Chapter 174

Chapter 174 - Great Lord of the South (1)

The southern nobles who joined Eugene's army did not come in solely out of loyalty.

War is a business that guarantees the best profits as long as you win, and a victorious battlefield is a gold mine exceeding a gold mine.

"Keuk!"

"Sorry. Did I pinch your skin?"

The soldier stripping the armor off the surrendered heavy infantryman chuckled. Behind him, there was also someone walking around holding multiple swords or maces.

"Raise your left arm more."

"Like this?"

"Yeah. So if you twist slightly to the right... That's it!"

Chwareureureu.

The middle-aged man who stripped the chainmail off the corpse smirked.

"Stripping armor also requires a knack. If you try to strip it blindly and it gets scratched or ruined, the value drops."

The young men looked up to him, a former mercenary. Back when they were conscripted, their vision went dark thinking they were being dragged to a deathbed, but this experienced older brother was an exception.

- There's no need to worry too much. I have a good feeling about this fight. We will definitely be able to earn a fortune.

And it was just as he had assured. Just selling this chainmail and picked up weapons will return several years' worth of income to all the conscripted village men.

The young men were still chatting about the events of the night battle as if it still didn't feel real.

"You can chat about things like that later when we march, so get some sleep now."

"We won a great victory, and there are no enemies nearby. The noble milords will probably allow us to chat at least while moving."

The experienced veterans found suitable places to lie down and took a nap.

The nobles, who had fear lingering in a corner of their hearts right before the charge last night, completely discarded their doubts.

"To wipe out those demon-like Barcia bastards this easily."

"If it's this much, it seems there will be no need to fear at all even if the opponent is Count Kruger."

When they were under Viscount Winchester, just thinking about the fierce great lords of the north made them gloomy. However, right now they rather felt like wanting to try fighting a round.

Eugene's army was escaping the common sense of war the nobles had known until now. Whether that was equipment, supplies, or troop composition.

"Everyone seems satisfied."

The nobles gathered in groups of threes and fives drinking tea wore large and small smiles. Eugene stopped the nobles who discovered him and hurriedly tried to stand up.

"Enjoy the lingering feelings of victory more."

"Glory to Your Excellency!"

Rex, who was accompanying his side, nodded.

"They have lived like flocks of sheep, but their roots are wolves. Because they are nobles. After grazing on grass, upon following a strong leader to hunt and tearing into meat, it can't help but taste good."

"This meat is especially substantial indeed."

Eugene felt proud at the sight of the Barcia nobles gathered in one place. Because in his eyes, they all looked like lumps of gold.

The disarmed Albert is haggard having gone through two battles in succession and suffered from lack of sleep. His whole body was full of abrasions and dirt, making his appearance a mess.

"It's a relief you didn't get cut anywhere."

"Catching him itself was easy."

"Then why is he in that state?"

"After throwing the capture net, I tied him to the saddle and dragged him around here and there. He must have had a good time with the ground."

Eugene looked at Rex with a bewildered face.

"Isn't that too harsh? He's the most expensive spoil in this battle."

"Because he resisted so stubbornly, you see. Pulling out a dagger looked like he was trying to commit suicide, so I had to neutralize him first."

"If that's the case. It was a good judgment."

There is no farce like allied forces getting hurt while trying to capture a resisting enemy alive. Moreover, if there was a risk of suicide, there is no need to say more. The ransom of that one person alone would be exorbitant.

"I am Commander Eugene Meyer."

"Albert of the Louis family."

Albert was surprised at the enemy commander's appearance being much younger than he thought. He himself isn't on the older side either, but to think an even younger person led this large army.

"I hope you will adhere to the discipline as a prisoner. I promise treatment according to customs. I will guarantee the safety of the other individuals as well."

"If I do not follow, are you going to put me in a net and drag me around again?"

"Hmm."

"...I just said it out of vexation. Stop stroking your chin."

He was smashed without any room to make excuses. Acting pathetically here would only further sully the Louis family's name.

He was captured according to customs and guaranteed his life when the other people's heads were falling off, and now he has a duty to repay that.

"I will quietly follow until the family sends the ransom."

"Thank you for cooperating. I will treat you honorably."

"The Sir's father must be happy. To have established such a massive military merit."

Albert had a genuinely envious complexion. It seemed he thought Eugene participated in the war to build achievements for succession like himself.

"I do not have a father. I was a wandering knight and merely rose up as a self-made man."

"What kind of joke..."

"Are there nobles who joke with their own parents?"

"I-I apologize!"

Even while apologizing, Albert had an unbelievably shocked face.

* * *

The Gord warriors began marching toward the coastal direction.

Everyone's shoulders drooped with emotions half of dejection and half of relief. It's because even though they crossed the sea with difficulty and even fought a fierce battle, they couldn't salvage anything.

