After Karl led his forces out, Hilpin Castle was plunged into utter chaos.
“How dare you open the gates without permission! Would you open them even if the enemy came knocking?!”
“B-But His Highness said…”
“You worthless bastard!”
WHACK!
“Aagh!”
While the soldiers who had opened the gates were being mercilessly beaten, Maldin and the other nobles of Hilpin Castle were shouting over one another in the very banquet hall where they had believed they had thoroughly deceived Karl, desperately debating what they should do next.
“If the prince dies, we are finished! We must send reinforcements immediately!”
“Reinforcements? Nonsense! Then who will defend the castle?!”
“This is hardly the time to worry about that!”
“His Majesty the Emperor will never overlook this!”
“Can we even rescue him in the first place? Hm? If that were possible, our domain would never have been defiled by mere gnolls!”
Amid the nobles' uproar, it became glaringly obvious to everyone that they had known all along about the situation in the Barony of Hilpin.
“Did this disaster not happen because you were careless in keeping watch on the prince in the first place?!”
“By that logic, is it not the fault of all of you who were deceived at the banquet?! And opening the gates merely because he suddenly ordered you to! Just how badly has military discipline collapsed?!”
In the end, they began shifting the blame onto one another. Bordeaux, the Guard Captain who had become their target, spoke with a cold expression.
“There are not many soldiers left in the castle. Those who opened the gates were nothing more than farmers. Was it not you who insisted that we put armor on men who had never even held a spear and make them look the part? Think of the hardship borne by the soldiers who must shoulder so many duties with so few men. They need rest as well, do they not?”
Every word he said was true, but that did not change the fact that the castle gates had ultimately been entrusted to mere farmers.
No matter how severe their shortage of manpower had been, he could not escape responsibility for that.
Amid the hall filled with shouting, Maldin, whose intoxication had vanished completely, remained silent as he rubbed his forehead.
“Enough! Enough, I say! What is the meaning of this disgraceful spectacle?!”
Only when Fardin could stand it no longer and sprang to his feet with a shout did the commotion finally subside.
“This is not the time to argue over responsibility! We still have a chance! Right now…!”
“…Yes. You are right.”
At Fardin's impassioned words, Maldin, who had remained silent, finally spoke.
“Father.”
Fardin turned toward Maldin, his expression brightening. But his face twisted with despair at the words that followed.
“It is already over. If the prince dies, the Emperor will draw his sword. If the prince survives, he will tell the Emperor everything, and the Emperor will draw his sword anyway.”
“What in the world are you…”
Fardin glared at his father. Maldin slowly rose to his feet and spoke heavily.
“I am going to the Balturan People. Pack your belongings at once.”
“Father!”
Horrified by Maldin's words, Fardin shouted and seized his father's shoulder. But Maldin shook off his son's hand with shoulders far more powerful than his age suggested and spoke firmly.
“It is already too late. The same applies to all of you. The Emperor will not bother sorting out right and wrong before holding people responsible. If you wish to live, you must come with me. Do not worry. Even Marquis Gasto and the Balturan People will not refuse the enormous sums of money we can offer them. Crossing over to their lands and establishing ourselves there will be no difficult matter.”
“Have you lost your mind?! You mean to abandon the people of the domain and simply leave them behind like this…?!”
“Fardin!”
Maldin seized the collar of the furious Fardin with one large hand and roared like thunder.
“I am saying this for everyone! For everyone here! And for you, my son!”
“……”
The commoners who made up the overwhelming majority of the people in the domain were not included among the “everyone” Maldin spoke of.
Fardin stared blankly at Maldin, shock written across his face.
“…Go and pack your belongings. Now!”
At Maldin's words, the nobles rose with faces drained of color and hurriedly scattered.
Maldin glared at the dazed Fardin, breathing heavily, before whispering in a grave voice.
“…Everything I did was for you. All of it. For you, my only son.”
Then, to give Fardin time to gather his thoughts, Maldin left him behind and strode away.
Fardin watched the retreating back of Maldin, his only family, before lowering his head deeply.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do.
“May I have a word with you?”
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice addressed Fardin. Startled, Fardin turned around and saw the pale-faced Harmon quietly watching him.
‘That damned brat!’
