Chapter 91.2: Spring Snow (3)
As she had just asked, she didn’t know why Abel had been sent. But if she thought about the Ethelred Knights being mobilized, it all made sense.
It all started when she had visited Ethelred to be tested by Primundi for her qualifications as a witch, and he had placed Abel as the deputy knight commander.
Oleciren, chilled by the scale and sophistication of Cain’s plan, turned to look at him.
“Right now, that guy is planning to send all the knights who were hiding in Ethelred to the north.”
Hybolt also looked at Cain with his gray eyes, just like Oleciren’s.
“Do you perhaps have another network?”
At Oleciren’s question, Hybolt immediately clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, information is important even before it’s processed. Do you know how the food flow in Ethelred is going right now?”
“…….”
Of course, she had no way of knowing.
As Oleciren kept her mouth shut, Hybolt spoke of the information he had just found.
“I hear they’re receiving grain from Lamaring, along with preserved food. Besides, the forge in Ethelred hasn’t been turned off for quite some time now.”
Oleciren had received data from the Royal Intelligence Service that compiled and organized such small pieces of information.
However, Hybolt directly combined the small pieces of information to reach a conclusion.
The conclusions they reached might be the same, but the time it took Hybolt to reach those conclusions was overwhelmingly faster.
“Of course, not all information can be handled this way. But you have to do it where you need to.”
“For Father, Ethelred is a place that needs that much attention.”
“Of course.”
Hybolt asserted.
He pointed his index finger at Cain, who was pretending to be indifferent.
“Because two monsters live in Ethelred. The first is Edmund. The second is the 『Blood Hopper』 that that guy brought out.”
Hybolt looked back at Vanderbilt. The elderly knight, who was familiar with the name, scratched his cheek with a wry smile.
On the other hand, Oleciren frowned at the unfamiliar name 『Blood Hopper』.
Cain was no different.
‘The name alone makes them sound like something.’
Grasshoppers that ate grass and grains were usually called locusts.
One or two locusts are not scary, but if they flock in, they are a disaster, and calling a knight order means a disaster that swallows blood, so it seemed like a pretty cool knight order.
“Are you hearing this for the first time too……. ”
However, Hybolt looked dumbfounded as even Cain had that reaction.
As Cain, Oleciren, and Isoel, all three young people, nodded their heads, Hybolt pressed his temples and opened his mouth.
“Usually, Ethelred is full of knights who are so simple-minded they’re almost stupid.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
It was so bad that even when Ross’s Philip came with Abel and caused a scene, Edmund really just stayed put.
In his second life, he didn’t pay much attention to it because they had changed, but it was really too much.
“Edmund deliberately picked those kinds of guys and raised them that way. He thought that no one could follow him unless they were ignorantly strong.”
“……!”
“Thanks to that, the Ethelred Knights were called in the last expedition. It’s because wherever they passed, the elves’ heads disappeared as if they had been eaten by locusts.”
“Aha.”
“And that’s not all. Ethelred is also where former and retired knights gather.”
Cain nodded.
“I was aware of that.”
After the Airian War of Independence, the aristocracy had been reorganized around the Six Noble Families.
At that time, the foreign knights from beyond the island had carved out their place with swords that were almost terrifying, and that was the Ethelred count family.
Since then, the Ethelred domain has been considered the home of knights, whether they knew it or not.
And funnily and sadly enough, the fact that it was the most underdeveloped place on Airian Island was also a reason why old knights flocked there.
‘Because the Ethelred of the past that Vanderbilt often reminisces about and the Ethelred of today are no different.’
Cain smiled bitterly, and Hybolt continued.
“When Edmund was there, he took care of their swords from time to time, so they’re ready to draw their swords at your call. You can’t even count the number of knights who haven’t been registered.”
Even though Hybolt was wary of Ethelred’s knights as if he was making a fuss, Cain was unfazed.
He wasn’t interested in his father’s knights, whom he had always resented.
‘Besides, they pale in comparison to the warriors of the Great Wall.’
As someone who had commanded the warriors forged by the anvil of the Great Wall and the hammer of death, Cain didn’t care what Ethelred was like.
Seeing Cain’s indifferent reaction, Hybolt clutched his chest and asked.
“So how many did you call? It looks like you’ve gathered them at the Ross northern base.”
“All of them.”
“……What?”
“I told everyone who could come to come.”
He left only the minimum number of troops in Ethelred and called everyone else.
It wasn’t just any other place, it was the elves they had to deal with, and if things went wrong, they would have to deal with the knights of the two marquis as well.
He needed as many troops as possible.
Hybolt was silent for a moment before opening his mouth.
“You know that a marquis is usually limited to 70 knights and a count to 30, right?”
“It seems like Ross has more.”
“That’s because they’re hiding some, and they’re also summoning them in the form of loans from the knights of the noble families under them.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“Why didn’t you ask why, even though you knew?”
Cain lifted the corners of his lips.
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? It costs a fortune to maintain a single knight, and Ross is taking care of all of it, so he must have left them there to die.”
“That’s how it was at first. At some point, it became too big to touch, so he left it alone.”
A very cold analysis.
Hybolt felt as if he was talking to a seasoned general who had seen it all, not a seventeen-year-old noble.
He suppressed that feeling and continued.
“Then how many knights are there in all of Ethelred?”
“Judging by Your Majesty’s reaction, it seems to be more than 30.”
“If you scrape together all those who have retired to the countryside, regardless of funds, I’d say there are probably 150 of them.”
Five times the number of knights a count could officially have, and twice as many as a marquis.
And with Edmund there, you could get a glimpse of the prestige that Ethelred held.
He could also see why Marquis Ross had tried to take Ethelred, even if it meant using an unequal amount of money.
Cain replied indifferently.
“What good is that? Even though I called them, I don’t have the money, so they’ll scatter soon.”
Lamaring, Crowl, Wareham.
With the help of the other counts, they wouldn’t scatter so easily.
But Cain saw through Hybolt’s intentions, so he spoke weakly.
Hybolt smirked and pulled out a hand axe from his waistband.
“I’ll take care of that. This axe, Headbreaker, is one of the three treasures of the kingdom, along with Isoel’s Credne.”
Thud━.
Hybolt threw the axe into the grass and stared straight at Cain with his fierce eyes.
“It’s a symbol of my power and the royal family’s. Holding this will give you the power to supply materials as easily as breathing.”
[New possibilities have been acquired.]
[World Line Fixation : ▲ 18.5%]
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Translation-(COMPLETED) – The Villain Carries the Holy Sword𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥《⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐》!!
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