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Volume 5 Prologue

Prologue

Half a month has passed since Castle Unicorn fell.

It was a fierce battle in which most of the Lords and soldiers guarding the castle, including the castle’s master, Vilar Constance, the Earl of Artuk, were killed.

The Unicorn Castle has now become occupied by Dartania’s Viceroy, Milza Kuches, together with his army of 5,000 soldiers. But he then declared that he would soon own all of Artuk.

He inherited the title of his predecessor, his father, whom he killed himself, and his title of Viceroy has now reached the rank equivalent to that of a Marquis. Since Artuk is an earldom, he seems to have enough peerage for it to work. However, except for the territories under the direct control of the Earl of Artuk, many towns and villages have their local Lords who were subordinated to him, so after Villar died, they became independent Lords.

Milza the Viceroy then announced that if the independent Lords will swear their obedience to him, he will secure their realms. However, Artuk’s Lords responded by abandoning their castles and hiding in the forests and mountains. It was a manifestation of their intention of thorough resistance.

In that case, the Viceroy selected those who had distinguished themselves in battle from his subordinates, gave them titles and made them his subordinate Lords and decided to dispatch them to each village as their new rulers. It seems that the rule of the peerage system is that anyone can enter a city or village where the Lord has abandoned his rule and claim if for themselves.

Sedar, one of the soldiers who was serving under Milza, was bestowed with a Crest of Subordination of his own by the Viceroy three days ago.

His title is that of a Knight, and he was given one village as his territory. He was now on his way to the territory with two hundred soldiers he was commanding. It’s located less than two days from Castle Unicorn. Strict patrol was conducted around the castle, to ensure that there was no danger lurking for them there.

Sedar was thrilled to be a Lord of his own territory

He was only a poor sailor, but then he decided to followed Milza and became a warrior who fought for him. And in the previous battle he actually managed to slay one of the enemy Lords. As a result, he was recognized for his achievements and he was made into a knight. This means that from now on, he can be promoted as high as he can depending on his achievements.

(First a Lord of a village, then a city, and then a whole country…!)

For that reason, it was necessary for him to firmly govern his new territory.

He heard that the people might not be obedient to him, so first thong’s first, he is going to have to suppress them if they revolt openly. The reason why he took two hundred soldiers to a village of a thousand households is so that he could teach them what will happen to them if they dare to disobey him. It is Dartania’s practice to punish those who disobey the Lord’s orders with flogging. During his sailing days, he received that punishment several times himself.

On the night of that day, Sedar arrived in his territory. Several representatives met with him and opened the gates of the fortified settlement to let him in. These people were not the most welcoming, it they were not openly defiant towards him either.

「From today onwards, I will be your new Lord! 」

Entering the village on horseback, Sedar loudly declares.

「The tax that you are all obliged to pay will be half of your total harvest! Should it be necessary, we might also collect necessary items from you or impose mandatory labor! If you were trading in this territory, then you need to pay 10 silver coins per month, and as for any problems and disputes that might be occurring, I will be passing judgement onto them personally! Do you all understand?! 」

「Do whatever you want… 」

The old man answered with a blank expression and pointed to the largest mansion in the village.

「That’s the previous Lord’s mansion. Everything you need for living has already been delivered inside. We also brought food and other necessities. With that number of people, you should have enough of everything for three days. 」

「If it’s not going to be enough, I’ll ask you to deliver the supplies again. 」

Sedar looked down at the old man from his horse and laughed.

The soldiers he brought in with himself called out to his sailor comrades and gathered them. If the governance goes well, he plans to leave about five people behind and return the rest to the castle. However, until then, it is necessary to make them all feel good to some extent.

When he entered the mansion with his men, they confirmed that a lot of barrels, sacks and baskets with food and other supplies were really brought in. There was also a huge jar of alcohol waiting for them.

「Alright, it’s going to be a party tonight! Congratulate me for becoming a Lord! 」

When Sedar called out to his soldiers, they responded to him with loud cheers.

「The Viceroy will eventually conquer the entire territory of the Fantasia Union, so every last one of you can become a Lord if they work hard enough! 」

As Sedar raises the goblet, the soldiers turned the jar around to pour it to him.

「Women! Bring us women! 」

Someone cried out.

「I don’t mind if you bring them along, but don’t be too violent with them! Just let them cook the food and serve you alcohol for now. 」

Sedar warned his people, but he didn’t know if any of the soldiers would care to actually heed his warnings to not hurt the women.

After all, the sailors of Dartania are all famous for being daredevil thugs. They’re excellent as soldiers, but once they go out of control, there was simply no stopping them.

After a while, about 20 female citizens were brought in to serve during the feast.

