Volume 8 Chapter 1 Part 14

「Of course, my Lady. 」

Aubest bowed his head without changing his expression.

「Above all, I like what you just said. The day may come when the existence of Theo Cornero and Siluca Meletes will prove to be a blessing for me, even if I don’t know what kind of form that blessing might take. 」
Marlene turned awayfrom Aubest and murmured to herself. And then she continued in her mind.

(It may be when they are destroyed, or it may be after I am destroyed.)

Out of the corner of her eye, Marine could see Aubest staring at her.

「By the way, how are the negotiations going?「

Marlene asked Aubest, turning her gaze to the western sky.

「I have received reports that things are going well.”

「That’s good to hear. 」

Marlene nodded strongly. All that she has to do no is to use everything available to her to achieve victory, no matter if it’s going to be worth it or not.

* * *

「Welcome back. 」

The old Chamberlain and the contracted Mage of the Earl of Leclerc, Benedict, respectfully welcomed Kurt Gallas in front of the castle when he returned to his base in Sandrone.

Kurt dismounted his horse and took off his saddle. and patted his horse’s neck as if to reassure him on his long journey.

「What’s with that mule? What is he carrying? 」

Benedict asked Kurt, who had tied a mule to the back of his horse and was leading it along.

「Gold coins. Ten thousand of them. 」

Kurt has received this mule from the army of the Artuk Treaty, and used it to carry the gold coins provided as military funds divided into four bags.

「Looks like we’ll have to thank them for it properly then. 」

Benedict’s expression become a mixture of surprise and joy, since he never expected to be offered such an amount of money.

The old chamberlain bowed respectfully to the four bags, and then lowered them from the mule. The total weight of all the bags exceeded 100 kilograms, but even so, they were carried into the castle as soon as possible by the servants that the Chamberlain summoned to his side.

The stablemate came galloping over, took the saddle from Kurt, and led the horse and the mule away to the stables.

「How was the Artuk Treaty? 」

Benedict asked as he followed Kurt back to the castle.

「I managed to meet Theo Cornero, Siluca Meletes and Lassic David, the former leader of the Artuk Treaty, as well as the others. 」

Kurt answered as he walked.

「They were dispatching troops to the Donir River, the border with Waldrind. On the opposite bank, Heavy Knights of Waldrind were encamped, so I attacked them as I passed them by. 」

「That was reckless, even for you, my Lord. 」

Benedict said in shock.

「To make matters even better, the army of the Artuk Treaty saw this as an opportunity and immediately crossed the bridge and attacked the enemy camp. The Heavy Knights of Waldrind suffered a crushing defeat, and more than half of them were killed in battle or taken prisoner. As for the Artuk Treaty itself, they barely suffered any losses on their side. Their Lords and their allies are both excellent, and the morale of their soldiers is high. I think they’re going to be dependable allies whom we can trust. 」

「That’s the most important think you could learn, yes. 」

Benedict nodded his head with satisfaction.

「By the way, has anything changed while I was away? 」

On the other hand, when Kurt asked about that, the contracted Mage’s expression changed and sank visibly. That alone gave Kurt an idea of what the current situation was like.

「We tried negotiating with the Mages Association’s financial institution to have the interest on the loan waived and the repayment period extended, but we did not receive a positive response from them. They judged that the war situation was against our army, and that’s why they were reluctant to do anything for us. 」

「Well, I cannot exactly deny it… 」

Kurt said as he smiled bitterly.

「I was notified that if this goes on all of your assets in your home country would be seized by the Association. I decided to accept it if it would buy us more some time, no matter how little. 」

「The assets are scattered and well hidden. It will take a considerable amount of time for them to find them all and calculate their value. 」

「However, I was also notified that if the value of the collected assets is not going to be enough, the Mages Association is going to auction your title and territory, Lord Kurt. 」

「What? 」

Kurt was surprised to hear that, to say the least.

「So you’re telling me that the Mages Association has stooped so low now that they’re going to exchange even the Lord’s territories and their Crests for money? 」

「I’m sorry that you hear it like this, but like I said, when I was borrowing the funds from the Association, I accepted these terms and conditions. 」

Benedict said with a bitter expression on his face.

「At that time, I didn’t expect something like this to happen. I thought that in the worst case scenario the ruin might come upon me, but I thought it would be because of the battle that I would’ve lost. 」

Kurt was stunned and stood motionless for a while in front of the castle door.

「Can’t we fire half of the mercenaries and abandon these parts of Sandrone where the forces of the Factory Alliance are still resisting us? If we do that, we might be able to keep up for another six months. 」

Kurt then explained the promise that he had made with the Artuk Treaty to Benedict.

「That… that might be difficult to achieve. 」

Benedict hanged his head low.

「The financial institution of the Mages Association makes the contracts that it makes with the Lords to be absolute. The fact that the deadline has been delayed so far can be said to be quite an exception and a display of magnanimity on their side. 」

「Does that mean that we’re going to be locked in a stalemate again? 」

Kurt looked up at the sky.

「We have no choice given our situation. Do you really want to disband the mercenary group entirely and return to Leclerc as Siluca Meletes advised? If you do that, you will have to give up all of the areas you control, but you will have a chance to make a comeback. 」

On the other hand, it would be as if he lost everything and gained nothing. But maybe it was not all in vain as Kurt initially thought. After all, his campaign in the northern part of the continent managed to buy so much time in the war against the Factory Alliance that the members of the Artuk Treaty managed to retake Artuk from Dartania and have become a third force on the continent that was large and powerful enough to be capable of opposing the Factory Alliance, and Theo Cornero even promise that they’d be fighting against the Alliance together.

「If you do that, you’ll be able to avoid losing your territory and title. 」

Benedict said while looking up at Kurt with fear in his eyes.

「In that case, sent a request for the Fantasia Union to hold a Lord’s Conference. After all, all the responsibility for my current situation lies with them! They were the ones who made me choose between fighting while spending so much money, or sitting around doing nothing! 」

Kroot shouted in anger toward the west, which was being dyed by the setting sun… however, not long after that, the situation suddenly changed.

There was news that the main force of the Heavy Knights of Waldrind, led by Marine Kraische herself had left the city of Bertha and was heading towards Sandrome. Afterwards, they joined up with the army stationed in Sandrome and set up in a granary area near the border with Vanberg.

「Are they really trying to challenge me to a decisive battle? 」

Once again, Kurt was surprised at the sudden move by Marine and her forces, but something that he previously thought to be impossible has now become possible, and that’s all because the current situation was very different from how it was before.

In a long, dragged-out war, it would be Waldrind who would be at a disadvantage because of them being under the constant pressure from the members of the Artuk Treaty, so they probably chose to act now in order to make sure that this was not going to happen.

Another strange happening came from Bernard Duram, the Marquis of Dawson.