I Became a Bookkeeper the Monarchs Are Obsessed With

23 – Crown Prince vs Northern Grand Duke – 7

“Yeah, I made a major.”

said Carl von Kronor. Then Emilia replied in a quiet voice without showing any sign of joy.

“I was just following orders.”

“… ”

“… ”

Silence hung all around. None of the servants opened their mouths. If he had the same heart, he wanted to insist on giving Emilia a prize, but if he did, there was a high possibility that he would incur the wrath of the Archduke. It was best to shut up at a time like this.

“Let’s work hard next time.”

The Archduke just said that and moved on without a single word of praise. Emilia also had no doubts about that fact.

“Dian de Balboa.”

The name of the prince’s right-hand man came out of the mouth of Archduke Carl von Kronor.

“Has anyone heard of it?”

“I heard that he is the prince’s right-hand man and the greatest commander of the prince’s corps.”

“okay. He seems to be an outstanding master craftsman who has reached the level of a sword master with the body of a woman.”

Emilia was familiar with Diane de Balboa. It was because he had learned tactics from Dian at Arcadia Academy.

“According to intelligence, the vanguard of the prince’s army turned out to be Dian de Balboa.”

“The vanguard… ”

“That woman… !”

All over the place, servants began to stir. The name of Diane de Balboa was famous enough to be feared even in the far north.

“Is there anyone who can stop Diane de Balboa?”

Archduke Cronor asked, but no one came forward. It was because there was no knight that could beat Dian.

“under. They’re just cowards. The name of the northerners will cry.”

The grand duke openly insulted his subjects, but his subjects did not say anything. It was because it was better to put up with the shame of a moment than to die here for no reason.

“Emilia.”

“Yes.”

“Can you beat Diane de Balboa?”

Emilia closed her eyes for a moment, recited a prayer, and then answered like this.

“As the Goddess of War is with you, you will be able to win.”

Archduke Cronor frowned for a moment at the sudden mention of the goddess, but he nodded in satisfaction in the end because the positive answer came back anyway.

“Then the vanguard of this battle is Emilia.”

In response, the tactician Usami Arca tried to stop the grand duke. Who in this world would set up the heir of the family as the vanguard? That was against a world famous master.

However, I soon gave up drying it. It was because the moment I met Emilia’s eyes, I felt that Emilia’s eyes were so firm.

Usami Arca began to think that she might have lived too long. The Cronor family was heading to a completely different place than they thought.

—–

“I heard that our troops suffered great damage.”

At Diane de Balboa’s words, the knights let out a silence. It was already an open secret that hundreds of soldiers in the prince’s army were killed by enemy reconnaissance guerrillas.

“I heard that Emilia von Cronor played an active part.”

At that, Diane de Balboa nodded.

“Emilia is an excellent student. In terms of swordsmanship, he’s the best of all the students I’ve ever seen.”

In other words, in terms of swordsmanship, Emilia was higher than Princess Leonia. Of course, in terms of overall score, Princess Leonia would be higher, but there would be no cadet who could beat Emilia only with the sword.

“Charles Jean Rochepole.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know Emilia?”

“I know you’re a promising second-year student.”

Diane de Balboa nodded.

“okay. If the best cadet in the first year of Arcadia Academy is Princess Leonia, then the best cadet in the second year is Emilia. I never thought we would become enemies like this outside of the academy.”

There was a bit of a sudden feeling. Since the prince demanded an oath of allegiance to Grand Duke Cronor, and the war started when Grand Duke Cronor refused, Dian would not have known that he would have to fight Emilia.

“Ask everyone. Is there anyone among them who can fight and defeat Emilia von Cronor?”

“I can win!”

“No, I will step in!”

Knights rose up everywhere, but Dian raised his hand to calm them down.

“No, it’s impossible for you guys.”

“Yes?”

“Emilia is one of the greatest geniuses in the history of Arcadia Academy. You can’t win with your skills. If there is anyone in our army who can win… ”

What, is it about Dian?

“I will be the only one.”

At those words, the knights were astonished. I knew it was strong, but was it that much? Was it strong enough that the sword master had to deal with it himself?

