Volume 4, Chapter 271 - Shadow of the Hero (2/3)
Volume 4, Chapter 271 - Shadow of the Hero (2/3)
The emergence of the three country alliance was the military problem.
Led by the minor nation of Fenis, the alliance was born after letting go of their past grudges and vowing to share an offensive and defensive military alliance. With their alliance, Gi Gi Orudo could no longer defeat them by himself, so he sent word back to the capital to ask for reinforcements. In response, the Goblin King was about to set off personally when Pale the Tactician stopped him.
“Your Majesty, you can leave if you wish, but first, please do settle your accounts. They piled up in your absence.”
Pale said with a cold glare. The Goblin King frowned, but she wasn’t so weak as to be moved by that.
“What will you do then? The four generals are equal. Even if the mixed army is sent, I don’t think Gi Gi is suited to lead such a big army.”
“Yes, that’s why I was hoping that Your Majesty would appoint someone else to oversee the entire army temporarily.”
“…I see. Measures do need to be taken for my eventual passing too.”
“…It’s good that you understand, Your Majesty.”
The Goblin King would eventually pass, so it was imperative that they create a military system that would function even in the absence of the Goblin King. It was also imperative that the army learn to listen to someone other than a goblin.
The question of whether the country could survive or not if the brilliant goblins, such as Gi Ga Rax and Gi Gu Verbena were to pass as well, aside, it would be problematic if the goblins were incapable of hearing instruction from anyone other than a goblin. The goblins might take pride in their unwavering loyalty toward the king, but it would not do to have them turn that loyalty to the generals after the king passes.
Their loyalty must be turned to the country. It would simply be too disastrous if the generals themselves were to turn against the country while they had most of the military.
Hence, to set a precedent, Pale wanted to delegate the command of the army to a general dispatched by the country.
“Very well. The flag of our army shall be carried by Shumea.”
“A good choice, Your Majesty. I’ll have Mehran Le Coude accompany her as her adjutant then. Gi Ah-dono should take 2,000 soldiers as well.”
“Mehran Le Coude?”
“He was the adjutant of the late war princess. He may be a person of the Holy Shushunu Kingdom, but there’s no denying that he falls under the brilliant category as far as humans are concerned.”
Pale answered the king’s question fluently, then brought forward another proposal.
The reinforcements could be focused to Gi Gi Orudo’s side if they just slowed down the offensive in the other fronts. The Goblin King agreed.
At the same time, he grew uneasy at the growing distance between the capital, The City Where the King Sits (Revea Su), and the frontlines. The battle with the War Princess had taught him about watching his back. He knew that all preparations and precautions had to be thoroughly met before they could start a great attack against the east.
“I was thinking of sending the mixed army too,” Pale said.
“Go ahead. That should be enough to take care of this new alliance,” the Goblin King said.
“As you will, Your Majesty.”
But the alliance went above their expectations and endured Alrodena’s attacks. One reason behind this failure was because Pale’s intelligence department was too focused on the Sacred Kingdom of Altigand and the internal affairs of Alrodena.
Though the threads spun by her intelligence department were indeed many, they were not that long. They could not cover all of Alrodena. As inscrutable as her stratagems were, Pale was not capable of controlling everything.
Moreover, the reason why the three-country alliance was able to hold steadfast against the goblins was because of the appearance of a certain heroic figure.
A person by the name of Aldur Malisk.
A person who excelled in defenses so much so that Alrodena’s offense would have to be halted temporarily.
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Aldur Malisk.
Known as the Vicious Three Tongues (Ben Do Mi) to his foes and the Undying (Nosturas) to his allies, the hero of the three-country alliance, Aldur heralded from the core country of the alliance, Fenis, but was neither a king nor a noble, in fact, not even a soldier, but a mere son to a hunter.
But regardless of his background, he was able to rise to prominence because he was able to stop Gi Gi Orudo’s Zeilduk three times. The first time was when he repelled the attack of the mixed army, and then he even managed to force Gi Gu Verbena’s Felduk to retreat, a feat he held in pride.
However, neither of these achievements were made possible by his godlike martial prowess or his divine schemes. Rather, as the son to a hunter, Aldur Malisk was privy to the surrounding geography, and he threw all of his efforts into avoiding a direct confrontation with the goblins, opting instead to focus on guerrilla tactics.
Moreover, he employed the tactics that the goblins hated the most, that is to weave truth and lies in negotiations while the battle unfolded. Against Zeilduk, they lured the monster beasts with traps to hurt the army. With Gi GI unable to produce results no matter how many times they tried, in the end, Gi Gi had to call the retreat.
Gi Gi might have had a lot of monster beasts under his army, but with how they’ve been recently training the monster beasts first before throwing them in the front lines, the damages they were starting to accumulate could no longer be ignored.
Against the mixed army, Aldur called for peace negotiations, but sent a glib talker who would change the terms of the treaty individually.
Against Gi Jii’s Regiol, he pledged a complete surrender, while against the bloodthirsty Gi Zu and his Sazanorga, he proposed an oppressive, conditional surrender. Against the tactician from the Kushain Believers, Vilan, he sent a surrender riddled with excessively decorated grumbles.
To the goblins, who were unsophisticated by nature, these ploys were more than enough to throw them into disarray. The weakness of the mixed army also came to light. A weakness that came in the form of a question, ‘who would take the lead in this war and who would have the right to call the shots?’
Unable to come up with an answer, they decided to send a messenger back to Revea Su and wait for further instructions. This was a mistake. Although Vilan could predict the movements of an army, he was not good at psychological games.
Rather it was Queen Mira, his superior, who excelled in reading the human mind. Unfortunately, she wasn’t here.
With the goblins unmoving, this time the three-country alliance attacked with Aldur leading them.
The goblins were surprised, but they were all veterans with hundreds of battles under their belt. They immediately fixed their armies, and fought back against the assaulting enemies.
“If the enemy is arrogant enough to come out and fight, then good! That makes everything simpler! Just crush them all!”
Gi Zu said to inspire his soldiers, then the goblins of Sazanorga met the enemy head on, and immediately, the winds changed.
As expected, the goblins were strong in combat.
Despite being taken by surprise and despite being on the defensive at first, Sazanorga’s valiant response spurred the rest of the armies on, and before long, they were starting to gradually attack in their respective styles.
As though spurred on by that, the Regiol too gradually repelled the pressure of the enemy. After a line or so later, Vilan’s Akazones and the other armies from the allies got back on their feet too.
When the enemy realized that their surprise attack had failed, they immediately retreated.