CH 192

Partec, or Knight Partec Campbell, could still vividly remember his first encounter with his lord. The young knight once possessed a cold, sharp attitude at all times and the demeanor of a beast ready to explode at a moment’s notice.

Partec had made the choice of a lifetime when he visited the Tywin family’s castle along with the young knight.

‘The decision to follow the duke was the best choice I had ever made.’

If he had rejected Eugene’s offer, he would have ended up as nothing more than a second-rate mercenary for the rest of his life. He would have retired or died without ever accomplishing anything noteworthy. However, he had accepted Eugene’s proposal. Afterward, he faced uncountable hardships and had almost lost his life numerous times while exploring evil lands and participating on many battlefields. In return, he had earned more money than he had earned in the last decade or so in just two years. More importantly, he was sworn-in and was turned into an official knight even though he was already in his mid-to-late 30s.

Some thought that Partec deserved what he had received, as he had worked hard and fought fiercely. However, Partec did not agree with their thoughts.

No matter how fiercely one fought and lived, Partec had seen countless mercenaries who had been backstabbed or had been killed like dogs after meeting terrible employers and commanders. There was only one difference between such unfortunate souls and himself.

‘I serve the duke, but they didn’t...’

Partec didn’t care whether Eugene was a vampire or not. For him, Eugene was simply a lord to serve and to follow for his whole life. Therefore, he wielded his sword against the serfs without showing any mercy. Naturally, serfs were no match for a veteran with more than a dozen years of experience. Moreover, their single-layer quilted jackets were no better than parchment in terms of providing defense.

In an instant, five serfs fell into pools of their own blood. The remaining serfs, who numbered around ten, immediately fled in fear. There was an insurmountable difference between untrained, frail serfs, and a professional combatant who spent most of his life as a blade for hire.

Instead of chasing after the fleeing soldiers, Partec headed to Princess Lilisain. He was going to help Princess Lilisain, but he grinned and sheathed his blade instead when he saw her.

Even three knights under Sir Arkwood were no match for Princess Lilisain. Befitting her fame as one of the best knights of Eland, Princess Lilisain’s swordsmanship was quick and clean. There weren’t any redundancies in her movements, and she incapacitated the knights by aiming at the gaps in their chainmail.

‘She avoided landing any fatal blows on purpose. Amazing. She’s inferior to Sir Lanslo and Sir Galfredik, but she’s stronger than the others.’

Partec was amazed. The tall, beautiful princess was much stronger and more skilled than he had expected.

“Keugh!”

One of the young knights, who appeared to be Sir Arkwood’s son, grunted and fell backward after receiving a blow to his jaw with the blunt edge of Lilisain’s sword and a kick to his abdomen.

“Kuagh!”

A knight was thrown backward by a well-placed kick and was forced to his knees. It seemed Princess Lilisain possessed as much brute strength as men.

“Uaggh! Uweegh!” The knight regurgitated his meal on the ground, and Princess Lilisain glanced at him before turning around and sheathing her blade.

“Mission complete. I await your next order,” she said.

“Good work,” Eugene responded. He watched the situation play out with his sword fixated on Sir Arkwood’s forehead. He was satisfied with Princess Lilisain’s skills.

He had also noticed that Partec had grown considerably stronger as well. His skills with the shortsword and the shield were comparable with other knights, and Princess Lilisain’s abilities were one or two levels above the average knights of the Caylor Kingdom.

“Kieeeeh! Princess knight, you’re amazing! Wowie!” Mirian unknowingly exclaimed.

“…?!”

Princess Lilisain’s gaze slowly turned to the spirit.

“Kieeek!” Mirian squealed upon meeting the princess’s fiery eyes, and then she quickly hid behind Eugene’s shoulder.

Princess Lilisain muttered while licking her lips, “Someday, I will definitely…”

“S-Someday you will definitely what!? What? W-w-what do you mean by that? Kiehhhh?!” Mirian shouted with horror. Princess Lilisain’s eyes were filled with desire, but it was of a different kind than the spirit’s greed. One could even feel a tinge of madness contained in her gaze.

Eugene simply ignored the spirit and turned toward Sir Arkwood. “The death penalty is standard for those who disregard a royal order. You know this, right?”

