༺ I Don’t Need a Guillotine for My Revolution ༻
Written by – 카르카손
Translated by – Mara Sov
(Also, a final stand epic fighting music is required to read this)
༺ Civil War Period – Lafayette’s Front (4) ༻
“Curse those incompetent fools!”
King Louis was furious.
Ten thousand against five thousand, he had twice as many troops as his adversary.
On top of that, the King had scraped the Kingdom for the cream of the crop, The Captain of the Royal Guard, the Second Sword of the Kingdom — Stephane D’Artagnan, and 300 of the best Knights Francia had to offer.
Their opponent? The ‘Blue Knight’ and barely 100 Knights of dubious skill.
With this, the King had no doubts that even against the great ‘Blue Knight’ this was a battle he couldn’t lose.
But the glorious charge of 300 Knights was blocked by a single man.
One man, overpowered 300 Knights, the sons of Francia who were known as human weapons of mass destruction……And one man, made them look like lowly foot soldiers.
Even those who witnessed this scene had a hard time believing it.
The Blue Knight’s army suffered significant casualties, and that was true. The Knights who charged with the Blue Knight were almost annihilated, and his cavalry suffered severe losses.
Even then, his battered and defeated Knights couldn’t pursue the Blue Knight, as the man simply turned his horse around and returned to his camp.
The momentum of the King’s army was completely broken right at the start of the battle.
No man could maintain their morale after witnessing the Blue Knight in action.
And the rumors that started to circulate within the camp, that the Blue Knight was not a man of flesh and blood, but a monster in disguise only served to further enrage the King.
“What were you doing!? After everything I gave you! You only managed to increase that damned reputation of the blasted ‘Blue Knight’!”
“I apologize, Your Majesty……”
All that the Royal Guard Captain, Stephane D’Artagnan could do was bow his head and seek forgiveness. But he also had his excuses.
After all, what Knight wouldn’t? After witnessing the scene of a single man fearlessly cutting through 300 trained Knights?
Naturally almost, if not all Knights who followed the Marquis perished, and D’Artagnan never got the chance to cross swords with him since he was busy dealing with his Knights.
But he, as well all the other Knights were kneeling before the king.
They may have mouths to speak, but no words to say.
Even if they had annihilated the Knights who guarded the Marquis, their casualties were hardly different.
Of the 300 Knights, 100 were dead or seriously injured and the remaining 200 were kneeled before the king.
With a ragged breath, King Louis eyes his Knights.
“All of his Knights are out of commission. This time, you will bring me his head.”
“We hear and obey His Majesty’s command!”
Although D’Artagnan and the Knights all bowed their heads and answered in unison, the King continued.
“You will return with his head. Or you won’t return at all!”
—
The Marquis Of Lafayette, the great Blue Knight, Hubert De Lafayette awoke in his bed.
The usual warmth he was familiar with was absent, and with a strange feeling of emptiness, he sat up and blinked.
His concubine, the one responsible for satisfying his carnal urges, had fled amid the chaos of the recent battle.
But he couldn’t recall either her name or who she was.
With a dry chuckle, the Marquis rang for a servant.
Those who had sworn loyalty to him only did so because of his might and his victories.
The whores who always whispered honey-laced words in his ear would leave him at the first sight of danger.
It was not something he hadn’t realized yet, but the simple fact that no regret about her absence was felt meant that his heart knew how superficial all of this was.
A servant soon came with a basin of water, as the Marquis washed his face in the cold water before dismissing the servant.
After washing himself, the Marquis rose from his bed, took a piece of stale white bread left from the previous meal, and ate it.
The bread was hard and cold.
Although it was still superior to the hard, and sometimes black bread he had to eat countless times while on the battlefield during his youth, this didn’t satisfy his palette anymore.
Spitting the bed on the floor, the Marquis once again summoned a servant to help him with this armor.
His armor, the symbol of his legend now had several scratches and tears in its famous blue metal.
His father, a nameless Knight employed by the Aquitaine County was a simple, but honorable man, who was always content with what he had. But the Marquis was not satisfied with the life of a simple man.
He had immense talent coupled with the determination and ambition to fully harness this talent. Songs of his bravery were composed every time he battled, and it didn’t take long for him to become an idol among the younger Knights.
With his fame and talent, he had become coveted by the Earl of Toulouse who gave his daughter’s hand in marriage, making him a noble which gave him the opportunity of rising through their ranks and becoming a Marquis.
He achieved power and fame being a mere Knight’s wildest dreams, indulging in every fancy that was denied of him since his youth.
Be it power, wealth, the wants of the flesh, luxuries…He indulged in all voraciously, with the appetite of a hungry beast, enjoying the life of a winner, unlike the simple and humiliating life his father tried to push onto him.
