Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The Fall of Streve Fortress (2)
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Count Redelmo met Emperor Yuno's gaze with a dignified posture as he stated his demands.
"First. Have Your Highness strike off my head here. I've spent my entire life defending this Streve, so it's only fitting that I die here. And if possible, I wish to fall to the one who breached my defenses."
"...By the book, a captured enemy commander should be publicly executed in the imperial capital, Adria... But that request... I shall grant it."
"Second, take Lady Cordelia here as Your Highness's knight. Even if she survives as a prisoner... no one would accept a commoner knight who lost her lord in defeat... I don't want to leave the girl I've thought of as my own daughter to such a fate."
"My lord!! Anything but that!! How can you ask me to swear loyalty to the man who kills you!! I absolutely refuse!! My lord!!!"
Cordelia protested desperately, but Count Redelmo locked eyes with Yuno and nodded. Yuno, too, nodded in respect to the man's resolute determination.
"Very well! A commoner with no entry in Theseito's noble registry won't cause any issues."
"Shut your mouth!! Do you think I'd swear loyalty to a filthy Valkan prince?! I'd sooner take my own life!!"
"Cordelia!!"
Count Redelmo's sharp command made Cordelia flinch.
"You're like a daughter to me... No, I've always thought of you as my daughter... So don't say such things about dying in front of your father."
"My lord.... No, Father.... Sob sob sob, no!! How can you say something so cruel, asking me to swear loyalty to the man who kills you!! I'd rather live and die as a wandering knight!! Or even as a mere mercenary!! Please... sob sob sob."
"I know your talents well. You're a child with far greater gifts than this father of yours. I can't let a father's pride allow such talent to rot away.... So grant this dying father's final request, my daughter..."
"Sob sob sob sob, Father..."
"Cough cough... It's my dying wish... Promise me you'll honor your father's request."
Whether an arrow had pierced his lung, Count Redelmo gasped for breath and spat blood as he spoke to Cordelia.
"Sob sob sob... I promise... I'll do as Father says. I'll become that damned prince's knight! I'll live as a knight of damned Valkan!! Are you satisfied now? Sob sob sob sob."
Once Cordelia made her promise, Count Redelmo finally allowed a faint smile. He turned his gaze back to Yuno and continued.
"Thank you for granting this old man's final request. It's hardly payment in kind, but allow me one piece of advice. In war... especially in all-out battles... don't hold yourself back. If Your Highness had led from the front in this fight, the soldiers' sacrifices would have been far fewer. My calculations never accounted for a freak like you, so it was inevitable. Never undervalue your soldiers' lives."
"I appreciate the advice. I shall heed it well. Now then..."
Yuno drew the sword given to him as vice-commander of the expeditionary force from his belt.
Count Redelmo bared his neck and bowed his head.
"Ah... No!! Wait!!"
As Yuno raised his sword high, Cordelia threw herself in front of it.
"Let him say his final words!!"
"Say it quickly! If Crown Prince Franz arrives, we'll have to escort the count to the capital..."
Sensing Crown Prince Franz's aura drawing ever closer from afar, Yuno urged Cordelia on.
"I love you, Father!! I'll remember you forever!! Sob sob sob sob."
Cordelia planted a tear-soaked kiss on Count Redelmo's cheek, then rose and nodded to Yuno.
Count Redelmo gave Yuno a final gesture of thanks and bowed his head once more. Yuno's sword, cloaked in sword aura, sliced cleanly through the count's neck, sending his head tumbling to the floor.
"...I used sword aura to strike, so... you felt no pain."
"...Thank you for your consideration... And..."
Tears streaming down her face, Cordelia thanked Yuno and prostrated herself before him.
"Mid-level knight Cordelia swears her loyalty to the third prince of the Valkan Empire! Until the day I die, my sword shall smite your enemies, and my shield shall guard you."
Yuno accepted her oath of loyalty by tapping each of her shoulders once with his sword, dubbing her his knight.
"I swore loyalty on my father's orders, so as a knight, I'll obey Prince's commands.... But you can never earn my true loyalty from the heart!!"
Her eyes brimmed with resentment toward Yuno, who had beheaded the man she saw as both her lord and father.
"Sigh.... Understood. Well, I've taken you as a knight, so I suppose I have to look after you. Discard everything symbolizing Theseito forces and follow me. Stick close behind me, and there won't be issues, but to avoid trouble from wandering, stay in my tent for now."
"As my lord commands."
Yuno stepped outside, tore down a wooden wall to makeshift a coffin, then fetched an imperial uniform from the soldiers setting up camp inside the fortress. He returned, handed the uniform to Cordelia, and placed the count's body and head inside the coffin.
Cordelia stripped off her Theseito insignia and uniform, changed into the imperial garb Yuno brought, and followed him out.
