I will be crowned king

The 23rd day of the 10th month of the 100th year of the Saint's Calendar, Antler Fortress.

Amidst the roar of mountains and tsunamis, the roar of guns and cannons shook the entire fortress.

Under the banner of the Blood Unicorn Army, rows of Clovis lines advanced towards the fortress amid artillery fire; hundreds of iron boots kept beating the ground, like the rapid and dull drum before a guillotine fell. Voice.

Behind the line, more than a dozen cannons lined up proudly, spitting out golden-red cannon flames in succession; hot solid bullets and explosive bombs roared into the sky, drawing beautiful parabolas on the city walls, towers and The bones were broken into pieces in the narrow passages in the fortress, constantly hitting the fortress that seemed to be crumbling.

The dazzling white light kept flashing in the billowing smoke, like stars suddenly shining brightly on the earth, showing their splendor in an instant.

The defenders were in panic.

Facing the enemy that was still approaching, the Yser Elf soldiers in the fortress had no fighting spirit. The morale of many troops was so low that they decisively dropped their weapons and fled as soon as they saw the enemy.

Being able to withstand the frontal assault of the main force of the Southern Legion, the defense of Antler Fortress is certainly not bad; it is just that because it has not experienced war for a long time, the overall design is slightly unable to keep up with modern warfare.

But no matter how strong the fortress is, it must be defended by the army; if the defenders have no fighting spirit, it will be useless no matter how impregnable the fortress itself is.

As the first and last line of defense in front of the gate of Royal Court of Yser, the defenders of Antler Fortress are naturally the royal troops who are absolutely loyal to the Elf King, and they are all devout believers of the Ring of Order from top to bottom.

In fact, before the defenders took over the fortress, it was once the residence and headquarters of the Guards Corps.

After the Guards were completely annihilated and Ludwig Franz launched a counterattack, the defeated Yser Elf army requested to retreat into the fortress and garrisoned with the defenders to resist the invasion.

Out of professional vigilance, the defenders rejected the "joint garrison" proposal, but agreed to the request to allow the army controlled by the Thirteen Council to pass through the fortress and retreat to the vicinity of the Royal Court.

In addition to the fact that Clovis's army was too strong and the defenders, knowing that they were about to face an offensive and defensive battle again, could not refuse a supporting army, it was also because the commander of the other side was none other than Freya Moses Field.

As part of the Guards Corps, it is certainly impossible for the defenders of Antler Fortress to refuse the orders of their commander-even if the commander-in-chief is only in name.

But no one expected that Princess Freya Moses Field would rebel!

And he also rebelled with the Thirteen Council!

The nature of the whole thing has completely changed - it is no longer a simple royal infighting or usurpation of power, but a counterattack by one faith against another!

As a result, the position of the defenders of Antler Fortress was very awkward.

As an army loyal to the royal family and the Church of Order, they should immediately raise troops to quell the rebellion; but not to mention that before receiving the order, any troops who leave their posts and enter the royal court without authorization are no different from rebels. They just let Thirteen The rebels of the Council passed through the fortress itself, which was already a "standard" act of rebellion from the perspective of hindsight.

What's more, the royal family didn't give them any time to send troops - they only persisted for one day and one night, and the royal court was basically destroyed; the only way left for the fortress defenders seemed to be to surrender to the Thirteen Council.

But the problem is that doing so is also committing suicide!

The opponent is the Old God Sect, and the defenders of Antler Fortress are devout believers of the Ring of Order from top to bottom; once they surrender, what awaits them will definitely be the most thorough cleansing.

Loyalty or betrayal, the consequences are exactly the same... The originally united fortress defenders quickly fell into chaos and division.

The middle and lower class officers and minor nobles believed that they should take refuge in the Council of Thirteen. The reason was simple: Her Royal Highness Princess Freya Moses Field was their nominal commander, and there was no legal problem in taking refuge with Her Highness.

What's more important is that they have already become traitors once (by allowing the Thirteen Council to pass through the fortress), and the Royal Court is obviously not the opponent of the Thirteen Council, and there is no need to be loyal to the dead and prisoners.

