Chapter 365: Let Them Rise
Basel lies upstream on the Main River, so rather than fight the current, they would find it far faster to head downstream, which meant they were most likely fleeing toward Strasbourg or Mainz.
Then the Commander Scouter suddenly activated.
A hostile mercenary band was attacking the Steinhof unit.
A hostile mercenary band near Breisburg? And attacking Steinhof, no less. The Steinhof unit’s combat power and morale were still high, but their numbers were very small.
Tracking Mort was the priority, but abandoning the people of the Steinhof family to danger was absolutely out of the question. Better to lose Mort altogether!
I halted the unit at the top of a hill.
First, we needed to regroup.
A desperate battle between the Steinhof unit and the mercenaries was unfolding. Despite their small numbers, the Steinhofs were leveraging their advantage as cavalry, striking and withdrawing, putting up a fierce fight against the mercenaries.
The mercenaries numbered about 300.
The Steinhofs numbered 35.
And the Gale Knights were a cavalry force of over 200.
"Sir Drek, I’m giving you the vanguard!"
"Leave it to me! I’ll tear their formation apart!"
Fiel had always led the vanguard of the Gale Knights, but now Drek had claimed the position. He favored bold, headlong charges. His odds of dying were that much higher, but that was exactly what made him perfect as a vanguard captain.
"Sir Beort, Sir Ferke! Command the left flank! Anton! You take the right! Barosi! Support our allies with Herto! The rest of you, follow me!"
The nobles under my command weren’t part of the Gale Knights, but I gave them temporary officer positions. With the mercenaries floundering in confusion, it was the perfect battlefield to give these men, still inexperienced at commanding units, some seasoning.
"Lord, grant us strength!"
"Vanguard, charge! Follow me!"
"Raaaaah!"
Thud thud thud thud!
At Drek’s command, the members of the vanguard surged forward. Around them, Beort, Ferke, and Anton each commanded the flanks. Barosi and Herto’s units backed them up.
Their coordination was reasonably smooth.
They hadn’t trained together long, but this was good enough to pass.
Time and training would take care of what was lacking.
I didn’t move.
Unlike in the days when I charged in recklessly, the man I am today has to hold his post as much as possible. Setting the stage for my men to shine is enough. That doesn’t mean I’ve washed my hands of it entirely, though.
If the battle turns dangerous, I can step in decisively.
After all, I have the power to change the situation.
The mercenaries’ formation had been scattered from the very start. The reason was simple. They couldn’t properly handle the 35 Steinhof knights. That was why the Steinhofs’ combat power and morale hadn’t dropped.
Adolf in particular swung his sword as if he’d forgotten his age.
Is that really the stamina of a man of nearly seventy?
While I was marveling at Adolf, Ted glanced at me warily and asked,
"Master, aren’t we charging?"
"My men are fighting well. Why would we?"
Ted hemmed and hawed, seemingly at a loss for words. What he probably wanted to say was that it looked strange to see me hanging back when I had always ridden at the head of the Gale Knights.
"Ted, from now on, if I want to earn merit, nothing less than a bigger battlefield will do."
"I suppose that’s true. Your station has risen so high, Master."
"If I settle even small skirmishes like this myself, how will my men ever climb the ranks?"
The days of rampaging about as a cavalry commander are over.
Even if I don’t step forward, my men must.
Ted and the men seemed to accept it, but they looked a little wistful. It wasn’t just that my personal squad was being left out. It was the disappointment of knowing they could no longer easily witness the Gale Knight who used to tear across the battlefield like a madman.
[C-Rank Lord (Intimidation 50%)]
Huh? My lord title had suddenly gone up in rank.
Did it rise because I’d settled into the mindset of a lord?
"Raaaaah!"
The mercenaries’ morale turned yellow, and their combat power dropped visibly. They’d already had their hands full with the Steinhof knights, and when another cavalry force suddenly appeared, they began to lose their will to fight.
The vanguard led by Drek possessed breakthrough power as formidable as their fine equipment, and they trampled the mercenaries without mercy. Comparing Drek to Fiel would be a stretch, but he had proven his qualities as a vanguard captain.
Beort and Ferke were steady, reliable commander types. Their strength lay in striking the enemy’s broken ranks while Drek ran wild up front, moving to exactly the right place at the right time so the enemy couldn’t respond.
Anton’s command skills were still rough, but with capable commanders around him to watch and learn from, he could grow into an excellent commander himself. He had a burning will of his own, after all.
The battle ended in a one-sided victory for us.
