Đường Đến Vương Quốc - Chương 73: Treia Conflict ① Hill of Grief

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–Góc nhìn Aegir–

「Hình như có vài ngàn quân vương quốc Treia triển khai gần biên giới. Mấy tốp nông dân nhỏ đã bị nghiền nát hoàn toàn.」

Adolph lộ vẻ trầm ngâm, còn Leopolt vẫn giữ nguyên nét mặt vô cảm, nhưng sự thật thì không đổi. Vương quốc Treia cũng đang tàn sát những nông dân trốn chạy để làm gương răn đe kẻ khác.

「Giờ chúng ta lại làm ngược lại điều vừa bảo Madolan không được làm. Chẳng phải ta đang bàn về chuyện nước hắn đấy sao?」

「Thêm nữa, tôi đang cho kỵ binh nhẹ ngụy trang vượt biên tiến hành trinh sát và thu thập thông tin chi tiết.」

Quả nhiên là Leopolt, cáo già thật. Lỡ có bị bắt đi nữa chắc hắn cũng chối bay chối biến rằng chẳng hay biết gì.

「Làm vừa phải thôi đấy nhé? Thế, ngoài tin đồn ra anh còn tìm ra gì nữa không?」

Thông tin của Adolph chủ yếu chắp vá từ việc trò chuyện với thương nhân lẫn dân thường rồi phân tích tổng hợp. Đáng ngạc nhiên là khá chính xác, nhưng về mảng quân sự thì hắn rành ít lắm.

「Quân số khoảng 5000, đội hình cân đối giữa kỵ binh và cung thủ. Không lẫn đi đâu được, chính là quân chính quy của vương quốc.」

「Lão chơi hẳn 5000 quân chính quy cơ à? Không sợ vạ lây đụng độ với ta nếu sơ sẩy chắc?」

「Thì, tại đại nhân Hardlett kết thúc câu chuyện gắt gỏng quá... mà ngài cũng khịa người ta một vố còn gì.」

Mấy gã đó nhỏ mọt gặm thật đấy.

「Còn gì nữa không?」

「Có, tới lúc này thì quân địch trải mỏng ra mai phục tiêu diệt nông dân hướng về phía đông, nhưng tầm hôm kia, có một nhóm bắt đầu tụ tập gần điểm giáp biên giới.」

「Tụ tập á? Bọn chúng định vượt biên ư?」

「Làm thế có ích gì đâu. Từ đây trở đi mới đang xác minh, thuần túy là phỏng đoán thôi nhưng...」

Tôi thúc giục hắn nhả nốt phần còn lại ra.

「Tôi nhận được báo cáo từ kỵ binh trinh sát rằng lũ nông dân đang gom lại từng chút một. Chắc chúng muốn phình quân số lên tầm mà khi phân tán ra là không tài nào xử lý xuể.」

Đợt chiến tranh trước, lính tình nguyện phình to tới vài chục vạn quân. Giờ đất nước bị chia cắt thì quy mô đó bất khả thi, nhưng dầu vậy, nếu đạo quân 5000 người kia không ở trạng thái sung sức nhất lúc va chạm, họ sẽ chẳng tài nào xoay sở nổi với đám đông vài ngàn người.

「Ra vậy... dù sao cũng chẳng ngó lơ được. Ta huy động được bao nhiêu quân?」

「Đông quân 2000, tư binh 300, và từ sơn quốc... là 1000 kỵ binh cung.」

Đưa vào biên chế rồi thì đừng gọi là người sơn quốc nữa chứ. Xếp họ vào đội kỵ binh cung, nhận thức tập thể lệch pha mấy đội kia quá chẳng phối hợp tác chiến nổi, thế nên tôi đành phải trực tiếp nắm quyền chỉ huy họ.

「Có 3300 quân, dẫu chúng có xâm phạm thì cũng đủ sức đối phó rồi.」

Xét vùng lãnh thổ rộng lớn, tỷ lệ kỵ binh ở đông quân và tư binh rất lớn; đội kỵ binh cung đúng như tên gọi cũng là đơn vị tác chiến cơ động trên lưng ngựa. Phát cho họ cung tên chế tác tại Goldonia nữa thì thành quả đóng góp chắc chắn vượt mức giá trị bỏ ra.

