The Third Son of a Medieval Knight Family – Chapter 94 – Knight of Ascension (29)

Author: Dawn

Separate from the complexly turning situation, morning had dawned yet again.

The vanguard was moving rapidly southward as if retracing their steps.

Given the situation the main expeditionary force was facing, they had to provide relief quickly even if it meant pushing themselves somewhat.

If they dawdled and allowed the enemy to completely crush the expeditionary force itself, a not-so-bright future would be waiting after that.

This would be bad for Viktor, for the mercenaries and barbarians gathered in the vanguard, and for the principality as well.

Fortunately, unlike when they had first set out, most of them had transformed into cavalry and could maintain a very fast pace.

And their objective was clear.

The direction the vanguard was heading south was not toward Roshtov Castle, but toward the point where the main expeditionary force and the Grand Chief’s army had clashed.

Ptooey!

Lukovich spat out the jerky he had been chewing.

His expression wrinkled mercilessly.

‘How did they live eating stuff like this?’

He had worked as a traveling merchant for quite some time, and had also endured difficult times living as a despised slave in a barren little village, but even compared to the food he had eaten then, this jerky was excessively terrible.

He hadn’t expected taste to begin with, but even so, this was too much.

Even after cutting it into very small pieces and soaking it in water to make it easier to eat, it was like chewing on stone, and what kind of problem there had been in the drying process, a musty smell kept rising.

‘Poor bastards, they were so crazed about plundering because they had to eat stuff like this… tsk tsk.’

The eastern part of the principality might be barren and lacking in resources, making life difficult, but compared to the barbarians, it would be nothing short of paradise.

Just yesterday they had time to exchange goods and share some cherished treasures to promote understanding between each other.

Lukovich had received a chunk of jerky as a gift from some swarthy barbarian man, but when he finally tried eating it, this wasn’t fit for human consumption.

He sighed and looked around.

Unlike when they first departed, everything was truly as different as heaven and earth.

No one walking could be found anywhere.

Not only the knights, but most of the mercenaries were marching mounted on horses.

While their armament had barely changed, just having this many mounted cavalry was tremendous.

On top of that, there were even strange-looking people busily moving around between the mercenary companies that kept their distance and clustered together.

‘…I thought I’d gotten used to it after seeing Tumen.’

Lukovich couldn’t help but startle whenever fierce-looking beastmen passed by at high speed as if they were one with their horses.

Even though he’d heard they were a faction of different tribes gathered together, they seemed to have no reservations about each other.

Watching them act naturally as if they had been one group from the beginning, while the mercenaries still murmured among themselves, was a bonus.

The vanguard still hadn’t completely become one.

Actually, that was natural.

If principality people and barbarians could easily break down walls and become friendly, that would be even stranger.

‘Well, it’ll gradually improve… Lord Viktor doesn’t show it but seems to be worried about it too…’

When his thoughts reached that point, Lukovich suddenly recalled the words Viktor had said after calling everyone together before deciding to head south.

Honestly, they were all words he found difficult to completely understand, but he bit his lips hard.

‘I’m still far off. To become a knight like my lord, I need to study more…!’

“You mean selection and concentration?”

Viktor nodded.

“If it’s truly such a situation, it would be nothing short of complete chaos. There’s no need to even predict such an obvious problem. Isn’t that right, Sir Mikhail?”

“Hmm… I’ve never seen troops of that scale retreating, but… it certainly would be so. The command structure was already questionable whether it could be properly controlled even when it was intact.”

It was a natural observation.

In an era where it was normal for mercenary companies to scatter among themselves and retainers to stick with retainers when armies were assembled, precise and meticulous command was impossible.

Even relatively small united forces had a high chance of becoming chaotic, and a massive army formed by various people gathering from different places like this expedition was obviously predictable.

Vasilev, who was in overall command of the main force, would have suffered daily wrestling with subordinates who wouldn’t listen.

“Mm, with such a main force badly beaten in battle, deserting mercenaries would overflow, and nobles would likely have scattered ignoring orders to find their own ways to survive.”

Viktor’s words had merit.

As people nodded along, he quickly continued the conversation.

“But at least around Roshtov Castle would be different. As the messenger said, the command is attempting to regroup using that castle as a base, so it would be in a relatively stable state.”

“Are you saying we should go to Roshtov after all?”

Krupin tilted his head.

“No, if that were the case, I wouldn’t have bothered with such a long explanation.”

Viktor lightly denied his words while raising his hand.

“That’s why it’s selection and concentration.”

“Indeed!”

As Mikhail nodded as if he finally understood, Tumen muttered dissatisfiedly.

“Lord Viktor, couldn’t you speak a bit more in detail? What exactly does this mean…”

“Think about it, Tumen. If we’re going to definitively draw the enemies’ attention, there’s no reason to go to Roshtov, is there?”

“…Mm, now that you mention it…?”

That was certainly true.

Going to Roshtov and following the command’s orders would be easy, but ultimately that would be meaningless.

Whatever the vanguard did there, gathering the uncontrollably scattered forces again would be impossible.

“But what if we reversely hunt those who are enjoying their hunt?”

“…!”

At Viktor’s words, Tumen finally opened his eyes wide as if understanding the situation.

“They’d be enjoying themselves so they’d be completely off guard… you’re saying we should strike them then?”

