Chapter 185: Siege
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 185: Siege
Surrounded by a moat, Duke Baeneng's castle became impossible to invade from the outside once the drawbridge was raised.
“Conversely, it also means that if the enemy blockades the drawbridge, it's difficult to get out.”
Furthermore, Count Dresden's ocean fleet had blockaded the coast, preventing even small fishing boats from passing through. Duke Baeneng was completely isolated and helpless.
“So you’re saying they’ll surrender if we just wait?”
Piole, a smirk playing on her lips, sidled her horse up next to mine and slyly ran a hand over my thigh.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I had been staring up at the ducal castle, which remained as silent as a tomb, but now I finally lowered my head. She just grinned at my dumbfounded expression.
“What?”
She feigned innocence, pushing her hand even deeper. I had wondered why she was in casual clothes on the battlefield; it seemed she had come out with some audacious expectations.
“The soldiers might see, you know.”
We had left the main camp on the pretext of scouting the area, but we weren't that far from the soldiers. The scouts patrolling the vicinity were a particular concern.
“So what? Anyone who needs to know about our relationship already does. Besides, that’s your responsibility.”
It was a hard truth to deny. After all, Piole and I had shared a tent every time we went to war.
“You’ve gotten bold.”
“And who was it that made me this way?”
It had already been two weeks since we had set up camp before Duke Baeneng's castle. During that time, there hadn't been a single noteworthy battle. The tension was bound to dissipate.
In Piole's case, it seemed that lust had taken its place. After all, isn't there research suggesting that libido spikes after battle?
This was especially true for Piole, who had been cornered by the king's army and had prepared for death. Her instinct to leave behind offspring was bound to explode.
Besides, she had been sleeping alone for over half a year—and right when she had developed a taste for it, too.
It wasn't unreasonable for her to be this blatant. If anything, her patience in waiting for over two weeks deserved praise.
“You’ll have to take responsibility.”
With a sly smile, Piole looked ready to drag me into the nearby bushes and have her way with me right then and there. I had no intention of refusing, either. That is, if nothing special happened.
“Baron!”
Unfortunately, something special did happen. A soldier came running up in a hurry and pointed at the ducal castle. The drawbridge, which had been raised for over two weeks, was being lowered.
“Of all the times—”
Needless to say, Piole’s face crumpled like a piece of paper.
Emerging from the opened castle gate were five knights, dragging along Bronx II, who was bound as their prisoner. They immediately knelt before me.
“Greetings to the Baron, ruler of the Northern Continent, champion of the southern Western Continent, and the Church's First Sword in service of the Pope, from this humble servant.”
“Is this a surrender?”
“We only beg for the Baron’s mercy.”
The knights bowed their heads low.
“So this isn’t on Duke Baeneng’s orders.”
If they had come to offer surrender under the duke's command, they wouldn't have used the word "we."
My gaze shifted to Bronx II, bound in ropes. Looking like he belonged in a slum back alley, he was thrashing about like a madman.
“Let me go! You bastards! The witch will come to kill me! We have to run! Quickly—!”
I had wondered why he’d been out of sight since he fled; it seemed he had lost his mind. Having suffered a crushing defeat in a war he started out of sheer fear, his paranoia could only have worsened.
When I looked back at the knights, they lowered their heads until they nearly touched the ground and spoke.
“The Duke is not in his right mind, either.”
The knight was telling the truth.
When I met Duke Baeneng in the council room of the inner castle, his face was as haggard as a man who hadn't eaten for a week.
“Just a few days ago, there wasn't a single empty seat at this round table. Some even had to stand to participate in the meetings. But now, it's just me.”
He spoke while staring down at the empty tabletop, his eyes devoid of focus. His lips were so dry and cracked that they were bleeding.
“Do you regret it?” I asked, sitting down across the table from him. Piole and the other knights and soldiers were likely disarming the surrendered enemy and taking control of the castle.
My role was to uncover the background behind the alliance between Duke Baeneng and the king.
“I regret my foolishness. I never should have believed her. How could I have so readily trusted someone when I didn't even know why she was helping me…?”
“Are you perhaps referring to… the witch?”
Duke Baeneng’s head snapped up. Focus returned to his eyes, which now shone with a fierce light.
“How did you know…? Don’t tell me—”
I shook my head.
