Chapter 204: The Mixed Legion

Unlike the fierce and brutal battles on the northern front, the situation on the southern front in Vorska is a complete mess.

As soon as the conflict begins, the Vorska defenses are overwhelmed, leaving the once-boastful noble alliance scrambling for cover. This leaves the defensive line in tatters, full of gaps and vulnerabilities.

Several legions from the Kingdom of Ika push their way in, turning the entire Vorska area into chaos. Everyone fights their own battles, with the defensive line barely holding together in name only. Pleas for help flood out like snowflakes.

Seeing the situation deteriorate, the lord of Iris City rushes to the front with a legion. Even Viscount Holdsworth organizes the nobles of Iris City to bring their troops to the front lines for support.

Upon receiving this news, Henwell and Jansen are furious. They knew Count Descartes and his group were inexperienced, but this level of incompetence is shocking. How could they fail so miserably with fortified cities and defenses?

Henwell plans to pull a border defense battalion from the north and combine it with a few thousand troops from Count Jansen to form a mixed legion to reinforce the Vorska line.

The Vorska defenses cannot fall, at least not yet!

However, before Henwell can set things in motion, the situation in Vorska changes again.

The Seventh and Thirteenth Legions, tasked with monitoring Peace Haven, suddenly launch a well-executed hammer and anvil tactic.

The Seventh Legion withstands the kingdom's assault while the Thirteenth seizes the opportunity to launch a fierce attack from behind. Together, they defeat three regular legions of the Kingdom of Ika with fewer troops, reversing the situation entirely.

The Ika forces, which had been stirring up trouble on the Vorska front, suddenly find themselves on the back foot.

With reinforcements from Iris City arriving, the Ika army realizes they are now divided and vulnerable. What follows is a chaotic retreat, with desperate attempts to break out and withdraw.

Ultimately, most of the Ika forces pull back from the Vorska line, and Count Descartes immediately begins efforts to reorganize the defenses.

This time, the nobles don’t throw a fit anymore—Count Descartes knows exactly where he stands.

Though he refuses to hand over command, he calls the Seventh and Thirteenth Legion commanders into his headquarters.

Taking their advice, he reorganizes the defense line. The two commanders don’t hesitate; they immediately start reallocating troops and assigning defense tasks. Before long, a rough defensive formation takes shape.

Henwell, upon hearing this news, is baffled and goes to ask Count Jansen what the hell is going on.

Jansen chuckles, “What, you still underestimate Virgil and Teresa? Those two first made a name for themselves during the War of the Six Kings and climbed their way up to legion commanders.”

”They’ve got skills, no doubt, but being young and rising fast, they’ve been a bit arrogant. Their performance in the southern counterattack was decent, though.”

”After you scared them off during that bodies-retrieval war, they finally realized their shortcomings. Plus, you’ve been putting a lot of pressure on them—they’re basically here to monitor you. And as the Peace Haven army grows stronger, their stress only increases.”

”They constantly use you as a benchmark, drilling their troops and testing tactics against you. So, while these two legions don’t have flashy battle records, their daily training is among the best in the duchy. After more than a year of hard training, calling them elite legions isn’t an exaggeration.”

Henwell rolls his eyes—so apparently, he’s got some credit here after all.

Still, despite having these two legions as the backbone, Henwell isn’t fully convinced. After a moment’s thought, he asks Jansen, “Uncle, without messing up our plans, how many troops can you spare?”

Jansen does some quick mental math. “Six thousand. But they’re not elite soldiers—just troops trained for a year.”

Henwell nods lightly. “That’s enough. I’ll pull a battalion from the duchy’s border defenses—since the duchy can’t focus on us right now—and also draft a thousand from the cavalry corps. Together, that’ll make a mixed battalion of six thousand. Add your six thousand, and we’ve got over ten thousand troops.”

”We’ll temporarily form them into one legion and send them to the Vorska front. We can’t let this shit happen again—it’s terrifying! If this line breaks, we won’t gain anything; we’ll just end up cleaning the duchy’s mess.”

Jansen agrees without hesitation. “Got it! I’ll arrange it right away.”

Henwell continues, "Uncle, you should appoint the commander for the mixed legion. Try to find someone reliable, with rich experience. This direction is primarily defensive, and being too aggressive won't benefit us. Plus, it's not our line; putting in effort here won't earn us any favors."

Count Jansen waves his hand, "You can appoint the commander. I know you have capable leaders under you. I'll have Umo lead the troops. You know him—cautious and perfect for this role."

Henwell doesn’t hesitate, "I'll send Augusta over. You've met him before; he's a battalion leader under Dominic."

Jansen nods, recalling their cooperation during the southern counterattack. He knows Augusta well—a member of Pi, not a gladiator but a young man raised in Yinxin City. With a steady character, courage, and wisdom, Augusta is quite remarkable for his age of twenty-eight.

Henwell moves swiftly, and three days later, Augusta steps down from his role as commander of the Peace Haven guard battalion. He leads the northern border defense battalion and a thousand cavalry into Count Jansen's territory. While Jansen mobilizes his troops, Augusta meets with Knight Umo, and they discuss the upcoming battle plans.

Five days later, this mixed legion heads north to reinforce the Vorska line. The reception in Vorska is mixed—while reinforcements are welcome, their southern origin raises some concerns.

After deliberation, the mixed legion is positioned in a less critical area, ensuring it doesn’t disrupt major plans but still manages to hold back some of the Kingdom of Ika’s forces.

Meanwhile, the royal attendants continue urging Henwell to launch an attack on the southwestern corner of Ika. But with Henwell and Jansen already deploying troops to Vorska, there's no room for criticism. No one can say to ignore the Vorska line—that would offend many.

Moreover, the previous poor performance on the Vorska front clearly shows the need for support there.

The war has only been ongoing for a little over a month, and Henwell isn’t eager to jump in too soon. With winter approaching in about a month, both sides will likely reduce their combat intensity, giving Henwell more reason to hold back.

With time on his side, Henwell plans to lay more groundwork and prepare for the post-war situation.