Chapter 61 : Chapter 61
Chapter 61. The Grasslands of Bronberg (2)
Bronberg, a territory located in the east of the Kingdom of Felix.
Ruled by the Count Adams Family, Bronberg had a dry climate and a short rainy season, making the environment difficult for farming. Instead, possessing vast grasslands, Bronberg’s main source of income came from the livestock industry.
“Goodness, no matter how busy you were, you mean to tell me you didn’t come to see us even once when we were just a stone’s throw away?”
“It was you who were absent every time I visited, Brother.”
“Hmph. So, did you only secretly meet Iselin and Sir Edwin and then go back?”
“It would have been better if I had met you, brothers.”
At Blanc’s flattering words, Aubert looked thoroughly satisfied and tapped Blanc’s shoulder.
“We were worried you might forget our faces, so we volunteered to come to Bronberg too!”
“I didn’t go so far as to volunteer, but I was naturally assigned here.”
At Noel’s dry grumbling, Blanc laughed inwardly.
The cool-headed Noel and the hot-tempered Aubert possessed temperaments so different that it was hard to believe they were twins born on the same day and time, yet true to being twins, those temperaments complemented each other wonderfully.
Bartomyu Tolome knew the twins’ characteristics well, so he kept them together whenever possible.
Furthermore, since even Blanc, who had coordinated with them in the Baum Mine, mingled with them without reserve, it might have been natural for the twins to be assigned to Bronberg.
“Is Sir Stefan alright?”
At Blanc’s question, Noel and Aubert gave bitter smiles.
“For now, his left arm has been amputated, and other than that, he has no problems. However……”
“He’s just unconscious, but otherwise fine! Perhaps by the time we finish this expedition and return, he might be awake!”
Stefan Tolome was the only person who could stand against the strongest knight of Tolome, Schumacher.
His inability to wake up was quite a significant loss for the Tolome Family.
It might not matter when moving in divided units like now, but if a situation arose where the knight order had to move as one, his absence would be painfully felt.
“By the way, how is your relationship with your wife? We were somewhat worried, considering……”
Since the Evil within Ciella’s body had been removed, his life would no longer be threatened by her, but to those unaware of that fact, Ciella still held the image of a dangerous woman.
“Ha! Seeing that you’re fine so far, there doesn’t seem to be any major problem, right? As expected, the Knight of Aselheit is different. A knight strong even at night! Blanc Cadmus!”
“Ha!”
Blanc snorted at Aubert’s sly remark.
Then, he fingered the Phoenix feather he had kept close to his heart.
‘I observed it while keeping it, and it always emits a warm energy. Rather than leaving it here, I think it would be better for you to take it, as you will be moving on cold winter days.’
Just as Ciella had said, the Phoenix feather emitted warm energy even in the cold winter weather.
Thanks to that, Blanc was able to move much more easily than others.
“You wouldn’t know, brothers. Just how wonderful a woman Ciella is.”
Seeing the fifteen-year-old Blanc wrapping up and defending his wife, Noel and Aubert laughed heartily, perhaps finding his appearance cute.
“Can we bachelors survive this sorrow? Hahaha.”
Accompanied by the brothers’ cheerful banter, the Tolome Knights and private soldiers moved ceaselessly toward Bronberg.
And two weeks later, they crossed the vast grasslands and arrived at the castle of the Adams Family.
A force of over 70 troops entered Bronberg.
It could be seen as excessive deployment for monster extermination, but Bartomyu did not think so.
On the contrary, Bartomyu had strongly urged the Adams Family to even hire a mercenary corps.
This was because the Adams Family had not only failed to attempt proper monster subjugation for the past five years, but recent strange rumors were also circulating.
“So. You say an Ogre appeared here?”
“To be precise, they say one with two heads appeared, Brother.”
It was a rumor about a Twin-headed Ogre.
***
Count Renald Adams, the lord of Bronberg, welcomed the knights of Tolome and Cadmus with open arms.
Although he was the head of a Count family, not all Counts held the same status as Tolome or Lacie.
A high title might command respect, but that was not everything.
The status of a noble was determined more by the power and influence the lords possessed than by titles like Duke or Count.
Therefore, Count Renald welcomed them while bowing his waist, despite being from a fellow Count family.
“Welcome! Envoys of Tolome! And the rising star, Baron Blanc Cadmus!”
Perhaps the status of Blanc, backed by powerful maternal and in-law families, might be evaluated even higher than that of Count Renald, who possessed a humble territory on the outskirts.
However, since this was not a place to vie for power, Count Renald, Noel as the person in charge of the Tolome Knights, and Blanc as the master and commander of the Cadmus Knights treated each other with respect and courtesy.
Count Renald welcomed them and, following noble etiquette, held a banquet for three days, providing alcohol and meat to the guests and soldiers who had come to help him.
And during those three days, the soldiers who had come from the capital Baltimere to Bronberg through the cold winter were able to recover their stamina through warm food and bedding.
However, while the soldiers played, ate, and drank, the commander-level knights put their heads together and looked down at a map.
“It’s a mess.”
Aubert spat out the thoughts in his head without a filter.
If it were the usual Noel, he would have given Aubert a hint to mind his manners, but just for now, he sighed along with him and sympathized with Aubert’s feelings.
At the sighs of the twin knights, Yogen, the Knight Commander of the Adams Count Family, could not dare to retort and only rolled his eyes nervously.
