How to Live as a Wandering Knight

It was laughable that the pirates were sending an envoy, but with the scale of pirates gathered it was questionable to call them just a rogue band.

It was not surprising they sent an envoy since there seemed to be some pagan nobles among them.

“Count Yeats’s knight?”

The pirate envoys who found Johan spoke in a strange Empire accent. As envoys they at least knew how to speak the Empire language.

Seeing his well-equipped armaments, it was clear he was a knight, and since he was young, they judged he did not have his own fiefdom. At those words, Johan’s escorts bristled.

“How dare these pirate b*stards be so insolent. . .”

“I’m not a pirate, I’m a noble.”

“What noble! Just a rogue thief and plunderer! If you’re a noble then I’m the Emperor!”

The mercenaries were angry at the shamelessness, but the envoys were speaking sincerely.

“What’s wrong with attacking the enemy’s fiefdom and taking spoils? Don’t you do the same?”

“. . .We, we do it with permission. . .”

“And if you lose ground there? Enough. Stop the quarrel.”

Seeing his mercenaries losing the verbal fight, Johan cut them off, fed up.

“We’re Count Yeats’s knight.”

“It seems you’re out on reconnaissance. We have come as envoys of Ahir-gong. We ask that you provide proper guidance as custom dictates.”

Hearing the pagan pirate mention envoy customs, the mercenaries bristled even more. However, Johan did not care at all and nodded.

“I will guide you to the camp.”

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ȧ̇ᴡ𝙚𝕓𝘴𝔱𝙤𝘳𝙞ė̇𝔰.𝙘𝙤𝚖

Entering the tent, Johan sat down in the chief seat as is. Seeing that, the envoys who followed him in blinked in surprise and stammered.

“. . .My, my lord Count?”

“That’s right.”

“Did you not say you were a knight. . .?”

“They were my knights. I didn’t lie.”

Hearing Johan’s words, the envoys twisted their faces in embarrassment for not recognizing their counterpart. For envoys to come and not even guess the status of the other side revealed incompetence.

“You are truly young and beautiful, my lord.”

“And strong, I’m sure. Anyway, what business brings you here?”

“My lord has received the oaths of allegiance from southern nobles and defeated hordes of evil monsters. Serfs, priests, and nobles alike sing praises of your fame, how can this not be a great feat?”

Johan had to hold back a yawn. Unlike other nobles, hearing such praises did not really move Johan.

For a honorable noble, praise was not simply compliment, but proof of their authority and reason for being. In fact, Iselia had a joyful expression as if she was the one hearing praise.

They were pagan envoys, but fame was still fame.

After the tedious flattery, the envoys finally got to the point. Hearing the unexpected proposal, Johan’s expression stiffened.

“Shall we make peace?”

Stripping the flowery diplomatic phrasing, it was simply a request for ceasefire. The pirates did not want to fight Johan’s forces and wished to withdraw from here.

They regretted not capturing the Marquis, but securing spoils and safely withdrawing took priority.

The pirates promised that in return they would hand over half of the plunder. As payment for avoiding battle, was it not enough?

‘𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺.’

Hearing the proposal, Johan fell into thought.

It was certainly a sweet and tempting offer. Receiving half the plunder the pirates scraped together without fighting was tempting.

But looking closely, it was not an offer to accept lightly.

First, half the plunder was ambiguous. The pirates likely skimmed off quite a bit.

Of course even accounting for that the amount would be tremendous, but it wasn’t a total loss for the pirates either.

“Can the plunder be verified?”

“Send someone at any time.”

Hearing the confident envoy, Johan was certain. The truly valuable treasures were surely smuggled elsewhere.

“Even if I promise, it will be hard for both sides to trust. . .”

“Who would doubt the honor of my lord?!”

Of course the envoys would not solely trust Johan’s honor with their lives either. First they would hand over half of the promised treasure, then once the pirates safely crossed the river they would deliver the other half.

For that promise, the pirates offered hostages. Honorable pagan knights volunteered themselves. It held little meaning to Johan though.

Frankly, there was no telling if the pirates sent real knights or disguised slaves to pose as hostages.

“Not only that, we will release all the nobles captured here as prisoners.”

“That is only natural.”

The envoys flinched at Johan’s arrogance. But they had no choice. The advantageous position was held by the other side.

“. . .You are correct my lord. I beg you to show us mercy. If my lord shows compassion just once, we will never be arrogant again and live quietly.”

‘𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭.’

“Fine. I need time to decide, wait until then.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

The envoys left. By now some of the quicker witted vassals probably noticed the envoy’s arrival. The vassals might actually welcome a ceasefire.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦.’

Since the priests did not know the details, they could easily be deceived. Telling them the enemies secretly retreated would be enough. The priests would be satisfied with just that.

But Johan was conflicted.

If he was a mercenary captain hired to subjugate pirates, he would have shook hands and sent them away. But Johan was a Count.

How could he end this situation even more perfectly?

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𝚊𝚠𝐞𝕓s𝙩ȯ̇𝚛𝐢𝚎ṡ.𝘤𝚘𝚖

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