Chapter 179

Chapter 179 - Conqueror (2)

"Finally, what was to come has come."

"Like it or not, we can't avoid the fight. Let's go early and get noticed. The guy who comes last gets marked."

The vassals viewed participation in the war as a constant. Leading their prepared weapons and troops, they swiftly responded to the mobilization order.

Whether the mobilization cost was burdensome, they had someone to rely on, or even resistance against foreign rule. It wouldn't be strange for someone trying to hold out to appear, but there was no such thing.

Eugene was exercising powerful influence through two great victories and his marriage with Valda. Receiving the transfer of power peacefully from Viscount Winchester also played a big role.

Moreover, one more thing. Each lord conducted a background check on Eugene. To confirm the authenticity of the rumors following the new lord.

- We hired adventurers and sent them to Rasta Monastery to confirm. It was true that the Earl Excellency fought 1 on 1 with a Death Knight and won. The priests swore in the name of God, so it's a testimony you can trust.

- They say the stuffed trophies hung in the lobby of the Castle of Magic are genuine. They invited several famous hunters and cross-checked it, so there's no mistake.

Surprisingly, it was genuine martial prowess without any bluff or exaggeration mixed in.

"To think he climbed up here in barely a little over two years with a single sword and one retainer."

Even though he was a fledgling great lord, he was fully worthy of trust and following.

If it becomes like this, the mobilization is no longer a burdensome event that only sucks up money. If luck follows, it could become a money-making opportunity. Whether it becomes loot or ransoms.

* * *

The vassals of the Kruger family gathered in the strategy room looked at the map. Although crude and with many errors, all of Britannia was displayed.

"Spies and merchants report that the chaos in the south has been cleanly settled."

Countless small flags are planted on the map. They indicate troop types and troop scale, and the sheer volume of the south was not a scale to be ignored.

"To think they have this number even after fighting two pitched battles."

"Viscount Winchester is pathetic too. If he's going to exit, he should have at least reduced the number of the invader bastards before leaving."

Mobilizing close to 3,000 troops and striking before the Cornwall nobles gathered wasn't a bad choice.

The problem was merely meeting an unimaginable disaster called Eugene. If it weren't for that alone, he would have been leisurely defeating the Cornwall nobles one by one by now.

"It's a lot. No matter how you look at it, it's too much."

The nobles lamented.

Viscount Winchester only led the immediately mobilizable vassals for a quick battle. Thanks to that, the flags of the unsought nobles lined up all over the south.

All of them went under the Meyer family. Bunched into one lump, even estimated conservatively, it would easily exceed 5,000. That number didn't even include the Meyer family's main unit in the calculation.

"Even so, aren't they southern bastards? Even if you put swords in their hands, they are just folks who do nothing but peel potatoes and cut fish necks. Even the weakest soldier of our army could easily beat their centurions to death."

A certain noble spoke spiritedly, but few responded. Because the situation has changed now.

"From what era are you talking about the south?"

"If that Winchester bastard were the commander, that would have been the case."

Even if there is exaggeration mixed in Eugene's reputation, at this point it's meaningless. Because even if only a quarter of it is true, he's a terrifying person all the same.

Even if a 1-ton bear shrinks to 250kg, tearing a person to death in one blow remains unchanged as a rule.

Clatter.

King Kruger, who had been sitting in the seat of honor keeping silent, stood up.

"I looked into Earl Meyer's activities on the continent. He's quite a monster."

The nobles were surprised by the king's reaction. Because it was the first time he referred to a competitor who intervened in the civil war by their formal title instead of calling them a bastard or just by name.

Even calling him a monster. Kruger is a king feared as a 'wise madman'. Hearing the word monster from a monster is the supreme compliment.

"If the leader is a lion, even a flock of sheep will know the taste of meat. Daring to bare their teeth at wolves."

At the lord's atmosphere seeming to want to avoid fighting, one vassal stepped forward.

"Then wouldn't it be good to propose a marriage alliance as planned?"

From the point Viscount Winchester was defeated, the Kruger family had been preparing marriage talks. But that too was a story only possible before Eugene got married.

"Are you telling me to send my daughter as a concubine?"

"I-I apologize."

At the fierce glare, the noble swiftly bowed his head. Even though the king doesn't have deep affection for his children, his pride regarding his family was immense.

Unlike Samur which allows multiple formal wives, Britannia only allows concubinage. From the point Eugene got married, the marriage alliance with the Kruger family was as good as gone.

'What should I do about this.'

The wrinkles on the king's forehead deepened. The opponent was too exceptional a force.