“Sir Yogen, let us speak frankly and openly.”
“Yes…… Please speak.”
Although Yogen was in his mid-forties, he had no choice but to treat twenty-something Aubert with the utmost polite attitude.
Because the gap between Adams and Tolome was that large, and on top of that, it was a situation where Yogen had to walk on eggshells.
“Honestly, this map. Is it truly made truthfully?”
“It is……”
“Openly.”
“……It is…… not.”
Hearing Yogen’s words, Noel squeezed his eyes shut, lifted his head, and sighed.
“If you present a map made with false information like this before us, what are we to do! If we establish a strategy based on this and our forces suffer damage, what will you do!”
Aubert shook the map in Yogen’s face and shouted.
It wasn’t that the treatment wasn’t harsh, but this was also a method often used by the envoys of Tolome.
It was a kind of battle of spirits to secure definite initiative in the combat situation that would unfold from now on.
Of course, the problem of Yogen and Count Renald, who provided the grounds for such a battle of spirits in the first place, was the biggest factor.
“So, looking at this map recording the monster subjugation, it implies that even though no subjugation was done for five years, they were perfectly handled without the need to call us, but reality isn’t like that, is it?”
After Aubert shouted and rattled Yogen’s mind, it was the brothers’ method for Noel to secure grounds and justification with logical words.
“To think you would try to confuse us with a false map! If this were a war, it wouldn’t end with just saying sorry!”
“So please tell us honestly. You wouldn’t have fabricated the map because you wanted to do so either, right Sir?”
Blanc was admiring how the twin brothers were skillfully shaking Commander Yogen’s mind.
This was a field technique that could not be obtained without abundant experience.
It was not comparable to Jonas, whom the Tolome Family wrapped up and coddled.
Blanc thought that these twin knights, who had not gained great fame but had steadily accumulated experience in the field, might truly become the envoys of Tolome in the next generation.
Stefan was slightly behind Schumacher in everything, but it was clear that he was far ahead, at least in educating his children.
Yogen, whose soul had been thoroughly thrashed by the seasoned spirit battle of the twin knights, eventually confessed the whole truth with trembling pupils.
“Actually…… the map was made…… to save face, just as you said.”
“Ha, really!”
“Thank you for your courageous confession, Sir Yogen. In fact, such things are not entirely unheard of.”
‘They fell for it.’
Blanc, who was quietly watching the situation, felt that all initiative for the military operation to be conducted in Bronberg had just passed to Tolome.
“How have you been conducting monster subjugation all this time?”
At Noel’s question, Yogen answered with a pale face.
“As you can see, since our territory’s main business is livestock farming using the vast grasslands, rather than entering the forest next to the grasslands, we simply dealt with the monsters that came down to the grasslands.”
Aubert looked at Yogen with sharp eyes.
“Is that true?”
“We couldn’t eliminate them all, only drove them away……”
Listening to Yogen, it seemed they had been desperate just to protect the grasslands directly connected to their income.
Moreover, since the Adams Family did not possess strong soldiers or outstanding knights like Tolome, it must have been an unavoidable choice.
‘So it means they only pushed the monsters into the forest next to the grasslands.’
Blanc stood next to Aubert, who was screaming at Yogen, and quietly looked down at the map.
If Yogen’s words were true, it meant the territory of monsters and humans was divided with the grasslands and the forest as the starting point.
Furthermore, looking at the map, this forest spanned not only the Adams Family’s territory but also the territories of three other families.
Those families also relied on livestock as their main income like the Adams Family and were not making significant profits, so it was clear they had dealt with monsters in a similar way.
‘They only pushed the trash in and didn’t empty the bin, so now it’s overflowing.’
The forest must have long since become the domain of monsters.
To conduct a proper subjugation, they had to shake out the monsters in the forest.
To do that, more troops would be needed than just Tolome’s forces.
“What about the prepared forces? Count Bartomyu, the head of Tolome, sent a message to have mercenaries prepared as well.”
“Th-that is……”
Yogen rolled his eyes nervously and hesitated to answer.
The reason the Adams Family urgently requested help from Tolome was that damage was effectively accumulating due to the monsters.
Accumulated damage meant financial loss.
And the Adams Family was also a family that did not have much money.
“Fi……fty.”
“I mean the mercenaries, not the Adams Family’s soldiers.”
“The mercenaries are……”
As Yogen answered in a crawling voice, the surroundings were instantly engulfed in silence.
And what broke that silence was.
BANG—!
“Are you joking with us right now!”
It was Noel’s shout, filled with rage.
Cadmus Knights: 3 knights.
Other personnel: 2.
Tolome Knights: 5 knights.
Soldiers and other personnel: 60.
Adams Knights: 4 knights.
Soldiers and other personnel: 50.
Hired mercenaries: 50.
Approximately 170 combat personnel.
This was the situation where they had to subjugate monsters that might have been neglected for five years, or perhaps even longer, with only this force.
Moreover, a situation where they might have to face the rumored Twin-headed Ogre.
‘It won’t be easy this time either.’
Blanc closed his eyes and remembered the massive Void Tree that swallowed an entire city in his last life.
That was a realm of impossibility, a disaster that exceeded human problem-solving capabilities.
Compared to that massive thing.
Dealing with monsters with a fake map and a few mercenaries and troops was a problem that could be sufficiently solved.
‘I should test it out.’
A method that could solve the current situation was emerging in Blanc’s mind.