However, no one could be dissatisfied with Duke Wolfson. Rather, there were more people relieved that they were able to retreat safely without fighting Eugene's army.

"Water the horses."

"Just how many are all these?"

It's because there were hundreds of horse archers rejoicing while driving the captured Barcia warhorses.

To prepare against Gord's betrayal after making a ceasefire agreement, hundreds of archers were also lined up on the hills. If they try any funny business, they would rain down arrows at any time.

The infamy of the Blackhand Mercenary Group is also famous in Gord. The continent's strongest ranged combat group was the natural enemy of Gord, which is infantry-centered.

Knowing that, the Gord nobles who were empty-handed also agreed to withdraw without complaints.

Gulp gulp.

"Kyaaaa!"

Duke Wolfson downed the alcohol contained in the skull in one gulp.

"Is this the only spoil we gained coming all the way here? Goddamn it."

"I did hear there is a custom of making wine cups out of enemies' skulls, but I didn't think I would actually see it."

"R-right now it's a custom that has almost died out!"

Next to Eugene, who was interestingly examining the glossy skull cup, Victor was restless.

He had a complexion worried that his family might be seen as a group of barbarians to this emerging high noble.

"Won't you have a glass too, Sir? The grip is perfect because of the pointy fangs. No matter how drunk you get, you'll never drop it."

"Father!"

For that reason, when Wolfson handed the cup to Eugene, Victor felt like he would faint. However, Eugene smiled without any signs of displeasure and declined.

"It was an encirclement that was almost wickedly malicious. The skill didn't seem like it had been done just once or twice?"

"Since becoming a knight, I wandered the continent and spent eventful days, you see."

"Did you hear? You foolish guy. A real man must face the storms of the wild to be completed. You don't become a great general just by staying cooped up in a room reading books."

Duke Wolfson smacked Victor's back with a palm like a pot lid.

"The things I did in today's battle aren't much. The subordinates under me did everything. Because they are folks who have mastered drive hunting. Even if any commander was in that position, they would have produced similar results."

Eugene looked at Rex, Cassandra, and the tribe knights with a warm gaze.

"Viscount. When their contract with them ends, please be sure to introduce them to drop by my territory."

Perhaps the night battle was impressive, Wolfson's face looking at the Dark Elves dripped with greed.

Coveting gold to the point of being undignified is the perception the world has of Gord nobles. However, what they revealed themselves more for than wealth was a thirst for powerful warriors.

"You safely just have to pull your bows from the rear. I promise to generously distribute the spoils of war as well!"

"That will be difficult. Because they signed a life-long contract with me."

"Come on, what a joke. Just say you hate it if you hate giving them to others."

"It's true I hate giving them to others, but it's not a lie."

"...No really?"

Wolfson's eyes widened. A life-long contract for a mercenary group doesn't simply mean making an ultra-long-term contract.

It meant liquidating the mercenary life and entering as a retainer under the employer.

Since the employer side has the obligation to provide various things including land to settle on and titles, it isn't something that easily occurs.

"A Fairy Race family coming under the umbrella of a human would be the first in history."

Victor was also amazed.

'No wonder the attitude the Dark Elves treated His Excellency with was so devoted.'

In the long history of the continent, a precedent of the Fairy Race bowing their heads to a human dynasty did not exist.

"But is it really okay for you to let us go like this? If I were you, I would have immediately issued an attack order. Isn't a commander who wiped out 3 armies cooler than a commander who wiped out 2 armies?"

"..."

Victor had a face that looked like he wanted to smack the back of his father's head if he wasn't his father.

At the open-heartedness on a level that made it confusing whether he was stupid or upright, Eugene also chuckled.

'A man like this is better to associate with than a person who is different on the inside and outside.'

He didn't look like the type to try funny business if granted a favor this time.

"As I said, I want to get along well with Gord. Because it's a harsh world to live in making enemies out of everyone in all directions. And if I'm going to bestow a favor, it's better to bestow it properly, right?"

Eugene touched the armor Duke Wolfson was wearing with his finger.

"To let the people go but confiscate the equipment, and also receive compensation separately. I hate buttoning the first button of a relationship in such a petty way."

Perhaps he liked Eugene's way of thinking, Duke Wolfson laughed heartily.

"Are there no complaints from the subordinates?"

"There are, but I can suppress them. Because there is no such thing as a method that satisfies everyone."

Sometimes there are times when you have to disappoint small forces on the same side for the sake of large outside forces.

"It is certainly a scandalous matter that you all invaded during this civil war. However, that wasn't something that happened while I was ruling."

Eugene gazed at Duke Wolfson. Even he, a hundred-battle veteran, momentarily stiffened his body under the heavy gaze sent by the young man in front of him.

