The Third Son of a Medieval Knight Family Chapter 34 - Knight of the Principality (20)

“I hear you’ve contracted with the city to fight against the barbarians… Is my understanding correct?”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Then I suppose your future plans haven’t been decided yet?”

Viktor’s contract with the city was simply to fight alongside the city’s army against the barbarian forces.

Now that they had achieved a great victory and the barbarians had retreated, the contract was essentially complete.

‘I was thinking of extending it if there are no major problems…’

Life in the city was incomparably more comfortable than anything he had experienced before.

The Administrator was a decent person, and the council members of the veche showed him nothing but favor without being particularly bothersome.

After all, wasn’t his goal simply to eat well and live well?

Having received a substantial sum of gold coins as payment and with his good relations with the city folk, Viktor had been considering staying in the city a little longer.

“Well… I haven’t made any specific decisions yet.”

But there was no need to share such thoughts.

When Viktor responded noncommittally, the Count’s face brightened.

“Good, excellent. Then, if it’s agreeable to you, would you accompany me?”

“Accompany you where?”

“Actually… well, aren’t you curious about why I happened to be here of all places? It’s related to that.”

Count Yakobski nodded and continued.

“I was on my way to the eastern region by order of the Grand Prince. Originally, I had no intention of passing near Permikoff.”

And then he began to tell an unexpected story.

“But Sir Mikhail here noticed troops carrying the banners of nearby nobles on the move, and wondering if something was amiss, we followed them only to find ourselves in trouble.”

The Count gestured toward the elderly knight as he spoke.

Knight Mikhail bowed his head briefly and continued the Count’s explanation.

“Various nobles from the surrounding areas were heading toward the city with their soldiers and mercenaries, and at first I thought they might be holding a hunting competition. By the time we learned the truth, it was already too late.”

“Yes, far too late… While we were fortunate enough to survive, many who came with me perished. Such… a regrettable matter.”

The two men shook their heads with solemn expressions.

Viktor couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say, and a moment of silence passed.

Count Yakobski soon cleared his throat and resumed his unfinished statement.

“Ahem, ahem. Anyway, what I wanted to say is this. The place we were originally heading to. I need your help there.”

“May I ask where that might be?”

“Radovitz. The fortress where the united forces of the eastern lords are currently stationed.”

A familiar name from Viktor’s memory came from the Count’s lips.

****

The lords of the eastern principality were experiencing a terrible nightmare, struggling through each day.

At first, everything had seemed fine.

The Grand Chief of the barbarians invading the principality’s territory again was shocking, but at least it didn’t cause all the eastern nobles to be paralyzed with fear.

The eastern principality was originally a symbol of conquest, gained through fighting the barbarians over a long period.

The nobles of this land all had experience, to varying degrees, of clashing with barbarians.

It had been about ten years since the last large-scale invasion where the Grand Chief personally led his warriors, but some of the more belligerent nobles even welcomed this attack.

War was a crisis, but also an opportunity.

Those who fought well against the barbarians and accumulated military achievements often gained substantial wealth and honor—a fairly common occurrence in the principality.

In reality, with a bit of luck, even a humble mercenary could earn a knighthood through military merit—not entirely a pipe dream.

For nobles, it went without saying.

If they could reclaim more land from the barbarians, apart from some territories directly controlled by the Grand Prince, the rest would belong to the nobles who distinguished themselves.

There was no need to fabricate justifications or plot schemes—few would pass up such an easy opportunity to expand their territory.

A few villages might burn, but that was truly a trivial matter.

The eastern lords soon began recruiting mercenaries and conscripting people, and the armies that arose from various places easily repelled the scattered barbarians, advancing triumphantly.

The barbarians, contrary to their fearsome reputation, collapsed pathetically and focused only on fleeing, which led the eastern lords to dream even bigger.

‘It seems they’ve grown much weaker while we weren’t looking…’

‘If we play our cards right, we might be able to capture the Grand Chief?’

‘If that happens… hehehe!’

Capturing the Grand Chief and achieving the feat of subjugating the barbarians would bring immortal fame.

As the lords’ fantasies grew upon seeing barbarian forces shattered wherever they appeared, they eventually began to gather naturally at a single point.

As if being herded, the eastern nobles gathered in one place. Though some felt something was amiss, when the Grand Chief’s forces—not the scattered barbarian groups they had been dealing with—appeared before them, such suspicions became irrelevant.

“Alone, none of us could face their numbers, but now that we’ve gathered together, we have nothing to fear!”

“The barbarians are nothing but empty shells. They’re mere rabble that can’t live up to their past reputation!”

“Let’s unite. This is the perfect opportunity to put those western snobs who’ve looked down on us as country bumpkins in their place!”

Thus, the eastern lords formed a united army, and these people who had never lost since the war began confidently stepped onto the battlefield.

And, as is now known, the result was utterly devastating.

Count Yakobski clicked his tongue and muttered.

“The barbarians’ specialty is precisely this—luring and deceiving. We fell for it spectacularly.”

The charge of heavily armored knights had some effect, but most of the eastern united army consisted of infantry.

The barbarian cavalry roughly absorbed the knights’ charge, then maneuvered around to strike the formation’s flanks, causing the less-trained conscripts to collapse first.

Once the formation broke, the mercenaries soon began to flee, and after that, everything fell apart.

The eastern united army recorded one of the most miserable defeats since the principality’s founding.

“The more I think about it, the more frustrating and unbelievable those fellows are, but they’re still nobles of this country. They sent requests for aid to Rurik, and as I happened to be there, I petitioned the Grand Prince to allow me to go east!”

According to Count Yakobski, the eastern nobles were now holed up in a naturally fortified fortress called Radovitz, helplessly waiting for support from the principality.