As for the issue of faith... the worst case scenario is to pretend to convert to the Three Old Gods first, and then repent later if the Church of Order counterattacks again.

The middle- and upper-level officers completely disagreed. Their reason was simpler: in order to control more troops, Freya and the Thirteen Council may indeed temporarily let go of the middle- and lower-level officers and ordinary soldiers.

These senior officers with military power will definitely not end well!

The two sides were unable to reach a consensus at all, and the intensity of the conflict soon escalated from a quarrel to a violent conflict; and just when the fortress was about to fall into the same civil war as the royal court, the Clovis army who appeared in time "considerately" solved the problem for them. out of this trouble.

The method is also very simple - the premise of the conflict is that there is a group of elves in the fortress. The Clovis people cannot solve the conflict, but they can solve the elves.

Faced with the sudden appearance of the enemy, the fortress defenders, who were in chaos and almost killing each other, could not organize any decent resistance.

What's even more terrifying is that the Clovis people on the opposite side seem to be also familiar with the structure of the Antler Fortress.

This blow to the defenders was almost fatal - Antler Fortress was originally a relatively "outdated" fortress, and its ability to withstand heavy artillery was very poor; once the weak points of the defense were found out, it would only take a dozen rounds to smash the city wall. The thing about twenty-four pounds of solid bullets.

After being easily opened two or three gaps and blasting two towers to pieces, the morale of the Yser Elf defenders instantly fell to the bottom; facing the Clovis line that was pressing every step of the way, the soldiers had no fighting spirit. It almost collapsed at the first touch.

At this point, the outcome of the battle seems to have become a foregone conclusion.

"No, not yet!"

Amidst the gunfire all over the sky, facing the eager and impatient eyes of his subordinates, who almost wanted to write "retreat" on their faces, Buller Matias looked decisive:

"The flag of Yser is still flying on the city wall. We still have the inner castle, thousands of well-trained warriors, and guns! We haven't lost yet!"

"We... haven't lost yet!"

"But we have already lost!" The hysterical subordinate pointed behind him and shouted at Sir Buller Mattias, who was still speaking harshly:

"The outer city wall has been breached. The cowards of the Second Infantry Regiment had no time to retreat, so they surrendered directly to the enemy! As soon as they got out of the way, we were the ones standing in front of the Clovis people!"

"Don't be afraid, let the command headquarters transfer the most elite grenadiers to cover our retreat!" Buller Matias looked calm and composed, raised his hand and ordered to the messenger:

"Tell them that they don't need to really attack, they just need to feint attack from the flanks and fire a few volleys; as long as they retreat to the inner fort, everything will be... Well, what's wrong, what's your expression?"

Facing the chief's question, the orderly soldier, who clearly had a wrong expression, hesitated for a while, and then had to tell the truth in front of everyone's eyes:

"The Grenadiers...the Grenadiers...they have escaped long ago."

"What?!" Buller Matias was shocked:

"when?!"

"At the beginning!"

The messenger said excitedly, and the more he spoke, the more excited he became: "When the assembly horn sounded, the Grenadier Regiment had already fled with the headquarters!"

"Run away from the beginning? These shameless cowards!"

"Asshole! I know that except for the great Mattias, these so-called noble pure bloods can't be trusted by anyone else!"

"That's right! They are all cowards who only know how to betray their compatriots!"

The elf officers were yelling curses, and their expressions and thoughts were exactly the same - why didn't you call me? !

But Buller Matias didn't care about this. He was just curious about where those bastards could go after they escaped: "Where are the other troops?!"

"The fourth regiment also ran away, and the fifth regiment was completely wiped out. The artillery battalion and the engineer battalion surrendered together. The guard battalion and the cavalry company hit an artillery shell while fighting for horses. One battalion commander and one company commander were killed on the spot. He was killed in the explosion, and the remaining troops were also routed..." the ordering soldier said truthfully.

So I’m really the only one left... Buller Matias is in despair.

"Now the Clovis have captured the main entrance, but the inner fort and the two secret doors are still within our control. Coupled with the enemy's regular artillery cover before attacking, we still have about ten minutes to retreat."

"In that case, let's retreat quickly, Lord Mattias!"

