Upon returning to camp with Viscount Leo, Robson immediately summoned Bo Yang and departed with all his soldiers.
On open plains, Robson would never dare to provoke this band of centaurs.
Some of them could run as fast as horses, and every last centaur was a skilled archer. Kiting infantry on the battlefield would be child's play for them.
Fortunately, this was hilly, forested terrain.
The forest was the infantry's domain, and the bows the centaurs prided themselves on couldn't pierce the fine leather armor of Robson's soldiers.
If the centaurs hadn't encountered Viscount Leo on the open plains, they never would have been able to defeat him.
Despite their victory, Viscount Leo had still managed to take down over a hundred of them.
"Robson, are you marching out?"
Robson turned. It was Ed, who had been silent all day.
"I want to go with you," Knight Ed said, taking a step forward.
At some point, Ed had already gotten ready to depart. He was even leading Count Offman's unicorn.
"Of course. Have you really thought this through? Once you're on the battlefield, it's not easy to pull back," Robson asked.
As his friend, Robson hoped Ed would quickly emerge from the shadow of Count Offman's death.
In the Frank Kingdom, there was no place for a noble who shirked from battle.
"Of course... I'll follow your lead," Knight Ed said.
"Good. The Earl will be pleased, watching from the heavens," Robson said.
At the mention of Count Offman, Knight Ed fell silent once more.
Once preparations were complete, Robson divided his forces into four detachments based on the soldiers' tiers.
The strongest—the fourth-tier soldiers—would take the longest route, executing a wide pincer movement around the lake. The remaining detachments would advance in succession to form an encircling ring.
Robson was wracking his brains for a way to get his Tier Two Soldiers upgraded as quickly as possible.
After some thought, he still felt uneasy. Robson had his men bring along the carriages they had taken from Sunset Fortress.
While they wouldn't impede a two-legged man, the same couldn't be said for a four-legged horse.
....
This was Chief Regov's first time participating in the Empire's southern campaign.
He had gained nothing for days. He had assumed he would come away empty-handed until the Empire broke through the Franks' defensive lines and reached the fertile plains beyond.
He never expected this excursion to make him rich in one fell swoop—he had actually managed to rob a Viscount.
In the past, such a thing was beyond his wildest dreams.
It wasn't that he didn't want to; he'd just never been able to.
Regov had not witnessed the last southern campaign of the Beastmen. Thus, he had never seen the human expeditionary force—tens of thousands of Extraordinary Cavalry and thousands of Mages—slaughtering the Beastmen like pigs.
His impression of humans could be summed up in a single word: weak!
Take, for example, the human unit he had encountered earlier.
They clearly had the advantage in numbers and a pile of good equipment, yet they had turned and run the moment they saw him.
'So this is the martial spirit of human nobles?' Regov was more than a little disdainful.
Still, he had to thank these two-legged sheep. If not for them, he, the great Chief Regov, would probably never see so many weapons and treasures in his entire life.
"Chieftain! Movement to the south!"
A rather gaunt centaur ran to Chief Regov's side to report.
"Movement? Could it be humans again?"
Chief Regov's eyes lit up. In his mind, humans had become synonymous with wealth.
Robbing a single Viscount was worth several years of his tribe's income. There was no more profitable business in the world.
"Tell the men to grab their battle-axes and shortbows. Leave fifty warriors here to guard the prisoners," Chief Regov commanded.
The classic centaur weapon was a massive axe. Though called an axe, it was actually made of stone—more of a sledgehammer, really.
The shortbow was standard issue; not only for the Centaur Tribe, but for most grassland races who knew their way around one.
"Yes!"
Once they were ready, Chief Regov set out immediately, fearing that a moment's delay would give the enemy a chance to flee.
....
'Why aren't they here yet? This shouldn't be happening.'
Robson grumbled internally. He had already been waiting here for an hour with nearly four hundred fourth-tier soldiers.
Before departing, Robson had hesitated over whether to lead the Tier Two Soldiers or the fourth-tier contingent. He ultimately chose to lead the more advanced soldiers.
He had left the Tier Two Soldiers with Viscount Leo and Bo Yang. Robson had already planned out the strategy; as long as those two didn't try to get creative, victory was practically guaranteed.
'Bo Yang has been here for a while but has never commanded troops. This will be good experience for him.'
'Besides, if the Tier Two Soldiers messed up, I wouldn't shed any tears. As for Bo Yang, I trust Viscount Leo will ensure he makes it off the battlefield in one piece.'
'I, Lord Robson, am much better suited to leading high-tier troops and crushing everything in my path.'
A thundering of hooves echoed, and the ground began to tremble slightly.
'They're finally here.'
Robson gave a hand signal. The Frank Skilled Shooters and Frank Skilled Infantry behind him concealed themselves, waiting for the enemy to charge into the dense woods before they engaged.
The area fell silent, save for a single, heavy breath. Knight Ed was still too tense.
The breathing soon quieted as well.
....
"Groups of three! Attack!"
Seeing the centaurs enter the designated kill zone, Robson gave the order.
Chief Regov froze; he had only heard a human voice.
The fourth-tier skilled soldiers were versatile in all respects, including wilderness warfare.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
Regov flared his Battle Aura, enveloping his entire body. He activated the centaur's red-eye ability, and his speed increased dramatically.
Unfortunately for Chief Regov, the only response was a volley of arrows from the shadows.
A whizzing sound filled the air as arrows flew from all corners of the forest, striking the Centaur Warriors behind Chief Regov with deadly precision.
"ARGH!"
"Arrows! Where are the arrows coming from?"
"The trees! By the great Kartima! The trees are shooting arrows!"
Chief Regov was startled as several arrows struck him accurately, only to be deflected by his Battle Aura.
"Stop these tricks! Who are you?! Show yourself!"
Regov looked behind him. Arrows rained down relentlessly, and his Centaur Warriors were being cut down every second. Chief Regov's heart bled with every loss.
These warriors were the foundation of his power, and he was watching his life's work being drained away bit by bit.
With the advantage of terrain, the Frank Skilled Shooters were truly terrifying. And this was with Robson holding them back; he was afraid that if they killed everyone, there'd be no one left for the junior soldiers to gain experience from.
"Come out! I see you!"
Chief Regov finally spotted a human archer hiding behind a tree. Just as he was about to draw his bow, a sharp pain lanced through his back.
Silver!
Regov was stunned. He put away his bow, drew his stone axe, and spun around, only to be dumbfounded by the sight.
Squads of infantry in groups of two and three were emerging from nowhere, like phantoms.
The centaurs' massive stone axes were impossible to wield effectively in the dense forest. As for their bows, the shoddy shortbows of the grasslands couldn't even pierce the enemy's leather armor.
Meanwhile, the sharp longspears in the hands of these infantry could easily punch a hole straight through a centaur's neck.
At this point, how could Regov not realize he'd been played for a fool?
Suddenly, the hair on Regov's neck stood on end. He spun and raised his stone axe, only to see a young, blond-haired human noble in iron armor thrusting a Knight's Sword at him.