Duke Pendragon

“Captain!”

A knight wearing thin metal armor rode his horse forward at a quick pace.

“Hmm. Yes, is everything ready?”

Oran greeted him with a smile. His long blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail.

“Yes. As we planned, around 20 yards of the path will be completely blocked.”

“Good. We should start preparing as well.”

Oran pressed down on his helmet with a cold smile, then turned his head.

Neighh!

Hundreds of knights equipped in silver armor were riding on warhorses throughout the wide-open field. A symbol of two swords intersecting in front of a red wheel was embedded on their scapulas.

“Everyone, get ready! We are going dragon hunting!”

“Haa!”

The affirmative roars of the Red Wheel Knights resounded throughout Aranka.

***

After entering Blago territory, the coalition continued to move southeast for three days. Usually, the roads in the South tended to be in bad conditions. However, Blago was adjacent to El Pasa, and it was considered one of the larger territories. The roads were conditioned enough for carriages and wagons to pass through.

Thus, the coalition was able to travel a long distance of nearly 30 miles in two days without much difficulty. But on the third day, the coalition arrived at the most unique location in Blago territory. From there, the pace of the march diminished considerably.

They had arrived in Aranka.

“Keheung? What a strange place. Did the earth god bless it too much?”

Karuta scratched his neck as he looked around at the surroundings. Aranka was filled with hundreds of large, jutting rocks. The taller ones reached heights up to 1,000 feet, while the shorter rocks were around 300 feet.

“It really is a unique place. But we have no choice but to pass through here.”

Raven replied while slowly riding his horse beside Karuta. Then Jian, who was riding behind the two, sneaked up and entered the conversation.

“That is right. It will take almost ten days to circle around, so Aranka is an inevitable passage.”

Kieeeeeegh!

A strong wind blew through the rocks, echoing a ghostly cry throughout the area. The trees rooted throughout the rocks all trembled at once, and a strange noise harmonized with the sound of the wind to create an eerie noise.

“Kuphew! That is a heck of a sound.”

Karuta frowned and fidgeted inside his ears. It must have been bothersome, as orcs possessed a greater sense of hearing and smell compared to humans.

“The local residents call it the cry of the spears. In the first place, the word Aranka stems from…”

“It is the local dialect for the Forest of Spears. Even eagles dare not hunt here due to the ghostly cries that circulate around the Forest of Spears.”

Jian started jabbering excitedly, to which Raven interjected.

Jian became a littles startled.

“Y, you knew that already?”

“Well, just hearing bits and pieces…”

Raven smiled while looking back towards Jian.

“W, what?’

The smile sent chills down Jian’s spine. During the past few days, he had stuck by Duke Pendragon’s side in order to gain the young duke’s confidence. During the journey, they had not discussed much about Aranka.

Furthermore, this was the first time that Duke Pendragon had come to the South. So how did he know something that only a few outsiders would ever learn?

‘H, he could have heard from the governor of El Pasa. Yes, that must be it.’

Jian convinced himself while calming down his shaken heart.

“My lord.”

“Your Excellency.”

The commanders, including Isla and Viscount Moraine, came to the forefront from the rear of the coalition. The unique geography of Aranka warranted a conversation between the commanders.

“Elkin, how is the situation?”

The griffons were situated at the center of the coalition, but once every few hours, several flew back and forth to explore the terrain.

“Yes, my lord. The wind is too strong for the griffons to fly through the rocks.”

“Hmm, then I guess they will have to fly even higher.”

Isla shook his head at Viscount Moraine’s words.

“I have attempted to search the terrain from a high altitude a little while ago, but it is hard to detect anything because of how dense the rocks and the trees are.”

“What if we sent the cavalry to the front to scout ahead every hour? We can have them reporting back before we move the entire coalition.”

Sir Bracha, the 11th regiment knight, gave his opinion. Jian’s eyes quivered slightly as he heard Bracha’s words from behind.