Contrary to his impassive expression, Harmon once again hurled inwardly one of the curses he had directed at Karl more than a hundred times already.
Harmon was no fool. He already understood why Karl had left him behind at Hilpin Castle.
If Harmon simply remained where he was, the nobles of Hilpin would kill him before the gnolls ever could. They would need to silence him.
But even if he somehow survived by sheer luck, if Karl died, Harmon would be punished for failing in his duty, and his family would likewise be unable to escape the Emperor's sword.
In other words, exactly as Karl had intended, Harmon had to devise some means within Hilpin Castle, save Karl at all costs, and ensure that the mission to subjugate the monsters was completed!
“Fardin, the future of Hilpin, and the future of its innocent people, rests upon your decision. Those men have already turned their backs on them. If not you, no one can bring this terrible situation under control.”
Harmon recalled the contents of the meeting he had quietly observed from the darkness and whispered carefully.
“Fardin, make your decision for the sake of the people who trust and follow you. You have enjoyed the rights of a noble. Now fulfill your duties as one.”
“……W-What would you have me do?”
From Fardin's confused response, Harmon realized that the man had already been persuaded in all but name.
For Harmon, an Imperial Attendant, seeing through the thoughts of a noble from some remote provincial domain was no difficult feat.
……Even though that very same Harmon had been completely deceived by Karl.
“Fardin, there are still knights and soldiers remaining in the castle, are there not? And supplies as well.”
“But they will not obey me. My father is the lord……”
“Lord? Are you not the lord? Baron Hilpin.”
“……”
Fardin's mouth snapped shut when Harmon addressed him as “Baron Hilpin.”
“Those lawless men who are turning their backs on the scales of the Empire are no longer nobles of the Empire. There is now only one person left who possesses the legitimate bloodline of Hilpin.”
Fardin seemed almost persuaded, yet still hesitated. To drive the final wedge home, Harmon quietly spat out the poison he had kept hidden beneath his tongue.
“Lord Karl had his eye on you. On you, who alone was suffering in that banquet hall.”
“Ah……”
As an imperial noble, Harmon was a man of broad perspective and keen perception. While assisting Karl as he pretended to be drunk at the banquet, Harmon had surveyed the entire banquet hall, which seemed pitifully small and shabby compared to the Imperial Palace.
And, by a truly exquisite coincidence, Fardin had not forgotten that Karl, who should have been completely intoxicated, had looked at him with perfectly clear eyes.
Watching Fardin's expression shift from moment to moment, Harmon muttered inwardly.
‘He has been thoroughly played.’
The thought was directed at Fardin, who was being swept along by Harmon's words, but at the same time, it was also a bitter mockery of Harmon himself, who had no choice but to act exactly as Karl intended.
He had believed Karl to be sickly and foolish, yet he could not even begin to fathom the schemes of the Fourth Prince.
Indeed, the cub of a lion was still a lion.
***
Karl recalled the map Harmon had given him and tried to estimate how much farther they had to go before reaching Axe Sound Village.
‘It took a little over thirty minutes at an easy pace to reach Stacked Logs Village, so assuming the map is accurate, we have at least another hour of travel ahead of us.’
Karl bit his lip. He wanted to reach Stacked Logs Village as quickly as possible and get behind the safety of its palisade.
The darkness kept surging around him as though it meant to devour him, and now even the moonlight filtering through the branches looked like the eyes of monsters.
“Would it have been better to wait until sunrise?”
Karl asked Catherine in a low voice. He felt as though he might have acted too hastily.
“Moving now was the appropriate decision. We are heading into deadly ground, so momentum is more important than anything else. Even if we had moved during the day, had that momentum faltered, we would not have been able to advance as we are now.”
From a purely tactical perspective, waiting until daybreak would have been correct. Darkness did not belong to mankind.
But from the standpoint of commanding troops, Karl's fierce actions, like wildfire driven by the wind, had been perfectly appropriate.
He had wielded the authority of the Imperial Family to bring the villagers under control, carried out conscription before they could regain their senses, and marched out in a single stroke.
With his majesty and momentum towering over them, not a single one of the conscripts deserted, even as they pushed through the pitch-black darkness toward a monster that had annihilated countless villages.
