CH 168

Less than a day after it became known that the Fransil family’s army was at the banks of the Medio river, they arrived at the gates of Brodin. Both the knights and mercenaries were practically bathing in sweat from rushing over, and the army’s depot couldn’t even be seen. They must have been left behind as the troops hurried over to Brodin.

“They look pretty tired,” Eugene commented.

“I know. But they looked like they were in high spirits. Huh? Look at those bastards.”

Eugene and his knights took on dumbfounded expressions as they looked down at the army from Brodin’s walls. It looked as if Fransil’s army was preparing for a siege.

“I think they might be getting ready to attack this place,” Eugene said.

“Without declaring war? Are they crazy? Don’t they know that we have two direct descendants of the Fransil family?” Galfredik responded.

“Ah! Perhaps…” Eugene mumbled after coming to a realization. Afterward, he continued. “They don’t know that I’ve occupied this place?”

The knights nodded. “Oh, that’s definitely possible. The Fransil family would never even imagine that we would have already taken over the Brodia family.”

The two territories were quite close, but it would take three or four days to travel from the Batla Duchy to the City of Brodin. It was definitely hard to imagine that a large army of 1,000 soldiers could have traveled such a far distance and successfully occupied the city in such a short period of time.

“Your Excellency, what will you do?” Pranbow asked.

Everyone’s gaze turned towards Eugene. Eugene fell into thought.

‘Isn’t this even better?’

If the Fransil family attacked them first, it would bolster his ‘deficit conversion plan.’ But that was only the case if the Fransil family attacked them knowing they were facing Eugene’s army. There was nothing to be done if they simply pleaded ignorance after attacking first. As such, Eugene needed to make sure that they couldn’t make any excuses later even if they launched an attack.

‘Good. Should I try baiting them?’

Eugene turned around, then parted his lips while looking around at his knights' determined, fearless eyes. “We will open the gates and head out. We will try to negotiate first, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll fight.”

Uwwwwoooohhh!

Kieeeeeek!

The knights and the beowulf warriors cheered before stampeding down the wall.

“Tsk. It has been a while since I last fought as well…” Lanslo looked at the overjoyed men with regret.

Cameron the Third, armed with chainmail and a longsword, walked up. A crown no longer decorated his head, and from today, he was unofficially the Marquis of Brodin. He asked Lanslo, “Sir Drak, do you think it will really be all right?”

“What do you mean?” Lanslo responded.

“His Excellency Batla. He’s the supreme commander, right? For him to head out with only a few dozen knights and beowulfs…” Cameron The third continued.

“Huh? Have you not seen the duke’s true abilities?” Lanslo asked.

“True abilities…?” Cameron the Third muttered. Was he referring to how the duke quickly overpowered two knights in the secret passage? It was definitely a display of superior swordplay, but dealing with a small number of people in a narrow area was completely different from fighting a battle against hundreds in an open field.

Cameron the Third didn’t believe in exaggerated stories where one man rivaled one hundred men. He had heard enough lies from his vassals as a child.

“It would be better for you to see it in person than to hear it a hundred times. Of course, it would be best if it never came to it in the first place,” Lanslo said.

“Hmm. So you are worried about the duke, aren’t you?” Cameron the Third responded.

“What? Why would I be worried about the duke?” Lanslo asked.

“Hmm?” Cameron the Third became puzzled at Lanslo’s words.

Lanslo continued with a mysterious smile. “I think you must have misunderstood. I was worried about the Fransil family.”

“What…?” Cameron the Third muttered with disbelief. Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand that Lanslo was completely sincere in his words.

***

Creaaak! Boom!

“The gates opened!”

“Huh?! Those Brodia beggars are about to surrender!”

“What a bunch of babies! They must have been scared out of their wits!”

Uwaaaaaah!

The Fransil family’s troops began to cheer loudly when the gates of Brodin opened wide. A smile appeared around the lips of the Fransil family’s head. He was there as the commander behind all of the mercenaries.

