The Battle of Helsdorf continued unabated.

  Instead of a methodical battle for both sides from the start, the Battle of Helsdorf was a brutal brawl. On the revolutionary side, the First Continental Army covered the north, while the reformed Second Continental Army and Third Continental Army covered the south and southeast side of the battlefield. Facing against them on the loyalist side was the 2nd Group Army, made up of the Army of the Leine down south and the Army of the West up north, while the 1st Group Army, made up of Keitel’s Army and Blucher’s Army, was in the southeast.

  In a manner that had never been expected by the rebels—who had taken strong defensive positions on the hills and forests and even a river line on the southeast near multiple towns and villages—the loyalist armies all advanced with zeal and aggression that was almost illogical. Entire vanguard brigades of infantry and cavalry charged the defense lines; artillery barely had time to keep up, opening fire right when the loyalist units reached rebel lines, and much more.

  Almost all rebel units in the frontline were thus pinned down, as they desperately tried their best to stem the tide of loyalist soldiers headed their way. The loyalists were so determined, in fact, that wyvern knights, usually relegated to scouting duties and raiding, were now being sent straight to rebel fortifications and trenches, their wyverns firing powerful fireballs that acted as airborne fire support, blasting holes in the rebel defenses.

  As hours passed, the rebels and loyalists both spent piles of bodies that would make most people vomit in disgust. Units were rapidly shuffled in and out of the frontlines, either to plug defenses, conduct counterattacks, or, in the case of the loyalist side, to keep momentum in their near suicidal assault tactics. By afternoon, the battlefield smelled of smoke and grime, and most of all, the thick scent of blood blanketed Helsdorf’s approaches.

  Wilhelm, the architect of this butchery, stood tall on one of the defense lines previously captured by his troops. He calmly observed the ongoing assaults ahead of him, where nearly three battalions of crossbowmen and swordsmen rushed the enemy with limited artillery support. Most commanders would sneer in disgust at his unimaginative tactics. Even old Wilhelm would slap the back of his head for his apparent tactical stupidity at the moment.

  After all, he knew that he was being profoundly wasteful of his forces. In fact, he wasn’t aiming anymore to defeat the rebel armies; no, all that mattered to him was…

  To save Alexa.

  Wilhelm beyond respected and admired her, to the point that he vowed to himself that he would stop at nothing just to protect her. The fact that she defeated him at the decision-making round and proceeded with her suicidal plan did not deter Wilhelm at all. As always, he would play with the cards he had in a calculated manner.

  In this case, because Alexa and Phoebe were deep inside enemy lines, Wilhelm decided that sacrificing men to distract and disrupt the rebel armies was worth it. He needed all of the enemy’s reserves right here, being spent in desperate counterattacks or to plug the gaps in the rebel lines. Every soldier that was sent here to the frontlines was a soldier that wouldn’t be able to kill Alexa, and that was good.

  I also need to get an opening.

  Wilhelm wasn’t leaving anything up to chance. He was already gathering up a cavalry force that would plow through the enemy lines and reach Helsdorf. Right now, his infantry assaults were doing exactly what he wanted—blasting through the enemy’s defense lines, engaging their reserve reinforcements, draining them, and giving him an opening to charge forward.

  Once that was done, he would be able to get to Helsdorf and support Alexa in battle against Henry, because Wilhelm knew that Henry would simply never surrender to words. It was a delusion on Alexa’s part, and Wilhelm blamed himself for failing at convincing Alexa to see reason. If he had managed to convince her, she wouldn’t be in danger, and he wouldn’t have to do any of these bloody tactics just to shift the tides to his favor.

  Come on, come on, break them. Break them!

  Wilhelm was so focused on observing the enemy and on signalling his officers that when an enemy artillery fireball swooped down from the sky, he didn’t immediately notice it. By the time he noticed it, he barely had the time to duck—not that he would be affected because of his defense paper glyphs—but still.

  That was when he was pulled down straight into the trench before the explosion rattled him.

  “Sir Wilhelm!” Adele, who was wearing an officer’s armor for the army, shouted at him with anger. “What are you even doing? You’re placing yourself in the line of fire!”

  “Adele?” Wilhelm’s eyes were wide before he pushed her off. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay behind.”

  “No! Alexa ordered me to keep watch on you,” Adele adamantly said, as she glowered at him. “She’s right. You’re risking yourself and so many others. You do know that it’s not going to help her, right?”

  “I had a plan,” Wilhelm said, glaring at Adele. “I still have a plan. I always have a plan that will work. I’m trying to punch a hole in their lines, okay?”

  He shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand anyway. Alexa is deep in enemy lines, and—”

  “Oh, that’s quite funny, isn’t it, Sir Wilhelm. ‘You won’t understand’—is that it? You think you can simply look down on everyone else because you’re smarter than us? I’m not dumb. I know Lady Alexa is in danger. But I won’t push myself too far in vain just to change that when I know it won’t lead to anything productive!”

  “What are you even saying?”

  “Look at you and your ‘plans.’ Where did that lead us to? You think you can just charge in there and save her like it’s nothing?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Tch. I still have cards to play. I’ll make a play with them. Now get out of my sight.”

  He was about to walk beside her and ignore her when she grabbed hold of his arm. “Come on, what is it, Adele? I have work to do here.”

  “Just believe in her,” Adele said simply.

  “I believe in her.”

  “You don’t. That’s why you’re considering extreme measures.”

