The Count of Basel, along with most of the detachnt’s noble commanders, had been captured and forced to sit at the negotiation table. On the opposite side, Fried and General Bertrand sat comfortably, sipping tea.
The contrast in their expressions could not have been starker.
The Basel nobles, defeated and taken prisoner in a battle they’d all but won, sat with faces rigid with humiliation. Fried and the general, on the other hand, had co back from the brink of death and couldn’t stop smiling.
For Fried, it would be rembered as a day of heaven and purgatory rolled into one, terrifying yet utterly satisfying. The sa went for , though. I’d gotten thoroughly thrashed this ti around.
Thank God I’d had the Courage 200% Scroll, at least.
The Swiss rcenaries had rcilessly crushed the Euz forces and handed Fried a humiliation, yet they were officially recognized as an uncontracted rcenary company with neutral status. The look of bitter reluctance on Fried’s face when he approved it was priceless.
"This should make for quite the entertaining negotiation."
Benjamin said quietly with a smile. No doubt. They hadn’t just let the fish they’d caught get away; they’d practically drowned in the process. Besides the Basel nobles, one local noble had been captured as well.
Baron Hildrant was one of the three most prominent nobles in Euz and a hardliner who had supported Baron Valent. True to his ambitious (evil) disposition, he was a man who would stop at nothing when it served his interests.
Along with Baron Valent, he now found himself in a position where he had to beg Fried for rcy. Baron Hildrant had also been captured by Viktor. I heard he’d been playing lackey to the Count of Basel and got nabbed along with him.
Baron Boeven, the lowest-ranking of the three, had managed to escape. He’d probably fled to his own lands. He was a noble who had pledged cooperation to Fried after the Euz-Épinay war, but who knew how things would turn out now.
"This is rose tea from Feuzen. Please, try so. It has a slightly astringent taste, but the aroma is wonderfully rich. It’s a traditional tea from Rosenheim, quite good."
"..."
"Oh dear, it seems you have no appetite."
Only after delivering that mocking remark and finishing all his rose tea did Fried begin the negotiations. He paid no mind to the Count of Basel’s face twisting into a vicious scowl. Using the tea I’d given him as a gift to rub it in like that.
It seed the heir of Euznirk wanted to savor the luxury of being the victor.
The reversal of fortunes was attributed to Viktor capturing the Count of Basel with his personal squad while Fiel and I had kept the guard detail pinned down, but there had been a hidden helper.
It was the scout whose hotown of Ladwig had been reduced to ashes. He’d gathered soldiers from Ladwig and Leben and revealed the truth to them. The enraged n had tried to assassinate the Count of Basel, but failed.
Because there had been a Judas among them.
I’d warned them out of caution to watch out for traitors. So managed to keep their identities hidden, but the assassination attempt beca impossible. Instead, at the right mont, they fed the count’s horse a mix of blood and millet.
As a result, the Count of Basel’s horse suddenly collapsed from violent diarrhea while he was fleeing, and Viktor caught him. Since the count had no idea about any of this, he must have been cursing the heavens.
Viktor had been injured during the capture, but he was much better now. Euz had a surgeon every bit as skilled as Arzt, and I was thinking of inviting him to Feuzen soday, even if it cost a fortune.
I’d learned about all this because I’d given standing orders to keep prisoners from Ladwig and Leben separate from the rest. The scout himself had died, but thankfully, several of the comrades who had shared his cause survived.
So I asked Fried to pardon all prisoners from Ladwig and Leben, and after hearing the circumstances, Fried readily agreed. Having erged as the victor, he’d grown rather magnanimous.
"I still vividly recall the letter you sent two days ago, Count. What was it you said again? That House Euznirk should surrender if it wanted to keep Euz intact?"
"..."
"And yet it seems the positions have completely reversed, haven’t they? Are you aware that the lords’ forces have invaded Basel? Rather than worrying about Euznirk, shouldn’t you be protecting your own house first?"
All that pent-up stress must have gotten to him, because Fried seed to have developed a taste for open mockery. But there was no ti to idly insult the defeated. Pockets of resistance still remained throughout Euz.
"Fried, shouldn’t we get to the main point now?"
"General, didn’t you see the letter the Count of Basel sent ?"
"Be that as it may, there are matters far more pressing than taunting the count."
General Bertrand apparently agreed and reined in Fried’s rampage. Still unsatisfied, Fried got in a few more jabs before finally allowing the discussion to move forward.
He’d had years of frustration piling up, and chances to mock a count to his face so openly were rare. I understood how he felt, but I had to admit, the Count of Basel’s superhuman restraint in enduring it was impressive.
"Very well, Count. These are our terms. Please read them."
The Count of Basel took the docunt, written in French and Latin, and slowly read through it. His eyes visibly wavered. Fried’s demand was singular.
The unconditional surrender of the County of Basel.
The Count of Basel, hero of the Great War five years ago, stood to lose both his wealth and his honor. However, the docunt was notably missing any reparations or additional paynts.
Those would be renegotiated once the war concluded.
This surrender docunt served solely to ensure the Count of Basel’s complete defection from the southern rebel forces. The civil war wasn’t over yet, so the aim was to eliminate the south’s center of gravity.
Wouldn’t the massive reparations and ransom cripple the house of Basel? Well, even a ruined rich man doesn’t starve overnight.
As long as they still ruled Basel, they could recover eventually. Seeing the count hesitate over the treaty, Fried drove the wedge ho.
"I just received word that the expeditionary force has defeated the rebels."
The Western Lords’ Army had reportedly crushed the southern rebels and successfully pushed south. The County of Basel was now under full-scale invasion by the Western Lords’ Army, and so villages had already been destroyed.
If news of the surrender was delayed, the damage would snowball. The rebels would regroup around Rheinkalsen, but their main force had effectively collapsed.
If anything, mopping up the remaining resistance would take longer.
The lords were secretly hoping the rebels wouldn’t surrender.
Because it ant more territory to plunder freely.
"My father was so furious about the invasion of Euz that he was about to burn every village in the County of Basel to the ground. It was only the rciful Crown Prince who barely managed to talk him down. What a magnificent man His Highness is."
"...I surrender."
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