Chapter 246

Chapter 246 - Entering the War (6)

"Honorable lords. This is a war for justice."

Duke Leray placed his palm on his chest and expressed courtesy once towards each place where the nobles sat. That appearance was like a host ahead of a performance, imbued with an uncharacteristic politeness for a great noble.

"You must have all heard the news that Grozya's pillagers crossed the border. The border garrison opened the gates wide without firing a single arrow. The bastards came right in and pillaged the people, and"

The Grozya Khanate is a combat race with a particularly fierce disposition even among nomadic kingdoms. Even just looking at their clan language, a word equivalent to 'sorry' doesn't exist.

'(You) endure it.'

'Forgiveness!'

They replace an apology with two words. Befitting those who live thoroughly by the logic of power, they were ferocious.

- They are a fire, but ones who can solely be used as a backfire. They do not know how to burn slowly to be used as a campfire or a torch.

It's the evaluation left by King Alexandro, the sage king of Roman who reformed heterogeneous races with his popularity and received tributes.

"This is nothing but the beginning. Because each time the civil war reaches its 5th year and 6th year, even more disgusting and atrocious existences will roam thoroughly scavenging Roman. We must strike in before the tyrant finishes his reorganization."

Now it's a situation where everyone who will join has come. Duke Leray, an active pro-war faction, advocated directly attacking the Emperor. In reality, although it's said the Emperor's army was victorious, there was quite some damage from making an unreasonable surprise attack while at a numerical disadvantage.

The problem is which direction to attack the Emperor. Because military factions of so diverse interests had assembled, the profits and losses also strongly divide according to the attack route. It was natural for the debate to heat up.

As for what Eugene was doing during that time, he turned off his interest in the discussion and just exchanged greetings.

"Fanis. It's been a long time."

"Your Excellency! Please lower your speech!"

"Haha. I just played around a bit."

Eugene fully embraced the man who was startled and waving both hands. Fanis choked up at the attitude of an old acquaintance treating him unreservedly even after becoming a superior far out of reach.

"But you've lost a lot of weight?"

The Fanis from when he first saw him in Bonyard was like a bear ahead of hibernation. But now he's slim enough to make one think his life expectancy increased by about 20 years.

"Next year I'm going out for the Bonyard magistrate election."

"Aha! You're a security officer fully equipped with distinguishing marks, money, abilities, and personal connections, so if you just build your body your election is certain."

"Oh my. Please stop it."

Fanis wondered if Eugene was teasing him, but it's not particularly wrong. Friendship with Eugene, who travels the world riding Moving Castle, is Fanis's unique competitiveness.

"For what matter did you come here?"

"We are in charge of a part of the funding support. It's a gathering where all three countries, Gord, Samur, and Roman, assemble. Bonyard, which makes a living on intermediate trade, cannot be left out. One must show their face at a place like this so that sales are easy later."

Furthermore, there was another welcome figure.

"Seeing you beat down those Gord guys, I thought you would achieve great success. Still, the scale of this is too big."

Samur's knight who went out on the same team in the Bonyard Pawnshop war. Caras Cruz was offering his hand.

"Good to see you."

"That's this side's line, Your Excellency the Count."

Tak.

The two knights holding each other's right hands firmly directly narrowed the distance and embraced each other's backs with their left arms.

"It's late, but congratulations on your marriage. A territory and castle, and a wife. Snipping and grabbing only the best things in the world, you truly are greedy."

"It's a relief it seems you reconciled with your father too."

Caras' attire was the dress of a Samur noble. Seeing the Cruz family's symbol embedded on his chest, it seems he attended representing the family. This is an impossible matter unless the family head's declaration of disownment was canceled.

"I came leading the family's army under my father's command. Since my older brother's body isn't very robust and his nature is a civil official. Holding a sword, sweating, and rolling around is my role."

The Cruz family, having been promised crumbs by Duke Leray, participated in the war leading an army of 2,000. Considering it's a foreign expedition, it's not a small number.

"Reassuring. Since the desert's warriors are uniformly famous as strong bones."

"If you live in Samur, there's no time for grease to cover your belly, you see."

Gathering only the harsh points of settled people and nomadic people is the life of Samur. They possessed local specialties hard to see in other countries and trade routes connecting the South and sea routes in return, though.

"By the way, is it alright for Your Excellency not to insert yourself in that debate?"

At the place Caras pointed to with his thumb, there are nobles gradually raising their voices or fanning their reddened faces.

The main axis of this alliance is to the very end the nobles of Roman. Naturally, everyone wanted the main force to move along a route close to their own territories.

They could erase the Imperial Faction's threat from the vicinity, and their territory's economy would also become wealthy with the Allied Forces' massive consumption. It's unconditionally a benefit as a lord.

"If you add weight to one side with Your Excellency the Count's breath, the domino will roll at once."

"I'll buy resentment by that much as well."