“That is a good idea. But I think it will be too much trouble. We must pass through Aranka today, and utilizing the cavalry will take too long. I think it is best for us to enter as we are.”

But Raven’s following words caused Jian to let out a sigh of relief.

“Then it is decided. We will proceed with our current formation.”

Viscount Moraine made the final decision, then everyone returned to their respective positions after nodding.

“We are resuming our march! Let’s move!”

Bracha shouted as he headed back to the rear, and the giant coalition started to move once more.

***

Kieeeeeeeeeehhh!

The grotesque sound of the wind was reminiscent of scratching an iron plate with a blade. The soldiers of the coalition lined up on both sides of the road and walked along the narrow path of Aranka. Six hours had already passed.

The road between the rising rocks was quite narrow. It was only wide enough for a carriage to pass, but the condition was not bad overall.

The rock walls had been withered and cut by the wind for hundreds of years, so there was no possibility of a rockslide. However, even though the roads were better than initially thought, the coalition ran into another problem.

“I can’t see the sun because of the rocks.”

Aranka was very dark even though the sun had not yet fallen. The rocky mountains pouting on both sides of the narrow road obscured the sunlight.

Moreover, the direction of the march happened to coincide with the trajectory of the sun over the day, so the occasional piercing light disturbed the soldiers’ vision.

“Keung, the sun will fall in a little while. Do you think we can get through it before then?”

“We should be out of this area by sunset.”

Raven replied. Before they entered Aranka, Isla had flown up into the air to roughly measure the distance. According to the calculations, they would pass through Aranka’s most rugged terrain in around one hour.

Karuta turned around to glance at the detached force that was following behind the two men, then spoke in a low voice.

“By the way, when do you think things are going to erupt?”

“Hmm?”

Raven narrowed his eyes, and Karuta grinned, displaying his big, thick fangs and gums.

“Pendragon scarecrow. Karuta is no fool. At first, I did not know why you wanted me to be the flagbearer. But when I saw how stupid they were acting, I got to the answer pretty quickly.”

Listening to Karuta’s deductions, Raven turned his head around slightly. Jian had been following closely behind until a while ago, but he could not be seen anymore. He must have relocated to the tail of the detached force.

Raven responded with a smirk.

“…You’re quick-witted for an orc.”

“Kekeuk! How could I not notice? They were quite half-hearted when you were teaching them about formations and whatnot. It would be understandable if they were orcs, because orcs are strong and don’t need that crap. But it is different for weak scarecrows. If they don’t fight together properly, then they will quickly be destroyed.”

When Raven first met Karuta, the orc was ignorant and simply violent. However, he had been introduced to the topic of tactics while he stayed with the Pendragon Duchy’s forces in Conrad Castle.

As a result, he had trained the Ancona Orcs in combat formations, which displayed quite a satisfying result in the battle against the island orcs on the ships. However, the detached force was not properly following the formation Raven had taught them a few days ago. In addition, the one who had been following them like a mutt until now had suddenly relocated to the back.

All the clues pointed towards one answer.

“Since you already figured it out, I won’t say anything. But please don’t show it.”

“Kekeu! Obviously. By the way, I hope it happens before the sun goes down. When there’s no light, I can’t see how they will die after being destroyed by me. Krrrr…”

With a grotesque smile, Karuta tapped the steel mace mounted on his back along with the flag of the Pendragon Duchy. His words were definitely befitting an orc warrior that lived to see the blood of his enemies.

It was then.

“Keung?”

Neiiiigh!

Karuta looked up with a frown. He noticed that there was a mixture of subtle noises in the shrieking sound of the wind.

Raven quickly raised his eyes as well.

Kru…

Something was moving on the top of a faraway cliff.

“That’s…”

Karuta was unable to decipher the situation with his poor vision, but Raven quickly noticed it.

“Everyone, be careful! It’s a rockslide!”

Crack! Crunnch!

