CH 8

“You’re going to surrender? Are you out of your mind, Duke?” Carlton smiled, dumbfounded. The sound of his laughter was jagged sharp, piercing Luisen’s back.

“You’re surrendering now? Then you should have opened your gates yesterday with open arms if you wanted to spare your life. We’re having a hard time out in the open, all because you’ve been stretching this battle out. So far, it seems like you’ve been expecting others to roll onto their stomachs by the force of your good name…”

Carlton slapped Luisen on the back of his shoulder, the force of which made his body reel. “Unfortunately, I’m not that merciful of a person. If you’ve started a war, you must take responsibility for it, my lord.”

Carlton began to slowly creep his sword out of its sheath. A hollow sound rang in the air, and he brought the tip of his sword up to Luisen’s nose.

“I’ll kill you first and then sweep through your land. I don’t know how to end things peacefully; those who fight me must be beaten to the bitter end. Especially a noble like you.”

This crazy bastard.

Fear threatened to overwhelm Luisen. The anger in the knight’s eyes was sincere; none of his words betrayed any hesitation. His nicknames, the butcher and the slaughterer, were no exaggerations. He was someone who had no qualms about killing aristocrats.

No, rather Carlton was enjoying this situation. While wandering, Luisen had met many folks who hated aristocrats. However, the difference between those men and Carlton was that the common man held fear for a noble’s power. However, Carlton did not share that fear.

‘I’m really going to die if this continues.’

Luisen’s back became wet with cold sweat. He had to think of something. He had to say something…no, not just anything. He had to say something to unnerve Carlton and to suppress his anger.

Luisen was already prepared for this situation.

He didn’t want to waste his second miraculous chance at life, so he had been thinking hard about how best to beg Carlton to spare his life. While walking along the forest road, he thought and thought again, revising his words.

However, Carlton was a crazier person that he could have imagined–a hopelessly mannerless one as well. No matter if they were currently enemies, the opposing lord should have been treated politely and not like human luggage. And if the enemy leader surrendered, one should listen carefully…but instead Carlton immediately took out his sword?

Carlton’s sword began to move.

‘Think. Get a hold of yourself, Luisen Anies. Think!’

He whipped himself with his words. His mind became blank, however, and he could only spit out one phrase.

“If I die, so will you.”

‘Ah. What’s this? I’m doomed.’

These were words that incite conflict, right?

“What?” Carlton’s countenance became more frightening. Luisen hiccuped once.

“Have you said all that you’ve wanted to say?” Carlton continued, “What glorious last words.”

“No, no!”

However, the words were similar to what he wanted to say. The overall meaning was conveyed, but the placating words Luisen had carefully chosen to soothe Carlton’s temper had all disappeared.

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‘Ahh, why now?! I wanted to be level headed in my explanation!’

He felt an urgent need to rectify his words. Luisen quickly continued before Carlton could say anything else.

“What are you going to do after killing me? Can you manage the wrath of the first prince or the other nobles?”

“What will I do? The first prince will praise and reward me for executing his will,” Carlton said.

“You think the other aristocrats will allow you to get away with this? This body is still one of the remarkable great lords. My vassals will not remain peaceful.”

“Do you still believe anyone is on your side?”

“No, there’s probably no noble family willing to help.”

It was a bitter truth he’d experienced physically. Even if they were Anies vassals in name, the support base had long been divided and bankrupted by the princes’ struggle for the throne and civil war. Half of his retainers had switched to the first prince’s side, while those that still supported the second prince had lost political and military strength and could not afford to help Luisen.

“I have no one on my side, but you, too, have many enemies. If you kill me, they’ll clamor for your blood under the pretext of my murder.”

“I care not what the other nobles say. I only followed the prince’s orders. Prince Ellion has never punished me for killing anyone, no matter how important a noble he may be.”

“Yes, but those are civil war circumstances.”

At the beginning of the civil war, Prince Ellion was driven to a northern fortress in an initial defeat. To showcase his strength and to continue the momentum of victory, the prince severely punished the nobles who supported Prince Paris. Carlton’s cruelty proved to be the perfect display of strength, thus the prince deliberately overlooked Carlton’s behavior.

“Get a hold of yourself. The civil war is over,” Luisen said.

“…..”

Carlton wavered. Luisen didn’t miss how his eyes shook slightly through the gaps of his helmet. He had to have felt that the situation was changing rapidly. To have rapidly risen in status from the son of a low-class peasant to the prince’s confidant, he must have had more than brawn. It would have been more advantageous for Luisen if he wasn’t a fool who only had strength.