“…!”

Eugene continued, “I want nothing more than to cut off your head right now, but the king is an extremely honorable and generous man. Although the king is my aide, I can’t just make decisions like this on my own.”

‘…Even though it looks like you already did everything you wanted?’

“Therefore, I will defer your punishment to a later date,” Eugene concluded before withdrawing Wolfslaughter.

“Huagk! Heuk, Ha!” Sir Arkwood fell to his ass and stroked his throat with relief after finally being freed from Eugene’s Fear.

“I’ll be taking those three. And hand it over,” Eugene said.

“W-what are you talking about?” Sir Arkwood asked.

Eugene continued as if it were only natural, “You said you would provide money and food, right? I’m busy, so hand it over.”

“T-That’s…” Sir Arkwood was at a loss. The vampire duke was brazenly attempting to extort military funds and supplies from him, on top of taking his valuable knights. Even his own son was among the knights Eugene was about to take. How could such a man be a duke? He was closer to a bandit or a thief.

“If you don’t want to, feel free to offer up your head for refusing to comply with a royal order. Sir, do not test my patience. As I said earlier, I will not warn you twice,” Eugene stated.

“How much will suffice?” Sir Arkwood asked. He wasn’t stupid. He had quickly identified the type of man the vampire duke was. Right now, he had to fulfill the vampire duke’s desires. Otherwise, he would lose his head to the duke, who was exactly, or rather, even worse than the rumors had it.

“As you said, sir, gold is a very good tool depending on the situation. I will watch and see your devotion to the royal family and me,” Eugene responded.

The magical word—devotion. It would have been preferable for anyone to receive a demand for an exact amount, as there would be no upper limit with what Eugene was requesting. Sir Arkwood felt an oncoming headache, but he had no choice but to appease the duke with a groveling smile. After all, the crazy duke held the sword.

***

Starting with Sir Arkwood, Eugene visited all the nobles on his way to the west coast. In just four days, he had received troops and supplies from seven nobles and lords.

Naturally, it was written as ‘received,’ but it read ‘extortion via violence.’ The nobles shuddered with anger, but their fear of Eugene was far greater than their anger. In the end, they couldn’t say anything.

Moreover, Eugene held the justification in the form of a ‘royal order.’ But although the nobles remained silent in front of Eugene, they reacted and made preparations in their own ways.

They visited their support, Lord Fransil.

“How could he be so wicked and vicious? Lord Fransil! I was only trying to keep my loyalty to the Fransil family. However, the duke threatened my son and my knights. He had a knife pressed against my neck!”

“As a vassal of the Fransil family, I told him that I could only provide him with troops with the lord's permission. However, he suddenly ordered his knights to attack and…”

“This is blasphemy! He called it providing reinforcements, but he has taken them hostage! Bayman Orcs? What a ridiculous excuse… It’s clearly a trick to strengthen his own position!”

“You must tell the truth to the king and the royal family as the representative of the alliance! Someone must put a brake on the arrogant, wicked actions of Duke Batla! My lord!”

Nobles flocked one by one every day, and they all spoke of similar things. They vented their anger and frustration with Eugene.

“Hmm.” At first, Lord Fransil offered his sympathy and comforted the nobles. However, as they continued to come, Lord Fransil’s expression turned serious. Honestly, Eugene had sent a knight to him earlier on to explain the situation.

However, this was much more serious than he had expected…

“Lord fransil! You must make a decision!”

“You must show them the will of the West! You are the only one capable of correcting the young king’s ways!”

The nobles deduced Lord Fransil’s serious expression as anger, and they became even more vocal. However, due to their agitation, the nobles didn’t see the reactions of the Fransil family’s knights gathered in the hall. In particular, the nobles might have noticed that something was off if they saw the expression of Lorraine, the youngest daughter of their lord, as well as a few knights standing around her. However, they felt angry, unjustified, and afraid of Duke Batla. As such, they were fully absorbed in venting their anger and clinging to Lord Fransil for help.

Eventually, Lord Fransil parted his lips with a distorted expression. “This simply cannot be.”

“Ohhh!”

“My lord!” The nobles’ expressions instantly brightened upon seeing Lord Fransil’s reaction.