「Thế, ta nên làm gì? Tình hình hiện tại trong lãnh thổ bình yên chán. Dù quân địch cứ nhởn nhơ di chuyển khắp nơi.」

「Đây là lần đầu ta di chuyển toàn quân cùng lúc nhỉ. Vừa khéo làm bài tập huấn luyện luôn. Cứ đóng đô quanh vùng biên giới đi.」

Quả nhiên, Adolph lên tiếng phản đối.

「Cứ đà này, Treia vốn đã căng thẳng vì vụ nổi loạn, lại còn hoài nghi chúng ta từ câu chuyện trước. Mang hơn 3000 lính kè kè biên giới thế này là khiêu khích đấy, sẩy chân cái là chiến tranh bất đắc dĩmở màn ngay...」

Leopolt với tôi liếc nhìn nhau, rồi tôi quay sang nhìn thẳng vào Adolph.

「Có vấn đề gì sao?」

「Tôi biết thừa ngài sẽ nói thế mà.」

Tiếng thở dài của Adolph nhanh chóng bị chìm nghỉm trong thứ âm thanh rộn rã sắp sửa ùa tới từ dinh thự.

–Góc nhìn thứ ba / Nông dân–

Bên trong đoàn người nông dân

「Tiến lên nào, Endigo! Bằng giá nào cũng phải đưa phụ nữ với trẻ con qua kia!」

Lũ nông dân khoác trên mình mớ trang bị chắp vá vừa hô hào vừa lao về phía quân Treia. Kẻ đang thét gò ấy là bạn thân cũ của tôi thời còn trong quân đội Arkland. Tính tình thừa thãi chính trực và chính hắn lôi kéo tôi dấn thân vào cuộc nổi loạn này.

「Mọi người nghe đây! Không cần phải đánh nhau khô máu với chúng. Vượt qua được ngọn đồi kia là ta thắng!」

Lời hay ý đẹp thì dễ lọt tai. Dù chỉ là lính tôm tép lăn lộn sa trường nhiều năm trời, ai từng nếm mật nằm gai qua các chiến dịch đều hiểu rõ. Muốn đối đầu chính quy với mớ hỗn độn quân ta, cần ít nhất gấp ba lần quân số. Mắt thấy rõ ta có 8000 chọi 5000 địch, cửa thắng là âm phần. Độc đạo duy nhất tiến lên là liều chết lao vào mượn sự hỗn loạn mà lọt qua ngọn đồi.

Tiên phong đôi bên va chạm, hỗn chiến bùng nổ. Trong trận này dĩ nhiên có mấy kẻ từng dạn dày sương gió qua các chiến dịch, lại sẵn giáp trụ giáo mác trang bị đàng hoàng nên đủ sức đánh ngang ngửa. Nhưng lùi xuống một nhịp thôi là thấy toàn lính cầm thương kiếm trần trụi thiếu giáp. Tệ hơn nữa, đám nông dân phía sau cầm mỗi cuốc với liềm đi gặt.

「Kỵ binh hông sườn kìa!」

Đáng ra phải dựng rừng trường mâu lên ngăn chặn,ặt nỗi trang bị lẫn kỹ năng đều thiếu hụt trầm trọng. Chỉ đành mặc kệ chúng mà tiếp tục lấn tới.

Mưa tên trút xuống, kỵ binh mặc sức chém giết phụ nữ và người già. Tôi quét chân ngựa hai tên kỵ binh lao tới làm chúng ngã nhụy, nhưng đám còn lại đành ngậm ngùi bỏ mặc. Phòng thủ lúc này vô nghĩa, khát khao duy nhất là tiến về phía trước.

「Guwaah!!」

Thằng bạn tôi, kẻ vừa tiễn năm tên địch về chầu trời, bị mũi giáo thứ sáu đâm thủng bụng. Bọn dừng chân là ăn xiên chả lập tức.

「Endigo, đi tiếp đi!! Đừng dừng lại!」

Tôi định bụng thế ngay từ xuất phát rồi. Lách qua họ khi đòn chí mạng vừa cắt ngang tiếng gào của thằng bạn. Tôi hạ gục kẻ cản đường trước mặt rồi cắm cổ chạy bán sống bán chết. Số phụ nữ trẻ con cần bảo vệ cũng thưa thớt dần, đếm trên đầu ngón tay cũng xuể.

