Chapter 3 – Each One’s Decision
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「It’s a disaster. Viscount Antrim’s army has been annihilated in less than a day without waiting for the reinforcement’s arrival. Haurelia army will appear at this Falkirk territory the day after tomorrow if we don’t block the highway quickly.」
Alan’s face turned pale at the messenger’s words.
He harbored a hope that perhaps, perhaps if it was Baldr he would be able to catch Haurelia army by surprise and dealt a blow to them.
If that happened, then he himself wouldn’t need to dirty his hand with a betrayal. He would be able to continue partaking with the leftover of the continuing prosperity of Antrim, and yet…….
「Any further hesitation than this will only endanger everyone’s lives!」
For good or bad, Alan was a coward. He didn’t abandon Baldr right from the start, but he also didn’t have the guts to accomplish his duty now that his own life was in danger.
「T-there is no other way. This too is for the sake of Mauricia Kingdom.」
That’s right, the kingdom’s survival would be threatened if Haurelia army was permitted to advance through here.
Alan justified it like that inside himself and purposefully ignored that tomorrow the reinforcement that was led by Mattis Bradford would arrive.
He didn’t even know that he was being manipulated to make such decision.
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The highway that connected Falkirk territory to Antrim territory through mountain range Morgan was called Cottingley Highway.
At the middle of that highway, there was a valley that was formed from sedimentary layer with weak foundation.
White layers of volcanic ash were exposed at that location. Many landslides had occurred in this location and became obstacle for the traffic.
It was a danger that was left alone when Antrim was an isolated remote region, but with the rapid development of Antrim territory and the increase of circulation from there, many voices were hoping for the road to be fixed. It was planned for the slope at that place to be reinforced with concrete if time and budget allowed. Right now there were men present at there.
「──It has become something troublesome.」
The men couldn’t hide their bewilderment because a completely different situation from their master’s plan had occurred.
Their master expected for the army of Antrim and the surrounding nobles to be annihilated so that the kingdom’s army that was under the direct command of the king would be exhausted from the war. With that their master could increase his own influence or worked together with Haurelia to overthrow the king. The unexpected victory of Antrim army at the beginning of hostilities was something that was outside the expectation of their master.
However now that it had happened, it would be troubling if Antrim army kept winning and racked achievements.
No, even now Viscount Antrim had raised too much achievements.
He defeated their arch-enemy Haurelia Kingdom when they came invading with an army more than ten times greater his own number.
Such feat sounded like a heroic tale of a myth. Increase in rank wouldn’t be enough to reward this achievement.
Count Cornelius who was the family of Viscount Antrim, Viscount Bradford who was in a close relationship with them, and then Marquis Randolph. Their influence would increase while the conservatism faction that was centered around their master would fall into ruin.
Of course they mustn’t let such thing to happen. A hero who wasn’t needed anymore should die like a hero and contented himself with only the prestige from his achievements.
「──Drill Spear」
「──Water Current」
「──Flame Blast」
An unseen spear bore a hole, then a water current eroded inside it, and for the last an explosion spell hit. There was no way a layer that was already brittle from the beginning could endure it.
「Let’s demolish the opposite side too just to make sure.」
The valley was quickly filled with collapsing earth and sand. That enormous mass perfectly obstructed any people and object from entering.
Right now Antrim territory was completely isolated from Mauricia Kingdom. It was turned into a solitary island on land.
「The highway cannot be used for more than one month with this. What’s left is──」
It wouldn’t be enough with just isolating Antrim.
If by any chance Baldr managed to survive, he would monopolize the achievements by himself at the end.
It was a great victory by a small force that had never happened before in history. He might not stop with just being a count, in the future Antrim might get fused with Cornelius and his rank was raised to marquis.
It would cause Baldr to be a new member of the ten great nobles and stood at the same level with the influential people of the kingdom.
If Baldr succeeded in joining the rank of the ten great nobles, naturally one of the old ten great nobles would lose their qualification.
There was no guarantee that the men’s master wouldn’t be the one who got demoted.
「──Inform Haurelia Kingdom quickly. That Antrim is now isolated due to an unfortunate accident.」
Haurelia army’s vanguard was certainly defeated.
However an army with twice the number of that vanguard army was still on standby within Haurelia Kingdom. And the defeated vanguard army also hadn’t lost all their troops.
It was easy to imagine what kind of decision Haurelia Kingdom would make if it became known that Antrim was isolated and helpless.
It didn’t matter how strong Antrim was known as, as a country, Haurelia Kingdom’s dignity would certainly decline if they didn’t do anything.
If they could at least occupy Antrim, it would be possible for them to keep up appearance regardless of their defeat at the beginning of the hostilities and the damage to their army.
「Die a noble death at the very least. We will have you die here no matter what method we have to use.」
If this matter became known by any chance, they had prepared to use Alan as scapegoat.
The matter would be settled with the conclusion that everything was done by Alan. That he hired some wandering mercenaries to block the highway in order to protect himself.
All the letters that Alan had received until now too were actually unofficial letters without any seal of the sender. They could make as many excuses as they liked about such thing.
Nobody would be able to reach their master no matter which clue was followed.
Even if their master was suspected because of circumstantial evidences, it was impossible to judge a high class noble if there was no solid proof.
「What a pitiful young man. He could at least live his full life if only he isn’t overly ambitious.」
The men also didn’t have the slightest intention to let Alan live because he might become a source of trouble in the future even if this matter wasn’t discovered.
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There was a reason why Viscount Mattis Bradford arrived late at the territory of Baronet Falkirk.
The peace that had continued for more than ten years caused the nobles’ preparation for war to be fatally lacking.
As expected from Bradford House that was a military family from the beginning, they had maintained enough equipment and training even now. But the other nobles were the exact opposite of Mattis.
Their soldiers were few and it also took a lot of money to purchase equipments, furthermore the opponent was Haurelia Kingdom that was far superior militarily than them. Obviously the army of the nobles that had turned complacent from peace was low in morale and also slow in mobilizing.
「All of you are failure as noble-!」
Mattis was so enraged that his blood vein might burst seeing the nobles from the surrounding area so lacking in motivation.
If they didn’t see Mattis being so enraged that he might kill them if they opposed him, perhaps the army still wouldn’t be gathered even now while they were passing the time idly.
「──Tomorrow. Bring 500 soldiers in full tomorrow. If you lords are unable to do that──know that I shall issue a duel challenge to those who fail.」
「We-we-we, we will gather them tomorrow without fail……!」
For Mattis, Baldr wasn’t simply an ally that he had to rescue.
He was the son of his comrade-in-arms who he entrusted his life to in the past war and vice versa. He was also his benefactor who managed to win over the seat of the wife of the neighboring kingdom’s crown prince for his overly problematic daughter.
Mattis’s fighting spirit had been seething because the chance to repay those favors with his spear had finally come. He was angered by how unmotivated his allies were.
「Good grief──perhaps it would be better if I departed with just my territory’s troops.」
Mattis knew that sometimes an ally without any fighting spirit could become a hindrance that was even more troublesome than the enemy.
Even so it was also a fact that sending troops by piecemeal would be a tactical mistake that a general should never commit.
Considering how the vanguard army of Haurelia numbered more than 20000, it was possible that the reinforcement of Bradford army alone would do nothing and they would simply get swallowed by the overwhelming difference in number.
Mattis waited for the soldiers to assemble while crying tears of blood with how his patience was tested.
And yet──.
「THE CLIFF COLLAPSEEED?」
Mattis roared at Alan whose face was soaked with cold sweat.
「I received a report from the nearby local there yesterday……that place was already brittle from the start and landslide like that had happened many times……」
「You naturally have started the repair work haven’t you?」
Alan started making excuse in unsightly state at Mattis’s question.
「I-it was an extremely large scale landslide. I think it will take around a month to clear up the blockage, so I was thinking to wait until everyone arrive to ask for instruction……」
「One month you said?」
Mattis was instinctually suspecting Alan’s words.
Certainly that kind of landslide often happened at that spot, but that highway wouldn’t still be used as the main road even now if accident that would need one month to clear up happened that often at that place.