As soon as Raven raised his voice, a roar broke out from the cliff. Simultaneously, large and small piles of stones poured down like hail, and Jian shouted as if he had been waiting.

“Everyone, stay away!”

“Aggh!”

Jian’s shout disturbed the formation.

“R, run!”

“Aahhh!”

The detached force ran forward to avoid the falling rocks, and the 11th regiment, which was following right behind, ran backwards.

Booooom!

Along with one final roar, the pile of rocks completely closed off the road.

Fwoosh!

Dust mixed with stone dust sprang up and completely swallowed the already narrow and dark road of Aranka.

“Damage report! Report the damage!”

Regiment Captain Sir Bracha shouted frantically. However, everything had happened so quickly that the soldiers were still in a state of panic.

Soon the dust began to settle.

“T, there is a problem! The detached force! I can’t see His Excellency Pendragon!”

Looking at the barricade of 30-foot high stones, a soldier shouted in a desperate voice.

“D, damn it!”

Even though he was an experienced knight, Sir Bracha could not hide his disorientation at the situation. But he soon came to his senses and turned his head.

“Griffons! Griffons will be able to jump over it! Call Sir Isla and the griffon unit!”

“Ye, yes sir!”

A soldier began to sprint towards the back of the coalition. However, his way was obstructed by the disturbance in the formation.

“Hmm!”

Sir Bracha’s complexion worsened at the sight. It would take a while for griffons to arrive at the blockage in such confusion, especially with their enormous size.

“This is quite a predicament. I hope His Excellency is safe…”

***

“What is the situation!”

Raven shouted, and Jian ran forward with an anxious expression.

“There are not many casualties, but I think we might be completely separated from the main force, Your Excellency!”

“Keuk!”

Raven bit his lips. The young duke seemed to be flustered. Jian hurriedly continued.

“Fortunately, we will be out of the narrow road in a little while! There is the possibility of additional rockslides or an ambush, so why don’t we head forward for now, Your Excellency?”

“That is a good idea. Let us do that.”

Raven nodded his head with a relieved expression, then commanded while looking around.

“All troops! There may be an ambush, so we will move forward with caution!”

“All soldiers, prepare to move!”

Jian shouted as if had waited, and the soldiers of the detached force helped their fallen colleagues to their feet before reorganizing the ranks.

“I am so glad that you are here in this situation, Sir Jian.”

“You flatter me, Your Excellency! I only fulfilled my duties as a member of the detached force under your command, Your Excellency.”

Jian shook his head and responded with a very modest expression.

“Phew! At least we can be relieved. The Ancona Orcs are with the main force, so they should be able to clear the road by tonight. Besides, the griffons will be able to jump over the obstruction and join us soon.”

“I, is that so? Anyways, let us hurry, Your Excellency.”

As soon as Raven mentioned the griffons, Jian’s face turned to a shade of mud and he urged Raven.

“All right. All troops, forward!”

“Forward! We will move quickly!”

The detached force began to accelerate with Raven and Karuta at the forefront.

“Karuta, we don’t know what we are up against, so be careful.”

“Keruk! Don’t worry, Pendragon scarecrow!”

He thumped his large chest, but Karuta also had a slightly anxious expression. Jian’s expression distorted treacherously as he followed behind the two.

‘Hehehe! Even if it’s an orc, what is one more going to do? Duke Pendragon, you will die today. Hehehehe!’

Jian desperately held back his laughter while following behind Raven’s horse. After moving for a while at a quick pace, the sun finally became visible. It was hanging slightly above the western sky, letting off the last rays of brilliance just before it set.

They were finally nearing the end of the rocky mountainous area.

“Good! Good work everyone… Hmm?”

Raven started talking with a relieved look, then narrowed his eyes. Far away, he could see shadowy figures heading towards them from the wider road.

“That’s… a cavalry?”

The owners of the elongated shadows were armed knights riding on top of horses.