The Pretender's Rout (7)
Even that very morning, the young soldier had been smiling brightly as he received the cheers of the territory's people. Now his corpse lay sprawled across the muddy ground.
A knight lay dead, his torso sliced clean in two by a monster's horn. Another soldier's skull had been crushed. The earth all around them was stained black with the blood of humans rather than monsters.
In the midst of this gruesome battlefield, an army was in full retreat. And leading that desperate flight was one man above all.
Eric. The noble who had seized the position of acting family head for himself in Isabella's absence. Yet he displayed neither the composure befitting a noble nor the sense of responsibility expected of an acting head.
"Uwaaaaah!"
"Save me! Where the hell is Captain Kent?!"
The knights fleeing for their lives were calling for Kent, not Eric. That alone showed just how little trust the soldiers placed in him.
Yet Kent—the man the knights had believed in—never appeared at their predetermined meeting point. With the chain of command shattered, even the soldiers began hurling away their weapons, abandoning formation entirely as they fled in blind panic.
A handful of brave knights still shouted orders and held their ground, but even they were gradually being pushed back.
Had they all gathered and maintained their positions, the situation would never have collapsed so easily.
But with Eric—the very man who should have been enforcing control—leading the flight, this was the inevitable result.
The monster pack's primal instincts told them the group still bravely holding formation would not be easy prey. Instead, they wheeled toward the safest spot in the rear, where Eric was yanking viciously at his horse's reins and screaming.
The paradox of war: the first to flee becomes the most vulnerable, while those who hold the line remain safest. It was a scene that played out all too commonly on the battlefield.
Kent, you bastard! Why the hell isn't he coming? Did he lose his way? No, that's impossible. Rotten as he is, he's still a knight!
Eric's mind churned with a toxic mix of rage and suspicion.
Don't tell me that bastard has completely betrayed me? No, it can't be. If he betrays me, Mother would never forgive him. And that idiot only has his strength—nothing else. To keep living the good life like this, he desperately needs my help. He knows that. That's why we formed an alliance in the first place!
Just then, a knight grabbed Eric's reins and pleaded desperately.
"Lord Eric! Lord Eric! You must hold your position! Even if you don't lead the charge, your presence alone keeps the soldiers from panicking! If the acting head is the first to flee, who would risk their lives to fight?!"
Eric stared at the knight—filthy with monster blood and mud—with open disgust, then lashed out with his foot from atop his horse, kicking the man's armor.
"How dare you! A mere knight presuming to grab the family head's reins!"
A flicker of scorn crossed the regular knight's face at Eric's arrogant words. He possessed more than enough strength to shrug off such a kick from a man who had never trained in martial arts, but he simply smiled bitterly, released the reins, and returned to his post.
Eric ignored the soldiers still fleeing and the knights dying where they stood, his thoughts returning once more to Kent.
Then why? Could a monster have pinned him down? With his level of power? That's ridiculous!... So what is the reason?
He repeatedly yanked and released the reins, spurring his mount forward. But the horse, already terrified by the monsters' cries, refused to obey.
When Eric realized that even a mere horse—nothing but an animal—would not submit to his commands, he flew into a frenzy.
He slammed his heels into the horse's flanks. The startled, enraged animal reared up violently.
Eric, who had spent his life behind a desk fiddling with parchment and never once trained in martial arts, lost his balance and tumbled to the ground.
"Kyaah! Is no one there?! Attend me! Someone, attend me!"
Eric screamed desperately, but his face was already caked in mud. Even up close, he no longer resembled the acting family head. The few soldiers who did recognize him turned away.
A man who had never properly swung a sword in his life. A man who had no idea how to direct troops. That was Eric.
With Isabella gone, he had strutted about pretending to be the acting head, but on a real battlefield, there was nothing he could actually do.
"Protect me! Protect meee!"
Eric wailed pathetically, but the commands of the self-proclaimed acting head no longer reached anyone.
"What a fucking idiot..."
Werner stood atop the cliff, looking down at the battle with an expression of pure disbelief.
If left alone, Eric would die on his own. Yet Werner had decided to save him.
His life was simply too valuable to waste here.
Eric was not a man who should die so easily in a place like this. He deserved a far more miserable, far more humiliating death inside the castle, in front of the territory's people.
Werner's gaze shifted to the side.
"Knight Commander."
Leona now accepted the title smoothly, without the slightest hesitation.
"Yes!"
"Wrap this up quickly."
"I shall obey your command."
