Herald of Steel

When the Margraves army started to retreat, the Helvati took the act as - fleeing.

So in their joy and fury, the 10,000 men broke all semblance of formation and scattered into uncountable smaller groups of fives and tens, wishing to chase after their prey no matter the cost.

These men were like a raging bull, only seeing red and in their blind fury, they started not even properly to look where they were going.

They entered such a frenzy that even the numerous calls from Alexander to restore the frontline and stop this reckless chase went completely unheeded.

It was standard practice in most parts of the known world by now not to chase a fleeing enemy lest you get caught out of formation and be counterattacked.

And this was especially concerning now since Alexander could sense that the Margraves formation had not really been broken.

They were relatively intact and the discipline they displayed while running away in formation was enough to even surprise him a bit.

Ae could not help but half praise their commander's ability, 'To be able to so decisively disengage like that…. Not bad!'

But this also meant if the Helvati pushed them too far, they risked getting counterattacked.

However which of the native officers was going to listen to Alexander now?

Alexander did not even know where to find them. All of them had seemingly scattered to the wind, scouring the vast battlefield looking for their next prey.

"Dammit! I just hope I am overthinking!" Hence all Alexander could do was follow closely behind with his own contingent and shadow the ongoing chaos.

The silver lining in all of this was that he still had control over his own men.

They were led by good officers who kept discipline among the ranks and they also did not have that long bad blood between the Margraves.

So without the lure of good loot, the legionaries were happy to let the Helvati take the dangerous job of chasing after the enemy.

"Damn these barbarians! To think I would one day I would lose to….! My father should be rolling in his grave! Fuck!"

Lord Bakerfield currently had a very twisted face as he tried to make his horse go as fast as he could, while venting in an extremely crude manner that was much unbecoming of his status as a lord.

But right now he could care less about much pedantic details.

The elder man was far more concerned about what was going to happen to him now.

Were he to approach Lord Parker and beg such a young man for rescue?

Would that arrogant man even come down from his high perch?

The thought deeply wounded the senior lord, as scar upon scar appeared on his already lacerated heart.

He thought he could avenge his family with this battle and yet, he had lost. Chapter Your:

"It's all those damned riders' fault!" He bitter complained, clenching his teeth in anger.

He was still in shock over how he had been outflanked and he could not for the life of him figure out who those mysterious riders were or where they had appeared from.

If not for them, Lord Bakerfield felt confident he could have won, if not at least manage a tie.

But now….

The only solace he could take was that at least his entire army had not broken down, with each unit taking their destiny into their own hands.

He at least managed to get them to stick together.

Lord Bakerfield was suddenly broken out of his thoughts by the shout of a nearby nobleman, who rode up to him to ask,

"My lord, those brutes are constantly attacking our rear! We cannot keep on going like this! Order a counterattack! These barbarians are taking us too lightly!"

And at the reminder of these words, Lord Bakerfield also turned his head around to look at his back and indeed found the Helvati to be madly chasing after them with not an iota of order or discipline.

But this unwise move had also allowed them to inflict quite a bit of casualty on the Margraves, to the point Lord Bakerfield risked his army spontaneously disintegrating.

If he wanted to keep his forces intact until he reached Lord Parker, the elder lord knew he had to deal with his rapid beast that was chasing them.

"But what about Alexander? I do not see his men here! What if he is waiting for us to stop?"

Lord Bakerfield's only concern that stopped him from counterattacking the Helvati and possibly destroying them was the absence of that telltale blue uniform.

What if they were waiting in ambush?

"Or those riders!" Another much younger nobleman who was close to the two chimed to add to Lord Bakerfield's fears, his face appearing bleak and desolate.

"....." And this dilemma put the trio in a very difficult situation.

They could not stop in fear of their being flanked by the rest of the enemy, but they also could not keep on going because they were bleeding too much, if this continued, they might break before they made it.

"Get Bernard! Have his unit lead a rear guard!" So Lord Bakerfield ultimately made this decision.

And it produced a variety of mixed emotions among the other two.

Of course, it did not take a genius to understand what this order meant.

Lord Bakerfield basically wanted to throw Lord Bernard under the bus to save the rest of his force.

That was what being a rear guard typically meant.

And it was especially true here, for it was very unlikely that the natives were looking to take prisoners here.

Lord Bakerfield certainly had no intention to take the natives prisoners when he started the battle.

But the problem here was Lord Bernard was not a nobody, as reminded by the two noblemen beside Lord Bakerfield.

"My… my lord, Lord Bernard… what about his father? Would it not be better to have someone more competent to lead the rear guard?"

"That's right! We already have enough enemies. Lord Bakerfield… there is no need for you to antagonize the elder. Let me take the post! I am ten times better than him anyway!"

But Lord Bakerfield was having none of it, angrying spitting out in disgust,

"Bah! If not for useless brat would we even be in this postion? If he had even the skills of a pig, he could have destroyed Alexander before things had gotten to this point!"

The elder nobleman was of the mind that Lord Bernard had wasted multiple golden opportunities to get rid of Alexander when he was still in Caira with only 5,000 men, and it was that which had ultimately led to the later tragedies.

It seemed deep inside, the bitter old man blamed Lord Bernard partly for his family's misfortunes.

Hence he turned to his advisors cum colleagues, and without giving them any time to retort, announced in a firm, didactic voice,

"Enough! I have made my decision! Stop wasting time. Bernard will lead the 2,000 men under him! This is a military order from his commander. If Elder Berand has a problem about his son....

he can come directly see me!"

"..." By that point, the two noblemen could only silently nod and obey, trying hard not to discourteously purse their lips in front of the elder

It was only after they were ear shot away from Lord Bakerfield that one of the noblemen self-deprecating chuckled to the other, "Well, look at it this way… at least Lord Bernard dying is much better than you. We will not lose a good officer this way!"

His colleague however did not take the joke lightly and after sending a subtle glare, sullenly chimed, "...You go with Lord Bakerfield. I will stay here and help Bernard!"

"...Yo.. You!" The declaration send the former nobleman into a slight shock.

But the reason for the decision came quickly,

"I cannot agree with Lord Bakerfield's decision. The Margraves family is already crumbling! This is not the time for personal grudges. If Bernard were to die… no, to be killed like this, the elder will…. *Sigh*, I do not wish to see us spill more blood!"

The words were uttered with altruistism, the gentle swaying of the man's head giving much gravitas to them.

However that hardly seemed to be a good reason for his partner, whose eyes suddenly turned sharp and his voice very harsh,

"Bah! What are you talking about? Killed? Who said killed? Lord Bernard was ordered by the army commander to hold the line! How dare you say Lord Bakerfield killed him?

Watch you tongue here brat! As for Elder Bernard's reaction… this is war, people die! If he cannot accept this reality then… the Margraves family has lasted for hundreds of years and will it last for hundreds of years more… with or without him!"

"....." The younger nobleman initially only stayed silent at this outburst, not arguing, but also not changing his decision, as he repeated

"You go! I will stay!"

And then quickly added without giving his older colleague a chance to argue,

"There is no problem here. Lord Bakerfield did not forbid me from joining the rear guards. He only said that Bernard should lead the rear guard. And I cannot let my cousin just die like that!"

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