50
My Villains Chapter 50
14. Berserker (1)
His name was 'Albi'.
He didn't know why he had such a cute name. Because he had no parents or siblings.
The first scene of life he remembered began with being beaten up by an angry merchant for stealing food.
After that, he made a living by begging or pickpocketing, and before he knew it, he had become a member of a gang of thieves.
The turning point in Albi's life was his encounter with an injured wandering knight.
His gang salivated at the sight of the wandering knight's armor as he groaned for help. The impatient thieves, blinded by greed, pounced on the wandering knight.
And surprisingly, they were all slaughtered by the dying wandering knight.
Albi, who had been watching this scene, sat under an oak tree to avoid the scorching sun.
And when the cursing shouts subsided, he approached the fallen wandering knight and stabbed him in the neck. From that day on, Albi became a wandering knight.
Even after that, Albi continued to focus on thievery.
The difference from before was that he no longer needed to act as a subordinate.
Albi learned horseback riding and martial arts to impersonate a wandering knight. As his gang grew larger, Albi's knight impersonation became more convincing.
As Albi's skills improved, his notoriety grew, and his gang expanded even more.
By the time the number of thieves he led exceeded a thousand, Albi realized that the status of 'wandering knight' no longer suited him.
So, he made himself a nobleman and appointed his subordinates as knights.
Thus, 'Baron Albienne' and his band of horse thieves were born.
In the middle of a low-growing reed field, numerous horses and men had set up camp.
In the center of the camp, there was a flat boulder, and a heavily armed man was sitting on it.
He was wearing black-painted plate armor, so at first glance, he looked like a knight.
The heavily armed man, self-proclaimed 'Baron Albienne', frowned with his arms crossed.
"The prince himself?"
"Yes, my lord. About a dozen cavalry have been lurking by the riverside since dusk, looking like they're about to cross over here at any moment."
"Hmm. Is that so."
As Albienne stroked his chin in thought, the raid leaders standing around him raised their voices.
"It seems they're determined to break through the encirclement, we must stop them at all costs."
"There might be people from South Harbor trying to respond, my lord."
"It's not even twenty men, why don't we lure them into the forest and finish them off?"
Although their tone was somewhat polite as they pretended to be knights, the baron sneered and dismissed his subordinates' opinions.
"Hmph, you fools are quite stupid. Is that all your heads can come up with? If they were going to cross the river, they wouldn't waste time but seize the opportunity and cross in one go."
"Then..."
"It's obviously a trick. They're trying to focus our attention on the prince and then break through somewhere else."
Seeing his subordinates close their mouths with puzzled expressions, the baron clicked his tongue.
'To think I have such ignorant bastards as subordinates. I should hurry and settle in a territory to replace them all.'
"Sir Aldo! Send word to those pirate bastards. They might be targeting the seaside."
"Yes, my lord."
"Sir Pageno! Patrol around the tunnel. They might divert our attention to the east and slip into the tunnel."
Pageno, who received the order, grumbled and expressed doubt.
"Haven't we already sent men to the tunnel? I don't think it's necessary for me to go there too, my lord."
At this, the baron's face contorted in anger, and he snarled, "I mean if you see anyone lurking around, chase after them and catch them, you blockhead. Get moving before I gouge your eyes out!"
At the baron's roar, Pageno swallowed his curses and hurriedly moved his feet.
In the midst of discussing countermeasures, a messenger arrived before the baron.
"What now?"
"They've crossed over!"
The baron's eyes widened in surprise as his prediction that they would just linger by the riverside and waste time proved wrong.
"W-what? How?"
"They rained arrows from across the river and the cavalry crossed the river in an instant!"
"Arrows? Did they bring infantry too?"
"It seems so!"
Upon receiving the report, the baron was furious.
Secondly to his prediction being wrong, one of the raid leaders standing around him had sneered.
"You son of a bitch!"
The baron shouted and picked up the huge weapon he had leaned against the rock. It was a flanged mace with several metal pieces attached to the head.
Before the knights could react, the baron lifted the mace with both hands and brought it down in one swift motion.
Crack!
The raid leader who had been secretly sneering didn't even have time for a death cry before his head was shattered to pieces.
As white brain matter, burst eyeballs, and crushed bones mixed with blood splattered everywhere, the raid leaders froze in unison. The baron looked around at them and shouted again.
"What are you standing there for, you dimwits! Gather all the troops!"
As the raid leaders, their faces turned pale, ran off in all directions, Baron Albienne ground his teeth, seething with anger.
The days in May were unusually long on the southern coast.
Even after the group had left the camp after having a full dinner and reached the northwest coast, the sea was still tinged with red.
Although they were worried about being spotted by the horse thieves moving through the forest, the low cliffs spread along the coast concealed the beach.
The beach, with a mix of round pebbles and fine sand, presented quite a nice scenery.
However, among the nine members of the group sitting on the rocks, only Mr. Luke and I seemed to have the leisure to look around.
"The sun is finally setting."
The man who sighed softly along with these words was Randel, the heavy cavalryman who had given me a ride yesterday.
As the prince's personal guard, he was facing the sunset in light attire, wearing only leather armor.
"We should start moving soon."
"Yeah, we should."
