episode_0040

10 years ago. August 11, 544 Imperial Calendar.

Walter von Letlis, then 14 years old, was held captive by the Krusenstein family.

The route that took place was complicated in its own way. While on his way to his son-in-law to negotiate an alliance with a family called Butler, he was kidnapped by the Krusenstein family, who were enemies at the time, due to a betrayal by a retainer. To make matters worse, when the head of the Krusenstein family threatened to kill Walter, Walter’s father [ Kill it. Leona’s father, Valentine, answered, “The more we do this, the stronger the alliance between the Butler family and our allies will become.” Leona’s father, Valentine, had no choice but to keep Walter prisoner, unable to kill him or release him.

Walter’s life in Krusenstein was the worst. He was always on the lookout for things, and because he was a child of an enemy country, he was always looked at with hostility. Even though he didn’t kill anyone. That’s why Walter always read books or played chess by himself. It was because I had nothing to do.

It was one day that Walter’s fate changed significantly.

“Huh?”

One day, Walter realized something strange. It was like someone was sticking out their face from the wall of the house and staring at them.

When I looked closely, I saw that it was a girl. She was a cute girl who had something on her face, but was quite beautiful just by looking at her appearance. Walter saw the girl looking at him intently and approached her to talk to her.

“Who are you?”

“Leonada.”

“Leona?”

I heard that the eldest daughter of the Krusenstein family is Leona von Krusenstein. Could this be the same person? I thought, but then I shook my head. There was no way the eldest daughter of the Krusenstein family would behave this dirty. The girl in front of me was probably an ordinary person living nearby. Otherwise, this behavior would not be explained.

“You shouldn’t be here. The drivers here are so scary.”

“The reason those people are scary is because they have nothing to do. Since there is nothing to do other than play and eat, I have all the energy left and scream on empty days.”

Walter burst out laughing at those words.

“That’s true, but… If you go around saying things like that and die, I won’t know?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll take care of it. More than that… ”

A girl, with only her head sticking out, put her legs up on the fence and climbed over it. It was a fence well over 2 meters high, so it was hard to understand how it was so strong.

The girl’s behavior was dirty. The clothes themselves looked expensive, but they were covered in dried mud and torn in some places. I frowned a little, but moved on, thinking that this is what people are like.

The girl who climbed over the wall held out her hand.

“Let’s go out.”

“Get out? How?”

“How? Just go out the door.”

“Ha… ”

The girl seemed to be immature and didn’t know much about Walter’s position. Walter is a prisoner taken from an enemy country. There was no way I could get out that easily. There were knights guarding the outside of the house 24 hours a day.

“You may not know, but if I get caught, I’ll die. No, you will die too. If you and I try to go out together, we’ll both be dead. So don’t say things like that and quickly get over the wall again. I’ll pretend I didn’t see it.”

“You won’t die. Don’t worry.”

“Huh?”

“Marshall!!! Marshall!!!”

Leona shouted. Walter didn’t know what to do and tried to stop Leona, but Leona pushed him away with tremendous force and continued to shout. Then the knight guarding the door came running hurriedly.

“Le, Leona! Why are you here again? What should I do about my mother?”

“What should I do? I’m still blaming my little brother. Castles aren’t fun, so come out and have fun. Wouldn’t there be someone interesting? So I came here once.”

“… ?”

Walter was puzzled. Why does the large knight, who was so scary to him and the object of fear, so embarrassed to the girl in front of him?

No way, the girl in front of me…

“Leona von Krusenstein?”

“It’s none other than me?”

“… !”

Only then did Walter take two steps back. This person was Leona von Krusenstein, the next head of the Krusenstein family and his rival.

‘Oh my. The knights cursed at Leona. At this rate, I have nothing to say even if the knight kills me for insulting him… !’

Did you pretend to be a citizen to deceive yourself? Leona, you are a scary woman. That’s what she was thinking, but Leona just looked at Walter with a question mark above her head.

“Marshall. Can I take Walter with me?”

“Are you taking me? Where?”

“This guy was playing chess alone. It must have been quite boring. I will take you with me and teach you a little about what joy is.”

“But this person is a hostage… ! If I lose it, I have to give up my head!”

“Uh huh. You won’t lose it, so don’t worry and give it to me quickly.”

“No, Leona… !”

“Are you rebelling against the next head of the family now? Are you saying that it doesn’t matter what happens to the Marshall family in my generation?”

“… !”

Marshall looked a little teary-faced and spoke as if he were praying.

“Leona, please be considerate. There are plenty of people to play with, right? Why does it have to be this guy?”

“That’s right… ”

“Really?”

“Because it’s fun.”

“… ”

“… ”

After arguing for a while, Leona finally took Walter out. Walter felt refreshed by the fresh air he had smelled outside for the first time in a long time.

“Hey… ”

Walter asked.

“Why did you save me?”

“Save me? What did you mean by that?”

“You let me go outside for the first time in a long time since I was always playing boring games inside. I haven’t done anything for you.”

Then Leona laughed out loud.

“Well, isn’t it because the more friends you have, the better?”

Afterwards, Leona took her to where Garcia and Hakon were and introduced them to Walter, and with Leona’s help, Walter quickly became friends with everyone.

In the end, Walter returned to his family and became a lord, but Walter did not forget what happened at that time. Leona has always been a good friend and benefactor to Walter who saved his childhood.

That’s why Walter didn’t want to fight with Leona, but he knew full well that difficult times were cruel, so he decided not to be pushed back.

“I am now 24, and I am different from the younger me I used to be. I’ll show you what kind of person I really am.”

I wasn’t happy about pointing my sword at my former friend, but if it was fate, I would gladly accept it. It was Walter sharpening his sword with that thought in mind.

—–

November 6, 554 Imperial Calendar. Leona went out with an army of 40,000. As a result, the Letlis family could not help but feel humiliated.

“The Krusenstein family, which can mobilize 150,000 men at its best, invades with only 40,000 men. Are they looking down on us? !”

The members of the Letlis family were both angry and relieved. It was fortunate that the number of enemies was not 150,000. If 150,000 people came, there was absolutely no chance of winning.

But Leona did not look down on Letlis. Rather, because he thought Letlis was strong, he brought only the most elite members of his army. In addition, mobilizing 150,000 men would have taken more than a year to prepare for war, and the family’s finances were increasingly under pressure due to frequent wars, so it was an inevitable choice.

“But even if it is 40,000, it is more than twice the number of enemy forces.”

The elite of the Kruzenstein army, famous for its strength. There was no way he could be defeated by only 20,000 enemies.

“Letlis, let’s test how much you’ve grown.”

Leona laughed lowly. Leona thought of the old Lettlis. In the past, he was a timid, white-skinned typical boy, but after playing and running through the mountains and fields with him, he gained a strong body and mind of his own.

Leona looked forward to a reunion with Letless. However, at that reunion, they would be pointing swords and spears at each other.

—–

It reminded me of Walter von Letlis in the game.

If Leona was the world’s greatest genius, Walter von Letlis was the world’s second greatest genius.

Moreover, the talented staff under Walter is also tremendous. There were so many outstanding people spread out all over the place that I wondered how so many great people came from one region.

Walter was never a person to be looked down on. That’s why he suggested conquering Lettlis to Leona. In order to quickly establish a superior-subordinate relationship before Walter increases his power.

It was still unknown whether we would be able to conquer Letlis or not.

However, if we conquered it, we could strengthen the rear border as originally planned, and even if we could not conquer it, they would feel the difference in power and try to be subordinated to us, so we could subjugate capable people to guard the rear. Just like in the original story.

It was not a loss-making business for either party.