“Let's avoid any useless misunderstandings. I suspected the witch's involvement because you, a duke with whom I have no bad blood, joined hands with your political rival, the king, to strike at me. That, and the fact that I myself have some history with a certain witch.”
Furthermore, the allied forces of the king and Duke Baeneng knew how to counteract Eleanor's ability.
That was something only I, who learned it by dying over and over again in the game, and the witch presumed to have created that game, could have known.
“So I was used…”
“Isn’t it about time you realized that?”
“Hah… I didn't trust her from the beginning, either. How could I easily believe the wild tales of a complete stranger? It started… yes, with something very small.”
According to Duke Baeneng, their relationship began when she helped him find the right medicinal herb for his beloved nephew, who had fallen ill with a mysterious disease.
One of the quests.
The quality of the information the witch provided grew progressively better. Recently, she had told him about the existence of a copper mine lying dormant in his territory and that he could amass enormous wealth by trading with the Southern Continent.
The decisive piece of information that made him fall for it completely was the revelation that a vassal he trusted was actually a spy for the king.
“The future unfolded exactly as she said it would. So when she promised me the throne, how could I not believe her!”
Everything Duke Baeneng mentioned was originally destined to happen. In other words, the Star Witch had merely fast-tracked things that the duke was supposed to acquire anyway.
She must have gradually increased the quality of her information to gain Duke Baeneng's trust and to hide her involvement from me.
“What did the witch want?”
“The princess. And the baron's women... Compared to the throne, they were worth less than dust. Perhaps that's why I trusted her even more.”
It seemed her plan was to take credit for my downfall and then snatch up the witches I had rescued.
I wasn't exactly shocked.
For someone who tried to put a modern soul into my body to save the witches, she was awfully wary of me actually getting close to them.
Hah, does that even make sense?
How could a princess rescued by a Prince Charming not develop feelings for him?
She couldn't possibly have been unaware of that, yet her wariness was like that of a child stubbornly insisting on the impossible.
The problem was that her stubbornness had now evolved to the point of attacking me.
Did she decide she could no longer control me? Then again, I did react rather nonchalantly when she threatened me by holding my reproductive ability hostage.
The important thing is that she has intervened directly.
I surmised that even though she knew the future, she needed a proxy like me because she had seen a future where her direct intervention led to a bad outcome.
But now, she had changed her tune and was taking direct action. This meant she no longer needed a proxy. In other words, she had rescued the other witches herself.
It seemed she hadn't been sitting idly by while I did all the work.
This is dangerous.
My intervention was rapidly changing the predetermined future. Nevertheless, the future information the Star Witch possessed was more than enough to threaten me.
And if the three witches she had likely recruited were added to the mix, she would become a truly troublesome opponent.
“When did the witch first approach you?”
“It’s been quite a while. Come to think of it… it was around the same time the baron started to make a name for himself.”
So she had planned to betray me from the very beginning. Even if I had obediently followed her words, the outcome would have been the same.
I clicked my tongue and changed the subject.
“Why are you telling me all this so willingly?”
“Please… have mercy. I was the only one who fell for the witch's temptation. Spare my family, at least.”
“Sorry, but I’ll have to refuse. Eleanor is the only royal bloodline we need.”
A royal bloodline could become a justification for rebellion. I would have to give my all to deal with the witches, and I couldn't afford to leave a potential threat behind me.
“Baron…!”
Duke Baeneng couldn't finish his sentence. The dagger I threw was now embedded in his head.
I left the council room, leaving him to collapse like a puppet with its strings cut.
Now, only the Noble Faction remained. The day the Western Continent, too, would fall into my hands was not far off.
@
Owells, disguised as a messenger from Duke Baeneng, set foot on land with a few sailors. It was the territory of Count Bruin, the leader of the northern lords belonging to the Noble Faction.
“We deliver the secret letter and get out immediately.”
“Isn’t this mission a bit too easy? You could’ve just left it to us and rested on the ship…”
“And what do you think the Baron would think of me if we failed that ‘easy’ mission? Huh? Besides, a time of political upheaval like this is the perfect opportunity to get noticed.”
After cautioning his men, Owells carefully made his way toward Count Bruin's castle. However, he was forced to stop before he got very far.
He had deliberately chosen an alleyway to avoid attention, but he soon found his path blocked from both the front and back. The men looked like typical back-alley thugs.
“Who are you?”
Owells and his sailors drew their swords. They were confident. Mere back-alley thugs were no match for them, who were at the level of a knight and his squires.
“I believe that’s our line…”
“We are messengers of Duke Baeneng. Our destination is the lord of this land, Count Bruin.”
Of course, since it was a disguise, it was best to avoid a fight. So he borrowed the authority of Duke Baeneng and Count Bruin. Just then, a voice came from behind the thugs.
“Since when did Sir Owells serve Duke Baeneng?”
The thugs parted to the left and right. An Easterner with ashen skin and hair as black as ebony walked down the path they created.
Owells’s face hardened.
“…Were you waiting for us?”
“Don’t be so wary. I, too, am a person who serves the Baron.”
“Hmph. Then why did you block our path?”
“Because there is something I can help you with.”
The Easterner snapped her fingers. At that moment, the rooftops of the buildings on both sides bustled with activity, and dozens more men appeared, aiming their crossbows at them.
“Ha. Help? You call this help?”
“Give me the letter and withdraw. If you tell the Baron that Jin did this, he will understand.”
The one blocking Owells’s path was Jin.
Owells clicked his tongue, glancing between the thugs surrounding him and the crossbowmen on the roof. He then handed the letter to a nearby thug and said, “You’ll regret this if you’re lying, Easterner.”
“Be my guest.”
Owells shot another glare at Jin before turning his back. In the meantime, the thug who received the letter approached Jin.
“What should we do with it, boss?”
“Burn it.”
Having confirmed the contents of the letter from Owells, who was disguised as Duke Baeneng's messenger, Jin saw through Allen's scheme. And she was very displeased.
If Allen's plan succeeded, he could wipe out the Noble Faction in one fell swoop, but the problem was that it would take a long time.
It would take ages for nobles from all over the continent to gather and reach a consensus.
Allen now had the power to keep his promise, and she couldn't afford to waste so much time.
“And summon the executives. Now. Immediately.”
Although she had pretended to be weak in front of Allen, Jin's influence, bolstered by Allen's financial support, had in fact spread beyond the capital to the entire continent.
It had all happened in less than a year. Moreover, since it was the work of the underworld, the process had been anything but smooth.
“You summoned us.”
Despite the sudden summons, the executives knelt on one knee and bowed their heads low, because they knew better than anyone of Jin's skill and cruelty.
“There is a job for you to do.”
The Noble Faction was merely a loose gathering to check the emergence of a powerful monarch who would limit the interests of the nobility; it was not a strong alliance.
This was only natural, as some of its members were hostile toward each other, while others were busy keeping one another in check.
Jin aimed for that weakness.
“Kill Count Bruin’s successor. And leave behind traces of Count Evermond.”
For the two feuding families, she created a reason they had no choice but to fight.
“As for the Vermont family, kill every last one of them.”
She intended to create chaos by toppling a regional power that was maintaining a precarious balance.
“For Baron Goran, killing only the successor should be enough.”
She also induced a power struggle among the remaining children by killing the heir of a lord who was already on his deathbed.
With every order Jin gave, the executives' faces turned ashen. They knew these were missions that could cost them their lives.
Yet, not a single one of them said they couldn't do it. They had judged that it was better to die carrying out the mission than to defy Jin.
Once all the executives who had received their missions had left, Jin set off for the southwest, where Allen would be. By the time she arrived, the Noble Faction would be collapsing from within.
I have to show him my power to make him keep his promise.
She had already paid the price for the promise by agreeing to act to deceive his political rivals.
The problem was that the price she'd paid was too small for the promise she'd received. Besides, isn't it human nature to have a different attitude when borrowing money versus when paying it back?
Another problem was that the person she had to deal with now was not the scoundrel of a minor knightly family, but the emperor who would rule two continents.
In other words, this was also a warning. A warning that if he broke his promise, she would do the same to him.
As if that weren't enough, upon arriving at Duke Baeneng's castle, Jin scaled the walls and stealthily approached Allen's room.
As she gripped the windowsill, she pulled a dagger heavily coated in ash from her robes. If words failed, she intended to threaten him directly.
However…
“Hahng…”
A moan came from inside. It was obvious what was happening. Jin paused, deciding to wait until they were finished.
It was the wrong choice. The affair showed no signs of ending, continuing past midnight and until the break of dawn.
Jin, who had been clinging to the wall all night, shivered and gritted her teeth.
“Seriously, how long are they going to keep at it…?!”