The Eve of Battle

While the kingdom's delegation and the orcs were locked in arduous negotiations, a battle that would decide the fate of the kingdom's northwest was about to begin.

After spending a month at Silver Moon Fort, Paul finally received the supplies he had been longing for. The arrival of a large quantity of ammunition filled him with confidence.

With the fully equipped Alarda Army at its core, the Aldo Army finally began marching east, intending to reclaim the lost territories.

At last, at a place known as the Ursula Plains—a nameless stretch of flatland in the vast northwestern reaches of the kingdom—the eastward-marching Aldo Army unexpectedly encountered the main force of the orcs' western expedition, which had gathered and was advancing west.

After learning that the enemy's main force was close at hand, the two armies marching toward each other tacitly stopped and made camp, conserving their strength for the decisive battle to come.

Along the way, the Alarda Army had experienced the tactics of the Orcish Cavalry countless times. The enemy would split into small units, liable to suddenly emerge from the left, right, or even rear at any moment, revealing their savage and deadly side.

For the newly arrived Alarda Army, their previous campaigns had never exposed them to harassment of such frequency and intensity.

At first, this placed a heavy psychological burden on some soldiers with little service experience. But Alarda's muskets and cannons ultimately surpassed the orcs' bows and crossbows in range and accuracy. Combined with strict discipline forbidding anyone from leaving the unit to give chase without permission from a superior, they eventually overcame the impact of this tactic on their side.

When marching, the Aldo Army tried to choose open ground for its route, allowing it to make the greatest use of telescopes. Orcish Cavalry