“Let him in!” As soon as the Count gave his order, Zich pushed the tent curtains open and entered.
“How are you, sirs?” Zich’s laidback voice rang inside and completely contrasted the heavy atmosphere inside the tent. Zich obviously wasn’t oblivious to the moods of those inside the tent, but he simply ignored them.
“Ah, hello.” In comparison, Hans read the room and cautiously entered with an awkward greeting. He noticed the Count, the captain, and vice-captain of his order of knights first. Furthermore, there was a person who appeared to be the dispatch rider among the group. Hans first glanced at the man quickly, but then his eyes widened. Since the dispatch rider looked familiar, Hans studied his face closely. Then, Hans realized who he was.
“Huh? Sir Knight Byner?” Hans knew this man. Right after Zich regressed, he joined hands with Byner to fight Zich; it was also because Byner was utterly crushed by Zich that Hans was dragged away to become Zich’s slave too. However, Hans didn’t have negative feelings for Byner—no, it would be more accurate to say that he didn’t think about Byner at all while traveling with Zich and experiencing all kinds of training and incidents. Still, Hans could recognize Byner’s face almost immediately.
Byner also recognized Hans, and his expression darkened. Unlike Hans, Byner didn’t hold good feelings towards the former. It was only natural since Hans triggered his shameful downfall. Of course, Byner was the one who looked down on Zich and acted violently, but if he was someone who could admit his wrongs, he wouldn’t have betrayed the Steelwalls in the first place. Byner turned a blind eye to Hans’ welcoming face. Seeing that Byner didn’t seem to look pleased to see him, Hans also backed away awkwardly.
“What brings you here?” the Count asked Zich. Currently, the Count couldn’t treat Zich brashly; before, he couldn’t do so because Zich was treating Greig, and now it was because Zich was a formidable force supporting him. The Count wasn’t so foolish to treat Zich rudely when most of the volunteer reinforcements had come for Zich; this was also the reason why the Count let Zich inside easily when he was talking to the dispatch rider.
“It’s because the dispatch rider is someone I remember,” Zich said while looking at Byner.
“Now that you mention it, Young Master had a special relationship with this guy.” Mihen nodded to show his understanding.
From behind, Hans tilted his head and murmured, “…Dispatch rider?” A dispatch rider was someone the enemy sent to negotiate. Thus, how could a Steelwall knight, Byner, be one?
Zich explained, “This guy is a betrayer. He’s now Count Flaud’s faithful dog.”
Hans looked at Byner in surprise.
“…It sounds like you were already aware of that before coming here,” the Count said suspiciously, and Zich responded confidently.
“I did know about it before. I met him at Yuras recently, and he’s the one who reported to the Karuwimans that Steelwall was a Bellid supporter.”
“What!” The Count’s chilly gaze toward Byner up until now widened for the first time. “Y-You bastard…!”
The captain of the Steel Spear Knights pulled out his sword again and the Count didn’t stop him. What Zich said was on another level compared to simply betraying them. Besides the Count and his subordinates, Byner also appeared surprised.
“You didn’t tell them beforehand?” Byner asked.
“Why must I report every little thing about a guy like you? It seems like you are misunderstanding something, but you aren’t that important. As soon as your accusations against the Steelwall family failed to make changes, you lost all usefulness. Of course, if you were a skilled knight, I would’ve judged you as a potential danger and prepared countermeasures.”
Zich blatantly looked Byner up and down. It was like he was assessing a dirty object and the look Zich gave was so infuriating that even a bystander like Hans felt uncomfortable. It was even more so for Byner, the direct target of Zich’s insults. Byner frantically tried to repress the unpleasantness he felt when Zich added, “How could you threaten us with your skills? Rather than wasting my breath on talking about your existence, I would rather eat another loaf of bread.”
Zich’s clear and thorough disregard for him made Byner’s eyes see red. The reason why he didn’t immediately attack Zich was because of their difference in skills and the fact he was inside Steelwall’s camp.
“I didn’t expect you to come as a dispatch rider. I hear how unabashed I am at times, but I don’t think I would be able to do something so bold to my ex-master, whom I betrayed. Congratulations. You finally beat me in something.” Zich winked and raised both thumbs, but nobody in the room really took his words as compliments.
“Did they really give you this job because you failed in the plan to get the Karuwimans involved by accusing the Steelwalls as Bellid followers? Ahaha. It really must be hard to live as a betrayer. You must really have to kiss your boss’ ass to secure a position for yourself. I understand. I accept all forms of living, though I would rather kill myself rather than live like that.” Zich brought his hands to his neck and pretended to sever his head.