As I got up, brushing off my bottom, leaving Randel nodding with a dissatisfied expression behind, the rest of the group also began to move.
Two scouts who came along as guides, two of the prince's personal guards to deliver the prince's letter, Grania with her brown hair tightly bound as she had lost her helmet, Arnal with her bow strung across her back, Mr. Luke with his sleeves rolled up, and myself all clung to a small wooden boat.
As eight strong men left long traces on the white sand beach while pushing the boat, Ellen, who had been walking leisurely, was startled by the unexpectedly fast pace and quickened her steps.
Suddenly, why a boat, you ask?
I don't know either, damn it. This didn't happen in the game.
According to the original scenario, 'Arrogant Sir Liam' was supposed to devise the strategy.
It was a dangerous but simple operation where as the army moved through the secret passage to the west, the player would take advantage of the loosened encirclement to break through at full force and return to South Harbor.
But perhaps because the scenario got a bit twisted, in reality Prince Ulkar took the lead in devising the strategy.
As a result, the operation became a bit more complicated and much bolder.
According to the prince's understanding, although the pirates and the horse thieves were cooperating, they weren't particularly well-coordinated.
The evidence was that despite occupying both the sea outside the bay and the vast reed fields, they hadn't carried out any notable joint operations so far.
So the prince considered the beach and the coastal waters to be the biggest weakness in the encirclement surrounding South Harbor.
That's why he designated us nine as Plan B and ordered us to enter South Harbor along the beach.
So what's Plan A?
It's a frontal breakthrough.
The horse thieves suffered over a hundred casualties in last night's pursuit on the plains. The defense line along the Salt River must have weakened accordingly, so the plan was to break through it head-on. That was Plan A.
It's a strategy where if we draw the attention of the horse thieves, the chances of success for the frontal attack increase, and if the frontal attack draws attention, our chances of success increase.
If the frontal breakthrough fails, regardless of our success or failure, the prince said he would implement 'Plan A-2'... Surely he won't actually do it? That was a truly insane idea.
As we reached the shore and the water rose to our knees, I looked around and gestured with my chin.
"Everyone get on quickly! I'll push."
As I watched the soldiers and companions board the boat, I suddenly turned around and...
"Phoenix, help me."
"...What are you doing?"
"Hurry. My shoes are torn, I told you."
Ellen, standing on the beach, said this while stretching out both hands to me.
I was dumbfounded by her audacious attitude, but not wanting to waste time, I quickly picked her up and put her on the boat.
"Alright, let's go."
Although angry waves rushed in with the rising tide, I dug my feet firmly into the bottom and rather increased speed.
It wasn't until the water reached my solar plexus that I finally grabbed Arnal's hand and boarded the boat.
While wringing out the leather clothes hanging under my breastplate, I asked the young man, no, the boy in front of me.
"The waves are strong, are you sure this is okay?"
"Well, yeah. We might have to, *ugh* go further, than planned."
The one answering while rowing hard was a young scout named 'Ivo'.
He was a skinny guy with a tall, lanky build, and the acne all over his face suggested he was around Ellen's age or at most a year or two older.
"It would be troublesome if we're spotted by those pirate bastards. Wouldn't it be better to run along the beach?"
"Uh, well-"
Ivo hesitated for a moment, glancing sideways at the other scout, then shrugged.
"To be honest, I'm not sure. Mr. Romet probably has a plan."
"Hmm, is that so?"
It doesn't really seem like it though.
Romet, the experienced scout, was sitting at the bow, looking out towards the sea. Frowning and scratching his grizzled beard, it seemed that even with his over 20 years of experience, he didn't have any particular solution.
In the end, the boat moved diagonally southward, taking waves on its starboard side.
Grania and three soldiers were rowing hard, but due to the strong waves, they weren't making much headway.
Seeing that uneasy sight, piebald, whom I had left behind at the camp, flashed before my eyes.
It would be really exciting to ride a horse along the beach.
The servants who manage the horses said that with proper training, piebald could become a decent warhorse. While not quite up to the level of knights' chargers, it apparently had quite a good build.
I'm newly worried as I recall piebald getting hit by an arrow in the rump. Will the servants take good care of it? I heard even the cheapest warhorse costs at least fifty gold coins...
Ah, I'm not saying this because of the money. It's natural to be worried about a comrade with whom I briefly overcame a life-threatening crisis, right?
Of course, it's a comrade I would sell if given enough gold coins, but-
Splash!
"Eek!"
Ellen's shrill scream interrupted my wandering thoughts.
Soaked from head to toe due to a large wave hitting the side of the boat, she was trembling alone, unable to find anyone to vent her anger on.
And the way she was glancing at me, she was giving off an aura of 'Say one word. I'll throw an absolute fit.'
Of course, I'm not going to keep my mouth shut because of mere atmosphere.
"I knew this would happen when you made a fuss about not wanting to get your feet wet. Serves you right, you brat."
"You, you stupid fool-"
Ellen, who had been grumbling, glared fiercely at Arnal, who was chuckling gleefully.
Arnal, who had been leaning her arms on the railing, quickly shut her mouth and pretended to be occupied elsewhere, while Ellen huffed for a moment before abruptly turning her head away.