Chapter 141

Chapter 141

***

Living in the world, one occasionally sees people excessively dressing up unsuitably. People draping themselves in excessively fine clothes and ornaments to hide their shabby self-esteem and show off their power and wealth. Usually the nouveau riche did so.

However, King Santonio inherently didn't suit fine clothes and ornaments in a different sense.

Tall height and imposing build, intense gaze, straight forehead and nose, well-groomed beard, neatly slicked-back black hair. The King was a man who looked like he would suit armor much better than silk, gold, or jewels.

The thick rings and necklaces on his flashy silk clothes rather seemed to neutralize his fierce momentum.

Ambition laced the King's eyes. And he didn't hide it. He seemed to have a desire for greatness far beyond exactly just a King.

Somewhere on the vast plateau, under the warm sunlight, various flags fluttered vigorously. It was a place like a military encampment, no, it truly was a real military encampment.

There, Rickart stood before the King while the rough men of Sinatria watched.

Rickart's flashy attire matched the King's, or rather seemed to stand out even more than him, making their face-to-face meeting seem somewhat against etiquette.

King Santonio was sitting on a place like a cargo crate, but not being a throne couldn't take away his majesty.

His eyes themselves were glaring like those of a bird of prey and his gaze was also intense, so no matter where he sat, ordinary people couldn't look straight at him.

But Rickart wasn't one of them. He merely faced him calmly. As if trying to see what lay beyond the outward appearance, the two men stared at each other without a word for a while.

They weren't having a battle of wills, but to others' eyes it looked exactly like they were having a battle of wills.

Perhaps because of that, Raimund and a few knights of the Flame Knights standing behind Rickart seemed more tense than the person directly involved.

And over the past hundreds of years, the Flame Knights had never asked the local Kings for a handout. Having merely guarded the Empire's borders all this time, actually the Flame Knights and the Kings of Sinatria were on distant terms with each other.

To the people living locally, the Flame Knights were outsiders, whether hundreds of years ago or now.

The Sinatria people shared the same religion but were not people belonging to the Empire. Neither were they Salaman people, but literally indigenous people who had lived in Sinatria since a long time ago and were descendants of the Ancient Empire.

"El Cid......"

King Santonio spoke first as if muttering. Then a thin crack seemed to form in the silence thought to be solid.

"It is not an easy thing to earn respect from infidels. But, I hear you are not a knight? Rickart, son of Abellich."

"That is correct. I have never been knighted as a knight."

"Then as what do you stand before me?"

"I am not anything else, I am merely myself. I have requested an audience simply because I have a favor to ask."

"Speak it."

Numerous gazes around were pinned on Rickart, but Rickart continuously looked only at the King without giving them a single glance.

"Please support me with supplies. I will defeat my brother who has seized Karagosa Citadel and stop his evil deeds."

"......"

The King didn't answer. Merely looking quietly at Rickart, suddenly chuckle, and laughed. Then the knights, soldiers, and men-at-arms standing around started laughing.

That was laughing out of dumbfoundment, and a kind of sneer.

King Santonio didn't exactly laugh out loud, but guffawed for a while before saying.

"It truly breaks my heart to see brothers trying to fight, but my situation is no different either. I am also in a long war with my younger brother. However, do I have a reason to make an enemy out of the Red Reaper? Being his younger brother, it seems you do not know how terrifying he is. I fear him. But I am not ashamed of it. Because everyone here feels the same."

Exactly what and how they had lived here over the past 8 years for everyone to fear Vilter; even the extraordinary King found him uncomfortable to deal with.

Only then did Rickart turn his gaze away from the King to look around at the people present.

As if establishing it as a constant not to mess with Vilter's side, they seemed to interpret the mere words of fighting him as an absurd joke.

To make an analogy, there was a tiger that wouldn't come down from the mountain, but one day a strange outsider suddenly came saying he would catch that tiger so give him some money.

From the local people's perspective they couldn't help but be flabbergasted. Getting provoked needlessly and suffering tiger disaster, what then? When they could just leave him be.

Rickart pondered for a moment. He thought he couldn't persuade the King by putting forth righteousness. Neither could he throw a tantrum asking them to understand his pure intentions to stop Vilter.

A transaction with the King required a realistic proposal. And, above all, I had to show that I too am no less fearsome than him.

"Now that the Emperor has cast them out, the shackles placed on the Flame Knights are no more. If I defeat my brother, I will lead the knights and go to Adelorn. Then the long-standing stronghold of the knighthood, Karagosa Citadel, will become the King's. And I am not asking for support for free. If you have any troubling matters, I will solve them for you. In return, support me with supplies."

