The Xiao Linghe River marked the border between the Hunter family and the House of Welles’s territories. Although the weather had already warmed, the ice on the river remained thick, allowing Viscount Willem’s army of over five thousand soldiers to easily cross and face Richard’s troops.

In terms of numbers, the House of Welles had a clear advantage. Richard brought only about three thousand soldiers, including both the Tie Mu City Guards and his peasant soldiers. But it had never been true that wars could be won simply by counting numbers.

Surveying the opposing army, Richard, fully armored, sat astride his horse, Viscount Souter and Crusader Ronen at his side.

“My lord, what are your thoughts?”

“What do I have to look at? You’re the commander now. I’ll go wherever you send me.” Viscount Souter knew his place; while he might not have been a good lord, he was undoubtedly a brave general.

Richard choked on his words.

Having made a fool of himself, Richard turned to Crusader Ronen.

Ronen strove to be diplomatic. “Aside from those one hundred or so armored warriors, their men are no match for your peasant soldiers.”

Wait, so you’re saying our side isn’t much better?

In truth, the Heroes of Might and Magic world from which Ronen hailed was a high-fantasy setting, with infantrymen serving as the most basic cannon fodder. Even the Crusaders like Ronen were only slightly stronger than the cannon fodder, forming the backbone of their respective armies.

This gave Ronen a rather inflated opinion of his own abilities, but in reality, an ordinary system infantryman in the Golden Dragon Kingdom would be considered an elite soldier, and a Crusader like Ronen would be capable of commanding five hundred soldiers as a lieutenant colonel in the Imperial Capital’s Golden Dragon Guard.

However, there was one thing Ronen did not say incorrectly: the Hunter family’s infantrymen were indeed stronger than those of the House of Welles, and by a significant margin at that.

The Hunter family’s infantrymen were primarily small, self-sustaining farmers. These men had already solved the basic problem of sustenance and desired only two things: more land, and military achievements sufficient to earn them a military breathing technique.

Richard had long since promised that, in addition to being rewarded with land, those who demonstrated merit in battle would be granted a fundamental military breathing technique upon selection into Tie Mu City’s elite City Guards. Those with exceptional talent might even have the chance to become knights.

Under Richard’s rule, military achievements equaled more land, which in turn equaled the only path to a higher social class. In a sense, the Golden Dragon Kingdom’s system of nobility, which allowed only knights to inherit titles, was akin to the military nobility system of the Roman Republic, guaranteeing the warlike nature of the kingdom’s nobility.

Richard’s vision for Hunter, painting a grand picture for all, was to expand this system’s influence to the commoners.

Thus, under Richard’s hand, a monster named “farming and warfare” was unleashed.

The Hunter family’s peasant soldiers marched in relatively neat formations. Their relatively frequent training kept them at least superficially resembling an army.

In contrast, the House of Welles’ peasant soldiers were somewhat disordered, only barely maintaining basic order under the supervision of their quasi-knight and personal guards.

Viscount Willem noticed this disparity, frowning but saying nothing. In his view, peasant soldiers were merely cannon fodder used to drain the strength of their enemies, so the ones worthy of note were the three hundred-man City Guards and the handful of Hunter family’s quasi-knight, with Viscount Souter, a veteran knight, being the most important among them.

The Hunter family’s peasant soldiers being relatively competent fighters posed no serious trouble; after all, Viscount Willem’s forces outnumbered them nearly two-to-one.

Suddenly, Richard rode out from the Hunter family’s ranks, stopping some four hundred meters away as he called out something.

Viscount Willem raised his whip, intending to ride over, but seemed to think of something and lowered it again, gesturing for another of his quasi-knight companions to speak instead.

“Return to Tie Mu City now and relinquish the ironwood forest’s lumberyard and mines. The peace between the House of Welles and the House of Hunter shall continue,” the approaching knight bellowed at Richard, though whether he spoke truth or falsehood, only Viscount Willem knew for certain.

“How unfortunate.” Richard shook his head, disappointed, and gestured for the man behind him to continue.

“If you resist… uh…” The loudmouthed knight’s voice abruptly cut off, as five enormous ironwood arrows launched from the Hunter family’s ranks sped toward him. He yanked hard on his reins in an attempt to dodge, but they were too fast.