A landslide in a scale that had never even happened in the past was occurring at this moment. Was it really a coincidence?
Perhaps this destitute and petty man purposefully caused the landslide in order to save his own neck?
「Do it in half a month.」
「Hah?」
Alan didn’t understand what he was told and made a stupid face. Mattis declared to him.
「My Bradford army will cross Morgan mountain right now. Work together with the troops that are remaining here to hasten to Antrim in half a month. If you failed, this Mattis Bradford will decapitate your head. I swear I will take off your head no matter head, remember that.」
Mattis was completely serious.
It was impossible for him to stay calm anymore with how his allies keep dragging him down. Mattis resolved himself to remove any obstacles in his way with brute force.
Mattis was famous in the knight order and feared as a demon in the previous war. Alan’s mental strength wasn’t so firm that he could endure the genuine killing intent from Mattis.
「Ye-, y-ye, yhes……」
Alan nodded his head up and down repeatedly like a broken bobble head.
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「──A plague you sayy?」
Welkin let out a hysteric voice because of the completely unexpected report he received.
「Yes……they said that Garac Village has been blockaded because of a plague that broke out last week.」
「That shitty geezer……he is using nasty move like this!」
The knight order that should be dispatched to reinforce Antrim was forced to stop in their track because of the unexpected obstacle in the form of plague outbreak.
In fact there were really villagers at Garac Village who got purple spot on their skin appearing one after another, so this couldn’t be ignored completely.
Welkin guessed that some kind of poison was used to the villagers there. He wanted to spit out because the opponent was using such vicious move.
To be honest, King Welkin and Prime Minister Harold was getting headache because the internal condition of the kingdom was far more rotten than they expected.
The gambling factor in this war had been big from the beginning, but now that gambling’s risk had jumped up even further into a situation that was the epitome of high risk high return gamble.
With the entrance of an external enemy that was Haurelia Kingdom, they were able to easily smoke out the rebellious element within the kingdom, but because the number of rebellious nobles far surpassed their expectation, it caused some difficulty in carrying out the war.
The number and unity of the rebellious force were too great for Welkin and Harold to stamp out in one go.
Even so, it wasn’t like the situation was all bleak.
The war caused a state of emergency that they could use to establish even stronger king’s authority in the government. The king’s influence also swelled up in the finance and law department. The bureaucrats were seeing nightmare around this time.
The number of nobles who were proactively trying to cooperate with the king was also increasing greatly because of the plus and minuses that war would bring.
The cooperation of commoner merchants who were salivating at the prospect of profit that they could obtain from war’s emergency demands and the aftermath of the war also went without saying.
And then of course, there was no way Welkin hadn’t taken measures to oppose Haurelia Kingdom.
Since Baldr headed to Antrim, Welkin had been increasing the price of grains that Mauricia Kingdom exported. He was also setting up things so that Mauricia Kingdom were importing from Sanjuan and Nordland with higher price. As the result, a lot of grains flowed into Mauricia while the food shortage within Haurelia Kingdom was getting remarkable.
Soldiers at battlefield consumed twice the food that human usually ate.
The war horses that were accompanying the troops needed even more fodder. The burden for supplying troops was immense.
The sudden price jump of food should be reducing Haurelia Kingdom’s ability to carry out war with certainty.
If the war got prolonged, Haurelia Kingdom would throw in the towel in the blink of an eye.
As long as Mauricia Kingdom could win, there was no doubt that they would obtain political stability and economic prosperity that was beyond compare.
「Otou-sama! Is it true that the knight order that is sent to Antrim got held back?」
However there was one more problem that gave Welkin a headache.
Welkin was scheming to wed Baldr with his daughter Rachel in order to bring him in to the central government at the future, but it seemed that his daughter herself had already gotten seriously in love with Baldr from a long time ago.
Welkin was fundamentally a parent who doted on his children. It pained him from the bottom of his heart to see his daughter’s tear.
「I’m sorry, but it’s true. Mattis is already leading reinforcement to there right now, so I think there won’t be any problem but……」
「How many soldiers Mattis-sama is leading?」
「──Around 4000 I think.」
「But Haurelia army has gathered 20000 troops!」
Although Rachel was a woman, she at least knew enough about the rule of needing three times the number to attack a defensive position.
Even after the reinforcement arrived, the enemy army would still outnumber Baldr by five times. No matter how good Baldr was. it was unthinkable he could fight that odd.
When Rachel thought that Baldr might be in danger right now, she was unable to stay calm no matter what.
「Even that brat won’t dare to face Haurelia army head on at open space. Gawain Castle is quite a formidable castle as long as it has the soldiers to man it. There is no way he is going to fall today or tomorrow, don’t worry.」
Currently Welkin was convinced that Baldr must be holing himself in his castle and bought time. That was a very natural conclusion to reach after considering the difference in strength between both sides.
「B-but if the knight order’s arrival is delayed, we don’t know what will happen right?」
Rachel’s eyes moistened miserably. Welkin could do nothing else except consoling her desperately.
Rachel was a daughter who understood her role as a royalty and almost never said anything really selfish.
Originally it was impossible that Rachel would butt into the matter of war like this.
Rachel must be hopelessly in love with Baldr to a degree that she even lost her ordinary self-control.
Depending on how Welkin looked at it, this might be the first love of his reserved daughter.
She really got her eye on an outrageous man.
「Forgive me to interrupt while it seems you two are busy……」
The prime minister Harold came at that timing.
Recently he was very busy with all the exhausting works. Welkin got the impression that Harold’s eyes were hollow and his back looked smoldering.
「What’s your business, Harold?」
Welkin immediately noticed that his trusted impudent confidant seemed to be in a strange state.
「Don’t tell me! Did something happen to Baldr-sama?」
Rachel’s face turned pale when she imagined the worst situation and pressed at Harold for answer, but Harold was making a face that seemed enlightened as though he had given up on something. He smiled kindly at Rachel.
「A carrier pigeon arrived just now with a report. It seems that a thousand and several hundred troops of Viscount Antrim had clashed with more than 20000 troops of Haurelia army. Looks like Viscount Bradford didn’t make it in time.」
「Oi oi, don’t tell me……he didn’t hole up in his castle?」
A thousand and several hundred troops wouldn’t be able to do anything against an army of 20000.
Welkin had a complete trust to Baldr’s talent, but he felt apprehensions that perhaps Baldr’s youth had driven him to make a reckless gamble.
「……Viscount Antrim intercepted the enemy army in an open battle but, and obtained a crushing victory.」
「Eh?」
「Eh?」
Welkin and Rachel stiffened like stone. Who could possibly blame them for that? That was just how unrealistic the news that came to them was.
「I’m the one who want to ask here. How in the world a mere viscount army was able to repel a regular army of more than 20000? This isn’t a hero fairy tale for children’s reading.」
「──This information is true then?」
「Why would the enemy telling this kind of lie? Of course I’m happy that we win, but this news sound too unbelievable that even I don’t know what to think!」
Harold raised his hands as though to say that he gave up.
Yes. Victory for Mauricia’s side at Antrim was exactly an information that Welkin and Harold wanted to use as political means.
If this information spread, the nobles who were taking wait-and-see approach would definitely decide to take side with the royal family. It wouldn’t be just them, deserters would definitely appear from among the nobles in the anti-king faction too. In other words, the possibility that this information was a scheme of the enemy was extremely low.
But, Harold’s rational mind couldn’t obediently accept that this kind of convenient miracle could possibly exist.
「Then-! Baldr-sama is safe isn’t it!?」
A drop of tear flowed down like a morning dew that spilled down from the bud of a blooming flower. Rachel’s face broke into a smile and she thanked god. The prayer that she offered to god everyday didn’t go to waste.
Welkin gently put his hand around the shoulders of Rachel who was covering her face with both hands in deep emotion.
「Even though I had worked hard to put some insurances, what a troublesome brat. Rachel, don’t worry anymore. I’ll make that brat take responsibility for making you cry.」
Welkin’s original smile finally returned. It was a malicious smile, but for some reason one couldn’t really hate him for that.