“Right, and if we have the leisure, we could also gather the scattered forces ourselves.”

Listening to it, it certainly seemed like a much better choice than going to Roshtov.

As Tumen let out an exclamation of admiration, Kulak, who had been listening with a cautious expression, carefully voiced an opposing opinion.

“But wouldn’t that be too dangerous…? With forces split into small pieces, they wouldn’t be able to communicate easily with each other, and if things went wrong, it would be a disaster. Moreover, gathering scattered forces would naturally slow things down! We might even be defeated in detail.”

Kulak’s words were valid.

The idea of taking advantage of the chaos to reversely hunt enemies was good, but the risk was too great.

Even Krupin, who disliked that barbarian, was slightly nodding as if Kulak was right this time.

However, Viktor still maintained a firm expression.

“Certainly if we divided our forces, that would be the case.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Is there a need to divide our forces? Though our scale has grown from absorbing steppe warriors, I still think we can move as one body.”

“…”

The people gathered in the hall looked at each other.

“That… Sir, not to mean anything else…”

“Sir Krupin, I understand without you having to say it. You’re worried about fighting together, aren’t you?”

Krupin’s face reddened as if hit right on target.

And the same was true for Kulak.

The talk about dividing forces and such was ultimately because both sides had such thoughts in their heads.

Principality people and barbarians don’t want to fight together!

Strictly speaking, they were still people who hadn’t even coordinated with each other.

Though they had used Kulak and Tumen to subjugate the surrounding barbarians, that was all.

The current vanguard was nothing more than principality and barbarian armies traveling together.

“It’s a perfect opportunity. We can confirm each other’s military strength and learn how to cooperate. Ah, and we can also determine who’s more valiant.”

“…!”

Mikhail pressed his temples and made a final suggestion.

“You don’t need to provoke them so much… I’m worried the young ones might cause trouble instead. Anyway, will it really be alright? Taking those who haven’t even coordinated yet against the Grand Chief’s elite forces…”

Viktor smiled slightly.

It was a trustworthy, confident smile.

“Of course. It’s not like we’re openly challenging them. We just need to plunder those whose eyes have gone red, then gather forces and escape to Roshtov before the angry ones seriously come at us.”

“Well, that sounds easy to say, but…”

“Well, if it comes to it, we’ll just abandon them.”

“…!”

“Our mission wasn’t to rescue stragglers in the first place, and honestly speaking, aren’t we going to clean up the mess because the main force acted foolishly? If we just draw their attention, we’ll have done our duty.”

It was a cold and clear judgment.

Ultimately, Viktor was fulfilling the minimum duty as the expeditionary force’s vanguard while actually seeing the more important goal as using this opportunity to mix the two groups that hadn’t yet harmonized.

But for some reason, Mikhail wasn’t particularly angry.

Even though his position allowed him to demand more active movement since his lord the Count was in crisis.

Instead, Mikhail found himself caught in complex emotions as he looked at the commander making cold judgments and felt strangely pleased.

‘What am I…’

And Viktor was watching him without missing anything.

“Um…”

“Huh?”

“Well, let me ask you something.”

“Keep it short. I have orders not to talk long with you.”

‘This fucking…’

Swallowing his curse, the man forced an awkward smile.

However, that seemed to have the opposite effect, as the mercenary’s face, who had at least been responding curtly, hardened.

“Ugh, can’t you put that face away? What did you do to get so many scars? I’ve been through all sorts of terrible things too, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone so disgustingly marked up.”

‘This lowly mercenary bastard! I’ll kill you someday!’

Though he wanted to lash out according to his temper, he held back his anger and suppressed it.

Not only was his situation poor, but his long prisoner life of suffering had taught him to be patient.

The man, Igor, tried to lower his face and continue speaking.

“I’m sorry, there are circumstances… anyway, where are we going now?”

His hands and feet were free, and he could even get a horse, but Igor always had people watching him.

Even when sleeping or relieving himself, those who persistently followed him made him free only in speech – now was hardly different from his prisoner days.

“Tsk, I don’t know exactly either. I think they said something about going to some hilly area near a castle…”

“Hilly area?”

“Ah, I remember. Right, I think they said we’re joining forces with Count Yakobski’s unit.”

At the mercenary’s casual words, Igor’s eyes began to gleam.

‘A count… this is an opportunity!’

Just then, the mercenary who had been watching Igor think about something threw out a comment.

“I don’t know what circumstances you have, but give up.”

“…?”

“Of all people to mess with, you had to mess with Sir Viktor’s temper… tsk tsk, I don’t know who you are or where you live, but your life is ruined now.”

“…Are you done talking?”

As Igor’s face turned bright red, the mercenary sneered.

“To make such a great person angry is a talent if anything… what exactly did you do? I’m dying of curiosity about this too.”

“Ha, a great person? That bastard Viktor is so amazing that…”

Thwack!

Igor couldn’t even finish his words before he was knocked down.

“…What is this?!”

“How dare this arrogant bastard, who do you think you’re calling ‘that bastard,’ is Sir Viktor your friend?”

“This, this guy, do you know who I am…!”

“I don’t care who you are. Fuck, I told you not to mess around but it can’t be helped. You need a beating.”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Igor cowered as he was continuously beaten.