“Some people wish to live bravely like lions and some people want to live like sewer rats. Thus, I will root for you. All the people in the world will probably mock and despise your pitiful life, but you must persevere and live your life! Every time you are in doubt, remember my face and cheer up!!”
Blood dripped from Byner’s hands. He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails pierced his palms. Count Steelwall and the captains, especially the captain of the Steel Spear Order of Knights, swallowed back their anger and were now watching the scene in front of them with keen interest. It was extremely enjoyable to watch a traitor be roasted alive.
“…If it wasn’t for you bastard…”
“What?” Zich put his hand on his ear and exaggeratedly pointed it towards Byner.
Byner remarked, “If it wasn’t for our duel, I wouldn’t have fallen like this!” It sounded like a desperate cry full of heartache. Anyone could clearly sense the pain and despair in his strained voice.
However, it was not a voice that could get through Zich. “Wow, I was wondering what you were trying to say, but let me make this clear. You picked a fight first, you tried to escape punishment by lying, you easily accepted a duel against me, and you were the one who got beaten up shitless by me. How can you pass all the blame onto me?” Zich didn’t show any anger or hatred; his attitude seemed just like someone dealing with a child. “After all that, you’re scummy trash who tried to sell off the lord you served just because I’m collaborating with the Steelwalls.”
“He’s also responsible for that!” Byner pointed his fingers at Count Steelwall. There was already no trace of respect toward his former lord in his words or action.
“Of course, I’m not saying he’s not responsible either. However, his basic stance towards me was neglect, and he didn’t encourage his underlings to abuse me. Thus, your actions towards me were fundamentally your responsibility.” Then, Zich shrugged. “Why don’t you stop blaming others for your actions? Greig also got beaten up like you, but he didn’t sell off Steelwall because he hated me. Even though it seems as if he caused a nuisance to his surroundings while drinking, that was the extent of his offense. He’s also gotten a lot better since then and has been recovering from that trauma.”
Then, Zich grabbed Hans’ shoulder as Hans stood next to him and said, “I dragged Hans out because of your loss, but even he is being treated as a hero in certain places. What happened to you? You were the one who received the highest expectations and hope out of those three. How does it feel to fall behind by yourself? Wasn’t it comfortable to rest your butt on the ground while everyone was running their ass off? Isn’t that why you had so much time to think about doing such useless things?”
Zich took a step forward, and at this distance, he could clearly see Byner’s bloodshot eyes. “You came here to propose surrender, but there is not a single person who’s going to say they’ll surrender. So, why don’t you go back now and wag your tail at your new owner? Don’t you have to work hard to please him so that you can at least get a few leftover bone scraps?”
Then, Zich took three steps to the side and pointed toward the entrance. “As you can see, the exit is over there. Let’s see each other on the battlefield.”
“…” Byner stared at the tent’s exit and moved his gaze back to Zich.
“You…” A strange voice flowed out of Byner’s mouth as if the air was escaping out of dry, cracked earth. “I swear I’ll kill you if we meet on the battlefield.”
“Wow, that’s a very cool declaration. I’ve heard that many times, but of course, there’s not a single person who remains alive after saying that to me.” Zich’s cheery laughter annoyed the hell out of Byner. Zich continued, “Unfortunately, I’m already booked by another person in this war. My popularity shows no signs of ever cooling down. Alas, the fate of a popular person is really tough. So why don’t we do this instead?”
Zich suddenly pointed at Hans, and Hans flinched in surprise. “First, try defeating Hans. I don’t feel like giving someone of your level the right to immediately challenge me. Normally, for these matters, it’s best to first take down the underlings before you get to the final boss. Even though he looks like this, Hans is my number one disciple. Even though he has some dumb moments, his skills are pretty good. If you beat Hans, I’ll even set up a date to fight with you.”
Byner stared at Hans, and Hans gulped. However, this lasted only for a moment, and Byner’s gaze moved back to Zich. His gaze was filled with hatred and murderous intent.
Flap! Byner angrily flipped open the cloth covering the entrance and left the commander's headquarters.
“It doesn’t seem like he understood me, right?”
“Probably, sir.” Hans shook his head. Even though he’d gotten used to it, he still thought that Zich’s ability to anger people to the verge of dying out of frustration was truly terrifying. He thought, ‘If things went differently, would I have ended up like him?’
Since Hans had also looked down on Zich and was forcibly dragged out by him, Byner’s story hit close to home. ‘I might have to thank Lady Sara Steelwall…’
Hans knew that the reason why Zich had softened his punishment towards him was because Zich’s mother, Sara, had severely bullied him. Even though Sara Steelwall was a terrible person, he felt a surge of gratitude towards her when he thought about how he didn’t end up like Byner. In any case, Hans decided to be happy about the fact that Zich’s verbal attacks were not directed toward him.