Not long after, with Crown Prince Franz and his vanguard arriving, Yuno announced Count Redelmo's execution and displayed the body and head.
"Well done, Yuno! You've earned tremendous merit in this expedition!! Though it would've been better to capture him alive... I can just picture Father's joy at seeing him executed."
"My apologies, brother. His resistance was fierce; I had no choice but to kill him."
"Nonsense!! Without you, seizing Streve would've failed. Better dead than escaped!! Indeed!"
Cordelia flashed killing intent at the crown prince's talk of execution, but Yuno subtly nudged her foot to restrain her, and she regained her composure, suppressing her murderous urge.
'Ugh... I have to endure, Cordelia... You're going to live as a Valkan citizen from now on... Sob sob, Father, why give me such a trial.... Sob sob sob.'
With Count Redelmo's head hung from the walls, Streve's defenders despaired and quietly headed to the prisoner camps.
There was no prisoner abuse this time.
The 11th Legion had been annihilated, and losses in the other legions were severe, so Yuno judged further advance impossible. He suggested to the crown prince, "If we offer to exchange the Streve salient for 4,000 prisoners, Theseito will accept." The crown prince agreed, strictly forbade prisoner mistreatment, and sent Theseito a diplomatic missive proposing a truce.
A day later, a large force of cavalry and infantry assembled before Streve Fortress.
Tiruen Duke, leading them, saw Valkan's banners atop Streve and gave a wry smile.
"Damn! Who'd have thought Count Redelmo would fall so soon!! I should've crushed the southern imperial forces and come straight here. I was a fool... Damn it!!"
"Who could've predicted Streve's iron walls would fall in just a month? It's not Your Grace's fault."
"Tch... With our cavalry-heavy force, retaking Streve now is impossible. Whoever's in there repaired it lightning-fast."
"Indeed. I agree we should withdraw."
The 5th Legion's engineers swiftly repaired the siege-damaged fortress, replacing the shattered gates in under a day—a testament to their mastery. Thus, Tiruen Duke, leading Theseito's reinforcements, could only sigh in regret.
"Well... Can't leave empty-handed, so let's at least say hello to those imperial bastards."
As Tiruen Duke charged forward on horseback, the tense imperial soldiers relaxed, assuming him an envoy.
But the duke they mistook for a messenger raised his sword and unleashed a massive sword aura at the soldiers atop the walls.
Booom!
The soldiers instinctively shrank back, sensing death, but a brilliant blue light flashed from Streve's walls, followed by a huge explosion that erased Tiruen's sword aura without a trace.
"Oh? They blocked my sword aura? That third prince who just became a Swordmaster?"
"Phew~ Whoever it was, that sword aura's nearly at Master's level? Thrilling, huh? Heh heh heh."
Tiruen and Yuno faced each other across the walls, sharing their first encounter as future bitter rivals.
"Can't fight to the death here, so time to withdraw. For a prince barely come of age to block my sword aura... Truly Valkan... No pushover."
Yet schemes to upend Valkan already brewed in Tiruen's mind, slowly coming to fruition.
"Hope we meet on the battlefield, Prince Yuno... Heh heh heh."
With those parting words to himself, Tiruen and Theseito's relief force withdrew south.
The diplomatic agreement exchanging 4,000 prisoners for the Streve salient reached Theseito's palace and was approved by the king and Tiruen Duke, concluding the Battle of Streve Fortress as a total imperial victory.
The 5th Legion remained to garrison Streve, the 1st and 4th Legions returned to bases, and the 10th Legion marched to the capital.
Finally, Crown Prince Franz, Yuno, and the legion commanders teleported back to the capital with minimal escorts.
"Aaaah~~ No more choking on that damn dirt smell, brother."
"Hahaha, truly. Let's hurry to see His Imperial Majesty. I hear he's been eagerly awaiting our triumphant return since the victory report."
They boarded a carriage waiting at the capital's outer teleportation circle, escorted by the Imperial Guard Knights, and returned to the palace.
"Yunoooo~~"
"Big brooo~~"
"Yuno!! You rascal~~~"
As they entered the palace's main gate, Isabella, Marie, Eliza, and Katrin mobbed Yuno with hugs, leaving him dazed until the crown prince's urging helped him pry them off.
"Sorry. Gotta meet brother and His Majesty now, so later, okay? All of you?"
"Tch... We've been pining for three months straight.... He doesn't miss us at all."
"And who's she? The woman behind big bro?"
"Ah! My new personal guard knight. Cordelia. Someone'll show you—rest in my palace."
"Understood, Your Highness!"
The four women eyed Yuno suspiciously with narrowed gazes, but with nothing to hide, he stood tall.
Cordelia and the four followed a servant to Yuno's palace, while Yuno headed to the throne room with Franz.
Yuno gazed at the beaming emperor and the empress watching him with a wistful smile, then bowed alongside the crown prince from behind him.