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Chapter 20: Crown Prince Muno

I dashed across the Barbar Mercenary Party camp and into the Vaffancrow Empire’s encampment.

「Hey—Gaia! Wait up! Where are you going!?」

「Uncle Athos!」

Uncle Athos came chasing after me.

As we ran side by side, I explained the situation.

「The enemy is trying to surround us! I’m going to the Empire’s headquarters to push for a retreat!」

「Got it. I’m coming too. But don’t do anything reckless!」

Easy for him to say. Our lives were on the line.

Not just mine—everyone’s in the Barbar Mercenary Party.

We burst into the massive command tent of the Vaffancrow Empire.

「Where is His Highness the Crown Prince!? We’re under attack! The enemy is here!」

I shouted in Empire-speak, but the tent was in chaos, and no one paid any attention.

「Uncle Athos! Let’s head deeper in!」

「Right! The big shots are probably further back!」

We pushed our way toward the rear.

Several officers passed us by—none of them stopped us.

(This place is beyond saving…)

I’d already sensed they lacked discipline and moral backbone, but now, with the enemy at the gates, they were practically disintegrating.

At the far end of the tent, a luxurious tapestry served as a makeshift door.

That had to be it.

「Gaia, Commander of the Barbar Mercenary Party, requesting audience!」

「Wh-wha-who the hell are you!?」

As I shouted in a commanding voice and barged into the room, a pudgy man sitting in a fancy chair let out a startled yelp.

That was the Crown Prince of the Vaffancrow Empire.

Uncle Athos and I knelt before him out of formality.

This room… stank of booze.

I resisted the urge to click my tongue.

Even Uncle Athos wrinkled his nose.

A few women and officers nearby had turned pale, so they must have realized how bad the situation was getting.

I quickly pulled up the Crown Prince’s profile on the [Sma-ho!] skill screen.

[Muno – Crown Prince – Incompetent / Spineless]

An incompetent, spineless Crown Prince was leading this army…

I already wanted to sigh, but I swallowed it down—again. How many times now?

「Reporting! Enemy reinforcements from the Kingdom of Algeas! Fifteen thousand from the north, five thousand from the south—twenty thousand total—are surrounding our forces!」

「Tw-twenty thousand!? Wh-what do we do!?」

Muno the Crown Prince guzzled from his wine cup in panic.

Strangely, the officers around him looked… relieved?

「Your Highness! We also number twenty thousand!」

「Yes, precisely! Our numbers are even!」

「If the odds are even, there’s no reason the Vaffancrow Empire should lose!」

「Hmm… is that so!?」

(No no no no no! That’s not okay! They’re still drunk, aren’t they!?)

Uncle Athos, clearly alarmed, cut in.

「Please wait! You’re forgetting the five thousand soldiers inside Colon Castle! The enemy’s total force is twenty-five thousand—they outnumber us by five thousand!」

「「「「「Ah!」」」」」

Finally got through to them.

Took them long enough!

It felt like I was watching a comedy sketch.

Muno the Crown Prince, whose face had just regained some color, now turned ghostly pale.

(Don’t throw up. Please don’t throw up.)

「Your Highness! The enemy is already completing their encirclement! They’re moving to seal off our only escape route—the western corridor to Pyrrhus—」

「We can’t retreat! If I do, Father will scold me!」

(He’s worried about getting scolded…? Seriously?)

Let him get scolded! Idiot!

Something inside me snapped.

I grabbed a nearby water jug and splashed the Crown Prince and his flunky officers right in the face.

「Bwaugh!」

「What do you think you’re doing!?」

「Impertinent cur!」

The protests started flying, but I glared at them with cold eyes.

「Are you sober now?」

「You dare—how dare a lowborn Barbar—!」

The Crown Prince tried to protest, but I roared over him.

「Open your ears and listen to the battlefield! Hear the enemy’s war cries? Hear the screams of our men? If this keeps up—we’ll be wiped out!」

「W-wiped out!? W-wait!」

He tried to object, but I kept going, rapid-fire.

「Your Highness! We can still retreat—no, escape! If you give the order now, we can save your life! But if you hesitate, we’ll be trapped, and you’ll die here!」

「I-it’s that bad!?」

I glanced at the [Sma-ho!] screen.

The Algeas army had completed their encirclement.

They had already moved troops to block the west.

「The situation is dire. We’ve already been surrounded. Please—order the retreat!」

「B-but—」

Muno the Crown Prince looked desperately left and right.

But none of the officers by his side met his eyes—they looked away in silence.

They were all bootlickers and incompetents.

「Your Highness, then how about this? Let’s call it a maneuver, not a retreat.」

「What? A maneuver?」

「Yes. We change the direction of the advance—call it a maneuver toward Pyrrhus. If you phrase it that way, your father won’t be upset.」

The Crown Prince’s face lit up.

He shouted loudly to those around him.

「We maneuver west! All forces, head to Pyrrhus!」

At last, the command tent began to move.

Messengers burst out with the orders.

「Gaia, well done!」

Uncle Athos clapped me on the shoulder and whispered in praise.

I’d gotten the Crown Prince to order a 「maneuver「 to Pyrrhus—our official excuse to get the Barbar Mercenary Party out of this hellhole.

Now, there was one last thing to do…

「Hey, Ponkotts!」

I called out to the only sober officer here—the 「slightly incompetent「 one.

「Wha—? It’s Ponkotts, not Ponkotsu!」

「Whatever. Ponkotts! You’re coming with us! Bring the Crown Prince too!」

I barked orders on purpose.

If I gave him a choice, he might pick the worst one. These guys were all idiots.

Ponkotts blinked in confusion, completely lost.

「You want me to bring His Highness?」

「Yeah. The Barbar Mercenary Party is prepared for this kind of situation. We’ve got the best odds of survival.」

「R-really?」

「If you want to live, follow us. We can’t let the Crown Prince of the Vaffancrow Empire die here, right?」

「U-understood!」

If the Crown Prince dies, who knows what punishment would befall those responsible.

I had every reason to hate the guy—but letting him die here wouldn’t do us any good.

Uncle Athos seemed to agree with my thinking, raising no objections to bringing him along.

Now—time to escape!