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Volume 1 Chapter 4 Part 2

Lassic said so as he raised his fist.

 

「I’m prepared for that as well. After all, I’m as good as dead in the battle ahead anyway. 」

 

Nehmann nodded in haste.

 

「I thought we would have more allies who would fight on our side and that is why I decided to set up camp here, but thinking about it now, this might have been a mistake after all. We should have all confined ourselves to Master Lassic’s castle and prepared for a long-term battle. 」

 

Siluca said calmly.

 

「Are you going to admit failure then? 」

 

Moreno stared at Siluca in surprise.

 

「Well, these are the facts, so… 」

 

Siluca lightly shrugged her shoulders. Seeing her like that, Theo let out a laugh.

 

「W-What is it? 」

 

Siluca looked back at Theo in surprise.

 

「Oh, nothing. It is just that I was strting to get worried about you, but it looks like you are still okay. 」

 

It has been some time since Theo met Siluca already, so he could confidently say that he has become somewhat proficient at knowing what Siluca was thinking just by looking at her expressions and attitude. Apparently, the way in which things were developing right now was still in her estimations to at least some extent.

 

「Eh? 」

 

Siluca stiffened her face.

 

「No, no, what I am trying to say is that we are really in trouble here, and that we are genuinely going to lose at this rate if things keep going the way they are. 」

 

「If things keep going the way they are now, huh? 」

 

Siluca let out a big sigh.

 

「If I allowed that much to show on my face than that is due to my own ignorance, but even if you noticed it, then I would appreciate it if you did not point it out loud like that. Now I will have no choice but to let everyone know about it. 」

 

「Know about what? 」

 

Lassic made a strange face, not knowing what Siluca was talking about right now. On the other hand, Neman silently waited for Siluca to speak.

 

「It’s true that we haven’t gathered many allies to our cause yet. However, I can feel that the independent Lords must be looking at us favorably. It they did not, then we porbably would not have been able to pass trough their territories as safely as we did. 」

 

「Well, yeah… I guess that makes sense. 」

 

Lassic nodded his head.

 

「Even a smallest of noises can eventually cause a big avalanche. I think that is the kind of situation that we are in right now. 」

 

「Does that mean that we should make some kind of noise to gather more attention to ourselves? 」

 

「That’s right. If someone makes a move, allies will gather to them one after another. For that reason, I think it would be better to spread the word that we are inferior to the King of Selvis both in numbers and fighting ability and that we have chosen the wrong type of battlefield for ourselves. 」

 

「No way, we cannot do that! If we spread such rumors about ourselves, then no sane Lord would be willing to side with us if the assume that we are at that big of a disadvantage! 」

 

Neman shook his head.

 

「Is that so? But you seemed pretty determined to fight the King of Selvis in order to protect your independence. The way I see it, in this conflict, not taking our side is the same as admitting that you support King Selvis. Or at aleast that is probably what the King of Selvis himself would think. 」

 

Siluca’s voice was full of confidence.

 

「That sounds like a bit of a stretch to me. Why do you think that this is what the King of Selvis is thinking? 」

 

Lasik looked at Siluca with suspicions.

 

「That’s because I inadvertently sent personal letters to some of the King of Selvis’ underlings. In there letters I acted as if I did not know enough about Selvis and what is currently going on in it, and so I addressed them like all the other independent Lords. And in these personal letters, what I said earlier was written as well, as if I was talking about it carelessly. Of course, in the personal letters I sent to the actual independent Lords, I didn’t want it to be taken as a threat, so I didn’t write anything like that. The only thing that I stated in these letters is that Lord Theo is prepared to fight for his independence as a Lord to the death. 」

 

「Indeed, a personal letter addressed to a subordinate Lord will naturally catch the attention of the King of  Selvis. People like to believe that facts that are convenient for them are the absolute truth, after all. And if we add the king’s personality to that… 」

 

A smile appeared on Lassic’s face as if he finally understood what was it that Siluca was aiming for here.

 

「King of Selvis, who is convinced that he is the stronger Party in this conflict and that his victory is as much as secured is definitely going to announce that all the independent Lords who do not support Lord Theo are his own subordinates. And once the news of that proclamation of his are going to spread… 」

 

Lasik grinned.

 

「You really do stop at nothing in order to achieve your goals, do you? 」

 

Beside him, Moreno lets out a big sigh.

 

「You can say that again. 」

 

And he looked at Siluca as if he was asking her if she was out of her mind.

 

「I didn’t deceive anyone, I just used a clever trick in order to bring out King Selvis’ true feelings. It’s exactly the same thing like when I asked you to negotiate with him, Moreno-senpai. 」

 

「My oh my… 」

 

Neman wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

「It’s only natural that Lords like us, who are too powerless to even make a contract with a Mage would be made to dance on the palm of his hand. 」

 

When he invaded Lassic’s territory, Theo and Lassic’s forces were already waiting for him, and that is when Neman realized that he had fallen right into their trap. He made up his mind and decided to fight, but then one of his fellow Lords was killed the battle, and the other was simply taken alive and held captive. And as if that was not enough, his cousin abandoned his own army and fled the battlefield altogether.

 

Neman, who was in the rear, galloped his horse and tried to rally his displaced and confused soldiers, for otherwise he thought he would not win. However, during that time, they were surrounded by Theo’s forces, and he had no choice but to surrender.

 

When Neman offered to surrender, Theo asked him to become his subordinate Lord, and the words that he spoke to him at that time left a strange impression on him.

 

「You tried to unite the soldiers of other Lords when you were outnumbered. That’s because you think of soldiers as the same people as you, and I think I could fight shoulder to shoulder with such a person. 」

 

Back then he thought that it would be a height of humiliation to submit himself to a wandering Lord, and the one who was as young as that young man at that, but with that two sentences of his, all of his worries have mysteriously disappeared.

 

Certainly, gathering the troops was the right thing to do, because with no one to lead them, they wouldn’t have been able to decide what to do by themselves, and the unnecessary sacrifices would have only increased. Needless to say, Neman thought that such a turn of events was unacceptable.

I doesn’t know if the decision he made was right or not, but at least he could say that these few words from Theo were what saved him. He also thought that a Lord who notices such things about others might be worth submitting himself to after all.

 

「Sometimes a small noise can start an avalanche, but if you want to be sure that this avalanche is going to occur without fail, the noise must be loud. 」

 

Neman nodded at the words of Theo’s contracted Mage.

 

「You can also try making lots of small noises, which is honestly the approach that I prefer. 」

 

Siluca  smiled back at him.

 

Her expression was adorable. However, Neman was still feeling that beads of sweat dripping from his entire body. Moreno said that that Siluca would stop at nothing in order to achieve her goals, which also probably included methods that the other Party would probably not even notice.