Chapter 253: Chrysos
I extended the halberd, not a longsword.
It was the Pflug, the most basic stance in halberd technique.
"Aaaaaargh!"
When things didn’t go his way, the despairing escort captain charged. I had been measuring the distance, and in one motion I deflected his longsword, then hooked the spike onto his helmet and toppled him in a single stroke.
Thunk!
As he tried to rise and resist, I rotated the halberd diagonally over his head and brought it down with crushing force. It was the Zornhau of halberd technique.
Thanks to his helmet he wasn’t reduced to pulp, but the heavy blow to his head was more than enough to knock the escort captain unconscious. In the end, the escort unit’s final resistance crumbled to nothing.
[Gale Knight IX Quest Complete]
[5,000 points, 5 gold coins awarded]
[Item awarded: Artillery Firepower 200% Increase (one-time)]
[Prestige 100 points (2,450 points)]
==
[Halberd Technique Manual]
[Stage 1 Training Quest Complete]
[500 points, 500 copper coins awarded]
===
[Stage 2 Training Quest begun]
[Master 4 attack techniques (Scheitelhau-Zornhau-Mittelhau-Unterhau)]
[Proficiency 0/100]
[Basic stance correction]
[Reward - 1,000 points, 1 silver coin]
[E-Rank Warrior (Stamina +30%, Strength +30%)]
I achieved three things at once.
Hm, this refreshing feeling is wonderful.
"Sir Streit! If you are truly a noble, then protect me and my daughters!"
The noblewoman, shielding the young ladies, cried out to me as I approached. According to the Manager Scouter, she was the wife of the Count of Baschurten. She was no great beauty, but she didn’t cower before me.
Maybe it was because she had a temperament similar to Hilda’s, but I didn’t want to treat her roughly.
"I give you my word. Quietly follow my orders."
"Haah, thank you. You are a model of knighthood, my lord."
She seemed genuinely relieved.
No matter how high the rank of a noblewoman or young lady, if she caught the eye of mercenaries crazed with bloodlust, she’d be gang-raped in no time. You couldn’t expect those brutes to have the judgment to recognize someone’s status.
The brother of the Count of Baschurten, trembling with humiliation, glared at me venomously. Ignoring the household head’s command and seizing control of the family on his own was tantamount to breaking a sacred taboo.
Most nobles would brand such a man a traitor to his house and ensure his ruin within noble society. Because it was no outsider’s affair; it was like being stabbed in the back by one’s own kin.
"Have you the gall to look the Count of Baschurten in the eye?"
"..."
"This man has broken a taboo. Bind him with rope."
"You wretch! I am a noble of a princely house!"
Thunk!
I struck the struggling Geerhilt scoundrel with the pommel of my cavalry sword. His forehead must have split open, because blood ran down it. The startled young ladies nearly screamed, but the noblewoman quickly silenced them.
"I will escort you to His Highness the Crown Prince."
I took them and rejoined the crown prince. When the crown prince saw the noblewoman, the young ladies, the knights, and the Geerhilt scoundrel being dragged in roughly, his eyes went wide.
"Sir Streit, you captured Baschurten’s nobles?"
"They’re direct descendants of the Geerhilt family. I caught them as they were fleeing."
"...There seems to be no limit to your abilities."
The crown prince shook his head in amazement and treated them as noble prisoners. Under the protection of the gentle crown prince, they wouldn’t suffer too harsh a fate.
Baschurten had, in effect, been occupied by the coalition army, and as is always the case with occupied territory, it was savagely plundered. Of the more than fifteen hundred citizens, few managed to escape.
After all, there was no escaping the Offenburg Knights prowling the surroundings.
Fried, who had been grinding his teeth, seemed to want to wipe Baschurten off the map entirely and authorized unlimited plunder, but he was met with the crown prince’s objection and ultimately had to scale it back to three days of looting.
Being merely an heir and not a prince himself, opposing the crown prince was a heavy burden for Fried. The Royal Artillery Corps also joined in the plunder to their hearts’ content. They seemed to be venting all their pent-up grievances through looting.
"Oh, sir knight! No, Chief Artillery Commander!"
"Chief Artillery Commander? When did my title grow so grand?"