The king had been losing his composure recently because of the successive appearance of miscalculations, but now he had recovered his composure to mess around. Harold watched fondly at him.
As expected Welkin had to be like this.
Now then, it would be busy from here on. There were many duties that were imposed to Harold, from splitting the opposing faction to carry out aggressive diplomacy for ceasefire to happen between both countries.
However they were finally able to see a bright future ahead of them. Harold and Welkin didn’t doubt that at all at this time.
They didn’t know that the turmoil of Second Antrim War that would be said as a series of miscalculation and delusion later had only just started.
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「How? How can Haurelia lose?」
Duke Arnold Beaufort’s lips were trembling. He didn’t have the composure to even keep up his appearance anymore.
He should have used every mean available to hinder reinforcements from reaching Antrim.
Both the kingdom’s knight order and Viscount Bradford didn’t make it in time to reinforce Antrim. The possibility of the isolated Viscount Antrim winning shouldn’t even be one in a million.
And yet, the letter from his subordinate clearly mentioned that Antrim won a crushing victory.
「It will be that man’s sole victory like this!」
Setting aside the details, if one only looked at the result then Welkin’s accomplishments was at the level that should be written in history.
He discovered the talent named Baldr, formed an alliance with Sanjuan Kingdom, and Viscount Antrim who he personally appointed repelled the invasion from Haurelia single-handedly.
Welkin had prioritized the economy all this time and as the result the economy condition of the kingdom was wholesome. In the war this time too, in the end it was over without any damage to the knight order and the troops of the nobles who went as reinforcement.
No, Welkin even made use of the war to declare a state of emergency and strengthened his influence in the government of the state. In addition the military that was only kept at the minimum until now was also strengthened. Perhaps it would be alright to claim that there was now no force within the country that could oppose Welkin anymore.
It was exactly like Arnold said, this was Welkin was the sole winner who took everything here.
「Unforgivable, it’s unforgivable!」
Arnold had clearly lost weight and weakened greatly in this one month as though his life force was bleeding away. He was in agony.
Arnold could sense that his life had shortened even further.
Arnold couldn’t accept that he would need to spend that remaining short life to grovel and defend himself toward Welkin.
When death was approaching, human would become unable to hide their true nature.
Of course there would be correction to that by reality or due to the person’s ties of obligation to their family or organization. But Arnold was an influential person in the kingdom that was almost at the same level of the king, he had also lost his beloved son and wasn’t blessed with a capable successor who could stop him.
That was to say, all the conditions for Arnold to run wild were in place.
「Gather soldiers quickly! This isn’t the time to be stingy with money!」
His face had turned gaunt with his cheeks getting too skinny that it looked like they had caved in. But his eyes were still blazing fierily. Arnold yelled as though he was tormented by fever.
「I-is that alright? If we do something like that, his majesty will……」
It wouldn’t be strange even if Beaufort House got purged as traitor.
His retainer’s words only enraged Arnold further instead.
「Just tell him that our house will also participate in subjugating Haurelia! That man has no leeway to send an army to face our house!」
The war with Haurelia Kingdom still wasn’t over yet.
He had to break the deadlock of this situation before both countries formed a peace treaty and finished making agreements.
Arnold knew very well just how reckless the nobles were attacking Haurelia Kingdom at the previous war in order to obtain achievements.
The damage from the defeat that time was too great that at present the nobles had the tendency to avoid war, but what would happen if they heard the news of Viscount Antrim’s victory and Beaufort House’s participation in war?
Some fellows who wished to get on the winning horse and snatched away the reward would definitely appear.
Welkin undoubtedly didn’t wish for such disorderly war to spread out, but it would also be difficult to punish noble who wished to fight for the country’s sake at the surface. At the same time such situation would also function well enough to camouflage Beaufort House’s effort in gathering soldiers.
If there were that many nobles who prepared for war, it would become difficult to one-sidedly criticize Beaufort House.
「──We are going to drag out Haurelia Kingdom’s army into war one more time no matter what. Haurelia’s force won’t be affected just because their vanguard army is defeated. I’ll rather lend them a hand than doing nothing and letting Welkin profit!」
Arnold was truly in a deep-rooted delusion.
If Arnold wasn’t afflicted by a deathly disease, or if his son was still alive and healthy, there was no way he would make this kind of decision.
There was no way this kind of scheme that was based on personal feeling with some absurd logic tacked on to rationalize it would go well. Arnold himself should have noticed it if his discernment was still like in the past.
However in Arnold’s delusion, Welkin wouldn’t worry about Beaufort House’s troops and take action, and Haurelia army would break through the border like a raging wave.
If that happened, he could work together with Haurelia army to take down Welkin. He could also repel Haurelia army instead and snatched all the achievements.
「I won’t let everything go as you planned, Welkin……!」
Arnold was unconsciously diverting his thought away from the fact that if he failed, Beaufort House that had a long history would go extinct and even his cute grandson would lose his life.
The problem was the current situation where his family and retainers who should pull him back to reality had been gone from his side for a long time.
「I won’t die……I won’t die like this! I am……the man who originally should be the king after all!」
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After consolidating his defeated troops, Flandre headed to the capital of Haurelia, Elise(エリーゼ).
The capital was located due east from Antrim. The main force for Mauricia invasion was continuing to wait here for the order to advance.
The king believed that Flandre would win and then he would start the invasion to Mauricia’s territory. For Flandre to return to the king in defeat like this was something that was even more painful than death in a sense.
「Your excellency……it’ll be better if you rest for a bit……」
Flandre hadn’t taken any proper rest until now because he was taking command of the retreat. His adjutant suggested for him to rest, but Flandre shook his head with a bitter smile.
For Flandre who had prepared himself to be bestowed death after returning to the king in defeat, there was no need for him to pay attention to his healt at this point.
「Good grief, I really envy Lannes.」
His colleague must have obtained a splendid end both as a knight and as a man. Flandre muttered to not one in particular when he recalled Lannes.
Lannes’s death would surely be talked for many years to come as the essence of Haurelia’s chivalry.
He felt sick with this great difference from him who would be criticized and labeled as an incompetent due to the defeat, but as the commander-in-chief, the defeat was his responsibility. He couldn’t escape or hide from the responsibility at this point.
Be that as it may, Flandre looked at his troops that were retreating. He couldn’t help but feel surprised by how few the damage to his army was.
But, although the number of soldiers who died was few, the deaths of the officer class soldiers were extremely many.
It was the evident that Antrim army was aiming to thrown the chain of command into chaos and crush the morale of the soldiers.
He was shocked by those unknown weapons, but the greatest cause of their defeat was the death of the knight order commanders who took command at the frontline, and the broken morale of the soldiers due their fear toward the unknown weapons.
「We would be able to challenge them for one more battle if only we could replace the officers.」
Although that would be the case only if there were capable officers who could restore the soldiers’ morale and led them back into battle. Flandre too was aware that he was simply asking for things that didn’t exist.
「Your excellency, there is a messenger from the capital.」
He could see two horses running over here with cloud of dusts behind them.
「Dear me, then I guess I’ll head off to my last work.」
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The gazes that were turned toward Flandre after he passed under the castle gate accompanied by the messengers were all harsh.
It seemed the news about their defeat had been known until even the rank-and-file.
The incompetent general who was completely defeated with many sacrifices even after sending troops that were more than ten times of the enemy.
That was Flandre’s current reputation.
Even the colleagues who he was close with averted their gaze awkwardly from him when they passed by. It looked like the king’s anger was really great.
Although Flandre wasn’t especially shocked because he would also feel the same if it was him who was waiting in the capital for the victory report of the vanguard.
「Over here please. Everyone is already waiting.」
The voice of the knight leading the way for him was really kind, like someone sympathizing a death sentenced criminal who was led to the guillotine. Flandre nodded with a faint smile.
「──Thank you.」
Flandre slowly opened the door to the great hall.
Not long ago, he also opened this door with his heart beating fast from pride and overflowing hope for going to the war. It gave him a strange feeling.
