At the sentry's shout, everyone on the walls looked where he was pointing. Sure enough, vast clouds of dust had risen over the distant wasteland. A large force was marching toward them at speed.
As the dust drew closer, countless battle flags emerged from it. Every one bore the Golden Sunflower emblem, marking the troops as the Golden Sunflower Family's own forces from Two Rivers County. Their reinforcements had arrived.
The entire Main Fortress erupted in cheers.
"It's the Marquis!"
"The Marquis has brought troops to help us!"
With reinforcements here, they no longer had to fear the Barbarians' siege force. They had finally completed their mission to hold the fortress.
Even Marvin was overwhelmed. In more than a decade of military service—first with the Iron Birch Family's border troops, then with the Golden Sunflower Family's Two Rivers Legion—he had never endured a battle this grueling. Now it was finally ending, and he had no doubt the Two Rivers Legion would win.
At first, the Barbarian army had no idea what was happening. As the dust drew nearer, though, they noticed an unidentified force approaching from their rear flank.
Shikele and Kuba initially hoped the high chieftain had sent more reinforcements. But when they saw the battle flags through the dust, their hearts sank. Those were not reinforcements. They were the enemy.
They could not keep besieging the fortress with their retreat route at risk. Under Kuba and Shikele's command, the Barbarian troops halted their assault and slowly pulled back to reform their lines against the approaching enemy.
That withdrawal also saved the Small Fortresses, which had been on the brink of falling. Bram and Lafor, who had been ready to die with their fortress, were astonished to see the Barbarians retreat.
The Barbarian troops who had nearly seized