Chapter 39
Margraves were counts who were granted considerable military power to protect the territories that lay on the borders between kingdoms. They were exempt from taxation of the Empire and also had the authority to collect tolls from merchants and travelers who passed through their gates. With the financial resources gained from said tolls, the margraves were able to maintain armies that were disproportionately big compared to the size and economic scale of their territories.
Margrave Orquell was not an exception. He had over two hundred gate defenders and fifty border patrollers at his disposal. Furthermore, he also had the power to raise over five hundred troops in less than a week with a conscription order. He was a powerful governor.
“The battle for the throne is finally here,” Margrave Orquell muttered.
The nobles were all aware of the imminent battle for the throne. It was obvious to most people that sooner or later, the battle between the blood heir Varca Aneu Procana and the regent Duke Harmatti was going to take place.
‘So, the prince is choosing to get the help of the Empire.’
Margrave Orquell kicked his tongue in disproval. He had received a letter two days ago that Prince Varca had gone missing. It was obvious that he would defect to the Empire.
“Even if we’re in a war-free, peaceful era, how can a child with no military commanding experience become the king? It’s absurd.”
Margrave Orquell was a soldier with half of his hair turned white. Back in his young military days, he had fought in the barbarian conquest as well as taking part in the subjugation of the remaining barbarians.
“The king raised his heir to be weak. Does he really think that the world would no longer need fighters? Nonsense.”
Margrave Orquell did not fancy the prince at all. He was a frail, weak prince who had been raised more in the ways of literature than in the art of battle.
‘A king must be strong, like Duke Harmatti.’
His convictions were firm. Since Duke Harmatti was merely the king’s brother, he wasn’t the rightful heir to the throne. However, he was an excellent warrior. The two men had ridden side by side in battles.
“My lord, the border patrol found a group of mercenaries along the borderline,” his adjutant reported. Margrave Orquell was not aware of the fact that the prince was traveling with mercenaries as that information had not yet reached the outskirts of the kingdom.
‘If he wasn’t able to escape by the sea route, he might be traveling among the mercenaries.’
The margrave put on his armor and jumped on his horse. As the horse galloped, the sound of his chainmail followed.
Clop, clop.
The margrave led his cavalry as the soldiers rode in pairs.
“Have any mercenaries passed through the other gates recently?”
There hadn’t been any mercenaries passing through Orquell’s gate. The scribe on another horse pulled out his scroll and checked his records.
“A squad named Urich’s Mercenaries have crossed the gates of Larmang. Their numbers seem to match up with the report from the patrol. There’s a good chance it’s them.”
“Urich’s Brotherhood?” Orquell questioned, and one of his adjutants answered.
“I have heard rumors of them. Apparently, they fought equally against the Silver Lion Mercenaries.”
“If that’s true, then they’re a force to be reckoned with,” the margrave gruntled.
“Heeya!”
The readied cavalries rushed out of the gate with Margrave Orquell in the lead. The margrave and his men had arrived at the mercenary camp before sunrise, just as the sun was beginning to peak out of the horizon.
‘At first glance, it may seem like they are disorganized. But they have their weapons and shields within reach. They’re ready to fight at any given moment,’ the margrave thought to himself as he glanced around the mercenaries in the camp.
“I am Margrave Orquell. Who is your leader?” The margrave said as he tugged on his horse. One of the mercenaries spoke up as he emerged from the group.
“I am the mercenary leader.”
Sven emerged from the group. Based on his rugged outfit and rough accent, he was clearly a barbarian.
‘He’s a barbarian.’
Margrave Orquell looked at his men after scanning Sven.
“I heard that the leader of Urich’s Brotherhood is a barbarian. He seems like the leader,” the adjutant whispered into Orquell’s ear.
“What is the name of your squad?”
“Urich’s Brotherhood, and I am Urich,” Sven said nonchalantly. Some of the mercenaries dropped their heads or pressed down their helmets to hide their uncontainable grin.
“As the one in charge of the gates of Orquell, it is my duty and right to watch and search those who are coming in and out of our kingdom. Do you have a problem with this?”
“No, we don’t,” Sven shrugged as he moved out of the way.
“Search them,” the margrave signaled to his men. Five soldiers with sharp eyes entered the mercenary camp.
“What do you want? Why are you looking at my face? You want me to take my pants off for you or something?”
“Hey, don’t touch me. I’ll cut that hand right off.”
The mercenaries cackled as they were being searched. The soldiers inspected them one by one with expressionless faces as they were used to this sort of crowd as gatekeepers.
Clop, clop.
The margrave circled the parameter of the camp with glaring eyes.
“There is no young man with blue eyes here, my lord.”
“Search the nearby area as well. He could be hiding somewhere.”
The soldiers scattered into the surrounding areas, and the mercenaries yawned as if they were bored.
“We have a long way to go,” Sven said in a dissatisfied tone. Even the margrave couldn’t keep them for much longer without a valid reason.
‘Fifty is too many for us to arrest. This is annoying.’
Margrave Orquell had over a hundred men by his side, including the cavalry. If a battle were to break out, their victory was certain. However, it was also certain that they would suffer a considerable loss to their army.
“Hey, you, look at me,” Orquell said as he suddenly pointed at Phillion.
‘Phillion.’
The mercenaries anxiously exchanged glances.
‘I’m acquainted with the margrave, although it was only a couple of times.’
These were the words of Phillion before their encounter with the margrave.
“This man is a thief, not a mercenary. He got his fingers chopped off after getting caught trying to steal our stuff. He’s now our slave who will be at our service until he kicks the can,” Sven said from the side.
Phillion’s face was covered in dirt. On top of that, he was missing four fingers on his right hand and had an obvious sign of torture on his back. No one could have guessed that he was a knight.
