Victor Mort (5)

The knight order departed quietly. Since this was not a glorious departure, there was neither a boisterous send-off ceremony nor a grand procession.

The letter from the capital instructed them not even to stop by the Imperial Palace, but to head directly south. It seemed the situation on the battlefield was more urgent than expected.

The road south was long. Provisions were distributed without issue, and they were welcomed by the local lords wherever they went, but crossing the vast lands of the Empire was no easy task. Moreover, they had only just lost their lord and comrades, so they were in no mood to accept hospitality. Morteon refused every banquet and asked only for places to sleep and sufficient food.

The knight order traveled in silence. The messengers who occasionally visited brought only grave news.

The knights of Mort had been annihilated by a group of assassins who ambushed them in the middle of the night, but no one yet knew who they were or how they had avoided detection. Since no one had even known the Southern Kingdom possessed such a unit, the battlefield was now in chaos.

“What could they be? Mercenaries? A secret unit?”

“That isn’t what matters. What matters is how they killed so many knights in a single night.”

Leonard and Kaltz spoke quietly. The three of them had been assigned to guard the rear and were riding a short distance behind the group.

Victor said,

“I heard headquarters has several theories. That they spread an extremely powerful sleeping incense, that they were knights with monstrous skill, or that they were mages from the Eastern Kingdom.”

Leonard frowned.

“Mages? Do such people really exist?”

“Probably. Though I heard they’re rare even in the Eastern Kingdom.”

“That’s absurd. It must have been sleeping incense or something like that.”

Leonard clicked his tongue. Kaltz immediately objected.

“I think mages make more sense.”

“Why?”

“There’s no sleeping incense in the world that can put people into such a deep sleep.”

He spoke firmly. It was an unusually sharp tone for the normally frivolous Kaltz.

“And the claim that they were knights is complete bullshit. What senior knight would sleep through the sound of swords?”

The two knights quietly agreed. They were knights of Mort, and they knew how skilled their fallen comrades had been. None of them were people who could have been killed so easily by other knights.

The three rode in silence. Ordinarily, they would have chatted excitedly whenever they had the chance, but things had not been the same since their departure. The deaths of their family and comrades still weighed on the young knights like stones.

Leonard asked,

“How much farther do we have to go?”

“About two days.”

“I see…….”

Their surroundings were already unmistakably southern. The leaves were broad, and the lakes were a clear emerald color. It was as beautiful as Kaltz had described, but neither Kaltz nor Victor and Leonard, who were visiting the south for the first time, could fully enjoy the scenery. The front line was close.

After a month of marching, they finally reached the southernmost edge of the continent.

The battlefield was, quite literally, a mess.

Discipline had already grown lax after the prolonged war, and the assassination of Grand Duke Mort and several other commanders had thrown the soldiers into confusion. To make matters worse, a sudden assault on the Southern Kingdom’s main island was now being planned, leaving everything even more chaotic. The moment Morteon heard the operational plan, he immediately went to headquarters with Victor accompanying him.

And that day, Victor discovered the limits of his patience.

“……I understand what you are saying, Your Grace, but it is not so simple.”

“Is it truly that difficult to devise an operation centered around the navy?”

Morteon asked again, remaining as calm as possible.

The chief of staff, a southern noble, twisted his mustache as he replied.

“The core strength of our army is its knights. Our navy is also powerful, but what greater waste could there be if the knights cannot participate? That is why we spent days and nights devising a landing operation.”

“But the Southern Kingdom is an island nation. Even without landing the knights, we could continuously engage them at sea and isolate them until they surrendered. We would not need to send supply lines for knights who had landed either…….”

“No, then what of our honor?”

Another man interjected. Said to be the commander of some knight order from the south, he raised his voice.

“We are knights gathered to defend this country. What disgrace would it be if we returned without drawing our swords even once on the battlefield?”

“Sir, this is not the time to debate whether something is disgraceful.”

“Well, to my eyes, Your Grace may simply be too fainthearted─.”

Unable to endure any longer, Victor cut in.

“How insolent. Do you even know who you are speaking to?”

The staff officers’ gazes all turned toward the young lord. Victor clenched his jaw and glared at them.

Everything they said was bullshit. There was a more efficient way to end the war, yet they were planning an unreasonable operation for nothing more than honor. On top of that, they called the person pointing out the flaws in their plan fainthearted. Victor could not believe such men were knights and soldiers representing the Empire.

Morteon stopped him with a stern look.

“……Enough. Forgive me, sir. I apologize for my brother’s rudeness.”

“It is quite all right. You are both still young.”

