Chapter 46

“L-lie? H-how would I dare lie to you, my lord…?! P-please, forgive me!”

At Lucian’s words, the village chief turned pale and prostrated himself on the ground.

At first glance, he looked like someone terrified of being faulted.

However, Lucian continued speaking with a calm expression.

“It’s not unusual to evacuate only the children when war breaks out. Leaving one’s home is not easy, but at the very least, people try to save the children just in case.”

“Y-yes! T-that’s exactly why we…!”

“But that only applies to those who have some leeway or relatives in other villages. Generally, people either abandon the village entirely, or everyone stays together. Do you know why?”

“Y-yes…?”

“Because evacuating one’s family is an idea reserved for those who can afford it. In a backwater village like this, people are far too busy surviving day to day to think about evacuations.”

The village chief, who had been trembling, went completely rigid, as if he had even forgotten that he was supposed to keep trembling.

Lucian once again swept his gaze over the villagers.

“Also, distinguishing between children and adults is a classification that works in cities or wealthy towns. In the countryside, whether a child or not, you’re put to work immediately. If you’ve stopped wetting yourself, you’re treated as an adult, and the age for marriage is early as well.”

“…”

“So, once you’ve passed thirteen, it’s not an age for evacuation, but for being here, among the adults welcoming us. But here, no matter how I look…”

Lucian paused for a moment, then spat out the words with an icy smile.

“Everyone looks to be over twenty. How strange. Isn’t there a single thirteen-year-old groom? In a village like this, at that age you’re already someone dragged along to hunt if a wild beast appears.”

When Lucian finished speaking, silence spread everywhere.

The lords and knights, unfamiliar with rural life, had nothing to say and merely exchanged glances.

Meanwhile, some soldiers who came from remote villages nodded, thinking it made sense.

Everyone fell silent, waiting for the village chief’s response.

“Hehe.”

Instead of an answer, an empty laugh escaped from the chief’s lips.

At the same time, his eyes, which until then had looked naive, sharpened and filled with murderous intent.

Fshhk!

“Gugh!”

In an instant, a flash shone and the chief was flung backward.

Blood gushed violently from his severed arm.

He had charged at Lucian with a dagger, but Raymond had cut him down.

Raymond shook the blood from his sword and looked up in fury.

“You filthy trash, how dare you!”

“Kill them!”

The chief—no, the assassin disguised as the chief—shouted through clenched teeth.

The moment he gave the order, the innocent-looking villagers simultaneously drew daggers and rushed to attack.

Faced with the sudden change, the allied army was startled, but quickly reacted with cold precision.

“Enemies! Everyone, prepare your spears! Attack together!”

“Smash them with the shields! Once they fall, finish them!”

The assassins flailed chaotically, but they failed to inflict any significant damage and fell one by one.

The army had not yet rested and maintained perfect formation.

Moreover, they were all elite professional soldiers; mere assassins stood no chance.

Fshhk!

“Guh!”

Five spears pierced the body of the last remaining assassin, excluding the chief.

The body trembled for a moment before collapsing lifelessly.

When all the assassins had been eliminated, the one-armed chief smiled with a demonic face.

“Puhuhuh. I never imagined that it wouldn’t be a battle-hardened veteran, but a brat like this who would see through me.”

“You’re laughing? Do you even know what you’ve just done?”

“Of course I do. The breaking of that old, moldy Grand Accord. Isn’t it truly a historic moment?”

“You damned lunatics!”

Jurgen let out a curse without realizing it.

They truly understood what it meant to break the Grand Accord, and yet they still did this? It was absurd, but the chief’s face looked strangely relieved.

“Yes, that glorious Grand Accord. A pact to slap and kick instead of cutting throats or stabbing bellies. It was disgusting, but it has finally disappeared.”

“Are you serious? The ones who benefited most from the Grand Accord were you!”

“No! It was a law made for you!”

The chief shouted, glaring straight at Jurgen.

Such was his fervor that even the other lords shuddered.

“Because of the Grand Accord, we never drew swords! We always had to use our fists to adapt to you, and receive one-sided beatings from an Empire several times larger. Do you know what it’s like to live being trampled and kicked without dying?”

Fshhk!

A jet of blood burst from the open wound of his severed arm.

He had tightly clenched the hand trying to stop the bleeding.

