"Duke Bick, what should we do next?!"
After Duke Bick and the others left five thousand cavalry behind to hold off the enemy, they indeed encountered no further pursuit.
Only then did everyone breathe a slight sigh of relief.
Seeing this, the commanders of the various duchies all gathered around Duke Bick.
The reason was simple.
They had lost far too many cavalrymen in today's battle.
They had originally planned to use a thunderous blow, crushing Nalant, that little noble, beneath an army of one hundred thousand.
Who could have imagined that there had indeed been a thunderous blow, and there had indeed been crushing.
But the sides doing the crushing had been reversed—the country bumpkin little noble had crushed them instead.
Now, of the one hundred thousand troops they had set out with, only a little over sixty thousand remained.
In other words, including the cavalry assigned to intercept the enemy and cover the retreat, they had already lost nearly half their numbers.
If news of this reached the alliance, they would all become laughingstocks.
"That country boy is far from simple. We underestimated him. Now, we can only withdraw. Otherwise, our losses will only grow greater."
In truth, Duke Bick was even more unwilling to accept this than the others.
After all, the allied army marched under the banner of the Bach Empire. If they were mocked within the alliance, the blame would only fall upon the Bach Empire's head.
"Duke Bick, are we still going to strike back?"
"As for striking back, we can only wait and see whether that country boy gets carried away." After pondering for a moment, Duke Bick spoke in a grave voice.
"Gets carried away?" The commanders were somewhat confused.
"That's right. The greatest threat in that boy's force, and the reason