"From this very moment! Our Royal Artillery Corps will follow the orders of the Chief Artillery Commander!"
Schneider was thoroughly flushed, having grabbed all the spoils and women he wanted, and he treated me like a prized superior. These idiot artillerymen don’t seem to realize they’re a unit directly under the Grand Duke.
Yeah, just fire the cannons well and keep them properly maintained.
That alone was enough.
The Swiss mercenaries, including Leto and Gedel, also hauled in considerable spoils. As the capital of Baschurten, wealth had accumulated here, so most of the mercenaries and soldiers got more than enough of a share.
The lord’s castle of Baschurten was completely empty. Most of those who had worked in this castle had grabbed what they could and fled. But they couldn’t escape the mercenaries’ notice, and most were slaughtered horrifically.
So there was no one of standing left to look after the surrendered Geerhilt family. Still, the noblewoman and young ladies, grateful merely to have been granted protection, kept very quiet.
Unlike them, the Geerhilt scoundrel was thrown in prison. The citizens of Baschurten were suffering terribly because of his reckless choices, yet the Geerhilt family, the very cause of it all, was under protection.
What an ironic situation.
Just as in Boeven, the mercenaries’ peculiar lust for plunder ran rampant here too. They would take a woman they fancied as a wife, but the problem was that she was treated as little more than a slave.
It was better than dying, but was that truly the better fate?
Anyway, the greed of those mercenary bastards knew no bounds.
The Church strictly forbids enslaving fellow Catholics, but with everyone turning a blind eye, most cases slipped through the cracks.
It was sickening to watch even as one of the conquerors, and if I were to suffer it myself, I think it would make me furious enough to lose my mind. I felt all over again that I had to grow stronger still, so as not to be devoured.
A prince is someone who can turn into an enemy at any moment.
I must never forget that.
Well, be that as it may.
I led my men and roamed through the castle.
"Anton, tear into this spot."
"Here? It’s just a wall, though."
"It’s a secret space disguised as a wall."
The Searcher Scouter can find hidden spaces. So it was an excellent tool for uncovering concealed valuables. When Anton and the men took their tools to the wall and tore it down, a secret space was revealed.
"Um, Commander. Have you perhaps been to this castle before?"
"When have I ever visited Baschurten Castle?"
"Then how do you know the hidden locations?"
"Smell and a sixth sense."
Anton and the men exchanged strange looks. Anton even sniffed the air, as if checking whether there really was a smell. Unable to press their captain any further, they hauled out the chest.
When they opened the chest, it was filled to the brim with silver coins.
Besides that, there were jewels and various pieces of craftwork.
In this way, I found three more secret spaces hidden within the castle. The silver coins I collected came to about 8,975, and if I converted the value of the jewels and craftwork, it amounted to roughly 15 gold coins.
The crown prince and Fried had mainly taken the artwork, so no paintings or sculptures remained. Well, even this much was a decent haul. Then the crown prince summoned me.
"I’ve set aside your share. What do you think?"
"...This horse is my share?"
"I thought it’d be the perfect gift for a horse lover like you."
The spoils the crown prince had set aside for me amounted to a single horse. Having developed an eye for horses thanks to Schatten, Mont Blanc, and the stable master Winter, I could tell this was a thoroughbred.
Its golden mane was just stunning.
The stable masters who had cared for this horse were trembling.
"They say it’s a horse the Count of Baschurten treasured."
"You’re really bestowing it on me? No taking it back later because you regret it?"
"Haha, I already have three horses like this one. What good would it do me to add another?"
Hm, three thoroughbreds?
The Altringen royal family, indeed.
I stroked the golden horse. But it must have had a fierce temper too, because it snorted and warned me not to come closer. Hey, look at that temper. Who do you think I am? I’m the man who tamed Mont Blanc, the foulest-tempered horse there is!
Snort
It seemed cowed by my presence and quickly settled down.
"What’s this horse’s name?"
"In—in Greek, it’s Chrysos!"
"Chrysos? What does that mean?"
"It means gold."
The crown prince answered for him. Hm, gold. A very fitting name. I whispered the name into Chrysos’s ear and tried to win her over. But to my surprise, this horse was a mare.
We’re not going to end up bloodying each other to claim this mare, are we?