Yet, as if he felt no pain, the chief shouted even louder.

“Just for being a vassal state, everything in Kreppelt was treated as inferior to the Empire! Goods, people, even nobles and the king! A beggar of the Empire looks down on a peasant of Kreppelt, and a mere baron despises a marquis just for being from a subordinate state. Under that oppression, we didn’t even dare to squirm!”

Kreppelt, with its flat territory and temperate climate, almost completely lacked geographical advantages for war.

Fighting the Empire while respecting the Grand Accord was practically impossible.

But they also couldn’t resort to dirty methods just to win once.

Even if it worked once or twice, the Empire would return again and again until Kreppelt was annihilated.

“Endless years of humiliation and disgrace… we endured and endured. Without pulling out the dagger lodged in our chests, only sharpening it in silence. But no longer.”

With a laugh filled with madness, the chief fixed his gaze on the First Prince.

Faced with those bloodthirsty eyes, the First Prince instinctively took a step back.

“One victory is enough. It’s enough to prove that the Empire is no longer what it was. Your karma has piled up to its limit, and there are many who wish for your fall. If they still restrain themselves, it’s only because they lack certainty.”

“…Is that why you broke the Grand Accord? Are you going to burn Kreppelt just to obtain a single victory?”

“Who knows. I wonder if, after this war, you’ll still have the leeway for that. No matter how large the hand, a human cannot cover the sky.”

After speaking, the chief stopped laughing and pulled another dagger from his clothes. Raymond immediately stepped in front of Lucian, but the dagger went toward the chief’s own neck.

“Struggle on. Your hell begins now.”

Fshhk!

At the same time as the dagger slid across, blood spurted from the slashed neck.

With a satisfied smile, the chief plunged his face into the pool of blood he himself had created.

“…”

“…”

Even though everything was over, no one could move for a long while.

Everyone felt that, in that instant, an enormous invisible barrier had completely collapsed.

The heavy silence was finally broken by Lucian.

“For now, let’s check the water first.”

“…Let’s do that.”

Marquis Bernhardt nodded gravely.

There was no longer anyone who mocked Lucian’s concerns.

***

The coalition immediately called for military doctors to check whether the well had been contaminated.

At first glance, it seemed to be in good condition, but they couldn’t take any risks.

And, as if it had been foreseen, not long after, the doctor entered the tent with a hardened expression to report.

“We have confirmed that the well water is mixed with poison. It’s not a lethal toxin, but if ingested, it causes, after two or three days, severe abdominal pain and vomiting.”

“So, it doesn’t kill you if you drink it?” someone asked.

“Not directly. However, it causes severe dehydration for about two weeks, so if the person doesn’t receive care and is left unattended for too long, they could die. And, more importantly…”

The doctor paused, hesitating. He didn’t seem sure whether to say what came next. When he didn’t get a response, the first prince burst out with a furious shout.

“Speak already! Even if it’s not lethal, what else happens?”

“…It’s a poison typically used to incapacitate people without killing them—not to kill outright. Generally, it’s not used with good intentions. It’s employed when someone wants to keep the victim alive to do something else with them.”

After those words, everyone fell silent. The resentful scream of the assassin who had posed as the village chief echoed once again in their minds.

People with such deep hatred for the Empire—what would they have done if they had captured the nobles and soldiers alive? Just imagining it made the skin crawl.

“Can it be detoxified?”

“It’s possible, but it requires several medicinal herbs.”

“In the middle of a war, that’s complicated. Understood.”

After concluding his report, the doctor bowed and left the tent.

The first prince, pale as a corpse and far from the confidence he had shown earlier, looked at the feudal lords and spoke.

“So what do we do now?”

“…”

Everyone lowered their heads in silence.

The assumption that the enemy would respect the Grand Accord had completely collapsed.

What could they do now?

It was the first time in hundreds of years something like this had happened; even the most experienced knights were bewildered.

‘If the enemy doesn’t respect the Grand Accord, their options multiply. In contrast, we have no preparation.’

‘Just as Duke Lucian said, by merely poisoning the water sources, we can no longer advance. Where are we going to get water from?’

‘And even if we solve the water problem, they’ll harass us with methods unseen in centuries. What are we supposed to do?’

As the silence dragged on, the first prince looked at the marquis with eyes full of anxiety.

Since he had proposed the rapid advance strategy, the prince still hoped he might have some kind of backup plan.

