Episode 82: I Will Go Negotiate.
“Grk….”
Viktor let out his last scream.
His eyes, wide with anguish, lost the light of life, and the body that had been intermittently writhing ceased to tremble.
Thud.
Once Ghislaine was sure Viktor was dead, he slumped to the ground, still with his sword deeply embedded.
“Phew—!”
He took a deep breath for what felt like an eternity before slowly getting up to survey his surroundings.
The flames had been pushed back by the aftermath of the battle, but the air was still thick with heat.
“Ugh, this is tough.”
His body wouldn’t cooperate, and he found himself sinking down again.
He tried to draw up mana, but the flow was intermittent and weak.
“Geez, this is a hassle.”
Dirus Ent’s inner layer had all dried up and ripped away, failing to keep out the heat.
Ghislaine threw off his armor and forced the remaining mana to shield himself from the heat.
At this point, wearing the armor was just heavy and hot.
He struggled to his feet and staggered forward.
However, no matter how much he looked around, fire surrounded him on all sides.
“I need to bust through that fire.”
Flames whipped at him like a snake’s tongue, trying to consume him.
Every step felt like his body was being sliced by a thousand blades.
He must have lost too much blood; his head was spinning.
Thud.
His legs shook, and he sank back down again.
“Ugh, this is driving me crazy.”
His body was completely wrecked.
If only he could push through this fire, it would be over, but he couldn’t think of a clever plan.
“At times like this, someone should be rushing to save me.”
Moving alone was the worst in situations like this.
In his past life, he had followers who took care of this sort of cleanup, but now he had no one.
He still had mercenaries with him, but those guys were barely keeping up, let alone handling the aftermath.
At least if it were Belinda, she would probably come running if she thought Ghislaine was late. But right now, she was busy tending to the mages he had assigned to her.
“Guess I have no choice. Looks like I’ll have to deal with the fire.”
With the little mana left, it was already a struggle to keep the heat at bay.
Using mana would allow him to move, but his skin would start to get scorched.
“Ack, I was hoping to keep my face pretty this time.”
Ghislaine clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Back in his mercenary king days, he had too many scars on his face.
Returning to the past and having a clean face had been a pleasant surprise, but… life was not something to trade away for beauty.
“Let’s go.”
Ghislaine stood up and directed his mana towards supporting his muscles.
Immediately, the searing heat infused with magic power surged into his body.
He had to get out before he burned to a crisp.
I had to get outside.
As Ghislaine suppressed his anxious heart and was about to take a step, he heard a voice.
“Your Grace!”
Crash!
Gillian appeared, cutting through the flames with a terrifying expression.
“Are you alright?”
‘Ah, right. There was one person who was as good as my old followers.’
Ghislaine greeted him with a smile.
“I’m still fine. You came at just the right timing.”
“Did you fight with the enemy general?”
Gillian glanced at Viktor’s corpse and asked.
“He was the enemy leader. I pushed myself a bit hard to catch that guy.”
“I’ll get you out right away.”
“Yeah, please.”
Whoosh!
Gillian quickly tucked Ghislaine under his arm and dashed through the flames.
The scorching heat wrapped around them, but Ghislaine used his mana to block it.
The two of them escaped the hell of fire in an instant. A cool breeze rushed in, refreshing them from the heat.
“Phew!”
Finally meeting fresh air, Ghislaine let out a rough breath. It felt like the blackened weight in his chest was being washed away.
As Gillian carefully set him down, he supported him.
Ghislaine looked around cautiously.
The ground was littered with the bodies of enemies.
“Looks like it’s all taken care of.”
The mercenaries who had been waiting approached, surprised to see Ghislaine.
“Captain? Why are you here all by yourself?”
“We had a great time and got out. Hahaha!”
After laughing with the giggling mercenaries, Ghislaine turned to Gillian.
“Where’s Count Digald?”
“He took off early. He has quite a knack for sensing danger.”
“I see. He must be running for his life now.”
“The soldiers fled with him, but most were captured and killed.”
“Right, if we want the rumors to spread, letting a few escape is okay. It’s time to wrap this up.”