It is Wolfson who can breathe without problem even with his concubines piled up on his chest thanks to endless training. However, right now his breath caught as if an Ogre was stepping on his chest.

Noticing what kind of answer Eugene desired, he nodded his head.

"I am well aware that it is the land you rule now."

"It's good that you understand quickly."

Wolfson firmly grasped the hand Eugene offered.

"Do you happen to have a wife and children? If you don't, with my eldest daughter..."

"It's getting hard to keep up, so please stop. Man, your adaptability really has to be quite something."

Fed up with the marriage proposals thrust in whenever there was a chance, Eugene pushed Wolfson's back.

* * *

Around the time the transport ships carrying the Gord warriors left Britannia, most of the southern nobles had made up their minds.

- Prepare the gifts to bestow to His Excellency. Madam, I will leave the household to you while I am away.

From large and small territories, groups of nobles holding family flags set off to join the new conqueror's procession.

The hostile forces in the south had been swept away, creating a situation where no one could go against Eugene. Furthermore, Britannia is still in turbulent times amidst a civil war, so sticking to the strong one was important.

However, there weren't only nobles whose emotions contained in the pledge of loyalty were filled with 100% pure respect like Baron Foster.

"Deliver this letter to father-in-law's house. Tell him to forget loyalty toward Viscount Winchester and immediately offer a pledge of loyalty to His Excellency Meyer."

The messenger with a tense face firmly nodded looking at the noble putting the letter into his embrace.

"I will run the horse even reducing my sleeping time!"

"I leave it to you. Since he is a very inflexible person, I am worried he might do something pointless."

Like the noble sending the letter right now, there were also many nobles whose fear content was about 30%.

"Did you see that person roaming the battlefield last night? I mean seeing those clad in iron armor getting chopped to pieces along with their swords and shields! I recognized it from the time he handled that monster-like warhorse like livestock."

"That is not all. He broke through two square formations alone and passed between corpses, but the flames caused by fire arrows died down on their own. As if being sucked into the axe that person held."

A Britannia knight poured wine from his canteen onto a nearby bonfire.

Sizzle!

The knight pointed at the intensely blazing flames and continued speaking.

"The blood clinging to the axe evaporated and the chunks of flesh cooked. Just how goosebump-inducing that sound was."

"You must not let your guard down just seeing that person's gentle appearance normally. Since truly, a person's real nature comes out on the battlefield."

At a certain noble's words, everyone nodded.

Everyone clearly realized that this new monarch is a terrifying ruler incomparable to Viscount Winchester.

Even though they offered pledges of loyalty, there were many who called him 'That person' instead of Viscount or Excellency. Because their instincts informed them that he was a heterogeneous existence, somewhat different from themselves.

Vassals who didn't like such rigid attitudes argued back.

"Hearing this, isn't it too much? How hospitably His Excellency treated you all!" "Even though we charged as enemies once, His Excellency devotedly treated even me and my subordinates. There probably won't be anyone as merciful as him."

The loyalist nobles who swore with 100% respect content could only be dumbfounded. However, the tense nobles rather came out confidently.

"It's not that we are ignoring or slandering that person, are we?"

"What's bad about fearing your lord? It means we will serve carefully to that extent."

"...That's true, but."

The loyalist nobles couldn't think of logic to refute either.

They were vassals holding conversations that would make Eugene sad if he heard them. Rex or Homi, who revere the laws of the wild, would rejoice though.

* * *

Eugene, who finished treating the injured and collecting spoils of war, marched toward Haven. Toward the center of southern Britannia and the stronghold of Viscount Winchester.

Only, this time he marched luxuriously like other nobles.

"I thought Sir Knight hated things like this, though."

Rex marveled at the sight of dancers, musicians, and clowns going in and out. Because it was unlike Eugene, who lived with the words 'An army should be like an army' on his lips.

"Heuaaap!"

Two muscular men wearing only pants swung bandaged fists at each other. They are fighters belonging to a troupe.

"Hit harder!"

"Wahahaha!"

Thump!

At the exhilarating striking sounds and splattering blood droplets, the nobles cheered and threw silver coins.

"Thank you! Milords!"

A boy belonging to the troupe nimbly collected them and bowed profusely.

"If the nobles like things like that, what can I do? Because I've now become a position where I have to do things I hate too. Ah, I'll buy all of those incense candles so move them to the warehouse."

"Your grace is immeasurable!"

A sutler prostrated himself flat on the ground at Eugene's spending.

"It reminds me of the time we subjugated bandits in Bone Yard in the past. It feels like just yesterday when you chased away all the merchants who came to sell luxury goods and only bought a bunch of meat."

"It's not that long ago, right? It's been about a year and a half at most."

"...Is that so? It feels like an incredibly long time has passed experientially, though."