The first prince knew that once he would become king, the nobles would no longer be his enemies. They would become vassals who would pledge their allegiance and riches to him.

As soon as the civil war finished, the first prince would have started to see his world through different eyes. Yesterday they may have been an aristocrat who stood on the enemy’s side, but today they would be possible taxable resources and servants. A king’s subordinate would never dare violate the king’s authority.

The same went for the nobles. Even though they may fight as if their lives were on the line, they would not hesitate to join hands with the enemy to maintain their noble authority. They would marry and exchange political hostages for that goal. This was the enduring ruling-class’ philosophy.

If Carlton acted as he pleased, regardless of one’s status as enemy or ally, the nobles would all unite to eliminate him. His excellence only mattered in times of war–the nobles wouldn’t let any commoner dare defy the natural hierarchy. It was obvious the nobles were waiting, grinding their teeth, searching for the opportunity to pay back their humiliation.

In that sort of situation, the first prince must have thought deeply about how to best proceed. It would be a waste to eliminate a man of Carlton’s talents, and the prince held a debt of gratitude to him. However, he was far too merciless and aggressive to be part of his retinue. Carlton would have been the best hunting dog, if only he could have been controlled.

“That’s why the prince sent you here. He wanted to see if you can act tactfully and control your bloodlust,” Luisen said.

“….The prince is testing me?” Carlton asked.

“That’s right. Why else would you be sent here? As you know, all of our elite soldiers have been taken as prisoners of war; we lack the resources to fight properly. Even the foot soldiers enlisted by the southern nobles on the first prince’s side would have been enough to take care of us. Don’t you think this is excessive?”

“….”

“Put simply, it’s a test to determine whether or not you are a hunting hound that can distinguish what’s appropriate to bite or whether you are a rabid dog that needs to be put down. If you kill me, you’ll die.”

It hadn’t come out exactly as he’d planned, but Luisen finished speaking everything he had prepared. He sighed inside, ‘Did everything sound plausible?’

Although Luisen talked confidently, as if these were his own distinguished words, the ideas were not solely his own. His deductions were the combined efforts of bits of wisdom picked up from his wandering beggarly days and from the teachings of his saint.

If only he’d had half the insight he did now. Perhaps then he wouldn’t have lived so miserably. Even still, Luisen was not naturally smart. These were lessons he may have forgotten if not for the life or death nature of his situation.

In addition, this battle was a test for Luisen as well. The first prince desired a vision in which the Duke of Anies laid flat before his authority. He was testing to see if Luisen knew the value of his own life. A test to see if he knew how to behave and whether or not he could be loyal to the future king.

Before regression, both Carlton and Luisen failed spectacularly. Both of them chose the worst path, surpassing even the prince’s imagination. Luisen ran away during the battle’s climax, and Carlton, enraged, went wild, massacring everyone and setting the land ablaze.

‘The first prince probably didn’t know we’d be this reckless.’

As a result, Prince Ellion suffered greatly through a grievous famine as soon as he became king.

Anyway, Luisen had said everything he’d wanted to say. Carlton’s reaction?….Typical. He became very cross and sarcastic.

“Would someone who knows the prince’s intentions so well gather the mere farmers to defend their castle? In the middle of harvest season?”

“That’s….an internal issue,” Luisen spoke vaguely. It wasn’t a complete lie. If he were to say something unbelievable like he’d changed his mind after returning from the future…he would be strangled by Carlton’s bear-like hands.

“Ha, internal circumstances. Does that soothe your conscience? Did you think that I would just say ‘Ah? I understand’ if you spoke so lengthily? I came all the way here; I can’t return empty-handed.”

‘I’ve been talking for so long! I’ve explained twice over why your life would be forfeit!’ Seeing his words go in one ear and out the other, Luisen slowly began to get frustrated.

‘If I’ve argued this much, the least he could do is to pretend to think about it!’

“Then, why are you so agitated?” Luisen said.

“What?”

“Aren’t you feeling insecure about your position with the prince? You’ve come all the way down south, away from his retinue. You’re here feeling uncomfortable for some unknown reason, anxiously hunting and dragging your feet.”

“Me? Nervous?”

“If you don’t believe me, cut my throat here. In the coming new year, you will hang from the wall.”

“You–!” Carlton raised his sword high. Luisen distantly heard Ruger’s screams of “My lord!” and “Oh my god!” Though he was trembling, Luisen still kept eye contact, glaring at Carlton through the small gap in his helmet.