When Zich looked at her, Lubella shrunk her neck back like a turtle.
“Of course, the Pope and I tried to stop Lady Lubella. Although she isn’t normally a stubborn person, she was very firm about this matter. We finally agreed to exchange the priests going to Steelwall with Lady Lubella and me in the end.”
“It’s simply because Luce’s words were hanging on my mind,” Lubella said very quietly. “Before quitting his priest position, he said something…”
“Luce said that even if the Pope already gave his order, his religious conviction is screaming at him to not let this matter go as it's connected to the Bellids. Even if he loses his status and future, he said he will act for the great Karuna and the world. I’m not recounting what he said word for word, but it was generally something like that.”
Zich clicked his tongue at Weig’s explanation. “How tear-jerking for a traitor.”
“It’s true that his words were convincing. If Sir Zich hadn’t told me that guy was a traitor beforehand, I would’ve been moved by his words too.” As if the thought disgusted her, Lubella’s body trembled.
“What that guy said also made me think. I wondered if it was really in accordance with Karuna’s teachings for me to not do anything even while knowing that the Bellids planted traitors and even brought in nobles inside the organization. If you only consider his words, Luce might be right in this case.”
“Betrayers say surprisingly logical or even truthful words. It’s so that people can be easily swayed and moved by their words. From there, they will distort their intention or mix in slight lies to move the situation along to their advantage,” Zich said and joked to Lubella. “Doesn’t Lady Lubella mean that she doesn’t trust me to win and stop our enemies in this war?”
“What? That’s not the case at all!” Lubella yelled in shock, but Zich tilted his head doubtfully.
“Really? You might not think you have those thoughts, but you might be unconsciously harboring them. Don’t you think so, Sir Weig?”
“As someone who has served Lady Lubella for a long time, I have to say that it’s a very persuasive claim.”
“Sir Weig!” Lubella’s voice went one pitch higher while Weig chuckled. Zich also laughed aloud, and the more he did, the reddish tint on Lubella’s face deepened.
“Anyway, I understand what both of you are saying. I will also tell the Steelwalls. There’s no doubt that they would welcome you both joining. Why don’t you both leisurely move with the Steelwall forces and watch the war from there?” Zich said confidently, “Then, I will surely show both of you that your worries were completely unnecessary.”
* * *
The Steelwall forces began to move. Flaud troops passed the Cronon Kingdom’s boundary and reached the Pinne Estate, but they didn’t tread into Steelwall’s territory yet. After receiving this news from their agents, the Steelwalls didn’t quicken the pace of their march. They still had plenty of time to arrive at the battlefield first and prepare their formation. If they needlessly hurried, it might lead to losses in troops or supplies instead.
However, the Count didn’t let his guard down. He continuously sent people to the estate’s boundaries and confirmed their enemies’ location and prepared for possible scenarios. Thankfully, their enemies only appeared once they finished getting into formation.
“There are many troops,” Hans murmured while watching the swarm of enemies in front of him. “Just in sheer numbers, they have three times the number of troops.”
“If it’s that much, hasn’t victory already been decided?”
“I can’t deny that our enemies have the clear advantage in numbers.” Zich then glanced at Hans and asked, “Why? Does it scare you?”
“I admit that seeing their numbers made me nervous at first, but I feel better now that I’ve changed my way of thinking.”
“How did you change it?”
“I just wondered which one is better. Fighting with three times the Steelwalls’ current size or fighting against Sir Zich.”
“And the result is?”
“Of course, the latter is overwhelmingly better.” Hans shook his head. “Whether the latter is better or not, I thought about how I would feel if I was in our enemies’ position. I immediately felt chills down my spine. Thus, after realizing that my situation was the latter, all my anxiety disappeared.”
“That’s an interesting way of relieving tension.”
“I also taught Snoc the same method. He also looked quite anxious, but he immediately relaxed when I taught him this method. Unfortunately, Elena didn’t receive such a drastic effect while the method was almost completely ineffective for Ms. Lara.”
“Well, they haven’t been with me as long as you guys.” In the end, it was a good thing that important forces such as Zich’s companions were able to loosen up before battle.
“Who’s going to make the first move? Wouldn’t it be better to strike when our enemies are getting into formation?”
“That’s a way to do it, but if things go wrong, our enemies could surround us since they have three times our number.”
“Wouldn’t it be all right if we add our support?”
“Yes, but it seems like my father is planning to focus solely on defense. It’s not a bad strategy since the other side is invading. We will win if we just manage to block them from going through this location, but the other side needs to break through our troops and march forward. It’s also true that defense is more advantageous than offense, especially as time goes by. There’s no need for us to go out of our way to attack since there’s a high possibility of failing. Even if we succeed, there will be more sacrifices.”
“I didn’t know you would be negative about having sacrifices, Sir Zich.” Although Hans admired Zich, it wasn’t like he didn’t know his personality.
“Of course, I don’t care about other peoples’ sacrifices, but there’s someone who needlessly dislikes stuff like that.”