“If you ever find Emilia on the battlefield, never try to fight directly and send me a messenger. I’ll be running there soon.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

The knights were a bit confused, but they answered because they trusted Dian, and the military intention was over.

and the next day.

The prince’s army advanced to the north with 35,000 troops. What Crown Prince Leonhard was aiming for was the castle called Kalius in the north. The castle called Kalius was guarded by the lord of the castle named Kalnir, but even the castle’s troops were less than 1,000, so it was obvious that if they attacked with 35,000 troops, they would fall in an instant.

Because of this, the Grand Duke of Cronor immediately left Glanar Castle, where he was originally, and started heading south. The Central Army moving north and the Northern Army moving south. The meeting of the two armies seemed self-evident.

Both armies ran towards the castle of Callius, but the archduke’s army arrived first. Arriving near the castle of Callius, the archduke immediately camped on the north side of the river called Imor.

And as the crown prince moved north and camped on the south side of the Imor River, the Grand Duke camped in the north of the river and the crown prince camped in the south.

The staring continued for a while. The two forces set the river as the center, shooting letters with abusive language at each other and provoking each other by making noise all night, but they never tried to enter first.

That would be the case, because attacking across the river was basically at a disadvantage. The river was like a natural fortress. As soon as they dipped their feet into the river, their movement speed slowed down, making it easy to become a fodder for arrows, and the mud on their armor made them heavy, making it difficult to fight.

Because of this, both sides did not want to attack first. If possible, he wanted to defend himself. However…

“Hehe, the enemy will come in first.”

The Archduke said so

“Should we go in first…? ”

The prince only said that as if he was in trouble. The first reason was that they were having trouble supplying because the prince had a lot of troops, and the second reason was that there was more food because the Grand Duke had plundered all the surrounding villages. At this rate, since the prince ran out of food and had to retreat, he would want to see a match before then.

Diane de Balboa confidently shouted at the words of the prince.

“majesty! Leave me the vanguard. Allies have twice the number of enemy forces. And if I command the soldiers, I will never lose.”

It may seem a bit arrogant, but Dian had the right to say it. It was because he was the second strongest swordsman and general in the world. Even with Dian at the forefront, there were not many lost battles.

Knowing that fact, the prince nodded.

“Dian de Balboa. I will give you 10,000 troops. Lead the vanguard and break through the enemy’s defenses. Our main force will follow.”

“Yes!”

It was a battle that was about to start like that, but right before the battle began, Charles Jean Rochepole visited Diane.

“General.”

“You can call me Professor comfortably. What’s the matter, Charles?”

“This is an operation plan. Please read.”

“yes? An operation plan right before a battle? What a peculiar guy.”

Even as he said that, Dian read the strategy plan that Charles had given.

[Allies and enemies are confronting each other with the river in the center. Our forces are 35,000, which is more than twice that of the enemy, so it seems advantageous at first glance, but if the enemy general is an excellent tactician, he will see this as an opportunity to win rather than a crisis. The first reason is that there is a fight over the river. To fight on a river covered with thin ice, you must naturally overcome the cold, but northerners are much more resistant to the cold than those in the middle. Naturally, middlemen will get tired faster than northerners, which will lead to physical differences. The second is that the armor of our allies is made of excellent central Busan steel.]

Dian, who had seen this far, was puzzled. Steel produced in Central Busan is famous around the world for its excellence. But why is it a problem? Diane read the next line.

[If you fight in the river, muddy water will naturally splash, and it is certain that the muddy water will get into your clothes. A person wearing quilted or leather armor can shake off the mud from their clothes with just one shake, but a person wearing heavy armor is different. You can’t shake the mud off your clothes unless you take off your heavy armor. Your movements will naturally slow down, and you will quickly exhaust your stamina and catch the ankles of your allies.]

At this, Dian suffered as if it was difficult. At first glance, it made sense. But then what is the alternative? There was no alternative written in this plan of operation.

“So, Charles. What are your alternatives?”

“We must retreat.”

“Abandoning the Northern Conquest?”

“Yes.”

“… ”

After thinking for a while, Diane de Balboa replied: