The moment Karl climbed into the carriage and escaped everyone’s gaze, he immediately held out his hand to Harmon.
Harmon already knew that Karl was not nearly as foolish as the rumors suggested and that he did not waste time, so he perceptively handed him the documents.
“Would you like me to explain them?”
“No, that will not be necessary.”
Karl answered Harmon’s considerate offer firmly and focused on the documents.
Harmon awkwardly shifted his eyes. He did not believe Karl could read such difficult documents by himself and properly understand their contents.
But that was severely underestimating Karl.
Karl had read countless books in the Imperial Archives, had already listened to Harmon’s extensive explanation of the monster subjugation mission, and, more importantly, possessed Han Changin’s experiences.
Strangely enough, although he could remember nothing about Han Changin’s family, he clearly remembered countless meaningless fragments from his otherwise ordinary and unremarkable life.
Karl quickly read through the information about the Barony of Hilpin and the monsters that had appeared there, reviewing everything he already knew.
The Barony of Hilpin was situated on the northern outskirts of the empire. Since it lay a considerable distance from the imperial capital, Himmeln, they would have to spend a very long time traveling by carriage.
Although the Barony of Hilpin lay near the frontier, it was not truly a border territory.
Lands directly adjoining foreign nations required considerable military strength to defend the empire, and naturally, the rulers of such territories were granted extensive rights.
Ordinarily, such lands were recognized almost as states in their own right and made into duchies governed by dukes, or entrusted to counts who were elevated to marquesses.
A mere baron could never possess such territory.
In that respect, the Barony of Hilpin occupied an awkward position.
Marquis Gasto held the northern frontier and the surrounding territories firmly in his grasp, leaving Hilpin with no special privileges. It had no notable local products, commerce had developed slowly because of its poor roads, and it lay far too distant from the imperial capital of Himmeln.
Simply put, it was an unimpressive rural territory.
In the original story, it had done little more than appear briefly during an early mention of Ias.
Later, however, it became fairly important.
After Aingir became emperor, Marquis Gasto joined hands with the Balturan People of the North and demanded independence.
Aingir rejected that demand and went to war with Gasto.
And the stage upon which that war unfolded was none other than the Barony of Hilpin.
Of course, because Aingir was occupied with other wars, he soon stopped paying much attention to it.
In other words, even in the original story, it was merely a barren land that had received considerable attention once because a war happened to take place there.
‘So this is the place where Gasto’s war of independence was ended in a single blow!’
Karl pressed his lips together as he carefully examined the map of the Barony of Hilpin.
For a moment, he felt as though he were going sightseeing at a famous location from a movie, and he had to take a deep breath to pull himself together.
‘Focus. I am not going there for fun.’
Karl turned to the next document and concentrated again.
Exterminate the large number of gnolls that had appeared in the forest west of the Barony of Hilpin…….
‘It certainly looks simple when written like this.’
Even with such a straightforward objective, Karl could not relax his furrowed brow.
Gnolls were not particularly easy monsters to deal with.
They possessed intelligence, could work iron well enough to arm themselves with crude weapons, and were physically superior to humans.
But even so, they were certainly not so dangerous that a baronial family should be incapable of deliberately mobilizing its forces and exterminating them within its own territory.
No matter how weak the family might be, there were limits.
The fact that the matter had escalated far enough to reach Karl now—and Ias in the original story—was somewhat strange.
Especially since Ias had resolved the entire problem almost immediately in the original story.
Karl reviewed the information about the gnolls several times, unable to shake an unpleasant feeling.
Something about this was deeply unsettling.
***
During the journey to the Barony of Hilpin, Karl spent most of his time inside the carriage.
The carriage was naturally comfortable, given that it had been made for a member of the Imperial Family, but more importantly, Karl could not allow the soldiers he did not trust to see the side of himself he was hiding.
Whenever they stopped to rest, Karl would casually wander around as though taking a leisurely stroll.
Then, like a childish prince throwing a petulant tantrum, he would pester Catherine and Bilford into humoring him, clumsily assume a stance, knock wooden swords against them a few times under the pretense of sparring, and immediately retreat back inside the carriage.
