On the road leading from the Imperial Capital to the Obrisin County. Soldiers were walking along the road.

While there weren’t as many soldiers as far as the eye could see……the number of troops was still significant.

「Wow……that’s impressive. Could it be that?」

A woman working in a field a little way from the road muttered out loud and a man who appeared to be her husband nodded in response.

「Yeah, it’s a punitive force. I don’t know where the battle will take place, but I hope our village won’t be affected.」

「Isn’t……the territory of Count Obrisin that way?」

「……Count Obrisin? I’ve heard rumours that he loves war, so it’s not that surprising if you think about it.」

「Hey, Count Obrisin’s territory isn’t that far away. I wonder if our village will be okay?」

「It will be fine. Even if they’re a rebel army, they’re no match for the Imperial Army. Can’t you see those numbers?」

「……But, judging from the soldiers’ equipment, it doesn’t look like they belong to the Imperial Army.」

「Hm? ……Ah, I see. It’s probably a unit led by a noble.」

「Is that really okay? I don’t want our village to be affected.」

「Even if you don’t want it to happen, there’s nothing we can do about it, so we can only pray that the punitive force wins.」

Aside from the couple, similar conversations were taking place on fields near the road.

Although they were worried and dissatisfied with the civil war, they thought that the Imperial Army would come out and put them down eventually.

It was because they lived in the Bestir Empire and knew how powerful it was that they were only minorly shaken up.

……However, they still felt a mixture of anxiety despite their complete trust, probably due to the fact that the Bestir Empire had lost the Spring War.

Furthermore, those who realised that it wasn’t the Imperial Army but a noble’s army only spread more anxiety.

「Ugh, how annoying.」

A man, sensing the anxious gazes of the peasants, muttered from inside a carriage.

「Baron Dellota, what’s wrong? This road leads to our glory, so we should be calm now.」

The man sitting opposite him said that in an attempt to calm his anger.

「But, Viscount Adeno! Look at those peasants’ eyes! No matter how you look at it, they are treating us with contempt!」

Another man in the carriage spoke out.

「Well, it’s true that we’re leading the troops, not the Imperial Army, so I guess it can’t be helped.」

「Count Scola!」

「In the end, it hasn’t even been decided who will be in charge of overall command, right? As a military operation, isn’t in natural to think of it as bad in many ways?」

The man called Count Scola was visibly thin and not the type to go to the battlefield. In fact, he understood this himself, which was why he often expressed his doubts about this punitive expedition.

First of all, all the people participating in the punitive force, including Count Scola, were members of the Second Prince’s faction.

Count Scola also understood that the people participating in the punitive force had something in common. That was to say……

(Even among the Second Prince’s faction, they are likely considered incompetent and useless. In other words, the purpose of this punitive force is to use them as sacrificial pawns to see how powerful the army led by Prince Mercurio is.)

Muttering to himself, he glanced out the carriage window.

There, he saw 10 knights.

They weren’t just any knights either. They were the direct subordinates of the Second Prince and could be called elites.

Why were such elite troops, even if only 10 of them, participating in a punitive expedition?

If they had enough people to form a unit, they could be considered a fighting force. But, only 10 knights had come with them.

It was easy for Count Scola to imagine the purpose of the knights in accompanying them.

(To see how Prince Mercurio defeats us. To see what cards he has in his hands.)

Though he thought that, Count Scola couldn’t tell the people accompanying him.

No, rather, it was better to say that he kept quiet because he knew that even if he did tell them, they wouldn’t listen.

In the sense of gathering incompetent, expendable people, this punitive force certainly matched the requirements.

They overestimated their own abilities and underestimated the enemy. They didn’t think this was wrong. They were certain that victory would be theirs at the end of hte battle and were even discussing how to divide the territory between those who were participating in the force.

Count Scola was surprised that they even had the ability to notice the way the peasants were looking at them.

(Although, I suppose they also considered me incompetent.)

As he thought that, he couldn’t help but cough.

Yes, this was the reason why Count Scola was judged incompetent.

It had been judged that he was sickly and would be in no position to survive the turbulent times ahead as the head of a noble family.

Naturally, since Count Scola was participating in the punitive force, if something were to happen, his younger brother would immediately be supported as the next Count Scola.

(Then, what I can do now is……at the very least, fight without sully the Count Scola name, draw out as many cards as possible from the rebel army, and avoid wasting as much of our own forces as possible.)

Although he made up his mind, he still felt a little weak at the end.

That was only natural. This punitive force was a ragtag army and, as Count Scola had pointed out earlier, there was no unified command.

He had told the other nobles about this before leaving the Imperial Capital, but no one listened because they didn’t want to be under the command of another noble.

When he recalled that time, Count Scola, who was already frail, seemed like he would collapse at any moment.

「Count Scola? What’s wrong?」

Seeing Count Scola suddenly go quiet, Viscount Adeno called out to him with a somewhat unpleasant smile.

「No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about how to proceed with the battle against the rebel army.」

Count Scola hastily shook his head to say that it was nothing.

If the others saw that he wasn’t feeling well, the troops he had brought might have been taken away from his command.

Normally, a Viscount was one rank below a Count, so there was no way he could do something like that.

