Herald of Steel

The Margraves to their credit managed to rescue almost all of their forces from the bridge relatively quickly, using all five of their ships to carry out the mission.

And a similar thing happened for Alexander too.

With six ships and twelve ladders, the four hundred or so men were able to very quickly, nimbly climb down the ladder at a speed that made it so that their evacuation ended almost around the same time as the Margraves's, even though the latter had started much earlier.

Thus the ships below teemed with armored soldiers, while above, in place of the once heavily contested ground lay the dead and the wounded, from both sides, their bodies proving too heavily heavy to be moved.

Oh, and the about nine hundred of the Heeat forces, they were still stuck there, waiting for rescue.

To that effect they tried their best to get the Margraves's attention, waving their hands and shouting,

"Hey! We are still up here! We need help! Come over here!"

"Save us! The bridge is not going to last! Save us!"

"Where are you going? Don't leave us! Bastards! We are still here!"

However, the Margraves did not seem to be interested, as Lord Bernard coldly ordered, "Retract the ladders. We are leaving."

The sudden and irrational decision struck Ser Robert like a bolt of the blue, as the man could not help but turn to blurt out with extreme incredulity, "What! Leave our allies to die? How could we?"

Even to a man who had been trained his whole to follow orders without question, this command sounded too absurd to obey.

"...." Lord Bernard only produced a frank look of annoyance, pursing his lips and glaring at the man.

How was he going to explain to this commoner the intricacies of the current political dynamics between the Margraves and the Heeat family?

They might be allies on paper, but no one with half a brain would label them as truly being such. They were more like lords and vassals.

And right now, Lord Bernard spotted a perfect opportunity to strike at that unfair arrangement, to make it shift more towards his family's favor, all by targetting that one man currently stuck on that bridge.

So he turned around to imperiously brush his hands at Ser Robert, claiming, "Our ships are already too full. If we take any more, we will be in danger of capsizing. So let us first return to shore. We can inform the lord to send more ships from there."

There were some truths to what Lord Bernard had just said here. The five ships under them really were very close to their maximum capacity, holding a bit over nine hundred men as well as the required number of rowers and sailors.

So if they were to take any significant more number of troops, there was indeed a true concern that these wooden vessels could start to tilt.

However, although such a danger did exist, it was also true Lord Bernard was exaggerating such possibilities a bit too much.

As subsequently iterated by Ser Robert, who reassured his boss that if they were careful, and properly distributed their load evenly across the deck, they could take quite a few more, perhaps as much as half of the total remaining men on the bridge.

This however was naturally rejected by an irritated Lord Bernard who appeared quite cross at Ser Robert's instance on saving the other side, and this time made the simple excuse that it was too risky.

The reaction quite puzzled the simple and straightforward general, who could not understand why his boss was getting so angry when he should be rejoicing at these proposals,

Even if it did not work, they should still try, at least make the effort to try and rescue their comrades.

But it seemed for whatever reason his superior was not interested.

"Then at least let us rescue General Achillas. Who knows if the bridge is going to hold until Lord Parker sends his aid."

And so at last Ser Robert asked for this little concession, knowing here Lord Bernard could not say use the overcapacity excuse.

One man could not tilt a ship, unless that man was Gulliver and they were the Liliputs.

They all had spotted Achillas on the bridge even from their ships before, his very distinct bright black and golden armor instantly giving himself away to everyone in the vicinity.

"...." Ser Robert would never forget the face Lord Bernard made the moment brought up General Achillas's face, appearing as if all the thunderclouds in the world had coalesced onto there.

It had even made the man momentarily freeze in fear, and for the first time in their many years of interacting with each other, he suddenly felt pressured by the usually flippant man, causing a somber chill to pass through his spine.

Just like how Achillas hated Lord Bernard, well the reverse was also very true, to the point neither man would be able to eke out a win against the other.

So Lord Bernard was not worried that the bridge would break before General Achillas was able to rescue as Ser Robert posed.

Rather, he was worried that the bridge would not break before General Achillas was rescued.

Now that would be a true tragedy for him, as well as his family. For his death would bring a great deal of opportunity for both parties.

For him personally, it would likely mean the position of the general, as he would become the highest ranking military personnel in camp, only surpassed by Lord Parker.

And if one were to wonder how a Margraves would be allowed to lead the forces of a ducal family, well there was where Miss Linda would come in.

Lord Bernard could easily see this ambitious woman using her persuasion power to get him the title, an endeavor sure to be made much easier by the fact that he had already displayed such great ability in battle- attacking the enemy from behind, correctly predicting the collapse of the bridge, and even evacuating all his men on time.

All of it showed great military prowess, at least on paper.

As for the advantages for the Margraves family here, well that was self evident, with such a high ranking post controlled by one of their own, the Margraves would be able to get much fairer treatment from the Ducal family.

Lord Bernard might not be a great commander, but he was certainly showing signs of being a very good politician.

The dashing man however was not in the mood to try to explain all these intricate intricacies to Ser Robert.

Now was not the time or the place.

So turning to face the man with a stony look, he simply ordered, 'Just shut up and get us ashore! One more word and I will have your tongue!

The threat was meant to unequivocally show that the matter had been decided. They were leaving General Achillas there.

"No! We are not leaving!" However, in what could be described in life's very first, Ser Robert overwrote his commander's direct orders, as his eyes blazed with a newly found, sudden determination, clashing against Lord Bernard's shocked, confused, and then turned furious pair.

It was unknown what had exactly come over the this commander but it seemed that he believed that Lord Bernard was ordering this simply out of incompetence, as he shouted in a loud voice that even the man did not know he had,

"I have had enough of your threats and curses. Do whatever you want to do to me. But only after we reach ashore. For now, I am in charge of the ships. I command them."

"And there is no way we are leaving a thousand good men to die up there just because of you and your foolish fears. If you are so afraid of drowning, then take off your armor and start swimming. The shore is not that far!"

"Yo… you… you… wha… what did …you…!" Towards the former's outburst, Lord Bernard initially found himself literally stunned beyond words. Nobody had talked to him like that before.

Not even Lord Parker during his various tirades had singled him out like that, forget a mere commoner.

Thus for a moment, it was like the man's hearing faculties had overloaded itself, unable to process the corrupted data.

Until the system rebooted himself, and that confusion instantly turned to unbridled rage, "You cur! You dare! You dare! I will have your tongue for this! I will have your tongue for this!"

Menacing pointing his finger at the man while making the threat twice to show its potency, Lord Bernard then turned his surrounding bodyguards to shout,

"Get me his tongue! Get me his tongue!"

*Clang*, *Clang*, *Clang*

And instantly came out three swords from beside him, the shiny, silverly steel simmering in the afternoon sun, the loyal men ready to cut down this rebel right here right now.

*Clang*, *Clang*, *Clang*..... *Clang*..... *Clang*

However, Ser Robert was not unarmed neither was he alone.

Far from that, he had a lot of allies amidst the troops, commanding true respect from them.

Thus seeing their commander's life being threatened and a fight about to break out, there were many willing to unsheat their swords for him.

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