Herald of Steel

Chapter 1156: Clash of The Margraves (Part-1)

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.

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.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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