Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 481 - 481 225 Probing Between Two Armies

481: Chapter 225: Probing Between Two Armies 481: Chapter 225: Probing Between Two Armies On the south bank of the great river, the expansive camp stretched over the dangerous hills.

Inside the central army tent, Duke Ablo concealed his irritation as he exchanged a few words with the envoy from the Eastern nobles, then summoned a subordinate to escort him out of the tent.

“…Send someone to keep an eye on them.

Don’t let him spread rumors about wandering souls and dark clouds among the troops.

If it disrupts morale, handle it according to military law,” Ablo ordered his trusted guard beside him.

After speaking, he resumed his contemplation on military deployments.

Border aid request?

Undead calamity?

Regardless of whether it’s nonsense…

even if the sky were to fall in the east right now, he must first drive back the Northern army.

Ablo understood that if he did not take a gamble while the Urian army was still present, once these nomadic people returned to the plains, it would be difficult to seize another opportunity to invade the King’s Domain.

In any case, fifty thousand against more than thirty thousand, the advantage was his.

Moreover, he didn’t believe those Northern people would sacrifice their entire army for Caso’s throne and fight desperately against him.

The fact that they didn’t confine themselves to the tall Royal City to drag out time, but instead camped and defended at the Ustato River to preserve a retreat route, was the best proof.

Seizing the current advantage in numbers to secure a victory would deal a painful blow to the Orland people.

Even if those Northern people eventually fled with that little brat Caso, once he occupied the Royal City and ruled the Ustato Territory, and then turned to reorganize the southeast, he could secure the throne firmly after gaining control of nearly half of Kantadar.

By then, the Felcon Family in the west, who are still waiting to see which way the wind blows, would also surely support him…

But merely thinking of this made Ablo’s lips twitch in frustration.

Not only did the secret letters sent to Felcon seem to vanish into thin air, but none of the nobles from the coastal territories in the west had sent a single soldier to support him.

Despite their respectful attitudes at past banquets, when it came time for aid, these western lords had even less faith in him than those Urians.

They wouldn’t even send some food and money to make a gesture…

these pigs fattened by trade wouldn’t even share a trough of feed…

Quietly cursing these short-sighted people, Ablo felt a headache as he looked at the military’s food consumption statistics.

Along the way, despite plundering wealthy King’s Domain villages and towns, the deeper they penetrated into the central region, the harder it was to secure supplies.

The local people had long caught wind of their approach and fled to the north shore, leaving behind empty villages and towns.

The rotation of autumn crops in the farmlands, whether mature or not, had all been harvested prematurely, packed, and taken away.

What couldn’t be moved was burned to ashes by that brat Caso long ago.

Marching north with an imposing army of fifty thousand, the amount of provisions consumed daily was astonishing.

This situation can’t be dragged out.

“Summon Count Arsen, Alliance Leader Wu Enqi, Alliance Leader Baron Tyler, and Alliance Leader Alkin for a military council…” Duke Ablo ordered.

It was urgent to have the Lion Scorpion Knights and the Urian Light Cavalry search along the river for any unguarded or weakly defended fords.

The three stone bridges were blocked by the Orland army, but even a force of tens of thousands couldn’t guard every corner of the Ustato River.

….

Shortly, dozens of Lion Scorpions divided into two teams, soared into the sky under the riders’ control, while thousands of Kantadar and Urian Light Cavalry ventured northward from the three camps to investigate….

…

…

Above the eastern upstream segment of the river, thousands of meters high in the sky, a giant beast quickly descended.

Feeling the moist air and warm wind, Leon allowed his Griffin partner to stabilize at an estimated height of about two thousand meters, then looked down at the river channel dividing the land into north and south.

This river, extending more than a hundred kilometers across the Ustato Territory, winds westward in its main course.

Only in about a third of the east segment does it branch southward, presenting a Y-shape horizontally in his view.

Such clear aerial reconnaissance of the battlefield was a privilege unique to an “Air Knight” like him, who rode a flying war beast.

However, he was not the only one capable of soaring through the blue skies in this era.

Leon remained vigilant, cautiously letting Death Claw scout the surrounding airspace to confirm no other suspicious targets.

Once the Griffin’s consciousness indicated no signs of “Lion Scorpions,” Leon continued his reconnaissance south.

Not long ago, he had followed the ten-thousand-strong army of nobles from the Grey Robe Valley, led by General Trolsa, as they once again reached the Ustato Territory of Kantadar.

Upon their arrival of barely two days, he was transferred under the command of the Earl of Buck, becoming a unique “Sky Sentinel” among the sixteen thousand troops stationed on the north bank’s eastern side, apart from the Pegasus Knights from the King’s Domain.

As a person with a flying war beast partner, he didn’t have the privilege to wait in the camp for battle.

He had to serve as the army’s eyes and ears in the sky.

This was true even for the King himself, as Lydwen III often took to the skies on a dragon named “Overlord,” cautiously surveying the enemy’s deployment and maneuvers across the river.

Participating in the military meetings of Orland’s high-ranking nobles, Leon was surprised to find a concept similar to air supremacy in this world without airplanes.

Thinking it over carefully…

it made sense.

This continent had long had formidable flying beasts capable of carrying humans.

Before the ground armies engaged in battle on such a scale, air knights on both sides naturally vied for control of the skies.