Chapter 221: Feed Them False Information
Baron Valent was a man acutely sensitive to his own interests, and he’d been the ringleader among the local nobles who demanded a share when I captured Count Épinay. There was no love lost between us, obviously.
Back then I’d been a no-name duchy knight, but the me of today was vastly different from the me of back then. I had the favor of the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince, I was the Lord of Feuzen, and I was the Commander of the Gale Knights.
Not the kind of credentials you pick a fight with.
Unless you were a prince, no nobleman could look down on me.
Hmm, I should pray that I find Baron Valent on the battlefield.
Funny how I’d been praying more often lately, despite having no faith.
I should just think of it as a kind of calming ritual. The operator who created this world and gave me the system was basically a god anyway, so it wasn’t even inaccurate.
"Baron Valent will undoubtedly demand compensation. If the Count of Basel pays up properly, there won’t be an issue, but as you said, Basel and Euz are far apart."
"And second, the enemy still doesn’t know we exist."
That was our biggest advantage. Öderlen had noticed our presence, but they wouldn’t go out of their way to risk informing an outside noble like the Count of Basel, nor did they have the means to.
"But if the scouting party doesn’t return, there’s a good chance they’ll figure out we’re here."
"Good point. Then we just feed them false information."
I looked at the scout. Everyone’s gaze followed mine. The scout flinched, startled by the sudden attention. Viktor finally caught on to what I had in mind.
"This scout reports that his party wasn’t taken out by us, but by Saxon or Scottish mercenaries. Regardless of the reason, our presence stays hidden."
"Vice Commander Falkenheim, the question is whether we can trust this man. If he reveals our presence..."
"No! I’ll help you! Please, let me help!"
The instant Fiel voiced his concern, the scout sprang to his feet like a fish flopping out of water, burning with fiery resolve. His eyes practically blazed. The destruction of Ladwig had given him a grudge to fuel that fire.
Through the Scouter, I could confirm his sincerity.
The scout’s sudden outburst left Fiel momentarily stunned.
"I’ll go back and report that mercenaries ambushed us. And besides me, there are quite a few soldiers from Ladwig and Leben in their ranks. Let me stir them up and shake things up from the inside!"
"Isn’t that a bit risky? All we’re after is some misinformation."
"My lord! Do you know how it feels to lose your homeland? I want to tear apart the incompetent Geerhilt bastards and those southern scum who dragged us into this war!"
Our side was the one that started the war, though.
The scout made an impassioned plea, begging to help.
Neither Fiel nor Viktor could argue. The lieutenants, who’d been silent until now, voiced their approval, saying it wasn’t a bad plan. The Essenbach dragoons even whispered, asking him to tell them where the enemy’s remaining supplies were.
I can hear you, jackass.
"Fine. If you’re willing to cooperate this much, I can’t leave you without compensation. If we capture supplies, I’ll send them to Ladwig and Leben."
"The starving people of my hometown will finally have hope. Thank you!"
"My lord, you can’t just decide that on your own...!"
"I’ll compensate you some other way, so shut it."
I looked daggers and barked at him, and the chastened dragoon quickly clamped his mouth shut. The other cavalrymen snickered at him. Honestly, those guys had zero tact. It was infuriating.
If I ever ended up hiring Essenbach mercenaries again, I’d eat my hat. I’d rather pay a premium for Swiss mercenaries with their guaranteed reliability. A thousand times better.
The irony that they were currently my enemy wasn’t lost on me.
Before sending the scout off, I made sure to give him one last warning.
"Remember this above all else. Never forget that every group has its Judas."
"Judas... Surely no one would sell out their own people?"
"Naive. There are more of them than you can count. So choose your people carefully."
All I could do was hope he’d remember my warning. Even if he got exposed, by that point we’d have bought plenty of time. Sending the scout back was just a ploy to buy time, nothing more.
Judas was one of the twelve disciples, and the one who betrayed Jesus.
In the Christian world, the mere mention of that name said it all. Though Judas was actually a beautiful name, meaning "praise God." But it ended up like the name Benedict Arnold.
"So which direction do we move now?"
The enemy forces were advancing toward the Meriant Plain, so we needed to take a different route.
The Meriant Plain was where the Burgundian army, led by Count Épinay, had set up camp after occupying the area. It was also where Épinay and Euz had clashed on the southern plains. It was the only flatland in Euz, a region full of mountains.
Hmm, Meriant might actually be the best staging point for an attack on Euz.
"We need to move somewhere we won’t be seen."
"...Back into the woods again?"
The northern region of Beren was mountainous, making it perfect for heavy cavalry to stay hidden. That’s why I’d shaped the Gale Knights into mountain cavalry. We still had plenty of shortcomings, but we held a clear advantage over the enemy.
The cavalrymen outside the Gale Knights grumbled, but they fell in line. And so we alternated between camping and marching through the forest. Since no pursuit force came looking for us, I concluded the scout had succeeded.
Whether the agitation efforts would pan out was a separate question.
In any case, days without bathing had left us looking absolutely filthy. For someone like me who always kept himself groomed, it was truly agonizing. If Hilda saw me now, she’d faint.
"Anton, can you figure out where this forest is?"
"I think it’s somewhere in the southern forests of Euz?"
Even Anton, a native of Euz, couldn’t pinpoint a location just by looking at the trees. When we asked the Euz cavalrymen, they disagreed among themselves. In other words, we were lost.
We needed to get to Meriant, but where the hell were we?
Now I understood why the Besançon soldiers, who’d come as Épinay’s reinforcements, had gotten lost and ended up heading toward Feuzen. The forests were ridiculously dense and ridiculously vast.
"Hm? Halt!"
Then, suddenly, I spotted an enemy force. According to the identification data on the Commander Scouter, it was the cavalry force of Baron Valent, the very man I’d been dying to find. Unbelievable! This was destiny!
Enemy cavalry in the forest meant an ambush.
Not an ambush for us, of course.
"Enemy spotted. I can practically smell them."
"...Smell, sir?"
Not your smell, boy.
And stop sniffing yourself!
Anton, feeling my stare, turned his head away sheepishly.
Anyway, I sent Viktor and the scouting party in the direction I’d indicated.
I was trying not to smell my own sweat-soaked body either. Back in my previous life, I’d never noticed, but after entering this body, I discovered what stench truly meant for the first time. It was beyond anything I could have imagined.
It was also why I’d tormented Bodo with my obsession over baths.
Now I understood why perfume was so prized.
After the debauched public bathhouses were blamed as the source of the Black Death, people had stopped bathing properly. Some went a month without washing, and others only bathed once every few months.
That’s exactly why I forced at least my retainers to bathe regularly.
Thankfully, Hilda was just as sensitive to smells as I was and had a habit of bathing frequently. Because of that, she always smelled wonderful. That distinctive scent of roses was lovely. It made every day with her a pleasure.
Anyway, Viktor confirmed a force of roughly 100 enemy cavalry and their crest, then returned. Just as expected, it was the crest of House Valent. Once Baron Valent’s identity was confirmed, the Euz cavalrymen and Fiel could barely contain their fighting spirit.
I felt the same way.
I was going to crush them like they owed me 10 gold coins.