“Sir, you must be talking about Ms. Lyla.”
“Even now, she’s currently working hard with a roommate she doesn’t like. I should at least fulfill her wish.”
Hans thought that Lyla would be delighted to hear this if she was next to them.
Zich continued, “Moreover, I don’t have any desire to lead this army, so I plan to follow orders for now.” If Count Steelwall was an unskilled and inexperienced leader, he would have thought the contrary, but Count Steelwall was one of the top military leaders in the whole kingdom.
‘Is there nothing more to see?’ Even though they were standing guard against each other, there were still no signs that the two forces would begin fighting soon. Zich turned around and asked, “Are you going to keep watching?”
“Yes, this is more fun than I thought.” It seemed as if Hans had found the enemy’s formations interesting.
“All right. Then I’ll be taking my leave.”
“Yes, sir.”
‘What?’ Zich was about to move away when a few people on horseback moved out from the enemy’s side. ‘They’re dispatch riders. Are they coming to suggest surrender?’
However, Count Flaud probably also didn’t think that the Steelwalls would surrender, and this was merely a formality. Zich lost interest and was about to turn around again when a person caught his eye. ‘That guy is?’
The dispatch rider in the very front was extremely noticeable and immediately caught Zich’s attention.
“Hey, Hans.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Come with me for a bit. I think we’ll be able to see something fun.” Zich brought along Hans and headed towards the commander's headquarters.
* * *
Count Steelwall’s tent was almost two times bigger than the other tents. There was a flag indicating that it was the commander’s headquarters on top of the tent, and there was much higher surveillance around it. Several people were inside the tent. There was Count Steelwall, the captain of the Steel Sword Order of Knights, Mihen Tiner, and other captains and vice-captains in the Steelwall army. They were continuously receiving reports about the enemy’s movements and were making plans. While they were making plans, they received a report that the enemy had sent out dispatch riders.
Even though they roughly expected what the dispatch riders would propose and already decided on their answer, they couldn’t just send off the dispatch riders without even meeting them. Thus, Count Steelwall let the dispatch riders enter. However, he didn’t expect the identity of one of the dispatch riders at all.
“Have you been well, Sir Count Steelwall?”
“…I’ve not been well because some bastards invaded us with no good reason. Now, my mood has gotten significantly worse.” Count Steelwall’s scary face twitched like a snake. “If I’m not wrong, aren’t you Halton Byner?”
“Yes, sir. That is correct,” Byner replied indifferently at the Count’s furious glare.
“I was sure that you were part of our Steel Spear Order of Knights.” The Count glanced at the captain of the Steel Spear Order of Knights sitting next to him. The captain was glaring at Byner as if he wanted to kill him. Anyone could see that his underling had betrayed him.
Byner replied, “I’m serving Count Flaud now.”
“Yeah, so you’re telling me you betrayed us.”
“Sir, please think of it as following the right path.”
Slam!
“A bloody bastard dares to spit out such trash!” The captain of the Steel Spear Order of Knights couldn’t suppress his anger any longer and slammed the desk and jumped out of his seat.
However, Byner was still nonchalant because he knew they would react like this if he came as one of the dispatch riders. On the other hand, he felt nervous, and after slightly licking his dry lips, he looked at the Count and said, “Sir Count Flaud has proposed the Steelwalls to surrender. If the Steelwalls abandon their wrong and unjust path as Bellid supporters and take responsibility for all their sins, he promises he will treat the Steelwalls kindly.”
“This fucking bastard!” The captain of the Steel Spear Order of Knights shouted even louder. The captain seemed as if he was going to pull out his sword at any moment, but Byner still did not stare at him. However, Byner didn’t completely ignore him either.
He said, “Is this how the Steelwalls treat a dispatch rider?” Even though sweat was dripping down Byner’s forehead, he didn’t back down. He was also desperate. He had already completely turned over to Count Flaud’s side, and since his plan to sell off the Steelwalls to the Karuwimans failed, he needed to do whatever he could to earn merits.
Clang! The captain of the Steel Spear Order of Knights pulled out his sword in the end. It seemed as if he was going to slice Byner at any moment, but the Count stopped him.
“Stop!”
The captain of the Steel Spear Order of Knights had no choice but to stop at the Count’s shout.
The Count asked, “What happened?”
He didn’t direct the question to someone, but the captain immediately understood that the Count was asking him, so he immediately answered, “We suddenly lost contact with him recently. I thought that he ran away because he was afraid to fight in the war and pulled him out of the order of knights. We had many problems with him after the duel in the past, so I apologize for not checking on his status. After this war is over, I will take full responsibility.”
“So that’s what happened.” Count Steelwall looked at Byner with a cold gaze.
“Sir!” A soldier called out to Count Steelwall.
“What’s the matter?” Mihen asked instead of the Count.
“Sir Zich has come to visit!”
Everyone, including the Count, shifted their gaze towards the tent’s entrance. Byner’s eyebrow twitched in displeasure.