I spent most of my ti training with this new weapon, the halberd. Viktor and Fiel’s conditions had improved a lot, but it looked like they wouldn’t be able to return for a while. Fortunately, Anton was back.
The cavalry I led was finally down to 235 riders. The fact that over 300 had been reduced this far proved just how fierce the last battle had been.
Thankfully, the Gale Knights suffered no fatalities.
There were a lot of wounded, but that was a hundred tis better than losing them. Setting aside those assigned to the reserves and stationed in Feuzen, only 22 of the 55 n I’d brought along remained. I took what comfort I could in still being able to operate two squads.
The Essenbach dragoons, who’d taken the most casualties, were as lively as ever. Befitting a group that had lived lives most intimate with death, rather than grieving their comrades’ deaths, they reveled cheerfully in the spoils their comrades had left behind.
That’s the rcenary way.
A few days later, Basel, which had surrendered, beca the encampnt of the Western Lords’ Army and a base for subjugating the remnants of the southern rebels. They said most of the supplies were seized, and in so areas plundering was permitted.
The crown prince had opposed the plundering, but he’d ended up allowing it as the lords pushed it through. He was probably tornted by guilt right about now, thinking of Lily. In any case, our side had taken control of the southern front.
And then Fried summoned .
"I hear you’ve been training with a halberd lately. You must be quite bored."
"Please think of it as striving to grow stronger."
"Haha, was the Executioner of Zurse that strong?"
He could say that because he hadn’t witnessed the man’s martial prowess firsthand. If he’d seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have spoken so lightly. Anyway, why had he suddenly summoned at this late hour?
"Of all the knights I know, you were the strongest. If that Swiss rcenary can hold his own against soone like you, it might not be a bad idea to draw him into Euz."
"Hold his own? Who said that?"
"Hm? That’s what I heard. Was it not so?"
It seed soone had spread a false rumor, probably because they didn’t want to admit that one of Beren’s foremost knights had been badly pushed back by a Swiss rcenary. What bastard is putting to sha?
"Well, that’s not important, so let’s talk about it another ti. Didn’t I grant you and Sir Bastern the plundering of three baronies the other day? Sorry, but I’ll have to change the plan."
Change the plan?
Fried said that over the past week he’d sent rcenary recruiters to the Duchy of Roden and Strasbourg. Upon hearing that he’d recruited rcenaries, my expression hardened instantly. It couldn’t be helped.
"Because if I leave it to you and the others, you’ll just plunder quietly and leave it at that."
"Is there really a need to wipe out their very foundations?"
"You know it too, don’t you? That my resentnt runs very deep."
As he ground his teeth, I could read the deep hatred and madness in Fried’s eyes. The rivalry between Fried and the Euz nobles, they said, stemd from a competitiveness dating back to childhood.
With Ingrid of the Glesia family as the catalyst, the relationship had spiraled to its worst, and in a situation where civil war could break out at any mont, the Euz nobles had drawn in foreign powers to attack Fried.
"When I stood on the battlefield at riant Plain with levies who were nothing but numbers to fill the ranks, that was the greatest nightmare of my life. General Bertrand and you and the others were there, but I still couldn’t stop trembling in fear."
"In the end, didn’t we win?"
"Yes, we won, so I was able to humiliate the Count of Basel. But at the sa ti, rage welled up in . The reason I went through all that suffering was, in the end, because those bastards betrayed ."
And then Fried bitterly aired his grievances against Count Euz. He said that despite claiming it was for the peace of Euz, standing by while the heir and the Euz nobles clashed had ultimately only served to breed resentnt.
"With the indemnity as collateral, I ended up in considerable debt to the dici Bank. Damn Italian!"
"You used that money to hire rcenaries from the north? Did you really have to go that far..."
"I only paid half the hiring fee. For the rest, I made a contract for local procurent."
Seeing Fried grin made my head spin.
Local procurent for the rcenaries? Fried intended not only to devastate that whole region but to strip it to the bone so it could never recover. To the point where leaving it to Benjamin and would have been rciful.
"It’s strange for to be saying this, but is there no chance you’ll reconsider?"
"None. You may not like it, but I have to do it. Plundering alone won’t satisfy ."
Fried was utterly resolute.
So I couldn’t dissuade him any further.
Burning down an entire region just because you’d built up resentnt with the noble who ruled it was impossible to understand from a modern perspective, but unfortunately, this was the standard dieval view.