Now, fully armored, the Marquis looked around his tent, studying the countless spoils of his victories as well as his rewards granted as a recognition of his greatness before leaving the tent.
Yet, he felt no pride or vainglory watching those trinkets hanged around his tent, as he had enough of them by now.
Leaving his tent, the Marquis made his way towards the war room.
“We greet His Excellency, the great ‘Blue Knight’ Hubert De Lafayette.”
The nobles and some Knights who survived the last battle paid their respects to him.
The Marquis passed by them and sat in his central seat.
Looking around, the Marquis studied the faces of those vassals who served the Earl Of Toulouse long before it became part of the Marquisate of Lafayette.
A Knight of commoner blood who ascended to a noble rank, despised by the High nobles, and even the Earl himself later on. The Marquis never forgot their slight against him.
That was why he buried the once-powerful Toulouse under Lafayette’s name.
He remembered that foolish woman, who believed in the man her father chose, as she generously shared all of her authority and power with him.
She must have been a good wife since she silently endured his adultery.
But as the Earl of Toulouse? She was a fool. What made those vassals pledge their loyalty to that cursed name?
Why do they tell stories about nothing of worth to their sons, praising an idiot of an old man and his foolish daughter, as if their stupidity were something to take pride in?
What is that they had, that he, the strongest Knight in the Kingdom lacked?
The Marquis simply couldn’t understand those fools.
And yet.
He couldn’t say that all the wealth and luxuries he had achieved were better than this intangible force unseen by him but believed by them.
Now, everything he had accomplished seemed so faint, that even the man himself wasn’t clear as to why he sought those things so desperately his whole life.
“Your Excellency. We only have six Knights and a mere 300 cavalrymen.”
“I have requested reinforcements from Duke Lorenne, but even if he sends them, their arrival will be delayed.”
The Marquis sneered. He never expected any reinforcements from the Duke in the first place.
Yet, no one mentioned Pierre.
Facing an army of 4.000 soldiers with only 1.000 was a guarantee of a crushing defeat.
However.
The Marquis was certain that his son wouldn’t suffer a defeat.
“With all due respect, Your Excellency. Your feats in the last battle are enough to shake this Kingdom. Therefore, it would be prudent to withdraw for a moment and prepare for the future……”
“And where would you have me withdraw to? Duke Lorenne is too busy looking after his own nose to help us. Do you wish for us to hide in our lands, behind our walls like cattle just waiting for their time to be slaughtered?”
The room became silent at the Marquis’s words.
Because of this long Civil War, the power of both parties was nearly matched.
The Second Prince had excellent Knights at his disposal and a larger army, however, the First Prince had the wealthy nobles and the Blue Knight himself at his side.
But now, the former Second Prince, the crowned King Louis had a clear advantage. The moment they retreated, everyone would realize the outcome of this war had been decided, and the tide of battle would be forever against them.
“Because of me, the enemy’s morale has been shattered. So this time as well, we fight.”
The Marquis declared in an arrogant tone.
—If Your Excellency fails short, I guarantee that it will be me who the people think of when they hear the name ‘Lafayette’ and not the supposedly great ‘Blue Knight’.
His son, the boy who couldn’t even look him in the eye had grown up to be able to challenge him.
The Marquis was already over 50 years old.
He was a man already past his prime, and from here on, his prestige and renown would only decrease.
He remembered the look of jealousy his aging father sent to his younger self.
But he couldn’t imagine nor did he wish to find himself with that same look being directed at Pierre.
Rather than act like that, the Maquis opened his mouth.
“Follow me, and I shall lead you towards victory once more.”
“We are at, His Excellency’s command!”
In the end, it was not through wealth and luxuries that made his heart skip a beat.
But revealing in the glory of his valor and greatness……That made him feel truly alive.
Because that alone was all that was left to him.
—
Once more, two armies stood across the Nivernais Plains.
The Marquis, clad in his distinctive dark blue armor, the symbol of the ‘Blue Knight’, mounted his horse and took the lead.
Amid the palpable tension, the Marquis raised his lance.
At that moment, all eyes on the battlefield converged on him.
“Follow me!”
With an abundance of mana infused in his shout, his voice echoed across the entire battlefield.
“And I’ll make every single one of you into legends!”
As he uttered those words, the thrill of battle coursed through him.
There was no need to wait for an answer.
At this moment, the battlefield was his.
Spurring his horse, the Marquis began his charge towards the very heart of the enemy lines.
“Haaaaa! Follow the Marquis–!”
“Follow the Blue Knight—!”
“Chargeee! To the enemy—-!”
The Marquis looked at the Knights and cavalry following his lead, as well the infantry shouting behind them, as he once more spurred his horse to increase his speed.
His once dulled heart, which had grown cold to the pleasures of riches now trembled with vigor.
His blood roared in his veins.
Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered and facing certain death, the thrill of commanding his forces through the odd chances of survival reignited his passion for valor.
The enemy lines grew closer.
He could taste the confusion and dread of those fools who never imagined he would dare such a suicidal move.
“A-Arrows! Release the arrows!”
The sky darkened as the barrage of arrows flew in.
From his back, the Marquis could hear the wails and screams of his soldiers, but his mana easily deflected the minor nuisance conjured by those lesser creatures.
Even the fireballs cast by the mages were split in two by the Marquis lance.
“Spearman, Forward! S-Stop that monster at any cost!”
The enemy’s commander’s cries, filled with sheer astonishment caused the panicked troops to freeze as they attempted a futile resistance.
Seeing this, the Marquis pushed his lance forward and gathered his mana into his vocal cords.
His deafening roar tore through the soldier’s ears like a clap of thunder.
And with that alone, the already fearful enemy collapsed.
Some wetted themselves and crouched in fear, while others simply turned their backs to flee.
The Marquis sliced through them with a maniacal laughter.
Charging at full speed, he hurled his lance, filled with mana piercing countless soldiers who were trying to run for their lives.
The enemy Knights tried to rush forward but were comically blocked by hundreds of disorganized soldiers fleeing.
An army of ten thousand men was being forced to bow to a single man.
“Deal with the deserters! Clear the way to him!”
“By your command!”
At the urgent order of Commander Stephane D’Artagnan, the remaining 200 Knights slashed their way towards the Marquis, killing any soldier who fled.
Seeing this, the Marquis charged with an ever greater ferocity.
“Stop him! Someone deal with this monster!”
“You dare to block my way?! I am the great Blue Knight!”
With every swing of his wrathful lance, the Knights were torn apart like mere infantrymen.
“Do you remember who thwarted the armies of kings and emperors?!”
That was something he had done.
“In every battle you proclaimed victory, but I was I who was covered in the blood of my enemies! I was the one leading our forces!”
Not the royals who stood in the safety of their camps.
“Stop him……”
“The one who deserved all that glory was me—!”
His lance was used until it broke from the strain, as the Marquis immediately drew his sword.
Looking around the wasteland that was once the enemy lines, he turned his gaze towards the King being protected by all his Knights.
“I am the greatest legend of this Kingdom, the Blue Knight! Know your place—!”
“Stop the traitor!”
The shouts from both the Marquis and Stephane nearly overlapped, as the Marquis continued his relentless charge.
Stabbing his sword into the helmet of a charging Knight, he moved his arm decapitating him while cutting another Knight who approached his side in one single motion.
As one more Knight screamed his comrade’s name and charged at him, the Marquis bisected him from his shoulder to his waist and threw his bloodied sword, nailing another Knights’s head.
Taking the arms from the fallen, he spun around with two swords in his hands, deflecting incoming blows from every direction before hurling the weapons into the heads of two more Knights.
Leaping forward, the Marquis grabbed a spear and swung it around, impaling one Knight by the throat and severing another man’s arm.
His blood boiled and the vessels in his eyes bulged.
He paid no mind to the cries urging him to stop.
He didn’t listen to the roaring commands from those behind.
Only the wails and screams of the Knights who were being felled by his hand were music to his ears.
The terror from those who considered themselves the bravest ones made him feel alive.
The only thing registering in the Marquis’s frenzy state was the King’s pale, ghastly face.
As the Marquis stepped forward, the Knights surrounding him flinched and stepped back.
With another step forward, the Knights started their retreat as the Marquis leaped ahead, parrying and slashing mid-charge.
He cut arms, sliced legs, stabbed eyes, beheaded and cleaved, used the corpses of his enemies as meat shields, hurled broken swords, seized new weapons……
During the endless cycle of slaughter, a mountain of bodies and a sea of blood was formed in his wake, and the Marquis himself sustained numerous wounds.
Now, after all this mad charge, the Marquis stood in front of the command center where the King was just moments ago.
His strength waned as his blood continued to flow from the numerous wounds in his body.
Lamenting his old age, the Marquis was sure that had this happened a mere ten years ago, he would have fought even more fiercely.
Despite the protests coming from his wounded body, he pushed forward by his sheer will.
Corpses were crushed under his boots, splattering blood in all directions, coloring his armor in a new shade.
The number of Knights still standing and trying to block him could be counted in a single hand.
Seeing his once lustrous armor, now painted with the blood of his enemies, the Marquis let out a cruel and savage smile.
“To think that the King of the Knight Kingdom would run away like a coward in fear of a single Knight……”
“……You defile your honor with such a filthy tongue.”
Finally, the Royal Guard Commander, Stephane D’Artagnan, drew his sword and stepped forward.
“Ha! And a man who couldn’t step forward when his subordinates were being slaughtered like pigs, has no right to lecture me.”
