Raising the Princess to Overcome Death Chapter 16
16. The Engagement – The Skirmish**
Lena, Leo, soldiers, and warriors left Avril Castle fully armed.
The sound of horns and drums echoed from the distant castle. Leo looked back, feeling a strange sense of emotion, and Lena beside him wore a wistful expression.
“When do you think we’ll be able to return?”
“I don’t know...”
The war was likely to last until at least summer. The end was still unknown.
The warriors and soldiers marched for a month under the guidance of the knight leading them.
Marching was incredibly hard. Despite the chilly weather, the heavily equipped soldiers were drenched in sweat, and everyone's feet were swollen.
When night fell, the march halted, and they were given a late dinner and rest. The soldiers discarded their gear and limped to receive their food.
“Ahhh, my feet are killing me.”
“I told you not to drag your feet.”
Lena’s feet were a mess with blisters.
It wasn’t just Lena; even the warriors without marching experience sat down groaning.
Most of the warriors popped their blisters themselves, but Leo brought boiling water from the kitchen.
“Give me your feet.”
He soaked Lena’s feet in the hot water.
Soaking blisters in hot water for a while caused them to burst on their own. It was much more hygienic than popping them directly and also helped soothe tired feet.
In the military, they used to pierce blisters with a needle and thread to keep the thread in, allowing it to dry slowly. It was a way to deal with blisters with minimal punctures, but without a needle, he chose the next best option.
“Ahh... Now I feel alive again. Leo, how come you’re perfectly fine?”
“You get blisters when you drag your feet out of exhaustion. Walk steadily, and you won’t get blisters.”
He had experience from the army. By the time you’re a sergeant in the Korean army, you rarely get blisters.
“Stay like that for a bit. I’ll go set up the tent.”
Leo left Lena and went to fetch the tent.
At night, the soldiers unloaded tents from the following wagons to sleep in. It was just setting up a large, thick cloth with tree branches to sleep under.
Each tent was meant to hold three people, but Lena and Leo used one for just the two of them. Soldiers didn’t stay with warriors, and the Ainar tribe members knew of their relationship and didn’t intrude.
Lena limped into the tent. Lying side by side to relieve their fatigue, Lena turned over.
“Lying like this, it already feels like we’re married.”
“I wouldn’t want to live in a place like this, but for a newlywed house, this might be overkill?”
They exchanged clear laughter.
Lena looked at Leo with deep affection.
He looked lovely under the moonlight. He was the man who followed her to the battlefield.
He took care of her so well during the march... she liked Leo even more than before.
“Leo, do you want to?”
“Want to what?”
“You know what.”
“Do you really want to in this filthy state without even washing?”
Lena pouted.
“Hey, that’s no fun. They say men go crazy when a woman says that to them.”
Leo found her pouting face adorable and flicked her forehead.
“Ow! Do you want to die?”
“Let’s just sleep. I’m exhausted.”
“What kind of man are you? You’re so weak. Can you even get it up? My life is completely ruined, marrying a eunuch.”
“If you keep provoking me, I won’t let it slide.”
“What? What will you do?”
“Seriously, what’s wrong with you today? Did you lick hellebore?”
Hellebore was used for medicinal baths. Her father had told her it was good for soothing legs tired from long marches, so they had brought plenty.
But the juice squeezed from hellebore was also used as an aphrodisiac.
“No, I didn’t!”
They bickered playfully through the night.
After a month of marching, we arrived in a small town.
But this was only a halfway point. The soldiers from Avril Castle joined forces with troops from other places and began marching again.
Now it was a large-scale force, with the end of the line not visible even when looking back.
As the troop size grew, temporary commanders were assigned to lead each unit. The warriors of the Ainar tribe were grouped into a single unit under a centurion’s command.
The centurion, with a stern expression, habitually sniffed through his upturned nose. On the first night of camp, he approached Lena and Leo to nitpick.
“Why do you two get a tent to yourselves? Are you here for a cozy playdate?”
Lena was flustered and didn’t know what to do, but Leo knew how to handle this.
“I’m sorry. We’re engaged... I apologize for breaking the rules.”
He discreetly signaled to the centurion, revealing a silver coin.
“Is that so? Well, then, it wouldn’t be right for another warrior to intrude. Got it.”
The centurion pretended to understand and left.
Bribery was useful even in the military. Spending money this way could solve minor inconveniences. Soon, he planned to give the centurion a few more silver coins to avoid further trouble.
Feeling satisfied with the effective use of his starting funds and back-alley rules, Leo watched as Lena, unaware of the bribe, expressed her relief.
“Wow? I thought we were in big trouble, but he just let it slide? Lucky us.”
“Indeed. He’s a considerate man.”
Leo played along.
He wished she would remain ignorant of such dirty realities for a long time.
After a long march, we arrived at the front lines. It had been two months since leaving Avril Castle, but the fighting had already been ongoing for a month.
From what his father told him, the war here was very different from what Leo knew.
In his knowledge, wars in such eras involved hundreds of soldiers in dense formations, engaging in massive battles.
But it wasn’t like that here.
Because of the strategic weapons known as ‘mages.’
There were only about two to three hundred mages across the entire continent, but even a few could influence the outcome of a battle.
Forming dense formations in front of mages capable of large-scale slaughter was foolish, so the army was broken into smaller units to avoid the concentration of mage firepower.
Soldiers were grouped into squads of ten, each led by a squad leader. Hundreds or thousands of such squads spread widely across the battlefield, pushing the front lines.
It was reminiscent of modern guerrilla warfare.
Lena and Leo were assigned to one squad.
