The NTR Knight Commander has Decided to Desert

Chapter 11

"W-What are you talking about? Retreat? You're telling me to walk away from a fish we've already caught? If we attack now, we can end this for good..."

"It's the General's order. He said we must retreat immediately because the enemy reinforcements launched a surprise attack."

"No... How many reinforcements could there possibly be! Cromwell is right there! He's like a rat trapped in a cage—there's no way I'm turning back now!"

A sudden retreat order delivered via an aide from General Neto.

In response, Richard fiercely objected and even began to consider the possibility of disobeying orders.

Cromwell, whose aura had finally run out, could no longer block magic.

If they just pushed a little harder, they could surely kill him.

To Richard, Cromwell was an even more dangerous figure than the rebel Supreme Commander George, and so she believed this was the perfect chance to eliminate him.

"Go tell the General! If we don't finish off this man now, he'll come back to haunt us forever! I'm not leaving until I've dealt with those bastards!"

With that firm stance, Richard was about to issue a charge order to her troops.

However—

"I won't let you do that, Richard!"

William shouted at her, his voice filled with cold fury.

"Are you seriously planning to defy General Neto's orders? First you stabbed me in the back, and now you're going to disobey a superior?"

"Stabbed you in the back? You're the one who charged in without listening to me and got yourself wrecked, and now you're blaming—"

"If you had just responded properly back then, the battle would've been over long ago! Using your comrades as shields and abandoning them—how foolish I was to ever consider someone like you a friend!"

With a heated tone, William began to unleash his hostility toward Richard.

Though it was true he had acted rashly, in this moment, William saw Richard's failure to act while his soldiers were being brutally beaten as far worse than his own 'minor' mistake—by tens or even hundreds of times.

"I warned you! You're the one who ignored it! And now what? If you're going to be ignorant, at least listen to someone smarter! If I hadn't preserved my forces, we wouldn't even have this opportunity now!"

"You bastard, you've gone too far!"

Believing that the hundreds of his soldiers who were wounded and fallen were all because she hadn't helped, William channeled magic into his staff and pointed it at Richard's neck.

! Y-You bastard... What the hell do you think you're doing to a comrade?

"I don't need comrades like you anymore! You filthy traitor! I'll kill you here and now as payment for my men's lives!"

"Both of you, stop! This is not the time for us to be fighting each other! The General has ordered that if we don't carry out the retreat immediately, we'll be punished under military law!"

Amid the rising tension, the aide firmly intervened to stop the two of them.

Grinding their teeth, Richard and William had no choice but to back down for now.

With the threat of military law hanging over them, they had no choice but to comply, no matter how dissatisfied they were.

And so, the two of them began the retreat, still glaring daggers at each other.

'Damn it! I can't believe we're leaving Cromwell behind like this... Opportunities like this don't come often, but General Neto had to make such a stupid decision...'

Even as she pulled back, unable to shake off her lingering regret, Richard cast a cold glare at the cheering rebels and Cromwell at their center.

*

"Retreat! All troops, move west immediately!"

At General Neto's command, the Imperial Army began to hastily withdraw.

But because the order had come so suddenly, the soldiers were in disarray and unable to respond quickly.

Having just released their combat posture, they didn't even have time to pack up tents and supplies—and worse, the rebel forces were already pressing in rapidly from the east and south.

"Th-The rebels made it this far!"

"Hold them off! Drop the supplies and stop them now!"

Imperial soldiers threw down their gear and hastily swung their weapons.

But such a sloppy counterattack, done without even forming proper ranks, posed little threat to the rebels.

The only ones effectively holding off the rebels were the mages and warriors within the Imperial Army.

Thanks to their ability to wield magic, they could literally fight like a hundred men, and even in small numbers, they posed a real threat to the militia.

Thanks to the efforts of these elite forces, the Imperial Army was able to minimize damage as they carried out the retreat.

Watching this, Franklin clicked her tongue in frustration after ordering her troops to halt the pursuit.

'Tch... If only we had a few mages on our side, we could've wiped out at least 30% of the enemy. The difference in strength really was too much.'

The rebels were at a massive disadvantage in both quantity and quality of troops.

Even so, the Imperial Army had lost around 600 men in this battle, while Franklin's 500-strong force had suffered fewer than 20 casualties.

On top of that, nearly 40% of the enemy's encampment had been reduced to ashes, inflicting heavy damage on their supplies.

At this level, it was more than enough to call it a great victory, and so Franklin raised her sword high as a symbol of triumph, shedding her lingering regret.

"Uwooooh!!!"

"We won! We beat the Imperial bastards!"

A miraculous victory for those who, just days ago, had been prepared to die.

Filled with joy at that fact, the rebel soldiers shouted in celebration,

And Franklin, too, began to smile broadly.

However, in that moment—

The smile on her lips wasn't just about the joy of victory.

'As expected... As expected of Captain Cromwell! Everything turned out just the way he said it would! The man I acknowledged really is something else!'

And so, feeling her emotions for that man burn hotly once again in her heart,

Franklin, seized by a powerful urge to see Cromwell—the hero of this war and the idol she adored—gave her next order to her troops.

"Some of you stay behind to clean up the area. The rest, follow me—we need to check on the status of our allies to the north."

"Yes, General."

And so, trying to maintain a calm façade despite her anxious excitement, Franklin spurred her horse forward so fast that the soldiers behind her struggled to keep up.

*

"Gahhhk!"

"Guhhh!"

After barely managing to retreat and regroup, the Imperial Army reestablished their encampment.

There, General Neto, his face twisted like a demon, was kicking the two commanders kneeling before him.

"You bastards! And you still call yourselves generals? William, you fool! Even if you were blinded by the reward, how could you recklessly throw your troops into the meat grinder like that? Three hundred of your soldiers are dead because of you! You lost nearly half your forces—do you even have a brain?!"

"Guh... P-Please kill me, General!"

William, trembling on the ground.

At this moment, the pain of being kicked wasn't what hurt the most—it was the overwhelming shame that tormented him.

Next, General Neto turned his gaze to Richard, who was also kneeling.

"And Richard... You just stood there the whole time William was getting destroyed? While your comrade was getting torn apart like a dog, you were sitting back munching popcorn and watching?"

"I-I only wanted to avoid meaningless sacrifice! If I had just a bit more time, I could've brought you Cromwell's head..."

"And did it occur to you that because you dragged things out, the enemy reinforcements were able to tear through our camp?! We're lucky I ordered a swift retreat. If not for that, we'd all be dead thanks to your idiotic judgment! You worthless piece of trash! Instead of begging for forgiveness, you dare flap that filthy mouth of yours?!"

"..."

General Neto hurled insults at Richard, his rage boiling over.

Watching him, Richard couldn't help but feel her insides seethe.

'You're the one who made the dumbass call! If the reinforcements had really been that overwhelming, there's no way we would've gotten away with just this much damage!'

The rebels had literally stopped attacking midway through.

Which meant their reinforcements weren't much to begin with—Neto had just panicked and ruined everything.

But even if she said that now, there's no way he'd listen.

So, Richard just clenched her teeth and endured his tirade, thinking only about what came next.

'Fine, just you wait. Not only did you blow a golden opportunity, but now you dare to humiliate me like this? You garbage excuse for a superior—I'll make sure you're replaced soon enough!'