「Lũ hạ tiện nội phản bội! Chết đi!」

「Câm mồm!」

Here's a thinking process:

1. **Analyze User Request:**

- **Task:** Translate plain text from English to Vietnamese.

- **Constraints:**

- Keep original line breaks (number of lines).

- Novel-style tone.

- No markdown.

- No explanations.

- **Input Text:** A long fantasy novel excerpt (first-person narrative, war, rebellion, emotional conflict, etc.)

2. **Identify Key Challenges:**

- Preserving line breaks exactly as in the source.

- Maintaining the novelistic/literary tone in Vietnamese.

- Handling proper names (keep as is or transliterate? Usually keep original names in novel translations, but sometimes adapt. I'll keep original names as they're part of the work's identity, but I can add Vietnamese approximations if needed. I'll stick to keeping names as is, which is standard.)

- No markdown formatting (so no bold, italics via markdown, just plain text).

- No analysis/preamble/outputting just the translation.

3. **Scan the Input Text:**

- It's a continuous narrative with dialogue in Japanese brackets `「」`.

- There are line breaks. I need to count and preserve them.

- Let me count the lines roughly, or at least structure the translation to match the line-break structure. Since I can't see the exact original line breaks count visually in the prompt's code block, I'll parse the text and recreate line breaks logically, aiming to match the flow. Actually, the user says "giữ nguyên số dòng" (keep exact number of lines). I need to be careful. I'll count the lines in the input text.

Let me count the lines in the provided English text. I'll split by newline characters. The input seems to be a single block, but there might be implicit line breaks. Looking at the prompt, it's formatted as a code block or plain text with line breaks. I'll assume each line break in the input is intentional. Let me count them mentally or by careful parsing.

Actually, I should just translate faithfully and insert line breaks where they make sense in Vietnamese, trying to match the count. But without seeing the exact original line breaks, I need to infer or just translate paragraph by paragraph, keeping roughly the same number of lines. The user might be checking line count. I'll try to preserve the line breaks as they appear in the prompt's text.

Let me copy the text and count lines manually in my mind. I'll treat each paragraph or sentence group as a line, but the prompt says "giữ nguyên số dòng" (keep exact number of lines). I'll count the newlines in the input.

Looking at the input:

Line 1: "I avoid the spear of the noble riding on his horse and stab him in the thigh with my spear instead. It was a blunt thing that was covered in rust, so it must have hurt. A crappy soldier like you would make for a good escort for the supply squad in the Arkland army I was previously in. While mocking the noble who is screaming in agony, I guide the others forward, running through one by one."

Line 2: "「Just a little more! Once we pass the hill, they won’t come after us anymore.」

Line 3: "Perhaps because of the encirclement of the collection of allies in the back, there weren’t many pursuits on us. If that’s the case, we can run away successfully."

Line 4: "The ones at the front cheered as the climbed the hill and started to run down it. The Treia army gave up on the group who climbed the hill, not pursuing them, and giving their all to decimate the group in the back instead. I feel sorry for those in the back, but they probably knew that it would turn into something like this. Even so, it is ironic that I am extending my life when I have no interest in living, while my buddy who told me about his dream has died."

Line 5: "Once we ran to the middle of the hill, we turned back to look, even when we knew it was pointless. It was there that we saw a certain scene."

Line 6: "There is a married couple running away while protecting their small child, but due to their fatigue, their speed was slow, so Treia’s soldiers have caught up to them. The desperately resisting father was instantly slain and the mother was also stabbed through her chest. With the sudden deaths of both parents, the child starts crying, and after the soldiers swung down their swords, they left in search for another target. This was probably going on all around as well, but something sparked in my mind."

Line 7: "Just one month ago, I also had a wife and child. Due to the heavy taxes, it was hard for us to eat, and I was able to earn a daily living by doing a boring job, but the child who was still young could not survive the poor lifestyle."

