Free Web NovelChapter 227: Worthy
The fact that I was the link between them allowed Fried to trust the Offenburg Knights. This was exactly why connections and personal relationships mattered. I could see the trust in Fried’s eyes as he looked at me.
"It seems Angela arrived safely in Feuzen. Now that you’re here, Sir, a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders. Baron Valent kept disappearing from sight, and I was worried about what he might be scheming."
"Baron Valent attacked the young lady of Euznirk."
"...What? That can’t be!"
Angela had told me that she’d been sent to Feuzen in secret. The secrecy was blown the moment the attackers struck, but Fried explained he’d sent Angela to Feuzen so that she could at least escape if things went wrong in Euz.
But the information had leaked through some channel, and Baron Valent, who’d been nowhere in sight, had been lying in ambush in the forests of southern Euz to attack Angela. By sheer coincidence, he’d run right into me instead.
"The Lord sent the Streit knight to protect Euz! How can I ever repay this debt!"
"A lasting and firm friendship between Feuzen and Euz is more than enough."
"That goes without saying, but if I don’t properly repay you, we’ll be a laughingstock for ages. And I have no intention of making the Euznirk name a laughingstock."
The Euznirks were never stingy with their rewards.
When those Euz nobles had snatched away half of Count Épinay’s ransom money, it was Count Euz himself who had compensated me for the loss. So I could trust that this was a family that paid its debts in full.
In a noble society where deception and scheming were taken for granted, how refreshing it was to deal with a family that honored its obligations. Besides, staying on good terms with one’s neighbors was important too. frёewebηovel.cѳm
Fried showed me a letter sent by the Count of Basel. It was a courteous missive proposing a decisive battle in two days, fought in a manner befitting nobles. He’d received it the day before yesterday and had been anxiously holding out while awaiting reinforcements.
If reinforcements hadn’t arrived by the deadline, he said he would have retreated all the way to Euz Castle and held out within its walls. He could have held out long enough for reinforcements to arrive, but the casualties would have been severe.
Since Euz was a fortress city, the outlying villages would certainly be subjected to indiscriminate plundering by the enemy. It was a plan for the worst-case scenario, but thankfully, we’d arrived in time and that was no longer necessary.
"We’ll fight the decisive battle tomorrow as planned. Do you have any brilliant strategies?"
"How large is the Swiss mercenary force?"
"We can’t be sure of the exact number, but we estimate around 500."
And the enemy’s total strength was said to be close to 2,000. Fried’s levies numbered only 1,200. The gap was enormous, both in quality and quantity.
Fortunately, my combined cavalry force joining the fight narrowed the gap by a slim margin. The qualitative difference remained, but with the Swiss mercenaries in the picture, a head-on confrontation had an all-too-obvious outcome.
Benjamin compared the forces and weighed the odds, but he couldn’t find a way to win. It might actually be better to hole up in Euz Castle and endure a siege.
If the grand duke’s forces won in the south and east, the enemy would naturally fall apart on its own. Of course, the damage inflicted during that process would be devastating, but it beat the total destruction of House Euznirk.
After a cold assessment, Benjamin shook his head.
"Taking on the Swiss mercenaries with levies is impossible."
"I figured as much. We scraped together every last man we could, so expecting any real fighting capability is unrealistic."
"At least the guards are well-armed. Let’s send them to the front lines."
"Hmm, you mean the personal guard that protects House Euznirk?"
Fried didn’t seem thrilled about the idea, but without troops of at least that caliber, how could they hold even briefly against the Swiss mercenaries’ onslaught? Levies would be crushed in an instant; that much was obvious.
"You want the levies to face the Swiss mercenaries? You’ll send those Alpine bastards’ pride soaring higher than their own peaks. If you want to win, the acting lord needs to cooperate fully!"
Unlike me, who was comfortable around him, Fried seemed extremely uneasy around Benjamin. Once Benjamin noticed, he didn’t hesitate to apply pressure to get what he wanted. The Offenburg name really did carry that much weight.
"But there are only about a hundred of them. That’s far too few to fight the Swiss mercenaries."
"Put them at the head of the levies. That’s the only way to buy enough time."
"We’re not trying to win the battle, but to buy time by sacrificing them?"
Not winning, but buying time. Fried found the idea strange, but I could tell what Benjamin was thinking. The risk was significant, but so was the potential payoff.