A command without wasted words. Obedience without wasted words.
Werner didn't bother explaining the plan. It was a silent display of his complete, one-hundred-percent trust in Leona's judgment. Having already worked together during his activities as the Unicorn Knight, they had reached the point where a mere look was enough for their intentions to align perfectly.
Leona turned away from Werner as he observed the battlefield and faced the knights without hesitation. She drew her sword.
She spoke a single order to the knights arrayed behind her.
"Disperse by company. The left wing will sever the monster pack's flank. The right wing will cut off their rear. The main force will pierce the center. Follow me."
"We shall obey your command, Knight Commander!"
The unified response was flawless.
It was as if they had completely forgotten that, just an hour ago, they had been members of the Garcia and Isabella factions, grabbing each other by the collars.
It made sense. This was a battlefield. What earned respect here was not noble titles. It was strength. And every last one of them had witnessed it with their own eyes barely an hour earlier.
They had seen exactly who had single-handedly subjugated the demonized Kent Garcia.
Unlike the knights rushing forward, Leona threw herself off the cliff without the slightest hesitation.
BOOM!
A silver trajectory flashed. The two monsters charging toward the soldiers were simultaneously sliced in two.
Hunt Harvest
Strength +2 permanently absorbed.
While Leona—though knight commander—took the role of vanguard and carved through the monster pack, the knights under Werner's command poured through the gap she had created. They formed ranks instantly and surged onto the battlefield.
The knights of Kent's faction who had sworn obedience to Werner. The knights who had chosen loyalty to Werner—Krauss's direct descendant—over the missing Isabella. The soldiers who followed Leona, the commoner-born vice commander who was now their knight commander.
People who had suspected and hated one another only yesterday were now moving in perfect unison. All of it was possible because a single ruler had emerged to unite them.
It took less than ten minutes to completely eradicate the monster pack that had been attacking Eric's faction knights and soldiers.
In the middle of a sea of blood and mud, Eric stood with a completely dazed expression.
A man who hadn't even drawn his sword while his army was being slaughtered. A coward who had simply clutched his head with both hands while his subordinates screamed for rescue.
Werner and Leona slowly walked toward that man.
When Eric saw Leona's face—still beautiful even in the midst of this slaughter—he snapped out of his shock. The usual greed flooded back into his foolish expression.
"V-vice commander!"
Eric pointed his finger at Leona and began issuing orders.
"Perfect timing! Reorganize the main force immediately and sort out the wounded at the rear! Find out why that bastard Kent never showed up! Ah, no... Forget that. You stay by my side for now. Protect me! I am the acting family head. I am Krauss. Without me, this entire family will collapse. Do you understand? ...Why aren't you answering, you commoner!"
He didn't even seem to notice Werner standing beside Leona.
"Vice commander!"
Saliva flew from Eric's pig-like face as he shouted in rage and fear that she might ignore his commands.
"Not anymore."
Leona gave a curt reply to his bellowing and turned her head to the side.
Eric looked at the man Leona was gazing at with eyes overflowing with affection and loyalty—completely different from the cold, disgusted look she gave him. No, since the man was much taller than him, he had to look up.
"She's not the vice commander anymore, Eric. Leona is the knight commander."
Werner's icy words caused Eric to shrink back before he could even speak.
Not a trace remained of his usual lazy, arrogant tone. Eric's shoulders stiffened visibly.
"...What? Who decided that?"
"It is the right of the acting family head."
"...What? Werner, you bastard! Have you gone mad? Who is the acting head? The acting head is m—"
"Shut your mouth."
"The acting head is me..."
"I said shut up."
Veins bulged on Eric's neck.
"You worthless maniac! Have you lost your mind? Who the hell do you think you are?! The acting head is me! With Isabella gone, I'm the only one who can represent the Krauss family!"
"How utterly ridiculous. For someone who isn't even a true noble."
A cold sneer slipped from between Werner's lips.
"The head of the Krauss County is my mother. In contrast, your mother Ophelia is... the concubine your father—my fourth stepfather—brought in from outside. You are the child of such a woman. Explaining your rootless bloodline is rather complicated. In any case, do you still not understand? Not a single drop of Krauss blood flows through your veins. Therefore, by Territory Law Article 27, in the absence of the family head, the one who holds the right to act as proxy is the legitimate eldest son. That is, me."
Eric's lips began to tremble violently.
"Y-you damn bastard, what kind of nonsense..."
"Eric. As acting family head, I command you. From this moment forward, I strip you of all your positions."