The Foolhardies 68 Call of Duty

The confident way he sat on his mount, his short-cropped black hair, and the steely-eyed gaze of his amber eyes certainly gave him the vibe of a high ranking officer. And, yet, the most disturbing thing about the man was the warm smile he sent me. It was as if he'd just seen an old friend on the battlefield and was dying to catch up.

"You seem surprised at my arrival, young commander," he said in a confident baritone voice. "You're wondering why I left my very secure position to engage you, huh?"

Good guess. So he wasn't just a dumb brute like his physique suggested. Unlike Azuma who had a thin frail form, the enemy general, Jimmy Jonas, was a mountain of a man. He was no Edo, but the barrel-chested warrior with the beefy arms certainly deserved his monicker of Bear Knight.

"Yeah... I mean... we're barely making any ground against your elites," I answered honestly. "Good job training them, by the way."

"Thank you," he accepted my compliment happily like we weren't enemies about to murder each other. "Your soldiers are pretty well trained themselves. I'm losing my hard-trained forces each minute we face off."

That's when I figured out why he was so willing to leave his post. He didn't want any more of his elites dying by our hand. They weren't just pawns to him.

"You... care about your men," I said in a tone that was half-surprised and half-respect.

More and more I found myself admiring my new opponent. He certainly wasn't like the other Magesong officers I'd faced so far. He carried a kind of honorable spirit I'd seen only with Azuma so far.

"Don't believe what everyone tells you about the Magesong clan. We're not all child murderers and blood sacrificers." he winked. "Besides... Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys—"

"—Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will standby you even onto death," I finished. I knew that line as well. It came from the very same book I tended to quote myself. 

Around this time, I began to notice that the battle had come to an abrupt stop. A circle of both Magesong soldiers and Foolhardies had surrounded us. Although it was clear that the gray overwhelmed our midnight blue colors in terms of numbers. Still, I could see my brother, Aura, Edo, and several of my officers among the crowd. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Jimmy Jonas chuckled softly, forcing my focus to return to him.

"It's nice to meet a fellow scholar," he said appreciatively.

Suddenly, Jimmy's swifthart made a series of loud grunting sounds that seemed to me like warning bells meant for its master. In response, Jimmy turned his gaze westward, past the crowd of spectators and much further away. 

I took this time to send my vision upward with the help of Fool's Insight which I'd kept activated despite the growing strain on my eyes. My bird's-eye-view sent my sight up to cloud level, and from this vantage point, I surveyed the battle below.

At each corner of the battlefield, the war continued almost monotonously. Neither the left or right armies of both clans made much headway against each other. It was as if their officers had given up on taking control of their respective fronts and were simply waiting for either of the center armies to claim victory. Unlike the other two sides, the center of the field was simply chaos—a jumbled mass of blues and grays fighting for supremacy over that central area.

I zoomed in a little closer and received insight on the lay of the land.

Both armies had broken into each other's frontline with the most concentrated fighting centered between our respective second and third lines. Death and destruction had become a common sight as frenzied soldiers hacked and slashed at each other while magical projectiles launched from both armies bombarded the area in a blanket of arcane power.

My vision caught sight of something unexpected at the far right corner of the center armies battle. Two cavalries were in close-quarters combat in the area with the blue cloaked soldiers clearly gaining supremacy over their gray-clad opponents. Even from the height of my vantage point, the reason for this disparity in strength was obvious. The quality of commanders was just too different.

General Roger Thors—resplendent in his silver armor, his cape billowing behind him as he rode on his brown swifthart, was an unstoppable force that broke through every barrier sent his way. Empowered by his charge, his soldiers followed suit and decimated their own opponents.

And now I knew the reason for the swifthart's alarm. Very soon, the Thors cavalry would break free from the weakening Magesong cavalry and find their way to where my Foolhardies faced off against the enemy command unit.

Satisfied with what I'd seen, I sent my vision back to ground level where I was just in time to witness Jimmy Jonas dismount his swifthart.

"Sadly, we don't have enough time for a discourse on the teachings of the Art of War..." Jimmy Jonas raised his golden glaive over his head and rested its similarly golden pole on his right shoulder. "I'll have to kill you now before your general makes his way here."

Ah, now I knew the other reason why he'd forgone defense for offense. Time. He couldn't waste any more of it dealing with the Foolhardies while Thors rampaged across the battlefield.

"Might have been easier for you if you just stayed on your mount..." I raised my sword-arm forward with my falchion pointed menacingly in Jimmy Jonas' direction. My other hand rubbed at my eyes. They had begun to sting and I knew my time with Fool's Insight was nearing its end. "I guess I should thank you for making this fight even..."

Jimmy Jonas stretched both his beefy arms to the sky, forcing me to take note of how easily he carried his glaive in one hand. It didn't look light at all.

"I did mention we aren't all child murderers in the Magesong team, right," he laughed. Then his face turned deadly serious. "I guess that's not true... in light of current circumstances. Apologies, young commander. I don't want to kill you... But I have to."

Despite the threat sent my way, I couldn't think of his words as anything less than sincere. It wasn't just his voice that sounded remorseful. It was the way he looked at me. Not with pity or hate but with compassion.

"You're a very emotional guy to be leading an army of fairies," I noted.

I blinked several times to keep the stinging at bay. For those who didn't know this fact, dry eyes were my worst enemy.

"I'm a man who understands duty," he said simply. Then he raised his glaive forward so that the sticky point was aimed at me. "I assume you're the same. A man who answers to the call of duty."

I spared a glance at my team.

Luca, Aura, Edo, Varda, Qwipps, and Ashley were all present. Thom, like we'd planned, was out of sight and waiting for a chance I hoped to give him.

Now, while Luca was looking back at me with a worried expression that was typical of him, Aura, who stood beside him, gave me nodding approval. She understood that sometimes these kinds of fights were necessary. By how they looked proudly back at me, so did Ashley and Edo. But Varda and Qwipps were reflections of Luca's worry.

I took in a long breath. "You assume correct... I know the weight of my responsibility."

"Good," Jimmy Jonas nodded approvingly. "Then we can fight it out without regrets."

Chapter end