Lord: I Grind EXP with Warband Panel

Robson stood on the gunnery platform, watching the human cavalry cut down their enemies on the Frank lands.

At this stage of the war, Robson’s victory was all but certain. As for Marin’s troops... they could be worn down slowly while defending the fortress. They were just a bunch of Kobolds; the walls of Qimo Fortress would be an insurmountable mountain for them. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Sending troops out now and suffering any casualties just wasn’t worth it.

Besides, he had to leave some experience for the remaining soldiers. One couldn’t forget the thousands of soldiers back in the fortress, hungry for a fight.

Robson’s cavalry had gained an incredible amount of experience this time.

First, it was the Centaur Tribe, and then the Northern Bear Race. According to the system’s assessment, these guys were worth a ton of experience—certified high-level mobs.

There were only a little over twenty Tier 2 Frank Knight Recruits—the unlucky bastards on the battlefield who were always a step behind.

The Tier 3 Frank Cavalry and Tier 4 Frank Skilled Cavalry had become the core of the entire cavalry force, their numbers combined approaching four hundred.

There were now over eighty Tier 5 Frank Elite Cavalry. If Robson could get his hands on a full set of armor and barding for Armored Cavalry...

These Tier 5 cavalry could even take on weaker Knight Orders. They might not win, but the enemy certainly wouldn’t walk away unscathed.

Of course, the most important gain had to be Robson’s three Magic Crystal Cannon Teams.

With these three Tier 4 Magic Crystal Cannon Teams, Robson’s position would be much stronger going forward.

"Three long blasts on the horn. Lower the blue flag. Signal the retreat."

"Sos, pack up the Magic Crystal Cannons."

"Master Kosen, if you would please clean up the area," Robson commanded.

"Yes, my lord!" Sos replied, his voice brimming with excitement. Although he couldn’t see whether the Magic Crystal Cannons had actually hit the enemy, he could tell from the nobleman’s expression that they had not only hit their mark, but had achieved impressive results.

His mind was now racing with ideas, inspiration flowing like a fountain, as if he were discovering the Magic Crystal Cannon for the very first time.

...

Meanwhile, Viscount Leo was still deep within the Bearman ranks, hunting them down relentlessly. The entire Cavalry Team was finally able to unleash its pent-up aggression today.

Just as Claude had predicted, the entire cavalry force had naturally broken into several groups in the heat of the chase.

As far as the eye could see, the entire plain was filled with fleeing Beastmen.

When the human cavalry advanced with their lances, it was like a bulldozer clearing uneven terrain. With every thrust and retraction of a lance, an enemy fell to the ground.

Viscount Leo felt more exhilarated than ever. It had been a long, long time since he’d had such a gratifying battle.

Since the war began, the Human Race had rarely launched a direct offensive, nor had they achieved a decisive, head-on victory.

Though they had defeated the Northern Bear Race before, that had little to do with Viscount Leo...

Besides, that battle had required gathering the full strength of the entire defensive sector; nearly all the elites of the Fengman Knight Order had been deployed.

And Viscount Leo’s role in that affair? He had been part of the friendly forces trapped in the castle, waiting to be rescued...

This battle was the first great victory in a head-on clash on the Western Front.

BWWAAAA! BWWAAAA! BWWAAAA!

Hearing the three long horn blasts from behind, Viscount Leo pulled his reins taut. The enemy ahead had already reformed their ranks. It wasn’t that they couldn’t continue the charge, but the potential losses would be more than Qimo Fortress could bear.

"Halt! Cease the attack!" Viscount Leo roared.

Claude had also charged to the very front. The man was covered in blood, yet there wasn’t a single dent to be seen on his armor.

In truth, most of the human Extraordinary were in a similar state. Thanks to the wedge formation, all the truly tough enemies had been swept aside by the Extraordinary Knights leading the charge.

Faced with such a large force of Extraordinary, these enemies were utterly insignificant.

"My lord, are we retreating already?" Claude asked, letting out a long breath. The look on his face showed just how satisfied he was with the battle.

Viscount Leo’s brow furrowed.

"Claude, while we Franks have a tradition of valor, you must remember that a soldier’s highest duty is to obey orders," Viscount Leo instructed.

Of course, despite his words, the main reason Viscount Leo complied was that the commander was Robson, and most of the cavalry were Robson’s troops. Otherwise, he would have made damn sure to show these Beastmen what a "savage" human really was.

Claude realized Viscount Leo had misunderstood him and quickly waved his hands in denial before pointing at the corpses on the battlefield.

"What I meant was... the leather armor on these Beastmen, and, well... you know? Mister Luke from the Gutierrez family is very interested in this sort of thing," Claude stammered.

The Frank Kingdom had been trafficking in Beastmen for centuries, but two thousand years ago, at the founding of the Human Alliance, the entire continent had agreed to prohibit the trade of sapient beings.

Of course, almost no one listened. Even the Elves paid it no mind. In fact, they had been quite resistant to the treaty at the time, as the Beastman Empire’s "special products" were very popular among the Elf Race. The Elven masters were far more ruthless than any human.

They had never held any other race in high regard. Only the rise of the Human Race over the last millennium had managed to change that dynamic.

Ironically, this clause prohibiting the hunting of intelligent life had been established by none other than the Beastman Royal Family—the very ones now considered the most savage. Back then, the Beastman Empire was still at its zenith, not yet having lost the Eastern Mountain Range or its lands further east.

Viscount Leo glanced at the fields littered with corpses behind them and nodded.

"Right. Hmm. But next time, remember the official reason: we are preventing plague from sweeping the continent and causing a natural disaster. We are acting for the good of the whole continent by collecting the enemy’s dead," Viscount Leo taught him.

For a moment, he felt a bit disconnected. He was just now realizing that this young man who had charged fearlessly beside him had very little actual battlefield experience.

Even the Sir Robson he so respected was more than twenty years his junior.

Claude nodded, only half-understanding. And so, for centuries, the "rules" were passed down from one generation to the next.

...

"What are they doing?! They’re hoisting the bodies of our Bear Race warriors onto their horses! What are they doing that for?!"

Sol’s eyes were bloodshot—truly bloodshot, not from any kind of magic or aura.

This was an insult! A tremendous insult!

The enemy was taking his people’s bodies, right in front of him.

’What for?’ Sol already knew the answer.

"General, are you not going to give the order to attack? Are you just going to stand by and watch my tribe’s warriors be humiliated like this?" Sol demanded, staring at Marin.

Marin felt a flicker of contempt. ’Humiliation? They’re not from my Foxman Race.’

Over half of Sol’s tribesmen had made it back alive.

They would probably be useless in the upcoming siege.

"Calm yourself. This is the enemy’s ploy. If we attack now, their Magic Crystal Cannons will open fire."

"Once our formation breaks, we’ll lose a lot more than just a few corpses," Marin said, his eyes still fixed on the field ahead, his tone dismissive and indifferent.

"You! You!" Sol’s eyes were crimson. In truth, he was still just a youth, and the pressure was becoming too much to bear. So many of the friends and family who had set out with him now lay dead on the battlefield.

Marin paid Sol no more mind. What the young Bearman thought was no longer important.

’What I just told him was right,’ he thought. ’My formation looks disciplined now, but a couple of blasts from those cannons, and they’ll break just like anyone else.’

Retreating now was in their best interest.

In the past, they could have reported this to the World Council. But with the decline of the Beastman Empire, that... institution... hadn’t convened in centuries.