“However, you must keep in mind that they may fall apart if a night battle occurs.”
Karl nodded gravely at Catherine's advice.
“Would it be best to surround ourselves with the wagons and have the imperial soldiers form the core of the defense?”
Karl asked carefully as he considered the tactics available to them at present.
The things he had read in the Imperial Archives flashed rapidly through his mind as his survival instinct sounded warning bells.
“Yes. The horses must be brought inside as well. However, they are less important than the soldiers. This terrain is difficult for cavalry to operate in, and men can pull the wagons if necessary. If we must abandon the wagons, then the men can carry the supplies themselves.”
Catherine added further detail to Karl's plan.
Now that they were approaching actual combat, Catherine's abilities began to shine. She had risen to the position of an Imperial Knight through skill alone.
Of course, had Karl chosen a knight from the bloodline of a high-ranking noble family, he might have received that family's military support and completed the mission with ease in an instant, just as Ias had in the original story….
‘There is no point regretting what is already past.’
Karl cut away his lingering regret as cleanly as with a blade.
Catherine was both loyal and exceptionally skilled. And considering Bilford, whom she had brought with her, even if the choice seemed lacking for the moment, it would prove enormously helpful in the future.
Knowing that Catherine and Bilford were behind him, Karl's previously hunched shoulders straightened with confidence. He narrowed his eyes at the darkness and spoke.
“Bilford, can you ride ahead and scout the way?”
“Yes, of course.”
Despite Karl's sudden request, Bilford immediately answered with complete confidence.
Catherine remained silent, and Karl took that as confirmation that his decision was not mistaken. He spoke firmly.
“Light the path ahead and warn us of danger. If you find Axe Sound Village, tell them that the subjugation force is on its way, then return and rejoin us. From this moment onward, you are my eyes and ears.”
“Yes! Lord Karl!”
Bilford answered vigorously, then urged his horse forward and began riding ahead with an imposing bearing.
If anything happened, Catherine would need to command and protect this ragtag collection of conscripts, so sending Bilford ahead was tactically sound.
However, entrusting Bilford with the cloak and sending him as a messenger, then sending him alone into a monster-infested forest at night as the subjugation force's scout, was not something that could be done on tactical judgment alone.
Bilford was still nothing more than a lowly commoner Squire who had yet to prove his abilities, but the trust Karl placed in him was heavier than a mountain and hotter than the sun!
Karl possessed an unwavering belief that even if Bilford were attacked by monsters while alone, he would complete his mission without fail. There was no possibility that Bilford did not understand that.
Others had no way of knowing that Karl could possess such faith only because he knew the original story.
But even if they had known, it would not have prevented Bilford's chest from swelling with pride.
To be trusted so deeply by his lord! It was an honor that even a knight who had reached the level of a Master could scarcely hope to receive!
“Catherine, if battle breaks out, I will entrust command entirely to you.”
“Yes, Lord Karl.”
Catherine likewise had no idea where Karl's boundless trust came from. Yet she could feel the loyalty she bore toward the young, sickly lord she had previously served with little more than professional dedication rise within her like a great banner, planted firmly and billowing in the wind.
The red cloak draped over his slight back swayed as though it weighed a thousand pounds, while the red plume of his Helmet shimmered like light.
Could this truly be Karl, the Fourth Prince from all those rumors?
‘If Harmon does his part, reinforcements will come. If the palisade of Axe Sound Village is sturdy enough, we can hold out while minimizing casualties until we join forces with them.’
Karl thought as hard as he could. Catherine would undoubtedly handle matters perfectly well if he simply entrusted everything to her, but he could not allow himself to do that.
If he stumbled over something as minor as this, how could he ever hope to surpass Madius and Aingir?
‘Defense alone will solve nothing. Once we join forces, we will advance into the forest and subjugate the monsters.’
By making an irreversible move and throwing himself into the struggle, Karl had driven everything to the very edge of the cliff.
Everyone had been placed in a situation where they had no choice but to grit their teeth and fight: the imperial soldiers, the conscripts, the villagers, Imperial Attendant Harmon who looked down on him, and even the nobles of Hilpin!
Now only one question remained.
With their backs to the river and nowhere left to retreat, would they finally collapse, or would they stand firm and continue forward?