CH 365

Harold and the former Wessek Kingdom Army were protected by Flora’s Army and were advancing southward smoothly. Wherever Harold and his army entered the castle, they were greeted with grandeur, and the local lords immediately showed their allegiance. The troops liberated the former Wessek Kingdom’s territory one after another, and the time was almost all spent on just moving, as it was almost the same as the time it took to fight or negotiate.

Harold’s Army had liberated the southwestern area in no time, and the lords of various places sent out soldiers to flatter the triumphant return of the king.

For example, even if one lord sends only 100 soldiers if 10 lords send 100 soldiers, it will be 1,000 total. In this era, a 1,000-man unit is a large unit even in a large country. Considering that even if all the soldiers in the Kingdom of Frasia and the Kingdom of Ploiss were gathered together, they would only number in the tens of thousands, you can see just how large a force of several thousand is.

It is not possible for a large country to collect and deploy all its soldiers. You have to leave behind border guards, and even if you say to send out all the soldiers that the lords of each territory have, there’s no way they’ll send out all of them. Since each region also has to maintain public order and defend itself, it would be better if half the soldiers were dispatched at most.

As a result, even if there are 100,000 soldiers, including the soldiers of each lord, only half of them can be collected at the kingdom level. In addition, it is necessary to allocate soldiers from half of that to border patrol and defense of areas under their direct control. Even if a major power intends to go to war with all its might and uses up as much military power as possible in only one direction, it is only at that level.

Under Harold, in addition to the original military strength soldiers from various places liberated from the northeast joined them, and now it has become a large force exceeding 5,000. It’s a scale that the King will not be ashamed of when he returns to the royal capital. Furthermore, since Flora’s Army has joined them, it is now in a situation where even the Kingdom of Frasia can’t get afford to clash with them.

Of course, the Frasian Army that had already crossed over to the Blish Isles had been annihilated, and now only a few supply wagons and garrisons remained in the southwestern part of the island. Even if you take on that army and put pressure on them, they will surrender without a fight.

Engelbert von Marc, the general of the defeated army, calls on the remaining Frasian soldiers to surrender and join up. Partly because of that effect, there was almost no battle, and the defeated soldiers led by Engelbert swelled to nearly 1,000 men.

“Ooh! My royal capital, how I missed it!” Harold cried, overwhelmed with emotion.

Winchestel, the royal capital, had finally come into view. Hearing this, the vassals who escaped together with him to the northeast fortress, and those who had been freed before coming here and pledged allegiance to Harold, also stared at Winchestel with passion.

“It’s the King’s triumphant return! Open the gates!”

The current situation has already been reported for the first time. The Frasian forces in Winchestel immediately surrendered and fell under Engelbert’s command. The gate was grandly opened on the main street, and Harold and the others made a triumphant return to the royal castle so that they could be seen by the townspeople.

“That’s… that flag!? King Harold!?”

“I was wondering if Guillaume’s Army was gone…..I never thought that King Harold would return…”

“Glory to King Harold!”

“Glory to the Kingdom of Wessek!”

The citizens of Winchestel cheered as they saw Harold and his army advancing from the gate to the royal castle along the central street. To be honest, Harold didn’t have any track record as a king. He was formally supposed to have inherited the throne, but he was driven out in the war before he could do anything right. Even the citizens had no way of knowing Harold’s qualities as a king.

Were they still rooting for Harold? The answer is “No.” The fact that Harold had returned to the royal capital with his large army was simply a judgment that Harold probably had won. And the citizens here just wanted to ride on the winner’s coattails.

They don’t have any particular support for either side and when Guillaume ruled Winchestel, they praised and welcomed Guillaume. Now that Guillaume’s Army has left and Harold has returned, they just welcomed Harold.

Even so, Harold who has lived in Wessek since childhood is more or less known here. Guillaume only lived in the Kingdom of Frasia, and they had never seen his face even though he was said to be a blood relative of the previous king. Compared to that, Harold might be more popular with the people.

