Chapter 42 – Face to face with Barkdine

When I lived in the Imperial Palace, I met a few of my younger brothers and sisters. Among them, Arloston and Reminiel were the two I saw relatively often.

On the other hand, I never met my elder brothers or sisters. According to Mother, the section where we lived was apparently reserved for those who were twentieth or lower in the line of imperial succession.

I was probably around twentieth in the line of succession myself, so that would explain why I never saw my elder siblings.

“I used to play with Arloston, together with Reminiel. …What about this Londonic?”

“They do not possess their own territory, but they are counted among the high nobility. After Arloston-sama came of age and left the Imperial Palace, His Majesty the Emperor commanded him to join the Londonic house. There he took a wife, renounced his right of succession to the throne, and became a full noble of the Londonic family.”

The Londonic house, huh… I should have someone look into it later. They seem to be a famous noble family, so information should come quickly.

So, he had given up his right to the throne.

When I was in the palace, I too received education as a vassal.

I always thought that in the future I would be given to a powerful noble house or sent abroad, and for someone with a low position in the line of succession, it would be a natural course once they reached adulthood.

“But Arloston is my younger brother, and he is still young, is he not? To already be the Commander of the Knights… he must be quite exceptional.”

“There is no doubt about his excellence. As I said earlier, it was he who strengthened the Imperial Knights.”

Although Roglain did not tell me detailed troop numbers, he did speak of the changes that had occurred in the Knight Order over the past few years.

He seemed very careful about what to say and what to leave unsaid.

But even this much information is enough. The Muga tribe should bring me additional details to fill in the gaps.

“It was enjoyable talking about so many things.”

“…May I ask one thing?”

“Of course.”

I nodded as I met Roglain’s gaze.

“Are you truly… planning to unify this Empire?”

“It is because I have that conviction that I came out from the plains.…Roglainn-dono, what do you think? Do you believe I can unify the Empire?”

This time, I asked as if to test him. After thinking for a moment, Roglain spoke.

“I do indeed feel that you have the qualities of a king. I do not know what might have happened if you had possessed a higher position in the imperial line of succession and had remained in the Empire. But… it is still impossible. The Empire still has many strong and able knights.”

“Yes, I can see that just by looking at you, Roglain-dono. But I will do it. …Roglainn-dono. Will you not wield that strength under my banner?”

Roglainn, who had been tense all this time, twitched his fingers slightly at this invitation.

“We fought on the battlefield, so I know well of Roglain-dono’s skill. I want you to use that power to bring peace to this Empire.”

“……………… I am grateful that you have treated me with such courtesy despite being your prisoner. But even if I were to be killed here, I cannot serve you.”

Even when a lifeline is extended to him in the heart of enemy territory, he does not take it lightly… he truly is strong.

“Is there a reason you cannot serve?”

“My family is in the Empire. If I were to betray it here, my family would be reviled as relatives of a traitor.”

“I see, that is reasonable.”

If it means causing trouble for his family, he would rather die here. Truly a man of honor.

Still, depending on how things develop in the future… it may change.

“Understood. For now, I will give up on persuading Roglain-dono. I will inform the Imperial Capital that Roglain-dono is safe. Depending on negotiations, you may be able to return to the capital. Until then, live in this town. You will be under watch, but I ask for your understanding.”

As I said that, I raised my right hand to give a signal. The four soldiers standing by the wall escorted Roglain out of the room.

“Rhoban, continue gathering information on the Imperial Knights and Arloston.”

“At once.”

“However, Vilgard-sama, that man has been educated to command an army. Are you sure it is all right not to kill him here?”

“It is fine. If he leads troops against us again, we can capture him then. He is a man who knows shame — if it comes to that, he will likely comply with at least some of our demands.”

That is what I said, but in truth, this is a point I must consider carefully. If he were a general of a foreign power, it would be simple.

If I am to unify the Empire, Roglain will eventually become my vassal. And I want the loyalty of a man like him. Considering every possibility, I must proceed cautiously for now.

That is the difficult part of civil war… The ones we fight are fundamentally the people and nobles of the Empire. If we act with excessive cruelty, resistance could become fierce when we invade other territories.

I am already using the Muga tribe for propaganda work regarding my image, and while I do not need to be seen as a saint, I do want to leave the impression of someone of justice and virtue.

For that reason, while the battlefield is another matter, I keep my treatment of surrendered lords as moderate as possible.

‘I want to remain the ally of justice who frees the people from oppression…but playing that role perfectly is no easy task.’

Well, that is a challenge for the future. I then gave the order to summon Barkdine. He was quickly brought into the room by soldiers.

He might be at the age where he could have a grandchild who has just reached adulthood. Yet, despite his age, his body was well-trained. I gestured for him to take a seat as well.

“It has been since the battlefield that we last met. My name is Vilgard Zeltreich. …Barkdine-dono, I have instructed my soldiers to treat you with courtesy. Have you been inconvenienced in any way?”

Barkdine cast a brief glance at Barkat. Then he snorted.

“Hmph. My people were slaughtered, and yet their lord wags his tail at a barbarian who dares claim the name of the imperial family?”

Of the sixty thousand troops, around twenty thousand had been the Alcarol domain army.

But this could not be helped. The enemy had every intention of killing us, and we had the same resolve. Given the difference in our positions and the fact that our meeting had been on the battlefield, there had been few options for either side to take.

However, Barkat, who was the one being glared at so harshly by Barkdine, just chuckled softly.

“You had sixty thousand soldiers, and still you were almost completely annihilated, were you not? No matter how you look at it, it seems they were killed because of the commander’s poor decisions.”

