Just to be sure, Ian turned to Hubert and asked, “Did you disarm them?”
Count Filchner and Darion were still in their armor, but only Count Erce’s forces had been disarmed.
Even if they disliked Count Erce, Ian suspected they might have deliberately humiliated him by dragging him here in such a state.
But Hubert shook his head. “No, we only confiscated their weapons. They were already like this when we captured them.”
‘Did they discard their armor to escape faster?’
Ian chuckled.
How desperate must they have been to throw away even their armor?
After such a long forced march, their horses must have been exhausted, so they likely shed as much weight as possible.
‘Well, if they were caught, it would’ve been the end for them.’
Returning safely to their territory was the only way to plan for the future.
‘Of course, now that they’ve been captured, they’ll be publicly humiliated.’
Ian glanced back.
His gaze fell on the prisoners from Count Erce’s forces.
The prisoners looked utterly disappointed in their lord, who had tried to flee in such a disgraceful manner.
Already, his credibility had taken a massive hit from this war, and now this pitiful display.
Their disappointment was immeasurable.
“How…?”
Count Erce stared at Ian, refusing to accept reality.
The acting lord was young, but even his older brother wasn’t much older.
Young.
No, he looked even younger, barely twenty years old.
To be trampled and toyed with by such youths.
To be forced to kneel in such a humiliating state was utterly surreal.
When he had declared the territorial war, Count Erce had never imagined this outcome.
‘This is the price for trusting Nea too much.’
If he had other informants, he might not have been deceived, but Nea, who had turned her loyalty to Ian, had done everything to obstruct Count Erce.
She had rooted out and captured all the spies infiltrating the territory, and through threats or persuasion, turned some into allies.
She had eliminated any means of cross-verification.
He had no choice but to rely solely on her for information.
‘He’ll soon realize he’s been deceived.’
Now that he had been defeated, there was no need to hide it.
“Young Lord Hubert! Young Lord Ian!”
At that moment, a voice called out to Hubert and Ian, accompanied by the sound of hooves approaching from the west.
It was a knight.
The knight stopped before them, dismounted, and bowed.
“Are you from the lord’s castle?”
“Yes!”
Ian’s expression hardened. Hubert’s face mirrored his.
They realized the knight had come because something significant had happened at the lord’s castle.
‘Has the result about Father come in?’
And they understood that this significant matter was related to Hugo.
If Sera had succeeded in creating the Half Elixir, she would have already administered it.
The outcome was left to fate, and Ian had focused on the battle before him.
By now, the result of the Half Elixir’s success or failure must have been determined.
Ian couldn’t help but tense up.
He forced himself to calm down and asked, “What’s the matter?”
“Rejoice! The lord has awakened!”
Ian’s expression brightened instantly.
‘She succeeded!’
The result was a resounding success. Sera had finally succeeded in creating the Half Elixir.
“R-really?!”
“Yes, it’s true!”
Oswell and Hubert, who had overheard the joyous news, were overjoyed.
“Is it true?! The lord has really awakened?”
“Yes, Commander. He is currently recovering his strength!”
Hugo, who had been on the brink of death, was now recovering.
Oswell, who had been preparing himself for the worst, was moved.
With one joyous event after another, it felt as though the goddess of fortune was on Schrantz’s side.
“And actually, the lord was furious when he heard about the current situation.”
‘Of course he would be.’
Ian nodded readily.
Having been unconscious and in pain, only to wake up and find his family at war.
And to learn that hostile families had invaded under absurd pretexts—it was only natural for him to be furious.
“That’s why the lord has ordered you to return to Rosen.”
“Return to Rosen because of that? Why?”
The battle had just ended, so the news of victory couldn’t have reached him yet.
In fact, they hadn’t even sent a messenger.
They needed to tally the casualties on both sides before sending a report.
“The lord said we should fight the enemy together at the lord’s castle, not in the field.”
He must have thought that, given the enemy’s numbers, defending the castle was better than fighting in the open.
“What do you think?”
Ian laughed and gestured broadly around him.
The knight looked around.
He had suspected as much when he arrived, but now he realized the battle was already over.
And it was a victory for their side.
“From what you’ve seen, it doesn’t seem necessary, does it?”
“No.”
“We’ll return as Father ordered, so hurry back and report what you’ve seen here to him.”
He couldn’t even imagine how overjoyed Hugo would be upon hearing this news.
Then, as if remembering something, Ian gave an additional order.
“Oh, and while delivering the news, tell Advisor Jurdan to summon Duke Duser from the settlement’s detention camp to Rosen.”
“Yes, Young Lord Ian.”
Once Duke Duser arrived, formal negotiations would begin.
Though it was called negotiations, it would essentially be a session to accept the surrender of the anti-Schrantz alliance.
Ian intended to completely eliminate any chance of their resurgence, and Hubert and Hugo would undoubtedly do the same.
‘If they came to destroy us, they should be prepared to be destroyed themselves.’
Of course, they had only thought of destroying Schrantz, never imagining they themselves could be destroyed.
They had come expecting an easy victory, only to face the exact opposite outcome, leaving them utterly shattered.
Whatever the reason, Ian intended to take everything he could from them as the victor.
“This will be a fine gift for Father.”
“……”
Ian no longer paid attention to Count Erce, who sat dazed, staring blankly at the ground.