Identifying a region with its family.
The expression "innocent subjects" carries no weight with a noble.
"I’ve thought this for a while, but you really are remarkably unlike a noble. This ti I realized it for certain. That in the end, when it’s ti to crush an opponent, you have to crush them thoroughly."
"Baron Valent and Baron Hildrant have already been taken prisoner."
"But they haven’t signed surrender docunts, have they? Did Baron Valent say he’d surrender?"
Since there was no telling how the Basel–Euz battle would turn out, I hadn’t broached the subject at all. Baron Hildrant had been beaten viciously by Fried and was too busy nursing his wounds to do much.
Unlike with the Count of Basel, Fried hadn’t extracted a surrender from them.
It was so very different from the Fried I knew.
His disposition, as I rembered it, was originally honesty (neutral). That disposition hadn’t changed yet, but if things continued like this, there would surely be a great change within him.
Had this civil war affected him so profoundly?
"The affairs of Euz can be decided by the Euznirk family, but that’s sothing only Count Euz can do, strictly speaking. Lord Fried, you are in the position of heir, so I worry you’re overstepping your authority."
"Don’t worry. Father will understand it all. He might even say I did well."
Well, the Count Euz I know would be aghast, I think.
Fried had inford unilaterally, and I had no grounds to object.
This is a real disaster.
It wasn’t the plundering and slaughter of three baronies that was the problem. What deeply worried was that he would one day beco the ruler of Euz. We were on friendly terms now, but what if this incident tipped him toward evil?
Soday Feuzen and Euz might clash.
No, so kind of conflict would surely arise. My worries grew deeper and deeper.
I secretly sent a letter to Count Euz. It was a last resort to stop Fried from running wild. Since Fried was still in the heir’s position, he had to obey if Count Euz commanded it.
This might fracture the relationship, but if he kept charging ahead with his hatred unchecked, our relationship was dood to fracture soday regardless. So wouldn’t stopping it beforehand be the wiser course?
"This is a real disaster. I tried to prevent the slaughter of Valent and Hildrant, leaving Boeven aside, but the heir of Euz clearly anticipated it and hired rcenaries in droves."
"No. His resentnt simply runs that deep. He ans to step in himself."
"Unfortunately, we have no grounds to prevent this tragedy."
Benjamin found it deeply regrettable. So did I, but the fate of Euz could only be decided by the Euznirk family. Just as I could decide the fate of Feuzen.
Fried hired a Swiss rcenary company too. Originally it was an unwritten rule that Swiss rcenary companies weren’t rehired, on grounds of credibility, but the state council bureaucrat assigned to the company forced the contract through.
The reason was that the tribute the state council had set couldn’t be t with a single battle’s earnings. Of course, at the very least, they inserted a clause that the Swiss rcenaries wouldn’t fight fellow Swiss rcenaries, such as those in the Count of Basel’s army.
"Commander, is the state council more terrifying than the Swiss rcenary company?"
"Because they hold the families hostage. In a way, they’re the more terrifying lot."
Watching the rcenary company comply obediently without a single act of defiance, Anton clicked his tongue. The Swiss were very brave, but their attachnt to family and holand was trendous.
That’s probably why they’d ended up being used however the state council saw fit.
You could tell just from how even the perpetually grinning Gedel’s expression had darkened.
"It is our fate to obey the state council’s orders."
"A sha. If it were , I wouldn’t treat you that way."
"But what can you do? We have to push on for the sake of our families."
"..."
"This fellow is actually grateful to the state council."
Watching the taciturn Leto nod, I ca to understand that he viewed the state council quite favorably. When I asked Gedel for the details, he said that the state council had made it possible for Leto, who’d been an executioner, to beco a rcenary.
In terms of social standing, a rcenary was far higher than an executioner. The Swiss state council, they said, didn’t care about your standing as long as you could fight well. That’s rather innovative.
Germany was excessively rigid, so much effort had to go into laundering the executioner Stock’s status into that of a doctor, an Arzt. And it remained the region where status-based discrimination was most severe.
The hastily gathered rcenaries numbered 500, and when combined with the Swiss rcenary company the total ca to around 1,000. At that point Fried ordered the subjugation of the three baronies. There was still no reply from Count Euz.
Fortunately, a ssenger arrived just before the troops marched out.
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