A Complete Victory

Hearing the sounds of fighting from the front, Paul's heart grew increasingly tense.

The soldiers showed improvement compared to last time, with no rash charges. A company was held back as a reserve force near Paul, and senior officers like Bryce charged forward. Although Paul opposed senior officers leading from the front, it did boost morale considerably.

However, the situation was gradually turning unfavorable, with his side slowly showing signs of weakening as the fighting moved towards Lakeheart Town.

Paul was anxious. "Send in the reserve force."

Schroeder shook his head. "Not yet."

Just then, someone reported suspicious figures near the pier on the other side of town, resembling another group of Pirates.

Schroeder said, "Let the reserve force go over there."

Paul sighed. "Good thing we kept a reserve force, or it would be bad if another group of Pirates charged into town."

The reserve company began running quickly towards the other side of town.

The transfer of the reserve force had an unintended consequence. The soldiers fighting at the front thought their lord was abandoning them to retreat, and many immediately disengaged and ran back.

"No retreat signal was given, get back here!!!"

Bryce and other officers, seeing people running back, desperately shouted while parrying enemies. Some returned to the battlefield, but many still disobeyed.

The disadvantage on their side became even more pronounced...

Just then, the old knight Schroeder moved.

He spurred his horse forward, quickly approached a fleeing soldier, and swung his Sword.

Almost instantly, before Paul could even see his movements, the fleeing soldier's head was no longer on his body. It fell to the ground and rolled under his horse.

The headless body collapsed to the ground with a thud, and the blood gushing from the neck quickly stained the ground red.

The soldiers fleeing backward and Paul were stunned by this brutal act.

The old knight's eyes were wide with anger, veins bulging on his flushed neck. Those near him could almost feel something pushing the air towards them.

"This is the fate of deserters!!!"

The thunderous roar echoed across the battlefield, striking fear into everyone's hearts.

"Provost Marshals, listen up! Anyone who dares to retreat will be dealt with in the same manner, without exception!!!"

All the Provost Marshals were stunned, looking at each other, unsure how to respond.

"Didn't you hear my order?" The knight turned to look at them, and his squire Joyce immediately drew his sword and pointed it at the still-hesitant Provost Marshals.

The old knight's gaze alone made the bewildered Provost Marshals' hearts pound with fear. They quickly recalled what they should do after receiving an order from a superior. "Yes!!!" they shouted in unison, then raised their Spears at the retreating deserters.

If they disobeyed, they would likely be the next ones to lose their heads.

"Fight the Pirates!" Someone shouted first, and the routed soldiers returned to the front line to fight the Pirates. Since retreating meant certain death, they might as well fight the enemy. Killing one was enough, killing two was a bonus. If they were unfortunate enough to die in battle, they could leave a substantial pension for their families. Earl Greiman always kept his word.

The battle line finally stabilized. Despite being startled by the old knight's actions, Paul breathed a sigh of relief.

The officers shouted loudly, gathering their soldiers. The companies gradually reformed their formations. In terms of numbers, equipment, and organization, the army had a clear advantage over the Pirates. Now that everyone was determined to fight to the death, they immediately inflicted significant casualties on the Pirates.

The results of previous training were evident. Under the command of their officers, the soldiers formed Spear formations in platoons, advancing slowly but steadily, gradually pushing the Pirates towards the water.

"All mounted men, rally to me!!!" Schroeder shouted as he and Joyce charged into the battlefield on horseback. After circling around to quickly disengage, they turned their horses around, whipped them hard, and charged towards the Pirates.

The rapidly charging cavalry split the Pirates' ranks in two, with many unlucky ones being knocked down and trampled to death. This was the final straw for the Pirates. Already showing signs of defeat, they scattered and fled towards the shore, some throwing down their weapons and kneeling with their hands raised in surrender.

"Forward march!" Bryce, dismounted, ordered. The soldiers maintained their formation while quickening their pace, rapidly advancing towards the water.

Seeing the guards chasing after them, the Pirates immediately pushed the boats away from the shore and jumped into the water to climb aboard.

"Now's our chance."

Seeing that nearly half of the Pirates were no longer on the shore, Paul immediately ordered the bugler to sound the charge.