“You cur…!”

Barkdine glared fiercely at Barkat. But Barkat was not entirely wrong. And in war, results are everything.

The fact is, Barkdine commanded sixty thousand soldiers and was utterly defeated by an enemy force of forty thousand. It could rightly be called one of the rare, crushing defeats in the history of the Empire.

Perhaps Barkdine also felt the weight of his own responsibility, for he said nothing more.

“…Enough, kill me. I was the commander-in-chief of sixty thousand troops — taking my head should be worth something, no?”

“Ah, it seems you misunderstand. I have no intention of killing you.”

“What…?”

As with Roglain, I had coffee brought out. But Barkdine pushed the cup aside.

“Hmph. Can you not even offer me wine?”

“Ah, my apologies. I will have some delivered to your room tonight.”

“Oh…?”

So he was fond of drinking, was he? Hm… perhaps I should try a different approach than I did with Roglain.

Well, I will observe him for a few days. For now, I should plant the seeds for what is to come.

“The reason I called you here, Barkdine-dono, was to praise your conduct on the battlefield before everyone.”

“…What did you say?”

“It is true that the battle ended in my victory. However, the knight order under Barkdine-dono’s command never ceased resisting, even while fully aware of their disadvantage. Your fearless and valiant fighting was enough to astonish even our soldiers. …You must have been through quite a number of life-and-death struggles, have you not?”

Barkdine stared at me for a while as if trying to gauge me, then snorted again.

“At the very least, I have been standing on the battlefield since long before you even came of age.”

“Yes, I can see that. You still keep your body well-trained even now. It seems the spirit of always being ready for battle has been thoroughly ingrained in you.”

I had already heard about his character from Barkat, and just from speaking with him briefly, I could see what kind of man he was.

Barkdine holds himself in very high regard. That is likely the result of the experience and achievements he has accumulated over the years.

And precisely because of that, he has a desire to be highly regarded by those younger than him — a need for recognition.

He does not simply want to be seen as someone who has merely aged; he wants to feel that he is an adult who commands the respect of the younger generation.

If he does not get along with someone, he would just seem like an overbearing old man but when it clicks, he can be the type who is well-liked by men and women of all ages.

He has a boss-like nature and likely looks out for those he takes a liking to. That does not necessarily make him easy to handle, which is troublesome in its own way.

However, as the commander-in-chief here, if I offer him unreserved praise, Barkdine’s desire for recognition should be strongly stirred.

“…What did you do back then? When the battle began, we clashed with the same formation, did we not?”

Roglainn had also found the loss puzzling. It seems that as commanders, we are concerned about the same things.

“I could understand losing if it were due to a blunder in command or rashly acting alone out of desperation to win. But we did not make any mistakes in our choices. We had our elite troops as well. And yet, when the lid was opened, we were crushed one-sidedly. …Did you use sorcery or something?”

Barkdine looked at me quietly. His gaze was harder to read than before.

“I cannot use anything like that. However, from the very beginning, I knew that if we made that location the battlefield, we would achieve a decisive victory.”

“…So it was not merely a simple horizontal formation then? In that situation, you would not have been able to maneuver the infantry on the flanks to encircle us. Most likely, you had already placed heavy infantry in vertical formations at both ends of your line, like walls that completely covered our flanks.”

I was surprised… Given the difference in elevation, he could not have seen that clearly when we first faced each other.

He had probably been thinking about what happened that day all this time, trying to understand.

“I thought it was terrain where no ambush could be set, but so you used the troops at the ends of your horizontal formation as a hidden force by lining them vertically. And the battlefield had a slight incline. You chose ground where we would have to look upward, making it harder for us to see your formation clearly.”

“…I am impressed. Not even Roglain-dono managed to figure it out.”

I was genuinely impressed. Yet Barkdine’s stern expression did not soften.

“Even so, there are still many things I do not understand. One is the strength of your soldiers. To complete that encirclement, the center must have been under the heaviest pressure. And yet they held out despite being pushed back by superior numbers.”

“Yes, because the collapse of that section would have meant defeat. I sent in our very best troops to hold that line.”

“…Hmph. So you had already taken into account that in such a situation, we, commanding a large army, could only issue orders to advance.”

Exactly. Space had been limited, after all.

And in truth, I only made sure not to break until we had fallen back to our limit.

Until then, I moved with the assumption that we would retreat, focusing on defense so we could hold out for as long as possible.

But for the enemy, since they kept pushing forward, they continued to advance without pause, losing awareness of anything but what was in front of them.

There was no need to reveal that much to Barkdine.

“To think you would see through it so quickly. It seems I will not be able to use that trick next time.”

“You say some surprising things. So then… what do you intend to do with me in the end?”

The Bihickturk family is one of the prominent noble houses of the Empire. I cannot fully predict what will come of letting him go here.

But, as with Roglain, killing him is not an option.

“We will continue to treat you with courtesy. Barkdine-dono, you have great experience and knowledge of war. I would very much like to hear how you have fought as a knight until now.”

“………………”

“And I also intend to send an envoy to the Empire. On our side, we plan to demand some amount of gold in exchange for your release.”

I also want to see how the Empire will deal with a general who suffered such a crushing defeat.

“There is no guarantee they will pay ransom for me.”

“In that case, perhaps we will hire you here as an adviser, Barkdine-dono.”

I said it lightly, as if in jest.

Now then… I had tried to create as friendly a mood as possible. I will watch how the Empire responds, while personally working to close the distance between us.