“Haha! It seems that the child-king isn’t a complete fool,” he spoke. He knew well that the Brodia family only had a few troops since his army had defeated their army before crossing the Medio River. As such, he was prepared to lay siege and pressure the Brodia family without giving them a chance to do anything else. But now, it appeared that the Brodia family was scared into surrendering.

“As soon as we receive their pledge to surrender, place some soldiers on the wall and subdue the enemy’s vassals and procure their palace. We must fully seize Brodin before Duke Batla arrives!” the head of the Fransil family shouted. That way, he could gain the upper hand in the hostage negotiations and properly imprint Fransil’s dignity on the cheeky vampire duke’s mind.

“Yes, my lord!” the knights answered vigorously. The Fransil family’s head nodded satisfactorily before turning his gaze to the mercenaries.

“Hmm?” He frowned. The mercenaries had been busily preparing for a siege until just a moment ago. However, they were suddenly showing strange movements.

“Huh? Their ranks are quite disorganized. Sirs! Tell the mercenaries to keep themselves in line. Even if the enemy is surrendering, it’s still an embarrassing sight,” the Fransil family’s head shouted with annoyance, and the knights glared at the mercenaries while redirecting their horses.

“Hey! What are you all doing!? Keep your ranks!”

“Maintain your formations! Keep your positions!”

However, the mercenaries continued to be restless. It looked as if they were getting ready to immediately charge the city’s gates.

In a way, it was only natural. The mercenaries employed by the Fransil family had signed a contract that would allow them to reap benefits through looting at the cost of receiving only a small fee upfront. However, the victory against Brodia’s army had been quite fruitless in terms of loot. But now, the gates of Brodin were wide open as if they were being welcomed. Only one thought dominated the minds of the mercenaries...

‘Looting!’

‘It’s time!’

Since the gates were already open, those who entered first would reap the most loot.

Several figures made their appearance from inside the gates. They seemed to be envoys who had been sent over to convey the city’s will to surrender.

“Don’t move!”

“You bastards! Stop! Wait right there!” the knights shouted vigorously. They couldn’t afford to display a shameful sight for the envoys from Brodia. However, the eyes of the mercenaries glistened with greed, and their gazes were fixated on the wide-open gates.

“Motherfucker! Negotiation or what, that’s not our business! The nobles can take care of that!”

“We need to settle the balance!”

“Boys! Let’s go! Not even a goblin’s dick will be waiting for those who come late!”

Uwaaaaah!

In the end, one of the mercenary squads started running with frenzied shouts.

“Those viper snake bastards are taking the lead!”

“We have to go! Us Grizzly Bear Mercenaries must take the palace!”

Uwaaaahhhh!

The initial charge acted as a signal flare for the other mercenaries. One mercenary squad after another began charging at the city gates. Their hearts were filled with the desire to loot as much as possible.

“Hey! What are you all doing!? How vulgar! How disgraceful!” the Fransil family’s head waved his baton and shouted angrily.

“T-Those crazy bastards!” Unfortunately, there was no way for the knights to stop the mercenaries. They had already gone half-mad with greed.

However…

“Huh?”

“W-Why are there so many of them?” The Fransil family’s head and his knights became wide-eyed when they saw the group exiting Brodin’s gates. At most, they had expected three or four knights to accompany the king to declare their surrender, but that wasn’t the case. Moreover, they weren’t only mistaken about their numbers either…

“K-knights?”

“And armored monsters?!” The Fransil family’s head and his knights could not hide their shock when they saw dozens of knights armed with plate mail and plate coats, as well as dozens of beowulf warriors. The biggest problem was that the black-armored knight leading the group was holding a white flag at the end of his spear.

It meant that he wanted to surrender or negotiate.

“Stop! I ordered you to stop!” the Fransil family’s head shouted desperately. However, his shouts were buried by the mercenaries’ frenzied screams.

“D-Dammit!” His face distorted when he saw the flock of greedy dogs running toward the gate.

