack came, they would charge fearlessly toward their enemies.

General Figg Andrew Tibotty stood outside the arched door of one of the houses, facing a crowd of officers in the Front.

“Please communicate these orders to your subordinate!” Figg scanned at his high-level knights.

“One, we must converge with the Third Corps before 1000 hours on 4th Day of 8th Month, before the Persians retreated past the border; Second, on the same day, 1400 hours, get into position for attack; and three, the most important part, this is not a battle for decimation, we don’t need to take care of the enemies who keep trying to pester us. I want a clean-cut counterattack, our goal was to weaken the enemies’ power, so they know they didn’t waste their time coming here…”

Several officers in front of Figg snickered as a result of that.

“Alright, alright!” Figg motioned them to quieten. “That is all, any questions?”

“Yes sir!” An officer with a major general shoulder mark and Paladin medal answered. “General, how do we fight? Do we go all at once or do we go in order?”

“We will discuss that when we arrive at the battlefield, any other questions?” Figg raised his horsewhip.

“I have one!” Operations officer little Griffith stood up. “Aren’t you going to make some arrangements at the Red Tiger division? They are battling a group of abnormal enemies.”

Figg nodded, “That’s right, little Griffith, the Red Tiger is trying to swallow a huge piece of bone, bt that depends on their ability to digest them, I don’t foresee a huge issue. My little brother was joining the battle, so let’s see what he could do. Besides, if we help them, not only my brother would be embarrassed, Murat, that grumbler, would have our ears for days.”

Officers of Traisen Front shook their heads as soon as they heard the name Murat, they were pretty familiar with the infamous assault team leader. If there’s anything Murat caught onto, expect your ears to not experience silence for days to come.

“Griffith, you did remind me of something!” Figg stared at his young operations officer, thinking about his brother, “Let’s try this. Go to the Red Tiger division, if they’ve finished their preparations, invite my brother to the battlefield to have a look in my name.”

“Yes sir! But we have already lost contact with them for a whole day, their pursuit progressed really quickly. The scout said they were last seen disappearing into the mountains on the southwest of Werksan.”

“If that’s the case…” Figg pondered for a while. He didn’t want his brother to miss an exciting siege. “I’ll assign you a team of cavalry scouts. Follow the footsteps of the Red Tiger, I believe you’ll meet them.”

Griffith wanted to stick out his tongue, but he forced himself not to. Following a troop in the mountain range isn’t a fun thing to do.

“Yes sir! I will deliver your message to His Imperial Highness.” Griffith had to say it.

Figg nodded. “Well now… Let’s move out! The Persians are waiting for us!”

On a tall tower in Fort Oak, a bugler sounded his bugle, a low brassy sound fell onto the ground and the officers started giving out orders, the knights yelled, and the warhorses neighed. The whole fortress became like a pot of boiling water, everything seemed to be rolling around.

***************

In the evening, the quiet mountain were bathed in the burgundy sunset glow, the burning cloud creeped toward the western sky, the earth seemed to hush, everything sighed in the presence of a peaceful dusk, only the birds trolled the earth for food.

The knights in the mountains started the dinner fire in a remote mountain gap. Several fire pits threw smoke above into the sky, the smell of grilled meats and vegetable soups mixed into a fragrance the knights were drooling for.

It was a temporary station for the Red Tiger division, the soldiers who went out for the pursuit mission still hasn’t returned. The knights gathered beside the fire pits, anxious to wait for their news. The strength this Persian assassination team possesses had already exceeded the Narcissus Knight’s imagination. After a full day of intense battles, even though this group of enemies had only less than a score of people left, they were still hitting the knights really badly.

“They’re back!” The camp were riled up! The sentinel returned a good news.

“They are back! It’s the Thirteenth Assault Team!” The knights huddled up the camp entrance. They noticed even the servants of the teenage Prince came forward.

“They seem to be all here?”

“That’s right! They’re in luck! They didn’t lose anyone!”

The knights genuinely felt happy for their friends’ return, they had even brought back tremendous news. The Persians had no longer have any capacity to cover their tracks, no longer make traps and arrow pitfalls. They don’t even try to send people to ambush anymore, they probably focused solely on their escape!

“It’s time, isn’t it?”

“That’s right! We have to take the opportunity to take them down!”

“Yes! We have sacrificed a whole squad of knight for this! We need to avenge them!”

“We should attack now!”

A ripple of noise started from the crowd, they even starting banging on their shields or clutching their bows.

“Don’t mind them, these guys are just a bunch of straightforward lads.” Murat smiled at the Prince who leaned against the hammock.

“Of course! I like them like that.” Oscar nodded. “Are we really going all out on this? I don’t think it’s time. I feel like these Persians wouldn’t give up so easily, especially when their escape team consists of someone so important.”

