Chapter 35 – Fall of Fortress Streb (2) + Improvements
Fall of Fortress Streb (2)
Count Le Delmo looked at Juno who was looking at him and spoke of his demands in a confident manner.
“First. Your Highness, please cut off my head here. I have lived my whole life defending this Streve, so it would be natural for me to die here. And if possible, I want to die by the person who broke through my defense.”
“… If the principle is true, should capture enemy commanders be publicly executed in Adria, the capital of the empire… I will accept that request…”
“Secondly, please make Sir Cordelia here as a knight to His Highness the Prince. Even if she survives as a prisoner… There is no place that will accept a commoner knight who was defeated in battle and lost his master… So treat the child I thought of as my daughter like that. “I don’t want to let you live”
“Your Excellency!! That is not enough!! How can you be loyal to the person who killed you!! Absolutely not!! Excellent!!!”
Although Cordelia desperately opposed it, Count Le Delmo made eye contact with Juno and nodded his head, and Juno also nodded in respect for his firm determination.
“Good! Since you are a commoner, you won’t be on Tesseito’s list of nobles, so it won’t be a problem.”
“Shut your mouth!! Do you think I would give my loyalty to a dirty Balkan prince? If that were the case, I would take my life in my own hands!!”
“Cordelia!!”
Cordelia’s body flinched at Count Redelmo’s words.
“You are like my daughter… No, I have always thought of you as my daughter… So don’t say anything like saying you will die in front of this father.”
“Your Excellency… No, Dad… No way!! You are telling me cruel words about how to be loyal to the person who killed my father!! I would rather live and die as a wandering knight!! No, I can live as just a mercenary! So please… Black black black”
“I know your talent well. You are a child with much greater talent than this father. As a father, I cannot allow such talent to rot… So please listen to this father’s last request, my daughter. .”
Hehedad…”
“Cluck… It’s my last wish… Promise me you’ll grant this father’s request.”
Perhaps because the arrow had penetrated his lungs, Count Le Delmo was breathing heavily and coughing up blood as he spoke to Cordelia.
Hehe… I understand… I promise. Furthermore, I will become that damned prince’s knight just like my father said! Furthermore, I will live as a knight of the damned Balkans!! Are you satisfied now? Hehe”
When Cordelia promised, Count Le Delmo finally smiled faintly. Then he looked at Yuno again and continued speaking.
“Thank you for granting this old man’s last request. It’s hard to say in return, but I’ll give you some advice. When going to war… Especially when it’s an all-out war, don’t spare yourself. If His Highness had started this battle from the beginning, the soldiers would have Their sacrifices would have been much reduced. It would have been natural since monsters other than standard such as your highness were not included at all.”
“Thank you for the advice. I will definitely keep it in mind. Now then…”
Yuno took out the sword that had been given to him as the deputy commander of the expeditionary force from his belt.
And Count Le Delmo lowered his head, exposing the nape of his neck.
“Oh… No!! Wait a minute!!”
When Yuno raised his sword high, Cordelia blocked Yuno’s sword.
“Please let me have the last word!!”
“If you’re going to do it, do it quickly! If the crown prince comes, you have to transport the count to the capital…”
Sensing that the crown prince’s energy, felt from afar, was gradually approaching, Yuno urged Cordelia.
“I love you, Dad!! I will remember you forever!! Hehe”
Cordelia gave Count Le Delmo a tearful kiss on the cheek, then stood up and nodded to Juno.
Count Le Delmo also gave Juno a final gesture of gratitude and bowed his head again, and Juno’s sword, steeped in sword energy, passed through the count’s throat, causing it to fall cleanly to the floor.
“… I cut you using sword technique… So there would have been no pain.”
“… Thank you for your consideration… And…”
Even with tears streaming down her face, Cordelia bowed down before Juno, expressing her gratitude.
“Intermediate Knight Cordelia. I swear allegiance to His Majesty the Third Prince of the Balkan Empire! Until the day I die, my sword will be used to destroy your enemies, and my shield will be used to protect you.”
After hearing Cordelia’s oath of loyalty, Juno accepted her as his knight by raising her sword and tapping her on both shoulders.
“I have sworn allegiance at my father’s command, so as a knight I will obey His Highness’s orders… But you will not be able to receive my true loyalty that comes from my heart!!”
Her eyes were full of her resentment toward Ben Juno, who was her lord and, in her heart, her father.
“Phew… I understand. Well, since I accepted you as a knight, I will have to take care of you. Throw away everything that symbolizes Teseito-kun and follow me. If you just follow me, there won’t be any problem, but if you wander around carelessly, Problems may arise, so you must stay in my barracks for the time being.”
“I will obey my master’s orders.”
