How to Live as a Wandering Knight

With the help of the family, Elso-gong he met was in a completely unexpected appearance.

He was having a serious talk with his twin sibling who looked exactly like himself.

There was no sign of hostility or competition in their eyes. Johan was even surprised.

‘𝘕𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺. . .?’

Although Horamric, the third son, was weak enough to come to Johan and entrust his body, the first and second children of the duke were not.

Weren’t they competing fiercely to become the successor in the eyes of the duke?

“Count. I really appreciate you coming in person.”

Elso stood up to greet him. The duke’s children had such beautiful faces that it was hard to distinguish their gender. When such a person spoke politely, it felt like the air around them changed.

“I heard that the count had come, but the duties I’m currently undertaking are so heavy that I didn’t dare go out. Please understand.”

Johan looked at the two as if he was puzzled. And then he opened his mouth.

“Who did his grace appoint as his successor?”

“It’s me, Count. Although he didn’t leave a will, it happened that way according to custom.”

Elso smirked. It was an expression that he knew what Johan was wondering about.

“I handed over the fiefdoms appropriate to their rights to those of other lineages.”

“!”

“It seems that the count has misunderstood me. I’m not stupid enough to ruin my family’s name by being greedy and ambitious when the situation around me is chaotic. I wasn’t taught that way either.”

Anyway, the family siblings already had their own fiefdoms. Even if Elso told them to hand it over now, nothing but civil war would break out.

Rather than that, Elso chose to join forces with his blood relatives to prosper his family. At that sincere plea, the second and fourth children also agreed.

The third son, Horamric, didn’t care at all. . .

‘𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨.’

Johan honestly admired. Having seen only relatives stabbing and fighting each other for power so far, those who joined forces like this were rather refreshing.

“The name of the Brduhe family will be talked about by people for more than a thousand years.”

“You flatter me too much, Count. So. . .”

Elso hesitated and continued speaking.

“I know what proposal the count is trying to make. Although I’m a little embarrassed to say this before the funeral is over. . . I want to participate in the Empire’s affairs.”

“!”

Johan’s eyes shone at the unexpected words.

“Is that true?”

“Yes, count. The emperor’s tyranny has gone too far. As a family of electors, there are things we can no longer overlook.”

The former duke was reluctant to participate in the civil war within the Empire. There were many other unexplored territories, so he didn’t want to get involved in the complicated quagmire.

However, the duke’s children were very interested in the civil war within the Empire. And the spoils of victory they could obtain.

“However, it will take some time to prepare the troops. There is nothing we can do about it. . .”

“That’s good.”

“?”

“If that’s the case, I have an opinion.”

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“I-I see what you mean. E-Elso-gong’s opinion was not the best, b-but it was you after all.”

Count Ganolwood wiped his sweat and admired.

Instead of gathering the elite troops which would take quite some time, the plan to mobilize the nomadic tribes loyal to the duke family and attack was not like Elso-gong’s personality.

I wondered who gave the advice, but to see it was you.

“It’s been a while since we met.”

“P-Please, speak comfortably. I-If others hear, they m-may ridicule.”

“If that’s what you want.”

Johan smiled and exchanged greetings with Count Ganolwood.

“I didn’t expect the new duke to participate so easily.”

“H-His Highness has always been v-very interested in the Empire. I-In fact, there are few n-nobles in the duchy who are n-not.”

Unlike the duke, there were many young nobles who were interested in the situation in the Empire. The wealth and power coming out of the Empire was too glamorous compared to the vast grasslands in the east.

It was what the duke’s children set their ambitions on.

“B-But. To be honest, I-I oppose it.”

“You don’t think participating in the Empire’s situation will produce good results?”

“N-No, that’s not i-it. O-On the contrary, I-I think the previous generations avoided it too much. I-I’m worried about e-experience.”

The count was afraid that the duke’s children still lacked experience. Wars could only be won if you won. If you intervene without ability, you could lose all the wealth you’ve built up.

“T-The Emperor’s army is well armed and experienced in war. O-On the other hand, t-the duchy’s army is lightly a-armed and lacks combat e-experience.”

Armies grew stronger with every major war they went through. The duchy troops had only suppressed rebels and fought in small battles at best, and this gap was bigger than expected.

“It’s good that this happened. We’re not going for a frontal confrontation anyway, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Count Ganolwood nodded. Count Ganolwood was now thinking of leading the nomadic tribes upwards to intensely aim at the supply routes of the emperor faction.

The mobility of the nomadic tribes, which were already rumored to be fast. Plus, not too far away, there were feudal lords who would secretly help out a bit.

It was a good situation to drive the enemy crazy while attacking and escaping quickly.

“Thanks again for participating.”

“D-Don’t mention it. I-It was the count who p-persuaded His Highness. I-If His Highness h-hadn’t trusted you, h-he would never have stepped forward.”

No matter how greedy the duke’s children were, they would not have jumped into an obviously unfavorable situation.

The reason they were actively jumping in like this was their trust in Johan and the validity of Johan’s tactics.

At the count’s words, Johan nodded. Now all the preparations that could be made were done.

All that was left was to wait for the emperor faction’s breathing to slowly tighten.

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“That is not an army of humans but demons!”

The southern feudal lords were at a loss for words in the face of the aggressively advancing forces of the Emperor faction.

They thought they could hold out behind the castle walls, had done some reorganizing, and wanted to clash with the advancing vanguard units, but the lords who had sallied out barely made it back inside the castle walls with their lives.