Harold and his party intentionally walked slowly through the central street and finally entered the royal castle, then immediately began their action. West of Winchestel has not yet been liberated. Engelbert’s letter is shown to the Frasian army to force them to surrender. In addition, they sent messengers to the lords of various places to recognize Harold as king and submit to him.

Yes… it was an order to “Recognize Harold’s legitimate rule and submit to him.”

Harold himself, of course, was also trying to bring together the former Wessek Kingdom. But he has never ordered anyone to recognize him as king and order them to swear allegiance to him. Harold has already pledged his allegiance to Flora, King Karrzer. He thought that this return to the royal capital was also a unification project to dedicate the Kingdom of Wessek to Flora.

However… not all retainers are the same. Especially so for those who witnessed the strength of Flora’s Army in the battle of the northeast, but it was the same for those who simply surrendered because the king had returned without even seeing the battle scene.

They don’t even know about Flora’s existence. And the role played by Flora’s Army and its strength…

Naturally, if that happened, there would be a power struggle to seize “Our power under King Harold.” The most influential among them was Count Robert Reicester.

Count Robert Reicester has lands northeast of Winchestel. He was one of the people who followed Harold from quite an early stage until he returned here triumphantly.

In such disputes, it is better to come first. He’s been with the King since he had no one under his command, and he’d lent him soldiers to help! Speaking of which, it means that the ability to speak out will increase.

Robert didn’t have the ability, nor did he have an eye for the future. Rather, when he was ruled by Guillaume, Robert flattered his new master. Guillaume was captured and Harold returned, so he just returned to Harold’s palm. And the position of his fief was also a stroke of luck.

At the stage where Harold was liberating various regions and making them submit to him, Robert just happened to have the territory where the recapture was beginning. However, that he had obeyed Harold and lent his strength to him from the start was a great advantage over the other lords. By making the most of it, Robert had established a firm position in Harold’s Army.

And it’s Robert’s instructions is to go around asking the stragglers to surrender and submit to King Harold. Since Robert doesn’t know what role Flora played, he has no way of knowing that Harold intends to follow Flora afterward.

It was unforgivable to arbitrarily tamper with the orders issued by Harold and the retainers who had followed him to the northeastern fort, and rewrite them to accept Harold as the king and submit to him as they did now. It’s unforgivable… but as long as it’s not discovered, it can’t be blamed either.

“That troop led by a person called Ignatz… What is that troop?! Are they making themselves look more important than Lord Robert!? Aren’t they a commoner or a foreigner who has infiltrated for His Majesty’s favor?”

One of Robert’s faction members says such a thing in a room in Winchestel Royal Castle. Hearing that, the rest of the members also raised their voices saying “Hear, hear.”

“Fumu… Certainly… Until we saw the King return to the royal capital, I avoided conflicts among my comrades, lest something happen on the way…” Robert said. “But even now that he’s back to the royal castle, Ignatz still has that attitude, we can’t afford to forego correcting him.”

“Ooh!”

“Then in that case…”

Count Robert Reicester’s words gave his faction so many expectations.

“Umu! Guillaume will be executed by us. And let’s trap and kill all this ‘Ignatz’s’ troops.”

“”””Ooh!”””””

The faction people cheered. The Kingdom of Wessek is now reunited under King Harold. After the reunification, there will be awards for meritorious deeds. Those who submit later have fewer achievements. It is unlikely that they will rise to the top in the future ruling system.

They know that Ignatz’s Unit has been there since the beginning. After all, he and his men were already there when Harold and the others came to Robert’s territory. If that happens, they will naturally receive a lot of rewards for their achievements, their faction will be taken up higher, and they will gain power in the Kingdom of Wessek moving forward.

But Robert is not going to sit back and watch it. If you don’t have a seat of your own, you should make a seat for yourself. That’s right… they should just eliminate the guy sitting in the upper seat and force that spot vacated.

