The 3rd prince quickly left the village for the battlefield. Despite this, his mood was quite good. This was entirely due to the mysterious girl he just met. When he first noticed her, she had her hood up and he was very cautious. However, when she removed her hood revealing such beauty she instantly captivated his heart. To him who had met many of women as a prince, she held a unique beauty like a rare jewel that one could only encounter due to pure luck. Her snow white alluring flesh and fragrance, unique hair and eye color, as well as her regal aura that even he could not reproduce to such a degree all stimulated his desires. Even the clothes hidden under her cloak were elegant and very high quality despite only seeing a glimpse of it. He was not simply captivated by her looks either but also her mind. In the palace, he could choose any beautiful girl for his own and they would shower him with flattery and respect. However, she did not care for such titles and even talked down to him.

“Listen up! The goal is to draw them away from the village! We charge in and attack followed by a quick retreat, we will choose the battlefield not them!”

“”YEAH!!!””

The prince ordered his men and received a loud cheer in confirmation from them. Even if the prince’s thoughts were elsewhere, he performed his duties perfectly. Such a mindset would be seen as unfit for battle but this actually motivated him instead. In his mind, he must not let any form of harm befall the delicate flesh of such a lovely lady. Earlier he asked if she would like to be hired as she seemed to be a magic caster, and an adventurous one at that. He simply wanted to confirm and learn more about her but she put the safety of the villagers first. This had greatly impressed him but he did have curious thoughts about her magic ability after seeing so many golems. The prince was well aware of the golem’s strength from experience. His experience also told him how dangerous her protector was. He as well had unique light blue hair but what really caught his attention was that forged body of steel barely hidden beneath his attire.

The cavalry of knights quickly saw the entrapment line as they left the village. As ordered, they charged at their enemy to break through their line and quickly retreat. Their enemies all had summoned and tamed beasts beside them. Despite seeing the wide variety of creatures before them, the cavalry did not stop or change course but continued to charge forward. The 3rd prince leading them in battle scanned the beasts and used his experience to try and locate their leader. His findings lead to a man with 2 red salamanders next to him. Red salamanders are a lower class of dragon without wings but they are still very hard to control. This fact lead the prince to believe him to be the leader and acting on this, he fired an arrow before they met. One of the salamanders easily deflected the arrow away with its tail signaling the start of battle. In the prince’s mind, taking out the leader would give them an immediate advantage so he charge him. However, naturally being attacked warranted retaliation. The prince was prepared for an attack but was not prepared to have his horse forcibly controlled throwing him off its back.

“Charge! Keep going forward men!!!”

The prince yelled as some of the men stopped because of him. One of his aids came quickly to pick him up and extended a hand from atop their horse to pick up the prince as they rode by. An act performed and practiced many of times for situations like these. However, the prince could not grab that hand. Jumping away from the arrows that pierced his position, he drew his sword while evading. It seemed those beast tamers would defiantly refuse his escape. They cared little about the others escaping and focused solely on the 3rd prince.

“Bernard! Galad! I leave the men to you!”

“Your High…”

“Let me have fun once in a while will you!”

Interrupting Bernard, the prince showed a fearless smile and charged with sword in hand while his men retreated by horse. The 3rd prince is indeed strong and talented but one man against a small army just seemed impossible. The men indeed took out a few of the beasts in passing but that number seemed insignificant for what is to come. The leader gave commands to the summoners to attack and planned to test the fighting strength of the prince. Mud and tree golems all charged the prince probably in an attempt to steel his weapon away. This was a common strategy for summoners as weapons would get stuck in these golems. The prince was somewhat glad and disappointed at this outcome. Glad because he would be overwhelmed if everything came at him alone yet disappointed that they were underestimating him.

The 3rd prince’s sword skills were high enough to cut a stone golems body and these golems were far weaker, only numerous. The prince easily cut them down without much trouble but he was mistaken about something. Golems were completely disposable assets. Wave after wave could be sent at him to tire him out. Surrounded, he could not run either and he quickly realized this fact after the third wave. It seemed they planned to take him down slowly now that he was alone but this changed do to the return of the knights’ cavalry charging into the enemy led by Galad.

“As if we would abandon the prince!!!”

“Charge! Don’t let them lay a finger on His Highness!”

Followed by similar shouts, the knights’ cavalry returned to the battlefield. The battle escalated quickly and with the return of the knights, the prince need not conserve his strength anymore. This also applied to their enemy as everyone joined the attack. The prince used magic to physically enhance his body and rushed through the crowds to join up with his knights cutting down anything in his way. After a quick exchange with his aids, they fought together, side by side.

There were 30 knights against 10 summoners and 10 tamers. 30 against 20 would indeed seem to be in their favor but the amount of beasts and summoned creatures easily went into the hundreds. The knights fought valiantly and together against their enemy. The disposable golems that led the charge were dealt with fairly well showing the knights’ strength and skill however, those were only distractions. Canine beasts would aim for their limbs and restrict their movements. Armored armadillo bears would claw at those bond or curl their bodies up into a giant armored ball mowing everything down in their path. Various colored lizards would spray acid and try to poison the knights with their bite. If those beasts were simply a disorganized mob, the knights would surely triumph. However, their unity and teamwork were definitely first class and able to match that of humans.

The beasts were not the only opponent the knights had to worry about either. The beast tamers would stay far out of the reach of swords and fire arrows at them. The arrows did not come rapidly but occasionally and with precision aimed at the limbs. A dreadful strategy to pick them off slowly and efficiently. After taking a shot, one would quickly change position and hide behind the mass of beasts and golems before finding a new position to shoot from, repeating this process.

