The cavalry’s charge across the open field, relentless as raging waves, was a sight to behold. It reminded me of cavalry charges from movies I’d enjoyed years ago. Though ours was about a tenth of the scale.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

I don’t particularly enjoy cavalry charges, as a rule.

The charge is the crown jewel of cavalry warfare, and every rider loves the thrill of sweeping through enemy lines, but the danger is equally immense. And I’m no longer just some ordinary knight. I’m a knight who’s become a lord.

I’ve made it a point to minimize risk and coordinate with my men when attacking the enemy. But could I afford to play it safe when my own territory was under attack?

Risk? Who gives a damn!

My family was in danger!

With blood boiling through my veins like roaring flames, all I could see were the enemy forces that had surrounded Feuzen with five times our numbers.

The 475 riders charging down the southern hillside didn’t stop, like a car with busted brakes. The enemy, too consumed with their assault, had no time to prepare for the sudden appearance of cavalry.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

Which made this an enormous stroke of luck for us.

Now close enough to make out enemy faces with the naked eye, the heavy cavalry at the front leveled their lances forward and locked them firmly under their arms. This was the moment to hit top speed.

I clenched my teeth hard.

Matching Mont Blanc’s rough gallop, I kept the tip of my lance steady. Just before impact, I widened my eyes, opened my mouth, and aimed squarely at the chest of an infantryman frozen in horror.

Carried by Mont Blanc’s charge at full speed, my lance pierced the infantryman’s chest in an instant. Despite the tremendous kickback, I held firm. Strength surged through every fiber of my body.

[E-Rank Tournament Knight (Impact 30%, Defense 30%)]

The infantryman’s body momentarily lifted off the ground. The lance that had run through his body didn’t break; it skewered the soldier behind him as well, then stabbed the throat of a third man stumbling backward before finally snapping.

Crack!

Crack! Crack!

Broken lances scattered like flower petals everywhere. The detachment’s lightly armored troops couldn’t properly defend against the lances and were mercilessly impaled, their lives snuffed out.

[D-Rank Cavalry Commander (Breakthrough 40%, Charge 40%)]

Discarding my lance, I drew the cavalry sword from my hip and cut down the fourth infantryman and those beyond him like sheaves of straw. Screams filled the air all around me. But I never stopped. Not for a second.

Like a blood-starved wolf, I savagely tore into my prey’s throats.

To show these invaders exactly why my name is Wolfgang, "the noble wolf," I brought my cavalry sword crashing down like a set of fangs. The thirst didn’t fade. The screams of soldiers trampled beneath Mont Blanc grazed my ears.

Amid the wretched cries of men being ruthlessly crushed, the cavalry swept through the enemy like a massive storm. Now the rebels knew for certain:

The price of trespassing on a wolf’s territory with their half-baked plans.

Just how savage a furious wolf’s fangs could become.

"Advance! Advance!"

"Don’t stop! Advance!"

There were no cowardly riders here who would fall back after breaking through the enemy lines. Maintaining formation, the cavalry that had punched through swung their swords in every direction, cutting down fleeing infantry without hesitation.

Crack! Crack!

No need to check left or right.

No time to look behind.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

Only advance! Nothing but forward.

Before I knew it, my entire body was drenched in blood.

The result of cutting down so many enemies that my hands had gone numb.

When I came to my senses, there were no more enemies in sight. Only then did I look around and see the blood-soaked heavy cavalry and Gale Knights scattering, then wheeling back to charge the enemy again.

The breakthrough had been flawless, and we’d succeeded in separating the enemy from Feuzen.

Now the enemy would be torn apart by the ferocious cavalry as they shifted to a melee.

Raaaaaah!

"Our lord has come!"

The surrounded soldiers of Feuzen erupted in cheers at the arrival of the reinforcements they’d been praying for. The sight choked me up. The enemies who had scaled the palisade were subdued before they could even put up a fight.

Thank God we weren’t too late.

I couldn’t imagine what they’d been going through, holding on like that.

I was proud of my men, who had clung on with everything they had, trusting that their lord would return. August, the military officer in charge of Feuzen’s defense, was covered in blood as he raised his sword toward me.

Entrusting the territory to him had been an excellent decision.

But beside August stood one more knight clad in full plate armor. August was the only knight in my household, so who was this? Whoever it was had also been through a bloody fight, drenched just the same.

It didn’t take long to figure out the knight’s identity. The swirling wave crest engraved on the breastplate, the cloak embroidered with the Streit family’s coat of arms, and a frame smaller than an ordinary knight’s.

It was my noble Valkyrie, Hilda.

A lord’s wife risking her life to defend the territory was exceedingly rare, even in the pages of history. Like Joan of Arc, who saved France, she must have breathed courage into the people of Feuzen.

I really did marry an incredible woman.

I’d always known she was remarkable, but holding her ground in actual combat was on a completely different level.

But the battle wasn’t over yet.

The encirclement had collapsed, but the enemy still had superior numbers and was locked in fierce combat with our scattered cavalry. However, the absence of pikemen was their misfortune. Being a detachment, they must have prioritized mobility.

It was only natural that lightly armored troops would crumble under a cavalry charge. After the breakthrough succeeded, the fragmented enemy was hunted down one by one by our riders.

Fiel, leading the Steinhof knights and his personal squad, fought especially like a blood-crazed beast. His beloved wife, Elisabeth, was in Feuzen, and his fury was unlike anything I’d seen from him before.

The same was true of Viktor.

Feuzen, where his son and daughter-in-law lived, had become a home he, too, had to protect.

Each carrying their own fury, they cut and cut again through any enemy who resisted.

In a melee, the enemy’s backs are easily exposed. That’s when cavalry transforms into something demonic, cutting down anyone who turns to flee without mercy. And so the tide of battle was rapidly swinging in our favor.

The only cavalry left near me were Anton and my personal squad. Anton’s main job was less about fighting and more about frantically waving the banner to send signals.

I’d leave mopping up the stragglers to my men. I had other business.

Now it was time to hunt the enemy commander.