Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!-Chapter 81: Supply Base Raid

After finishing our rest, I gathered the unit.

We rode along the road.

Our position might be exposed to the enemy, but I was already continuously scanning for enemy presence with the Commander Scouter. Using the scouter so frequently had made me good at multitasking. Luckily, the scouter marked enemies like a radar without blocking my vision.

"Unit, halt!"

"Halt!"

And then, at some point, I detected two enemy squads beyond the hill ahead. Going any closer would risk being spotted by their sentries. So I turned south again and crossed the stream. The Euz region has plenty of mountains and forests, which means plenty of places to hide—a clear advantage.

Of course, that applied to the enemy too, but since I could pinpoint hidden enemy positions, if I played it right, I could ambush them instead. It was a cheat-like ability, but not using it would be even more foolish—especially on a battlefield where lives are on the line.

After dismounting, we moved through the brush. Holland horses live in wastelands, so they don’t like forests full of things to snag on and snorted their complaints. Haha, this level of grumbling is just cute. A few pats and this gentle horse calmed right down.

When Schatten gets mad, he wiggles his hindquarters or taps my head with his muzzle. He treats Hilda the best and me second, but the gap in treatment is enormous. Still, Schatten’s a very smart horse, so he followed my lead well.

I didn’t even know this Holland horse’s name.

So I just named him Rotbraun after his reddish-brown coat, keeping it simple. I planned to get the horse I’d lent August back later, but if he officially became a vassal knight, I’d give it to him as a gift. That’s why August had named his horse after his hometown, Feuzen.

We left all the horses we’d captured from the enemy light cavalry tied up in a small village. The plan was to stop by that village on our way back after raiding the supply base and collect the horses then. The light cavalrymen wanted to drag them along, but I stopped them with a direct order; they seemed anxious the horses might be gone by the time we returned.

Anyway, men trying to score big through war are the same whether they’re mercenaries or regulars. No, maybe knights are even worse. If I hadn’t earned silver coins through quests and various means, I might have been struggling with maintenance costs and looking forward to war just like them, hoping to strike it rich. You can’t blame them, really.

I’d estimated two enemy units beyond the hill, but getting closer revealed about four units gathered there. Well, it would make no sense for a major supply base to have no guards. Two units had a low combat power of 43, making them supply units, and the other two were guard units.

The guard units’ combat power was around 56. Our current combat power was 75, so a surprise attack could deal major damage, but the enemy clearly outnumbered us. The light cavalry I was leading had started with 54 riders including lieutenants, but we were down to 42.

Even with great results from surprise attacks, you can’t avoid deaths or injuries. In terms of the casualty ratio, enemy losses were probably ten times higher than ours, right? The raiding parties had moved in groups of about twenty, and we’d wiped out five of them. Now we were about to attack a supply base with four units gathered.

"Fiel, August. You focus on attacking the enemy guards. Lieutenants, find torches or oil and set fires everywhere. Let me be clear—no looting."

"Enemy supply bases are where milk and honey flow, and you want us to give all that up..."

"There’s no time to loot, and even if we plunder and run, the extra weight will tire the horses and we won’t escape pursuit. You’re not seriously thinking of risking your lives over some loot, are you?"

Mercenaries consider their bodies their greatest asset. The two former mercenary lieutenants understood what I meant. Seeing this makes you realize how remarkable Swiss mercenaries are for fighting to the last man even when facing total annihilation. They valued their reputation over pay or loot.

The enemy sentries didn’t seem to have noticed us yet.

Forget being on guard—they were just chatting, so of course they had no idea.

Didn’t General MacArthur say something like that?

I can forgive failure in battle, but not failure in vigilance.

He’s right. Like when you launch a surprise attack while sentries are completely oblivious.

Thud thud thud thud!

Bursting from the brush and charging over the hill, our unit spotted the supply base, the lounging guard units, and the dumbfounded expressions of cooks lighting fires to prepare food. How do I put it? A moment of silence fell over both sides. Nobody had expected the enemy to appear.

"Unit, charge!"

"Uwaaaah!"

Rushing down the hill with cavalry swords raised high, our unit charged to trample the fools standing there like scarecrows. The stakes surrounding the supply base were useless—they weren’t densely placed, and there were gaps wide enough for horses to pass through. Naturally, we broke through with ease.

"En-enemy! Aaaah!"

"Maledizione!"

Swinging our cavalry swords, we cut down the confused enemy without hesitation. I’d already assigned roles to each squad, so while Fiel and August’s squads trampled the enemy to their hearts’ content, the lieutenants’ squads found torches and oil, doused everything, and set fires.

In no time, flames spread to the tents where supplies were stored and to the stacked straw. Despite having more guards, they couldn’t withstand our unit’s assault—we rampaged everywhere, cutting people down indiscriminately—and broke into a rout. Naturally, the supply units panicked too.

"Fucking Italians! Don’t run—fight!"

I spotted the supply unit commander cursing and desperately trying to rally the fleeing soldiers. His mistakes had been posting useless sentries and not properly setting up stakes. Spurring my horse forward, I closed the distance and swung my cavalry sword at him.

Clang! Clang!

But he blocked my attacks better than expected. He struggled against the downward strikes, then grabbed my sword arm and yanked hard. My center of gravity shifted sideways, and the plate armor’s weight did the rest—I lost my balance and tumbled off my horse.

Luckily, I managed a proper breakfall, so I didn’t take much of an impact.

But there was some impact, and I coughed.

The Mounted Combat Stage 1 training quest has two training methods—handling basic cavalry swords and breakfalls for when you fall off your horse. Without having learned that breakfall, it could have been dangerous. Constantly ambushing enemy light cavalry had greatly improved my mounted combat and horsemanship proficiency.

"Die! You pig-eating German bastard!"

I grabbed the arm of the supply commander as he tried to mount my fallen body and drive a dagger through the gaps in my armor, then twisted his joint. This is exactly why I’d been learning wrestling on the side. Of course, wrestling applies to swordsmanship too, but it really shows its worth when you’re knocked down and defenseless like this. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Gaaah!"

"Says the French bastard stuffing his face with fatty goose liver!"

"Putain! Merde! We don’t eat goose liver!"

Oh, really?

I wrenched his arm at the joint, shoved him sideways, then took mount position myself. I drew the same dagger I’d used to kill Frost and Klugen and stabbed it through the gap in the struggling supply commander’s helmet. Blood seeped between the helmet gaps, and his fierce resistance gradually faded.

"Damn, that was close."

In a chaotic melee, the mounted rider attacking from above doesn’t always have the advantage. Dragging a rider off his horse and finishing him on the ground is a viable tactic too. Luckily, I survived because I was prepared for exactly that. I immediately entered the supply commander’s tent. As the commander, there was a good chance he’d have valuable information.

On the desk, I found a total of four documents and a large sheet of paper—not the commonly used linen paper either, but good-quality stuff. First, I focused on the largest sheet.

"A map?"

It was a map showing the supply base and enemy positions at Meriant.

Wow, this is a jackpot. A real find.

Another supply base was very close by.