If only he could possess Karagosa Citadel, he could vastly expand the Kingdom's power. However, commonsensically it was utter nonsense.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Sure enough, as soon as Rickart's words ended, King Santonio threw his head back and laughed loudly. In tandem, his soldiers also laughed loudly. Is this such an absurd proposal?

After having a good loud laugh, King Santonio barely calmed down and said.

"I like you. Because there is no hidden agenda and you are honest. However El Cid Rickart, do you see that castle over there?"

King Santonio raised his hand and pointed somewhere. Then the people who were blocking that direction stepped aside sideways.

Far away below the plateau, a solid citadel was seen. Whatever history it had, Sinatria truly had many impregnable fortresses that couldn't even be mimicked with current technology.

Due to the outstanding architectural technology of the Ancient Empire and continuous expansions over long periods of time.

Perhaps that was why this land hadn't been unified for a long time and constantly fought wars.

"It is a fortress called Leonia. That is what troubles me. The reason why I had to retreat every time despite winning battles against my younger brother several times over the past 10 years is exactly because of that. Can you eliminate my source of anxiety?"

In times like these, making a castle fall through a siege was virtually an impossible task. Even more so for such a solid fortress.

All they could do was besiege and starve them out, but as long as they had stockpiled food and secured drinking water, they could hold out for years.

In the end, armies besieging was also something humans did, having costs to eat, drink and use, so eventually unable to hold out they would have no choice but to retreat.

The place where the King currently was was a kind of rear area, and there were separate troops besieging Leonia Fortress. Looking down from the high ground, it looked to be fully thousands of people.

Rickart quietly looked at the fortress far away, then looked at the King again and asked.

"When is the deadline?"

"......What did you say?"

"I will make it fall within three days. Then will you promise to support me with supplies?"

As Rickart spoke nonchalantly that he would accomplish something nonsensical, King Santonio made a dumbfounded expression for a moment.

"I too have ears so I heard. That your skills are outstanding. I heard you killed four Valensha knights in one breath. However, being confident and bluffing are different things. Even conceding a hundred times that you are bluffing, there are things that can be seen as bravado and things that cannot."

"Then you will know in three days. Whether it is a bluff or not."

Rickart still spoke without a single change in expression.

Then, unable to tell if this was insulting the King or what on earth he was doing, silence flowed in the grounds, with only the sound of flags fluttering in the wind heard.

Before anyone knew, the smile vanished entirely from King Santonio's face. He glared at Rickart with those peculiar glaring eyes of his. Rickart calmly brushed off that gaze.

The King merely glared for a while before opening his mouth.

"I promise."

"Then I will see you again in three days."

Rickart didn't pay any separate courtesy to the King, and turned around and walked. Just looking at the flashy outward appearance, it looked like a King and another King met for a talk, and were parting ways.

As Rickart mounted the red horse and descended the high ground, Raimund and the knights of the Flame Knights also hurriedly followed on horseback and asked.

"Do you have any good countermeasures?"

"No."

As Rickart said 'no' so naturally, Raimund and the knights blinked their eyes in absurdity. It seemed they should get angry, yet they were so flustered they didn't even feel anger.

"Wha, what exactly is that. If you insult the King, forget about goodwill, none of us will be safe."

"It's not something pulling time alone will solve anyway. Let us observe and watch for now. Once they reveal a weakness, we'll dig in with all our might."

Talk is cheap; if they knew that, as the King said, would they have suffered like that for the past 10 years.

However, Rickart was out of a commoner's perspective originally regarding fights.

Just as he said, it wasn't something pulling time would solve either. Rather because a long time had passed, who knows what blind spots these guys might have.

Anyway, whether to call this confidence or madness, for Raimund and the knights unfamiliar with Rickart, they thought they might have to completely redo their evaluation of him as a person.

Rickart entered the encampment besieging Leonia Fortress. When he told them he was someone sent by the King, the commander there wondered if Rickart and the knights were hired as something akin to mercenaries.

So he gave them a tent and didn't really pay them much mind. In short, Rickart and the knights of the Flame Knights were merely in the encampment like borrowed barley sacks. They didn't even have command authority.

Raimund's insides were burning up, but Rickart calmly looked around the encampment.

Since his armor and surcoat were so flashy, the soldiers all stared at Rickart wondering who he was. Just from the outward appearance, he felt like an existence beyond a commander, like some neighboring country's King.

However, around the time the sun was tilting from the middle of the sky and soldiers were preparing dinner, far away the drawbridge of Leonia Fortress came down and someone came out riding a horse.

Chainmail armor, a green surcoat visible even from afar, and even a dragon-shaped helmet ornament attached to his great helm.

