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Long spears and arrows came at Lucius the First’s men. The Acreian soldiers, who were used to fighting on land and hunting in the mountains, moved desperately to avoid being hit.

And the result was…

A huge loss on the Acreian side.

Before the Acreian soldiers could cross even half of the river, they had to turn back. At least, they didn’t have too many casualties, which was caused by pure luck.

Those who returned alive no longer felt sure of themselves. Those that were left behind wanted to hear the details of the battle, but the high-ranking offers needed to meet with the emperor first to discuss what happened.

The injured were transported to the medic’s tent while the rest of the soldiers fell asleep after such a long day. The young men felt devastated as this was the first loss they experienced since Acreia waged its war against everyone. Their morale went down to dangerous levels.

This could be a problem. Low morale meant the possibility of deserters. It also meant that the soldiers wouldn’t and couldn’t fight well. Battles and even wars could be lost because of it.

This needed to be fixed, and this was the job for Sir Baufallo, “The Mother.”

“Stupid boys! Get up right now, and snap out of it!”

Sir Baufallo walked around and kicked any man who had a disappointed face. He screamed, “Get your shovels and get to work!” The men slowly stood up and followed him.

Sir Baufallo’s aide Poliana followed him closely. She had a determined look on her face, ready to take over if any men disobeyed her superior. Every man on the base was by now aware of what happened to Donau. The story of her kicking his balls was now a legend among men. Most men feared her, especially because she got away with it even though Donau was Sir Baufallo’s own son. If their superior was ok having his son treated this way, there was no doubt that Sir Baufallo would allow Poliana to do whatever she wanted to on those mere soldiers.

“How many shields do we have left?” Sir Baufallo asked the soldiers.

“Some of them have arrows stuck in them, but none of the arrows went through. We can reuse all of our shields.”

“Is that so?”

Sir Baufallo examined Bebero’s arrow carefully. Acreian arrows were much stronger and sharper because they needed to be able to kill the northern animals, which had tougher hides. The Acreian shields were designed to be able to withstand the Acreian arrows, which meant that Bebero’s arrows were no match against them. This was one of the main reasons why there weren’t many huge casualties despite their loss.

Sir Baufallo asked, “Do we still have any of Bebero’s arrows that are still intact on our shields? I want to have a look at it.”

“Here is one!”

“None of their arrows were covered in poison!”

“They also didn’t use any arrows lit with fire!”

Sir Baufallo studied the Bebero arrow carefully. He looked at the material and how long and sharp it was. Meanwhile, Poliana examined the soldiers. They were covered in mud, looking pathetic.

Poliana threw some clean water at them, she checked to see if any of them had leeches or bugs on them. She even took some of their clothes off to check. Those soldiers shrieked in shock and embarrassment, but Poliana ignored them. When she moved on coldly, the men would yell, “None of us have leeches on us!”

“We didn’t even get to go into the water.”

“You went to cross the lake, so how does it make sense that you didn’t even get into the river?” Poliana asked incredulously.

“We couldn’t move beyond the riverbank.”

Bebero didn’t set any traps on their riverbanks, so why couldn’t the Acreian soldiers move past it? Poliana couldn’t understand what was happening.

---

Inside the Acreian commander’s tent, Lucius the First smiled kindly and encouraged his men, “Don’t feel so bad.” The beautiful emperor was neither angry nor disappointed. He was never going to give up. A failure like this was only going to help their future victories.

“Everyone, cheer up. The main purpose of this attempt was to learn about our enemies,” he continued.

They couldn’t ignore their emperor and they had to obey their master. The knights looked up at Lucius with their eyes beginning to lighten. They had to stop groaning and start figuring out why they lost.

Lucius the First didn’t participate in the battle this time, so he asked the head of this attempt, Sir Rabi, to provide him a full detailed report.

“At first, we tried to follow our original plan. We were going to push the ships down the riverbanks so we could cross it, but we ended up not even being able to get to the water,” Sir Rabi explained.

It took so much effort to build their ships and yet, they weren’t even given the chance to use it at all. This was an unexpected turn of events for the Acreian soldiers.

The Koemong River was the biggest body of water in the northern region. It would freeze completely except for its dead center during the winter. As they had expected, they would melt during spring, but for those who were used to have frozen grounds during that time, they weren’t prepared for what awaited them.

Wet muddy riverbanks.

As the men pushed the boats down the banks, their legs were caught in the mud. They couldn’t move. Bebero’s soldiers laughed at them from the other side of the river. When one team got close to getting its vessel into the water, they shot their arrows at them and even used their catapults against them.

Getting attacked while stuck in mud… The Acreian soldiers had no chance against it as their only defense was their shields. Most men came back alive, thankfully, but it was clear that they lost the battle.

“With all the mud out there, it will not be possible to build a dock either,” Sir Rabi continued.

“How about we pour soil over to harden the banks?”

“Bebero soldiers wouldn’t just stand by and watch us. They will shoot their arrows at us, and it would be impossible for us to work and defend ourselves at the same time.”

“The wind will also be a problem for us. There is currently a very strong northern wind going on right now,” another knight added.

Bebero’s arrows were weaker, but because they were also lighter, they could go very far. The northern wind meant that Bebero had a huge advantage over them. On the other hand, the Acreian arrows were too heavy and they couldn’t travel far against the strong wind.

“They said that the riverbank would turn solid around summer,” Sir Rabi suggested.

Another knight then said, “But in summer, the water will be too strong. We won’t be able to cross it.”

Only big ships could cross the river in the summer, and even if they had enough big ships, the Acreian soldiers were no sailors. Crossing the Koemong River during the summer was out of the question.

One positive thing was that the summer was very short. So should they try it again in the autumn?

In the fall, the water level of the river would go down significantly, which meant bigger vessels would not be able to cross it. Only smaller ships could make it across. It was also the only time in the year where people could swim in it. On sunny fall days, many locals went for a swim in the Koemong.

Bebero now knew that Acreia wasn’t going to wait till the winter. This meant that Lucius no longer had the edge of surprise on his side. Bebero was now going to have its defenses up. A small troop was no longer going to be enough to defeat Bebero anymore.

Should Acreia stop and be satisfied with conquering Aehas and Kukda?

“Do we need to wait like this until the winter…?” Lucius the First murmured in disappointment,

But even if they did, he still had no idea how to defeat Bebero. This was going to be his best chance. A surprise attack.

Only

He asked Sir Rabi, “Can you think of any other way?”

“… What about if we go up the river?”

“North of Koemong would be…Acreia.”

“And there, perhaps we can build a bridge across?”

“It that was possible, it would’ve been done a long time ago, don’t you think?”

If the kingdoms were in a good relationship, there would’ve been a bridge built already, but Aehas and Kukda have been busy fighting against each other while Bebero didn’t bother with them.

Lucius joked gloomily, “Once I conquer Bebero, my first order will be to build a bridge across the Koemong River.”

“Hahaha,” everyone laughed and the meeting ended with no plan in place.