"Yeah, if you don't run, it will be too late!"

"No - as long as Iser's flag is still hanging in Antler Fortress, we will never retreat!" Buller Matias's attitude was extremely determined:

"This is the gate to the Royal Court of Yser. How shameful is it to surrender the gate to the enemy without firing a shot?!"

Looking at Buller Matias, who was so impassioned and seemed to be planning to sacrifice himself heroically, the confused subordinates looked at each other.

They had heard of this great name - a noble pure-blooded knight who not only leaked a lot of military secrets after being captured alive by the enemy, but also betrayed the defenders during the subsequent battle of Eagle Point City, leaving the enemy with nothing. This extremely critical fortress was captured without firing a gun.

It can be said that Buller Matias has a considerable responsibility for the fall of Eagle Point City and the subsequent disastrous defeat of the Guards Corps.

So how could this man who was willing to betray his own people and even take the initiative to surrender in order to survive suddenly become so brave and ready to die generously?

"Even if we escape, where can we escape to?"

Looking around at the confused subordinates, Buller Matias smiled bitterly: "The Royal Court has been controlled by the Thirteen Councils. With the current situation, how will they look at an army that believes in the Ring of Order? "

"If it hadn't collapsed, we might still be able to rely on the army and the fortress as capital to try to negotiate with the Thirteen Council. Now that the entire army has been wiped out, and a small force like ours has fled back to the royal court, do we plan to be held accountable for the fall of the fortress? ?!”

In addition, he actually received a "warning" from within the family not long ago.

Although Buller Matthias himself is a devout believer in the Circle of Order, as one of the noblest pure-blood families, Matthias also has a seat on the Council of Thirteen.

According to the orders of the "elder" in the family, except for the selected family members, no one else is allowed to participate in the rebellion, let alone change their beliefs privately, even if they must become enemies of their relatives.

Although he had no idea why he was doing this, Buller Matias, who had relied on his family to reach his current position, did not dare to disobey this warning (order) even if he was now at the end of his rope.

"Since we have no way out, we might as well fight until the last moment and defend the glory of Iser to the death!" Buller Matias shouted:

"We will become a flag, a flag against the invaders - even thousands of years later, our descendants will still remember such a group of Ysel elves. When all the warriors were scurrying around, they chose to turn around and fight! "

"Therefore, I give you an order as your commander - defend on the spot, burn all the supplies you can find, and then withdraw into the inner fort!"

"Now we are no longer fighting for the king, no longer fighting for faith, but fighting for the Yser elves and the survival of all compatriots!"

"Shout, warriors! Let us hold high the military flag and shout to the ferocious invaders, fire at us..."

"boom--!!!!"

Before he finished speaking, a twelve-pound solid bullet fell around everyone.

Amid the loud noise that penetrated his brain, Buller Matias only remembered that his vision went dark, and then...

Then there is no more.

As the last army headquarters that was still "resisting" was taken away by artillery, the entire defense system of Antler Fortress completely collapsed; large numbers of defenders either surrendered or dispersed towards the Royal Court of Yser.

The Clovis Army, which originally only planned to conduct a feint attack to cover the construction of positions by engineers, turned the feint attack into a full-scale attack, and set a record by the way - it conquered Antler Fortress in four hours and suffered only fifty casualties. people.

At this point, the last line of defense in front of the Royal Court of Yser has been completely destroyed; no more Yser Elf army can be organized to stop the Clovis people's ambition to "conquer the enemy's capital".

But for Buller Matias, all this has nothing to do with him.

When he woke up from the coma, he found himself lying on a clean and comfortable bed, with bright sunlight shining through the simple curtains in front of his eyes.

Struggling to adapt to the change in light, Buller Matias slowly opened his eyes and found a very "familiar" face appearing in front of him.

Um? ! No, no, how could it be him? Shouldn't he...should be there...Am I not actually awake, am I still dreaming? !

"Mr. Buller Matias, you are finally awake."

Looking at the elf knight who suddenly looked frightened, the former Guards officer smiled slightly and said with an extremely kind face:

"Lord Anson Bach has been waiting for you for a long time. We have many things we want to talk to you about."

"Many...many...many things!"