Lord Fransil continued, “I cannot just sit back and watch. Prepare my horse immediately! I will personally go meet with the Duke of Batla. Sirs, all of you must accompany me as well.”

“Of course!”

“We have trust in you, my lord!”

The nobles were convinced by the seemingly genuine anger of their lord. Neither the young king nor the duke could continue their reign without the support of the Fransil family, after all.

***

“How many knights did we take from those bastards?” Eugene asked.

“A total of forty-two people, including the aides. Their skills are pretty average, but their equipment is decent. If we put them together, they will be pretty destructive,” Partec responded. Partec had never officially received education regarding military tactics, but as an experienced mercenary, he could make sensible, tactical judgments.

“What do you think, Master Pranbow?” Eugene asked.

“Hmm. Sir Campbell has a point. However, it will be better to have them work together with the original knights instead of separating them. We must consider their morale,” Pranbow responded.

“Then let us do that.” Eugene nodded.

Princess Lilisain asked in a proud voice, “Your Excellency. Are you not going to ask for my opinion?”

“…What do you think, Princess?” Eugene asked half-heartedly. He didn’t want to ask at all, but Princess Lilisain possessed the highest status right now aside from himself and Pranbow.

Princess Lilisain responded, “My opinion is that Sir Campbell and Master Pranbow are correct. That is all.”

“….”

As expected, the word ‘unique’ didn’t do her justice—she was crazy. However, Eugene couldn’t deny that Princess Lilisain’s great skills had been of great help in the past few days. Even the knights who had disregarded Princess Lilisain because of her gender no longer doubted her skills. Rather, there were even a few knights who showed interest in Princess Lilisain, who always gave her all and fought fiercely in battles.

Princess Lilisain was only interested in fighting, and she did not care for any compensation or receiving special treatment for her achievements. Members of the royal family were born with gold spoons in their mouths. However, Lilisain acted as a simple knight, unbefitting her great status. Of course, she had never forgotten to glare at Eugene and Mirian with crazy eyes several times every day, which was quite horrifying.

In any case, Eugene had decided to merge the newly acquired knights with his existing troops and knights, who were loyal to him. There were complaints due to the difference in their nationalities and difficulties in communication, but none of the knights dared to complain. The knights of the Caylor Kingdom revered Eugene and knew well what he was like, and the forcibly enlisted knights were extremely afraid of him. All in all, almost half of the sixty knights, excluding the aides, weren’t true followers of Eugene.

‘Dammit. Saying nonsense about some orcs invading…’

‘It’s obvious that he wants to have us beat up some roamers and bandits to make himself sound even greater.’

‘I heard the rumors about his viciousness, but this is even worse, isn’t it?’

The enlisted knights recognized Eugene’s great skills after experiencing it personally. However, the knights were fed up with the cruel attitude with which they were treated. As such, they fumed angrily as they were led to the shore.

A few days later, Eugene arrived at one of the four possible locations where the orcs could arrive. It was the northernmost of the four possible locations, and it was the most likely landing place of the orcs.

He gave orders to the knights and the beowulf warriors.” The knights will remain here and set up camp. The beowulfs will form pairs and scout south, along the coast.”

Beowulfs were similar in speed to horses, but they possessed much higher endurance and were mostly unaffected by terrain. They departed immediately after hearing Eugene’s order. There wasn’t any meat waiting for them, but they were excited at the thought of facing the warriors of the Bayman Orcs, as they had once established a reign of terror across Brantia.

In the morning, two days later…

“Dark Lord! Dark Lord!”

Two beowulfs rushed toward Eugene while shouting. Their figures were caked with dirt and grass, and it was apparent that they had returned in a hurry.

“We found the orcs! But… there’s something strange.”

“What? What does that mean?” Eugene asked.

“Oh, the thing is… Ah! Come on, let’s go! It will be faster for you to see it in person than for me to explain it,” one of the beowulfs responded. The beowulfs were strong and loyal, but they were rather lacking in eloquence. Eugene and his knights followed behind the beowulf on their horses.

After about half a day…

The group finally arrived in a gravel field which drew a long arc against the backdrop of water reflecting the orange glow of the setting sun. The knights’ eyes widened with shock when they saw the unexpected sight.