However, since this was an army, if there was pretext that it would cause confusion in command if something were to happen, such a reckless move could go ahead.

Count Scola’s physical frailty was particularly well known, so it was only natural that there would be someone in this punitive force who was waiting for that opportunity.

What would happen if such a person were to take command of his own troops? The result was obvious.

There was a good chance they would be used as sacrificial pawns to prevent the military strength of their own troops from being wasted.

Knowing that Count Scola couldn’t show even the slightest bit of weakness.

「Is that so? It would be a terrible thing if something were to happen to Count Scola. If you don’t mind, I can take command of the troops that you have been leading……」

He spoke those words seemingly with concern, but he didn’t hide the light of desire deep in his eyes. ……No, he couldn’t.

It was because of this that they had been chosen as sacrificial pawns to see the rebel army’s true strength.

The reason why they were trying to trip each other up was because they had probably heard that they had more numbers.

In other words, because the outcome of the battle was already decided, they wanted to make their own achievements as spectacular as possible.

(It’s true that the outcome is already decided. But, it’s still difficult to judged what the opponent has. In that case, I should focus on withdrawing the troops to take as little damage as possible. ……I wonder if that will even work.)

Count Scola sighed inwardly as he responded with some superficial words.

It wasn’t that difficult to withdraw just his own troops. However, that was only if they were the only ones there.

If the other nobles were to see him retreating carelessly, they would accuse him of aiding the enemy or deserting before the enemy. Furthermore, he couldn’t allow Shurus’ knights, who were there to see what the rebels had, to notice them.

Just thinking about the difficult situation made his stomach churn and he nearly lost consciousness, but he couldn’t do such a thing here.

「……Is that Baron Gyulkus’ carriage? Hmph, how dare he, the incompetent man who caused the spy unit to die in vain, join this battle without any shame. He must have no sense of pride or self awareness as a noble of the Bestir Empire.」

Baron Dellota muttered in disgust as he saw another carriage from the window.

Even Count Scola had to wholeheartedly agree.

In order to gain credit for himself, he had use Shurus’ name to send out his prized intelligence unit to the Obrisin County, where they had been wiped out.

Although he didn’t know the details, Count Scola understood that this expedition was related to that.

With the intelligence unit that was sent being wiped out, Shurus probably wanted to gain as much information as he could from the enemy. And, while he was at it, he wanted to thin out the incompetent nobles who might get in the way when the time came.

(What a pain……)

He sighed inwardly. But, there was nothing he could do after things had progressed to this stage.

He would have to managed to survive somehow. With that thought in mind, Count Scola turned his gaze towards the unpleasantly clear autumn sky.

 

 

「We’ll camp here for the night!」

As such a voice rang out, the soldiers of the punitive force immediately began preparing to camp.

Normally, one of the nobles would have complained, but since everyone was tired, no one complained.

The nobles had been riding in carriages all day while the soldiers had been walking. If you thought about who was more tired, it was definitely the latter. But, to the nobles……or to be precise, the nobles taking part in this punitive expedition, the lives of the soldiers were no more important that any stone on the ground.

Led by such nobles, it was only natural that the morale of the soldiers wasn’t high.

If they hadn’t known that the rebel army was fewer in numbers than them, some would have deserted immediately.

And, as for the nobles……

「Don’t mess with me! You want me to eat such horrible food……no, you can’t even call it food! You’re making me eat this garbage!?」

「Where’s the alcohol? I need some to soothe my tired body. Bring it quickly.」

「You’re telling me to sleep in such a shabby bed!? Prepare a better bed for me! And women too!」

「You, you fool! Get moving faster! You’re slower than all the other troops! Are you trying to embarrass me!?」

Such angry voices could be heard all over the camp.

Naturally, the soldiers were doing their best, but the nobles still found their reactions slow.

It was only natural, they had been walking all day, but the nobles, who looked down on them as commoners, felt that they were neglecting them.

One of the nobles grew frustrated with their soldiers not responding quickly to his orders and reached for the long sword at his waist.

He swung it down without drawing it from its sheath, probably because he thought there would be no point in killing them.

「Work harder!」

「Guh!」

The sheathed sword, swung with those words, slammed into the soldier’s shoulder.

The soldier was wearing leather armour, so it hurt a little but wasn’t fatal.

The noble seemed pleased with the soldier’s condition and left with a satisfied smile.

It was more like he was venting his frustrations that anything to do with the soldier’s actual work.

The soldier, who was used to the noble’s tyranny, shrugged his shoulders at the sympathetic looks he received from the surrounding soldiers and returned to setting up camp.

To the soldiers participating in this punitive force, this was an everyday occurrence.

Count Scola was one of the few exceptions, but he was only the commander of one unit. Furthermore, he was physically weak and despised by the other nobles, so there was nothing he could do.

The knights dispatched by Shurus looked at the nobles in amazement.

They worked their soldiers hard, tiring them out despite the fact that they were about to go to war in a few days, prepared luxurious tents, and enjoyed fine wine and food.

It should have taken two days to reach Count Obrisin’s territory, but at this marching speed, it would take twice as long, if not more.

What would be the future of such a punitive force?

Knowing this, they decided that they were just here to fufill their duty……but, a few days later, they would regret that decision and realise they had been hopelessly naive.

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