Just then, a group of troops could be seen rushing in on horseback from far away.
“Young Master!”
“Ghislaine!”
“Grand Duke!”
Belinda, Zvalter, and Randolf were hastily approaching, leading the soldiers.
They must have been stamping their feet in panic when they saw Ghislaine jump into the flames, then rushed to bypass the castle.
“Glad to see you all finally showing up.”
Ghislaine welcomed the approaching group with open arms.
Though he teased them for being late, he didn’t mean it.
Without protective gear, they wouldn’t have been able to endure that fire, so the regular soldiers couldn’t have returned quickly.
In fact, if they had come earlier, things might have gotten more troublesome.
It was obvious that the enemy lurking behind would have fled the moment they saw the soldiers coming out of the castle.
Belinda jumped off her horse and rushed to Ghislaine’s side, checking on him.
“Are you okay, Young Master? Your face is all burnt! Why did you go in there? I’m going crazy, really!”
Desperate to calm her down, Ghislaine raised his hands.
“No, I’m fine. Really, I’m okay. It’s just a bit hot.”
With a sorrowful expression, Belinda supported him.
“Ghislaine, are you alright?”
“Grand Duke!”
Zvalter and Randolf hurried over, out of breath.
“I’m fine. Thank you all for your hard work.”
As Ghislaine smiled and spoke, Zvalter let out a sigh of relief.
He was wondering what made Ghislaine leap into the fire…
But looking at the mercenaries’ armor, it was covered in something sticky.
He couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but it seemed to have blocked the fire to some extent.
‘So they had already prepared for this.’
He was curious about how they had set such a powerful trap, but that could wait until they cleaned up after the war.
For now, it was just time to celebrate the victory.
Zvalter murmured with a look of amazement.
“We really won.”
In a desperate situation where support requests were all rejected and they faced a large army without supplies…
It was a despairing situation.
But in the end, Perdium triumphed.
Zvalter looked at his son.
“You won.”
Ghislaine suddenly seemed different.
He cut off the enemy’s supplies, destroyed the siege tower, thwarted ambushes, and finally used traps to wipe out the enemy.
People who treated lives like mere flies, using any means necessary for their goals.
Those who didn’t fear war and surrendered themselves to its cruel madness.
Ghislaine carried a scent similar to theirs.
Incomprehensible actions, steps that transcended common sense.
He was so different from the son he had known until now. It felt uncomfortable and awkward.
But it was Ghislaine who had protected Perdium.
‘He was a reckless fool…’
No, in fact, he was still a reckless fool, doing whatever he pleased.
He showed no sign of noble dignity.
Yet, foolish as he was, he was bold and capable.
Who would dare call Ghislaine trash now?
His son was the savior and hero of this place.
Hiding his trembling hands, Zvalter slowly embraced Ghislaine.
“You did well. You really did well. It’s all thanks to you.”
“Father…”
The always-gruff father showing intense emotion made Ghislaine smile.
Unable to contain the deep stirring in his heart, Randolf raised his sword high and shouted in a booming voice.
“We won! Victory for Perdium!”
“Wooooo!”
“It’s a victory! We did it!”
The soldiers who followed raised their weapons high, their faces filled with joy.
Even the mercenaries joined in, shouting at the top of their lungs.
“We did it! We killed them all!”
Ghislaine bit his lip and looked around at everyone.
They were all rejoicing in their survival and celebrating their victory.
Yes, he had fought to protect them.
It had been tough and laborious. In the spare time left, he dedicated himself to training, having no time to rest at all.
There had been countless times he just wanted to relax.
But thinking that all the suffering he endured allowed everyone to smile now, he could endure it no matter how many times he had to face hardships.
Flame flickered.
The fire began to die down. It was visibly weakening.
Watching the dying flames, Zvalter smiled with joy.
“Let’s return to the castle. Once everything’s settled, we will hold a victory feast.”
Everyone was still cheering in joy for their victory.
Zvalter couldn’t help but smile as well.
However, there was one, Ghislaine, who shook his head and coldly stated.
