Count Erce sprang to his feet.
“Elrond, you lead the charge! Show those cowardly Schrantz bastards what we’re made of!”
“Yes, my lord!”
Elrond was thrilled to be given the opportunity.
He was one of several candidates for the position of battalion commander.
By sheer luck, he was the only one chosen for this campaign, and the path to promotion had opened before him.
‘I must seize this chance to distinguish myself in the eyes of the lord!’
With so many strong candidates, he had almost given up on becoming a battalion commander.
But fortune had come to him sooner than expected.
This was his chance to rise through the ranks!
“Charge!”
With dreams of glory, Elrond galloped toward the direction where the enemy had appeared.
After leading his cavalry for a while, he reached a hill and found himself face-to-face with a force of about a hundred soldiers, barely 30 meters away.
They seemed startled by his sudden appearance.
‘What luck!’
The enemy hadn’t yet climbed the hill.
Holding the high ground gave him the advantage.
“Attack!”
“Enemies!”
The two sides clashed.
But the battle didn’t last long.
As the fierce fighting continued, both sides began to realize something was amiss.
“Die, you cowardly Schrantz dogs!”
“Don’t let Schrantz push us back!”
Both sides were shouting at each other, calling each other “Schrantz.”
At first, the chaos of battle drowned out the words, but gradually, the commanders on both sides began to hear them clearly.
The meaning was unmistakable.
“St-stop! We’re on the same side!”
Soon, they realized they had been fighting their own allies.
“Cease fighting! Cease fighting!”
“You idiots, don’t you understand? We’re on the same side, so stop fighting!”
Calming down the soldiers, already bloodied and frenzied from the battle, was no easy task.
It took a considerable amount of time to bring the skirmish to a halt.
By the time the forces of Count Erce and Darian’s army realized their mistake, over 60 casualties had been inflicted on both sides.
“I am Duran Darian, lord of House Darian! The commander who led this force, step forward!”
Darian’s furious shout echoed across the battlefield, his anger noticeable.
The soldiers, too, glared at the commander with murderous eyes.
Elrond, his face tense, removed his helmet and stepped forward.
“I am Elrond Maxer of the knight order, Lord Darian. I was the commander.”
“Because of you, my innocent soldiers have died and been wounded! I will definitely protest this to Count Erce!”
Elrond clenched his fists, shut his eyes tightly, and bowed his head.
He clearly felt wronged, but there was nothing he could say.
The fault lay more with Count Erce, who had given the order to attack without properly identifying whether the approaching force was friend or foe.
Elrond had simply followed orders, believing they were engaging the enemy.
Additionally, the scouts had failed to accurately report whether the approaching force was friend or foe.
A combination of factors had led to this disastrous situation.
Count Erce couldn’t escape responsibility either, so he wouldn’t punish Elrond too severely.
But upon returning to camp, Count Erce shouted at him.
“You fool! You failed to distinguish friend from foe and attacked without confirming the enemy!”
“My lord?”
“Execute him at once!”
Having heard Darian’s protest, Count Erce was desperate to cover up his own mistake.
As a result, he shifted all the blame onto Elrond.
The dream of a young knight aspiring to become a battalion commander was unjustly crushed.
The scouts who had misreported the enemy’s identity also couldn’t escape responsibility.
Count Erce went to great lengths to appease Darian’s anger.
In the end, he managed to settle the matter by promising to give up a portion of his share after the conquest of Schrantz.
While the immediate crisis was averted, Count Erce had crossed a bridge he could never return from.
Not only had soldiers from both houses died and developed hostility toward each other.
But his own knights and soldiers had also witnessed him shifting the blame onto others.
* * *
The news of the friendly fire incident reached Ian as well.
Though the exact number of casualties was unknown, scouts reported that significant damage had been inflicted.
‘Brother, was this your plan all along?’
‘Young Lord Ian is truly remarkable!’
Hubert and Oswell couldn’t help but marvel at the report.
‘We were worried he might charge in again when he mentioned using a detachment. Who would have thought he planned to sow such chaos among the enemy!’
But Ian, who had executed the plan, simply sat with his chin resting on his hand, deep in thought.
One would expect him to be elated and boastful over such a brilliant achievement.
Yet Ian showed no signs of joy or pride.
Instead, he sat quietly, seemingly pondering his next move.
‘What strategy is he thinking of next?’
‘What feat will he perform next?’
Hubert and Oswell’s expectations soared, and the knights present looked at Ian with eager anticipation.
Under their gazes, Ian thought to himself.
‘Why did they end up fighting each other? Did some internal conflict break out?’
He genuinely couldn’t understand why they had turned on each other.
His use of the detachment had no grand design.
He simply wanted to use guerrilla tactics to inflict as much damage as possible with minimal forces, given their numerical disadvantage.
It was pure luck.
‘Ah, I wish I could’ve seen it. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve launched another night raid!’
He hadn’t conducted a night raid that morning.
Partly because the enemy’s vigilance had increased, but also because the detachment needed rest.
‘If I’d known they’d be so disoriented, I could’ve launched a surprise attack and caused even more damage.’
