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While waiting for the night, I focused on weakening the enemy\'s walls from every angle. The heavy loads carried by the catapults had created cracks in the castle walls, and the archers targeted by the mages had made the defense almost impossible. A few more nights and the castle would surrender, but I wasn\'t in a hurry. During this time, the lord of the city\'s panic would force him to send a message to Alpshar.

Extending the siege a little longer was the safest way to achieve the result I wanted. As I eagerly awaited the night, with each step closer to the castle, the enemy was becoming more desperate. It was only a matter of time for me.

"Ethan! I need to talk to him!"

Suddenly, I heard Althea\'s voice outside my tent. I quickly stood up and walked out through the fabric door of the tent. Althea was struggling to break free from the guard\'s firm grip, her eyes filled with anger and panic. She flailed her arms and shouted, "Let me go!"

The guard only tightened his grip, responding coldly, "I have no orders, lady. Please wait a moment."

Seeing Althea in this state, I hesitated for a moment, but immediately approached and ordered the guard, "Let her go," in a stern tone. The man looked at me with surprise, but eventually loosened his grip, releasing Althea.

She took a deep breath, her eyes still angry as she focused on me. "Ethan, what are you doing?!" she asked, her voice shaking. "Why are you still continuing the siege here?" Your next read awaits at empire

"What do you mean?"

Althea stared at me, as if growing more furious with each word. "What do I mean?" she asked again, her voice rising. "Wait… Don\'t you know?"

"What don\'t I know, woman? Just tell me what happened!"

Althea placed her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. Her eyes still burned with anger and panic. "I think we should go into the tent first. I need to tell you inside."

I didn\'t know what Althea was talking about or what she was after, but since I didn\'t have anything better to do, I followed her back into the tent. Althea immediately approached the map on the table and marked a spot.

"What\'s at the place you just marked?" I couldn\'t help but ask.

"What\'s there? An entire army! And it\'s led by Alpshar, and they\'re only an hour away from here... Well, when I started running here, they were that far, but they\'re probably even closer now," Althea said, and I froze for a moment from her words. This was the last thing I expected right now.

"Are you sure...? That... that impossible. I assigned dozens of scouts to watch all around."

"I\'m sure," Althea said, her gaze serious. "I rushed here so fast that it was easy to tell what was going on from the tracks I saw on the roads leading in and out of the city. Alpshar has already redirected his army here. And if you don\'t believe me, you\'ll see it with your own eyes in a hours."

I fell silent for a moment. What she said was confusing my mind. It was nearly impossible for such a large army to approach without being noticed by my scouts. Yet Althea\'s panic and anger were genuine. If she was telling the truth, this wasn\'t just a scout mistake. It pointed to a direct betrayal.

"If such a large army approached without being noticed by my scouts, this is either a very well-planned strategy or…" I paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Or someone inside helped them. One of our scouts, or maybe more than one, betrayed me…"

Althea nodded, as if confirming my words. "Yes, that\'s exactly what I\'m talking about. Ethan, you\'re wasting time with this siege. If you don\'t make preparations within an hour, you\'ll witness that army destroying you and all your men here."

I thought for a moment. If Althea was right, abandoning the siege immediately was the only option. But what if there were more traitors? As though she knew what I was thinking, Althea lowered her voice and spoke.

"There might be more traitors here, Ethan... I think it\'s best for you to leave here and abandon the army."

Althea\'s words had my mind in turmoil. Leaving my army behind and running? That would not only look like cowardice, but I\'d lose all my power and reputation. But if I stayed, and the traitors continued weakening us from within, things could get much worse.

"No," I said, with firm resolve. "That would mean abandoning my army. If I do that, as a Prince, there would be nothing left of my reputation. I can do better. My primary plan was to fight Alpshar, anyway. Now, give me information about the enemy army. How many are they?"

Althea pointed to the spot she had marked on the map again and spoke with a serious voice, furrowing her brows.

"I can\'t be sure about the numbers, but judging by the tracks I saw, I\'d say it\'s at least a 45,000-strong army. Maybe more. They have both infantry and cavalry. If they rely on luck, they could be here in half an hour," she said.

While looking at the map, I listened to Althea\'s words. Winning this battle with 10,000 inexperienced soldiers was impossible. My primary goal had been to weaken Alpshar\'s army for the main coalition army. So, I immediately looked at the spot I had previously planned for defense on the map, then rushed out of the tent and made my way toward the nearest soldier.

As I stepped outside the tent, my breath quickened as I tried to organize the plans running through my mind. I charged toward the nearest commander and, in a stern and commanding voice, spoke:

"Immediately lift the siege! Dismantle the catapults, pull back our mages. Inform everyone; retreat order is given!"

A brief moment of confusion appeared on the commander\'s face. "But my lord, the siege has just begun. Retreating now—"

"I gave the order!" I cut him off, staring at him. "Our priority now is to protect our army. Alpshar\'s army is heading this way and trying to defend here would be suicide. Follow my orders!"

The commander stopped questioning me and lowered his head. "As you command, my lord!" he said, quickly turning on his heels to deliver the retreat order to the army.

It wasn\'t long before movement began in the army camp. The catapults were swiftly dismantled, and the mages were abandoning their defensive positions. Soldiers hurriedly gathered their things from the tents, preparing to retreat into formation. I knew the retreat had to be orderly; if we panicked and fled, Alpshar\'s army would easily destroy us, but time was running out.

When Althea approached me, her eyes scanned the army, and she finally seemed to relax a little. "You made the right decision," she said softly. "But you must hurry. They may already be close."

"Don\'t worry," I replied, glancing at the marked spot on the map. "We\'ll meet them there as we retreat. We\'ll set up a narrow defensive line. I\'ll regroup my army, and I won\'t let Alpshar\'s army gain any time."

Althea nodded in agreement. "This narrow pass will give you some advantage, but you must be careful. If there are still traitors among you, even there, you\'re at risk. Now, I need to leave; I\'ll be watching you from afar."

After watching Althea for a few seconds, I quickly returned to my task. As the retreat continued rapidly, I began organizing my soldiers toward the natural defense line I had marked on the map. The defense line was between two rivers, with one side covered by a forest and the other by the confluence of the rivers. Additionally, there were massive rocks there, providing natural protection against magical attacks. The southern cavalry, known for their strength, would cause minimal damage to this defensive line, and the only thing Alpshar could do would be to push forward in a single strike along the narrow path. If I had more time, I could have used better tactics, but right now, successfully retreating was the most important task.