Chapter 82 Promoting to an officer on the frontline
Translator: Tchu
Editor: Kidyeon
Seeing the pretty boy finally close his mouth, Shaar smiled satisfactorily and pulled the dagger a few inches back. Noticing the magnificent set of armor on the wall, he went closer and took it down – the armor seemed extremely beautiful and the craftsmanship was complex. However, when he held it in his hand, the weight was incredible light and gave Shaar a small surprise. Throwing the armor in front of Bonfret, Shaar commanded: “Put on the armor! Sir! Humph, from now on, I will personally ‘protect’ you! I would to like to ask the honored Sir Knight to immediately put on the armor. We need you to go out and strengthen the morale of the troops!”
Moments later, Shaar came out of the tent with Bonfret and casually cleaned the milk from his face. Nonetheless, there were still places that weren’t cleaned properly and were still white. Bonfret put on his armor, but didn’t have any time to wear a robe inside and his white skin was exposed. Shaar followed closely behind him with fierce looking eyes, and pushed with out of the tent while shouting: “Lord Observer has arrived!!”
Outside of the tent, all of the attendants that Bonfret had brought with him were lying on the ground knocked out. Sarbar, who was holding a clawed hammer, and Kato, were standing at the entrance waiting.
Seeing all his attendants lying unconscious on the ground, desperation could be clearly seen on Bonfret’s face. When he gave Shaar a hateful look, Shaar returned a fierce stare, and the pretty boy nearly peed his pants before immediately averting his eyes.
“You see, I told you this kid has guts! Hahahaha!” Sarbar patted the recently healed Kato who had only a dagger in his hand. Kato, whose shoulder was slapped so strong that it dropped, smiled with squinted eyes: “Not bad, this kid really has the courage to do things others wouldn’t dare to. Hehe……Don’t you think his spirit slightly resembles Sylvia……”
Once he mentioned that name “Sylvia”, Sarbar’s body immediately gave of a small wave with his arm, and lowered his voice while saying: “Ah, stop mentioning that name. You know that the general, he ……”
“What are you so scared of, the general can’t hear us now. Humph, if Sylvia was still here, the situation wouldn’t be such a mess……”
When Shaar saw Sarbar and Kato, he froze a moment before the three of them looked at each other while nodding. Together, they “escorted” Bonfret, and walked towards the camp entrance.
When they arrived in front of the camp entrance, the garrison officer had already assembled all of the officers inside of the camp. The officers of the logistic troops and of the auxiliary soldiers had all received the message and had gathered here.
Before his eyes, the routed troops who managed to survived were filling the surroundings. Seeing the miserable appearance of the formally defeated soldiers, Bonfret’s legs began to go soft. Noticing his hesitation, Shaar gently kicked him from behind. Although he hid his movement, the force was quite strong and it immediately pushed Bonfret several steps forwards.
Using this opportunity, Shaar shouted with a loud voice: “Attention, the Lord Observer will give his orders now!!”
If it was according to Bonfret’s desire, right now he would immediately order a retreat without further delay, and take the fastest horse to flee toward the Empire at the maximum speed. However, he was not a fool. Being able to receive the love of the crown prince in the Royal Capital couldn’t be achieved without a well thought out plan. He knew that if he dared to give such an order right now, the thug standing next to him who was radiating murderous intent would probably stab him with that knife…..
Coughing for a moment, Bonfret said with a trembling voice: “Ehm, yes, ehm ……Order, I give the order….”
Taking a glance at Shaar, Bonfret immediately cleared his throat when he saw Shaar giving him a cold laugh: “Pass to order! The army, the army will……will be on high alert! Also……Also send search teams and scout for the enemy’s trail in all directions and find routed soldiers! Do a headcount, furthermore…furthermore…..”
In fact, when he was donning his armor a few minutes ago, Shaar told him what to say. However, from all the panic, he had actually forgotten most of it. However, Bonfret wasn’t stupid and when he noticed that the expression of that fellow beside him getting uglier and uglier as he continued stuttering, he suddenly got an idea. Pointing at Shaar, he proclaimed loudly: “With my authority as military special adviser I appoint him as my replacement for giving orders! And……his words will be seen as my words from now on……”
Finishing his order, Bonfret trembled in the cold wind and looked at Shaar with pitiful eyes.
Shaar didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, however all the officers were looking at him from below. Bracing himself, he gave off a shout while putting on an authoritative air.
In any case, the main force had already marched north. Right now, there was mostly just auxiliary and logistics troops from the 13th Army remaining in the camp, forming a jumbled army. Shaar, who was a Praetorian Guard of the general, didn’t have a low status in their eyes. Moreover, this time he rendered a meritorious service while being wounded in action. For these past days, Kato spread his tale throughout the whole camp and everybody had already recognized that he would soon be a rising star. Because of this, there weren’t a lot of unexpected reactions from the crowd.