But what could he do?
What had happened was already done, and he hadn’t been there to witness it.
Still, being able to achieve something without lifting a finger was a stroke of luck.
‘Once Count Filchner’s forces join, they’ll try to break through here and march toward Rosen, right?’
At most, they have two months.
That’s the time frame during which they can keep their soldiers mobilized.
They need to transport food and continuously supply materials.
War requires weapons and food, but ultimately, everything boils down to money.
Ian knows full well that their financial situation won’t allow them to sustain this for longer than that.
‘It must’ve felt good to start this territorial war, huh?’
But soon, the anti-Schrantz alliance will realize.
That things won’t go as they planned.
‘I’ve prepared relentlessly.’
Of course, they must’ve prepared too, but not to the extent Ian has.
‘I’ve accounted for all the information from my previous playthrough, the situations I’ve seen in personal broadcasts, and even the variables.’
Moreover, Nea is working tirelessly too.
She’s probably in Rosen right now, diligently carrying out her tasks.
Count Erce has already started a war that won’t go his way.
—
* * *
—
In a abandoned house on the outskirts of Rosen.
Two men sat with their heads together.
They were operatives sent by Count Erce.
Their primary mission was to wage psychological warfare in Rosen.
But their mission was doomed from the start.
“The soldiers here have too much faith in the eldest son.”
“What about the villagers? Wasn’t the eldest son of Schrantz supposed to be a troublemaker? This is nothing like what we heard.”
Their goal was to sow distrust, especially since Ian, who had shown great prowess, would likely lead the charge in the territorial war.
But after infiltrating Rosen and investigating, they realized their mission would be difficult.
They tried to undermine Ian and create confusion among the soldiers, but it was futile.
One of their fellow operatives was even caught and arrested while attempting the same.
“We’ll have to wait until the lord’s army surrounds this place.”
Their other mission was to open the gates when the soldiers charged.
Once the anti-Schrantz alliance reached Rosen, Schrantz’s soldiers would retreat into the lord’s castle.
They had even prepared soldier uniforms to blend in when the time came.
“While we were out today, I noticed something strange about Schrantz’s movements.”
“What?”
“They don’t seem to be preparing for a siege. Instead of bringing supplies into the lord’s castle, they’re moving them out.”
“What are you talking about? Is there another fortress in this territory besides Rosen?”
But as far as they knew, Schrantz had no other fortresses.
Well, not exactly none, but the ones that existed were built to fend off monsters.
They weren’t designed for human warfare and had many shortcomings.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anything about the heir returning after leading the expedition to the west. There’s even news that Duke Duser was taken to a detention camp, so why hasn’t he returned?”
There were too many oddities.
“Let’s report this to the lord.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
Just as they were about to report these strange developments to Count Erce.
Crash!
Suddenly, the door of the abandoned house they were staying in was smashed open with a loud noise.
Startled, they drew the daggers they had hidden in their clothes.
“W-who’s there?!”
“It’s me.”
The one who broke down the door was a teenage girl who didn’t look a day over 20.
Behind her were four huge men with menacing expressions.
All of them wore masks.
The girl was Nea, and the four men were agents who handled the dirty work in the shadows of Schrantz.
“You’re the operatives sent by Count Erce, right?”
They flinched but didn’t loosen their grip on their daggers.
“Here, I’ve got some rope. If you don’t want to get hurt, tie each other up. My uncles here are pretty rough. Let’s not make this harder than it needs to be.”
Nea tossed a bundle of rope at their feet, and their expressions twisted in frustration.
“You little brat!”
“If you know who we are, you’re dead!”
They immediately lunged at Nea.
Though they moved quickly, their blades never reached her.
Two of the men behind her stepped forward, grabbed their wrists, and twisted them into submission.
“Ah! Ah!”
“L-let go!”
But as they continued to resist, the men knocked them down and began beating them mercilessly.
“S-stop! Stop!”
“I told you, didn’t I? My uncles are pretty rough. You should’ve listened when I asked nicely.”
Nea mocked them with a gesture, and the remaining two agents tied up the subdued operatives.
When she first had to work with them, she was uneasy because they were former bandits.
But having been bandits, they didn’t mind doing all sorts of dirty work.
In fact, they said this work was much better than banditry.
The pay was steady, and the job was stable.
Of course, they’d never be recognized in the light of day since they worked in the shadows, but they didn’t seem to mind.
The work was dangerous, but it wasn’t like banditry was safe either.
In fact, they now had a stable job, so their satisfaction was quite high.
‘Now we won’t have to worry about the rear being disrupted.’
She couldn’t let her guard down completely, so she’d have to root out any remaining operatives.
But based on the information they had, these were the last ones.
“Alright, let’s head back.”
She thought she could finally rest now that the job was done, but no.
She still had work left.
‘Count Erce asked me to report Ian’s location and what he’s doing. What should I send?’
The thought of toying with Count Erce made all her fatigue vanish.
Humming to herself, she headed back to the lord’s castle, feeling a sense of pride that she could outwit Count Erce.