The battle for post-unification has already begun… and those who miss this opportunity will be the losers. You are not a winner because you worked hard in the war and made achievements. The one who gets power, in the end, is the winner.

“Kukuku!”

Robert was convinced of his success and drank the wine of victory.

The day after Harold entered the capital, Guillaume was executed in the town square. Having spent the night outside Winchestel after having been told that his whole forces would not be allowed inside, Ignatz and his men were astonished at the news.

“Fools! Why did they execute Guillaume without permission!?”

“What, I don’t understand…”

“They claim there is no point of saying such a thing to outsiders trying to enter their capital.”

Inside the tent, Ignatz puts his hand on his chin and thinks. Harold executed Guillaume on his own accord… Guillaume’s execution was certainly decided, but he wasn’t told when and where to execute him, and on top of that, Ignatz’s forces didn’t even enter the royal capital and they had to set up camp outside the royal capital. He doesn’t understand Harold’s thoughts at all.

He doesn’t think they have any intention of rebelling against them… If they received a surprise attack, they would probably take some damage, but the subsequent counterattack would probably annihilate Harold’s Army. He wondered who would do such a stupid thing even though Harold should know that…

“Captain Ignatz! Harold’s army is surrounding us!”

“-!? Impossible! All men, retreat! Full retreat!”

Just when he thought I could see Harold’s army, a rain of arrows fell on Flora’s Camp. There were no enemies around, and Flora’s soldier thought it was just friendly forces close by and had no way to deal with it.

“Gua!”

“Gyaa!”

Arrows rain down one after another. They can’t understand what’s going on. They don’t know what to do.

“Everyone take only the weapons and then escape! Don’t worry about supplies! Retreat! Retreat to the northeast!”

There is no option to fight back immediately here. They didn’t bring artillery, which is slow and difficult to transport. Most of the people here are recruits brought from a part of the gun units and the Caan Knights Nation.

The strength of the friendly forces also increased, and most of them showed their allegiance simply by sending messengers to Ignatz. That’s why they thought that there would be little fighting from now on, and they left a lot of their strength to defend Laudin and Corchistel. It would be a lie if Ignazt said that he had never thought that their allies would suddenly start shooting at them, but it was true that they underestimated them.

Even if you try to fight here, the enemy will be approaching in perfect condition. They should have had them set up camp here from the beginning to attack them. It is a hollow surrounded by hills, and their overwhelming disadvantage cannot be overturned. They are surrounded by a large number of soldiers and are being shot with bows from above. Even with the use of the new weapon, their rifles, there is no immediate plan to overturn this situation.

“First of all, everyone escape! Follow me!”

Due to the leadership of Ignatz and the other leaders, they started to retreat without breaking down and routing at the last minute. Ignatz and the others managed to retreat to Laudin, evading the pursuing enemies.

However, the southwest has already proclaimed the resurrection of the Wessek Kingdom with King Harold leading it. The Blish Isles was divided at an angle from the northwest to the southeast, like a diagonal line from the upper left to the lower right on a map, divided between Flora’s power and Wessek’s power.

It was almost the same time when Ignaz and the others escaped to Laudin and when Flora returned from the Caan Knighthood. When Ignatz hears that Flora is back, he immediately reports the situation.

“Due to Harold’s sudden attack, our army gave up trying to secure the area around Winchestel and retreated… 121 people were injured and 22 died…”

DAAAAHNNN!

In the middle of Ignatz’s report, a tremendous sound rang out, and the simple desk in front of Flora was shattered.

“The Kingdom of Wessek~~~!” Flora hissed. “Just wait… don’t you dare think that you can get away with this!”

Upon receiving the report of Wessek’s betrayal and surprise attack, Flora’s face… was overwhelmed with anger as no one had ever seen before. Even those who had known Flora for a long time couldn’t even speak to her because of her rage.