“You feel it too?” Murat dragged over a small chair and sat beside the Prince.

“Your Imperial Highness, I think these guys haven’t given up yet. Don’t be fooled by their eagerness to break through, according to the reports I’ve received from the knight captain, they didn’t even see the few difficult fighters. I think they hid their best fighters, I even suspect they are going to launch a counterattack at us, one that is critically meaningful!”

“Counterattack?” Oscar didn’t understand. “You mean they have the strength to do so? Can they even pull it off?”

Murat shook his head. This was his biggest concern. “Sir, we don’t know how much manpower they have left. According to the trails left behind, we deduced about thirty to forty people, and after pursuing them for a day and a night, we’ve sent thirteen assault teams but we only took out half of them. What’s more frustrating was that no matter how I surround them, they always managed to find a way out.”

Oscar didn’t know how these forty-odd Persians could even fight back more than two thousand Narcissus Knights, he didn’t want to believe it, but it’s the truth.

“Could it be… that we were going about it the wrong way?” Oscar asked cautiously. He was regretting his volunteering of organizing the pursuit party.

“No, we did the right things.” Murat shook his head again. “There’s no way we could fully demonstrate our military prowess in this mountainous terrain, it would only limit our movements and create more opportunity for escape. The pursuit party had succeeded, we trailed behind the enemy and created distractions to them, and they still had to provide data and intelligence to the follow-up units. If it wasn’t for our continuous attacks, with these guys’ agility, they would’ve arrived home and in their own bed!”

“What do we do now? Their defense has lowered, but I dared not attack, am I not suitable as a commander?” Oscar started doubting his abilities. He kept asking the same question, why does he have a troop of two thousand, yet he couldn’t topple a small group of enemies close to crumbling?

“Please know, sir, that cautiousness and weakness are two different things, my lord, your hesitation came from a place of caution, and that is not wrong. If it wasn’t for your suggestion, I’m sure there would be much more deaths among our knights, and the enemy may already have escaped.” It seemed to be Murat’s first compliment to the Prince.

“Is it so?” Oscar’s expression softened as he received the praise.

“Of course.”

Oscar stared at Murat for a little while, he felt as if energy started accumulating in his body again. He climbed out of the hammock, his hand on the handle of his machete.

“Murat, my division commander, we must do something now!”

“Yes, sir!” Murat pulled the tent flap back with a smile, “I have already prepared for you, Your Imperial Highness!”

All the knights who didn’t participate in the assault teams gathered in front of the tent, their eyes wide open, their ears eager, as if afraid they might miss even a word.

“…Ranger Sergeant Gere Syston, Marksman Staff Sergeant Marius, Heavy Cavalry Captain Crody and First Lieutenant Sean, Infantry Staff Sergeant Roddiste, Staff Sergeant Boarson, Sergeant Rayleigh, Cavalry Division Commander Paladin Colonel Arcan…” Murat checked his list again after reading them out loud.

“So then, officers whose names have been called, fall out. You will be the Fourteenth Assault Team, I will be the commander, my deputy will be Colonel Arcan, His Imperial Highness the Prince and Lieutenant Colonel de Barry of Traisen Front will be overseeing the operation. Any questions?”

“No, sir!” The newly formed Fourteenth Assault Team answered.

“Good! You have five minutes to do a final check of your gears, we will leave after eight minutes. Move, move, move!” Murat clapped his hands together as he ordered.

The knights rushed into their own tents, knowing the Fourteenth Assault Team was basically the elite team from the division, gathering soldiers of all arms. It’s time for the final battle.

Murat dragged Oscar aside and squatted on the ground, he started sketching things Oscar wasn’t able to understand. The deputy, Paladin Colonel Arcan and Lieutenant Colonel of Traisen Front also joined in, forming a circle.

“We’re here.” Murat placed a pebble onto the sketch. “And the Persians are… here, somewhere, and moving toward the east of the mountain range.”

The Cavalry Division Commander Colonel Arcan understood the sketch perfectly, all these were explanation for the Prince.

“Your Highness, we have nine Blockage Teams surrounding the enemies,” Paladin Arcan drew a circle around the pebbles representing the Persians. “This doesn’t mean we have surrounded them though. To avoid unnecessary losses, their mission is just to limit the enemies’ movements and stop possible breakthroughs.”

“Then are we going to ask them to shrink the enclosure?” Oscar looked at the sketch, then at the Cavalry Commander of Red Tiger Division.

“Mm… I’m here for Division Commander Murat’s opinion.”

Murat shook his head after contemplated for a while. “No, all our actions were based on the safety of our men and the annihilation of our enemies. We don’t need to give them more stress when we are so close to winning, I’m worried they might make an unpredictable move in the frenzy of seeing our forces closing in.”