"You’re planning to pin down the enemy’s main force while the cavalry strikes at the Count of Basel?"
"The lord of Feuzen catches on quickly. That’s the only option we have right now."
Benjamin explained that once our cavalry moved, the enemy’s cavalry would come out to intercept, and if we exploited the gap that opened between their main body and their cavalry to attack the Count of Basel, we’d have a real chance at victory.
"My lord, please draw out the enemy cavalry. My knights will pierce the enemy’s heart."
"No. The Offenburg Knights should be the ones doing the luring."
This was the key point. The Offenburg Knights would serve as the decoy, and the strike force attacking the enemy would be my knights. Fried watched Benjamin and me with interest. He seemed to think it was just a difference of opinion.
"Why do you think so? Are you worried we’ll hog all the credit?"
"It’s not about credit. It’s about efficiency. If I were the Count of Basel, how would I see this?"
Benjamin fell deep into thought.
And then he realized the small flaw in his own plan.
"Ah, of course. It’s because we’re the Offenburg Knights."
"The ornate armor, your knights bearing the Offenburg crest. Anyone would see them as the main force, wouldn’t they?" fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
"Hmm, I’d overlooked that. Of course! It makes sense for us to be the decoy."
The cavalry I led wore modest armor, while the Offenburg Knights boasted ornate plate armor and heavy armaments, and above all, the sheer name recognition of the Offenburg Knights gave them an undeniable presence that could never be hidden.
From the perspective of the Count of Basel, who’d be facing us for the first time, being wary of the Offenburg Knights was only natural. That was precisely why they needed to serve as the decoy; only then could the enemy be fooled.
Once he understood the reasoning, Fried agreed it was a solid plan.
"The problem is we have no idea how long our infantry will hold."
"The Lord will give us our answer tomorrow. Whether we are worthy of victory."
Worthy of victory.
I mulled over Benjamin’s words as I returned to my tent.
"Tomorrow, we’ll be driving straight into the enemy’s heart."
Fiel, Viktor, and the lieutenants all tensed. Driving into the enemy’s heart meant committing to an extremely dangerous operation. The dragoons’ faces, in particular, were a sight to behold.
"In return, if we win, I’ve been promised a significant reward. Our forces are outnumbered in this battle anyway, so winning by conventional means is out of the question. So do what you’ve always done: trust me and follow my lead."
I’d never lost a battle.
Victory had always been mine, and my ability to anticipate developments through the scouter was exceptional. So if things went well, they could earn a fortune and come out alive. Casualties were unavoidable, but still.
"..."
The tent fell silent.
The Belfort cavalry and Essenbach dragoons, who weren’t originally my men, seemed busy weighing the pros and cons, but the Gale Knights, who had always supported and followed me, steeled their resolve.
The Euz cavalrymen, who had their homeland to protect, needed no convincing at all.
The dragoon lieutenant cautiously spoke up.
"Uh, my lord. If we capture the Count of Basel, would we perhaps receive a small..."
I fixed him with a steady gaze, and he quietly looked away. He used to demand compensation without hesitation, but now even my stare was enough to silence him. Heh, he would have insisted on at least half before.
"If we capture the Count of Basel, I’ll distribute a portion of his ransom among all participating cavalrymen. This won’t be won by my strength alone; consider it compensation for everyone who risks their lives following me."
Naturally, given the danger involved, additional rewards and hazard pay would be provided on top of that, so those were separate matters. Besides, the lords would pool the funds to pay for it all; all I had to do was make the promise.
The cavalrymen retired to their own tents to await the decisive battle.
Left alone, I reviewed the resources at my disposal.
My current points stood at 9,320, reduced from disciplining those dragoons. No new quests had been generated yet, but they’d probably appear tomorrow.
I had no shortage of medical services.
Tomorrow, our cavalry would serve as the main striking force to attack the enemy’s heart, while the Offenburg Knights drew out the enemy’s cavalry.
We’d exploit that opening to strike at the Count of Basel, and that was when I planned to use this item: the Courage 200% Boost Scroll. Even now, I ranked among the stronger knights.
What would happen if I used this one-day scroll? Could I bring down the Count of Basel, who would be surrounded by layers of guards? The point was, hoarding it would only waste it.
I had to bring down the Count of Basel for our outnumbered coalition to win this battle. And to do that, I needed to commit every resource available. It was a shame I couldn’t purchase items with points.
And then dawn broke.