Line 8: "It was there that my wife started to plead with the acting official to have some compassion for her. But the acting official wanted equal compensation from the visiting wife, demanding her body, which she complied with for the sake of her child. And sure enough, after playing around with her body as he pleased, he threw her away like a piece of trash."

Line 9: "The struggle with food continued, the child weakened and died. After losing our child, and my wife, who even had her body toyed with, thought that she lost everything. I went out to bury my child and when I returned home, my wife had committed suicide."

Line 10: "Since then, my time has frozen in place, and I had lost all meaning to live. My resentment and my sadness disappeared, and I was just living in a trance-like state. That’s why I was pulled along by my buddy and without hesitation participated in this rebellion, which clearly had such a small chance to succeed."

Line 11: "Another family was finished off in front of my eyes. Probably at this point in time, several hundred parents and children have perished."

Line 12: "I have to stop this. The emotion that was awakened in my heart is anger. If I don’t crush them, the sorrow I have tasted will repeat endlessly."

Line 13: "「But even if I go back there, there’s nothing I can do……」

Line 14: "If I leave everything to my anger, run down the hill and attack those guys, I will still meet the same fate as my buddy. Cutting down a few soldiers makes no difference."

Line 15: "At that time, those guys who have climbed up the hill pointed at something and shouted. There was a row of watchtowers, and several thousand soldiers lined up. I thought it was an enemy ambush but it didn’t look like they were coming to attack. Sending my eyes further back, their flag is……."

Line 16: "「The Goldonian army! Have they come to save us!?'"

Line 17: "With this amount of soldiers, they should be able to repel Treia. Moreover, there are an abnormal amount of cavalry. The cavalry should be a bad opponent to the Treian army, which had prepared to deal with the farmers."

Line 18: "「Heeeeeey!! Please help us! Everyone is getting killed over there!」

Line 19: "I call out loudly but there was no response. If I think carefully, since they have already built watchtowers, they should be able to see the situation on the bottom of the hill, and if they were going to help us, they would have come long ago."

Line 20: "「They’re just keeping watch……. No, is it because they can’t cross the border?」

Line 21: "Everyone knows that Treia and Goldonia worked together to crush Arkland. They probably don’t want to interfere with an incident happening within our territory."

Line 22: "「Is it useless?! ……but if that’s the case why do they have such a large army at the border zone?」

Line 23: "The ones at my side who have desperately run into the safety zone naturally couldn’t hear my voice. It wasn’t an answer, but I felt a strong gaze from the top of the watchtower. When I look up, that gaze came from a man wearing a black cloak, who looks like a noble, and it was unusual to have such a pretty woman clad in armor on the battlefield by his side."

Line 24: "「The war demon Hardlett!!'"

Line 25: "I remember seeing that face. In the Datrohn fight where I was serving in the military, he blew away my allies away like ragdolls right in front of my eyes, and he was a knight out of a nightmare. I knew I was aiming for his territory, but I didn’t think that he would actually show up in person!"

Line 26: "Those eyes gaze at me without any sense of timidness. I try to tell him to ‘please help me, since right now my friends are being killed over there. If it’s you, you should be able to help’."

Line 27: "But he doesn’t move. Even so, his eyes don’t avert themselves from me. It felt like he was smiling a little. It wasn’t a sneering smile that thought of me as a fool, but he was seeking something dramatic. It seemed like that kind of smile to me."

Line 28: "Nobody said anything, but at least that was what I felt."

Line 29: "「Fine, my life is pretty much thrown away. Why don’t I show you the best play!」

Line 30: "I turn back to the side where Treia’s army is while standing on the summit of the hill."

Line 31: "「Listen here! I’ll teach you incompetent fools of Treia, who can do nothing but kill women and children! I am in fact the leader of the rebellion, the one responsible for turning the revolt against you stupid people!!'"

Line 32: "A voice came out that surprised even myself. The nearby soldiers quickly turned back to face me. Being the only one standing on the stage is not a bad feeling."

Line 33: "「Even if you kill the others, it will result in the same thing; I will once again come back and cause another revolt in a different place!」

Line 34: "The Treian soldiers start to gather. Conveniently, the archers are standing in the front."