Meanwhile, the barbarians were freely roaming not only through the now-undefended east but even beyond, plundering various parts of the principality at will.

As he listened to the story, Viktor suddenly tilted his head.

“Indeed… Your Excellency, but I’m curious about something.”

“Oh, what is it? Ask me anything.”

“The truth is, you don’t have any reason to get involved, do you? From what I understand, you don’t even have lands in the east, so why did you personally set out?”

Viktor’s words were somewhat direct, but no one present faulted him for rudeness.

The knight before them had earned that right.

The Count simply smiled and answered as if it were nothing.

“Haha, what a strange question. Isn’t it obvious! When an opportunity arises to directly face those barbarian bastards, how could I possibly refuse?”

“…Hmm.”

Viktor scratched his chin.

‘What does he mean by that?’

It felt like he had received an answer that didn’t quite match his question.

Perhaps noticing Viktor’s expression, the elderly knight Sir Mikhail leaned in to whisper.

“I believe you’re aware that the Count is expected to succeed as the next Grand Prince.”

“Hmm…”

“However, he has always worried that if he inherits the title without any significant achievements, other nobles might look down on him. And then, conveniently, these barbarians invaded.”

“Ah, I see. I understand now.”

“You’re quick to grasp things, which is good. If he can defeat these creatures, what better achievement could there be? That’s why the Count rushed to the east ahead of others.”

With that explanation, the Count’s actions made sense.

Had he not unfortunately been caught up near the city, he would probably have reached Radovitz by now, taking command of the eastern nobles and preparing for war.

‘But given how things have turned out…’

However, the Count now lacked the strength for such ambitions.

Of course, who could have predicted a barbarian attack so close to a major city like Permikoff? But then, life was inherently unpredictable.

The many knights and mercenaries who had confidently followed the Count when he first set out were now reduced to a mere handful.

While no one would dare disrespect the Count because of this, his plans to leverage his forces to take military command at Radovitz had clearly fallen apart.

Even for a great noble and potential successor to the Grand Prince, it would be difficult to assume a leadership position among nobles from a different region without any military force behind him, especially when he had no prior connections with them.

Since he hadn’t established vassalage relationships with them, simply showing up and declaring he would take command wouldn’t persuade many nobles.

In this state, the Count’s arrival would probably just add one more superior to be attended to without providing any real help, something the nobles would hardly welcome.

“Of course, I don’t intend to set out as we are. With so many mercenaries hired by the city, I plan to supplement our forces from here.”

The Count declared confidently, pounding his chest.

“This is clearly divine providence! I, who was destined to lose everything and die, was saved by you, and now a path has opened to acquire excellent new forces. What do you think? Surely you feel it too. God is guiding us!”

‘I have no idea…’

From Viktor’s perspective, the Count before him simply seemed like a man overflowing with confidence but lacking in luck.

After all, if God had truly decided to guide the Count, why would He first drive him to the brink of death in such an unexpected place?

But a good knight should be able to maintain the most loyal expression outwardly, even if his heart held different thoughts.

Viktor began to gaze at the Count with heated eyes and a face as solid as steel.

“Your faith moves my heart, Your Excellency. Truly admirable.”

To deal with nobles of the principality, one had to know how to speak with honeyed words.

This wasn’t just true for commoners dealing with nobles, but also for unremarkable knights dealing with high-ranking nobles.

And Viktor’s skill, well-practiced from his time in the village, was making a much deeper impression on the Count than he realized.

Tears began to well up in the eyes of the Count, whose passionate and boisterous personality seemed somewhat unbefitting a noble.

“Sir Knight…! More than anyone else’s words, yours brings me joy…”

Perhaps his recent hardships came to mind.

The confident departure, the unexpected fall, and the miraculous rescue.

In Count Yakobski’s mind, this whole sequence of events had clearly settled as a trial meant to temper him.

And the knight sent by God standing before him had just firmly confirmed his thoughts.

That he was not wrong.

That at the end of this journey, he would achieve a great feat worthy of having his name inscribed at the edge of the Light God’s throne!

“Sir Knight! I… I believed! That you would naturally accept my request!”

“…?”

“Hahaha, with you by my side, what do I have to fear! It feels like I’ve gained a thousand-strong army! Hahaha!”

“…Your Excellency? When did I say I would—”

“Hahahahaha!”

‘Like a true northerner… how irritating.’

Viktor’s eyes narrowed coldly as he watched this passionate noble who wasn’t even listening and had already drawn his own conclusions.

Observing the situation, Sir Mikhail intervened between the two.

“Your Excellency. Since the battle just ended and everyone is exhausted, perhaps we should return to the city together first? After resting and finding the right moment… we could invite Sir Viktor again to hear his thoughts.”

Sir Mikhail was a knight who had served the Count for many years.

As he skillfully compensated for the Count’s hasty decision, the atmosphere became much smoother.

“Ah… right. I do apologize, everyone. You must all be tired and exhausted, and I seem to have brought this up rather hastily… Sir Knight, please rest well for now. I’ll send a servant with a message later.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Your Excellency. Let’s return to the city together once everything is settled.”

“Hahaha, thank you. Well then, if you’ll excuse me.”

The Count moved energetically despite his wounded body and disappeared like the wind.

Sir Mikhail slightly bowed his head to Viktor once more from the rear and hurriedly followed his lord.

He was truly like a storm.

Lukovich carefully muttered from the side.

“The Count seems a bit… unlike what one expects of a noble.”

The Count was a typical northern man’s man.

His unrefined, boisterous personality was probably what made him popular, but…

‘Why does he remind me so much of the people from the village?’

Viktor sighed as he held his head.