Chapter 88: White Gold for a War Horse

The garrison had been bustling since early morning. With forces hastily organized to defend it and Fried’s light cavalry joining up, we’d mobilized a large number of Euz castle residents to begin repair work on the garrison. We drove stakes in tight clusters to prevent enemy cavalry from easily crossing and set up traps.

"Move faster! Drive those stakes in solid and get them positioned right!"

The person directing the repair work was, naturally, Michael. He reinforced the defensive facilities to block enemy cavalry raids as much as possible and buy time, adjusting the archers’ optimal positions for attack, among many other tasks. But time was tight.

So we were taking only minimal measures, but even those alone were threatening enough for a raiding party. Michael knew how to effectively block enemy attacks. From an attacker’s perspective, he was a pretty tricky type of commander to deal with. If the enemy supply base had been this well defended, I would’ve given up.

As an expeditionary force, Burgundy’s only option was a quick decisive battle. They could choose to rebuild supply lines and receive provisions, but that would take a long time and burn through massive war funds. Was a small war like this border skirmish worth absorbing that kind of loss?

No matter how much you crunched the numbers, Count Épinay’s only option was an all-out attack. But Count Épinay wasn’t a pushover. Though he must’ve been furious about losing his supply bases and having his prized horse stolen, he’d drawn up a plan to catch us off guard by sending an envoy to draw Euz’s attention to a pitched battle.

I didn’t know if Count Épinay had devised it himself or if his staff had created the plan, but the strategy to catch our side off guard, burn down our supplies in the same way, inflict damage, then attack the main force’s rear was excellent. It could even achieve military victory despite this disadvantageous situation.

"You two command the Rosenheim soldiers and stop enemy cavalry from attacking the archers."

"We’ll carry out the order with our lives on the line."

"So glad we can finally fight alongside our lord!"

The night before, I’d told Oscar and Ted there would be an enemy raid, and their whole attitude had changed. As if they’d gotten a fresh start, the two were extremely motivated. I felt pretty bad seeing that. Since they were infantry, they couldn’t be with me when I was mainly operating with cavalry.

While their lord had led the duchy’s light cavalry north and racked up brilliant achievements, his direct subordinates had been stuck at the garrison guarding the tents and spoils. They must’ve felt powerless and left out, unable to be with their lord.

It couldn’t be helped, but I needed to understand their feelings.

I called over Gustav, who’d been leading the Rosenheim soldiers, and appointed Oscar as their captain. Ted, his peer, had given up on a command position early on, and Gustav, who’d been with them all this time, supported Oscar, so Oscar naturally emerged as Rosenheim’s commander. Of course, background connections played a huge role.

"You’ve been learning from August, right?"

"Yes. He’s taught me a lot about a commander’s mindset."

"Good. Mindset’s important for a commander too. I’m counting on you."

"I won’t disappoint you."

Oscar answered energetically and withdrew. Next I called Anton over. By the way, I’d sent Maria to the castle. I couldn’t keep a young child in a place that might become a battlefield. Fried had readily accepted, and his handmaids were looking after her now. Lucky that the border lord’s heir was so amiable.

"Anton. Join the main force, confirm the outcome of the battle, and report back to me."

"Understood. Um, what will you do if we lose?"

"Obviously I’ll have to go rescue my father-in-law and His Highness the Crown Prince."

If our side lost, I’d somehow have to escape with at least my father-in-law and the Crown Prince. I didn’t want to imagine that worst-case scenario, but as a commander, you had to think through every possibility. As long as I had my Commander Scouter, I was confident I could shake off any pursuit.

Fried kept his promise and sent part of his cavalry force, bringing my total light cavalry to 83 riders. That was enough to put up a fight even if over 100 enemy cavalry came raiding. Plus, Fried sent along one of his knights and two lieutenants.

So my lieutenant count increased to seven.

Fiel had been in trouble because all his spare lances had broken, but Fried sent three cavalry lances as well. Fried was like a tree that gives and gives. Of course, he was helping because befriending me benefited him too. Naturally, I needed to give back as much as I received.

Isn’t that what noble relationships are all about?

"Mont Blanc is a sensitive one. If you try to tame him recklessly, he’ll buck violently, so you need to handle him as carefully as possible. Unlike Schatten, he’s pretty skittish."

