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Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 9

Theo rode his horse alone and approached the castle gate, after which he took a deep breath, after which he shouted as loud as he could:

「My name is Theo Cornero, a Knight in service of Vilar Constance, the Earl of Artuk! I have come here today to challenge Lord Radovan, the governor of this city! I do not wish to cause any unnecessary damage to the city itself, so please open the castle gates! 」

Theo proclaimed as such, awaiting to see what kind of response the enemy soldiers would show him.

「Are you really Theo Cornero?! 」

When they heard him state his name, all of the lightly-armored soldiers at the gates raised their heads in surprise. Rather than the regular soldiers, they looked like the members of a militia unit that has been hastly put together.

「Are you really Theo Cornero, the hero who defeated the Heavy Knights of Waldrind in battle?! 」

The soldiers instinctively leaned forward t get a closer look at Theo. This has also been the first time when he heard hos own name being associated with the word 「Hero」.Maybe that was the result of Irvin and the twins infiltrating the city, or maybe it was because the rumors about his exploits have travelled further then he could have ever anticipated?

「I heard the rumors about you, but you really look young. 」

After a while, a large number of soldiers gathered in the gate towers and corridors of the walls to see Theo. Theo did not move an inch the whole time, making sure that the soldiers could see him as much as they wanted. And then, when he deemed that the time was right, he cried out again:

「I repeat! I want you to open the gates for me! 」

His suddenly raised voice scared the soldiers, who immediately drew their bows at him, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

「Do not attack. 」

As soon as everyone heard that voice, an old man appeared among the soldiers. He had no armor on him and it did not look like he was carrying a weapon with him either. He is probably the most influential person in the entire town…

「We cannot open the gates for you. 」
He called out to Theo in a voice typical to that of old people, and he also gave the impression that he was accustomed to giving speeches.

「We, the residents of the city are perfectly satisfied with the way our Lord rules over us, so please, return to whence you came from immediately. 」

「I am afraid that I cannot do that. 」

Theo replied quietly.

「This expedition has but one goal in mind: to bring Clovis and Falvis into the Fantasia Union, just like Jurgen Kraische once did! 」

As soon as Theo brought up the name of the Iron-Blooded Earl, the soldiers on the walls became visibly nervous.

When Jurgen Kraische first came to this city, people were trying to resist him, and that ended up resulting in many victims and casualties. However, as soon as the castle of the Lord who was ruling over the city at that time got surrounded, he was allowed to surrender and offer his subordination to Jurgen. That move caused a great deal of antipathy amongst the residents of the city, and because of a negative backlash, the Lord in question was banished from the city a few years later. The Lord lived the rest of his life in a villa near the suburbs and was never allowed to return to the city proper for the rest of his life, and the person who inherited the title of the city’s Lord was his nephew and the current head of the family, Radovan.

「Due to all these circumstances, Lord Radovan has been accepted as the ruler of the city by the citizens, even though his rule was not exactly the easiest and he had a great deal of trouble at the very beginning… but it is because od all of that that he managed to become an exemplary Lord that he is today. 」

Theo recalled the words that he has been told.

「The main unit of our army is going to move to attack the castle belonging to the King of Falvis. And after they are done with that, the entire army is going to move here in order to deal with Lord Radovan. 」

Theo continued to deliver his message while being careful not to make it sound as if he was threatening the people of the city.

「I heard that the army that Artuk managed to amass counts as much as 30,000 soldiers… 」

One of the soldiers remarked with a trembling voice.

「If such a large army is going to attack us with the entirety of its forces… then what is going to happen to this city?! 」

Other soldier asked while being visibly distraught.

「Our Lord has already made his decision to fight, so as his soldiers, our duty is to protect the gates to the city no matter what army with how many troops is going to show up at our doorstep. 」

When the old men spoke, the other soldiers nodded at his words, even though they were all in a state of panic. To them, the lives of their families and loved ones were the most precious things in the entire world, and they would do everything to protect them, even going so far as to fight bravely against the invaders of their city.

「Since he worked so hard to earn it, Baron Radovan does not want to lose the support of his people and the trust of the Lords from the neighboring territories. But we, the people of this city do not wish to stay with the Factory Alliance if it means being dragged into a battle that we know we cannot win. If we want to persuade the Baron to surrender, we must first persuade the people living in the city. 」

That was Siluca’s intended plan of action.

Of course, she knew perfectly well that convincing the townsfolk to surrender was not going to be an easy task. However, since Theo’s fame has managed to reach even this country at this point, she assumed that the people of the city would respond favorably to his request to stand down, because first and foremost the people of this city should desire nothing more to avoid any casualties whatsoever if they wanted to keep their peaceful lifestyle.

「Your determination is a splendid one indeed. I havr nothing but admiration for both you and Lord Radovan. 」

Theo bowed to the old man from atop his horse.

「That is why I do not wish for this city to become a battlefield. Instead, I would like to welcome both Lord Radovan and the citizens of this city as the members of the Fantasia Union. For that reason, would you please allow me entry to the city so that I could meet with Lord Radovan? 」

Theo made his appeal while looking straight at the old man. If the soldiers on the walls do not decide to open the gates for him to pass through after everything that he just said, then that is going to be it for his preferable peaceful resolution. Since the forces that Theo has brought with him will not be enough to break into the city by themselves, they would really be forced to wait for the arrival of Lassic together with the main unit of Artuk’s army. If that happened, it would significantly slow down the process of the pacification of Falvus and only increase tye number of unwanted casualties on both sides.

No matter how and no matter what, the city needs to be surrendered to Theo peacefully.

「Back when I was fighting against the Heavy Knights of Waldrind in Selvis, I ended up losing a lot of good soldiers and Lords, si I know how much pain and suffering the loss of good men brings. I do not want to cause the same kind of pain and suffering to this city. 」

After he heard those words, the old man disappeared from the walls of the city’s gate and did not return for a good while. Throughout that time, Theo did not move an inch from here he was standing and he just awaited the old man’s return patiently.

「We will open the gates, but Lord Theo is the only one who is allowed the passage into the city. 」

Before long, the old man reappeared on the walls and called out to Theo.

(So the townspeople do not wish to engage in conflict with us after all.)

Theo thought to himself as he breathed a sigh of relief. However, getting the gates open was just the first step.