139 – Battle of Waine Plains (12)

Soon after, our soldiers repeated my words.

“He who surrenders does not kill! However, if even one person does not surrender, everyone will die!”

“This is Count Kreuttel’s last mercy for serfs and barbarians like you.”

“If you want to go back alive and harvest beans, surrender quickly!!”

When the admonition to surrender was issued, the enemy soldiers stopped, dropped all their weapons to the ground, and knelt.

They got down on their knees and said with a groaning sound.

“Sal, please save me!!”

“Never again, never again will I stand against Your Excellency Count Kreutel!!”

“We just did as the damn Duke of Architel told us to do!!”

Originally, serfs could not pay ransom even if they were captured.

So usually the lord who captured the serfs had the choice of either executing them to eliminate maintenance costs such as food needed to feed them, or selling them into slavery for money.

However, even in a world where the concept of human rights does not exist, if you kill at least hundreds to thousands of serfs, you will build up a notoriety for cruelty…

You can get a lot of money, and you make a lot of choices to sell as slaves that don’t go down in reputation.

Ordinary serfs are well aware of this, and when they surrender, they ask not to be sold as slaves, not to ask for their lives.

However, he must be doing this because he lost his temper because he was frightened by the powerful sound of thunder, acrid smoke, and the mighty weapon of a gun.

“All soldiers, immediately take those guys prisoner and capture them alive! And the serfs will be the backbone of the territories we occupy. So, don’t treat those who surrender as harshly as slaves. However, retrieve all the armor and weapons they are equipped with.”

The soldiers listened to me and began to capture the prisoners in a respectful manner.

“Quickly take off your armor and lay down your weapon! Do you want to be like those bastards lying around you?”

“no!! Please save my life!”

“You idiot!! Hurry up, take off your armor, put down your weapon, and go up there! I won’t kill you!!”

Saying that, the soldier of our army continued to urge him to hurry.

And often, when he did something suspicious, he kicked him instead of beating him with a club.

However, this can’t be helped because you don’t know when the enemy’s serf soldiers who surrendered will suddenly change, draw swords or weapons, and attack our soldiers.

And I called one of the officers around me and said,

“Enemy soldiers who are already hopeless should end their lives directly. Instead, if there is even a chance of survival, treat them in the same facility as our allies.”

“Yes, I understand! I will tell you to prioritize treatment of allies over enemy prisoners of war.”

“Also, have a friendly spy infiltrate the ward where the soldiers escaped death or fatal injuries while being treated, and secretly spread rumors that if you do not resist and obey our rule, you will be able to live in such a protected and good environment.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

As the officer was about to leave, an enemy soldier was running toward me.

At that moment, thinking that he was going to kill me, he pulled out his sword, but that soldier’s eyes had already turned completely to taste.

Also, although he was wielding a sword, the swinging trajectory itself was also sluggish.

In just one battle, a soldier suffering from shell shock, which was only reported in World War I, came out…

I felt the horror of the battlefield once again.

And those who survived that terrible place will say this when they return to their rural villages.

‘I’d rather just die than fight Count Creutel.’

Other serfs will tell similar stories, and the panic will increase.

As I was thinking about that, the soldiers next to me drew their knives and tried to kill the soldier.

“Everyone, stop! he’s already a fool Do you think I’ll die to a guy like that?”

After saying that, I hit the back of the crazed soldier approaching me, knocked him over, and took off his weapon and armor to disarm him.

“Occasionally there will be soldiers wielding their weapons while swaying, or approaching with their eyes completely open! Those guys are crazy bastards who have no ability to harm their allies! Beat everyone properly, disarm, and send them back to their hometowns!”

If matchlocks were to be supplied to the enemy at a later date, there would surely be some among our soldiers suffering from such symptoms.

So, in preparation for that time, we should plant the perception that that is also a kind of disease, and train soldiers and horses to adapt to firearms without bullets.

Only then can the troops lost due to shock from shell shock be minimized, and those who fought for me will not be shot dead due to illness caused by exhaustion.

While I was supervising the process of securing the enemy prisoners for about two hours, a knight on horseback saw me and stopped.