Six Ainar tribe members, three soldiers, and a ten-man squad leader were grouped into one unit. The squad leader skipped introductions and quickly organized the squad.
“We’re heading to the right ridge. Have you all received your rations?”
After checking their equipment, our squad set off immediately.
The tense front line pushed one step further south. The Kingdom of Astin managed to reinforce its troops before the Kingdom of Velita, forcing the enemy to give up some hills.
But such big-picture strategies were known only to the generals, while the frontline squads clashed according to orders.
Lena and Leo’s squad began their desperate struggle to survive.
“Leo! Behind you!”
Leo twisted his body at Lena’s warning, swinging his sword. The fingers of the enemy soldier trying to attack him from behind scattered to the ground.
Leo left the fingerless soldier and narrowly dodged the sword thrust from the opponent he was facing. His sword then sliced cleanly through the enemy’s neck.
[ Achievement: Ten Soldiers - You become stronger when fighting soldiers. ]
Was it already the tenth?
He hadn’t been counting. Thanks to the achievement, he easily dealt with the fingerless soldier.
As the battle ended, the squad leader looked at Lena and Leo with admiration.
“You fight like knights. Impressive.”
They had repelled a combined attack from two enemy squads. Six from their squad had died, but only a few of the enemies escaped.
However, there were too many bodies to celebrate. The four survivors laid their fallen comrades neatly and bowed in respect.
They placed small flags next to the dead and left. A following squad with more time would handle the bodies.
With only four members left, they needed to join another squad quickly. They couldn’t afford to linger and risk encountering the enemy again.
“Lena, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. You fought well.”
Lena looked a bit sad. She tried to stay cheerful, but the death of her tribe members weighed on her.
Frequent skirmishes that left emotional scars and bodies behind occurred almost daily. Lena and Leo changed squads several times, and the squad leader they first met died.
Spring ended, and the hot summer began.
As the foliage thickened, reducing visibility, each squad was on high alert. This was an environment knights favored.
With infantry unable to form dense formations and squads scattered, knights ran rampant in this world’s battlefield.
Even the knightly orders couldn’t fully utilize cavalry due to mages. When cavalry or several squads formed units of dozens, mages were immediately dispatched.
Thus, knights roamed the dense underbrush in pairs or threes, annihilating squads. To them, ten ordinary soldiers were easy prey.
“There they are.”
Two knights stealthily observed the squad ahead.
“Senior, there are quite a few of them.”
“Don’t whine about just a dozen or so.”
The female knight tied her red hair back again. The lightly armored young knight, still nervous, kept watching the squad ahead.
“There are two with two-handed swords... Could they be knights?”
“They’re too young to be knights. No squad would have two knights. Let’s go.”
The young knight, newly joined, didn’t yet know his own strength. He tended to cower when he saw numbers, not understanding how formidable a knight could be against ordinary soldiers.
The female knight reassured her junior and rushed out through the underbrush.
“Knights!”
A squad member shouted as another ran in the opposite direction.
A messenger.
Upon spotting knights, a squad would immediately call for nearby units, hoping for their own knight’s assistance.
The male and female knights charged without hesitation.
“Hold out! Reinforcements are coming!”
Lena and Leo stepped forward to face the male knight.
The squad leader trusted Lena and Leo, assigning five men to the male knight. He took the remaining ten to fend off the female knight.
The female knight quickly cut down seven, but Leo’s side had only lost two.
“Hey! You idiot! It’s just five men, what’s taking so long!”
“...Senior Katrina! These guys are no joke.”
Katrina!
Leo’s eyes widened.
An unforgettable name. His sword grew sharper with a murderous intent.
“There they are! Charge!”
At that moment, a squad came to support them.
Katrina grew anxious. If they delayed any longer, more squads might arrive. They needed to quickly annihilate the squad and hide, but her partner was slow.
She shouted as she cut down another soldier.
“Stop fooling around!”
“I’m not fooling around! Ugh!”
Lena’s sword grazed the knight’s head.
As the knight bent backward to avoid the sword, another soldier seized the opportunity to leap and strike down.
“You bastard!”
The knight spun while leaning back, slashing the leaping soldier’s abdomen.
As flesh flew, Leo stabbed the off-balance knight in the thigh. The knight fell.
“Hiya!”
Lena shouted, aiming for his chest, but the knight twisted and kicked Lena’s arm just before her sword struck.
The sword narrowly missed and hit the ground.
Sensing his partner’s danger, Katrina urgently shouted.
“Deroth!”
Leo didn’t miss the opportunity and struck down with his sword.
It was blocked once, but Leo put his weight into it and struck again. The sword went through without resistance. The knight named Deroth groaned and stopped moving.
[ Achievement: One Knight - You become stronger when fighting knights. ]
He had taken down his first knight. Though weaker than his father, it wasn’t easy even with five men. Lena and Leo paused to catch their breath and looked back.
The female knight, enraged, was fiercely swinging her sword. She seemed determined to finish quickly, disregarding her breathing.
In the end, Katrina slaughtered the squad, suffering several cuts. Her red hair fell loose.
As Katrina spat and tied her hair again, two soldiers approached.
“Are you Katrina?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
Leo grinned. He felt a rush of emotion facing the knight who had slaughtered two squads.
Finally! He met the one who had killed Lena in the previous scenario. This must be around the time Lena had died on that hot summer day.
He had seen the name Katrina in the ending but didn’t expect to meet her again.
Katrina tilted her head and asked.
“Did you kill Deroth, or did she?”
Blood dripped from her extended sword. Lena must have been struck by this sword last time.
“I did!”
Leo charged, roaring with rage.