It was time to return to Rosen.
Over the course of several days, Ian headed towards Rosen, but his journey came to a halt at the city’s entrance.
At the city gates, knights and soldiers, who had been waiting at the lord’s castle, were lined up in formation.
At the end of the line stood Hugo.
“Salute to Young Master Huber von Schrantz and Young Master Ian von Schrantz! Present arms!”
“Present! Arms!”
The scene reminded Ian of the time they returned from stopping the monster uprising.
The difference this time was that the honour wasn’t for him alone, and the ceremony wasn’t held at the lord’s castle but at the city entrance.
Ian and Hubert dismounted simultaneously, received the honours, and walked up to Hugo.
Hugo’s complexion had noticeably improved since the last time Ian saw him.
However, his gaunt appearance, a result of long-term illness and confinement to a sickbed, remained unchanged.
“My sons, indeed. Ian, Hubert. I am truly proud that you are my sons.”
Hugo’s emotions were complex.
He was grateful that his sons had accomplished what he could not, sorry that he couldn’t be with them, and proud that they had overcome such a difficult situation.
“Whose sons would we be? Of course, we had to succeed.”
Sensing Hugo’s emotions, Ian responded lightly, steering the conversation away.
“You’re still not well. Why did you push yourself to come out? You should have waited inside.”
“How could I stay inside after hearing such joyous news?”
Hugo had been overjoyed upon hearing from a knight that they had achieved a great victory and captured all the enemy lords.
Ian glanced at Jurdan standing behind Hugo and spoke.
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
Jurdan sighed deeply.
“It was already a struggle to prevent him from traveling all the way to Dobina Village, Young Master.”
They had compromised by welcoming him at Rosen’s entrance, given Hugo’s stubbornness.
The image made Ian chuckle involuntarily.
“Father, let’s head to the lord’s castle now.”
Though tired, Hugo, still unsteady and supported by knights, looked uneasy.
“Yes, let’s do that. I’ve prepared a carriage; let’s ride together.”
“Understood.”
They boarded the carriage together.
“It seems we’ll be busy for a while.”
“Indeed, but the treasurer will be even busier.”
The number of prisoners captured was overwhelming.
Managing, feeding, and housing them all would be a massive task.
Even confining them in camps would cost a fortune.
Adding to that, calculating all the losses from the war would keep the treasurer swamped.
‘I can almost hear the treasurer’s screams from here, but what can we do?’
That’s the treasurer’s job.
Ian silently offered a moment of silence for the treasurer.
“Oh, and the Endran Ducal House sent victory celebration gifts via a merchant group.”
“Really?”
Ian and Hubert tilted their heads in confusion.
‘Has the news already reached the Endran Ducal House?’
Merchants are known for their swift information networks, and given the good relations between the Schrantz Earldom and the Endran Ducal House, it wasn’t surprising they sent gifts.
‘Even if the news traveled fast, the gifts arrived too quickly.’
Considering the distance between Schrantz and the Endran Ducal House, the gifts arrived unusually early.
‘Do they have a mage who can use teleportation?’
If they had a high-level mage capable of teleportation, it would be possible.
‘But that’s unlikely.’
That seemed too far-fetched.
Even Sera, who would become a great mage in the future, wouldn’t master spatial magic for over a decade.
As far as Ian knew, no such mage existed in the empire yet.
‘I give up.’
Ian decided to stop thinking about it and let it go.
After all, there was no reason to refuse the gifts.
“How have you been while I was unconscious?”
“Nothing much happened before the territorial war, so it might be boring. Is that okay?”
“What does it matter if it’s boring or not? I just want to know how my sons lived without their father.”
From then on, the conversation turned to trivial matters, but no one found it dull.
The carriage they were in glided smoothly towards the lord’s castle.
* * *
The lords of the Great Schrantz Alliance were confined to guest rooms until Duke Duser arrived, while the remaining prisoners were sent to a camp in the pioneering village, guarded by about a hundred Schrantz soldiers.
The sheer number of prisoners required extra personnel to monitor and prevent riots.
Upon arriving at the lord’s castle, Hubert decided to meet the merchant group that had brought the victory celebration gifts.
“Is this our first meeting? I’m Kevin, the head of the Adoran Merchant Group.”
The Adoran Merchant Group was managed by the Endran Ducal House and frequently travelled to the pioneering village.
“The head of the merchant group came personally?”
“Yes, indeed. How could I stay still upon hearing such joyous news? As soon as I heard, I brought food and weapons as victory celebration gifts.”
He had loaded as many weapons and provisions as possible, following Duke Endran’s orders to support Schrantz.
“What exactly did you bring?”
“Enough food to feed Schrantz’s soldiers for over three months, 500 spears, 500 swords, 500 shields, and over 3,000 arrows.”
Hubert was startled, as the quantity exceeded his expectations.
“How did you pass through the Earl of Erce’s checkpoint with such a load?”
“When we said it was for the pioneering village, they let us through easily.”
Given the barren land of the pioneering village, it was necessary to import food from outside.
Moreover, with frequent monster appearances, sending weapons wasn’t suspicious, and they were let through as usual.
Of course, a bit of bribery was involved, but he didn’t mention that.
Hubert nodded in understanding.