Starting as a mere free knight, he rapidly built up his power and seized the south of Britannia in an instant as well.

Furthermore, his wife is a daughter of the 1st Era royal family. The army he leads is the Dark Elves and Dwarves famous for their strong pride.

Even as an experienced Earl, his head started aching over how to deal with this. Because something like this he had only seen in fairy tales.

* * *

"Excellency. Because we suffered heavy losses in the last pitched battle."

The vassal who was smashed facing Eugene under Viscount Winchester bowed deeply.

The family's situation was not good at all, but it was the first mobilization order. Refusing the mobilization during the most important period on top of that? Someone who once pointed a sword at Eugene?

The rest of his life will become very exhausting. To not have his fief reclaimed, he had to join even if it meant pulling out the pillars of his family.

Gathering troops hurriedly, 80% were conscripts. A single subordinate knight he had also didn't participate due to insufficient recovery from injuries.

"I know your circumstances, Baron. You do not need to join the campaign, focus on transportation missions in the rear."

As Eugene raised his hand, a Dark Elf youth rode up on a horse.

"Here, Anderson will guide you on the transportation route from the Moving Castle to the operation area. I will attach additional laborers, so you just need to transport horse feed on time."

"I will serve with all my power!"

At a mission easier than expected, the vassal brought his feet together and shouted.

"I look forward to your dedication. If you accomplish it excellently, I will bestow a fitting reward."

At the unexpected leftover crumbs, the vassal painstakingly managed his facial expression.

Eugene greeted the arriving vassals one by one thereafter and assigned missions according to each's circumstances.

"Baron Lester! Welcome."

"Nice to meet you for the first time."

"Ah! You don't need to dismount from the horse. Stay mounted as you are."

"...It is an honor to serve the most renowned strongest knight of Roman."

"The honor is mine. I am well aware of the martial achievement of repelling 800 Vikings with an army of 300."

The large influential families guarding the border areas were treated with the most care.

They are the ones who received special favors to protect the south from the threats of the western, central, and eastern lords. Because their territories themselves are large, just combining them yielded nearly 40% of the vassals' fighting power.

"Your mother is taking a rest in the Emerald Garden. Her vomiting has also stopped and the best female doctor is treating her, so let's observe the progress."

"I know from receiving mother's letter. She said she ate as many as two roasted chicken drumsticks this morning. Even though when she was at home, she used to repeatedly vomit even if she just ate potato soup."

Baron Lester is a rare filial son.

His mother painfully protected the family in place of his father who died in battle against the Vikings. In the midst of that, she raised Baron Lester, who was a boy, giving him unsparing love.

Eugene did not pass by the report that such a mother's health had deteriorated.

- His Excellency Meyer commanded we attend to your mother. We will treat her in the greatest sanctuary continuing from the 1st Era.

He sent tribal doctors and the Earl's exclusive vibration-free carriage to transport her to the Emerald Garden.

Baron Lester read and reread his mother's letter countless times on his way here.

"Please entrust the most dangerous battlefield to me. I will repay you by spilling over a barrel's worth of either the enemy's blood or my own."

"I will gratefully receive that intention. But let's first see if the enemies can approach us."

Behind Eugene, there are the Dark Elf archer unit and the longbowmen brought by the vassals too.

Even if not as much as the west, yewwood is also a specialty product of the south. That was the driving force for the southern army, evaluated as weak, to hold out stubbornly.

Among the vassals gathering thoroughly, there are many who only met Eugene at the wedding and are seeing his army for the first time.

Everyone felt pride and fear at the same time at the discipline of the elite corps flying the Meyer family's flag.

"I heard there's a lot of cavalry, but this is..."

"Didn't he bring real nomadic tribes?"

Horse archers operating even reserve horses, and the fairy race composite bows tied to the saddles were rare sights never seen at all in Britannia.

The majesty of the heavily armored Dwarf warriors armed with iron shields and hammers that look capable of smashing even boulders was incredible too.

They do not cross the sea. The vassals shuddered because the strong soldiers of the continent, whose fearsomeness they only heard of through rumors, were together with them.

In the midst of that, a secret envoy arrived from the east.

* * *

"We do not have the slightest intention of fighting Your Excellency Meyer. In the first place, this war was caused by the greedy Kruger family drawing in outside barbarians."

The secret envoy offered a luxuriously packaged letter to Eugene.

"It is a personal letter sent by the administrator of eastern Britannia, His Excellency Earl Harvester."

Homi received the letter instead and inspected it. It is to prepare for potential poisoning. Because there is nothing she can't evade with her nose and intuition.

