3 bar menu

Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 10

The real thing is going to start now.

After a while, the gates have slowly opened.

Theo signaled his horse and slowly proceeded through the city streets towards the castle gate. If this turns out to be a trap laid for him by Lord Radovan, then Theo is definitely going to die. However, he had a strong belief that everything is going to be alright, and so he confidently crossed the castle gate and found himself in the castle grounds. Once he was inside, the gatekeeper proceeded to close the gate behind him and lock it up thoroughly.

While he was making his way here, he could not help it but notice that many people on the streets and in the windows of buildings were looking at him, and although they all had that air of uneasiness about them, it could be said that they were all curious about Theo. That fact was making him slightly uncomfortable, but now was not the time for him to be getting upset about such minor inconveniences.

As Theo was waiting with a tightened expression, the old man came down from the guard tower and walked towards him.

「I will show you the way. 」

Theo got off his horse and offered the old man a proper greeting. He tehn grabbed a hold of the reins of his horse and followed after the old man while making sure to stay right beside him the entire time.

「I have already sent the messenger with the news of your arrival to the Lord. 」

「I appreciate it. 」
Theo nodded his head solemnly. With the guidance from the old man, it did not take long for them to reach their destination: Radovan’s castle keep.

The keep of the castle itself was an elongated structure that was build along the cape of the port, and in front of it was an incredibly sturdy-looking gate with a single guard tower.

「I hope that the negotiations are going to go well. 」

「I hope so too. 」

Theo entrusted his horse to the old man and walked towards the gates, where armed soldiers stood with crossbows on the towers and walls. If they all were to aim their weapons at him now, he would have nowhere to hide, and would meet the end of his life by being turned into a pincushion for crossbow bolts.

「I am Radovan, the Lord of this port city. 」

Before long, a middle-aged old man with a mustache came out of the gate to the inner keep alone to greet him, when they have seen him, the people who were behind Theo erupted with cheers.

When Theo turned around, he saw that a large crowd of people has come to the keep from the city in order to watch their negotiations. Looks like the audience for this peculiar spectacle has been gathered.

「My name is Theo Cornero. I am a Knight in service of Vilar Constance, the Earl of Artuk. 」

Theo declared his name loudly for all to hear.

The distance between Radovan and him was still about 10 paces. Theo did not measure it because he was cautious or wary of him, but simply because he thought that it would have been easier for them to talk if they were not standing so far apart without the need for both of them to be so loud. And besides, the most important thing was to get the townsfolk to be the audience for this negotiation, and that condition has already been met.

「First and foremost, you need to know that I have accepted your proposal for discussion because of the will of the residents of my city, but my mind has already been made up. If it is my territory and my title that you want, then you will have to take them from me through battle. 」

Radovan shouted back towards Theo. Looks like he wants to put a spectacle for his subjects as much as Theo did.

「Radovan does not want to fight us. 」

That is what Siluca firmly believed. However, he cannot surrender to the forces of the Fantasia Union of his own volition. But in order to make that happen, they must have a just cause, because just like Siluca said, they are not going to try to persuade Radovan himself, but rather the townspeople of this port city.

The townspeople just want to live peacefully, and they do not want to have a siege laid onto their city because that would place their lives directly in danger. However, since their Lord decided to fight against the Fantasia Union, they are all prepared to fight alongside him. After all, for the people of any given territory, their Lord is their representative. The Lords protects his people, and the people protect their Lord in return. That is how the peerage system should work, and that is how it should be at all times. Unfortunately, there are still towns and villages where that ideal state of being simply cannot be realized, and Sistina, the place of Theo’s birth and his beloved hometown, is the worst possible example of that trend.

That is why people who have been blessed with a good and caring Lord naturally want said Lord to just rule over them forever, and to regular people it does not matter if that Lord is from the Fantasia Union or the Factory Alliance. Being kept safe is all that they ask for.

「In other words, you are going to keep aligning yourself with the Factory Alliance? 」

「Of course. I have sworn allegiance to Matthias Kraische and the Factory Alliance and have become his subordinate Lord. 」

「But Archduke Matthias Kraische is dead. The Lord to whom you have sworn allegiance in no longer among the living, so you do not have continue being loyal to him. 」

「That may be so, but the Crest of Matthias Kraische has been inherited by Marine Kraische, which is why I intend to become her subordinate Lord sometime in the future. 」

「Is that so? 」

Theo nodded his head slowly.

「In that case, the win is your, Lord Radovan. 」

「The win is mine? What do you mean? 」

Radovan asked quizzically, not knowing what Theo was talking about just now.

「I came here knowing full well that I will most probably have to fight you. However, on my way here, I was blocked by the residents of the city who did not want to let me anywhere near the castle. The elite troops that I am commanding would probably be able to take the castle for me if all we had to worry about were just your soldiers, but since we also have tens of thousands of this city’s citizens against us, there is no way we could have ever hoped to win against such a formidable force. 」

「If you really understand that much, then all that I am asking of you now is for you to go back the way you came from. 」

Radovan said so, still confused.

「Yes, now that you have beaten me in that regard, I have no other choice but to do just as you say… and then I will be forced to come back here with the entire army of Selvis backing me up. 」

「Do you really think that I am going to succumb to your empty threats now? 」

「No, I do not think so at all. You have already made your decision, and you are obviously prepared to give up your life for it, and the same thing can be said about the other Lords and their soldiers who have barricaded themselves in your castle. I like to think that I should know the strength of such an army better than anyone else. 」

When he was fighting against the Heavy Knights of Waldrind back in Selvis, many Lords and their soldiers have chosen to fight together with him until the very end.
「And that is why there is something that I would like to ask of you. I want to ask you to protect the people of this city who have been protecting you up until now. 」

「And how exactly am I supposed to protect them, according to you? 」

Radovan asked that of Theo.

「I do not wish for this city to become a bloody battlefield. I can also assure you that my friend, Lord Lassic David, the King of Selvis shares that opinion with me. 」

「So you want to fight me in this castle alone? 」

Radovan said, and then he looked as if he was pondering something for a moment before a sly expression has shown itself on his face.

「Very well. If you promise not to interfere with ethe people of the city, then I will leave the city gates open. 」