Despite being fellow mercenaries, the quality of combat power they displayed was markedly different.

━𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫! 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

“Tell them not to spout nonsense! How can we believe those words when so many have died?”

However, despite that, there were few feudal lords who surrendered. They held their castles and did not surrender.

How many noble families had the Emperor trampled in the south?

With those vivid memories, there was no way people would defect.

━𝐆𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦!

Facing that, the Emperor faction’s commanders adopted a new strategy. They left alone castles that seemed difficult to capture and started attacking easier castles first as they advanced.

If they thought a surprise attack might come from a castle left behind, they thoroughly repelled it by laying traps. After taking big losses once or twice, the feudal lords could not venture out to launch surprise attacks even in advantageous situations.

As the small and large nearby castles started to fall one by one, no matter how much the feudal lords held out inside, their lifeline would gradually be choked off.

Of course the allied forces did not just sit by and watch. They also started moving to provide support.

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“What did I say?”

“You told us to respect Your Excellency’s orders.”

“Yes. Please do.”

“Your Excellency! Who here would dare defy Your Excellency’s orders? There is no one like that!”

‘𝘋𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴. . .’

Johan looked at the nobles from the Peninsula who had followed him, as if finding them absurd. Weren’t they the ones who had moved recklessly for honor in the last battle?

‘𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.’

While leading these men north, Johan had not just been sitting idly. He had continued to work to keep them under his control.

Naturally, as time passed, the influence of the commander grew. Especially for someone like Johan, there was nothing more to say.

“Once we get over two more hills here, the forest will appear. That’s where I heard Sir Fritsch was ambushed and defeated.”

“I know.”

Although Johan had brought troops to save a nearby castle, he did not simply charge ahead recklessly. That was the kind of thing the Elf King would do. . .

His plan was to advance while checking carefully and lure out the enemies to fight.

Just as the Emperor faction’s army did not move as one, the feudal lords of the Alliance were the same. They advanced in all directions like stretching out tentacles.

From the news around, it seemed the Emperor faction’s troops had not reached this far yet.

‘𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴. . .?’

“Please let us go, Your Excellency.”

“You guys?”

Surprisingly, the first to volunteer were the knights from the Empire who had surrendered. At their request for weapons and armor even though they had surrendered, several feudal lords bristled.

“Your Excellency, won’t they just desert?”

“How dare you look at us like that and say such a thing!”

“Since you surrendered, it is also His Excellency’s right not to provide weapons and armor. You cannot complain if he refuses!”

“No. I believe in their honor.”

“!”

Johan spoke without even changing his expression.

Of course, it wasn’t that he extremely trusted the surrendered Empire knights or anything. . .

‘𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘣𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.’

It was beneficial no matter what happened to them.

Anyway, he had to check the nearby forest, and could there be an easier way to confirm it?

“Provide them with weapons, armor and horses.”

However, Johan’s words were sufficiently moving to the Empire knights. The knights shouted in trembling voices.

“Thank you for believing in us, Your Excellency! Your Excellency’s honor will be an example in the Empire!”

“Yes. You have my thanks.”

Johan waved his hand to see off the Empire knights. The knights proudly raised their banners and crossed the bridge to advance towards the forest.

“If there is an ambush waiting, I hope they take the bait.”

“. . .Lower your voice a bit.”

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“Does the count ever seem to go mad?”

“Did he? I’m not sure.”

“Think about it carefully. It seems he has moments when insanity suddenly rises up.”

Yein asked the Empire knights so, but the knights were just puzzled.

Count Yeats had always been in his right mind.

He was as wise as could be, they had never seen such madness from him. Just now, even as other nobles objected, hadn’t Johan personally given weapons and armor? A madman could not have done that. It was something only a true knight could do.

Yein shook his head. Johan’s behavior while he was away at the Brduhe family’s dukedom was as close to insanity as he could imagine.

“You’re not belittling the Lochtein family’s knights just because they were defeated, are you?”

“What did you say? If you don’t take that back right now, I’ll cut you down before we even face the enemy.”

“Everyone calm down! We don’t know when the enemy will appear, and you want to fight here?”

Though they were knights captured by Johan, most of them chose to switch sides rather than remain loyal to the emperor.

Looking at it sensibly, the emperor was too much of a crazy b*stard.

The families tied closely to the emperor’s side couldn’t betray him, but for knights who had little, changing sides was easy.

Contrary to the feudal lords’ suspicions, they were moving with quite pure loyalty.

“You there! Are you a mercenary?”

“Grab him!”

Knights searching the vicinity saw a man dressed as a mercenary and rushed at him.

The mercenary was frightened and tried to run away, but he couldn’t escape knights on horseback in this terrain.

“W-Why are you doing this! I’m just a traveler. Please!”

“What kind of crazy traveler wanders alone in a place like this in times like these? Put down your weapons. Mercenary. Confess where you came from before I break your neck!”

Surrounded and threatened by the knights, the deserter looked about to faint at any moment. Before a sword even touched his neck, he began spewing everything he knew.

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“. . .Is there anyone nearby?”

Johan asked incredulously.

“The emperor. . . is nearby, they say.”

The knights also seemed a bit hesitant about the information they had brought, as if they could not believe it themselves. The feudal lords below twisted their facial muscles.

━𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲! 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬!

. . .They clearly wanted to say something like that.

“Uh.”

Johan was at a loss for words, lost in thought.

What do I make of this?

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