“Marquis, is there really no other method? You proposed the original plan, so you must’ve had a contingency in case things went wrong.”

“I’m sorry… This is new to me as well…”

Marquis Bernhardt Roglan avoided the first prince’s gaze and left the sentence hanging.

To be honest, there was a method, but it wasn’t something he could say aloud.

When even the marquis—his last hope—fell silent, the first prince shut his eyes tightly.

“…Duke Lucian, is there no solution?”

Though his tone was desperate, the prince’s body trembled with humiliation.

He seemed unable to bear having to yield to someone he had just insulted.

Lucian observed him for a moment, then nodded.

“There is one option.”

“There’s an option!?”

The first prince shouted, suddenly standing up.

If there really was a way to overcome this situation, he was willing to accept any condition.

However, Lucian’s proposal shattered his hopes in an instant.

“Let’s return to the Empire first and reorganize the army. Since the enemy has broken the Grand Accord, we must prepare forces and countermeasures accordingly, then come back to suppress the rebellion.”

“…Are you mocking me? Retreating without even fighting? My name will become a joke!”

“But it’s the option with the fewest losses. It’s better to retreat on our own terms than fight at a disadvantage, lose, and be forced to flee.”

“Don’t talk about defeat like a coward when we haven’t even fought yet! We haven’t lost!”

“We haven’t lost, but we’re forced to fight in a disadvantageous situation. Your Highness, with all due respect, there is no miracle strategy that can suddenly reverse everything.”

Lucian spoke firmly, looking at the first prince, who insisted like a spoiled child.

“If we fall into the enemy’s trap, we’ll always be fighting at a disadvantage, and if we lose the initiative, we’ll be dragged along by their moves. That’s how it works, and there’s no other way. Countermeasures are prepared in advance precisely to avoid reaching this point.”

“So you’re saying we’re in this situation because I wasn’t prepared? That since the outcome is the worst possible, we should just run away?”

“Yes. The coalition’s preparation was lacking, and from now on the enemy will manipulate us at will. The only way out is to retreat, flip the board, and start over. Please make the decision while the losses are still manageable.”

The marquis nearly nodded unconsciously.

Every word was correct.

Retreating now would mean huge losses—the cost of troop mobilization, the Empire’s prestige, the reputation of the first prince, and of the nobles gathered here.

‘But there’s no other choice. If you refuse to cut off a gangrenous finger, you’ll end up losing the arm.’

There are moments when, even if it feels like gouging out your own eyes, you must make a decision.

Lucian’s judgment wasn’t just correct—it was practically the only way out.

However, the first prince’s face twisted with rage, and he shouted.

“No, I can’t do that! Running without fighting is unthinkable! At the very least, I’ll return after achieving a victory! If the enemy scares you so much, stay behind and rest in the rear!”

“Your Highness!”

“First Prince!”

“Silence! It’s already decided, so I won’t hear another word!”

The first prince stormed out of the tent, slamming the flap behind him, leaving the nobles behind to stare at each other with pale faces.

In such an uncertain situation, pulling a thousand elite soldiers from the front—wouldn’t that mean House Valdeck would preserve its forces while the others wore themselves out?

Marquis Bernhardt Roglan’s face turned so pale he looked ready to faint.

‘This is bad.’

The vanguard is where it’s easiest to earn military merit, but also where you take the first blow when things go south.

And now, they were leaving the vanguard solely to House Roglan, with House Valdeck pulling back? If anything went wrong, only House Roglan would be annihilated.

“T-this… no, Duke Lucian.”

The marquis quickly changed his tone and addressed Lucian with respect.

Pride no longer mattered—the only thing that mattered was convincing Lucian to stay in the vanguard.

“I’ll speak to the first prince. Let’s go together, I’m sure he’ll change his mind. There’s no need to bear this disgrace. It makes no sense for House Valdeck to retreat from the vanguard…”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’m fine with this.”

Lucian shook his head before the marquis could finish speaking.

Then he smiled with a face so calm it didn’t show even a trace of resentment.

“How could I disobey the commander-in-chief’s orders? I’ll remain in the rear and reflect, so please go forth and win glory alongside His Highness. I’ll await news of your victory.”

“…”

Seeing Lucian’s smile, Marquis Bernhardt Roglan’s mind went completely blank.