Episode 13

    “I heard the news, that the eldest son of the Countess of Brineux was completely destroyed?”

    “Yes, Father.”

    “Well done. I would have praised you even if you had beheaded me on the spot for daring to insult the Duke of Normandy and his successor.”

    “Even so, isn’t killing them a bit too much?”

    “No, not at all. Honor is everything to nobles.”

    My father spoke with a firm and forceful voice.

    “A noble whose honor has been tarnished and who is not respected can no longer be called a noble. For a noble, losing honor is more important than losing one’s life, so keep this in mind in the future.”

    “I will keep that in mind, Father.”

    My father nodded briefly and looked satisfied.

    “Then let’s hear in detail how I destroyed that insolent guy?”

    #

    -Bang!!

    “The Duke of Normandy, you bastards who will tear me to pieces!!!”

    “Ahhhh…”

    Count Victor’s angry roar is heard from the office of Count Brigne.

    “You turned my son into a retard who can’t even speak properly?”

    In fact, if it was Damian’s fault, it would have been nothing to say if he had been beaten to death by Leon back then, but the Count, whose eyes were already blind, had no concern for his son’s mistakes.

    What’s important is not the son’s fault, but the fact that Damian returned from his duel with Leon crushed and crippled.

    “Ugh…”

    “I will never let this go. Butler! Bring in the healers and doctors known for their bravery in the capital! Damian must be treated.”

    “Understood, Count.”

    “Phew… And contact the Duke of Baston. It’s war.”

    ##

    There are two ducal families representing the Frankish kingdom.

    One is the Duke of Normandy, who produced Lyon de Normand, the youngest sword master in the history of the kingdom.

    The other is the Duke of Baston, a family known for their magical prowess since the founding of the kingdom.

    In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that these two dukes were preventing half of the Holy Ram Empire’s attempts to invade the Frankish kingdom.

    The relationship between the Dukes of Normandy and Baston, who had been serving the Frankish kingdom together for a long time, was not so bad; they regarded each other as rivals.

    But the Duke of Baston of this generation personally regarded Lyon-de-Normand as his enemy.

    “A letter has arrived from the Countess of Brineux.”

    -Clang!

    The letter the old butler was holding floated into the air and flew before the Duke of Clement de Baston, where it was unfolded.

    After reading the letter for a moment, the Duke of Baston frowned and sighed.

    “… The Count of Brigne’s son became disabled, and he’s going to go to war with the Duke of Normandy to take responsibility for it. The Count’s family will be destroyed because of the stupid Count of Brigne’s choice.”

    “Your Majesty, aren’t you going to help the Count?”

    “Why me? The justification for war was hopeless in the first place, and I was the one who showed mercy to the Duke of Normandy, who was the one who caused the war because of his son’s mistake. I don’t know who wrote the scenario, but it’s complete garbage.”

    “But…”

    “No matter how much I swear to avenge my father who died because of Lyon de Normand, and my goal is to overthrow the Duke of Normand, isn’t this just the suicide of a foolish nobleman? Oh, thinking about it from the audience’s perspective, it’s not bad as a comedy.”

    “You don’t necessarily have to help openly, do you? How about joining the Count’s army instead of joining as an ally?”

    “Hmm… That wouldn’t be so bad, anyway, if I fail, it’ll be Count Briny who’ll suffer, and if I succeed, I’ll have achieved my goal.”

    Just imagining it made him happy, and Duke Clement licked his lips as he wrote down his reply to the letter from the count’s family.

    “Lyon de Normand We must come up with a plan to skewer that monster. Bring me all the reports from the spies we sent to the Duke of Normand.”

    “I’ll prepare it right away.”

    “Oh, and especially, please organize the information about ‘Leon de Normand’, the adopted son of the Duke’s family, because he is a guy who could be the Duke of Normand’s weakness in many ways.”

    “I will prepare it with special care.”

    “Okay, very good! I’m getting inspiration! Hahahaha! ”

    In the study of the Duke of Baston, the laughter of Duke Clement de Baston, who was preparing revenge on the Duke of Normandy, echoed.

    ###

    Two years later, when I was twenty, the Count of Brigne’s declaration of war arrived on the Duke of Normandy.

    “The Count of Brigne has finally gone mad.”

    My father, with a look of pity on his face, let out a hollow laugh.