Eugene even during the debate frequently felt gazes observing this side. Nobles, mercenary captains, large merchants, financiers, etc.

"I came keeping independent operations in mind from the beginning. Duke Leray would also want that."

"Is it to... utilize that magic castle to the fullest?"

Caras still looks like he can't believe the castle moves. Because he saw the whirlpools and lightning bolts suddenly swirling from afar, he couldn't deny it though.

"There's that too, and my army is too heterogeneous."

Eugene imagined the appearance of keeping pace with the banquet hall's military factions and immediately shook his head side to side.

Even the Britannia civil war where he wielded all command rights independently had more than one or two headaches. Let alone marching with people harboring different ambitions and wielding individual command rights? Holes might form in Eugene's stomach.

"The composition, supply, organization, and tactics have all become too different. That's why it's hard to synchronize coordination with decent external armies. I suppose it would become harmful to each other."

Subordinates meeting a meaningless death because of self-indulgent allied forces is absolutely declined.

Eugene conversed with the reunited friends while leaving only one ear open to the debate. He talked or listened to what journeys they had experienced all this time.

When a certain amount of time had passed like that, the nobles' opinions heavily compressed into 2 types.

"We must inflict a blow on the tyrant's funding source. If it weren't for the mines seized from the South, half the mercenaries would have left. If we recover the mines and return his victory to nothingness, the Emperor's body would also burn up. He will certainly execute an unreasonable attack."

"Moreover, we can help the recovery of the Southern nobles. If the restored Southern army and the Western army group into one mass, that military force will become the maximum scale within 100 years. It's the path to achieving a stable victory without variables."

Those stepping out now are nobles possessing territories close to the South. They feared their own territories would become precarious later on.

"It's said a large army does not need military tactics. If we unite with overwhelming numbers and swarm, we'll be able to minimize variables."

Duke Leray also supported this side. He is realistic unlike the monarchs of this era who revere bravery as the maximum virtue. It's unexpectedly a point where he communicates well with Eugene.

"It is the land my father-in-law inherited generation after generation from ancestors! That good-natured person has given up food and drink and is currently wailing, so how can..."

Relationships entangled through blood ties or regionalism likewise couldn't be left out.

The other advance route was the nobles proposing to attack through the West.

"Let's attack the Duran family's Goldford. If we seize that place, we can deal a great blow to the tyrant's military provisions and transportation."

"If the Southern noble army endures relying on their castles, short-time pacification is impossible even for the tyrant. If we strike the West, we can compel a two-front war. If the tyrant pulls out his army to block the West, the Southern nobles will also get an opening to recover their territories."

Naturally, Count Morad and his vassals are the main axis of this side. Because it was an opportunity to deal a profound blow to the Duran family, an archenemy generation after generation.

'If only Count Mayer cooperates...'

Furthermore, the Allied Forces have the strongest legion capable of a standalone showdown with the Shadow Legion.

If things go well, the Emperor would also give up the recovery of Goldford and try to conclude a peace treaty. That's the best scenario Count Morad hopes for. Towering high as the ruler of the West in one shot.

"As for me, the South is more to my liking."

Caras, who was listening with his arms crossed, said.

"As long as I'm leading an army in a foreign country, I don't want to rashly run around in field battles. Since if we go to the South, we'll be able to gain our share just by striking back while hugging amicable castles."

Although he was an aggressive fighter as a knight, as long as he is a commander, he was setting his personal disposition aside.

"How about Your Excellency? Will you side with the Morad family as expected?"

"For me, victory itself is the goal rather than interests. So I'm effectively in a similar position to you."

For Eugene, it was sufficient if the Emperor reliably lost his power and the civil war ended.

"Everyone. Let's please hear Count Mayer's story as well."

"That's correct speech. Is he not keeping his silence all along in order to collect the opinions of many people despite the strength he possesses?"

The nobles friendly to the Morad family drew Eugene in. Giving favorable interpretations on their own accord as if firmly having bean pods stuck to their eyes. However, Eugene progressed the story in a different direction.

"I wish to support the Allied Forces in a manner only I can. Food, arrows, and various supplies stockpiled in my castle can maintain the entirety of the Allied Forces gathered here for a good 2 years or more. I can provide drinking water and feed for military horses and livestock limitlessly. Utilizing that advantage, I will supply goods as a mobile supply base."

Of course, it's not for free. And besides the supplies the soldiers will use, he plans on wildly selling off luxury goods the nobles will use.

"To say 'mobile supply base'."

"I only heard rumors and haven't seen the real thing. Taking this opportunity, I definitely want to gain some experience of it."

At the two words that cannot stick together being combined, hollow laughter came out from here and there.

"My army will utilize its mobility and participate in the war as a detachment. In a desperate situation, even when salvation absolutely cannot be expected, the fact that the final hope can appear is a good thing, you see. That itself will sustain the morale of the soldiers and be like a thorn caught in the tyrant's throat."