  “One must always consider extreme measures, even if things are going well.”

  Wilhelm’s face darkened. “And things aren’t going well.”

  “Can’t we just wait for the news here?” Adele asked. “She told us that she’ll talk with Henry. I’m sure she’ll convince him.”

  “I’m sure she will.”

  She won’t.

  “That doesn’t mean I won’t lift my hand.”

  She’ll die otherwise.

  “Now get off me.”

  Adele looked at Wilhelm with a glare as she curled her left hand into a fist, but Wilhelm ignored her. He needed to focus on what mattered the most. I need a breakthrough. He chanted that in his mind like it was some kind of religious text. I need to save her. The casualties don’t matter, her words don’t matter, no one else matters, only that he saved the Empire’s future and hope.

  As he walked past the next line of soldiers that was filtering in to prepare for another assault, Wilhelm ran into one of his aides. He seemed to have run an entire mile, as when he appeared before him, he practically had to hold his knees while panting.

  “S-sir,” the aide breathed out. “I’ve got news. From the crown princess herself!”

  “The crown princess?” Wilhelm’s eyes widened, and he practically lunged at the aide, holding the man’s shoulders firmly. “Speak up, soldier. What happened to her?! What did she say?!”

  “Sir!” The aide stiffened. “Her Highness…she…”\

  “She what?”

  “The enemy is surrendering, sir! She convinced them!” The man also seemed like he was disbelieving his words. “S-sir, it’s…the enemy is raising white flags one by one!”

  Immediately, Wilhelm left the aide to his devices, rushing back up on the parapet of the trench before aiming his telescope on the enemy side. He also activated his skill [Azure Eyes], even when he had overloaded it earlier after pushing it too hard. Immediately, his mind was bombarded by a flurry of orders coming from the enemy.

  As he felt blood trickling down his nose, his mind practically turning into a blur as the enemy’s voices blended into a painful background noise, his eyes locked on the tallest building on a nearby, half-destroyed town. Over there, a white flag was being waved by a rebel soldier.

  He collapsed on his back afterward.

  +++

  “You overworked yourself again.”

  Alexa’s voice was gentle and soothing as she looked down at Wilhelm. He was currently surrounded by medics and healers, all of them trying their best to fix him. He apparently suffered from mana overburn, most likely, since he was overusing his ability to command the army. Funnily enough, that did little to stop him from sitting upright and staring at Alexa in disbelief in an instant.

  “You’re shitting me!” Wilhelm exclaimed.

  “Whatever do you mean, hmm?”

  “How? How? How?!”

  Wilhelm seemed like he was shellshocked. Was the news of Henry’s surrender truly that surprising to him? Alexa felt a little bit miffed about that. She somewhat thought that Wilhelm would at least trust her enough to believe in her success. Instead, now that they had won against the rebels, he was just staring at her with shaky eyes.

  “You know, you’re one mean guy,” Alexa pouted. “At least tell me ‘congratulations’ first, before asking me if it’s real or not. Have you lost your tact?”

  “Tsk, Sir Wilhelm has always had very little tact anyway,” Adele snickered on the side.

  “So they’ve surrendered.” Wilhelm looked at his hands, lightheaded. “Oh, damn it. Don’t tell me I did all that for nothing?”

  Alexa grabbed Wilhelm’s right hand forcefully. “You did no wrong at all. You did what had to be done, Wilhelm.”

  Then, she pulled him to stand upright. They walked out of the tent where Wilhelm was kept, and immediately, he laid his eyes on the now silent battlefield. It was a surreal sight, after all the blood, tears, and sweat shed by many thousands, after all the effort, and all the sacrifices and deaths…

  The war between brothers and sisters was now over. Even Alexa could scarcely believe it. Quite frankly, she had no right to even believe it. While she hadn’t confirmed it yet with Henry, she had an inkling as to why he suddenly surrendered. It wasn’t just because of Alexa’s charisma or talk; she knew that quite well. Henry wouldn’t be easily swayed by such cheap words.

  So there’s only one possibility left…

  Alexa placed a hand on her chest as she looked at former enemy soldiers, many of them marching to loyalist lines in long columns, their officers leading the way while holding white flags. They were on the process of being disarmed one by one. Alexa’s generals even informed her that the surrender process might take a day or two, due to the sheer size of the enemy’s army.

  Most that they were seeing right now were the ones at the frontlines. The rest were still technically combat capable, but Henry said that he would faithfully organize each of his units for a clean, formal surrender.

  Henry…that extremely ambitious man, who, in Alexa’s Iron Saintess novel, had been depicted as brutally killing her in almost all scenarios. Until now—now that they shook hands for once.

  “...I,” Wilhelm choked on his words. “I haven’t calculated this. Was I mistaken about Henry’s character? Surely not.”

  “You weren’t.” Alexa winced a bit, feeling bad about Wilhelm. In reality, he truly wasn’t wrong about Henry. He was indeed planning for a final stand, and he even briefly admitted earlier that he was planning to kill her until she ‘convinced’ him.

  She mumbled to herself. “I was just…I suppose I was lucky.”

  “Lucky?”

  “Yeah?”

  Wilhelm frowned. “I hate relying on luck.”

  Alexa nodded.

  “Me neither. But, in this case, it paid off well.”

  “...Luck doesn’t work against the demon horde.”

  “I know.”

  Alexa looked up at Wilhelm before smiling.

  “But at least, for now, you and I have one less problem in our hands, right?”