On the mountain peak late at night, the mountain wind howled, the vast starry river shining in the sky, Lorne elegantly finished his grape wine in one gulp, let out a graceful burp, and gently patted his warhorse, "Handir, are you full?"
The elf warhorse nodded heavily, licking the bowl bottom with still some intent and snorted towards Laine.
"It's praising you for making good soup~ hahaha~" Lorne carefully helped his warhorse groom its mane and laughed, "There are few things that can earn Handir's praise, by the way, where's your warhorse?" Chapters first released on novｅlfire.net
"I let a companion ride it, so they could escape alive." Laine observed the numerous gaps and damages on his chain armor, thinking it might be hard to repair, and he would need a new set of armor.
"A warhorse is half a knight's life, you're willing to entrust your life to someone else?" Lorne immediately realized how dangerous the crisis facing that group of humans was.
"Isn't this the vow of a knight? To defend the country, the territory, and family." Laine was reluctant to admit that his dalliance with garrison duty caused him to miss the situation outside, so he changed his tone.
"Precisely... it's hard for knights these days to have such consciousness. To them, the Lady's teachings are less important than their lives and future. The knightly virtues of the past have become shackles that hinder them from making money and climbing up." Instead, Lorne got distracted by Laine's words, he pondered a bit and took the initiative to speak, "Did you hear about the Battle of Marinburg that broke out a few months ago? The war between the Empire and Brittania?"
"I know a bit, heard... that you and the Empire negotiated peace in the end?" Laine thought a bit, thinking that since Lorne brought it up, he might as well inquire about it.
"Peace talks? Hmph, it's peace talks, seemingly nice, but do you know? The fact is Brittania lost." Lorne shook his head, a bit of contempt naturally appearing on his face, "A war failed from start to finish, beginning failed, process failed, ending also failed. If not for the Emperor of the Empire giving us some face, who knows if Richard could still hold the throne."
"Can you tell me more details?" Laine was curious.
The person in front, a great noble of Brittania, belonged to the most prominent of three families whose bloodline could trace back to King Arthur, the Founding Knight King.
These three families are "Leaping Lion," "Red Fire Dragon," and "Pure White Pegasus," most Knight Kings hail from these three families.
Let's not digress, let's hear what this great noble has to say.
"After receiving Duke Schultz of Marinburg's invitation, our Knight King 'Tiger' Richard, lured by an offer of five carriages of gold coins, lost his head and decided to lead the army to move, along went many wandering knights and ranger knights... and those peasant infantry corps and archers." Lorne shook his head, gazing into the distance, "Besides that, few of the grand dukes responded, even refusing to respond."
Then Lorne exclaimed, "You know what? Antre even only dispatched an army of four rangers and fourteen sergeants, over fifty farmers, not even sending a single knight."
"Ha~ that's expected, His Grace the Duke of Winford frequently trades between the Empire and Marinburg, he's certainly unwilling to strain relations with the Empire." Laine immediately caught the implication in the Mission Knight's tone, "Besides, not sending even one knight, the message is quite clear."
"So, this war needn't have been fought, real knights didn't come, do those hot-blooded, glory-seeking young men know what they're doing? They really thought the Imperial Army opposite them were like the peasant rebellions they usually suppress?" Lorne seemingly hadn't heard the innuendo in the White Wolf Knight's words, he spread his hands, "As a result, as you know, the confrontation with the Empire resulted in real warfare because a group of eager young men recklessly charged into the Imperial Array ahead."
Laine nodded in agreement, he knew Lorne saw through the core reason for the Knight Kingdom's dispatch: it was meant to be a display of force, but for various odd reasons escalated into war, ultimately self-damaging, this is called a failed start.
"The army was severely disjointed; when knights rushed en masse towards the Imperial Long Halberd Legion, the longbow team behind hadn't even entered range, without enough knights to command, those peasant infantry corps knew nothing, and it turned chaotic, a complete mess." Lorne sighed, "Before His Majesty Richard even ordered to reform the array, His Majesty Carl Franz, the Emperor of the Empire, had already astutely seized this rare opportunity, leading the Rick Guard in a charge against the chaotic Brittania Array, after two exchanges, those peasants were utterly defeated."
Laine understood, this is called a failed process, most knights charged into the Imperial Array, unable to gain an advantage against the prepared long halberd array, inevitably mired down, and once cavalry is bogged in a prolonged engagement with a long spear array, it's hard to continue, by then Richard as the Knight King would at most have some personal knight followers and guards left, by that point, the battlefield situation was completely irretrievable.
"As for the subsequent treaty..."
Just as the two knights, both named lions, were talking enthusiastically.