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The summoners controlling the golems suddenly stopped at the command of the leader and began summoning magical beasts instead of golems. Two headed serpents with wings, fire breathing dogs, poison breathing lizards with two tails, and even a chimera was summoned. Clearly things took a turn for the worse. The use of the disposable weak golems were meant to tire the knights out while the summoners conserved their true strength. The prince and his aides had severely misjudged the situation assuming both side were in a stalemate. If they had thought deeply about it, they would have seen it clearly as not only did the leader not participate at all, the other summoners had not once attacked with magic together with their golems like the tamers.

Seeing the situation grow dire by the second, the prince charged out after enchanting his body for swift movement. His plan was simple, take out the leader organizing the attacks. The prince and Galad were the only ones to not sustain any injury at all but Galad could not break through. Cutting down all in his path he charged until stopped by the two red salamanders. The salamanders had set themselves ablaze then attacked as per their master’s orders. Seeing the spectacle the prince briefly hesitated before blocking the fangs of one of the salamanders. The large lizard was definitely strong but he had no time to be impressed as the other one circled around him. Tilting the force away from his body, he passed by the lizard in front to not be encircled but received a hit from its tail preventing him from going near their master.

Seeing the smooth actions of the two salamanders, he concluded that they were well train and experienced in fighting humans, refusing to let him pass easily. From the corner of his eyes he could already see that most of the knights had collapsed with few still having fight in their eyes. Charging at the salamanders again he readied himself. When the foremost bore its fangs, he went under it smoothly and stabbed straight for the heart piercing its soft under scales. ‘One down’ he thought and went to face the other but was promptly bitten on the shoulder setting him ablaze. The claws also tried to wrap around him, luckily losing strength and collapsing beforehand. His aid Bernard, quickly extinguished the flames with magic but he had already received some burns. His shoulder now bloody and almost broken was then lunged after by the remaining salamander which he stab in the throat. Learning from last time he quickly retreated from the claws which tried to grab him. He made sure to keep his eyes on the last salamander until it bled out.

Turning away from the salamanders that died, he faced their master. Clearly undisturbed by the loss of his pets and only observing from the back, the prince felt it ominous as everything so far has seemed perfectly planned. In the fight just now as well he offered no support to the salamanders and simply watched them die. Despite having this feeling, he could not hesitate any longer as his men were falling still and charged forward. Luckily he kept his guard up as his charge was immediately halted by a black knight’s sword that clashed with his, forcing him back. Suddenly his situation got a lot worse as he had been surrounded by 4 black knights. Fighting beasts was a lot easier than fighting skilled swordsmen and they were saved as the last line of defense.

Upon looking closer, they were not knights but empty moving full body armors. This could be seen as a type of golem but unlike the ones before, this could be said to be an undying warrior. The true identity of the warrior would be a spirit possessing a suite of armor and moving it. Attacking the armor is pointless and would not stop just because you have separated the pieces as either the summoner or the spirit can reconnect them. Now he had to face 4 of these at once with an injured shoulder, as well as the summoner that still seems to have something else in reserve.

The prince was indeed confident in his skills and thought had it been one on one, no one could best him. However, that did not mean others fought with the same logic, or rather, for them this was a hunt and not a battle. The knights have been whittled down without so much as touching one of their enemies. Facing the 4 black knights still, the prince’s wounds have accumulated with slashes to the back, stab wounds to the limbs, blunt blows to the head, and he has even lost control of his left arm entirely. Looking back, he saw the last of the knights’ fall. Galad was truly a sturdy guy, lasting to the end even protecting his magician friend who could no longer cast magic and had become a burden. After Galad’s fall, the attacks to him stopped as well. It was now that the leader finally said something to him.

“I almost feel sorry for you and your foolish knights…”

“Foolish!? Where is the foolishness in these brave knights?!”

“Is it not so? If you had simply abandoned these villages none of you would have to die here.”

“Abandon? Impossible! These people are also our countrymen and it is our duty to protect them!”

“If it is your duty to protect them, why is it that no guards from the capital guard these villages? As a prince you should know well that the capital cares little about here and these villages care little about the capital. They are self-sufficient and only call when convenient.”

“Is it not the same for the capital? Only taking their food and tax when convenient?”

“No, no. It is nothing like that and you know it. The capital only robs these people of what they have without providing any protection for them at all. The proof is in this situation, no?”

“Are we not here protecting it?”

“And you are doing a fine job at that.”

“…”

“You being here is the best proof that this country cares not what happens to these people. Who would send a prince all the way out here just to kill mere beasts? There was never any order to send help to these people so you foolishly took matters into your own hands and failed miserably, even dragging in the bigger fools that blindly follow you.”

“Who said we have failed?”

“Oh? You can still act confident in such a state ready to collapse? Well, nothing about you convinces me so, though I guess we should finish up. I wasted too much time because I thought it would be interesting to talk to a half dead prince. Let’s finish this and erase that village as well. Sadly you will remain foolish to the end.”

“Don’t underestimate me!!!”

The prince shouted back readying his sword to the black knights attacking again. Suddenly, he heard a sweet voice in his head playfully saying, ‘my turn’. The scenery around the prince immediately changed and bewildered him as he now stood back in the village center. It was not just him either but all of his fallen comrades as well.

“This is?”

“Your Highness?!”

“What happened… where did Lady Histoire go?”

“Yes, she and her attendant disappeared and Your Highness showed up in their place.”

“… Transference magic?”

Saying so, the prince collapsed. He had a slightly relieved expression as he thought they might actually win. They were not foolish enough to come out against someone unbeatable, especially with her strong magic and powerful attendant. Slowly he lost consciousness while the village chief was panicking and running about.

…