But it had cost us no small amount of time.
"Thanks to your help, Baron of Rosenheim, we were spared disaster."
"Even without our help, with your skill, Sir Steinhof, you would have prevailed just fine."
"If I were only a bit younger, I would have swept away those small-fry mercenaries myself. The years are simply cruel. I suppose a mere creation cannot turn back the span of life the Lord has granted."
This battle seemed to have left Adolf with regrets in more ways than one.
To be fair, even by my reckoning, this mercenary band rated a C at best.
"By the way, you could easily have passed us by without noticing. I’m impressed you spotted us."
"Riding past a sworn ally in danger is unthinkable. Even if Viscount Neunil and Mort had been right before my eyes, I would have raced to save the Steinhofs in their peril."
Adolf seemed deeply moved.
In these harsh times, a sworn ally was truly precious. Our closeness had come about through Fiel, but in any case, they were a family I owed my gratitude. So now it was time to deepen the relationship further.
"May I make a proposal for the future of Streit and Steinhof?"
"What is it? Please, speak freely."
"I would like our houses to be joined through a marriage alliance. Not merely sworn allies, but allies bound by blood."
"...A marriage alliance, you say? But our family..."
"Hohoho, with how devoted you and your wife are, Baron, surely there will be many children?"
I can’t know how many children Hilda and I will have, but it’s true that I want many. And the more children born to us, the more marriage alliances we can naturally form with other families.
It’s a matter that demands careful deliberation, but Steinhof’s value as a blood ally is high. They’re a family with powerful knights and a considerable reputation. Among the duchy’s nobles, they’re the best there is.
If I have a daughter and Fiel has a son, it would be well worth considering. But I don’t want to settle the matter as casually as I’d set a lunch appointment.
"My apologies, but it’s difficult to decide right at this moment."
"Indeed, I like that prudent side of you as well."
Adolf continued to gaze at me with satisfaction.
Leaving the battlefield cleanup to Drek, who had distinguished himself in the vanguard, we headed for Breisach. We decided to look into the mercenaries’ identity later. In truth, there was nothing to look into.
They were clearly men hired by Mort or Neunil to block our path. The civil war had ended only recently, so the whole Duchy of Beren was still full of mercenaries who had lost their work.
They weren’t causing any major trouble on their own, but if they could be hired this easily to get in our way, it could happen any number of times. So as we rode for Breisach, I didn’t hold out much hope.
"What’s that smoke? Anton! Ride ahead and check!"
The black smoke rising in the distance was unmistakably from a fire. And it was massive. Breisach is the linchpin of Breisburg’s trade along the upper Main River.
So, like Schafen, it’s lined with warehouses full of stored goods.
Anton rode ahead and confirmed it. Breisach was burning.
"What in God’s name is this chaos?! Don’t tell me Mort set the fire?"
"Master! Look over there! Someone’s fleeing!"
The moment I looked where Ted was pointing, I could see the unit’s information through the Commander Scouter. It was Viscount Neunil’s unit. They appeared to be scrambling out of the burning city.
"The Lord has given us this chance! Please, leave them to us!"
"Viscount Neunil is yours, Sir Steinhof."
"Thank you! Hyah!"
Adolf and the Steinhof knights began their pursuit of Viscount Neunil’s fleeing band. Determined not to let him escape this time, they rode like demons.
The reason I let Adolf go without objection was that Mort wasn’t among the fleeing group. Perhaps he’d died in those flames. If he had, wouldn’t that be a hollow end, considering everything he’d done?
"My lord, what do we do now?"
"What do you think? First we need to get the fire under control."
"That? I’d say it’s already too late."
And of all things, the weather was dry. Breisach burned beyond any hope of saving, so in the end, all we could do was gather up the refugees. If they dispersed, they would inevitably turn to banditry.
But how on earth do I clean this up?
I dread to think how the grand duke will react when I report that Breisach has been reduced to ashes.
I could feel the hollow despair and seething grief of the refugees as they stared blankly at their burning city. Many had died, and many more were missing. Rebuilding the harbor would take an enormous amount of money.
Ted, who had been closely observing the refugees, said to me,
"Master, I’ve got a hunch. May I share it?"
"If it’s nonsense, I’ll have you tasting the waters of the Main."
"If Mort is alive, wouldn’t he be hiding among those refugees? They all look so wretched that it would be hard to notice anyone mixed in with them, wouldn’t it?"
For once, Ted seemed to have said something useful.
And through the Manager Scouter, I found him.
Inspector General Mort, huddled low, hiding among them.