Essenbach preferred expanding its influence in Strasbourg over skirmishing. But Baschurten, which borders Feuzen, could have picked fights and yet never did. Why was that?
They seemed resolved to fight Euz, but the one most rattled was the ambushersâ representative himself. His mindset read as flustered. For Ăderlen to resist alone, without Baschurtenâs support, was madness.
"The corpses scattered across the field look like Basel army soldiers. What happened here?"
"Mercenaries from the routed Basel army raided Ăderlen, but we drove them off."
"Hm. Fortunately, it seems you heeded the advice to be wary of mercenaries."
At that, the representative stared at me with wide, startled eyes.
"Could you be the knight who warned Iris to watch out for mercenaries..."
"There was a girl I caught gathering herbs."
As it happened, this ambush leader was that girlâs older brother.
Caught in a tangle of emotions, he couldnât figure out how to treat me.
I was from an enemy land, and though I had captured the girl called Iris, Iâd sent her back without touching a hair on her head, and had even advised her to beware of mercenaries.
He couldnât tell whether I was enemy or ally.
"Think of me as a noble with a merciful streak."
"I-I see. Then is the demand to surrender also out of mercy?"
"It is. This time, the commander of the Euz army will carry out slaughter and plunder without hesitation. So surrender, and place yourselves under the protection of my name."
Baschurten, ruled by the Geerhilt family, is enemy territory, but with the ruling family in such a shambles, most of its villages have been left to fend for themselves. Thatâs how the tragedy at Ladwig came to pass at the hands of mercenaries.
"...If itâs you, Sir Knight, somehow I want to believe."
"My name is Wolfgang Ritter von Streit."
"Streit... you canât mean the Gale Knight?"
Other countries aside, in Beren at least, not knowing my name would get you accused of being a spy. Perhaps because a knight of far greater renown than expected stood before him, the shock was plain on his face.
But the shock wasnât for the reason I assumed.
The ambushersâ eyes went as wide as saucers.
"Wait, I heard it was the Gale Knight who brought relief to the ruins of Ladwig!"
"Word came from my cousin in Leben. He said the Gale Knight saved them!"
"What? If thatâs true, we nearly attacked our benefactor!"
My reputation suddenly skyrocketed.
Ăderlen being a village in northern Baschurten, its people seemed to have learned of my good deeds through Ladwig and Leben. Those acts had been born of simple compassion; I never imagined theyâd help me like this.
"Geerhilt still hasnât gotten the north under control?"
"No. No orders have come down either. What on earth is going on?"
I told them that the Count of Baschurten had surrendered, but that his younger brother had refused, crying out for resistance to the death. It only deepened their confusion about whose orders they were supposed to follow.
In the end, the ambushers returned to Ăderlen to deliberate on surrendering. My lieutenants, watching all this with skepticism, were certain those men would go back and bar the gates for good.
"Turns out our lord has a naive streak. Does he actually believe theyâll surrender?"
"Terrifying on the battlefield, but apparently not so sharp elsewhere. Falling for such a shameless trick."
"Come on, letâs just prep for battle!"
Having watched trust crumble so easily so many times, they seemed to operate from a baseline of distrust. They were so sure of themselves that it actually got under my skin.
What? Prep for battle? Youâre not putting those weapons away?
"Whether they surrender or not... care to make a bet with me?"
"Oh, now youâre talking! Ten silver on resistance!"
"Iâm in for ten on resistance too!"
"Resistance! Overwhelming resistance! Ten coins!"
In an instant, five hundred silver coins piled up.
The mercenary cavalrymen looked at me with eyes full of anticipation.
Fine, you little bastards. Iâll clean out every coin youâve got.
"Five hundred silver on surrender, you pigs!"
"Yeaaah! Thatâs a real man! As fiery as his fists!"
"Mist! Our lord never disappoints!"
The whole thing turned into an outright festival.
Besides loot and women, the things mercenaries go crazy for are bets and gambling. I alone bet on surrender, and every last one of them bet on resistance. They had no way of knowing that the ambushersâ minds held no deception.
And sure enough, before long, a white flag rose over Ăderlen and the gates opened.
The combined cavalry entered Ăderlen warily, suspicion written across their faces.
A middle-aged man in relatively fine clothes paid his respects to me.
He appeared to be the estate manager who administered this village.
"Ăderlen surrenders to the Gale Knight. Please, grant us your mercy!"
"Much obliged. Thanks to you, I won my bet."
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
Heh heh, never you mind.
The mercenary cavalrymen whoâd been so sure of their win suddenly had to pay up. The moment Ăderlen surrendered, it handed me a profit of five hundred silver coins.
The cavalrymen who hadnât joined the bet laughed freely at the mercenariesâ sour faces. Without a single drop of blood being shed, Ăderlen formally surrendered to me, the Lord of Feuzen.
Though it was occupied territory, I promised to guarantee the villagersâ livelihoods and property. In the name of the Lord of Feuzen? Noâin the name of the chief of staff to the supreme commander of the Western Lordsâ Army.
In case anyone got ideas about disregarding the weight of my name and causing trouble, I invoked the authority of the Western Lordsâ Army, the coalition of princes. Honestly, though, the one most likely to cause trouble was Fried.
Through this civil war, Fried had become a man you couldnât let your guard down around. Heâd grown considerably harder, and unlike before, he no longer hesitated to act. He was a completely different person from when we first met.
His disposition is honesty (neutral), but a shift in disposition is surely coming soon. I had no choice but to watch closely what effect that would have on me. Count Euz is elderly; he could die at any time.
...And then suddenly, a thought struck me.
Was this an aftereffect of learning about the Altringen royal conspiracy?
Ever since Iâd realized the world of nobles was a place rife with conspiracies beyond imagining, Iâd found that if you grant a princeâs actions their own internal logic, everything looks entirely different.
What if the reason Count Euz left the vassals who opposed his heir alone was to lay the groundwork for forging Fried into something harder? My mistake, it seems, was not thinking deeply about it because it was another lordâs territory.
Common sense says you eliminate vassals who threaten your heir, doesnât it? For Fried to come to nurse a deep grudge against his vassals and lose all hesitation about massacring and plundering commoners was an enormous change.
For a prince who must defend the borderlands and contend with countless political enemies, what kind of heir would be more desirable? An heir judged honest and weak-willed? Or an heir transformed into someone cold and ruthless?
If I were in Count Euzâs position.
...Probably the latter.
As I stared into the flickering candlelight, my thoughts grew heavy.