「Flandre Gustin has returned back just now.」
「I’m amazed that you dare to return home alive and show your face here so brazenly.」
As expected, Flandre was welcomed with scathing words from the king. He kneeled without saying anything.
Flandre’s rival who lost against him in the competition to be promoted, General Godfrey(ゴドフリー) walked briskly toward him. He tore off the shoulder mark of field marshal that decorated Flandre’s shoulder.
This must be the will of the king that demoted him from being the field marshal to a foot soldier.
Or perhaps General Godfrey was the one appointed to succeed him as the field marshal.
「Due to this one’s lack of ability, many irreplaceable knights and soldiers were lost. There is no excuse that I can give. I shall have no objection no matter what kind of judgment is waiting for me.」
「Don’t speak something so obvious! My Haurelia Kingdom’s grand-scale policy of the century is now at risk right from its foundation because of your fault!」
King Louis’s voice turned rough and he hit the floor with his staff angrily.
They had prepared the number of troops that couldn’t possibly lose and also invested three knight orders to be extra sure. And yet all the commanders of the knight orders were lost. Who could possibly predict this?
There was no doubt that this defeat would increase the morale of Mauricia and pushed the nobles who were taking wait-and-see approach to flood the king with their oath of fealty.
The political maneuvering of Haurelia for many years to win over the discontented nobles of Mauricia in the invasion might have vanished like smoke with this.
They absolutely mustn’t lose the first battle exactly for that reason.
「Why? I’m not so senile yet to appoint an incompetent to your post. How could a general of your level lose?」
Louis had no intention to forgive Flandre no matter what kind of reason he had.
However it was necessary to confirm the reason of this defeat for the sake of the next battle too.
「──I swear that what I will say from now is the truth. This Flandre intend to behead my own head after this battle is over. I shall present my eye first as the guarantee!」
Right as soon as Flandre said that, his thrust his own fingers to his left eye and gouged it out.
The blood that spurted out from the eye socket that had become a dark cavity soaked Flandre’s feet.
Everyone there was forced to acknowledge the spirit of this veteran warrior who had ascended until the rank of field marshal.
Even though his responsibility for the defeat hadn’t been lightened at all, this action at least guaranteed that his words wouldn’t be a lie at all.
「Antrim army is in possession of weapons that aren’t magic but possess effects that are equal or even stronger than magic. Because they aren’t magic, Magic Cancel doesn’t work. A pipe that spew flame like legendary dragon, exploding jars that are as powerful as explosion magic, and then something like melting iron that explode. The might of these weapons easily rivaled the might of an army of ten thousand.」
「What are……you saying?」
King Louis couldn’t comprehend the meaning of Flandre’s words.
No, he understood them, but he was unable to accept it.
Before Magic Cancle spread, there was an era where it was said that it was the fighting power of magicians that decided the outcome of war.
If what Flandre said was right, that weapons with might that rivaled magic really existed, one day the result of war would be decided by the number of those weapons in their possession.
Knights and soldiers would become worthless. Such era was coming──.
For the men who were living as a knight, as a warrior, and for the statesmen who placed those men as the foundation of the nation’s defense, this information was nothing but a death sentence.
「The one who dirty the pride in battle has to be judged right at this moment! I will go even if my whole army will be annihilated as the result!」
While everyone became speechless in their imagination of the dark future, Marquis Selvi suddenly stood up and declared such an oath.
It wasn’t like he had some kind of profound tactic in mind.
Baldr had overturned the tactic to be used against Mauricia that they had built up with much sweat and blood until now from its foundation──the marquis’s rage toward that son of Ignis and Maggot had gone past the boiling point.
The marquis’s rage was shared by the king and the pro-war faction. Voices of approval burst out one after another as though they were ashamed that they felt fear and despair toward Baldr for even just a moment.
「What magnificent statement. Truly I’m witnessing the paragons of Haurelia warriors before my eyes.」
Flandre continued speaking in this critical moment.
「──Even after I had my spies investigated, they couldn’t find any sign or even a rumor that these weapons are also used at other place than Antrim. I believe that perhaps these weapons are only possessed by Antrim for the time being.」
「T-then──」
Everyone’s gaze gathered on Flandre as though they had seen a ray of hope. Flandre nodded deeply.
「If we can take Antrim and secure those weapons and their creator, it won’t be an impossibility for Haurelia to reign supreme over the whole continent one day.」
Of course Flandre didn’t actually have such conviction. The most important thing here was to not let anyone chose the option of peace.
In the first place, Antrim actually wasn’t that valuable strategically. Even if they won, they wouldn’t be able to obtain much benefit from that land.
If they had to muster all their troops and fought anyway, it would be far more beneficial to break through Cornelius territory and occupy Great Plain Marlborough.
Although Cornelius territory wasn’t as isolated as Antrim geographically and politically, so its defensive power was also high.
At the very least if the people here was calmly calculating the possible loss and gain, the possibility of resuming invasion to Antrim got rejected was high.
That was why Flandre had to present a very great merit that could overturn such possibility.
But he also wasn’t completely lying.
Flandre was the field marshal that ultimately supervised the army’s information. He had obtained very accurate information about the military facility and the state of troop mobilization within Mauricia.
What he understood from that summarized information was there was no other location in Mauricia that had built a mysterious defensive encampment like at Antrim. There was also no information at all about mysterious building like the unknown flame weapon at Antrim.
Flandre guessed that Viscount Antrim might have a personal connection that brought those weapons to be used experimentally.
In that case, if Haurelia Kingdom could monopolize that technology, it wouldn’t necessarily be impossible for Haurelia Kingdom to seize the hegemony of the continent in the future.
Those were despicable weapons that dirtied the pride of knight, sometimes it was necessary to close one’s eyes for the sake of the motherland’s prosperity.
Although half of Flandre’s insight was based on his own desire, the result was that his conjecture was actually completely correct.
「──This isn’t a joke! This country will be ruined if we suffer a great defeat once more! Are you saying that you will bear the responsibility of that! Flandre Gustin!」
Duke Jean Monfort yelled in fury at the atmosphere of the place that was leading to the decision to invade Antrim once more.
Haurelia’s elite troops that numbered more than 20000 were defeated handily. There was no doubt that such news was already spreading within Mauricia Kingdom.
Naturally Mauricia Kingdom’s morale was high was Haurelia Kingdom’s morale was low.
From where Jean was standing, Flandre’s opinion to continue the war was nothing but a malicious fraud.
Beside he wasn’t joking just now. Haurelia Kingdom would be ruined if they lost even more of their army.
Jean was opposing war was solely because he was thinking for the good of Haurelia Kingdom.
The degree of danger that was faced by the motherland where he was born and raised couldn’t be compared with yesterday at all.
Although it was only the vanguard, an army of two brigades and three knight orders that were led by the field marshal was devastated.
If the kingdom’s main force that was personally led by the king got defeated after that, not only Kenestollard Kingdom at the south that had bad relationship with Haurelia, even Gartlake Kingdom that had good relationship with Haurelia could possibly bare their fang to Haurelia Kingdom.
When he asked the nobles if it was necessary to keep fighting even if they had to brave such danger, the nobles couldn’t answer.
Because the one who could make the decision was only one person, King Louis.
Louis was aware that the gazes of his retainers were gathered on him. He was troubled.
Glory or ruin. In the past he had yearned to meet such dramatic situation, but now that he experienced such thing in reality, it was nothing but a heavy pressure that put his bowels into twists and turns.
Thinking logically, the correct choice would be to take Jean’s advice.
Even if they occupied Antrim, the possibility of them being able to obtain those weapons was unknown. And it wasn’t like he had ascertained by himself how useful they would be.
Furthermore it was just as Jean said, if the kingdom’s main force got annihilated, Haurelia Kingdom would definitely perish. At the very least they wouldn’t be able to continue like the present.
It might be Jean or it might be his son who succeeded him after such defeat, but he himself would undoubtedly get forced to abdicate from the throne.
The scale in Louis’s heart was slightly tilting toward peace.
