How to Live as a Wandering Knight – Chapter 338

𝐋𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐮𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐬 (2)

‘𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘧𝘶𝘭.’

Thanks to this, the eunuchs were able to forge the sultan’s letters almost perfectly. They had everything from the paper, handwriting, and even the experience as the sultan himself may not be as skilled in writing letters as the eunuchs were.

“Honestly speaking, it’s worth a try.”

“It’s absurd, but if it works. . .”

However, even the hardened centurions did not deny the plan as preposterous, although they thought the eunuchs were ridiculous.

As experienced mercenaries, they had forged a lord’s permission or a pass a few times. It seemed like a trivial piece of paper on the outside, but the value of this single sheet was worth more than a pouch of gold coins.

It was useful when fleeing after a battle, entering a town to conscript serfs, and sometimes, even to fool knights. With more brains, it could be utilized in more diverse ways.

After all, humans are weak to authority.

“I heard that Manansir refused to help when the pagan feudal lords asked for help, and he also refused when the eunuchs asked for help. I think he must be feeling guilty inside.”

The reason why Manansir was called Viceroy Manansir, General Manansir, or Your Majesty Manansir was that he had an absolute rise to power.

He started as a low-ranking noble and became a captain of a mercenary group, leading mercenaries. Then he was lucky enough to gain a fiefdom, and then he grew his power little by little by fighting, scheming, and betraying others.

In any place, if you exceed a certain level, you can’t just rule with power alone.

You could rule a small town with just a few mercenaries as the village chief, but if it was a barony or higher, political power was essential. You can’t conquer every vassal and neighboring feudal lords surrounding you with just power.

In such times, authority was the most important. Political power comes from authority.

Just like Johan borrowed authority by joining hands with the order, Manansir also tried to gain authority by claiming various titles. Of course, there was a limit to this. No matter how many soldiers he led and titles he claimed, the other nobles wouldn’t accept him.

In the end, what Manansir chose was to join hands with the sultan. Even though he was in a faraway land, the sultan’s name had great weight in these parts.

Manansir frantically sent bribes and made all kinds of attempts to gain the sultan’s favor even before the marriage alliance was formed. This alliance right now was the result of his relentless efforts.

“Since the lords under Manansir know that, they won’t resist the sultan’s authority easily.”

Johan’s plan with the eunuchs’ help was simple.

Head towards where Manansir was hiding, with only elite cavalry.

If there were any lords who heard of them and tried to block them on the way, summon them using the sultan’s name.

If they came out without thinking, capture them and hold them as prisoners.

In any fiefdom, if the lord was captured as a prisoner, the people below him would be confused and find it difficult to react.

To prepare for this, Johan had brought along pagan knights who were captured as prisoners. The pagan knights, not knowing the full story, were happy just to receive their weapons and horses back.

“Do they even know who those people are?”

“Of course not.”

“Won’t you be shocked when they find out later?”

“I didn’t lie.”

The duke’s curt reply made his subordinates nod with joy. One of the best things about being a mercenary was when they got to feel like their employer was a great villain.

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Baron Shalard was shocked at the sight of the cavalry that suddenly appeared in his fiefdom.

Even from a distance, it was easy to tell that there were hundreds of them. Even if he gathered all the serfs in his fiefdom who could be used as soldiers, there wouldn’t even be a hundred of them. Cavalry of that size had the terrifying power to burn his entire fiefdom to the ground with just a flick of their fingers.

He heard that there was chaos to the north as the pagan expedition and the sultan’s army clashed, but he never expected the aftermath to reach this far.

‘𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺. . . 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?’

There were rumors that pagan pursuit forces appeared in the coastal city a little above, but the people nearby were relieved when they heard that they quickly disappeared and went back.

However, seeing cavalry appear like this made his heart pound.

“Master! They are not enemies! That’s the sultan’s flag!”

“!!”

The baron’s face brightened at the servant’s report. As they got closer, he could see the uniforms of some of the cavalry. The outfits were clearly different from the expedition that came from the west.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴!’

The baron heaved a sigh of relief. Of course, even if they were the sultan’s army, it wasn’t a situation where he could be completely at ease. He had to start by treating them in his small fiefdom, and he might have to answer some uncomfortable questions in the process. ‘𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵?’ and things like that. . .

But even if that was uncomfortable, wasn’t it much better than a group of looters or rogues?

“Go to the vault and bring some gold coins. I’ll go greet them myself.”

“Yes? But shouldn’t you confirm their identities first?”

“You fool! You’re going to say that now? Do you want to bother them with such a useless thing after they came all this way? It’s because of people like you that they say we are tactless and dull.”

“I-I apologize, master.”

The slave, who was scolded harshly for saying something unnecessary, hung his head, dejected.

Originally, it was the rule that when outsiders came, the lower-ranking people would go out first to confirm their identities, then let a few of them in separately, and then let the rest in once their identities were confirmed.

However, rules are meant to have exceptions.

If you asked the knights who came from far away, who had a high status and seemed ill-tempered, such things one by one, it could cause unnecessary trouble.

“Welcome, brave knights! This baron has been waiting for your lordships!”

When the baron himself came out of the gate on horseback and ran towards them, Johan and his subordinates looked at each other.

‘𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮?? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴?’

‘𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘱??’

‘𝘕𝘰. 𝘏𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵. . . 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯.’

“Are you Baron Shalard?”

Instead of replying to the baron’s hospitality, Johan asked a question. It was a rude response, but the baron couldn’t question him because he was intimidated by Johan’s imposing manner and his subordinates who were overflowing with authority.

“Yes. . .”

“I see. Take the baron.”

