Chapter 25: On the Way (2)

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“That is a thick wooden shield forged with black iron. I can’t even break through it even if I am uninjured…” the baron said in a serious tone.

“What should we do?” Angele got nervous. Though he was a top level knight, he could not break a shield like that; at this moment, he could even imagine a sinister scene coming into fruition.

“Owl and axe; it is the insignia of Viscount Candia,” the baron said.

“No one here could break a shield like that, so it is probably someone from the Saladin Empire. Angele, come with me,” the baron said with a deep voice.

Angele nodded his head. Only he and the baron were the knights in their caravan. Even though Angele was merely 14 years old, in such situations, age became a meaningless constituent. They commanded the guards to maintain a circumspect behavior and walked towards the wooden shield carefully.

They saw a corpse equipped with black armor lying there; the engraved insignia on the armor was visible to them.

“It’s Ruhr…” the baron said. Ruhr was the strongest knight under Viscount Candia. The man’s corpse was then turned over by the baron using his feet. Countless flies plagued around him, and a rotten stench leaked out of his corpse; the corpse had already become pallid from its post mortem state. His head had been split open with a wound the size of a finger’s width.

Angele felt a bit nauseated as he looked at the corpse. The man had a huge physique; he was slightly fatter but shorter than Knight Audis. His head injury was so deep that Angele could even see small chunks of brain matter coming out of it. The grass around the corpse was dyed red, and several roving insects were all around it.

“He was not assassinated,” The baron said as he inspected the corpse; he seemed to be unaffected by the repugnant stench.

“It took the opponent about two hits to finish Ruhr off. Only a grand knight could do something like that,” the baron said after checking for a while.

“Grand knight?” Angele never heard of that before.

“What kind of knight is a grand knight, father?” he asked.

“A grand knight can kill me without incurring injuries,” the baron said.

“The last time I saw one was during the Orchid War. Saladin Empire is being serious this time. They even sent out a Grand Knight to lead the attack…” the baron said in a worried tone.

“What should we—” Angele’s words were cut off by the baron. The baron examined the trail of blood and traced it into a corner. After about 5 minutes, he asked Angele to slow down while he hid into a bush on the side. Angele, too, realized that something was amiss at their front.

It sounded as if people were in a battle within the close proximity of the two. Angele left the bush together with the baron as they trod uphill. They lowered their bodies and peered down, gazing at an empty ground beneath the hill.

There was a fight taking place in that area. A long-haired man in a brown leather suit was surrounded by a small army in the middle of the ground. About 10 swordsmen were also with him, but all of them were wounded. They all had green-striped cloth tied around their arms. On the other hand, the soldiers surrounding them all wore black iron armors and they numbered about several hundreds. Two knights in white armor stood at the forefront, looking at the long-haired man. Many had been killed already, such that their lifeless bodies were strewn all over the ground. It seemed that the battle was already way past its crescendo.

“It’s the black army of Rudin while the ones in the middle are from Saladin.” the baron explained in a low voice.

“Just surrender already, Martin Francis. You don’t want to lose your life here as a Grand Knight. That would be a pity.” One of the knights in white armor said calmly as though he was very confident.

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