Chapter 6: Match

As mentioned earlier, the vast land and sparse population of the continent means that cities, towns and villages are essentially connected by a single road. If it is a small party, it can take a short cut through the mountains and over the mountains, but an army with supply wagons can only advance along the road.

After a day, the party reached the village of Vannes. Knight Eric, the scout, brought bad news: Baron Lorient's army had already captured the village of Loc'Amand and seized a supply of food and fodder.

It seems that Baron Lorient's plan to deliver the declaration of war in the morning had been successful.

If Christine had been able to send Knight Eric to scout the enemy, Baron Lorient naturally had scouts of his own, who immediately sent back news of the arrival of Baron Stewart's large army.

What Baron Lorient feared most was that Christine would cower in the castle and refuse to come out, in which case even if he captured all of Baron Stewart's lands, he would not be able to take the castle with the soldiers he had.

A siege was impossible. Noble castles had wells and at least a year's supply of food, firewood and grass. How could Baron Lorient have hundreds of militia eating and drinking for a year without doing any work? Besides, the attack range of a knight standing on the city wall shooting arrows from a high vantage point was far greater than the casting range of a 5th level mage like him. This was also the reason why the continental nobles who possessed divine arts and magic were still busy repairing their castles.

But now that his opponent had come out into the open to fight him, the overjoyed Baron Lorient immediately sent a messenger with a challenge, asking Christine to meet him in a meadow tomorrow at ten o'clock for a duel.

People in this world are relatively straightforward, and they say that a duel must be a face-to-face fight between two sides with their formations set up, and there will never be any tricks or plots. So Christine agreed without hesitation.

If she wasn't sure she could win, why bring soldiers?

.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the two armies took up positions on the grassland, about 200 to 300 metres apart. Ignoring the fact that there were less than a thousand soldiers on each side, the banners fluttering in the wind, the soldiers in their shining armour and gleaming weapons looked awe-inspiring and full of killing intent.

According to the rules of chivalry, the leaders of both sides had to meet before the battle to exchange pleasantries. Baron Lorient had brought his son Olivier to the front of the army, while Christine was accompanied by Knight Eric.

Good day, Baron Lorient. Although both men were barons, Christian was naturally the younger and had to greet them first, as did Knight Eric.

'Good morning, Miss Stewart,' Baron Lorient replied.

'Good day, Miss Stewart and Knight Eric,' Oliver had a lower status and had to greet first.

'Good morning, Mr Oliver,' Christine replied.

That was how nobles were: even if they hated the other person's guts, they had to put on a smile and say a friendly greeting.

People in this world spoke very directly and didn't beat around the bush, so Baron Lorient said straight out: 'Miss Stewart, my eldest son Oliver is very fond of you. If our two families could marry, I believe the family would become even stronger.

Although the two sides were already at war, it would of course be better if they could reasonably annex each other's territory without sending a single soldier. So he took advantage of the large army on the border to make his request.

Noble marriages on this continent are essentially political alliances, as long as the goal can be achieved. What's more, many noble couples have lovers outside the marriage, which is why Baron Lorient said what he did.

Baron Lorient, please don't say such things. It makes my ears bleed just to listen to you,' Christine replied without hesitation, but her voice was so soft and melodious that even this language made people want to hear more.

Miss Stewart, once war breaks out, it will be too late to regret it, so I hope you will think carefully,' Baron Lorient continued to persuade.

Christine smiled and said aloud, 'Baron Lorient, once war breaks out, there will definitely be casualties on both sides. Why don't you and I settle this with a duel?

I don't have time to play with you.

Baron Lorient would naturally not take any risks, even though he was a fifth-level mage and the other party was only a first-level mage, as he was confident of his side's victory.

However, Christine's goal had already been achieved, and her words made the soldiers on both sides feel grateful in their hearts. After all, casualties were inevitable in battle, and no one wanted to be one of them.

There was no need to say more when there was no point in talking, so both sides turned their horses around and returned to their own lines to prepare for battle.

Baron Stewart's side was divided into three lines: the shield-bearing soldiers in the front, the spear-bearing soldiers in the rear, with the standing soldiers scattered between them as a backbone, and thirty archers behind them.

Knight Liam was in command, and Knight Eric and Knight Abel led a dozen mounted spearmen and cavalry on the left side of the formation.

Baron Lorient's formation was basically the same, except that there were a dozen archers and more than 30 pikemen. There were also nearly 20 fewer standing soldiers, but the extra knight more than made up for it.

As the long horn sounded, the two armies slowly began to move forward. The knights on either side, accompanied by their squires, faced each other, neither daring to make the first move as they were evenly matched.

When they were about 100 yards apart, both sides halted simultaneously.

Baron Stewart's men wanted to take advantage of the archers' strength, and 30 archers had already started shooting.

The dozen archers on Baron Lorient's side also drew their bows and arrows and began to shoot at each other, although that was not the point. Baron Lorient had dismounted at this point, enchanted himself with the protective spells 'Mage Armour' and 'Protective Arrows', and then stood behind the soldiers, protected by the shield-bearing guards, and began to cast his spell.

A single third-level Fireball spell can kill forty or fifty of the enemy, and then the extra knight can lead the soldiers in a charge while the enemy is in chaos, and the battle is over.

A warrior can only be promoted to the fifth rank by awakening his fighting spirit, and only by pledging allegiance to the nobility can he be knighted and granted a village fiefdom.

There is no distinction between the attributes of the Fighting Spirit. The fifth to ninth ranks focus on improving the knight's physical strength, power, speed and healing abilities. It is not until the tenth rank that the 'Spirit Slash' can be used externally.

A fifth-level Knight can wear full armour weighing 100 catties and wield a weapon weighing more than 20 catties for more than an hour. It is no exaggeration to say that he can kill 40 to 50 regular soldiers or nearly 100 militia members alone. If he is paired with a bloodthirsty warhorse with horse armour, he may even be able to kill 200 to 300 soldiers using guerrilla warfare.

The armour of high ranking knights is heavier and more defensive, which is why nobles don't usually have many standing soldiers. In a real emergency, a knight can be deployed faster than a hundred soldiers, so a few militia are enough to maintain order and prevent beasts.

This is also the reason why Baron Lorient firmly believes that after the 'Fireball Technique' has caused casualties and chaos, one Knight leading the troops is enough to defeat the enemy.

But he forgot Christine.

The image of the knight found online and the knight's armour in this book are thicker and more defensive.