As he revealed his figure, soldiers hurriedly moved cooking pots and started to take cover here and there. Wondering what was going on, Rickart and the knights grabbed a soldier to ask.

"Why is everyone suddenly causing a commotion?"

"It is Tauso, the older brother of the Green Dragon brothers. He takes turns coming morning and evening to mess up the encampment, but we have no countermeasures. Five of our knights have already died."

"Are you saying he attacks alone?"

Raimund asked, finding it absurd.

Originally, when defending a castle, a small suicide squad might be sent out to attack the enemy, but that was closer to harassing the enemy so they couldn't be comfortable rather than repelling them. Boosting allied morale in the process.

But attacking alone? This kind of thing occasionally happened during tribal eras. There was a fighting method of a single-rider charge to boost allied morale, somewhat serving as an offering.

But this isn't even a night raid, doing it so openly while the sun is still brightly shining?

Anyway, unlike the flabbergasted knights, Rickart narrowed his eyes and observed. He meticulously checked not only the knights, but the actions of the people standing on the castle walls, the time it took for the drawbridge to come down, and the like.

Before long, a person named Tauso holding a lance flag stepped forward slowly with confident strides. Sunlight fell on the spearhead and flashed.

It was close if you called it close and far if you called it far, so while he was coming, unlike troops that were panicking, there were also troops trying to counterattack in their own way. Being a feudal system, the difference in combat power depending on the region of origin was severe.

There were people moving busily, with knights hurriedly putting on equipment and squires bringing horses.

However, from the enemy Tauso's perspective, he could see exactly which troops were weak and which troops were strong. So he approached slowly, then dashed his horse straight toward troops panicking and confusing among themselves.

Duguduk! Duguduk! Duguduk! Duguduk!

There was something like a barricade made by driving stakes in its own way, but that was for blocking on a unit level, and couldn't be an obstacle for a single person charging alone.

Duguduk! Duguduk! Duguduk! Duguduk!

Thwack!

"Ack!"

Eventually bursting in like it was his own living room, he pierced and killed a soldier with his lance. And continuing to dash his horse, he trampled the encampment however he pleased. Tents came crashing down, pots tumbled noisily, it was total chaos.

Some soldiers resisted using spears and billhooks in their own ways, but Tauso swiftly charged on horseback to ram them or swung a battleaxe from above to strike their crowns.

When startled soldiers scattered in a heap, and knights who had some combat power chased him trying to kill him, he'd run away somewhere else, and then the knights would get tangled with allies and unable to properly chase him either.

At least the troops of a lord with some sense went outside the encampment to first block the retreat path.

However, the entire army needed to move systematically to completely block the retreat path, but doing it with just their own troops couldn't cover the wide area.

Meanwhile, on the castle walls of the fortress far away, enemies were shouting Wah! Wah! sounds.

The person called Tauso ran rampant as he pleased for a bout, then changed his horse's reins to run back to the fortress.

The lord's troops who had blocked the retreat path tried to catch him, but with a massive warhorse charging at them, it wasn't easy to face without a thick square formation.

Eventually a knight from the same side bravely ran to stand against him. However, Tauso violently threw a battleaxe from afar.

The allied knight raised his shield and blocked it, but his body tilted due to the strength loaded on the axe.

Clang!

In that gap, Tauso approached quickly and hooked his arm to dismount the knight. Then that knight fell from the running horse, broke his neck and died.

Crunch!

Waaaaaaah!

Large cheers were heard from the enemy fortress. Watching Tauso from afar, Rickart thought he was somewhat good.

As he approached the fortress, a small number of troops who came out to escort him took him and crossed the drawbridge. Like that, he laid waste to thousands of troops all by himself and returned completely unscathed.

The damages weren't that huge, but naturally their pride and morale were in tatters. The sounds of soldiers spitting out fuck, dog, dick were heard from all over. The dense dust kicked up by Tauso covered them, putting them in a foul mood.

"A truly courageous person indeed......"

Raimund said. Knowing himself to be a brave and outstanding knight as well, Tauso was truly uncommonly brave.

However, Rickart was observing this whole situation from a different perspective. Namely, he was calculating the distance. If I kill him and run, will I be able to burst in before the drawbridge goes up?

Soon after, finishing the experience-based calculations in his head, he spoke like this.

"We might be able to make the fortress fall by tomorrow instead of three days."

Then Raimund spoke as if not even surprised now.

"Yes, of course you will."

Raimund thought that Rickart's skills were outstanding and his character was wonderful, but his bluffing was equally formidable. Right, a person can't have everything.

Of course, whether it was a bluff or not, tomorrow's sun would teach them.