Swoosh. An arrow pierced the knight’s horse directly below its chest, the force of impact shuddering through its entire body. The rider himself failed to escape unscathed, twisting desperately in his seat in an attempt to avoid taking the blow himself, but the arrow pierced straight through his shoulder.

Even his thick armor and the strength of his physique couldn’t save him from this powerful shot; the sheer force flung him from his horse, leaving his wounded shoulder dangling by his side. It was unlikely that he would survive, but even if he did, he would lose his arm.

This was, of course, Richard’s doing. The five giant arrows had come from the Hunter family’s bear-hunting crossbows. What had once been used solely for hunting now proved to be far more valuable when deployed against human enemies.

“Roar!”

The suddenness of the attack caused the onlookers to gasp. The young man who had stepped forward to engage in diplomacy had been shot out of his saddle.

A few seconds of stunned silence were broken by cheers from the Hunter side. Although most didn’t know why, seeing their opponent shot out of his saddle was undoubtedly a morale boost.

Although the Golden Dragon Kingdom valued knights, it seemed that their chivalry was nonexistent, and their side celebrated the successful sneak attack gleefully.

Only Ronen and Viscount Souter shared a glance, both wearing awkward smiles.

As Richard watched the enemy knight fall, he turned his horse back toward the fray. He hadn’t thought much about the situation; he only regretted that the man he’d lured out wasn’t Viscount Willem.

He had taken to the field in hopes of baiting out an important figure from the opposing army, both to secure a quick victory and to test the effectiveness of the bear-hunting crossbows against armored knights.

In contrast, the mood in the House of Welles camp was grim. Viscount Willem had initially been furious, but as the magnitude of the threat became clear, fear began to creep in. Even he wasn’t sure if he could have withstood such a massive arrow, had it struck him squarely.

Suppressing his apprehension, Viscount Willem waved his hand, issuing orders for an attack. He knew their giant arrows could reach into their enemies’ formation, and they would be waiting to be hit if they did not strike first.

Although the opposing side’s giant crossbows seemed to be in limited numbers, they would likely lose accuracy at distance, or Richard wouldn’t have wanted to lure them close. But the enemy had too many men, and merely firing into their ranks with such arrows, using their power, would surely cause some casualties.

The number of deaths might not be high, but being able to inflict damage while suffering none themselves would be a huge blow to morale. They ought to close in and fight with short weapons before it was too late.

“Uh-oh…uh-oh…”

With the deep sound of horns, the House of Welles’s quasi-knight and personal guard units began herding their peasant soldiers toward the Hunter family’s battle formation.

“A hundred steps!”

“Eighty steps!”

“Ready!”

“Fire!”

“Wind! Wind! WIND!”

Amidst a series of war cries that sounded rather strange to the men of the House of Welles, hundreds of arrows rained down upon their formation.

Even though the soldiers in the front raised their shields in time, most of the peasant infantry lacked proper armor, and so the shower of arrows swiftly claimed nearly a hundred lives. Wails of grief instantly filled the ranks of the House of Welles.

These war cries were, of course, Richard’s doing—perhaps as a tribute to the formidable might of the Imperial Army, or perhaps as a remembrance of his past life…

The battle continued to rage fiercely.

Some soldiers from the House of Welles managed to nock arrows onto their bows and fire back, striking several men in the Hunter family’s formation. However, these casualties caused virtually no disruption.

“Charge forward! Don’t hesitate!”

“Death to any who retreat!”

The onslaught of arrows caused some panic amongst the peasant soldiers, but the quasi-knight and personal guards of the House of Welles managed to suppress it, and they continued to advance on the Hunter family’s formation.

“W-w-wind!”

Soon, a second wave of arrows rained down upon them, even more numerous than the first. Now that they were in close proximity, many of the Hunter family’s militiamen—who had been hunters before taking up arms—also launched arrows with their short hunting bows.

This time, the casualties amongst the ranks of the House of Welles were even greater, and many personal guards accompanying the quasi-knight were felled.

However, this time, there was no discernible unrest amongst the ranks, for their enemies were now within sight…