The Commander’s Invitation
“Haha, so this is Roire. It truly is a beautiful city, as I had heard.”
The Rotinzel commander Aaron Occident smiled warmly as he first set foot in the city.
With his portly, kind appearance, he looked more like a genial uncle from the neighborhood than a warlord on the battlefield. In truth, he was a devout believer, and his reputation among the people was excellent.
But personal character and battlefield prowess were two very different things.
The blood of countless Bluisol citizens that stained his hands was many times greater than the favors he had bestowed upon them during his life.
“Prepare the camp.”
“Aren’t you going to attack right away?”
“The soldiers have been marching without rest. First, we must set up camp and scout out the enemy.”
“But Sir Nicholas’s unit will be arriving soon. Wouldn’t it be better to seize Roire before they get here?”
“Even if it’s the capital of a country, it won’t fall that quickly. We don’t know how many defending troops we’re facing. We’re not willing to sacrifice our own men. As I said, Nicholas isn’t far away, so we can’t take it in that time.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Aaron gazed at the city walls with a leisurely expression.
Most of Bluisol’s forces had been annihilated on the Aire Plain. Even the remnants would be no match for Rotinzel’s numbers.
Having already considered the city as good as fallen, Aaron relaxed.
He could already picture the victory feast he would enjoy after capturing the beautiful Roire Castle.
On the battlements, Jeanne watched the approaching enemy army with narrowed eyes.
The Rotinzel banners bearing the crescent moon symbol fluttered in the wind. It was Aaron’s mark.
‘Just as it was before I regressed. The history that diverged before my return is unchanged. That’s fortunate.’
If even this had changed, everything she knew about her future would become meaningless.
Now that she had certainty, she would plan from that point forward, basing everything on the future she already remembered.
Even as the sun began to set, the Rotinzel troops focused solely on pitching their camps.
‘As expected, they won’t attack until tomorrow.’
Such was Aaron’s style.
Jeanne turned away.
Now she only had to wait for Mateo to bring Hughes.
In the quiet space, the only sounds were the two men’s footsteps.
Hughes Tallean swallowed hard several times as he walked.
‘What? The princess is summoning me?’
Ahead of him, the commander of the Capital Garrison, Mateo, walked. Hughes cautiously spoke up.
“I… I wonder why Her Highness called me here…”
Normally, even Mateo would be unreachable. But the person she was about to meet was royalty itself.
He wanted to know something, anything, before the meeting.
“I don’t know either.”
Mateo answered briefly.
He wasn’t pretending to not know; he truly didn’t. All Jeanne had told him was to fetch a soldier named Hughes.
In front of the commander’s quarters, Mateo stopped.
Knock.
“It’s Mateo.”
“Come in.”
A slightly lower voice of a woman came from beyond the door.
Mateo opened the door and pushed Hughes inside first.
“Hughes Tallean has been brought here. I will take my leave now.”
After saluting, Mateo left the room.
Alone, Hughes stood frozen, staring at the closed door with a face drained of color.
Jeanne watched him quietly for a moment, then nodded.
The Hughes from before her regression was this one.
“You have been properly brought here. Come closer.”
Hughes approached hesitantly.
“Y-you… summoned me…”
To a commoner, royalty was an infinitely distant presence.
Hughes kept his eyes lowered, not daring to meet hers.
“Yes. I heard you were from the artillery unit.”
“I’ve handled gunpowder before… but precisely, I was with the Salpetre.”
“Salpetre, the unit that specializes in explosives. Then that’s even better. How much gunpowder can you handle?”
“I’ve actually made gunpowder and worked on weapons as well.”
“Salpetre should be treated as elite personnel in the kingdom. Why are you here with the common soldiers?”
“My family lives in Roire… so I had no choice.”
“Don’t worry about your family. Soldiers will assist in evacuating them. The reason I summoned you here is…”
In this place, only Jeanne, Diego, and Hughes were present.
Originally, Fabian should have been standing like a shadow behind her, but he was away preparing for the duel.
“Do you know that the king has left the capital?”
“Yes, I heard it at the Salpetre.”
“Because we moved hastily, a large quantity of supplies still remains in Roire. I ordered Mateo to send the soldiers to transport them to Ileang Castle, but we can’t carry heavy things like cannons.”
“T-that’s right.”
“The same goes for cannonballs. But handing over all the remaining gunpowder to the enemy isn’t something we can do.”
“That’s true. Did you summon me to dispose of it?”
“Exactly. I intend to blow up this castle.”
“B-blow up the castle?”
Hughes asked, unsure if he had heard correctly.
“Yes. Use up all the gunpowder here.”
“But when the king returns, there should still be some left…”
He understood the intent not to leave spoils for the enemy, but this seemed too extreme.
Jeanne let out a soft chuckle.
In the future she remembered, the castle had burned for entirely different reasons.
If something had to be destroyed, it was better to add some value to it.
