The Bastard's Rebellion
The Bastard's Rebellion
"This won't do. Noona, you'll just have to become Count yourself."
"Piel, do you want to just take the territory?"
Like brother, like sister - they were thinking exactly the same thing.
But looking closely, Elenoa was far angrier than I'd imagined.
"Lord Valkenhart, can you do that for me? You have the power, after all."
"Lady Elenoa...."
"Father has no right to be a noble! To trample the futures of so many people holding the front line with their lives, just to save a little on supplies! I can never forgive this!"
Elenoa's fists trembled paruru, and she spoke in a voice that was almost sobbing.
"How can such a wicked man be my father... that's just wrong...."
"...."
"...."
Everyone fell silent in solemnity.
The young Marquis Oltain now knew that Elenoa and I were of the Count's bloodline and was alarmed, but he had the tact to keep quiet.
I asked the young Marquis Oltain again.
"If things had proceeded according to the Covenant, the late Western Commander-in-Chief, Lady Hildea, and Lady Rebecca would all have lost their territories and their people, and would have been forced to establish a defensive line south of the Dwein River with only a small elite force remaining.
Was the high noble who sent the Marquis also aware of that?"
"...The Covenant itself was said to have been carefully designed to reorganize the balance of power among the northern nobles."
Whether he knew or not, it doesn't really matter.
The northern commanders would have lost all their wealth and territories, left with only a small army, and used as nothing more than 'dogs guarding the river.'
They must have calculated that even if a rebellion broke out, it could be suppressed with minimal damage.
"So, in other words."
Hildea said coldly.
"It's not their land anyway, so they have nothing to lose. As long as they can cut maintenance costs, they don't care what sacrifices we make - isn't that the idea?"
"Precisely."
Utterly shortsighted selfishness that thinks only of oneself.
That's exactly what decentralized feudal systems are like, after all.
"These sons of bitches...!"
Hildea was about to bolt out, so I quickly grabbed her and held her back.
"Hildea-nim, please hear the whole story out first."
When I held her tightly, Hildea barely managed to calm her agitation, bowed her head deeply, and whispered so softly that only I could hear:
"Sorry, Second Lieutenant Piel. I got too excited."
"I understand. It can happen."
As someone who rose from a commoner to establish her own count's family, I know what her territory means to Hildea.
She herself suffered as a lowborn child, but that land is the capital that will let the children she bears someday live as proud nobles.
They say people go blind when their property is touched, right?
"...I myself am a northerner too. I undertook this mission because I believed it was something Lord Valkenhart absolutely needed to know; I do not ask that you forgive those filthy fat pigs."
"Very well, Marquis. I will continue listening."
Marquis Oltain finished delivering the message from the anonymous high noble.
To leave nothing behind, everything was conducted orally. They were thorough, at least in self-preservation.
"To shake the supply system, the House of Count Anbelrum stepped forward to lock the warehouses and take the blame instead.
Since the northern army was passing through, if the bastard son sent as a hostage came to harm, the count's family could use that to gain the moral high ground...."
At this part, Hildea and Elenoa trembled even more paruru than I did.
「Do you understand, Piel? Never look south of the Dwein River again.」
I don't know if he sent me to die, or if he no longer cared whether I lived or died.
But he certainly would have been well aware of the high probability of my death.
Marquis Oltain disclosed all the details of the Covenant - no, the collusion.
Including the fact that there were seventeen parties to the collusion.
"The one who sent me says she acknowledges all her errors and wishes to become a loyal friend of the North from now on."
The young Marquis Oltain was simply conveying the words, without inserting his own feelings.
After all, he was someone who had lost both his father and his territory because of the Covenant.
"To have Lord Valkenhart record in a video magic tool, pledging her own name and her family's honor, a guarantee of safety and a relationship of trust, and to send it through me - that was the noble's final demand."
"You've worked hard. We also need some time to think, so we will comfortably accommodate you in a secret safehouse for a few days."
"I am more than capable of waiting. I only hope Lord Valkenhart does not compromise."
The young marquis must have been anxious too, but he didn't even hint at asking for help in reclaiming his own territory.
He was displaying tremendous patience in front of Hildea.
Luna and an airborne knight took the young marquis away.
Outside the door, Luna's grumbling voice could be heard.
"If you're from the same region, you should've said that first."
"How was I supposed to know it was Lady Luna?"
"I suppose that's true."
When I turned my gaze, both women had fury settled deep in their eyes.
"Second Lieutenant Piel, to think there are as many as seventeen parties to the Covenant. There's no way to know for sure who sent him...."
"It's Count Anbelrum."
At my assertion, both of them reacted with a jolt.
"Is that really true?"
"Piel, how can you be sure?"
"They were fairly meticulous about maintaining security, but they made a decisive mistake. They didn't make any marriage proposal to Hildea-nim."
Hildea tilted her head in confusion.
"Well, they would naturally assume I would never accept something like that...."
"Even so, you have to at least try to probe. A marriage alliance is the one thing that would guarantee they could reliably obtain a security guarantee from Hildea-nim."
"...Now that I think about it, Piel is right. Any great noble seeking to ensure their family's safety and self-preservation would inevitably demand a reliable guarantee."
The Count was nursing a delusional fantasy about me and Hildea.
So he unconsciously omitted any marriage condition that would 'provoke rejection.'
"Just you wait. My words will soon be proven."
"How?"
"Those thousands of Ancient Tree Monsters were so terrified of Hildea-nim that they scattered inland. Do you think they'll be subjugated? Soon everyone will come running, screaming and begging to be saved."
***
A few days passed.
Elenoa's return was kept hidden from the Count. She didn't leave Hildea's room, staying there together with her.
My assertion that it was Count Anbelrum who sent the young marquis was proven true.
The other parties to the Covenant also scrambled, one after another, to negotiate, demanding their own security guarantees.
"The great nobles who made the Covenant number seventeen, the messengers sent number seventeen, and among them, the great nobles who demanded marriage as security - except for the first one - number sixteen...."
The Count's Castle heightened its security.
To prevent the sixteen great nobles from secretly contacting Hildea.
But Luna's airborne troops captured the messengers who were lingering outside. The Count, of course, was unaware of this.
"Hildea-nim, we must completely scrap the plan to reorganize the central and southern regions."
The Marshall Plan ver1.0 is to be discarded.
The long-term design of barely helping just enough so that the entire population of the kingdom would migrate north.
"Let's just focus on civilian support. Leave the nobles to be killed by the elves on their own."
"Civilian support?"
"It means actively helping the good people of the territories to evacuate to the safe North."
"Good. I like that idea better."
Hildea summoned the sixteen messengers and gave her replies one by one.
"As Commander, I am deeply disappointed in the great nobles who made the Covenant."
"I feel endless revulsion."
"I will grant no forgiveness whatsoever to those who tried to sell out our nation."
"Wash your necks and wait."
The messengers' faces stiffened, but they all took their leave with proper courtesy.
Finally, the young Marquis Oltain was brought in.
When Hildea dictated the message she wanted delivered, the young marquis could not help but smile.
"I shall, without fail! Convey it exactly, to the very last letter!"
"Do you remember his face?"
"Of course. I remember it vividly."
At my question, the young marquis nodded vigorously.
I spread out hundreds of photographs printed on A4 paper with a color printer.
Over the past few days, I had secretly taken body cam shots of every single knight in the Count's Castle without missing a single one.
'The video magic tools here have crude image quality and overly flashy effects, so people in this world have no concept whatsoever of being wary of spy cameras.'
Seeing the color prints, the young marquis's eyes went wide.
"How can this be! Such vivid portraits! And what on earth is this paper? How can such a thin and smooth paper exist?"
It was a reaction that made it all worth spending the precious budget to be supplied with a color printer.
"Please identify whether that man is among these."
"Certainly. But still, how in the world did you obtain such portraits...."
Hildea and I carefully watched as the young marquis sifted through the photos.
Less than five minutes had passed.
"This man, unquestionably."
"It's Lord Baron."
I had shown them in order of the prime suspects, and sure enough, he picked him out quickly.
"Marquis, in a little while, you will go with us to pay a visit to Lord Baron, together, and deliver your message in person. Without the bother of connecting through the capital."
"...!"
For a moment, the marquis's eyes grew huge, then he quivered paruru, barely suppressing a burst of laughter.
"Keuheuheu, that will be quite electrifying. Lord Baron, was it? I look forward to seeing just how much he'll freak out when he sees me."
"You may look forward to it. We will go to see him after making a tour of the Count's Castle."
The Marquis Oltain, not returning to the capital, but openly inspecting the Count's Castle together with us?
Lord Baron and the Count would leap back in shock and fall over.
"Then please wait here for just a moment."
"As long as it takes."
Hildea and I crossed over to Hildea's room where Elenoa was hiding out.
"Noona, we've confirmed that Lord Baron made contact with the Marquis."
"So from now on, are we exposing the existence of the Covenant in front of everyone in the castle?"
"Even the fact that they sent me to be killed."
"Piel, hand me a sword. It's okay for me to swing the blade."
I shook my head.
"No, this is something I have to do. It's an act of dragging the Count's honor and everything into the mud. And doing so before the very eyes of all his retainers and knights."
The existence of the Covenant. The attempted murder of a bastard son.
The cowardice of seeking contact with Hildea to save his own skin.
The retainers would feel shame at their lord's shocking true face.
But on the other hand, they would also feel revulsion toward the unfilial child who made their lord that way.
"You, Noona, must become the Count. So I will be the one to drag him down."
"Piel... to go that far.... I could do it too, you know...."
"For your sake, Noona, I can easily bear a degree of unfilial rebellion against my father."
If the heir crushes her father's honor and forcibly inherits the title, all she'll get from the world is pointed fingers.
I don't care, but I can't place that lifelong burden on Elenoa.
"Second Lieutenant Piel, why are you covering your mouth?"
"Ah, I felt like I might cough."
"Piel, are you crying right now? How much must the betrayal hurt your heart...."
'There's absolutely no way I'm yielding this fun to Noona.'
Suppressing the laughter about to burst out, I gave instructions to Luna, who was standing at attention.
"Luna. Coordinate with Lord Deville and surround the Count's Castle."
"Yes!"
"Don't let anyone leave. And keep a strict watch so that no one can take their own life or kill anyone else."
"Understood!"
Luna gave a spirited answer and departed.
I took out Hildea's 105mm Magical Cannon, which had been undergoing automatic repair, and handed it to her.
"Noona, Hildea-nim. Then, let us now go and inherit the title."
From now on, I become the mad dog.
A mad dog blinded by rage over being abandoned, blind and deaf.
An unfilial child who forces his own father to his knees and inflicts humiliation before everyone's eyes.
'For Noona's sake, I will dance a sword dance.'
Armored Taejong Halabeoji.
Grant strength to this descendant of yours.