He was never cornered until this far in the previous war, rather he was in the position of aiming to occupy Mauricia.
Louis was completely seized by fear from being placed in this dangerous situation where his life and his kingdom would be at danger. This was his first time experiencing something like this since he was born.
Even so he wanted to win.
The dream of conquest of the continent was also nice, but what he wanted the most was to close the curtain of his rule with his honor intact.
If not, Louis’s name would be engraved in history as a foolish king who caused a needless war and got defeated.
「──Let’s wait for the report of The Eye of Tamil. My lords can convene here again tomorrow.」
For insurance, the prime minister Richelieu was already preparing the maneuver to sue for peace.
Somewhere in his heart, Louis was unable to win against his desire that hoped for something, anything to break the deadlock.
Although, whether he would decide for peace or invasion, it was also certain that information was necessary for him to make the decision.
.
──And then at the next day, a member of The Eye of Tamil brought the information that Antrim was isolated due to landslide.
Reinforcement from Mauricia Kingdom was delayed because of physical obstruction or resistance from various nobles, but that obstruction was currently lessening because of Antrim’s successful defense.
Also anything that looked like unknown weapon hadn’t been discovered anywhere else other than Antrim.
With this report, Haurelia’s policy was greatly swinging toward continuing the war at Antrim once more.
.
Hardships were imposed on Viscount Bradford’s troops due to their march through the mountain of Mountain Range Morgan.
In the first place immense ability was needed just to move an army normally.
Now they had to march through a mountain without any clear path. There was no way that such act wasn’t accompanied by difficulties.
「Your excellency……we have to let the troops take a rest for a little……」
「I guess, it can’t be helped……all troops, take a rest! Supply unit, prepare the food!」
The soldiers sat down on the ground one after another in total exhaustion when they heard that order.
Even for the thoroughly trained troops of Viscount Bradford, marching inside a mountain was a feat that surpassed their limit.
「Shit……Baldr-dono, stay safe over there……!」
Mattis bit his lips in irritation.
Even so an excellent tactical commander like Mattis was aware of the reality that rest and preparation were absolutely necessary for troops. In his calculation, it would take them around four days to arrive at Antrim no matter how much they hurried.
If he considered the difference in number between the two sides, it was unsure whether Baldr would be able to hold out even if he holed up in a castle.
Mattis didn’t know.
The signs that should be the guidepost within the mountain had been destroyed by someone.
He also didn’t know that Falkirk territory was in tumult right now when the information of Antrim army’s great victory reached there.
.
The face of Alan who blockaded the Cottingley Highway turned deathly pale. He guessed that he was just a sacrificed lamb that would be offered to the altar and fainted.
When Alan woke up, he hurriedly searched for the letters from the people who introduced themselves as retainer of Count Hastings and Duke Beaufort, but it was already too late.
He couldn’t find the letters that contained the important content anywhere. Even the butler who had served him for many years and in charge of dealing with the messengers had disappeared.
Alan imagined his future where he would be dealt with as a traitor. He escaped at that night while carrying as much assets as he could.
Even so such act only delayed the restoration work of Cottingley Highway even longer. Later on Alan’s personage would immediately tracked by the kingdom’s pursuer, but it would be another story.
.
Baldr had no room to taste the lingering taste of victory.
「Send back the severely wounded! Call the healers to heal the lightly wounded so they can return back to their unit! Brooks! How many died?」
「At my current count there are 52 people including the mercenaries. If the heavily wounded are counted than our casualties are less than 20%. That knight order at the rearguard was really a pain.」
The hard fight of Black Dragon Knight Order who fought to the death didn’t end even after Lannes was taken down.
Half of the casualties of Antrim army came from this stage where they pursued the fleeing enemy.
Antrim army’s skill was inferior than an established knight order. Facing such opponent in close-range combat was too heavy of a burden for them.
They were able to somehow put up a fight to the knight order was mostly thanks to Antrim army’s peculiar weapon.
「Baldr-sama, the shortage of gunpowder and oil is severe. The flamethrower is completely empty now. It doesn’t even have a drop remaining.」
The complexion of Tyros who was in charge of supply was also bad.
Most of the weapons that were used by Antrim army this time were just trial product. Their stockpile of them was absolutely lacking.
The shortage of crude oil that was only produced at few places was especially severe. It was difficult to gather the required amount even after using the routes that Dowding Company had.
To refine the material that was very similar with naphta that was required for the flamethrower, that crude oil was indispensable.
「Well, I think you have done great job already that we have enough for this battle you know? To be honest, we wouldn’t have enough if Brooks didn’t lure the enemy until that close.」
Baldr smiled wryly and praised his friend’s brave fight.
The battle this time looked like a great victory in a glance, but the true state of affairs was actually a bit chilling.
They had used up every single trump card in their possession without being able to resupply. They had no reserve at all to deal with any unforeseen situation.
「Besides, I think it should be the time soon for Dowding’s caravan to arrive.」
Baldr wondered how much time they would require to gather everything until they could at least have the same amount like before.
Although the situation had calmed down for the moment, the war hadn’t been concluded. So restoring their fighting potential could be said as imperative.
「Baldr! I-it’s a problem!」
Selina appeared while gasping. Baldr grimaced when he saw her.
「Selina, I told you to not come here.」
Although the battle had been wrapped up, the battlefield was still filled with the putrid smell of corpses and bloody mud. Baldr didn’t want to show such thing to Selina and others.
「T-this isn’t the time for that!」
Selina’s face was completely pale. She caught Baldr’s elbow in a tight grasp.
「I, I heard from the merchant of the caravan that just arrived. He said that there was a landslide at Cottingley, so now it’s impossible to pass through the highway!」
「──What did you say!?」
.
「We heard a terribly loud sound behind us so we returned, and then……the area was completely buried by rubbles as far as we could see. In my estimation, with a landslide that bad it might take one month at the very least to clear up a path.」
Everyone was at a loss for words when they heard about the large scale landslide that surpassed their imagination from the merchant.
One month──everyone in this place was aware just how long that time would be.
「……Also, I don’t have definite proof for this but……」
The merchant prefaced with that before he gulped nervously.
「My subordinate, he said that heard some sounds that sounded similar with explosion before the landslide. I’m sorry to say this but, I think I also heard a sound that sounded like htat.」
「I see, looks like they got us.」
Baldr laughed at the shallowness of his own prediction.
He knew that there were force within the country that wanted Antrim to fall.
However Baldr thought that the opposition would draw back after Antrim army won a crushing victory that defied all expectations.
No matter what anyone did at this point of time, Antrim’s victory was already established as a fact.
The calculating nobles would surely change to the winning side. That was the logical way of thinking.
In fact the nobles who were sitting on the fence were already starting to rush toward the king to make an appeal of their loyalty.
However Baldr failed to notice that sometimes there would be idiots who thought there was a chance of victory in a battle that was impossible to win or proud people who took an action that was the opposite of rational mind in order to protect their pride.
Even though he had Sanai’s memory to warn him of such thing──.
At the Battle of Sekigahara, there was someone like Onodera Yoshimichi who purposefully changed side from the eastern army to the western army and caused his clan to perish. Even though Baldr knew of such case, he still committed this blunder.
「──If this landslide was intentional, the culprit will surely notify Haurelia about it.」
Baldr nodded deeply at Cyril’s words.
There would be no meaning in cutting their path of escape if they were unable to move Haurelia army.
Although it wasn’t a certainty whether Haurelia would move or not with this.
「……Zirco, you must be tired, but please do some recon.」
「Leave it to me. My body has been tempered so that I won’t be worn out with just this much.」
Zirco grinned brightly and hit her chest, but she was unable to hide her fatigue after facing such extremely large army.
Zirco perfectly led the mercenary unit from opening the water gate, and then disturbing the rear of Haurelia army and even running at the forefront to pursue the retreating enemies without taking any rest. She should be even more tired than Baldr.
Even so Baldr couldn’t find any other option except relying on her.
In regard to scouting, experienced mercenaries were more capable compared to knight.