“I see. Then, get that disgusting hand out of my sight,” Orquell said in a repulsed tone after seeing Phillion’s right hand.
“Phew,” Phillion breathed out a sigh of relief as he dropped his head once again. He showed a self-deprecating grin.
‘Who would look at me and believe that I am a knight?’
Orquell circled the parameter once again.
“It looks like the prince is not with them,” his adjutant said, to which the margrave nodded in agreement.
“Hmm?”
As he was about to leave the camp, Orquell tilted his head. He looked at the bottom of a tree that was near the camp.
‘Horse dung that is still wet.’
He saw a pile of horse waste, then looked around the camp once more.
‘There is no horse here.’
A chill brushed the nape of his neck. He called over his adjutant and whispered, “Organize the horsemen into five groups and send them out for a search. It looks like there was a horse here.”
The adjutant nodded, and the horsemen quickly split into groups of ten.
“Should we arrest the mercenaries?”
“No, just let them go. But do send three, or four quick soldiers to tail them and tell them to report where the mercenaries are going.”
Margrave Orquell ordered with authority as he worked his brain to get a sense of the situation at hand.
‘If the prince was among these mercenaries, he probably ran off on a horse at the news that I was coming. Prince Varca may be useless with a sword, but he’s quite a horse enthusiast.’
The margrave stroked his chin as the mercenaries took their camp down after being done with their inspection.
‘Even if we missed the prince here, he’ll join up with these mercenaries eventually...’
Orquell was planning steps ahead.
“Heeya!”
The margrave turned back with ten cavalry soldiers.
“Do they know?” Phillion said as he looked at the withdrawing soldiers.
“Even if they do, it’s already been half a day since the prince left. He won’t get caught.”
“You’re probably right... please be safe, my prince,” Phillion closed his eyes and prayed.
* * *
After getting far enough away from the camp, Urich and Pahell were trying to mount their horse.
“It’s okay, Kylios. Can he get on your back, too?” Pahell softly said to the horse as he brushed its back.
“Alright, here I come,” Urich said as he put his hand on Kylios’ back.
Neighhhh!
Kylios jerked away, startled, almost dropping Pahell in the process.
“Fuck!”
Kylios raised his guard after hearing Urich’s harsh words.
‘He rejects Urich even harder than I thought.’
Even Pahell was puzzled. He thought having Urich on Kylios behind himself would be fine with the horse, but it apparently was not.
“You damn animal!” Urich raged, and Pahell glared at him.
“Stop swearing. That’s part of the reason why he’s rejecting you so hard. Try to cover up some of that ferocious vibe of yours! He sees you as a predator trying to hunt him down, not another person,” Pahell said with a frown.
“This is just the way I look; what do you want me to do? What kind of an animal discriminates people this hard? Hold on... a predator?”
Urich pondered.
“You make your ‘barbarianness’ so obvious. Whatever, just walk for now. We have to get as far away as we can, even if that’s by walking.”
Pahell led his horse while Urich chased after them with a fast walk.
“It’s already morning,” Urich muttered as he looked at the sunrise.
“Urich, in order for you to ride Kylios, you have to do something about that intimidating aura of yours. Wild horses are already sensitive to begin with, and Kylios is a young male on top of that. Hey, are you listening?”
“Yeah, yeah, go on.”
Urich replied with very little care. His eyes had been locked on the horse’s tail for some time now.
“If you really want to ride a horse, you’d be better off buying a horse with a lot of experience carrying men. Those horses seldom reject a person, unlike Kylios.”
“No. I want a horse that’s just like Kylios,” Urich said firmly.
“You don’t like this, you don’t like that, hah, just spend the rest of your life walking on your two feet. After all, a man like you should be on the ground,” Pahell said as he kicked his tongue. Urich aired his words and walked behind Kylios.
Schlup, thud.
Kylios’ butt twitched. Horses defecated as they walked.
“That’s it! Pahell, stop!” Urich shouted as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“Huh? Why? W-what are you doing, are you crazy?” Pahell poured out all the curses he knew as he glanced back at Urich.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m getting ready to ride this horse.”
Urich was slathering himself with horse poop.
“S-stop that!”
“Why would I stop? Hmm, that should do.”
Urich, covered in poop, cautiously walked up to Kylios.
Purr.
It was a different reaction from before. He wasn’t rejecting Urich’s hands as hard as it did until now.
“There’s nothing better than poop for covering up a scent. Why didn’t I think of this before?”
“Don’t even think about sitting behind me like that!”
“What if the chase party catches up to us? A little bit of shit isn’t going to kill you,” Urich said as he slapped the prince’s legs with his shit-stained hand.
“U-ugh, ahhh!” Pahell frowned as he rushed to brush off the poop on his leg.
“My name is Urich, Kylios.”
Urich mounted the horse.
‘Did I do it?’
Urich was prepared to use his falling technique at any moment. The hindlegs of the horse were twitching.
Purr.
Kylios finally breathed out a hot steam from his snout. He had accepted Urich for the first time.
“Woahhh, this is awesome! So, this is the view from up here!” Urich said as he spread his arms. His eyes widened.
‘This feels much better than I anticipated.’
Even though he was only higher by a couple of feet, it felt like his chest had been opened up. His vision was much wider, and even the air felt fresher.
“Nice,” Urich said as Pahell, who was holding the rein, frowned.
“It stinks.”
“Alright then, Young Master, let’s get going!”
Urich grabbed Pahell’s shoulders with his shit-stained hands. Pahell recited Lou’s name as if he had given up on everything.
“Hooooo! We’re going! We’re going!”
Urich exclaimed in excitement as Kylios galloped away.
‘Was this really the best option, Sir Phillion?’
A fly buzzed around their ears.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel