On top of that, Berklin performed well on the battlefield once more. He killed quite a few junior officers at a distance of more than a hundred meters, causing the enemy assault troops to lose their frontline commander and causing the attack to end in utter chaos.
So, Berklin was promoted from sergeant major to second lieutenant, the same rank as Claude.
While 2nd Ranger Tribe retreated to rest, he put on a brand new officer's uniform and a green star epaulette and went to Emis to treat himself. He wanted to show off when he saw Claude and the others, but ended up getting beaten up by the envious Moriad and Dyavid.
While Claude was recuperating in the infirmary, Prince Hansbach's seven corps finally managed to trap three of Nasri's corps in Emilia Plains. After half a month of back and forth, the exhausted Nasri army finally put down their weapons and entered the captive camp.
Nasri suffered more than 98,000 casualties in that battle, more than half of them dead. Three corps of 160,000 soldiers were completely wiped out, two of which were Nasri's standing corps.
Aueras suffered quite a number of casualties too, but the number of casualties was less than half of the enemy's. It could be said that they had won a decisive victory in Sidins.
In the history of the kingdom, that battle was known as the Great Victory of Emilia.
But very few knew that after the battle, the Aueran Firearms Research Institute began to focus on developing accurate firearms instead of maximizing the range of a firearm.
Claude received a lot of letters while he was recuperating. Since he had nothing to do in the infirmary, he wrote to the people he knew every day.
In the end, Welikro's father, Kubrik, wrote to tell him that Welikro had gone to the frontlines as a member of the royal guard and was probably in Sidins.
However, the royal guard was the main force on the frontlines and didn't have much to do with Claude. Claude had no choice but to send Myjack and Gum to the infirmary set up by the royal guard in Amis to see if any of the wounded knew Welikro.
Borkal didn't reply. Instead, it was his father, Rubire, who wrote to tell him that Borkal's garrison camp had also been pulled to the frontlines. However, he didn't know if it was in the east or the west. He was very worried about his son's safety.
At the same time, Borkal's father told Claude another piece of news. Eriksson, the one who severed ties with Claude after what happened to Altroni's father, had joined the army as well. However, he joined the navy.
His mother's letter was filled with worry and longing as always. Even when he told her that he had become a second lieutenant of the kingdom, it didn't alleviate her worry. She was so afraid that she would receive news of his death that she often suffered from insomnia.
Angelina's letter, on the other hand, used prearranged words to subtly state that she had become a one-ring rune magus and that her seven basic spells were the same as Claude's. That meant she had a certain level of self-defense.
Unlike Claude, she was truly interested in herbalism and was currently researching how to cure her mother's insomnia.
At the same time, she complained to Claude that her younger brother, Booke, was already ten years old and had become a real naughty child.
There was also Kefnie's letter. The girl placed all her heart on Claude. Even though she was also worried about his safety, she was confident that they could tie the knot when he returned safely.
Her letter was filled with love and longing. She recorded many small things that happened around her and shared them with Claude.
For instance, her sister, Kathlyn, was pregnant after getting married to Gerard. The couple had been worrying about what to name their child.
Maria also wrote a letter in which she apologized to Claude for not informing Prince Hansbach to take care of him.
In the letter, she said that she was only seven years older than the eldest prince. When they lived in the palace as children, the eldest prince had always refused to call her aunt. Although he called her aunt when they grew up, their relationship was not very harmonious and they only maintained superficial politeness.
Wedrick, on the other hand, was raised by her and the two of them were close enough to greet each other directly.
Additionally, the prince was the heir apparent and she wouldn't go out of her way to curry favor with him. So, she didn't ask the prince for a favor regarding Claude's matter.
So that's how it is. Claude finally understood.
At first, he thought that Maria would greet the prince. But when Rosler picked on him, he couldn't understand why the prince didn't show up to take care of him.
Only now did he realize that Maria didn't say anything to the prince. The two of them weren't close and it wasn't easy to ask for a favor.
Perhaps it was because of the second prince that Claude misunderstood and thought that Maria was powerful enough to do anything in the royal capital.
It turned out that there were still people in the royal capital who didn't give her face and the first prince was one of them.
But that wasn't a bad thing. It meant that Claude's future promotions would be due to his contributions and hard work instead of Maria's care.
Without the support of Nasri's army, Sidins and the other three duchies' reinforcements weren't able to stop the Aueran army at all.
After struggling for more than a month, even though Duke Sidins shouted that he would rather die in glory than live in dishonor, he still packed up his belongings and fled with his people to another duchy, leaving behind the heavily surrounded capital, Efenasburg.