“That’s one possibility.” Paladin Arcan nodded, “Our men has yet to completely block off the whole mountainous area, if the Persians choose to breakthrough from a single direction, or if they break up into small teams and breakthrough separately, we won’t be able to wipe out every single one of them.”

“That’s right.” Lieutenant Colonel de Barry participated in several pursuit missions, but there’s a question he never fully understood, “Why haven’t they done so? Wouldn’t it be easier to breakthrough if they split up? Some of them would’ve escaped, at least.”

“No,” Oscar shook his head, “The Black Belt Warrior had been badly injured, I’m guessing he wasn’t even able to move his sword, furthermore, they have a very important lady in their ranks, that’s why they chose to breakthrough as a group, if they split up, these two would definitely be caught up.”

“So then… let’s move out!” Murat and Oscar exchanged glances.

“That’s right, let’s move out!” O’Neil Andrew Morisette raised his head in excitement.

***************

The sun withdrew its last ray of sunshine, plunging the sky into a dark maroon. As the avians landed to rest, nocturnal animals started to roam.

The mountains were peaceful and calm. No breeze, no pleasing noises. Wild bees were still fighting to gather their last drop of honey of the day. As they swarm past the warhorses from above, the unsettling sound of them buzzing frightened the extra sensitive warhorses, raising their hair. A populous amount of danger lurks within the woods, like the mudhole at the bottom of the century-old tree, one of the most dangerous animals in the Narcissus County, a grizzly bear! Even the fiercest of warriors wouldn’t disturb the beast on their patrols.

The bear had just finished a satisfying honey meal, it was even happy they bees attacked. This pests had just the right amount of stingers to relieve it of the itches it felt. The Red Tiger Division, Fourteenth Assault Team navigated carefully through the grizzly bear’s territory, they followed the tracks left behind by the scouts on tree trunks and stones. The knights stayed quiet in tacit agreement. They all knew, the final battlefield was becoming closer.

There were no roads in the mountains, the views were relatively similar as well, but it didn’t deter the knights, the scouts had left marks at every important turn, arrow signs made of wooden planks. Wherever they point toward, that would be the path to take.

Murat had hidden himself under the metal armor. He looked at the darkening sky, before spotting the fiery gleam from the depth of the forest.

The division commander raised his shield , followed by an arrow shooting out of the woods, planting itself on the shield. Murat removed the parchment attached on the end. It listed the newest activities their enemies have been doing. The division commander didn’t show any expression after he read it, he only waved his metal-covered arm. Wordlessly, the knights started increasing their speed.

Riding a horse in the woods was a very risky activity, even the best riders among the Narcissus Knights couldn’t go full throttle in it. Due to its unpredictability, no matter what training they have undergone, the warhorses couldn’t shake off their timidity, a boulder, or even a wild animal would give the horses a good scare, and the knights riding said horse wouldn’t have a good time either.

The Fourteenth Assault Team controlled their horses’ speed, they navigated across gullies, boulders and broken wood. The team of knights don’t have a strict formation, it’s almost as if they only cruise through the woods casually, but if one took notice, it would have been observed that the knights in the outer circle were mostly carrying melee weapons, while knights with ranged weapons mostly stick together.

Oscar didn’t have a terrific horseriding skill, even though his own Raytheon scoffs at the horses trotting in front of it, its master kept pulling it back.

“Will we be left behind if we keep on this speed?” Oscar was a little worried, but he still didn’t intend to let his stallion go at its full speed.

“Sir, you have a reason to worry, but this can’t be helped. We don’t need to chase after the knights who had practically lived half their lives on their horses, besides, you need to worry about your own safety.” Lieutenant Colonel de Barry of Traisen Front offered his consolation.

“Oh right, but this is depressing.” Oscar said as he stroked Raytheon’s silky black mane.

Lieutenant Colonel de Barry watched as the last of the assault team disappeared in the woods, and sighed. “To be honest, sir, this does feel kind of depressing. However, for maximum safety, we should go slow.”

“We can only do that, don’t we?” Oscar muttered in frustration. He didn’t realized he’s actually done quite well. To master horsemanship is not a simple task, moreover Oscar’s horse is famed for its unique temperament and difficulty to tame.

There were twelve Narcissus Knights who were guarding Oscar, including seven melee knights, three archers, a sniper, and a Paladin-to-be. They were scanning the surrounding cautiously, advancing in a tight formation. Every knight had been given a list of duties to perform, for example, as the rear melee unit, Sergeant Menke had to be constantly aware of the group’s back, so he frequently turned around to check.

A rope descended from the trees above, it lifted the hulking knight from his horse as Menke turned around yet again. Without a sound, Menke’s hanging body was rendered lifeless. His warhorse detected something wrong, but its dim-witted brain couldn’t comprehend what was happening without its master, so it marched on with the horses in front.