The women were all frightened, but they cooked as ordered and served the alcohol to the soldiers as instructed.

At some point, someone started singing songs from Dartania, and everyone started clapping their swords to the beat. It was late at night, but the banquet doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of ending at all.

(Ah well, I guess it won’t matter tonight.)

Sedar murmured in his heart. He had a beautiful young girl by his side, and enjoyed her cooking and drinks that she served him to his heart’s content…

After feeling as if he was in a daze, he suddenly realized that the inside of the mansion was in an uproar.

It was a brawl.

Initially, Sedar thought that the soldiers had gotten into a fight because of they had too much alcohol to drink, but then he realized that it was not the case.

Much to his surprise, armed men broke into the mansion. They clashing their swords with his subordinates here and there, and even though there didn’t seem to be that many of them, Sedar’s soldiers were all too drunk to be able to move their bodies as they wished.

Sedar drew his sword too, but it felt terribly heavy in his hand. He was also suffering from terrible dizziness. Sure, he also drank much alcohol, he was never feeling like he was now whenever he got drunk in the past.
Dizziness is terrible. He drank quite a bit, sure, but that doesn’t usually happen.

(Maybe the alcohol was poisoned?)

He had heard that there were Witches in every settlement in Artuk, and that they were good at cooking all kinds of magic potions.

Sedar thought that he needed to run. In the state he was in now he could hardly fight, so there was no other choice for him.

He knelt down and tried to sneak to the door, and he actually managed to get himself out…

… However, there was already a circle of people with lit torches in their hands waiting for him outside.

「We have no intention of going against you, but we also have no intention of cooperating with you. The previous Lord who was away came back and killed you. It is as simple as that. 」

An old man spoke out expressionlessly.

「Do you think such reasoning will work?! Out of my way! If you don’t move, I’ll kill you! 」

Sedar threatened, but the people did not move a single step.

「Shit! 」

While cursing, Sedar tried to cut into the people. He thought that if the blade approached them, it would clear the way…

… But then he felt a push on his back, and Sedar fell forward. As he tried to stand up, a sharp pain shot through his stomach. He bends his neck and tried to turn his gaze back.

A man with a sword was standing there. He stabbed him from behind with his sword. His blade pierced his stomach, and blood oozed out of it.

Sedar knew he was going to die at this point.

「Welcome to my realm. Did you like my Artukian welcome? 」
A man called out to him while looking down at Sedar

「Are you… this land’s…? 」

Sedar glared at him in pain.

「That’s right. I was away and was informed that a thief had broken into my territory. 」

The man laughed loudly.
「Go ahead and feel triumphant if you want… but one day, you will fall under Lord Milza’s blade… This is Dartania, not Artuk… 」

When he said that, Sedar no longer had any strength left. He laid down with his face buried in the ground, and he soon died.

「Even if we all die, Artuk will never die. A country is the land and the people who live in it, after all. 」

The man who killed Sedar muttered.

「It was amazingly done! 」

A voice called out from behind him, and the man turned around.

「Thank you for your cooperation with this, Baron Eugen… 」

He respectfully bowed to the bearded man who called out to him. He was Eugen Niklae, who had his territory in the northern part of Artuk.

「If you want to thank someone, then please thank my wife. 」

Eugen proudly put his hand around the back of the woman next to him.

「No, I didn’t do anything… 」
The woman hung her head in shame. She was Eugen’s wife Deadri, and she was also his contracted Mage.

At her own peril, she entered the mansion and concocted a magical potion that made Sedar fall unconscious. Since coming to Artuk, she learned her potion brewing skills from the Witches who lived in the realm.

「I just made a bad dish, that’s all. 」

Deadly hid behind Eugen’s back, her face still down. Her natural shyness was such that when she was still assigned to Vilar, she was too nervous to speak around him. She was thus deemed unfit to be his contracted Mage and was sent to Eugen. She was the same with Eugen for a while, but one day she realized that he was also nervous around her, and that made her feel a bit better.

Eventually, she came to appreciate Eugen’s frankness, and accepted the offer of marriage from the Baron. Eugen lost his first wife early and had no children.

Having become the wife of a Lord, she was prepared for this situation.

Eugen was strong, but Deadri didn’t know how long he could fight against Milza, said to be the strongest warrior on the continent. All she can do now is to share her fate with her husband.

「Come on, let’s withdraw before Dartania’s reinforcements arrive! 」

Eugen gave orders.

He had no intention of dealing with a large army. His aim is to crush and deplete the enemy forces when they were isolated.

(We will remind you just how hard it is to conquer Artuk.)

Eugen stared in the direction of Castle Unicorn and called out to Dartania in his heart.