    “You declare war on our Duke of Normandy without any allies and without even knowing the subject.”

    “I think it’s definitely crazy.”

    “In the end, it’s a matter of pride and honor, but even the justification for war is not a proper justification, it’s just a far-fetched claim. They seem to find the Norman Dukes ridiculous, so we should erase the Counts of Brigne from the world so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.”

    “But the nobles of the kingdom are waging war, and the king is doing nothing?”

    “That usurper? He has no qualifications or power. He just sits on the throne because there is no rightful heir.”

    About 20 years ago, a king and queen died under suspicious circumstances during childbirth, and their only child went missing.

    And that place was taken by a royal named Ellen de Franc, who was the cousin of the deceased king.

    All circumstances and evidence pointed to Ellen de Franc as the culprit, but no one could hold him accountable, as the only child of the king had disappeared at birth, leaving no one else to inherit the throne.

    And soon after he ascended the throne, he forcibly changed the laws of succession to the throne, preventing women from inheriting royal titles, despite the opposition of many nobles.

    That’s why my father, who didn’t have much time left to live, couldn’t make Tania his successor, and my mother adopted me in case she couldn’t have a son.

    “He is a puppet. If the missing heir to the throne appears, all the nobles will rise up and overthrow him and make the rightful heir king. There is no room for such a king to interfere in the war of the nobles.”

    “I see.”

    “The fact that Count Brigne was able to declare war with such an absurd excuse is because of that incompetent usurper. The king himself has no legitimacy and is incompetent, so he can’t lead the country.”

    After venting his anger for a while, my father returned to his usual self and smiled faintly.

    “Whew… By the way, I guess I should prepare for war with Count Brineu, who is crawling up without even knowing the subject.”

    ####

    Preparations for war were going smoothly.

    Our Norman Dukes, famous for being the Chevalier family that protected the kingdom, were already used to war.

    Even before his father returned with the excuse of being wounded in the war against the Holy Empire of Ram, the knights of the Duke of Normandy were the Chevaliers who fought on the front lines of the battlefield, so it would not be a big deal to push aside a single count.

    The war with the Holy Empire entered a period of meaningless stalemate shortly after my father left the front lines, virtually ending in a ceasefire last year.

    Thanks to this, there was no need to worry about an imperial invasion for several years, and the kingdom’s existence was not threatened by civil wars between nobles, so the Duke of Normandy, who was responsible for protecting the kingdom, could prepare for war with less burden.

    “This is a good opportunity, so you too should participate in this war.”

    “Yes, I understand, Father.”

    From my perspective, as someone who would take my father’s place in protecting the Duke of Normandy, this war was a great opportunity to gain practical experience.

    By order of my father, my role in this war was to be the commander of the reserve force of the elite Norman knights.

    In the vanguard, my father was to personally lead the elite knights in a cavalry charge, while I would later command the reserves and pursue the defeated troops.

    I really wanted to follow my father’s example and do a horseback charge, but since this was my first time participating and I was not good at handling the Sword Aura, it was a safety measure.

    “It’s too bad, it’s too bad.”

    Leading a cavalry unit and destroying the enemy with a lance charge—isn’t that a romantic situation that any man would dream of?

    Even knights who are capable of handling the Sword Aura charge at their opponents with the Aura wrapped around their lances?

    Is there an army that can stop this?

    Although I might not have a chance since I was in the reserves and not the vanguard, my heart was racing with anticipation that if I did well, I might have a chance to realize my dream in this war.

    As time passed, the count’s army arrived near the Duchy of Normandy.

    The number of enemies approaching the territory consisted of about 1,000 infantry and 200 knights and chevaliers.

    “That’s more than twice the number of troops that would normally come from the county. They either hired mercenaries or borrowed troops from other lords.”

    My father led a campaign with about 800 infantry, including me, and over 300 knights and chevaliers to prevent the territory from being pillaged and destroyed.

    In addition, our Norman Dukes possess the strongest military force in the kingdom.

    To borrow an expression from a previous life, it seemed like my father, a sword master with national-level military power, could defeat about 1,000 people by himself.

    But no matter how much I think about it, Count Brigne, who declared war on our Normandy Duke despite having a father who was a sword master, is truly out of his mind.

    “I guess he started a war because he had something to believe in.”

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