Then, he got off his horse and reported.

“All knights, including Duke Architel, have been captured. Also, the enemy’s main base has just been subdued by His Excellency Baron Balt, and our forces have won a complete victory.”

I wasn’t surprised because I was already expecting a complete victory at the point of cutting the infantry and knights like that, but I definitely felt it when I received the direct report like this.

Also, the Baltic guy… No matter how empty the enemy base was, I never thought they would already occupy it…

So I drew my sword, raised it to the sky, and said,

“We won this war!!!”

After that, I left this place and went to meet Duke Architel in order to confirm the victory of the war.

**

As I approached the tent where the duke was staying to negotiate peace with Duke Architel, two knights there stopped me and said,

“Your Highness is in deep sorrow, Your Excellency the Count.”

“I understand the Count’s haste, but as a knight of the Duke, I cannot show him crying. So, I would like His Highness the Duke to come back after dressing up in his armor.”

Normally, I would have replied that I would wait for that much in order to save face as a knight before becoming a count.

After all, the nobility family mysteriously maintains a state of reason in an emergency even if their family dies really miserably.

The outcome of the negotiations did not change with the one or two hours secured under the pretext of dressing up in armor.

However, Duke Architel lost close to thousands of knights as precious as his own life due to his own mistake, and his judgment is a bit clouded.

I am not just a knight, but as the head of Count Kreutel’s family, as a being who has to bring maximum benefit to all members of my family.

Even if they are criticized for being heartless, they have an obligation to enter into the most favorable treaty by taking advantage of this gap.

“i get it. Then I’ll wait here until you change your armor. I’m hungry, would you like a beer?”

Upon hearing that, the knight put on a tired expression and ordered the attendants around him.

“Go into Her Highness’s room and quickly change your armor and come. And you should bring a glass of beer for His Excellency.”

While drinking beer like that, we waited for 10 or 15 minutes and were guided by an attendant into the tent where the Duke was staying.

Inside, I could see things like a desk with a torn map on it, a hanger with the duke’s casual clothes hanging on it, a bed, a box, and a window sill.

And inside… There was a heap of gold embroidered breastplates and helmets riddled with bullet holes.

“Your Highness the Duke, Your Excellency Count Kreuttel has arrived.”

At those words, the duke who was touching the breastplate looked at me and said,

“Sit down. Congratulations on your victory, Count.”

“thank you. It was an honor to be able to fight with Your Highness.”

Hearing that, the duke smiled and said,

“An honor to freeze to death, for you, this old man was just a stairway to climb. damn… ”

The duke says that, but if you think of it as a history student, excluding the position of a count…

It is like winning the battle of Pavia, which is said to have separated the Middle Ages from the modern era, with a knight of reversal.

And with this, our family has now gained a reputation and glory that no one can surpass, so it can only be said that it is a truly glorious battle.

Then the duke looked at me and pointed to the breastplate he was caressing.

“That’s the armor worn by Baron Agincourt. He said that even if his family were to perish, he had to return alive… As soon as I was in danger of being shot, he threw himself… ”

“Is that so?”

“Besides that, the one over there is Viscount Villain… Baron Épert… Everyone fell victim to the weapon called the gun you made. It’s really dirty.”

“These are very loyal knights. I want the knights of our territory to learn too.”

The duke then looked at me and said with a meaningful smile as if he had gone beyond giving up and was now liberated.

“Yes, it seems that you have ended the Age of Knights. The end of an honorable era that lasted several hundred years… The usurper, Count Kreuttel. How do you feel?”

Hearing that, many thoughts ran through my head.

I was happy when I heard that the powerful knight who lived the most chivalrous life than anyone else was a usurper who ended the age of knights.

At the same time, when I saw my most powerful enemy perish, I felt a little bit of futility and pity.

However, showing sympathy is something you shouldn’t do as a lord, and it is also an act that tarnishes that man’s honor.

So I just said it with the last respect for that person.

“I was just doing the obvious thing. And, as Your Highness’s enemy, I’m only here to negotiate with the utmost respect. I will take as many as I can.”