The First Magic World War

Charles spoke slowly, "If anyone else wishes to express a dissenting opinion, feel free to bravely stand up."

"I was impulsive just now!"

"I promise it won't happen again."

The entire battlefield was silent as a graveyard.

Charles was known for his unpredictable temper and readiness to kill.

Who could actually trust him?

Charles let out a sigh of relief. Had there really been a brave soul to stand up against him, he didn't know what he would have done.

After all, he had indeed been in a foul mood when he killed the man.

Charles thought that having just been through a war might have caused him a bit of a "random killing syndrome," but now that his emotions had stabilized, he was sure he wouldn't kill indiscriminately again.

Since the defeated Knighthood didn't oppose him, Charles's reorganization proceeded exceptionally smoothly, creating nearly two hundred combat squads, each typically comprising fifty men.

Charles deliberately left some of the combat squads undermanned, seeing a certain "beauty in incompleteness" in doing so.

However, he opened exceptions for himself, Dobin, Yellow Bear, Taoles, and Philedrica by organizing direct command squads, each fully staffed with two hundred physically robust and skilled warriors.

He hadn't completed the reorganization when he heard a noise coming from the direction of the last battle, and within half an hour, he saw Dobin riding a swift horse, looking triumphant, escorting more than two thousand men back.

Charles was dumbfounded and desperately wanted to ask, "Didn't I tell you not to engage in battle prematurely?"
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"And, how does it look as though there was barely any fight?"

Dobin dismounted the swift horse and shouted, "These people are just ordinary farmers who were forced to fight. As soon as I approached, they surrendered."

"How shall we deal with these people from South Serif?"

Charles thought to himself, "How would I know?" But as was his custom, he dispersed these additional two thousand South Serif people into various combat squads.

With the inclusion of these two thousand plus South Serifs, the Westwind Knights' combat squads grew to a total of two hundred and sixty-seven, swelling their numbers to over ten thousand men.

Charles inquired with the surrendering South Serifs and learned why two armies had come to fight within the borders of the Fars Empire.

Baron Philes wanted to launch a surprise attack on a major town in South Serif territory. Without notifying Fars, he borrowed the territory of the Fars Empire to attempt an invasion of South Serif territory, but his lover, who happened to be a woman from South Serif, risked her life to leak the news.

The restorationists of South Serif immediately dispatched an army to intercept them. They were well aware that these farmers were not strong fighters, so they asked the People of Baron for help.

Charles did not sympathize with Baron Philes. The hatred between Behemoth Duchy and South Serif Territory was irreconcilable. It was foolish enough that the baron had taken a lover from South Serif, let alone that he allowed her to learn of his marching route. Indeed, he deserved his fate.

Charles even thought that if he could find the baron's corpse, he would erect a monument for the fellow, inscribed with "Baron Philedrica, died from foolishness, disclosed military intelligence to a mistress of South Serif..."

"Future generations will probably question the barony's stupidity. I, too, cannot comprehend it and can only attribute it to the baron's intelligence being afflicted!"

It's imperative to ensure that Baron Philedrica's name is "enshrined in history."

While commanding the Westwind Knights, Charles had gathered the supplies of two armies, prioritizing resupplies for his "old subordinates," then sent out a combat squad, with "severed heads" in tow, back to Strasbourg to report the victory before continuing the march towards Behemoth Duchy.

That very night, Reality taught Charles Meklen, an obvious military novice and Mr. Yellow Bear, a profound lesson. His haphazardly consolidating troops led to severe hidden dangers, and approximately two thousand men deserted under the cover of darkness.

In a rush, Charles began another round of "firing up the blood," as well as reorganizing the troops, but by lunchtime, about three hundred more had fled, and he could only regretfully give up on "healing them."

Although Charles had thought about returning to Machu Picchu and converting these people into NPCs, he soon abandoned the idea. Even with the supplies from the Yahoo Knighthood and the South Serif Restorationists, it was still insufficient to sustain the expanded Westwind Knights for more than a few days.

There were no nearby towns or villages around Machu Picchu that could provide enough food. Going back and forth was likely to cause not just a reduction in deserters, but possibly a complete collapse on the spot.

The only consolation was that Charles had allocated the supplies to his old subordinates, and those who deserted were virtually empty-handed, having taken nothing with them.

After annihilating Byron's cavalry, Charles also gathered over a hundred warhorses. He straightforwardly assigned twenty horses to Dobin, cultivating this competent subordinate as a professional scout and also gave a few to the combat squads of Taoles, Yellow Bear, and Philedrica. The remaining horses were all added to his own direct combat squad, forming an "amateur" cavalry unit.

After marching continuously for several days, the Westwind Knights finally entered the territory of the Behemoth Duchy.

Too many had deserted along the way, now only slightly over six thousand remained, shattering much of Charles's dreams of commanding vast armies. Fortunately, upon entering Behemoth Duchy's territory, the number of deserters miraculously dropped to single digits, reaching a level where he could pretend there were no deserters at all by closing his eyes.

The orders Charles received were very vague, simply telling him to support Behemoth Duchy without specific instructions. Thus, upon entering the territory of Behemoth Duchy, he sent people to report to Grand Duke Joseph and also submitted the "battle report."

As a Transmigrator, Charles had no "respect" for the duke. His battle report stated: the Yahoo Knighthood had been completely annihilated by Lady Southseraph, he himself had repelled the South Serif Restorationists, killing hundreds...

He didn't mention a word about incorporating the Yahoo Knighthood or accepting the surrender of the South Serif Restorationists. He emphasized that he brought tens of thousands, suffered heavy losses in repelling the South Serif Restorationists, and was now left with less than six thousand men. He hoped Grand Duke Joseph would replenish their supplies, troops, and even provide a stationing place, essentially raising every possible demand.

Charles believed that in such a backward medieval era, these nobles likely wouldn't place much emphasis on intelligence and probably wouldn't see through his lies.

After all...

Who cares! War is inherently a messy affair.

He wasn't afraid that Grand Duke Joseph, a knight commander of the Fars Empire, would turn against him.

A few days later, Charles had not received a reply from Grand Duke Joseph, but he did receive a reply from the duchess.

The reply mentioned that Grand Duke Joseph, eager for revenge for his uncle, had mobilized all the duchy's forces and was fiercely attacking Southern Seraph Territory. He was at the frontline and it would take several more days to get a battle report, making the reply even later.

It also denied the Westwind Knights entry into Mostar Castle, the capital of Behemoth Duchy, and arranged for Charles's troops to be stationed instead at Silver Pigeon Fort, the domain of Baron Philedrica.