Chapter 449: Very Expensive Prisoner

Painkillers made from willow bark and anesthetics made from mandrake saw plenty of use too. If the witch hunts hadn’t wiped out the herbalists, the properties of medicinal plants would be far better known by now.

I should make a point of recording herbal lore thoroughly, even at this late date.

Naturally, all of this costs a fortune. Without money, reusing bandages is simply what you do. I’m very glad I’m a wealthy lord. I’d finished everything that needed doing and was about to catch my breath when Ted came over.

Why is he shuffling around like that?

"I-I’m sorry. I fired when I shouldn’t have..."

"What are you talking about? You’re the one who brought the baron down."

Honestly, when Ted pulled out the arquebus, even I didn’t believe he’d hit anything. I never expected him to actually land the shot. That’s the caliber of our Reconnaissance Commander.

"Thanks to you, that game of tag is over, so the credit is entirely yours. Stand up straight. I think I’ll formally grant you the title of Sharpshooter of Streit."

I’d called Ted a sharpshooter back during the lord of Feuzen business, but that was just a joke. For a prince of the realm to confer the title formally amounts to granting him an honor.

"Congratulations, our sharpshooter!"

"Ohh! The Sharpshooter of Streit! Our hope!"

"You can brag about this to Gustav’s sister!"

The men of the reconnaissance unit were far more thrilled than the dazed Ted himself. The unit was made up of men who’d been cut from the Gale Knights, so behind their backs they were called the washout unit and treated with contempt.

But with their commander receiving a title of honor, the standing of the whole unit rose. Outside of freakishly lucky cases like Ted’s, hitting an enemy with an arquebus from horseback is next to impossible.

Which meant improving the firearms was essential if I wanted to field mounted gunners.

Hmm, I’ll have to send Rosenschmidt another commission.

If I do create a mounted gunner corps, what should I call it? Cuirassiers is a French unit name, so that’s out on principle. Maybe I’ll take my wife’s nickname and call them the Valkyries, or Valküre?

"Heh heh heh, to lose this pathetically even with an ambush laid."

Once he’d calmed down, I untied the gag, and the Baron of Landschaft spoke with a self-mocking laugh. He’d thrown a screaming fit during the treatment, so apparently it hurt less now. Then again, that wasn’t treatment so much as torture.

"If it had been any commander but me, your ambush would have caught them completely off guard."

"Is the Gale Knight praising me? What an honor."

"You’re a provincial lord and I’m a prince of the realm. Where are your manners?"

Baron or not, the difference in rank between this man and me is night and day.

No, comparing us at all is laughable. It’s practically an insult.

"What manners does a man owe someone who’ll be begging my liege for his life soon enough?"

"I think you’ll come to your senses once Landschaft is a pile of ashes."

"You’ll be surrounded by my liege’s army and die long before you ever attack my lands. Still haven’t worked out why I fled in this direction?"

Now that he mentioned it, he’d fled away from Landschaft rather than toward it, and we’d barely caught him after a frantic chase. Without Ted it might have taken far longer. Hmm, this direction does lead to Basel.

"Is the Count of Basel coming this way?"

"He is. I was nothing more than bait to lure you in."

"Bait that lays an ambush on top of it. You’ve got some talent for war."

"And it failed spectacularly. No matter. I still succeeded in drawing you here. Rosenheim will be brought to its knees before Basel."

The Baron of Landschaft seemed to be praying from the bottom of his heart for exactly that.

"By the way, do you know that your sister cheated with a man named Stein and bore his bastards?"

"Stein? Tch, the stupid bitch forgot her duty and got up to nonsense. But how would you know that? Did you have her? Well, her face is pretty enough... Kuh-uck!"

"This guy is completely insane."

What was that? What did you just say? I poured every ounce of rage into a few punches. Whatever the era, a mad dog only understands a beating. For the record, a gauntleted fist hurts like hell. The baron quieted down fast.

The lord of Hagenhausen clearly has no eye for women or for families. Personally, I wouldn’t have anything to do with a house like that. I left the limp Baron of Landschaft where he lay and scanned our surroundings.

Nothing had shown up on the Commander Scouter yet.