On the 10th of the 8th month, the defenders of Efenasburg laid down their weapons and surrendered to the royal guard.
On the 12th of the 8th month, Prince Hansbach arrived at Efenasburg and personally lowered the last flag of Sidins Duchy. He raised the double-headed dragon flag of Aueras and announced that Sidins Duchy would be annexed to Aueras. From that day on, Sidins Duchy was history.
The royal guard led four second line corps into Rimodra and plundered like wildfire. In less than a week, Rimodra lost a quarter of its territory.
On one hand, they fought back tenaciously and asked for help from their allies. On the other hand, Duke Rimodra secretly sent an envoy to Aueras to sue for peace.
However, after the envoy met with the eldest prince in Efenasburg, Duke Modra's unilateral request for peace was rejected by the eldest prince. The eldest prince demanded an unconditional surrender and only promised to consider whether the Principality of Rimodra could continue to exist after the war.
With the survival of the duchy at stake, Duke Rimodra had no choice but to persevere and place all his hopes on the support of his allies.
With Sidins as an example, Askilin and Canas finally made up their minds. They each formed three corps and sent them into Rimodra, hoping to limit the flames of war to Rimodra and not spread to their own territories.
If Rimodra were to fall, Aueras would be able to invade Askilin in the east and Canas in the west. Both of them shared a border with Rimodra.
At the same time, Nasri, the leader of the five anti-Aueras alliance, was also in trouble. The three corps sent to reinforce Sidins were surrounded and destroyed, two of which were standing corps. It was a huge blow to Nasri. The four standing corps of Nasri were equivalent to the four trump card corps of Aueras. They maintained eighty percent of their personnel throughout the year and were completely different from the second line corps that only had an empty shell left. Now that they had lost half of their men, they found themselves in a tight spot.
After wiping out the three corps from Nasri, an opening appeared on the border with Sidins. Aueras had sent Gryphon back from the western front and brought two second-line corps with them to launch a counterattack against Nasri.
Forced to fight on two fronts, Nasri couldn't even protect itself and didn't have the strength to support its allies in defending against Aueras' invasion.
Aueras had the upper hand in the war in the east, so much so that Stellin X made a passionate speech during the harvest feast on the first of the ninth month. He declared that the war that brought misery to the people of the east would end within a year and that peace would be restored to the east. The people of the east would then begin a new and happy life under a new enlightened rule and a new social order.
Stellin X's speech revealed Aueras's ultimate goal, which was to unify the entire eastern part of Freia and build a powerful regional empire.
When Claude was about to be discharged from the hospital, he saw the king's speech in the newspaper the infirmary received. The title of the speech was' Rejoice! Victory is at hand! '
Claude thought, This old king sure has a big heart. We've only just reached Rimodra and you already think victory is at hand? What nonsense.
Claude spent nearly three months in the infirmary, mainly due to the recurrence of his injuries.
Only the heavens knew if the Nasri first lieutenant's sword was soaked in horse piss or something else. Also, he didn't disinfect it properly during emergency treatment. That was what the medic in the infirmary told him. The wound on his thigh didn't heal even after a long time.
There was a period when it was so swollen that the medic even suggested Claude consider amputating it.
Had it not been for Bluefeather's Perunt, who sent someone to deliver Claude his own concoction after receiving his letter, Claude would've been sent home crippled.
He already hated the infirmary he was in. It was the first time he realized that not all the medic were as proficient in herbalism as Perunt.
Another reason was that there were too many wounded. There was an endless stream of carriages carrying them to the infirmary every day. If Claude wasn't a second lieutenant, he would've had no choice but to use diluted, low-quality concoction like the other wounded.
Halfway through the ninth month, Claude finally recovered and left the infirmary. By then, Moriad and Dyavid had also returned to camp. One of them had returned a month and a half earlier than Claude. Claude was the last to return. 1st Ranger Tribe had already gone to Efenasburg. Claude brought Myjack and Gum to find a carriage to transport supplies and hitched a ride to Efenasburg.
While Ledefonk welcomed Claude's return, he was rather troubled about his duties.
Currently, there weren't any vacancies for officers in all four companies of 1st Tribe. It was Claude's fault for returning so late.
Even Moriad and Dyavid, the two new sergeants, had taken on the role of a company jarl and were doing quite well.
Claude suggested that he stay at battalion headquarters for the time being. It wouldn't be a bad idea to be a staff officer since he wasn't in a hurry to go to the battlefield.
Ledefonk was quite satisfied with Claude's tactfulness. He also told Claude that 1st Ranger Tribe would be heading to Rimodra soon to replace the heavily injured 3rd Tribe.