Chapter 36: Reynold's Crisis
Among the five Barker brothers, Barker, Anko, Boone, and Gates had all reached level nine, granting them Saint-level strength when transformed. The third brother, Black Shark, was just one step away and could break through at any moment. Of the five, Barker, Gates, and Black Shark had already comprehended the principle of "lifting heavy as light."
"Once my younger brother's wedding is over, we'll set out for the Chaos Territory. With the five Barker brothers helping, things will be much simpler." Linley's eyes gleamed with an unreadable light.
He was already growing impatient for the future life in the Chaos Territory, where he would face the Radiant Church head-on.
Aside from the pleasant surprise of Boone reaching level nine among the five Barker brothers, everyone in the Earl's mansion was eagerly anticipating the upcoming wedding feast. Wharton was all smiles every day.
This time, Wharton and Nina's wedding banquet would be held in the imperial palace, far more grand than the engagement ceremony. In a quiet courtyard.
After finishing his training, Linley sat at a stone table, flipping his hand to produce a bottle of fruit wine. He took a sip while gazing thoughtfully ahead. It was clear he was lost in thought.
Bebe sneaked a peek at Linley with his small eyes.
"Swoosh." Bebe suddenly leaped onto Linley's table.
Linley was startled. "Bebe, what are you doing?"
Bebe stood upright, his front paws crossed over his chest, looking at Linley with a scrutinizing gaze. "Based on my Bebe-level judgment, I've discovered that Boss... you're in heat!"
Bebe spoke with a tone of absolute certainty.
Linley didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I was just thinking about my good brothers. In a few days, it'll be Wharton's wedding. But Yale, the second brother, and the fourth brother... they won't be able to make it..."
Linley let out a long sigh.
"I wonder how the three of them are doing now." Yale, Reynold, and George—these three good brothers held a significant place in Linley's heart, their bond as deep as that of blood brothers.
Reynold's days were not going well. After a short leave, he had returned to his unit. Even knowing about Linley's battle with Hodson, he had no chance to go watch.
Because he was a soldier and had to obey discipline. Though Reynold was usually carefree, in the military he was a man of his word who followed orders without question.
In the southeastern province of the O'Brien Empire, south of Neil City, lay a border region adjacent to the Rohault Empire. This area was one of the most chaotic places.
The Rohault Empire was located south of the Chaos Territory and west of the Far East Prairie.
Long-term battles with the prairie cavalry had made the people of the Rohault Empire extremely fierce, and their cavalry was famously powerful. The Rohault Empire and the O'Brien Empire had clashed many times in the area south of Neil City. The blood spilled in those wars had turned the soil of that wilderness a dark red.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" The howling wind bent the waist-high wild grass. Through the grass, one could faintly see dozens of fine horses drinking from a small stream in the distance.
Dozens of knights were sitting on the ground resting, while a few others stood guard around the perimeter.
Reynold was leaning against a withered tree, his eyes as sharp as an eagle's as he surveyed the surroundings. The Reynold in the military was completely different from his usual self. He wore a deep green armor, and on his chest was the emblem of a golden flame. This marked him as a member of the O'Brien Empire's elite legion, the Golden Flame Legion.
His standard-issue armor also indicated his rank—Battalion Commander.
Reynold pulled a pocket watch from his chest and checked the time. "It's three in the afternoon now. By five, the others should all be here."
"Sir," a blue-haired knight walked over and said with a smile, "The Rohault Empire isn't at war with our empire right now. Don't you think this constant vigilance is a waste of effort?"
"Tiger, say less," Reynold said with a frown.
"Yes, sir." The blue-haired knight immediately stopped grinning.
The cavalry battalion under Reynold's command was under-strength, consisting of three companies totaling nine hundred men. Now, eighteen squads had been sent out on patrol. The squad Reynold led was his personal guard, the strongest of them all.
He had been in the military for eight or nine years now, climbing up from an ordinary soldier step by step.
"Even though the Rohault Empire and our O'Brien Empire haven't been at war for over a decade, the small skirmishes never stop? Just from these border clashes, the empire loses over ten thousand soldiers every year," Reynold said gravely. "And I estimate that with no major war for so long, the Rohault Empire's population must have reached a limit. They're probably desperate for a war. So we must be cautious."
The logic of war was simple.
When the population grew too large, and land and food became insufficient, an empire would naturally initiate war. Otherwise, internal unrest would erupt. When both empires had suffered heavy casualties, the population would decrease, land would become sufficient, and the war would stop.
That was the basic principle.
After all, for ordinary people, the most fundamental needs were food, drink, and shelter.
"Yes, sir, we'll be careful," the blue-haired knight said with a smile.
"By the way, sir, I heard that your classmate from the Ernst Institute of Magic, Master Linley, fought with Lord Hodson and ended in a draw?" the blue-haired knight asked in a low voice.
Reynold couldn't help but smile when his subordinate mentioned Linley.
"He was slightly outmatched only because his battle qi was inferior," Reynold said calmly. Still, he felt a pang of regret—he hadn't been able to watch his good brother's life-or-death battle.
He turned to look west. The blazing sun made him squint. His good brother Linley was in the imperial capital to the west.
"In a little over a year, my ten-year term will be up, and I'll leave the military," Reynold thought with a sigh.
After more than eight years of military life, Reynold had truly come to love the army. But he also knew his family's rules: if a family member served for ten years and reached the rank of Legion Commander or Deputy Legion Commander, they could stay in the military. If not, they had to return to the family.