"Too~ Too-too-too-too-too~ Too~ Too-too-too-too-too~"

The clear bugle call rang out across the battlefield.

"Charge!!!"

In the eyes of the retreating Pirates, the territory guards seemed to have suddenly been injected with adrenaline, suddenly increasing their running speed, charging towards them with disregard for formation and eyes wide with anger.

"Get out of the way!" "Let me go first! Me first!" "Fuck you!"

For a time, pleas and curses rose and fell on the lake.

The big-bearded leader from before was nowhere to be seen. Without a leader, the pirates naturally wouldn't have any thoughts of a last-ditch counterattack, only pushing and cursing each other, afraid of not being able to climb onto a boat.

Seeing the soldiers rushing to the shore, the pirates who had already boarded began to row, all the boats moving further and further away from the shore.

"Wait for me!!!" "You son of a bitch!" "May you die a horrible death!"

The pirates who had already jumped into the water but hadn't had time to board cursed their companions for abandoning them, while others desperately swam towards the direction the boats were leaving.

Some of the remaining lackeys on the shore, after resisting for a while, were either killed or surrendered.

At this moment, a team of soldiers rushed to the shore, these were the Firearm Soldiers sent to beat the drowned dogs.

Six Firearm Soldiers had already loaded their ammunition, raised their guns and fired in the direction of the pirate ships, while other soldiers took out Bamboo Fire Tinder, took out Hand Grenades and began to light them.

Although the accuracy of the Smoothbore Guns was rather sad, the boats hadn't gone too far, and the boats they were aiming at were crowded with people, so this shooting achieved good results.

As the white smoke of the Matchlock Guns rose, four pirates on a pirate ship suddenly spurted blood mist, the huge kinetic energy carried by the lead bullets caused two of the shot pirates to immediately fall into the lake, their fate unknown.

Of the remaining two, one was hit in the chest and was immediately left with only exhalation and no inhalation. The other pirate was hit in the arm, and the strength of his whole body seemed to be drained in an instant, followed by a huge sense of pain.

"Ah~~~!!!" He howled miserably, disregarding everything.

The people next to him immediately checked the injuries of their companions. They had never encountered this situation before. The enemy didn't shoot arrows or use crossbows, so how could they have injured people? They tore open the injured man's clothes, and then they all gasped.

"Witchcraft! Magic! This must be black magic! The damned nobles used evil black magic!"

Then even more exciting things happened. Some round things flew from the shore, each with a "sizzling" burning rope. Anyone could guess that these were not good things. The pirates tried their best to row faster.

The first Hand Grenade arrived quite accurately, landing right above a boat. There was a loud bang, and it exploded before it had completely fallen. The pirates closest to the explosion were blown to pieces, and the pirates on the entire boat were in an uproar.

If the Matchlock Guns hadn't attracted much attention because of their small number, the Hand Grenades made a big commotion. Although a small half of them fell into the water, the remaining half was enough to make the pirates feel like they were in hell. Hand Grenades exploded one after another, fragments and iron nails scattered and shot, the sound of explosions and the wailing of the pirates on the lake rose and fell.

"Blast you bastards to death!" Makarov laughed as he threw a Hand Grenade at the pirate ship. Today's victory swept away the haze of the previous defeat, and he finally vented his anger.

The pirates endured the explosions while desperately rowing, finally escaping the attack of the firearms.

At this time, the reserve team that had gone to the other side of the town sent people to report that another group of people suspected of being pirates had only watched for a while. Presumably, seeing that the reserve team had more people and was well prepared, they did not launch an attack, and disappeared immediately after seeing the failure of the big-bearded side, so they were ordered to continue to be vigilant.

After a great victory, all the officers and soldiers were very excited, and cheers rang out on the battlefield, the pessimistic mood that had been pressing on the army for a long time finally dissipated. Seeing the enemy disappear from sight, Earl Greiman ordered to clean up the battlefield, and let the Provost Marshal announce two orders: all spoils must be turned over to the public, and prisoners must not be abused privately.

At the suggestion of the old knight Schroeder, two cavalrymen set off in the direction the pirates retreated to scout the enemy's situation, to prevent a possible counterattack.