The knight answered in a voice that sounded mocking. Victor wanted to tear the man’s head off on the spot, but he clenched his fists and endured it. Morteon calmly rose to his feet.

“Very well. If that is the opinion of you gentlemen, I will comply. Now that we have joined the army, the Mort Knight Order will follow headquarters’ orders without exception.”

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

Morteon left the tent without hesitation. Victor shot them a murderous glare before following his brother.

The encampment was noisy. Soldiers rushed back and forth carrying weapons and food.

As soon as they had moved some distance from the tent, Victor spat out,

“How dare they say such things to you?”

“It’s fine. Having my proposal dismissed hurts more.”

Morteon smiled bitterly.

“I expected our influence would have diminished after we failed once.”

“Failed?”

“We lost the previous commander and our knights. In a single day, no less. By now, they probably look down on the Mort Knight Order quite a bit.”

Victor’s insides boiled.

Mort’s reputation was maintained solely by its powerful knights. Although House Mort held the title of grand duke, its territory lay far from the capital, and it did not participate in high society, so little else was known about it. That was why they were disregarding them the moment the knight order suffered defeat.

As though he understood his brother’s feelings, Morteon said,

“Let’s consider it fortunate. At least this means we’ll get to fight.”

“…….”

“You want revenge, don’t you?”

Victor quietly looked at Morteon.

His brother had never been someone who spoke of revenge. He had taught that a knight should know how to forgive others with mercy. But this time was different. Morteon was permitting him to take revenge.

Victor answered in a low voice.

“Yeah.”

Let’s do it. Let’s take revenge.

Before long, the day of the operation dawned.

The so-called “Southern Kingdom Landing Operation” was stupidly simple. First, the navy would engage the Southern Kingdom’s fleet and open a route. Then the knights and soldiers would divide into groups and land on the small islands surrounding the Southern Kingdom’s mainland. After establishing bases there, they would advance together toward the main island.

Most of the soldiers protested the idea of being stationed on scorching tropical islands where even supplies would be difficult to deliver, but there was nothing they could do. Headquarters was stubborn, and the commanders were desperate to earn military merit.

The first battle began early in the morning.

While the navy spent days bombarding the enemy and opening a route toward the islands, the knights of Mort prepared to deploy.

Heavy plate armor, lances, and horses were useless on the humid coast. Instead, they wore leather armor and strapped swords to their waists. They also packed mint ointment for the heat and cloaks to keep off the rain.

Before long, the Southern Kingdom’s forces, unable to withstand the Imperial Navy’s overwhelming numbers, retreated.

The knights quickly split among the ships and headed for the islands.

“Damn it, what kind of mess is this?”

Kaltz cursed as he sat cramped in the musty bottom of the ship.

“If I’d known it would be like this, I would’ve stayed around here and become a pirate.”

“Complaining about orders is unbecoming of a knight, Kaltz of Dnion.”

Leonard reprimanded him. He himself was deathly pale from experiencing seasickness for the first time in his life. Kaltz stared at him in disbelief.

“You can still say something like that in this situation?”

“I was merely speaking of a knight’s duty.”

“You think I don’t know that? I’m saying I wouldn’t have given such a stupid order in the first place.”

Victor secretly agreed with him, but he could not say so aloud. If even the future knight commander began complaining, morale would fall even further.

Victor tried to think only about the coming battle, but it was not easy. Shouts and the roar of waves continued outside, while the incomprehensible operation unsettled his mind. He wondered whether they would even be able to fight properly like this.

But Morteon was calm, as always. Looking outside through a small window, he shouted,

“─We’re almost at our destination! Prepare to land.”

The knights gripped their swords firmly and prepared to disembark at once.

The landing was not particularly difficult. The island’s civilians had already evacuated, and the remaining soldiers fled in terror the moment they saw the knights.

Morteon shouted repeatedly,

“Do not kill anyone who has no will to fight! Spare those who surrender!”

Why?

Victor had a bitter thought. Even after speaking of revenge, Morteon apparently did not want any more killing than necessary.

But regardless, Victor followed his brother’s command. A lord’s orders were absolute. Victor restrained his strength, inflicted only minor wounds on the enemy soldiers, and allowed them to escape by boat.

The knights settled into the base the enemy had occupied and sent a carrier pigeon to headquarters.

A reply soon arrived. Apparently, not many units had managed to land without casualties. Some ships had even been struck by cannon fire and nearly sunk on the way to the islands.

It was obvious something like this would happen. The knights of Mort clicked their tongues, but they could not reverse an operation that had already begun.

Under the sweltering heat, they forced dried meat into their mouths.

It was the beginning of a long battle.