“You–!”
Stephane and the remaining Knights all pointed their swords at him.
A tense silence ensued as both parties prepared themselves for the inevitable confrontation, but……
“Haha. Hahaha! HAHAHA!!!”
“……And what, pray tell, be so funny?”
Instead of answering D’Artagnan’s question, the Marquis made a question to his son.
“Can you surpass my feats this day and bury my name in the annals of history?”
—
King Louis watched the ensuing battle with a fearful face as his remaining forces engaged the Marquis.
“Fuck, fuck, FUCK—! Why won’t he just die…….!”
A single Knight charging through ten thousand soldiers.
When King Louis watched the Marquis slaughtering his 200 Knights while staring at him in the eye, he was so overwhelmed with terror that he wet himself and fled on the spot.
Turning his gaze away from the fight, King Louis looked towards the approaching army from behind the enemy’s lines.
The approaching force bore the banner of Anjou County.
He had belated the declaration of war coming from both Aquitaine and Anjou as well as some of the neutral nobles a few days ago, but he never imagined that their forces would be this swift.
“We must deal with the Blue Knight before they reach us!”
The damp feeling from his recently wet pants only served to increase his impatience.
Some of the officers and guards surrounding the King looked at his hysterical behavior with worried eyes.
Had their reinforcements not arrived, the hysterical King would have left his vassals behind and fled.
At least now, an army of about 2.000 men strong under the banners of Duke Bretagne and Count Millbeau approached them from behind.
The King didn’t know why those whom he had ordered to march south had returned, but every soldier now was akin to rain after a long drought.
He could question and punish them later, or perhaps they had managed to capture the Lafayette Heir and decided to send some units to reinforce the main battlefield.
Regardless, the King managed to regain some of his composure as he awaited for the army.
Although he had double the forces of the Marquis, his army collapsed under the Blue Knight’s mad charge. And, should the King been seen running away from the battlefield then this battle would be lost.
And finally…
The man, no, the monster who fought his way through an army of 10.000, who nearly killed 200 Knights by himself, and while seriously injured still managed to fight for a long time against the Royal Guard command……Fell.
In the ensuing silence, the Royal Guard Commander Stephane D’Artagnan slowly approached the fallen Blue Knight and swung his sword.
The severed head still inside the blue helmet was raised in his hand as a thunderous cheer erupted from all sides.
“WOOOOHHHHH—!!!”
“At last, Your Majesty! The monster has fallen!”
“Huh? I-Is he dead? Truly d-dead?”
King Louis’s stunned mind could barely comprehend this situation, but after a couple of seconds, a deep relief spread across his being.
This moment was also one of despair for the Lafayette’s troops, who continued to fight with everything they had against the overwhelming enemy.
“I have an urgent report for His Majesty!”
At this moment, an exhausted messenger rushed towards King Louis.
“What is it, soldier?”
“Your Majesty! I carry a message from Count Damien De Millbeau, the newly appointed head of Millbeau County. The army headed south has been utterly defeated! Both Duke Bretagne and the former Count Millbeau have fallen in battle!”
“W-What did you just say?”
King Louis struggled to comprehend the words spoken to him for a moment.
4.000 soldiers led by Duke Bretagne were utterly defeated? By a mere 1.000 men led by a young brat? Both the Duke and the Count have died? How completely absurd could this news be?
Wait.
More importantly……
King Louis turned his stiff neck towards the ‘reinforcements’ approaching under the banners of Duke Bretagne and Count Millbeau.
“If that’s true, then what are they?”
At this moment, King Louis saw a Knight spurring his horse in a furious gallop towards the main force.
All eyes on the battlefield were on D’Artagnan lifting the severed head of the Blue Knight.
Thus, no one, except for the King and his retinue saw that the Knight had drawn a bow from his back and was nocking an arrow.
The arrow was released, making a graceful arc in the sky, while leaving a faint golden trail in its wake, before accelerating—-
And plummeting like a thunderbolt towards D’Artagnan.
Exhausted from the fight against the Blue Knight and busy enjoying his victory, he was too late in trying to protect himself with his mana.
His desperate resistance, while drained as he was, did nothing to stop the arrow brimming with mana and Divine Power that exploded like a comet, spreading a blue flame to its surroundings.
The Royal Guard Captain, still holding the Blue Knight’s head, was erased from existence under the might of the wicked arrow.
King Louis could only watch the one who had released such a mighty arrow raise his sword and shout with a mana-infused voice that spread across the battlefield.
TL NOTE:
Omg this chapter….it was so epic I almost had a wetting problem lmao.
No srl this shit was gud! Omg.
My Bro 1 v 10.000 You can’t make this up
You NEED TO LISTEN TO SUM ‘FINAL STAND’ SHIT READING THIS!