‘Since the king has already left this place, he has no right to return. The king who built this castle was the greatest knight of them all. He would not want this.’
Jeanne said quietly.
“Think of it as using the gunpowder so the enemy doesn’t get any. It’s fine, isn’t it?”
“It’s impossible to completely destroy the castle. There are no blueprints, and we don’t have enough gunpowder. Even if we did, precise calculations would be needed to bring the buildings down, so it would take time.”
“There’s no need to destroy the buildings themselves. The important thing is to prevent the enemy from gaining any spoils. Can we burn the entire castle?”
“That should be possible. If we create paths for the fire to spread, and leave only flammable things, the rest will burn easily.”
Even without demolishing the castle, burning it completely would achieve their goal.
“Good. Then carry it out immediately. I’ve already moved the gunpowder in front of the main keep, and some soldiers who will help are there too.”
Hughes, suddenly burdened with a tremendous task, stammered.
“Th-that is… it is.”
“I’ll reward you sufficiently later. This is for our country. Trust me.”
It wasn’t an order, but a plea, and Hughes’s face lit up as if he had received a lifelong honor.
“I-I will try.”
Hughes blushed, facing the beautiful princess so close to him.
Hughes left the commander’s quarters.
Diego, who had been quietly watching without interfering with Jeanne’s authority in front of the soldiers, suddenly asked in surprise.
“Is it true? You really intend to burn the entire castle?”
Jeanne’s decision was shocking even to him.
“Yes, take whatever jewels you like. But the castle definitely…”
“I understand. There’s a map of the kingdom and records of the national military deployments. I’ll handle it.”
They were in a hurry to leave, so there was no time to organize or burn those documents.
Nor did Jeanne or Diego know where they were. It was better to destroy the castle first to ensure the enemy couldn’t find them.
At that moment, without knocking, the commander’s door burst open.
“The enemy has begun to move!”
The one who entered was one of the knights from the Second Knight Order.
“Let’s go.”
Jeanne stood up from her seat.
From the Rotinzel camp, a portly general stepped forward. It was Aaron.
“I am Aaron Occident of Rotinzel. Although we are at war, I personally do not wish to spill unnecessary blood. I challenge you to a duel.”
Aaron had waited until after setting up camp before issuing the challenge to the Bluisol army.
On the outer walls, Jeanne and Diego listened to Aaron’s voice and nodded.
“It’s exactly as we expected. That’s good.”
“It’s the biggest sign of complacency. No matter how relaxed Aaron’s personality is, he wouldn’t act this way if he saw our strength.”
Diego scanned the enemy camp and commented.
“Normally, to launch a siege, you need a force at least three times the size of the defending troops. This indicates an advantage for the defenders, but if the enemy has overwhelming power, even a castle makes it difficult to hold out.”
At the time the king left, the total remaining forces in Roire were only a few hundred.
The actual number of soldiers was slightly higher than the report from the Capital Garrison commander Mateo, thanks to some soldiers who had joined after fleeing after Liam’s defeat.
But even so, it was a perfect disadvantage compared to the enemy. Rotinzel’s numbers, though exact figures were unknown, numbered in the tens of thousands.
Even if every civilian had been mobilized for defense instead of evacuating, it would have been impossible to withstand the enemy’s assault.
In direct combat, they wouldn’t even last a day. So using the tradition of duels to buy a day’s time was clearly beneficial.
Now the question was the duel itself.
“The rules of a duel are well known. Three knights will be sent out in sequence to test each other’s abilities. As long as you don’t fear for your lives, you will naturally accept.”
The knights of the Bluisol Second Knight Order frowned at the repeated words from Aaron.
“They’re talking as if they’ve already won.”
Someone muttered dissatisfiedly.
“But we haven’t won yet. Let’s watch.”
“With Captain Diego leading, we have nothing to fear.”
The knights still called him Captain Diego.
Although Jeanne had been appointed as the knight commander, she had not yet fully accepted it in her heart.
“Of course.”
While they conversed, the knights’ gazes remained fixed on the space between the enemy and friendly forces—the very arena where the duel would take place.
Since the knights who would participate in the duel had already been decided, the rest could only cheer.
Some wiped sweat from their palms, while others polished their weapons and armor.
In the stifling tension, they waited for the duel to begin.
To seize the initiative, Diego stepped forward first.
Diego, who wielded a bastard sword with overwhelming power, was the best choice for the vanguard.
“Waaaaah!”
Diego let out a thunderous roar and pointed his bastard sword toward the enemy camp.
“I, Diego Fidelity, challenge anyone who dares to duel with my sword!”
Diego’s shout stirred the blood of the listeners. The knights of the Second Knight Order, hearts racing with anticipation, prayed for his victory.
Meanwhile, Fabian prepared for the duel without watching Diego’s fight.
A knight approached Fabian as he armed himself and grabbed his sword.
“Hm? What is it?”
It was Knight Ethan.