Empire Elite Knight Order

Under Mel's persuasion, most of the commoners chose not to follow them, but some young people were still willing to join their army at this moment.

Mel said nothing to those who joined. In this era without telegraphs, it was difficult to relay information quickly, and once the retreat began, it could not be stopped.

What the nobles' army could do was naturally to set up obstacles and encirclements ahead of time, but not all their troops could be in one place. As long as Mel kept the Commoner Army from being surrounded, that was enough.

He led the remaining 8,000 people in retreat without even attempting to engage the imperial army, because Mel truly could not think of a way to win this war.

The advantages of timing, terrain, and unity depended on the circumstances. With such a vast disparity in troop numbers, defending a city hardly counted as favorable terrain unless they could find a dangerous location and launch another ambush like last time.

But after the previous experience, those nobles would not fall for the same trick again.

All they could do was preserve their strength and wait for things to change.

Besides, according to the game's plot, there would be another period of chaos after Exar took control of the church. Exar would then fracture into many small nations, and that would be the right opportunity for him to develop.

As he led his people onto the grasslands, the scouts sent ahead quickly returned with a report: they had discovered a noble army on the plains.

"How many?"

"A cavalry force, around 3,000 men. They should be central elites transferred from the empire."

Mel hesitated slightly. Of the current force of 8,000, 2,000 were cavalry. They could not simply abandon the cavalry; these riders had all