The knights grabbed both of the baron’s arms with their strong hands. The baron’s slaves were shocked and froze in place.

“W-What are you doing? What are you doing?? You fools, what are you doing? Are you just going to watch??”

The knights were too big and too well-armed for the slaves to rush in to save him. The slaves just stood still. Johan spoke to the servant who had followed him.

“Tell the people inside the fiefdom that we’ll be taking the baron as a prisoner, so they should refrain from acting rashly and behave themselves.”

“Yes!”

The servant ran away, happy that he wasn’t caught with the baron. The baron, still not fully understanding the situation, shouted desperately.

“Sir! Please listen to me. The reason I couldn’t respond to the request for support is because I had Manansir’s orders! How can someone like me, who leads a small family, disobey such an order?”

“I understand, baron. You’ll be treated as a prisoner, so keep your mouth shut!”

The baron was dragged away, still not realizing who he was dealing with.

Instead, there was a commotion from a different place. The pagan knights belatedly realized what this march was and began to grumble.

Vaytar, who had somewhat gotten close to the duke, stepped forward. Vaytar asked with a very reluctant expression.

“Your Highness. That. . . I have one question.”

“What is it, sir?”

“In the fiefdoms we’re going to from now on, are you going to. . . capture them like this?”

“I clearly told you I’m going to capture Manansir, didn’t I?”

Johan had clearly told the pagan knights the truth. That he was going to capture Manansir.

The pagan knights were curious about how he planned to attack the castles and fortresses along the way, but they were happy to get their weapons and horses back, so they didn’t ask further.

However, looking at it now, his method was a bit. . . extreme compared to what they had thought.

“Are you saying that you won’t follow my orders now? Didn’t you clearly swear on your honor that you would follow my orders?”

Of course, the pagan knights had sworn and followed him. As prisoners, that much was natural. Vaytar was surprised and waved his hands.

“No! It’s not like that. It’s just that, you see, since the other party was foolish and came out just now, it’s different. . . People who are suspicious won’t come out easily. I was curious about that.”

The pagan knights still only understood half of the situation.

They had only thought that ‘𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘢𝘯’𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘺’.

No one would have thought that there would be a trick beyond that.

“Don’t worry, there’s a way for everything.”

“I-Is that so.”

Vaytar was a hot-tempered and quick-witted person, but he was like a mouse in front of a cat in front of the duke. In the end, Vaytar returned without asking any further.

The knights asked curiously.

“What happened?”

“What’s His Highness thinking?”

“Isn’t it a petty trick? Who came up with it?”

To the flood of questions, Vaytar only picked the questions he could answer and replied. Fortunately, he knew about the last question because he had heard the others talking.

“They said the eunuchs advised it. . .”

“. . .Those poisonous mushrooms are still alive and doing more dirty work?!”

However, the pagan knights didn’t know. That the eunuchs’ dirty scheme was just beginning (although strictly speaking, it wasn’t the eunuchs’ fault).

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━𝐇-𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?! 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫. . . 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭! 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?! 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠? 𝐍𝐨, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭!

━𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞. . . 𝐓-𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬. . .! 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐞! 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫!

━𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞! 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?! 𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮!

━𝐀𝐡, 𝐧𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬. . .

Johan’s subordinates advanced like a storm. The pagan knights, who didn’t know what was going on, made expressions like they had seen a ghost.

Even if they were reckless people, how could they open the gate and come out even after confirming their identities? Did the duke use magic or something?

As soon as the next day dawned after they had rested, Johan quickly ran. The castle where Manansir was hiding was right before his eyes.

To capture him right away before any strange rumors spread!

“Uhm, please wait a moment.”

“. . .?”

However, the castellan’s reaction was different from what he had thought. Even though he saw the paper with the sultan’s seal, the castellan didn’t open the gate right away and hesitated.

Johan became a little impatient. His subordinates seemed to read Johan’s mind and immediately took action.

They held their swords to the eunuchs’ necks.

“If they don’t open that gate right now, I’ll bathe these swords in your blood.”

“C-Calm down! Calm down! They haven’t noticed at all!”

The eunuchs tried desperately to calm the mercenaries down.

The castle where Manansir was currently hiding was an unnamed mountain castle slightly away from the coastal port city.

Although it was a little small, it was a good place to hold out because it could take advantage of the ruggedness of the mountain. It was a good choice for Manansir, who planned to hide until the sultan’s army arrived.

The problem with such a place was that it was not well-informed about rumors. When the eunuchs saw it, it was impossible for rumors to have reached there first.

“Then why aren’t they opening it? Huh? Is it because you guys made a mistake??”

“M-Maybe Viceroy Manansir is scared, that’s why??”

“What are you talking about?”

“Think about it carefully! You came with so many troops just because he took a few ships. And the sultan’s army that landed first was smashed to pieces. Even the bravest person would be scared, wouldn’t they? Why would the viceroy be hiding here!”

“A few ships? This punk. . .”

“Alright, so why aren’t they opening the gate when we came to help?”

“W-Well, didn’t Viceroy ignore us when we asked for support? He must be troubled because he knows he’s guilty!”

He blurted it out as best as he could, but after he said it, it sounded quite plausible. The eunuch was slightly intoxicated by his own words. Of course, the mercenaries weren’t satisfied with that.

“I see. So how can you open it?”

“Yes?”

“If you can talk so well, you should come up with a way too. Think of something in five seconds! Or else this sword will go in a little deeper. Five! Two!”

‘𝘐𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦?’

“I-I thought of it! I thought of it!”

The mercenaries were impressed. It was as if the answers came out when you squeezed a mouse, like the leather pouch with an infinite supply of gold coins from the story.

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