Magic Caster of Destroy

If this was the Empire’s army, he would have been delighted and ordered an attack immediately, but his opponents were goblins. Even if he won, who would recognize his achievements?

“My Prince, please grant us permission to retreat.”

He turned his hateful gaze towards the knight who was recommending a course of action. He did not know why such a sizeable goblin army had appeared here, but if he took back useful intelligence, he would be evaluated as having done something useful.

However, if he just turned tail and ran, it was not difficult to imagine that he would gain the nickname of “the prince who ran from goblins”.

If he lost, he would become “the prince who lost to goblins”. The news would spread via the nobles who were hungry for the latest gossip, and there would be no one in the Kingdom who would not know of it. Those who had not been there would not care how strong those goblins had been. The only thing that mattered was how juicy the gossip was.

Barbro silently cursed the nobles who made fun of him from safety.

“…I will not grant such a thing. Fight.”

“My Prince! Look at their immaculate equipment and their flawless formation. They must be elites surpassing the goblins from before. For an army comprised of conscripts like us, the chances of victory are slim. Please order a retreat!”

He knew it only too well, even if he did not want to hear it, but there was no way to protect his honour except by fighting. He could only hope that the goblin army was just for show.

“You fool! Don’t you understand how dangerous it is to just ignore an army like that! Right now, the Kingdom’s army is moving towards the Kattse Plains. What would you do if they attacked E-Rantel while it was undefended!”

“I, I apologize.”

The only course of action was to engage them, then retreat if the goblins were indeed as strong as they appeared. His real objective was to fight with the Empire, and a loss here would be undesirable.

He was calm enough to at least think of that much.

The soldiers had just finished reforming their ranks in front of Barbro when the goblins started advancing.

The enemy took a standard line formation, three ranks deep.

Conversely, the Royal Army was in a crane wing formation. The reason they did not employ a wedge formation was to maximize the mobility of the cavalry and because the enemy was in a formation vulnerable to flanking attacks.

The goblin’s frontline consisted of heavy infantry with shields large enough to cover their entire body. Their steady march forward march gave off an immense pressure as if a wall was closing in at a rapid pace. Barbro felt the unpleasant sensation of his gauntlets filling with sweat as he gripped his reins tighter.

The levies holding spears and the heavy infantry clashed. The infantry’s goal was to stall the enemy’s advance while the cavalry flanked from the sides.

The two sides crashed into each other.

And Barbro could clearly hear the goblins’ shouts.

“We are… Her Excellency, General Enri’s Goblin Heavy Infantry Corps! Don’t think something like this can stop us!”

Before he could even wonder who General Enri might be, the creaking sounds from the Kingdom’s troops grabbed his attention.

The conscripts were being pushed back by the shield wall. Naturally, the men in the front rank were pressed against those standing behind them, and the formation started to break. The cavalry on both wings were surprised and began moving. The right wing was faster to respond, so they tried to flank the goblin army, but seventeen knights ―wreathed in brilliant, silver light and riding on silver wolves instead of horses― raced out to intercept them.

“Her Excellency, General Enri’s Goblin Paladin-Knight Squad! Our loyalty belongs to General Enri!”

The ones attacking the left flank were mounted on beasts that looked like wolves. On their backs were goblins, and at their head was a winged wolf. The goblin riding on top of the winged wolf shouted, and his voice cut across the infantry’s’ screams and reached Barbro’s ears.

“Her Excellency, General Enri’s Goblin Beast Rider Corps are coming for you!”

Amidst the chaos of cavalry battle was the sound of arrows. When Barbro looked closer, countless arrows were pouring on top of his army and he looked closer at the enemy’s formation to identify who was firing them.

In the enemy’s second rank, there were goblins holding large bows and clad in eye-catching red clothes. The right and left sides of their body was uneven, and they looked to be swaying every time they took a step. The goblin who had caught his attention had an even larger bow than the others, and then he opened his mouth.

“Her Excellency, General Enri’s Goblin Longbowman Corps! Don’t think you can escape from us!”