Rex tilted his head with a puzzled face.

"That probably means we have spent time that compressed, right? Since journeys that would take ordinary people decades can be traversed in an instant for us."

Loud cheers burst out from the banquet hall. In a hastily arranged arm-wrestling tournament, Homi was sequentially defeating the knights.

Now the general trend of the south is decided. While heading to Haven, not a single lord showed any movements of trying to hold Eugene in check. Rather, the opposite.

"I pledge loyalty to the rightful master of Britannia."

A noble who joined from the provinces knelt in front of Valda.

"Sir Drinkwater. I will accept your loyalty."

Smooch.

When permission was given, the noble kissed the back of Valda's beautiful hand.

"Whenever I hear your call, I will bring my weapons and face the enemies at any time. Gods, please protect this noble person."

Behind the Drinkwater family head, there were boxes containing dozens of fox furs.

Everyone was enthusiastic about offering boxes of silver coins or local specialties so as not to offend the conqueror's mood.

This is the reason Eugene is making a luxurious march right now. When tightening he should tighten tightly, but when loosening he had to show the dignity as a prospective great lord.

As Eugene's army arrived on the outskirts of Haven, the Brotherhood of the Hammer welcomed them.

"You worked hard, Rampage."

"Don't mention it."

The Dwarf warriors led by Rampage received the mission of blocking the surroundings of the city. It was to cut off Viscount Winchester's vassals who might join by a million-to-one chance.

- Excellency! Without us, who will take on the enemies from the front? Even if the pointy-ears shoot arrows well, that alone cannot conclude a fight!

- The conscripted vassal nobles will play the role of the anvil, so do not worry.

- N-no, wait a minute!

The Dwarves, who wanted to step out into battle no matter what, swallowed their tears.

They are ones who have always taken pride in their identity as the race of the earth. However, lately they even felt resentment towards their short legs that cannot ride horses.

- We must also prepare for the case where Viscount Winchester does not surrender, right? I'm not telling you to only besiege. You guys pave the preparations so that I can commence the attack after I arrive if need be.

- !!!

At least thanks to the order Eugene left behind, they were able to harbor hope somehow.

"Were there no vassals who came to the city for rescue?"

"...There were none."

"Because of you guys, they were terrified and couldn't come."

"...Thank you."

Flap flap!

It would have been perfect if it wasn't for the white flags fluttering everywhere in Haven.

* * *

"As expected. It's a city worthy of being called the center of the south."

Haven was special compared to any city Eugene had seen while wandering the continent so far.

Because it is an inland area bordering the abundant Thames River and fertile plains, there is a large population it can support.

But since the river connects to the sea, functioning as a port city was also possible. It possessed infinite value in terms of growth potential.

And there is one more special point.

"To think a waterfall flows in the middle of the city."

Valda gathered both hands in front of her chest as if moved.

Inside Haven city, a single rocky mountain soared. The water pouring forcefully from the top crossed the center of the city, passed the south gate, and merged into the Thames River.

"Do you like it?"

"Naturally! Among the large cities I have seen so far, this is the first place this refreshing. The aura of the forest is faint but alive too."

To the Elf Valda, the first impression of Haven embracing a mountain and a waterfall was a perfect score.

"It is one of the few places in Britannia, where there is a lot of limestone water, that can constantly obtain clear water."

Eugene unspooled the stories he heard from the vassal nobles.

"Befitting a place used as a frontline base of the Ancient Kingdom in the 2nd Era, the waterworks and sewage and some of the buildings maintain the technology of that time."

Doing this, Eugene got the feeling of looking around real estate holding the hand of a prospective bride. That seemed the same for Valda as well.

"Until now, whenever I thought about my family, about my ancestors, it always felt like someone else's business. Because it was like an old story where nothing remained except me now."

That is the reason Valda didn't express it despite her noble bloodline. Because prattling about vanished glory felt vain and futile.

"That is no longer the case. Look at that city."

Eugene pointed with his palm as if offering Haven city.

"That is not merely a large and cool territory. It is also Valda's family that had been sleeping. It is the glory you rightfully should have enjoyed."

"...I will dedicate all of those to you."

He felt Valda's hand interlocked with his squirming. Her face was flushed with an excitement he had never seen before.

"Excellency! Viscount Winchester has appeared."

Perhaps he received word of Eugene's arrival, Viscount Winchester came out alone to the entrance of Haven city. Perhaps because he had already let go of many things, he had a relieved face.

"Look at the vassals following you. Now, if only the flag of the Meyer family is planted in that city, you too are a full-fledged great lord."

"A great lord of Britannia in less than two years starting with 3 people. It seems it has been a truly boisterous journey."

Looking at it this way, he understood why Rex had said that only that much time had passed.