“We need to formally receive the surrender from Count Digald immediately.”
“Right, even tomorrow Randolf could…”
“That would be too late. I will go with the mercenaries right now.”
“Do we need to rush so much? The war is already over.”
“No. The more time we give them, the more they will scheme. We need to charge in and accept reparations on favorable terms right away. If he seeks refuge with another lord, it will only lead to more headaches down the line.”
“You considered all of this!”
Zvalter exclaimed in slight astonishment.
There was not a single flaw in his son’s words.
If Count Digald were to stabilize by either recovering from the war’s impact or receiving support from somewhere, he could become passive about reparations.
If that happened, negotiations would drag on, so it had to be blocked in advance.
If he slipped away, occupying the territory would be in vain.
After all, the justification was with Count Digald, so if he managed to escape to another territory, it would only become a troublesome mess.
‘His judgment is like that of a seasoned general.’
“Such judgment like a general.”
Zvalter, filled with joy from the miraculous victory, hadn’t thought that far, but Ghislaine was already planning the next steps.
Admiring his son’s cold and quick judgment, Zvalter calmed his excitement.
“You’re right. Then Randolf and I will… right now…”
“No, you two need to calm the territory residents and quickly organize things. We won, but we drafted too many soldiers and supplies. The economy of the territory must be in ruins.”
“Y-Yeah, everyone must be struggling.”
“Promise them fair compensation and comfort them. I will provide Runestones to ensure there’s no shortage of money.”
“Oh, really? You’ll part with the Runestones?”
Ghislaine spoke fluently as if he had prepared in advance.
Zvalter’s eyes sparkled at one particular word.
His son, who usually acted like a miser, was offering Runestones first!
His heart raced, drowning out all other words.
He still didn’t know that an amount of Runestones equivalent to decades of Perdium’s budget had exploded and vanished.
Ghislaine spoke firmly.
“Then I will promptly bring back the terms of surrender and compensation. Father, you can negotiate afterward.”
“Y-Yes, let’s do that.”
Feeling inexplicable force from his son, Zvalter merely nodded.
Once the war ended, soothing the territory residents and reorganizing the territory became the top priority.
After all, the justification for waging the territorial war was the heir’s revenge, so it would clearly take time to negotiate compensation matters.
With so much to do immediately, he could let Ghislaine handle the preliminary aspects regarding compensation.
They only needed to secure the declaration of surrender and basic terms of compensation.
Zvalter gathered his thoughts and asked again,
“You don’t look well; will you really be okay?”
“I’m fine moving.”
That was a lie. He wanted to collapse and sleep right away.
But Ghislaine wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip by.
“Young Master! Just leave it to the Knight Commander!”
“That’s right; I’ll go and hold him back.”
Belinda and Gillian also urged caution, but Ghislaine shook his head.
“No, I’m going.”
It seemed that a bit of his usual resilience had kicked in, as after a short rest, he could move a bit more.
“Everyone get on the horses!”
Ghislaine and the mercenaries mounted the horses that the Perdium Army had ridden.
“The Forest of Monsters guards will follow.”
“Eh?”
As Skoban and Ricardo widened their eyes, Ghislaine spoke to Zvalter.
“I will leave observing forces with Count Digald during negotiations to prevent any other nonsense.”
“Hmm, do that. I’ll send reinforcements as soon as the territory is organized.”
With the lord’s permission, the guards, who had hesitated, all got on their horses.
Before Ghislaine set off, Zvalter cautiously spoke.
“Though we fought this war due to misunderstandings, Count Digald is also a noble who swore loyalty to the royal family and our long-standing ally. Now that we’re out of battle, treat him with courtesy.”
Zvalter was someone who respected laws, customs, and honor.
Even while sending off his reckless son, he couldn’t hide his worries over whether his son would commit any rudeness.
“Understood. Don’t worry.”
Ghislaine smiled lightly, bowed his head once, then raised his hand.
“Now, let’s race straight to Count Digald’s territory!”
Sound of Hooves!
Ghislaine galloped alongside the mercenaries and guards with vigor.
It was now time to wrap up this war ‘properly.’
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