Through Mont Blanc, I was coming to realize just how great a horse Schatten really was. While Schatten was arrogant and tended to look down on everyone except Hilda, at least he didn’t threaten whoever rode him. In my case, I’d gained Schatten’s recognition through Hilda’s help.

But Mont Blanc bucked around like a hysterical princess—he was in a severely stressed state. I could just ride Schatten for the operation, but I was thinking of taming Mont Blanc while I had the chance. It wasn’t easy, though. He was even refusing food, so without Winter I might’ve given up.

But while everyone else was busy with battle preparations, why was I taming Mont Blanc right now? Because I planned to use him in this very battle. The performance gap between the reserve horse Rotbraun and the thoroughbreds was simply too big. I’d learned that all too well from riding them firsthand.

By taking Mont Blanc, I now owned two fast and sturdy thoroughbreds, and Rotbraun had dropped to third place. If Schatten was optimal for battle—riding heavily to push opponents back—then Mont Blanc excelled at pursuing with light, fast speed. You could tell just by watching him run.

That’s why I was out at the ranch trying to tame Mont Blanc.

What should I do in a situation like this?

Best to coax him with food, obviously.

He’d refused carrots, so I’d been wondering what to feed him when I remembered sugar cubes.

I thought I’d heard that horses liked sugar cubes.

I was pretty sure I’d picked that up from an old movie at some point.

Should I give it a try?

So I bought sugar cubes through the shop.

While Winter went to check on Schatten, I held out a sugar cube to Mont Blanc.

Mont Blanc was snorting roughly as if to say "you think I’m gonna eat this crap?" and throwing a fit, but when I forcefully rubbed the sugar cube on his mouth, he resisted at first, then suddenly started licking my palm. So the big guy had finally discovered sweetness. I fed him a few more sugar cubes along with carrots.

Then, as if his stress had been greatly relieved, Mont Blanc became docile, as though he’d never thrown that tantrum. I tried to befriend him by stroking his neck and face. When Winter returned from checking on Schatten, he seemed puzzled that Mont Blanc had become so docile compared to before.

"Mont Blanc’s mood suddenly seems better?"

"Doesn’t he seem like a moody lady?"

"Mont Blanc is a stallion though."

I climbed into Mont Blanc’s saddle. Mont Blanc docilely allowed me to mount. He’d been refusing even to be ridden, so the one most flustered by this change was Winter. He knew Mont Blanc’s behavior patterns inside out, but the horse’s current state was inconsistent with everything he’d observed. Of course, it was thanks to the sugar cubes.

There were cases of nobles feeding sugar to their prized horses, but that was pretty rare. Sugar and spices came through Arabia and were such expensive luxuries they were called white gold. Only kings who liked showing off or nobles with massive wealth could afford to give sugar to horses.

I understood this period to be the early stages—the dawn of the Age of Exploration—when Portugal had explored as far as a region called Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa. Even Columbus, famous for discovering the New World, hadn’t set sail yet.

Fortunately, I could buy sugar through the shop for relatively cheap points, and with that I could win Mont Blanc’s favor. Mont Blanc might keep demanding sugar, but feeding him too much would be very unhealthy, so I had no intention of giving it to him indiscriminately.

"If Schatten has a heavy feel, you’ve got a light and fast one."

Snort!

He snorted as if the comparison were unpleasant.

Mont Blanc was a considerably fast horse.

If Schatten was a luxury sedan, Mont Blanc felt like a sports car.

I didn’t know if he was expecting more sugar cubes from me, but Mont Blanc followed my lead well. While Fiel and August worked with the new light cavalry to coordinate, I practiced riding to get familiar with Mont Blanc.

[Horsemanship Manual]

[Stage 1 Training Quest Complete]

[1,000 points, 1 silver coin awarded]

[Stage 2 Training Quest]

[Riding hands-free - Jumping obstacles]

[Proficiency 0/100]

[Basic stance correction]

[Reward - 1,000 points, 1 silver coin]

Huh? The Stage 1 horsemanship training quest had just completed and advanced to Stage 2. Riding hands-free and jumping obstacles? It felt like the difficulty had just shot way up. Obviously, I’d only ever charged around on horseback—I’d never jumped an obstacle or ridden without holding the reins.