The letter's content was simple. It was proposing a non-aggression pact to overthrow the common enemy, the Kruger family.

Going as far as an alliance, they were wary of Eugene's momentum as a conqueror, and Eugene was also in a situation where he couldn't readily trust the eastern nobles, so it was appropriate.

"If I firmly express my hostile intentions toward Kruger, you will provide food aid free of charge?"

"We have stockpiled enough food for an army of ten thousand to endure for 2 years. Including this year's harvest, it will increase to 3 years."

"I know that both people and wheat are plentiful. Still, my army is not a small number, isn't it a waste?"

He didn't expect them to magnanimously hand it over for free, not even lending it without interest or selling it cheaply.

"With the east's power alone, we cannot stop the Kruger family anyway. Rather than having places all over the territory pillaged and taken, it is better to offer it to a neighbor who will fight those bastards."

"I like it because you are refreshing and honest."

The more food, the better. If he dualizes the routes to supply food to the south and east, the army will become safer.

"Firmly expressing hostile intentions would mean attacking Kruger's territory, right?"

"Yes. It must be at least that much for His Excellency Harvester to persuade the vassals too."

The south Eugene leads is a potential risk factor just with the power it possesses. Sending a massive amount of food to such a faction is difficult even for Earl Harvester to proceed arbitrarily.

"But this is deferred payment, right? If you wipe your mouth after making me fight, I'll be the only idiot."

"In that case, you may strike my neck."

"Mm?"

Baron Foster tipped off the puzzled Eugene.

"Excellency. This person is the eldest daughter of Earl Harvester, Lady Mirana."

"So that was how it was."

There was a reason why for a mere secret envoy she oozed nobility and her intonation was refined.

"I definitely understand your sincerity. It couldn't have been easy to send the eldest as a hostage."

"We only trust Your Excellency's honor."

The secret envoy's life was the token of the contract itself. Eugene nodded his head.

"I will accept the pact."

"Thank you, Excellency! I look forward to your kind cooperation."

Mirana, who successfully completed the mission, had a bright expression. With the western army defeated absurdly, things looked pitch black, but a truly reliable force appeared.

This negotiation was also achieved by Mirana taking the lead and persuading her father.

"Greet each other. This is Albert of the Louis family. Ask if you have anything you're curious about. Because he was living here first, he will teach you well."

Eugene let the VIP guests greet each other.

"...Nice to meet you."

"This too is a connection. Let's get along well."

Albert with an expression difficult to describe and Mirana smiling affably. A great noble of Barcia who was a prisoner of war and a great noble of Britannia who was a hostage joined as companions.

* * *

"The Rothschild friends are competent, but control won't be possible with just them."

"Humans must receive orders from the same human for there to be no trouble. Leave it to me and just concentrate on fighting."

"It's truly a relief you are here, Marbas."

An outstanding Summoner was just right to entrust Haven to during Eugene's absence.

The might and fear of a magician, the authority and reverence of a monk. Because he is an existence respected for possessing the advantages of both sides.

"Goodness, for a married couple to head to the battlefield side by side when it hasn't been long since they set up their bridal room."

"Isn't the point being together the important thing? Neither I nor Valda are fated to settle down comfortably in one place."

"Even an existence as active on large battlefields as the Emerald Forest's Magician is rare indeed."

From Marbas's perspective, it seemed safer if the two were together on the battlefield instead.

Because if by any chance something went wrong with Eugene, Valda would wither away like a flower that lost its roots. Assisting her husband with her magic would be protecting herself too.

"If the couple is active on the battlefield side by side, that story will be sung and passed down even hundreds of years from now."

"I've already hired bards as well."

"You really pay good attention to such things. You speak unlike a knight in a good sense."

He was a youth who truly made one curious what he would be doing right now if he hadn't become a knight.

"These will take charge of Marbas's escort."

Eugene introduced the Dark Elf veterans waiting in the rest position. Judging by their appearance they were over 50, considering their racial traits, their actual age would be much older.

However, the fierce glint in their eyes, muscular limbs, and well-maintained equipment still fully exuded the atmosphere of elites.

"They'd twist the neck of any decent mercenary with one hand."

"Isn't strength exactly experience, Summoner."

Perhaps there was an understanding between fellow old soldiers, Marbas and the warriors grinned.

"But is it okay to interrupt your peaceful twilight years like this?"

"All of them are volunteers. They said they started missing their active years while only looking after grandkids and doing maintenance work."

Eugene, who follows Lanchester's Laws, planned to concentrate his forces to the maximum to minimize allied damage. Thus he wanted to minimize active troops in the safe rear.