On the middle left were two agile melee knights, one of them wielded a broadsword, and the other had javelins filled his pouches on both sides of his horse. The two knights didn’t detect anything wrong, but they heard the blowguns that Persians always use when they ambush!

It’s too late! It was already too late when they turned their heads! Two poison needles about four centimeters long had embedded themselves into the two knights’ necks, releasing a neurotoxin that almost immediately paralyzed their nervous systems. The knights were still on their horses, not even their partners could tell they were losing their lives slowly.

“Sir, would it be possible for us to meet that impressive follower of yours?” Lieutenant Colonel de Barry suddenly thought about the mysterious man who called himself ‘Snowstorm’. He wasn’t sure if that was his real name or nickname.

“You haven’t heard of him?” Oscar was a little surprised. “That’s weird! I thought people would be scared away as soon as they heard his name! Kamille Rayen did!”

“Snowstorm? Is he really that famous?” de Barry considered for a bit, “I guess it makes sense, if it weren’t for his tracking skills, we would’ve lost them, you know? We actually only have one scout, the others were just communication officers who were in charge of passing the messages.”

“I know that,” Oscar nodded. He wasn’t surprised, those Persians wouldn’t be able to shake off the King of Assassins.

“Dory!” A scream broke out in the woods.

Oscar turned around on instinct and saw the outermost knight scraping by a tree branch, and suddenly fell from his horse with no foreboding injury! All the knights were stunned, but only for a moment!

“Enemi-” The first knight who yelled was also the first one to get hit, his throat was sliced open with a scimitar before he could finish.

Oscar spaced out, looking at the flying scimitar! His stallion started to spin in circles as soon as it felt a tension.

“Protect His Imperial Highness!”

“Tighten the formation!”

The Knights’ scream tore open the forest’s peacefulness, the sky seemed to darken, and time in this blood-strewn ground slowed down.

Oscar drew his machete and de Barry brandished his lance, still calm, even though they had no idea where the attacks came from.

The sniper located one of the attackers and shot an arrow, which hit and fell a humanoid shadow fully wrapped in leaves. To that, the forest growled!

The Persians’ roared suddenly, they appeared out of thin air surrounding the guarding formation! Oscar had forgotten to think, he only saw a sky full of flying blades and chains.

“This is the counterattack?” Oscar moaned, they really are specific! He had his machete up and stared at the direction of the attacks.

The Prince started to feel the difficulty handling the attacks when he knocked away the sixth chained sword. His eyes were not enough, because the attacks come from all directions. Oscar had no time to be distracted, but he could still hear his knights yell as they were hit by their killing blows.

“The most dangerous attacks come from the back!” Oscar had never forgotten Thirteen’s teachings, in this critical period, his senses could easily capture the silhouette that leapt from behind him.

His machete had been waiting, but the situation changed, two arrows flanked him with high speed, his opponents were experienced killers, they would not let their enemies take their time!

Oscar sighed in his heart, in that instant, he had thought about thousands of possible tactics, but none of them could get him away from the attack behind him.

The arrows had arrived, and the Prince’s machete slashed at them accurately, but Oscar immediately became confused, the critical attack from behind didn’t hit him as he predicted. However, the warmth of blood splattered upon his neck, seemingly ending everything he had ever known of.

“De Barry!” Oscar held the jousting champion who was about to fall. The champion had nothing on his hands, while his abdomen was embedded with a shamshir.

“De Barry…” The teenager had utterly zoned out, all these for him?

“Your Highness!” A silhouette of pure black appeared in the battlefield, and within a second, all sounds had muted. The battle had finished, miserable grunts had silenced. Snowstorm stood alone on a patch of grass, his sword glistening with the ruby glint of blood.

“Am I too late?”

“No! Dammit! Not the time for this!” Oscar knew danger had passed. As soon as Snowstorm appeared, no amount of danger would hurt Oscar. The teenager started screeching, “Snowstorm, help! Oh god! Help de Barry!”

“Your Highness…” De Barry’s face was pale as ash, his forehead was glimmering with drops of sweat as large as beans, he could feel his life force leaving his body, “Hoho, Your Imperial Highness… That idiot thought your back was vulnerable!”

“Yes! Yes!” Oscar grinned, but he knew his tears was streaming down his face, “Yes, my dear de Barry, you’re my final line of defense, I can’t let you go just like that.”

“Of course… Your Highness… I was the de Barry who won… five times in a row… even though… with only one pierce!” de Barry’s eyes started wavering as he stared at his lance.

Oscar followed his gaze, the lance had spiked through the sneaking Persian and nailed him on a tree.

“That’s right… that’s a… a very good pierce!” The Prince couldn’t help but shook as he held the dying Narcissus Knight in his arms.

Translator’s Notes:

1. China uses Celsius, so that’s 104°F.