To anyone watching, he looked as though he had come out merely to enjoy himself.
The soldiers’ resentment toward Karl only continued to grow.
“Why is Lord Karl behaving like that?”
Bilford asked quietly as he rode alongside Catherine.
He had known Karl for less than a week, but even Bilford understood that Karl was not nearly as inept as he was pretending to be.
And yet the Karl they were seeing now looked exactly like the foolish, complacent, sickly Fourth Prince everyone believed him to be.
“Bilford, that is none of our concern.”
Catherine cut off his question without hesitation.
“Remain faithful to the duty entrusted to you. Follow your lord and offer him your sword. I am a knight, and one day you will be one as well. We are not nobles playing games of politics.”
“But, Sir Catherine, this is…….”
“Bilford.”
“……Yes. Understood.”
Bilford nodded at Catherine’s stern voice, but his expression twisted with dissatisfaction because he still could not fully accept it.
Karl might not be a man worthy of serving as one’s lord.
But he was absolutely not such a fool that ordinary soldiers like these had any right to despise him.
While teaching Karl swordsmanship, Bilford had seen with his own eyes how hard Karl worked despite his sickly body and how much talent he possessed.
One should not insult someone who worked hard.
That was what angered Bilford.
“Stop.”
At that moment, Harmon leaned out toward the driver’s seat and gave the order.
The carriage immediately stopped, and everyone else naturally halted with it.
“Bring Physician Milton.”
“Yes.”
Milton, who had been riding in a carriage farther back, was summoned and brought inside Karl’s carriage.
“…He really does make a fuss over everything.”
Someone among the soldiers muttered under his breath.
Because the surroundings had fallen silent, the words carried farther than the speaker had probably expected.
Bilford’s temper flared, and he turned his head.
Then his entire body froze.
“…….”
Catherine’s Mana-laced pressure choked the breath from him.
Bilford shifted his eyes toward her.
Catherine silently stared at him and firmly shook her head.
Bilford pressed his lips together and faced forward again.
He found it difficult to understand why the honest and loyal Catherine did not draw her sword in response to an insult against Karl, her lord.
An insult against one’s lord was also an insult against the knight who served him.
And since a knight was supposed to serve their lord, Catherine’s restraint here seemed like an obvious failure to perform her duty.
“The anger you feel belongs to you alone.”
“…….”
Catherine offered Bilford the warning in a grave voice.
As a knight, Catherine followed her lord’s will.
Karl wanted this contempt to be endured, so she endured it.
If Bilford drew his sword here and killed the soldier who had spoken disrespectfully, that would not be what Karl wanted.
It would merely satisfy Bilford’s personal anger, and therefore go against Karl’s will.
Catherine wanted Bilford to understand the distinction.
“Do not invoke your lord’s name for something you wish to do out of your own anger.”
“…I am sorry, Sir Catherine.”
“Anyone can make a mistake. But not everyone is capable of learning from one. Do not forget this.”
“Yes.”
Bilford was deeply moved by the words of the woman he respected.
Only then did he reconsider Karl’s situation.
Bilford, a common-born squire, knew nothing about politics, but he had heard all manner of rumors while living among the Imperial Knights, where the descendants of high-ranking nobles were everywhere.
Karl seemed to be trying to conceal himself.
If that was the case, then remaining quiet was what would actually help him.
‘There is so much I still have to learn!’
Bilford felt the enormous wall separating himself from the nobility.
Even though Catherine came from a fallen noble family, she could see things that Bilford could not even imagine.
She had received an advanced education since childhood for the sake of her family’s future.
At the same time, Bilford felt profoundly fortunate that he had become Catherine’s squire.
Catherine never spared advice when it would help him. She faithfully taught him all manner of martial arts, strategy, tactics, and the art of commanding troops, and with her brilliant fingertips, she pointed toward the road that would lead him into the future.
She was a teacher he deeply respected and the benefactor who had opened a path for his life.