The old soldiers strictly lack stamina but their experience is outstanding and they don't need much sleep. They will perform escort missions at the home base just as well as the young ones.

* * *

Gathered under Meyer's flag, the army commenced its march toward the west.

Although the river named River Seven because it bends 7 times obstructed the way, there is a place where a bridge is placed.

"Open the gate! The master of the south has come!"

The lord here is also a vassal who swore loyalty to Eugene. The garrison presented arms and showed courtesy, and there were supplies piled up around for Eugene.

"We eat our meals across the river! If you want to eat quickly, move quickly!"

Voices encouraging the soldiers erupted from everywhere. Animal cries no less loud resounded.

Meeee-.

Grrrrr-!

A three-digit number of sheep, goats, and camels were moving following the army.

"This is the first time I've seen such a march."

"This is the expedition of a nomadic army."

All the vassals looked around everywhere as if fascinated. For them, an expedition was just soldiers, servants, and wagons. Yet an army marching while concurrently practicing animal husbandry.

"The rewards bestowed to soldiers would be about just the loot, but we can't always fight, can we? What takes up the majority of a war is marching and standing guard. There's a need to give rewards in between to those who performed their duties well."

Wheeeet-!

Homi's whistle rang out. Even without separate control, the livestock formed ranks smoothly like trained soldiers and crossed the bridge.

"There wouldn't be a faster and surer morale boosting method than feeding them meat."

"You are absolutely right!"

"I understand why the Dark Elves and Dwarves harmonized with one heart under Your Excellency! With you taking care of your subordinates with such mercy, who would harbor dissatisfaction?"

The vassals flattered thinking this was the moment. Although they were words spoken wanting to catch Eugene's eye, the content itself had no wrong parts.

If they penetrate the forest across the river, they can bypass the territories of the western lords and head to King's Field.

Normally it is a road avoided because of monsters, bears, and wolves, but with a large army of this size, those guys avoided them on their own.

However, impiously, there were quite a few people hoping for monster attacks.

'I want to show His Excellency my fighting appearance.'

'Empty lands will spring up around the time the civil war ends.'

Because for nobles who participated without a fief, there was no better opportunity for success than this.

'The Hydra that was in the bone exhibition hall was truly incredible. To think he decapitated all those heads in a single stroke.'

Nobles with fiefs also had the desire to witness Eugene's highly renowned martial prowess directly.

"This direction is blocked. You have to go around to the left... e-eot?!"

The guides were astounded at the sight of the forest moving on its own and opening paths.

"Why are you surprised? As long as Valda is with us, the forest is our ally. You must have seen such instances at least once in the records of the 1st Era?"

"Excellency. Everyone had considered those as fairy tales, but..."

"Not anymore."

The vassals lost their words. Along with the Emerald Garden's revival, it was a sight where the common sense the nobles had known collapsed, but it didn't matter.

Eugene and Valda. The sight of the knight and Elf looking back holding hands side by side. That omitted a lot of explanation and convinced the onlookers right away.

The army that penetrated the forest 3 times faster than originally planned marched north with irresistible force.

"According to common law, if you recover King's Field, Your Excellency can claim ownership of the crops there."

Swallowing up the land bypassing the rightful master saying you chased off invaders is something subject to criticism. However, there's no problem because crops are considered loot. The equipment of the dead Kruger army and their ransoms are a bonus.

However, what Eugene's army discovered upon arriving at the granary wasn't swaying grains.

"They already finished harvesting?"

"They shouldn't have fully ripened yet. Even if they harvest them now, they can't eat them."

Desolate wheat fields welcomed Eugene's army.

"This wasn't harvested by humans."

Eugene checked the messily torn wheat stems. It was a trace as if something much rougher than a farmer's sickle had torn them.

At that time, the Dark Elves' ears pricked up all at once. Homi was already nocking an arrow on her bowstring.

"Pl-please save..."

A certain soldier appeared parting through the somewhat intact wheat field. Perhaps having received a large impact to his head, he was bleeding profusely from his nose, and his right arm was ripped off from the shoulder joint.

Perhaps exhausting his strength, the soldier died collapsing in front of Eugene's army.

"Seeing his attire and appearance, he is from Kruger's army. It seems he was attacked by monsters."

At the knight's words after examining the corpse, Eugene felt the situation turning strange.

"Monsters are laying siege and attacking the castle!"

At the report of the scouts who tracked the corpse's bloodstains, the nobles were also bewildered.

"Did you see wrong?"

"Monsters conducting a siege battle?"

This mobilization truly seemed to be accompanied by many fascinating experiences.