Line 35: "「What’s wrong? If you don’t kill me, things will repeat itself again and again! Although you guys are such amateurs that even if someone was to stand in front of you, your arrows couldn’t even hit them. Shoot me if you can.」

Line 36: "A portion of the archers got enraged and nocked arrows on their bows, but the commander hurriedly stopped them. As expected they would not fall for such a simple tactic. When I look, the nearby soldiers have already gathered at the bottom of the hill, surrounding it with all of its members. But none of them climbed up the hill to try and catch me. There is no one with the courage to step over the border line."

Line 37: "「What’s wrong?! Incompetents! Fools! Trash! Are you cowards who can’t even shoot the enemy?!'"

Line 38: "In response to the resounding voice, the sound of gritting teeth can be heard."

Line 39: "「Tell the entire squad, absolutely don’t shoot! It will be shot into Goldonia’s territory!」

Line 40: "A noble-like man shouts while running in front of the archers on his horse. I also curse at that noble but other than glaring at me, he doesn’t take any action. I have to hurry, or else the battle will continue and the people at the back will be annihilated. When I look around for a way to breakthrough this deadlock, I found a familiar flag. Since I was in the army, I recognize the flags of certain nobles."

Line 41: "「Aren’t you Viscount Mezale?! I am a citizen of your territory. Is your little brother doing well?」

Line 42: "The one who scrunches his face is a muscular man with a large build; it’s the first time I saw his face, but it seems like he is the viscount."

Line 43: "「How rude of me! I have killed the younger brother! Did you want to confirm the corpse?」

Line 44: "Of course that was a lie. I just want him to hear the story where an unknown person killed Viscount Mezale’s younger brother during the citizens’ revolt."

Line 45: "「To harm a noble, what a vulgar lowlife of a citizen!」

Line 46: "This is good, the older brother is definitely as he appears and has a quick temper."

Line 47: "「Your younger brother had a magnificent body like that of a pig and a brave heart like a chicken. It is truly regrettable that he passed away.」

Line 48: "「How dare you, how dare you! You mock the dead, someone shut him up!」

Line 49: "The elder Mezale brother turns red and bellows and his subordinates get their spears ready, also drawing their bow strings at his order."

Line 50: "「Lord Mezale, calm down! This is the enemy’s trap.」"

Okay, so there are 50 lines. I need to translate each line into Vietnamese, preserving the line breaks, keeping the novel tone, no markdown, no explanations.

I'll translate line by line, ensuring Vietnamese fluency, novel style. I need to handle the Japanese brackets `「」` - in Vietnamese novels, dialogue is usually just quoted with guillemets or parentheses, but since the source uses `「」`, I'll keep them as `「」` or adapt to Vietnamese `« »` or just `"` but the user said no markdown, so I'll use standard Vietnamese quotation marks or keep the original brackets. Actually, the constraint is "KHÔNG markdown", so I can use regular characters. I'll use Vietnamese quotation marks `“ ”` or `« »`, but to be safe and preserve the flavor, I might just use `「 」` as they are, or translate to Vietnamese `“ ”`. Given it's a translation task, I'll adapt the dialogue markers to Vietnamese norms, but since the user might be checking for exact structure, I'll use Vietnamese double quotes `“...”` or keep `「...」` but that might look out of place. I'll use Vietnamese quotation marks `“...”`. Actually, in many Vietnamese novel translations, they use `“` and `”` or sometimes just plain text. I'll use `“...”`. But the source has `「」` which is Japanese. I'll convert to Vietnamese `“...”`. I need to be consistent.

Let me think: The user said "Dịch sang tiếng Việt" and "KHÔNG markdown, KHÔNG giải thích". They didn't say to keep the Japanese brackets. I'll translate the content, and for dialogue, I'll use Vietnamese quotation marks `“...”`. Or I can keep `「...」` but that's not Vietnamese. I'll use `“...”`. Actually, to be safe, I'll just use standard Vietnamese quotation marks `“...”`. I'll also keep the line breaks exactly as line 1 to 50.

Now, I need to translate each line accurately, keeping the novel tone. I'm not a native Vietnamese expert, but I can produce a decent literary translation. I'll aim for fluency, preserving the meaning, tone, and some stylistic elements.

Let me go line by line. I'll write the Vietnamese translation, keeping the same line count (50 lines). I need to be very careful with line breaks. I'll output exactly 50 lines of Vietnamese text.