「Well, they might not want to come here anymore after we beat them so severely like that!」
Although everyone there understood that it was just Zirco’s optimistic hope, they couldn’t help but wishing that things were exactly just like she hoped.
「Anyone who is free, follow me. We’re going repair the encampment as much as possible.」
Fortunately the trenches encampment shouldn’t need that much repair.
If they could at least rearrange back the barbed wires that were difficult to repair, they should be able to somehow manage to hold out against a large army.
「Tyros, I’ll leave you to take care of receiving the materials from the mister merchant and the supply.」
「By your will.」
Then the merchant bowed toward Baldr while looking hesitating.
「I know this is a very selfish request but, we will be unable to return until the highway is repaired, so can I ask my lord to purchase our horses and carriages too?」
If this place would turn into a battlefield soon, the chance of the merchant’s horse carriages getting out of it unscathed would be extremely low.
If they were unable to escape anyway, it would be preferable to turn their belongings to money before they got plundered.
Of course it wouldn’t matter at all if they couldn’t survive though.
「The goods that you transported here are worth their weight in gold. Of course I’ll purchase them with their asking price.」
The amount was far from the necessary amount, but with this they would be able to resupply their gunpowder a little.
What would happen if the cliff collapsed before the merchant passed through?
It was a small mercy that the merchants weren’t discovered by the culprit who blocked Cottingley Highway.
「The problem is the scale of the enemy army that will come here……」
If Haurelia Kingdom didn’t give up on invading Cornelius territory, then the troops needed to attack Cornelius and the reserve soldiers needed in case of counterattack would be excluded from the army that would head here. So perhaps the size of the army would be the same like the first one.
If the enemy came attacking here in full force without thinking of the consequence──Baldr stopped his thinking from imagining that worst scenario.
Because if such scenario happened, then it was clear that defeat was inevitable no matter what he did.
.
Right now the water gate had been closed again, but the ground that had absorbed a lot of water was still muddy.
Furthermore human limbs that were blown away by the vapor explosion were scattered everywhere. They were emitting unbearable stench.
Perhaps they would turn into source of plague if they were left alone for a while more.
If this was a peace time, they would be gathered and burned, but unfortunately there wasn’t any time remaining to do that.
「Break the ground as deep as possible. Turn them into mud.」
Baldr demanded to all the magicians in Antrim to turn the ground to be muddier.
Actually, although magic could be dispelled easily, the physical phenomenon that already resulted from the magic’s influence would still remain.
For example if fire ball magic was dispelled before it hit the target, the air around the fire ball that was heated up would still remain hot.
Baldr thought that this fact was too underestimated until now.
In the situation where some magicians created artificial wetlands beforehand, if something needed to be done about it magically, the only way to do it would be by using similar earth magic. The enemies would surely need to spend mana and time to take care of it.
The magicians needed to do it would be unable to support other soldiers with their attack magic and the enemies’ attack would be dulled.
「──If possible I want to make a bottomless marsh but, our army doesn’t have the time and mana for that.」
It was pointless to ask for something that didn’t exist.
With the flamethrower running out of fuel and became unusable now, they could only rely on water vapor explosion and gunpowder explosive. How far would they be able to endure with just that…….
From the beginning they had no chance of victory if they took on the enemy army head on, so weapons with high visual effect like flamethrower were necessary in order to shave off the enemy’s morale too.
The water vapor explosion wasn’t that lethal, so although it was easy to use, its effect to hold back the enemy wasn’t really desirable.
If its visual effect was a bit higher, he would be able to aim for enemy’s demoralization but…….
「──Wait a second? Visual effect?」
Something flashed at the back of Baldr’s mind at that time.
「Visual effect──something with flashy appearance and will make enemy hesitate to attack……」
It would be better the flashier it was in order to make the enemy psychologically believe that they weren’t a match against them.
「……No, will it really work?」
Thinking back now, the enemy was only bewildered at first when they faced the flamethrower, but then they immediately took countermeasure.
The enemy fell into chaos at that time because unknown weapons that weren’t magic appeared one after another without giving them any time to rest.
「Unknown──an attack, that cannot be comprehended……」
That’s right. Of course the visual also played a part, but what shocked the enemies the most was the fact that the flamethrower wasn’t a magic attack……and then its unpredictability with how water couldn’t extinguish it.
He could prepare a plan if he understood the logic.
It was the same like the story of how a fierce karate practitioner who was terribly strong at fight would be utterly weak against ghost.
「Perhaps with this……」
They might be able to survive this.
An attack with high lethality and the enemy wouldn’t be able to comprehend how they were killed at all.
The problem was that it would need a very large-scale magic exercise but, fortunately the thought that Antrim’s unique weapons weren’t magic had been imprinted into the enemies.
「Tyros! Tyros! Sorry but there is something I need quickly──!」
Baldr hurriedly dashed toward his childhood friend who was managing the supplies at the rear.
(Although, even if this goes well our chance of victory still won’t reach 50%……)
However, even though it was faint, he now could see a chance for victory.
That was enough for Baldr’s fighting spirit to recover.
.
Duke Jean Monfort lied down on the bed tiredly.
The disorderly meeting at Haurelia Palace just now concluded with the decision to resume the invasion to Antrim once more in the end.
Jean was unable to comprehend why everyone was that fixated to Antrim.
Certainly if the two countries were making peace with each other in the current situation, Haurelia Kingdom would be imposed with conditions that were similar like the defeated country.
But, so what? It was still better than resuming war that might destroy the country in its entirety.
If peace arrived, the value of army and weapons would decrease. And one day even those weapons should become possible to be purchased.
In the first place war was nothing but one of the methods to enrich the country. For war to impoverish the country was like putting the cart before the horse.
However the root of grudge toward Mauricia Kingdom was too deep. The nobles were short-sighted thinking that they would be able to obtain vast riches if they could just win against Mauricia──in Jean’s opinion, they were simple meatheads who didn’t even understand the fundamentals of economy.
「Even so, I thought that his majesty understood about this……」
In Jean’s eyes, King Louis looked like he was searching for a point of compromise for the sake of reaching peace.
That was why he thought that peace was also possible enough depending on the condition.
*Click.*
The bedroom’s door was opened without any knocking sound. Jean narrowed his eyes in suspicion. In front of him Louis appeared with two guards beside him.
「Your majesty, this is──?」
Jean reflexively asked, but his logical mind had already given him the answer.
The king must be coming here to remove him who was critical toward the war effort.
「Why? It’s true that I’m opposing the war, but I have never done anything that is a betrayal toward your majesty……!」
「I understand. I have no doubt of your loyalty toward me.」
Louis looked haggard. His lips were dry and rough as though they had lost their moisture.
Jean was doubting his eyes. He couldn’t believe that this was that ambitious and self-confident Louis.
Not long ago Louis was managing the war conference brazenly and decisive in his decision to continue the war. But now not a trace of that person had remained. Could it be──that confident king actually didn’t exist from the start?
「So you noticed. Everything was an act. I can’t stop this war anymore even if I want to stop it.」
Louis’s voice was like an old man who had given up on life. Jean objected indignantly.
「There is no way it can’t be stopped! If your majesty command it, I swear I will sweep away all obstacles and establish peace!」
「It’s pointless. Even if we establish peace, it will be Selvi’s gang that goes off on their own to attack Cornelius next. If that happen then our country will be covered in double the dishonor of betraying a peace treaty.」
「They’ll go that far……」
Were those guys really that out of control? What in the world did they think a country was?
Jean’s anger was in the right, but it was another story whether his anger was something that was universally shared by everyone or not.
「I have been proactively making use of the hatred toward Mauricia in order to manage the country since the previous war. If this is my punishment for that, then I have no other choice but to accept it.」
There were many nobles who lost their son or relative in the war.
One day they would take revenge to Mauricia!
They would leave behind the fertile land of Mauricia for their descendants!
The king had been instigating the nobles with such sentiments in order to force them to shoulder the heavy burden of strengthening the military. Even if his mouth was torn open, he couldn’t possibly ask the nobles to peacefully interact with Mauricia hand in hand to develop the country after this late.