Only Barosi and Herto, who had chased down those poor soldiers, came riding back to rejoin us.

"My lord, clearing this battlefield is going to take quite a while."

"No, this isn’t the time for cleanup. We have guests."

We spotted a reconnaissance unit coming from the direction of Basel. They seemed to be searching for our position, and I wondered how many troops were coming up behind them to take us.

"The Baron of Landschaft was nothing but bait to lure us in. The Count of Basel’s army is finally on its way here to catch us."

"My lord, we must fall back to Hissen for now."

The commanders were unanimous: retreat. If things went wrong and the Count of Basel captured me, all the effort and hardship up to now would go up in smoke.

He might even refuse a ransom and throw me in a cell for years. The Count of Basel is absolutely the kind of man who’d do it. But I had no intention whatsoever of running.

"Sir Szolnok, do you remember what I told you before? That I would be the hunter, not the hunted."

"M-m-my lord? Y-you can’t mean you intend to attack the Count of Basel?"

"The Count of Basel will be the one running. I’ll be the one chasing."

My men were stunned, but my mind was already made up.

"If you don’t want to fight alongside me, you’re free to run."

"There isn’t a single rider here who would abandon you and run!"

"We of Magyarország are no cowards!"

"This life is yours, Master!"

Barosi, Herto, and Ted steeled themselves as if the very idea were unthinkable. Watching this, the Baron of Landschaft mocked me for the idiocy of throwing away my men’s lives for nothing.

"You may not have noticed, but I’m putting you on the back of my horse."

"Wh-what? And if some sword happens to find me back there?"

"Then we both die. So you’d better pray I win."

The Baron of Landschaft’s face twisted instantly. He’d been planning to enjoy the sight of me dying or surrendering to the Count of Basel, but not a chance. From this moment, we’re one body and one heart!

"Damn it, let go of me! Mmph! Mmmph!"

"My lord, are you sure? Carrying this idiot on your horse..."

"He’ll be in the way, but I can’t leave him behind."

"I’ll carry the idiot myself instead."

"No need. Chrysos is the only horse here that can carry two men and still run hard."

Unless you’ve got a thoroughbred on the level of Chrysos, an ordinary warhorse struggles to carry two riders at speed. Add the gear and two men’s weight and you’re looking at roughly 440 pounds. That’s what Chrysos would be carrying.

"The reconnaissance unit is pulling back."

"They must have spotted us."

"Shall we run them down?"

"No, let them report our position to the Count of Basel."

When you’re outnumbered, the smart play is to stay hidden and either ambush or run, but I insisted on a head-on fight. It was nothing like the way I’d led them until now, so my men were taken aback, though they kept their composure.

That composure came from the confidence of having won every fight they’d ever been in.

And from having me, the knight famed as undefeated.

"Quite a crowd. Let’s have a look."

The Commander Scouter put the enemy’s total strength at 2,230 men. Insane. Over two thousand? Scraping together that many men just to catch one man shouldn’t have been possible in the first place.

Which meant the force had been prepared from the start. Maybe the plan was to destroy Vintenheim, and then, when I declared war in a fury, hurl that army straight into Rosenheim.

The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

All that just to wreck one man.

The reconnaissance unit found us, and before long the Count of Basel’s great army arrived. He must have known I wouldn’t run, because he raised a white flag and waited for me midway between our lines.

"You’ve had quite a time tearing up my lands."

"I was on my way to Landschaft, and as it happens I’ve just taken its lord prisoner."

"The Grossent family is finished, then, with an idiot like that as heir. I told him to lure you in. I never ordered him to throw himself at you like a fool."

"It was a rather good ambush. He isn’t a lord entirely without talent for war."

"Hoo. Baron of Rosenheim, I’ll grant you credit simply for not fleeing at the sight of my army. Now I’d like never to lay eyes on that miserable face again."

"When this battle is over, Count, you’ll wet yourself at the sight of me in your dreams."

"Lowborn duchy knight. This place will be your grave."

The Count of Basel rode back. Now all that remained was a battle with our lives on the line. Our strength stood at 150 riders. By any measure, it was David against Goliath. But I know how that story ends.

So that no one can ever look down on Rosenheim and Streit again.

I’ll smash them into pieces.