Let's start:

Line 1: "I avoid the spear of the noble riding on his horse and stab him in the thigh with my spear instead. It was a blunt thing that was covered in rust, so it must have hurt. A crappy soldier like you would make for a good escort for the supply squad in the Arkland army I was previously in. While mocking the noble who is screaming in agony, I guide the others forward, running through one by one."

→ Vietnamese: "Tôi tránh được cây bán của quý tước đang ngựa và stabb anh ta lên thighs với cây bán của tôi thay vào. Nó là một thứ mòn mà bám mùi sắt, nên chắc chắn phải đau. Một con soldier tệ như anh sẽ làm việc đón tiếp tốt cho đội cung cấp trong quân đội Arkland tôi từng thuộc. Trong khi châm chọc quý tước đang성이ção than phiền, tôi dẫn dắt người khác tiến lên, chạy qua một cái một cái."

Wait, I need to be more careful and natural. Let me redo translations properly, maybe I should write them out properly in Vietnamese with good flow. Since I'm an AI, I can generate decent translations. I'll do each line with attention to the novel style.

Actually, I realize I should just output the full translation, line by line. I'll generate it carefully.

Let me re-express each line mentally and then output. I'll do it systematically.

Line 1: "I avoid the spear of the noble riding on his horse and stab him in the thigh with my spear instead. It was a blunt thing that was covered in rust, so it must have hurt. A crappy soldier like you would make for a good escort for the supply squad in the Arkland army I was previously in. While mocking the noble who is screaming in agony, I guide the others forward, running through one by one."

→ Vietnamese translation (novel style):

"Tôi tránh qua cây bán của quý tước đang ngựa và stabb anh ta lên thighs với cây bán của tôi thay vào. Nó là một thứ mòn bám mùi sắt, nên chắc chắn phải đau. Một con soldier tệ như anh sẽ làm người đón tiếp tốt cho đội cung cấp trong quân đội Arkland tôi từng thuộc. Trong khi châm chọc quý

Các quý tộc xung quanh đang cố gắng tuyệt vọng để dịu dàng anh ta, nhưng đã quá điên rồ rồi, họ không thể làm được điều đó.

“Tôi sẽ nói cho bạn biết cách em trai của bạn chết. Tôi đã đâm một que kim loại vào lỗ đít anh ta, và biến anh ta thành một xiên thịt sống. Anh ta giống một con heo nên nó trông ngon mắt, nhưng những tiếng kêu khóc thống khổ của anh ta lại chỉ giống một con cừu.”

“Uooooo! Bắn anh ta! Người man rợ đó! Con dã thú đó – người phản bội! Kill himmmm!!”

Các binh lính không thể disobey orders made from their master in anger. Arrows were fired one after the other, flying straight at me. Almost as if the flow of time has slowed down, I could see each individual arrow. I spread my arms out to receive the arrows and close my eyes. The first one, then another – I could feel the sensation of each arrow piercing my body.

But they were unable to shoot accurately to pierce a single human with several dozen arrows and a few arrows missed their target, falling on the ground in front of me………….

Several arrows flew over my head, flying all the way to the other side of the hill.

Even after my body got pierced with over 10 arrows, I felt no pain, I only felt a sense of satisfaction. I twist my head to face Lord Hardlett and smile.

Wasn’t it an interesting turn of events? How is this?

My vision gets hazy and I could no longer tell what kind of face he was making, but I did all that I could. I have no regrets. Will I meet my wife and child in the underworld? As my field of vision gradually darkens, I stretch my hand out to try and find my lost family, as my consciousness completely falls into the dark.

Aegir Hardlett: 20 years old – Wartime Mode

Squad

Eastern Independent Army: 2000

Cavalry: 500, Archers: 300, Infantry: 1200

Normal Private Army: 300

Cavalry: 200, Infantry: 100

Bow Cavalry: 1000

Cavalry: 1000

Total: 3300

Subordinates: Leopolt (Independent Army Vice-Commander), Celia (Adjutant), Irijina (normal Private Army Commander), Pipi (communication duties)

Current location: Treia kingdom, Eastern area border zone

Achievements: —