Eugene's army certainly is the elite of elites. However, in a fight between large armies, its efficiency drops. Since long ago, a small number of elites naturally yields maximum efficiency when performing independent operations.

Meanwhile, the Morad-side nobles showed complexions of fluster. Because they thought he would sympathize with them and aim for Goldford.

"Your Excellency the Count. Is it not too passive a course of action? Your Excellency's army is a strong army that knows no defeat. So long as you just try, you could grasp a far greater honor."

"As Duke Leray said, this is a fight of justice and evil. My personal honor or interests are not important. Only a certain victory is nothing but the foremost valuable thing."

"..."

In the Morad-side nobles' memories, Eugene's image was a knight like a tiger moth jumping into glory.

He was an alpha male who went abruptly into the Richwood Forest where monsters abnormally multiplied and beat them all down, and drove a battering ram to the Codon Castle where arrows rained down and smashed the castle gates.

And yet, his attitude was passive compared to what they expected, and he didn't even particularly support the Morad family.

While the nobles' murmuring grew, Duke Leray bowed his head to Eugene.

"Count Mayer. Please accept my apology."

"No, why are you acting like this suddenly?"

"Seeing it now, opposing the Count's standing director seat was my blunder. In a war of a large army, logistics is a more core value than a common man's bravery. I was struck with admiration at the mindset of making the Allied Forces' internal stability robust. I must reflect on being swayed by rumors. To think you were such a cool-headed monarch."

'What really is this human?'

Is this what they mean by not evaluating people based solely on first impressions? Despite a noble bloodline, Duke Leray was the type to acknowledge what needs acknowledging. Valuing logistics more than bravery unlike knights of this era was also unique.

It's not that Eugene specifically supported either route. But with him expressing a neutral view alone, weight gradually shifted to the South route.

The Western route predicts all-out battles on the plains and a siege battle on Goldford. The Southern route, where they hold out in amicable territories and inflate their numbers, cannot help but be appealing.

Tok tok.

While fierce disputes went back and forth again, Caras tapped Eugene's arm.

"Will it be alright? Even if nominal, Morad is a place where you're a vassal and it's a friendly family."

"Even though I'm a vassal, I don't have drafting obligations. I gave a lot more than what I received. Wars aren't something one can wage with loyalty alone, are they?"

The admonitions offered by Hind and Marbas in the meeting with retainers were also like that. The advice whispered by Valda, who received an arm pillow last night in bed, was likewise.

"What if you get estranged from the Morad family because of that?"

"An unavoidable matter. Instead, I can become close with Duke Leray, no?"

"Aren't you regretful for their good-quality wine?"

"It's fine. Doctor Maria will brew it for us now."

The heart hoping for victory in this civil war is the same for Eugene as the other nobles of the alliance.

However, what Eugene wants most is not land, but people. Even now, he's releasing spies and looking into whether there are fortresses where Dark Elf refugees are arrested or interred.

As for money, even doing good business with the tens of thousands of the Allied Forces can rake in a massive amount. If conditions changed and cards held in hand increased, seeking profits to match that was natural.

* * *

A large army's policy naturally cannot be decided in a day. Even afterwards, while additional meetings were held and opinions harmonized, an unforeseen incident occurred.

"Noble ones! Please, salvation!"

A messenger almost with death right before his eyes arrived at the city lying face down on his horse. It was a state where a handful of his stomach had disappeared, and just looking at it, it wasn't an injury incurred battling a person.

This pitiful yet loyal messenger tied his body to the horse's back and didn't abandon his duty even while repeatedly fainting and waking up.

"A monster I've seen for the first time in my life pushed into the village. The lord fought bravely facing it but eventually fell..."

Whether due to physical pain or pain of the heart, the messenger stopped talking for a moment.

"The pagans who emerged from among the monsters placed the corpse on the altar. I beg you. Have pity on us. So that our souls won't be dragged to a wicked place..."

Fulfilling his duty with a will he couldn't completely finish, the messenger breathed his last.

"I will not forget your honorable nature."

Duke Leray personally took the messenger down from the horse and closed those eyes.

"It wasn't a false rumor! The pagan bastards really appeared!"

"Let's subjugate them right now! The bastards are like black fire, so we must suppress the embers immediately upon seeing them. Or else they will swallow the common people and end up turning into an intense demon of fire."

This unified the divided lords at once. Even though it's not like the old days, indeed their root is Roman. The lords held a generous funeral honoring the messenger's honor.

'I hope that Emperor guy doesn't interfere.'

Eugene rubbed his chin and agonized. No matter how unruly a bastard he is, he certainly wouldn't pull tricks leaving a pagan army be.

"Your Excellency Mayer. Please join us in this honorable battle."

"There is no knight in the world who has dealt with more wicked enemies than the Count. Even evil gods, champions, and pagan worshippers will fear standing before your sword, Sir."

The lords' gazes gathered onto Eugene. There was no reason to refuse.