Reynold was currently a Battalion Commander, one step short.
Although he liked the military, he didn't want to spend his whole life in it. He still wanted to quietly practice magic. He was already a level-seven mage. With another hundred years of hard training, he might have a chance to reach level-nine Archmage.
As he waited quietly, the various squads gradually gathered. Around 4:50 PM, four hundred men had assembled, with five hundred still missing.
"Hmm?" Reynold suddenly frowned.
He felt a sense of crisis, as if an invisible killing intent was creeping toward them. As a mage with strong spiritual power, his perception was far sharper than an ordinary person's.
"Be on alert!" Reynold suddenly shouted coldly.
"Yes, sir!" the knights around him responded. But at that moment, the rapid sound of hooves approached from a distance.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" A shrill cry pierced the quiet air.
Almost all the knights reacted instantly, grabbing their spears and the shields strapped to their arms as they rushed toward their warhorses. But at that moment, sharp arrows came flying from a distance—
"Swish!" "Swish!" ...
The speeding arrows swept across the sky like a swarm of locusts. The knights immediately knelt on one knee, using their shields to protect themselves, and those nearby huddled together.
The empire's shields were of excellent quality; ordinary arrows couldn't pierce them during battle. Indeed, many arrows struck the shields, causing them to vibrate before falling harmlessly. But a dozen or so arrows pierced through like paper—
"Pfft!"
One arrow shot straight through a shield and into a knight's head, spilling his brains.
Reynold's heart ached at the sight. That knight was his personal guard, who had been with him for six years. Six years of daily companionship had forged a deep bond. But Reynold quickly assessed the situation: "From several hundred meters away, piercing shields—definitely experts, level-seven or level-eight warriors. And there are quite a few of them."
"Rumble!" The sound of hooves became clear as the distant group approached. They wore gray armor, and their horses' hooves were wrapped in cloth.
At the front of this group were a dozen bloodstained knights fleeing for their lives.
"Roxi." Reynold's face changed. Those dozen knights were from his battalion.
"Sir, run! The Rohault army has thousands of men! Hurry—ah!" A bloodstained knight rushed in from the side, but an arrow pierced his throat in an instant.
"Kill them all! Leave no one alive!" A cold voice rang out from the distance.
"Retreat!"
Reynold shouted. The enemy numbered in the thousands, while he had only a few hundred. On top of that, the enemy had launched a surprise attack, and their unit was clearly elite, with many level-seven and level-eight warriors.
Besides, their duty was to patrol—they had to get this news back.
The surviving knights immediately mounted their horses. Perhaps the enemy coveted the hundreds of fine horses, as the arrows had all been aimed at the knights, leaving the horses largely unharmed.
They fled quickly. Nearly four hundred men began to escape, but only a little over a hundred remained. This was thanks to Reynold using magic to intimidate the enemy. As he fled, he silently chanted a spell.
Suddenly, centered on Reynold, eight massive blade-like flames fanned out, charging in all directions. Those flaming blades crashed into the pursuing cavalry.
Fire magic—Flame Slash!
"Sizzle!" The scorching flame struck a knight, who immediately screamed as his armor melted rapidly, his body turning to charcoal in an instant. The surrounding wild grass caught fire, forcing the pursuing cavalry to slow down.
"Chase them! Chase them!!!" The yellow-haired leader glared at Reynold in the distance.
If not for that mage in the distance, they would have slaughtered this group long ago. But that mage—especially now that it was autumn and the grass was dry and yellow—set everything ablaze with a single spark. The fire spread quickly, completely blocking their pursuit.
Magical power wasn't infinite.
Reynold didn't dare cast level-seven spells; he only used level-six ones. Even so, his magical power was now completely depleted.
The Rohault Empire still had a company of three hundred men in pursuit. But that company alone had over a dozen level-seven experts. It was clearly their most elite unit. Of Reynold's remaining hundred men, only one was a level-seven warrior, plus himself as a level-seven mage.
"Neil City! I see Neil City!" One of the knights shouted.
"Neil City!" Reynold looked at the faint outline in the distance, hope filling his eyes. He spurred his horse even harder.
"Swish!" Another arrow flew from behind. Exhausted, Reynold dodged again, raising his shield to block. With a "pfft," the arrow grazed the edge of the shield and pierced his shoulder. The powerful impact made the weary Reynold sway, nearly falling off his horse.
After running for over two hours, the sky was now dark.
On the walls of Neil City, many soldiers stood guard, and it seemed some nobles were up there doing something.
"Open the gate! Hurry! The Rohault Empire's men are behind us! Kill them!!!" Reynold roared.
In the blink of an eye, Reynold and a few dozen severely wounded surviving knights reached the outskirts of Neil City, but the gate remained shut.
"Swish!" An arrow shot straight toward a noble on the wall.
"Don't open it! Don't open the gate!" A sharp, piercing voice came from above. "All of you, shoot arrows! Kill the enemy!"
The Rohault company stopped just outside arrow range. A dozen of them dismounted and charged straight toward the city wall. The arrows from above were easily dodged, and these dozen men all had battle qi shields around their bodies.
Powerful warriors.
"Kill that mage." The leader of the dozen stared at Reynold. He had chased him all this way just to kill him. A mage without magical power was far too weak.
Reynold had no strength left to resist.
"Open the gate!" Reynold and his knights were utterly despairing. Though they had dozens of men and the enemy only a dozen, judging by the enemy's battle qi, the big man leading them could kill them all.