Return of the Kingdom Army
Return of the Kingdom Army
Splash!
Dozens of people rode their horses through the pouring rain.
Armored knights and nobles in luxurious robes were mingled together among them.
At the center of the group, the Second Prince, Duardo, galloped on his horse.
Even as the rain pelted him, he kept glancing back.
He was checking on the city they had just fled.
But the Kingdom's capital was no longer in sight.
The rain was to blame.
The downpour shielded them from their pursuers, but it had also swallowed the capital from view all too quickly.
"Damn it. I knew that bastard was crazy, but I never thought he'd go this far..."
The Second Prince muttered to himself as he rode.
He was venting his rage at the miserable state he'd ended up in.
"Is there really something in the Morena Territory? Both lords ended up dead, so why the hell is he throwing such a fit?"
Despite the rain, his voice carried loudly enough for those around him to hear.
But they all focused on urging their horses forward, pretending not to hear the Prince.
"If I'd known he was such a lunatic, I would've been more careful... If we hadn't been caught off guard like this, we could've settled things here..."
Even after hearing that the battle in the Morena Territory had ended in a pyrrhic victory, with both lords dead, the Second Prince had felt only a slight twinge of regret.
After all, the territorial war had never been intended to achieve any particular outcome. It was merely a way to disrupt the Council and plunge the Kingdom into civil war.
The Second Prince hadn't cared about the outcome of the territorial war. Instead, he'd been drawing up his next plans alongside his strategists and the nobles in his faction.
Yet, absurdly, the First Prince had launched a surprise attack just last night.
The First Prince had ignored the unwritten rule that successors did not fight within the capital and the royal palace, and had completely disregarded the eyes of all the nobles watching the capital.
He had personally led his knights and nobles in a raid on the Second Prince's residence.
The invading First Prince's eyes had been filled with a strange, consuming rage.
Whenever he had that look in his eyes, he was completely beyond reason.
As expected, the First Prince had slaughtered every knight who stood in his way, forcing the Second Prince to flee with his subordinates while the remaining knights held the First Prince back.
There was no denying that the First Prince's actions had tarnished the honor of the royal family and dragged the civil war into a muddy brawl.
It was bound to remain a glaring weakness, even if he claimed the throne later on.
Yet, because of that absurd stunt, the Second Prince himself had been forced to flee the capital in such a pathetic manner.
If only he'd anticipated this, he could have used the honor of the royal family as leverage to settle things once and for all...
Though the First Prince had acted through sheer brute force, now that the Second Prince had lost the capital, reversing the situation would not be easy.
"I haven't lost yet. My influence and soldiers are still intact. The capital guard has been contacted, so they'll all flee the capital soon. Once we regroup, we can turn the tide."
It was a hopeful thought, but not entirely unfounded.
That was how reckless the First Prince's actions had been.
The Second Prince continued to plan his next moves as he rode through the rain, but a few days later, he was struck by another shock.
He received news that the Kingdom Army, one of the cornerstones of his power, had suffered a crushing defeat.
"...And so, the Second Prince reportedly left the capital with a few companions and headed west."
The day after the Second Prince's forces left the fortress, we heard about his situation from Lesty.
While the Count, the Princess, the senior knights, and I, her escort knight, were gathered to plan our next moves, Lesty came to see us.
Lesty claimed he'd learned this through the mercenaries' information network, but I knew he'd actually heard the news from the followers of the Celine Cult.
"A significant number of the territories aligned with the Second Prince are in the western part of the Kingdom. And since the parts of the Kingdom Army that remain intact are also in the west, it seems he intends to gather his strength there."
Count Bador seemed skeptical of Lesty's report.
At the news that a battle had broken out in the capital, the Count couldn't help but ask—even though he knew Lesty was part of my group.
"Is that truly reliable information?"
I answered the Count's question in Lesty's place.
"He has a highly reliable source of information. We received help from them frequently back in the capital, too."
At my response, the Count shook his head and stepped back.
It was hard to believe, but since I'd vouched for it, he had no choice but to accept it.
Lesty bowed to me and continued his report.
"The First Prince has completely seized control of the capital. With the capital guard having fled, he is using the Royal Knights to maintain public order."
At that moment, the Princess, who had been listening in silence, spoke up.
"...What about the royal palace? Is Mother safe...?"
"Yes. The royal palace is reportedly being guarded by the Commander of the Royal Knights. Perhaps wishing to avoid a clash with the Commander, the First Prince's side is keeping clear of the palace as well."
At Lesty's words, the Princess let out a sigh of relief.
I felt relieved, too.
Who would've thought that drawing out the Commander of the Royal Knights would lead to such a result?
If not for the Commander, we might have had to rush to the capital immediately to rescue the Queen.
Lesty left the room as soon as he'd told us about the Second Prince and the capital.
The meeting room fell silent.
Everyone needed time to process the sudden news.
In the quiet room, the Count's voice broke the silence.
With his eyes closed and his arms crossed, he muttered in a low voice.
"The First Prince is in the capital, the Second Prince is in the west, the Duchy is positioned in the north, and the Princess is in the east..."
Thinking about it, the Kingdom was now effectively split into four factions, just as the Count had said.
It was only a small kingdom compared to the Empire, and yet it was being torn to shreds under the guise of a civil war.
If the First King—or rather, the late King, who had died not long ago—were to find out, there was no telling how utterly dumbfounded he would be.