“Sir Catherine, we may depart now.”
After Milton emerged from the carriage, Harmon spoke to Catherine.
Unlike when he had abruptly ordered the driver to stop, his tone toward her was exceedingly courteous.
Just what was happening inside that carriage?
“We depart!”
At Catherine’s command, the small subjugation force began moving once more.
Ridiculously enough, despite supposedly being a subjugation force led by an imperial prince, they did not even have a banner.
And so the shabby expedition resumed its journey toward the Barony of Hilpin, leaving clouds of dust behind it.
***
It took nearly ten days to reach the Barony of Hilpin.
By then, the soldiers’ dissatisfaction had risen almost to the breaking point.
Had they not been imperial soldiers, and had Karl not been an imperial prince, there was no telling when they might have exploded and what they might have done.
The reason was simple.
During the entire ten-day march, Karl had not spent a single night in a village or city.
They had merely passed through settlements long enough to purchase food and replenish their supplies.
As a result, the soldiers had been forced to camp outdoors for ten consecutive days.
It might have been understandable if they had been pressed for time and forced to hurry, or if Karl had come out of the carriage to ride with them, or at least offered them a few words of encouragement.
But Karl barely emerged from his carriage at all except when he pestered Catherine and Bilford into playing at swordsmanship with him.
He ate in the carriage.
He slept in the carriage.
Was he comfortable enough that he simply did not care what happened to the soldiers, who marched all day in heavy armor and then had to camp outside as well?
What intensified their resentment even further was what Karl did the moment they reached the Barony of Hilpin.
He stepped out of the carriage and mounted his large, magnificent white horse.
His gaunt body still looked unimpressive, but once he sat astride the splendid white horse with the red cloak draped over his shoulders, he appeared surprisingly respectable.
That only made the soldiers’ tempers boil even more.
He looked like an immature child trying to appear impressive.
“Sir Catherine, please send a messenger to House Hilpin.”
“Yes, Lord Karl.”
Catherine glanced toward Bilford at Karl’s request.
Despite having learned to ride for only two days, Karl guided his horse alongside her with surprising ease.
Bilford slung a white flag over his back to identify himself as a messenger.
Absurdly, however, he had no token proving that he was a messenger from the Fourth Prince Karl, so he could not depart immediately.
Karl had not been given an imperial banner.
He did not even possess any of the common accessories or scarves that might have served as identifying tokens.
There were only two things in his possession that proved his status as a member of the Imperial Family.
One was the carriage, which obviously could not be used.
That left Karl with no choice but to hand Bilford the other.
“Bilford, take my cloak.”
“……Yes. I will protect it with my life.”
Bilford received the red cloak Karl removed and handed to him.
For a moment, the sight of Karl’s narrow shoulders exposed without it seemed to leave Bilford at a loss for words.
Then he remembered Catherine’s teachings, carefully folded Karl’s cloak, held it securely against his chest, and answered with determination.
“There is no need for that. It is only a cloak.”
Karl spoke with a faint laugh, then leisurely guided his horse forward with his narrow shoulders exposed to everyone.
Bilford pressed his lips firmly together, dug in his spurs, and galloped away at full speed.
He knew that Karl himself did not attach any great significance to the cloak.
But entrusting someone with the cloak that represented one’s affiliation and status was not ordinarily done lightly.
A cloak was also a symbol of authority.
Bilford knew very well how heavy a single piece of cloth could be.
Watching Bilford disappear from sight in moments as he galloped away, Karl slowly inhaled.
Winter was approaching.
And because they had traveled quite far north, the temperature had dropped sharply.
The chilly wind was cold enough that standing exposed without a cloak should have been difficult.
Yet Karl felt not the slightest hint of cold.
The body into which the two forces had merged and seeped possessed a resilience far greater than its appearance suggested.
‘It begins now.’
Karl exhaled deeply, trying to calm the tightness in his chest brought on by nervousness about the coming battle and an unease he could not explain.
It was only a gnoll subjugation.
It should be simple……
And yet, for some reason, he could almost smell blood.