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Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 8

「The easiest way to kill a poisonous snake is to pierce its mouth as it is moving in to bite you. That is common knowledge where I come form. 」

Milza muttered under his breath and cast a sharp gaze at the other sister, but that brutal display was more than enough for her to fall to the Ground like a lifeless puppet that had its strings cut off, and by the time Milza sheathed his sword back into its scabbard, the second sister was already unconscious.

「Did you make sure to see everything that happened here properly? 」

Milza asked while turning towards Nicola.

「Y-Yes, yes I did! 」

Nicola was nodding his head over and over again, his face twitching with fear.

「At some point in the near future, the forces of Selvis will definitely come here in order to sieze control of this castle. When that moment comes, what are you going to do? 」

「After seeing all that you did just now, I no longer have any desire to fight you, so I choose to surrender myself to you, Lord Milza. Please accept my Crest, and if it would be at all possible, then I would also like to humbly ask you to accept me as your subordinate Lord. 」

「I have no interest in Crests that have been offered to me without a fight, and I do not have any subordinate Lords under my command. If you want to serve someone, then you can subordinate yourself to king Lassic David of Selvis and await the day when I will come back to claim this castle. 」

「The King of Selvis… 」

The young Lord pondered this matter for a while, and then he slowly nodded his head.

「I will do as you say. I will surrender myself to Lord Lassic David of Selvis and offer him my subordination. 」

「And I will make sure to inform the King of Selvis about your intentions. 」

Leaving those words behind, Milza then turned towards the soldiers who have now gathered in the hall.

「You guys should run away from this castle as soon as possible… but if you take some of the valuables with you, they should be enough to allow you to live peacefully for a while. 」

When Milza said that, the color in the eyes of the soldiers changed drastically, and all of them immediately rushed out of the hall to plunder as many valuables as possible. It did not take long for an ugly scramble to begin as the word spread around the rest of the fortress like wildfire. And in the midst of the turmoil, Milza Kuches, the prince of the small continent of Dartania left the castle that has now remained without an owner without being noticed by anyone.

* * *

March 28, 2013 of the Continental Callendar.

Theo’s forces have split from the main part of Lassic’s army and journeyed to the south along the main highway of Falvis. They have passed through several villages along the way, but so far they have encountered no resistance from the local people at all, and as for the smaller Lords and their soldiers, they all seem to be hole dup in Baron Radovan’s castle, and the villagers mostly stayed hidden in their homes when they were passing through.

Right now, they could see the outline of the sea in the distance, and the sound of the waves and the faint smell of the seawater began reaching them.

「Well now, what are we going to do about it now? 」

As they advanced their horses along the road, Theo asked Siluca that question.

「Whatever we will be able to do and as far as our measures will allow us. 」

Siluca answered him with vague words.

「Irvin has already infiltrated the city ahead of time together with Luna and Emma, and they are gathering information for us. According to what he has already shared with me, it would seem that the ruler of this city, Radovan, is on particularly bad terms with the King of Falvis. 」

「If the King of Falvis has a personal rank of an Accociate Viscount, and Radovan is a Baronet, then that might explain the bad blood between them, because they might be feeling a strong sense of competition against one another. 」

「That might be the case, since apparently the families that these two belong to have been fighting with each other for quite some time before Jurgen Kraische came along and incorporated both of them into the Factory Alliance. On a side note, even though the current King of Selvis is an Associate Viscount, Radovan still refers to him as a Baronet. 」

Associate Viscount and Baronet are not titles that are officialy recognized by the peerage system established by the Mages Association. Instead, it is something that the Lords themselves have come up with to describe the Lords who are a little bit short of attaining the ranks of Viscount and Baron. So when it comes to Radovan, the Lord of the port city, it would be more accurate to say that he is not even a Baron, but perhaps something closer to an ordinary Knight.

As for Jericho Orrick, the King of Falvis, he claims to be an Associate Viscount, but instead of being closer to the rank of Viscount, he is closer to the rank of Baron, so depending on how someone is calling him, it can be deduced whether they are favorable towards him or not.

「But this time, he has decided to fight alongside the King of Falvis. Why is that? 」

「My guess is probably because he does not want to give in to the military force. Baron Radovan has an honest personality and respects the peerage system greatly, which earned him the trust of the neighboring Lords and the respect of his people. 」

Siluca continued her explanations with indifferent words.

「If that is the case, then I do not want to fight a Lord like that. 」

Theo frowned. He knew that there could be no justice found in the war they were currently waging. Their enemy might be a Lord who is well-loved by his people, but as long as he is a member of the enemy camp, they have no choice but to fight him and claim his title and territory for themselves, because he is standing in their way. But still, it does not mean that Theo could not help it but to feel reluctant about the whole thing.

「It is precisely because he is such a Lord why we need to fight him and conquer him. This is the only way we can go about it, Lord Theo. 」

Siluca said while trying to sound as convincingly as possible.

「If it were up to me, then I would really like to not fight against the Baronet at all. But in that case, how can I convince him to step down? I imagine that it is not going to be easy, since he does not look like someone who would change his decisions once he has already made up his mind… 」

「That is right, Lord Theo. Which is why it is not Baron Radovan that we are going to need to persuade… 」

Siluca paused for a brief moment before she continued.

「But rather, we are going to need to persuade the residents of this city instead. 」

「Huh… I see… 」
After thinking about it for a while, Theo caught onto what Siluca’s intentions were here.

「So if I understand this correctly, then you want me to… to agitate the townsfolk? 」

Siluca nodded at him Silently. There was no sign of any kind of expression on her face right now, because she was doing her best to suppress her emotions in order to deliver a perfectly objective judgment of the situation.

「Prince Milza was the one who recognized my talent for me, so I have no choice but to make use of that talent now. 」

Theo said jokingly, and when Siluca heard that he was still cheerful despite their situation, she had a relieved look on her face.

「That is why this is going to be the best possible outcome, both for the Baron himself and for the townspeople. 」

Siluca added apologetically.

「I know. And besides, if there is a way to resolve the conflict without having to spill any human blood, then I am of course going to try that way. Alright, let s give it a go. 」

「Thank you very much. 」

Siluca smiled, bowed to Theo and began explaining the plan to him in detail.
It was already noon when they finally reached the walls that surrounded the entirety of the port city. In addition to the unicorn flag of the Constance family, Theo also hoisted the one of his own Cornero family, depicting a black eagle.