Kuwuuuuuuuughhh!!!

All of a sudden, a terrible roar reverberated, and the enemy’s heavily-armed troops began their charge.

***

“They fell for it,” Eugene murmured with disbelief.

“They’re completely insane. Oi, heir, is your father completely out of his mind?” Galfredik said while looking at Reyma.

“…!” However, Reyma couldn’t understand Galfredik’s words. He stared at the charging mercenaries with a ghastly expression. Reyna couldn’t comprehend why this was happening. He wasn’t alone in his shock either. Neither the knights of Maren and Carls Baggins, nor the beowulfs could understand what was happening. They were simply dumbfounded.

“Can’t they see us?”

“I’m sure they can see us. But I guess the wide-open gates behind us are much more visible,” Galfredik commented.

“Aha!” The knights instantly came to an understanding. Even though they were knights, they had made a few blunders in the past when they were blinded by merit. For mercenaries who risked their lives for only a few coins, a defenseless city would be no different from an ownerless box of undiscovered treasures.

“I understand, but this feels rather damaging to my pride,” Eugene said.

“Sir Eugene! No, Your Excellency Eugene! Please give us your orders!”

“I’ve been honing my spear for this day!”

“Dark Lord! Let’s get it done with!”

“Let us finally run wild!”

The knights shouted while gripping their swords and spears, and the beowulfs growled while provoking their Fear.

Clack.

“Hold for now,” Eugene commanded after lowering his visor. Then, he ripped the white flag hanging from Madarazika’s tip.

Paaaaa…!

The crimson eyes began to swirl with a red light, and Madarazika began to glow with Fear. In the meantime, the mercenaries grew closer. Soon, they would be less than 50 meters away.

Eugene shouted while slapping on his reins, “Destroy them!”

Tututututu!

Silion shot forward like an arrow. The knights and the beowulfs followed right behind, and they produced a wedge-shaped formation centered around Eugene.

The distance between the two groups narrowed to about 30 meters.

“Kuwuuuuuugh!”

Eugene, Galfredik, and the beowulfs let loose a roar containing their Fear. The powerful, intangible energy shot forward like a wave, and the ankle-tall grass parted in one direction as if meeting a strong gust of wind.

Kwarararararar!

The combined roar of the vampires and the beowulfs washed over the mercenaries.

Meanwhile, the Fransil family’s mercenaries felt something strange as soon as they saw dozens of heavily-armed men and horses charging toward them. However, the mercenaries were united as one in their greed. There was no way for them to suppress their desires and turn back. Moreover, there were over 400 of them, while there were less than fifty enemies. Finally, most of these mercenaries had been active in the west, and thus, they had never experienced the powerful charge of continental knights during the crusade.

As a result, the mercenaries judged that they stood at an advantage against the enemy troops.

“What?!”

“Huh?!”

However, their momentum disappeared like snow in May as soon as they encountered the loud, Fear-containing roar. Their greed quickly melted, and their sense of reason quickly filled the vacancy in their hearts. The mercenaries finally saw the true force of their opponents as their foes rushed toward them at a terrifying speed.

“…!”

Regret, surprise, and fear dominated their minds, but it was too late.

Craaack! Booom!

The continental knights charged with their lances to crush their opponents, while the beowulf warriors trampled their enemies.

Instantly, a path emerged along with the charge of the heavily-armed knights and the beowulf warriors. It was a path of death decorated with blood, brain fluid, intestines, and pieces of flesh, as well as the disharmonious cries of those who barely survived the impact.

The knights and beowulfs started slowing down after a series of collisions. They began to massacre the mercenaries with swords, spears, axes, maces, morning stars, and various other weapons.

Kuaagh! Ahhhk!

Arggggh!

The mercenaries’ screams were adorned even more splendidly by their gushing blood. The unbelievable scene was completely captured in the eyes of the Fransil family’s master.

He could only think of one thing.

‘I-I’m fucked.’

And it was indeed an accurate, solid judgment…