Seeing that there were no complaints, Shaar sighed in his heart and talked with a loud voice while exuding a calm demeanor on the surface: “Alright! The honorable Sir Knight is still ill, and I will act as a temporary replacement for the military adviser……”
Pointing at the garrison officer, Shaar said with a loud voice: “Eh……Slate? Yes, your name was Slate, right?”
The garrison officer smiled and nod.
“Very well! Slate, my friend, you are responsible for all of the wounded soldiers! Organize all soldiers in auxiliary barracks, as well as the logistic troops. Take at least a thousand men, and prepare them for the battle. Provide them with equipment for the fight, and increase their combat effectiveness as much as possible. Sarbar!”
Sarbar immediately straightened his back: “Here!”
“Sarbar, you are responsible for choosing a hundred men that can ride horses! If I remember correctly, there are more than hundred horses in the logistic camp, right?”
“Ah, if add the horses responsible for pulling the carts, there should be enough to scrape together two hundred of them.”
“Alright! Then you can add a bit more……You are responsible for selecting two hundred men! No matter if it’s for patrols or as combat strength during the attack, the cavalry is essential and we need as many as possible. Also, Kato! I know that you are injured, but I need you to temporarily take over control of the logistic battalion and the supplies for now! Your work will be burdensome, but I need you to settle all the wounded soldiers ……Also, organize the manpower to reinforce the fortification! See if the quartermaster has anything we can use, and take everything!”
Subsequently, Shaar immediately gave another five orders. Although it was his first time giving commands, and he was a bit nervous in his mind, he simply steeled his heart in the end. In any case, all these things were written in the books of the old man, and even his aura while giving these orders was extremely majestic.
Although the men here were not the combat troops, they were still all from the 13th Army and were highly disciplined. After receiving their orders, no one refuted them and immediately started to follow them.
Shaar grabbed Kato and whispered: “I will let you take care of this ass selling knight. Watch over him with care and don’t let him run away ……We can’t allow him to run right now. Once he runs away, perhaps our brothers of the 13th Army won’t be affected, but these routed troops will immediately fall into panic……”
Kato nodded and stared fiercely at Bonfret: “Relax, I will watch over Sir Knight tightly – like a kidnapper.”
The 13th Army was indeed worthy of being the iron army of the empire. Once they started to get into action, they immediately displayed their powerful efficiency.
In less than two hours, the statistical work was already completed.
From the soldiers that were left behind to protect the camp, to all those that were reassigned to various places, there were a total of 1500 combat soldiers, which included more than 200 archers. When Sarbar gathered all the horses from the logistics camp, he had collected about 300 horses. However, only one-third was genuine warhorses. Fighting cavalrymen were actually not that difficult, since the 13th Army was a cavalry unit. Even if they were auxiliary soldiers, their horse-riding skill was quite proficient, and Sarbar quickly collected more than 200 cavalrymen.
Kato took over the control of the military supplies and took all the reserve commodities from the warehouse. He unexpectedly found more than 300 sets of heavily armored infantry equipment, and 60 sets of heavily armored cavalry equipment. Without the slightest hesitations, Shaar ordered them to strip the armor off the heavy cavalry equipment, and use it as heavy infantry armor. With this, they reluctantly assembled 400 heavily armored infantrymen.
This approach gave Sarbar some doubts, since this sturdy fellow actually hoped to command a heavy armored cavalry unit, even if it was a trivial 60 riders. However, Shaar’s explanation immediately made Sarbar accept his decision.
“Although a heavy armored cavalry unit is powerful, if we can’t assemble a sufficient number ,and only have a dozens of riders, we will be unable to create an impact force during the charge. Therefore, we might as well not create one at all! It would be better for the infantry to wear heavy armors. After all, we only have a small amount of cavalrymen, and they will mainly be used to coordinate the search, and for harassment ……Wearing heavy armor will affect their mobility instead.”
After listened to the explanation, Sarbar immediately nodded in approval and simultaneously patted Kato while talking loudly with a smile: “You see, like I said! This kid really resembles Sylvia!”
“Shut up, you stupid giant! Did you forget the general’s order?!”
Shaar was suddenly stunned and looked at his two companions: “Hm ……it’s the second time I’ve heard this name Sylvia. The first time, l heard it when I was at the general’s side……Is that person also one who’s in the 13th Army? How come I haven’t seen that person yet?”
Both Sarbar and Kato looked at each other and immediately closed Shaar’s mouth at the same time as looking suspiciously around with their heads.
After waiting for a while, Kato turned his head and smiled bitterly while whispering: “This…it’s better that you don’t ask. Sylvia, this name, among us Praetorian Guards, it’s a taboo to mention it……The general doesn’t allow us to mention this name. Every time it’s mentioned, the general’s rage is brutal.”