If he did such thing, the nobles would ask whether there was any meaning to the sacrifice of their family or the hardships they had gone through for many years.
Of course it was the king Louis who forced them to go through such thing.
If it was before Flandre’s defeat at Antrim, when the army under direct control of the king was still in full strength, there would be an option for him to crush the opposing nobles with force.
However such option was impossible right now. An insurrection would break out if the king chose to sign a peace treaty that was almost no different from a surrender now.
The royal family already lost the strength to suppress that insurrection.
Instead at the current situation, it was possible that even a part of the army might turn into enemy if the king chose to make peace because the defeat had made blood rushed into the head of the military authorities starting from Flandre.
Therefore──.
「I shall apprehend you lord who has been consistently opposing the war. I’m placing you under house arrest at your territory. And then you shall make use of your faction’s strength to take action that will be to the benefit of Mauricia. However, that will be only after the attack to Antrim.」
And then if Louis was defeated, Jean would succeed him as the king.
If it was that Welkin, rather than going through the trouble of occupying the territory of Haurelia, he would rather support the birth of a puppet government.
The bloodline of Haurelia royal family could remain like that.
Jean cried silently at the gruesome resolve of the king. Louise kindly admonished him.
「If I win, I promise that I will claim that everything you do is by my order and restore your honor. So don’t cry like that. Even though I said all that, I believe that we have a good chance to win this war.」
.
Baldr called for Nelson while the time for the next battle was approaching closer.
「I’ll leave the scouting task and all the reserve force to the cavalry unit. I’m sorry that I’m not giving you any time to rest, but go out there and scout the enemy’s movement.」
「By your will.」
Nelson’s battle was also a difficult fight that wasn’t any easier than Baldr’s, but he readily consented without showing any hesitation at all.
He understood that the position that Antrim was placed in wouldn’t allow such leisurely leeway.
The populace’s evacuation had also been started in preparation of the army holing up in the castle or doing a retreating battle.
Because Cottingley Highway was blocked, it would be difficult to escape to Falkirk territory, but Haurelia Kingdom also didn’t have the leeway to send soldier to completely occupy a remote region like Antrim.
The battle would be over if they defeated or captured Baldr.
Because of that, Baldr provided money and foods to supply the populace in order to evacuate them temporarily to the settlements at the northern and eastern part.
「Please line up here to receive the food rations! Don’t cut in line!」
「……We will be able to return here again right?」
An old woman asked so with an anxious look. Tyros assured her with an absolute confidence.
「Of course! It won’t even take a month at the longest. Everyone will be able to return here again!」
That unhesitating smile encouraged the people there. One by one they headed west from Gawain’s outskirt and formed a line that stretched far away.
Brandon called out to Tyros when he saw that the crowd was finally reduced.
「You really trust the lord……」
Thinking with common sense, there wasn’t any prospect of victory that could be found at the present situation.
And yet Tyros was able to believe that they would emerge victories without any hesitation at all. Brandon felt jealous of that from the bottom of his heart.
Brandon who was born at Antrim vividly remembered the war that happened at his adolescence even now.
The family of the previous lord including the women and children were annihilated. Although the populace wasn’t especially massacred, they were still dragged into the flame of war and a third of them became casualties.
Even Brandon’s older brother died after getting injured at the war.
He felt a sense of powerlessness at that time. The despair of losing his close friends and families and witnessing his birthplace being trampled.
And then after everything was over, there was only a sense of loss and anger that he had no place to vent at.
He thought that this was a land that wouldn’t be helped by the kingdom and by the feudal lord.
Baldr was an abnormally excellent feudal lord, even so he was too powerless to face a whole country.
Brandon couldn’t help but made that judgment with his rational mind.
「I am the one who has seen from up close the most, just how many times that person has surpassed the word impossible.」
Tyros answered with bright eyes that contained no cloudiness.
Since he first met Baldr the first time at Cornelius, Baldr was Tyros’s aspiration and also the target of his respect and loyalty.
Tyros could boast that he was the number one when it came to digesting Baldr’s groundbreaking invention and idea and mastering their use. And above all else, Baldr was the one who appointed someone like him who was nothing more than the third son of a mediocre tailor to an important post with all the responsibilities that came with it.
Even if everyone else abandoned Baldr, Tyros intended to be the only one who kept believing him till the very end.
「Yeah……if it’s that lord……then perhaps……」
Brandon too was one of the people who had gotten frequently shocked and busied by Baldr’s abnormal actions.
All of Baldr’s revolutionary acts had buried him under mountains of work that he thought he might die from overwork. That way of dying might be even more unpleasant than dying from fighting enemy.
When he thought that, he felt that something heavy and stuffy had fallen off from inside his chest.
「Then I guess I’ll also believe on the lord. I will give it everything I got.」
.
The Duke of Edinburgh and the prime minister of Mauricia Kingdom, Harold was making use of the miraculous victory that Baldr achieved to the maximum degree.
That was just how powerful the impact that came from Baldr’s victory.
Even if Mauricia Kingdom was economically superior, Haurelia Kingdom would be superior if a military clash occurred between the two countries. That was the established theory among the populace and nobility of Mauricia Kingdom.
But that established theory had crumbled.
Becaues of that, the nobles who were remaining as spectator because they didn’t want to shoulder any loss changed their opinion.
No matter what, war was accompanied by risks. But it was also a chance that was hard to come by in order to be promoted in rank and earned reward.
Although the nobles were blinded by their greed for reward and ran wild at the previous war. On top of that they were overwhelmingly defeated.
Either way, the scheme of the nobles at the anti-king faction was to force the royal family to bear the brunt of the loss so they could regain their influence in proportion of how much the royal family was weakened. But Baldr’s victory was causing them to feel a sense of danger, that at this rate the reward might get monopolized by the pro king faction instead, leaving them with nothing.
At this rate, wouldn’t they got left behind by everyone and only got the leftover that no one wanted to touch when the dust settled?
Or perhaps it wouldn’t stop there. Perhaps after the war they could be accused as criminal because of their uncooperative attitude.
Harold stirred up their sense of danger like that with groundless rumors while dividing the unity of the anti king faction.
He made a part of those nobles to turn traitor and punished the nobles who got reported.
It made the nobles to be paranoid from now knowing when it would be their turn to get betrayed and reported by their comrade. It didn’t take that much time for them to hurry and change side.
「──Even so, we need to make someone to be an example. You don’t want to be the one chosen for that role correct?」
Although he had the appearance of a man with a gentle nature, Harold possessed an overwhelming pressure as the politician who was in control of a large country like Mauricia. Count Hastings, Hendrick was unable to oppose that pressure at all.
「……Yes.」
The figure of Hendrick when he was instigating his fellow noble to regain their authority from the king and commoners for the sake of noble’s pride and honor had gone without a trace from him.
Rather he was trembling with fear because he had a central role in the anti-king faction. He didn’t know when his comrades would betray him. He had turned completely haggard from the stress.
Everything had backfired──Hendrick thought.
The kingdom’s policy to prioritize economic development and elevating the social position of commoners could be said as following a similar path with Trystovy Kingdom that had a bitter experience because of such policy that it fell into civil war and became ruined.
Hendricks was able to believe that the number of nobles who agreed with his stance wasn’t few at all because of the precedence from the coup d’etat that happened at Trystovy.
In fact the number of noble that flocked to his cause was surpassing his expectation. Hendrick saw a dream of his glorious future as the leader of the faction, but it only lasted for a brief time and the situation changed in an instant.
Welkin and Harold had been monitoring Hendrick from the beginning. Not only the network of his comrades had been grasped, the prime minister who was in control of the government, and then the pro king faction including Randolph House, also the general trading companies like Dowding Company were all starting to clamp down on them all at once.
The nobles’ income was from their salary as bureaucrat or if they had territory then from the tax there, but they were no different from commoners that they couldn’t life if they were unable to buy and sell things.
They were immediately driven to poverty when the price of things they wanted to buy was increased and the crops of their farmers were bought with cheap price.
