Chapter 443: Lost and Lucky

Only once we rolled out of the castle with the wagons carrying the prisoners did my men finally relax enough to laugh and talk. Though we’d called it an occupation, we’d never let our guard down against a possible riot.

"Good heavens! Master, what is all this?!"

"Your master’s spoils and prisoners."

"This much in a single day? How is that even possible?"

When we got back to the camp on the Plain of Hissen, my men couldn’t contain their astonishment at the spoils and noble captives I’d brought in. Fair enough. For a trip that had amounted to a leisurely stroll, the haul was enormous.

"So this is what you meant when you told the estate manager to build warehouses?"

"I’ll be bringing back a lot more spoils and prisoners. I don’t want to hear later that we’re short on storage, so make sure the estate manager understands my intent."

I dumped everything on Oscar and reorganized the unit. Not a single man had died at Wischelbach, but five had been wounded. I also folded Ted’s reconnaissance unit into the force.

Since I intended to roam Basel’s territory until I sat down at the peace table with the Count, I planned to have the trip double as a search. The two treasure maps I’d given Ted might well point to locations inside Basel.

"The Count of Basel may strike Hissen, so break camp and return there immediately."

"Understood. But, master, are you crossing the Basel border again?"

"This time I’ll bring back even more prisoners and spoils."

"Master! Take the lady’s letter before you go!"

"Hilda’s letter? You should have led with that!"

So I read Hilda’s letter, and it was full of worry from the first line to the last. She seemed to know exactly what I was up to. I’d told them to keep it quiet, so which one of them had snitched?

Oscar spoke carefully, gauging my expression.

"I hear Sir Einbeck wrote up a very thorough report and sent it along."

"August? I specifically told him to keep it from Hilda."

"Apparently it was the lady’s order. And Sir Einbeck opposed this operation from the start."

"So he figured Hilda would talk me out of it."

August had argued that Rosenheim had grown this powerful only because of me, and he had stressed over and over that, as a prince, I needed to take care of myself. I simply hadn’t listened.

But I was past the point of no return, and turning back now would cost more than pressing on.

I set my complicated feelings aside, crossed the Basel border, and rode south.

Ted, who was leading the reconnaissance unit, came over and asked,

"Master, where are we headed this time?"

"A holding called Hagenhausen. It’s in the western part of Basel, and..."

Where exactly were we? I had a map, but I couldn’t find our position on it. It wasn’t a detailed map, just rough locations sketched out, so pinpointing anything was hard.

I’d briefly lost my way on the road to Wischelbach too, and honestly, nothing short of upgrading the Searcher Scouter was going to settle my nerves. This was exactly what points were for.

The Searcher Scouter’s functions consisted of clue tracking and identifying hidden locations. I added a nearby-village detection function to it. Then I searched for Hagenhausen, and...

It seemed we’d overshot and ended up south of our destination again.

Here I was, a guy who used to find his way around just fine without GPS, and it turns out I have no sense of direction!

Then we spotted an enemy unit. They were heading east and looked like troops gathering at Basel Castle. Was this evidence that the Count of Basel had issued a general mobilization?

It was a perfect chance to pick them off one unit at a time. The infantry we’d just found weren’t from Hagenhausen. They were soldiers of Landschaft, in southern Basel, which bordered the Swiss Confederation. I hadn’t expected to run across soldiers from my third target.

Very nice.

Luck was on my side after all.

"Shift to attack formation immediately! The hunt begins!"

"Riders, draw swords!"

"Reconnaissance unit, don’t fall behind!"

I became the Charging Wolf and fell upon the troops bound for Basel. Startled by the sudden appearance of cavalry, the soldiers collapsed without putting up any real resistance. I’d have been scared witless too.

Southern Basel faced far less threat than the north, so they’d been marching without a care. They’d have kept some watch, of course, but no amount of watchfulness stops a cavalry ambush.

"My lord, we’ve captured their knight."

When the fight ended, we disarmed the Landschaft soldiers and released every one of them. The knight who’d led them became the only prisoner of the engagement. Ted grumbled that he’d missed out on the credit by a hair.

"Which house do you serve, knight?"

"...I am a vassal knight of Landschaft."

The knight glared at me with open killing intent, bitter and furious. Hm, he still had plenty of fight in him. Enemy or not, showing no courtesy before a prince was another matter.

At a glance from me, Ted threw a punch.

Thwack! The knight’s lip split, and blood ran down his chin.

"Show respect before Baron Rosenheim!"

"Ngh, damn you! I have no courtesy to spare for the men who killed my soldiers!"

Ted and Barosi took turns beating him. It was a cruel business, but with that much killing intent pouring off him, his spirit needed breaking first. Several times, we had to douse him with cold water to revive him.

"Hahh, hahh."

"I’m sorry about this. But this is war, and it can’t be helped. I try to spare civilians, but I can’t extend mercy to enemy soldiers. Even so, I released every soldier we took prisoner."

"Men I’d served with for years... my men are dead."

"I’ve sent plenty of my own men to the Lord’s side too. I know something of that feeling. It’s a terrible pain. That’s why I send a payment to the family every time one of my men dies. It’s the only compensation I can offer those who died fighting for me."

"..."

Across countless battlefields, I’d lost more men than I could count. Every time, the grief tore at me. That was why I’d built a system, so their deaths wouldn’t be in vain.

"If you want, I’ll see that your men are buried somewhere decent."

"Please recover their bodies, so they don’t become food for wild animals."

The knight softened considerably.

Caring for your soldiers is the same whether you’re a nameless knight or a famous one. And that kind of knight is exactly the kind who deserves respect. I wish the men who treat soldiers as expendable would take a lesson from him.

"What’s your name, sir knight?"

"Strauss. Strauss of Landschaft."

"Sir Strauss, were you headed to Basel because of the Count’s mobilization order?"

"...Yes. My liege, Baron Landschaft, entrusted these soldiers to me, and I was on my way to Basel. I never expected to meet the Gale Knight in a place like this."

In truth, I’d only run into him because I’d taken a wrong turn on the way to Hagenhausen, but saying so felt like an insult to Strauss, so I kept it to myself. What I did confirm was that the Count’s mobilization order had now spread across the whole region.

I sent Strauss off to my men as a prisoner and pushed on toward Hagenhausen. If my guess was right, any holding that had answered the mobilization would be relatively lightly defended.

Unlike the forty days of obligatory service, a general mobilization means the survival of the domain is at stake, so nobody stops to count days of service. According to Strauss, word of Wischelbach’s plundering had spread all over the region.

As we moved west, the Commander Scouter picked up an enemy unit. It was heading toward Basel, and it was a sizable force. Astonishingly, the Lord of Hagenhausen himself was leading it.

What kind of luck was this?