While everyone else was worrying about the future, I was preoccupied with a different concern.
The First Prince's reaction had differed from what I expected.
Who would've thought he'd fly into such a rage over Viscount Morena's death?
I'd thought everything would be fine as long as Ivana was alive.
Yet, judging by the First Prince's reaction, it almost seemed as though Viscount Morena was more important to him than Ivana.
The First Prince's actions were completely unpredictable.
The Second Prince's pathetic flight from the capital was also entirely due to the First Prince's absurd behavior.
It seemed that when I eventually had to face the First Prince, I'd have to abandon any notion of fighting a normal opponent.
As I was lost in these thoughts, the Princess's voice drifted over from beside me.
"Then, can we assume this fortress is safe now?"
It was a question directed at the Count.
The Count immediately understood what the Princess meant.
He nodded at once.
"Yes. Since the Second Prince has fled to the west, there's no way he'll attack us before dealing with the First Prince."
He needed to rebuild his power base, and his anger would be directed far more toward the First Prince. The Second Prince would hardly have the luxury of worrying about this fortress.
Next, the Count declared that their task was complete.
"Yes, we're safe now. I'm grateful to the Princess and everyone who helped us."
There was no telling how long we would remain unattacked, but it was difficult to secure any greater guarantee of safety than this in the midst of a civil war.
Just as the Count had said, we'd done everything we could here.
With our work done, it was time to return.
"Then, we'll be on our way soon."
At the Princess's words, the Count asked again.
"Are you heading straight back to the Gracia Dukedom?"
"We won't go straight back. I plan to stop by other territories along the way and encourage them to join us."
Even though the outcome was favorable, we couldn't simply return empty-handed after bringing the order of knights all this way.
On our way back, we had to win over the territories that had declared neutrality and perhaps even make a show of force to those aligned with the other side.
He nodded at the Princess's words and stood up from his seat.
"Then let us go together. The Kingdom Army must defend the fortress, but there's no rule that says the lord has to stay glued to it, too."
When he said that, we all looked up at him as he stood.
"You defended our fortress, so I can't just let you leave like this. I can't move the army, but I can certainly help you myself."
The Count was a much better man than I'd thought.
Everyone was bewildered by this unexpected offer of help.
"Fortunately, I'm a fairly trusted noble in this region, so my words should carry some weight."
That was only natural.
There wasn't a noble who didn't know of the Count, who guarded Soroka Fortress with the sole determination to protect the Kingdom.
If he stepped forward, it would undoubtedly have a far greater effect than threatening them with a massive army.
"On top of that, there are quite a few Kingdom Army units stationed in small barracks nearby. Since the Second Prince's forces have retreated to the west, their commanders will have vanished, which means we can absorb them. Their numbers are substantial, so they'll be of great help to you."
The Count's next words were like gifts falling from the heavens.
We stared blankly at the Count as he bowed to the Princess and left the room first.
Before stepping out, he flashed me a grin.
"And I must repay the debt I owe you from last time."
Just what debt was he talking about...?
Was he referring to my dealing with the monsters?
Or was it about taking care of the Empire's fortress and knights? Or perhaps knocking some sense into his son?
Come to think of it, I had done quite a lot.
If the Count was stepping forward because of me, I felt I could accept it with gratitude.
The next day, we decided to leave the fortress.
With the siege lifted, merchants were once again bustling in and out of the fortress. After purchasing the supplies we needed, we mounted our horses.
We could have simply departed, but we decided to hold a parade through the fortress city before leaving.
It was meant to lift the spirits of the fortress's people.
The mood in the fortress wasn't bad at the moment, to be sure.
Having fought monsters all this time, the people of the fortress were accustomed to death, and the fervor of victory still lingered.
But many had died in battle, and quite a lot of people were wounded.
It was certain that, as time passed, the atmosphere would grow somber.
Since we were receiving help from the Count, this small gesture was the least we could do.
Everyone set out on the road clad in meticulously polished armor.
Gleaming armor and swords. Showers of flower petals.
Soldiers and residents waving their hands at us.
The order of knights would likely never forget this scene.
Thus, we departed the fortress amid the cheers of the crowd.
Afterward, we swept through the territories as we made our way south.
During that time, with Count Bador's help, we secured promises of alliance from several territories and extracted pledges of neutrality from those that had sided with the opposition.
Things didn't all go smoothly, though.
There were times when we faced off against the knight orders of resistant lords, and times when we engaged in duels between knights.
Even in friendly territories, sparring matches were common, and I found myself stepping forward on numerous occasions.
Unsurprisingly, my reputation continued to soar.
Though it was limited to the northeastern part of the Kingdom, within a month I had become a fairly famous knight.
And then, a month later.
We returned to the Gracia Dukedom.
On the day we returned to the Gracia Territory, emergency bells rang out across the entire city.
The guards, startled when they saw us, sounded the alarm.
Understandably so; no guard would fail to sound an alarm when an army of nearly a thousand soldiers suddenly appeared before the city.
And those thousand soldiers were the scattered remnants of the Kingdom Army from various places, just as the Count had mentioned.
As we traveled around the eastern part of the Kingdom gathering the remaining forces, we had ended up with such a massive army.
We had set out with only dozens of knights, but we returned as a grand army.
While the order of knights belonged to the Duke of Gracia, this army of a thousand soldiers belonged to the Princess.