Originally if something like this was done to them, the nobles could use their connection to their fellow nobles and it would be the merchants who lost customers, but currently the kingdom’s government was backing up those merchants.
There was no more method left that could save them.
If only Haurelia Kingdom came attacking──that stupid delusion was the only thing left that they could cling on as hope, but even that so called hope was crushed by Baldr’s complete victory.
Hendrick wasn’t so obstinate that he would consider to continue fighting a battle that he had no hope to win until his house was crushed.
No, it wasn’t just him, most nobles wouldn’t even consider doing such thing. That tendency would become even stronger the older and more traditional the noble house was. No matter how foolish they were, if it was for the sake of their house then they would kill their own ego and accept any kind of disgrace. That was the final obligation of those in the position of nobility.
Harold’s measure was like an encircling net that closed in on the anti-king faction’s nobles. It was progressing smoothly until this point.
Later he would make the mastermind, Duke Beaufort to take a part of the responsibility and demoted his rank.
He had no intention to corner the duke to a degree that would cause him to rebel.
That was the common sense of noble society. Even Harold and Welkin weren’t free from the binding of noble’s tradition.
Since the founding of Mauricia Kingdom, although there were nobles that had been executed, there hadn’t been a single noble with rank above count that was punished with discontinuation of their house.
.
──There was a phrase of being possessed by an evil spirit. Such expression would be really fitting to be used by the later generation to refer to the current Duke Beaufort.
「That brat Hendrick, he dared to surrender to Harold?」
「Yes……most likely they are meeting at the capital right now.」
Arnold was enraged from the report of his subordinate that he sent as spy in Hastings House.
At the surface Hendrick was the leader of the anti-king faction. He was used as a camouflage for Beaufort House.
For him to change side to the pro-king faction meant that the anti-king faction was effectively crumbling.
No, it wouldn’t just end with the collapse of the anti-king faction. It also meant the fall of Beaufort House.
「What a fool……just a bit more……just a bit more and Haurelia will start moving again!」
It was just as Arnold schemed, Welkin couldn’t ignore Duke Beaufort’s army and he was unable to send the troops around the capital to the frontline.
There was no way the youngster of Antrim would be able to create miracle twice. There was no doubt that the report of Haurelia army’s victory would arrive soon.
Hendrick didn’t wait for that and went to wag his tail at the king. Arnold felt a loathing at him. Even killing him wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his hatred to him. The hatred was overflowing from his heart and it felt painful to even breathe.
Just like how the flame of a candle that was about to go out would blaze up brilliantly at the end, Arnold was regaining his vitality by using his deep-seated grudge as fuel.
Although that wasn’t anything good at all for Arnold and Beaufort House.
「──I shall raise an army!」
「T-truly?」
The subordinate desperately held back his impulse to question his lord of his sanity. Arnold narrowed his eyes.
「You bastard──are you opposing my decision?」
「H-how can that be! However with only our house’s war potential……!」
「The only path left to me is only to rise to the throne of Mauricia Kingdom with the support of Haurelia! In order to achieve that I can’t just remain sitting on the fence despite having gathered the troops!」
He was acting based on a wild delusion that could only be called insane.
Would Haurelia Kingdom recognize Arnold’s enthronement? In the first place would Haurelia army continue to fight? None of those questions had clear answer, and yet Arnold wanted to start a war against Mauricia Kingdom’s army that was overwhelmingly in greater number than his army.
To repeat, it was the duty of the next head to remove a reckless old man like this. However Beaufort House didn’t manage to raise a successor who was able to restrain Arnold.
Even more unlucky was that all the heads of Beaufort House for generations including Arnold were capable feudal lords who were kind to their retainers. The loyalty and organizational power of the retainers were at the top or at least the second rank among the ten great nobles.
「Tell Thames and Haagen. Hasten to join under my banner if they don’t want to get attacked.」
「Yes my lord!」
The military strength of Beaufort House was surpassing the military strength of the nobles around them by far.
There would be quite the number of nobles who would follow them even if only for form’s sake. Although they couldn’t be expected to be loyal in such situation.
The important thing here was that applying such pressure was already counted as a rebellious action. The kingdom wouldn’t be able to overlook that.
No matter how mad and senile he had become, Arnold didn’t think that he would be able to take down the royal capital Cameron.
He made a very decent judgment that the best he would be able to achieve was to lure the king’s troops to his own territory where he had the terrain advantage and exhausted them as much as possible.
And so Beaufort’s Besiegement that later on would become an idiom with the meaning of 「Troublesome thing that is mostly meaningless but still can’t be left alone」 began.
.
Duke Beaufort rebelled.
The rebellion of one of the ten great nobles that was the most influential noble house in the past shook Mauricia Kingdom like thunder.
Everyone thought that what Duke Beaufort did had gone past being rash and absurd. They all doubted his sanity.
The only way Duke Beaufort’s action could be beneficial for him was only if Haurelia Kingdom achieved a complete victory that annihilated Mauricia Kingdom. But even in such case, Duke Beaufort would have to rely completely on Haurelia Kingdom’s good will to reward him.
Even if Duke Beaufort allied himself with Haurelia Kingdom, they didn’t have any duty where they had to give him a cordial welcome.
Furthermore Haurelia Kingdom’s vanguard army had just suffered a crushing lost at Antrim. The possibility that they would be able to achieve a great victory that would allow them to occupy Mauricia Kingdom at the future was exceedingly low.
The best Haurelia could hope for was only a limited victory so they could obtain a more advantageous position in the negotiation for peace treaty. Intentionally causing a rebellion just for that was something unthinkable.
「──That Arnold is insane!」
It couldn’t be helped that King Welkin reflexively yelled like that.
After all Duke Arnold Beaufort went into this battle without any hope of victory exactly because of his wild delusion that was close to insanity.
「Perhaps I have been underestimating just how foolish human can be……」
Even Harold who had been taking away the subordinate nobles who were acting as the limbs of Duke Beaufort so that he would surrender unconditionally was looking down with a pale expression.
If Duke Beaufort’s reasoning was still working even just for a little, he should understand that Beaufort House would still be able to continue existing as a noted family even after such setback. It would be impossible for Duke Beaufort to be able to keep his position at the top ranking among the ten great nobles for so many years if he was unable to discern that much.
That was exactly why Harold predicted that as a politician Arnold would desist from doing anything rash that wouldn’t benefit him in any way. It could even be said that Harold believed on Arnold in that regard.
The ten great nobles, the meritorious retainers since the founding of the country had the duty to allow their bloodline to be passed on to the next generation.
In the end, did Arnold have the self-awareness that he was dragging his family’s bloodline and name and even his beloved grandson into suicide?
It didn’t matter how reckless and foolish this decision of Arnold was. Welkin and Harold couldn’t possibly ignore it.
There were only relatively small feudal lord nobles around the territory of Duke Beaufort. It was difficult to expect them to act as deterrence against Arnold. If they didn’t react against this rebellion quickly, it might even be possible that Duke Beaufort’s territory and its surrounding territories could transform into a semi-independent kingdom on their own.
The damage would be too great if they subjugated Duke Beaufort only after that happened, so they needed to be decisive right now while the effect was still small.
There weren’t that many tactical commanders with the skill that could fulfill such advanced requirements even if they searched the whole Mauricia Kingdom.
Furthermore they also still needed to maintain the force to face Haurelia Kingdom at present. It reduced their options even further.
Choosing the headmaster of knight academy, Ramillies who was a commoner and had no ties of obligation with nobles for this task could be said as a valid decision.
.
「……What an ill-fated order this is, to tell these old bones to kill fellow countrymen like this.」
Ramillies wasn’t at the age to dream for even more glory or success at his age. For him, being given this mission wasn’t a honor or anything at all. It was more like a sarcasm from fate.
Ramillies departed from the capital Cameron while leading the soldiers that originally should be sent to face Haurelia Kingdom’s army.
「……Baldr, don’t die. Because unlike these old bones, you are born with a destiny that is still waiting for you to fulfill.」
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