Yuno went outside and tore down the wooden wall to make a rough coffin, then obtained a uniform from the soldiers who were making a camp inside the fortress and returned inside. He then handed the imperial military uniform he had brought to Cordelia and placed Count Le Delmo’s body and supplies in the coffin.
Cordelia took off the markings and uniforms symbolizing the Tesseito army, changed into the imperial army clothes that Yuno brought her, and followed Yuno.
Shortly thereafter, the Crown Prince and Majuzuno revealed that they had executed Count Le Delmo and showed him his body and supplies.
“Well done, Yuno! You have made a great contribution in this expedition!! Still, it would have been better if you had captured Count Redelmo alive… I can see how happy your Majesty would have been if you had shown him the execution of this man. “
“I’m sorry, brother. The count’s resistance was so fierce that I had no choice but to kill him.”
“No!! If it weren’t for you, the capture of Fort Streb would have failed. It’s a hundred times better to kill than to miss!! Ah!”
Cordelia was furious for a moment when the crown prince talked about her execution, but when Yuno gently touched her with her foot to stop her, she came to her senses and erased her murderous intent from her mind.
‘Ugh… You have to endure it, Cordelia… You will have to live as a Balkan citizen from now on… Hehe, father, why are you putting me through this ordeal… Hehe’
When Count Le Delmo’s supply and demand was blocked by the castle walls, the defenders of Fort Streve despaired and calmly headed to the prisoner of war camp.
There was no abuse of prisoners that would normally have occurred.
The 11th corps was annihilated, and the damage to other corps was quite severe, so Juno, who thought that further expeditions were impossible, told the crown prince, ‘If you offer to exchange the territory of Fort Streve’s salient territory for 4,000 prisoners, Tesseito will accept it.’ This was because the Crown Prince, who thought that Yuno’s suggestion was correct, strictly prohibited the abuse of prisoners and delivered a diplomatic document regarding a ceasefire to Tesseito.
A day later. A considerable number of cavalry and infantry gathered in front of Fort Streb.
And the Duke of Tiruen, who led them, smiled bitterly when he saw the Streve fortress with the flag of the Balkan Empire flying up there.
“Damn it! I never thought Count Redelmo would have fallen already!! If this was going to happen, I should have defeated the southern imperial army and headed straight here. I was stupid… Damn it!!”
“Who would have thought that the shining iron walls of Streve would fall in just one month. It is not the Duke’s fault.”
“Tch… Now that things have come to this, it would be impossible for our cavalry-centered army to capture that Streve again. I don’t know who it was, but they made the recovery happen very quickly.”
“Yes. I also agree to the withdrawal of troops.”
The engineers of the 5th Corps quickly repaired the Streve Fortress, which was destroyed by the siege, and completed the replacement of the broken castle gate in less than a day, showing the dignity of a mature engineer. Therefore, Duke Tiruen, who led Tesseito’s reinforcements, could only sigh regretfully.
“Well… It would be a shame to just leave, so I guess I should at least say hello to those imperial bastards?”
When the Duke of Tiruen came running on his short horse, the imperial army, which had been nervous about Tesseito’s forces, relaxed.
However, Duke Tiruen, who thought his soldiers were the reapers, raised his sword and fired sword energy at Irma, sending it into the throats of the soldiers standing on the castle wall.
Pugh!
The soldiers instinctively realized their own death and recoiled, but a bright blue light appeared even on Streb’s castle walls, and with a loud explosion, Tiruen’s sword energy disappeared without a trace.
“Huh? You blocked my sword energy? Is this the third prince who became a God Master?”
“Phew~ I don’t know who it is, but this sword skill is almost at the same level as my teacher’s? It’s thrilling, isn’t it? Hehe”
Tiruen and Yuno faced each other across the castle wall and had their first meeting as rivals who would fight fiercely in the future.
“I can’t fight to the death here, so I guess I’ll have to retreat now. Anyway, the prince who has just become an adult is at a level that can block my sword power… As expected, Balkan… It’s not an easy country.”
However, a plot to overturn the Balkans was already planned in Tiruen’s head, and the plan was slowly being implemented.
“I hope to see you later on the battlefield. Prince Yuno… Hehe”
With a muttering to themselves, Tiruen and Tesseito’s relief army withdrew to the south.
And a diplomatic agreement containing the exchange of 4,000 prisoners and the Streve salient was delivered to the Royal Palace of Tesseito, and King Tesseito and the Duke of Tiruen approved it, ending the Battle of Streve Fortress with a complete victory for the Empire. Br〉
The 5th Corps decided to remain behind fortress Streve to defend, and the 1st and 4th Corps returned to their respective garrisons. And the 10th Corps set out on a march toward the capital.
Finally, Crown Prince Prinz, Yuno, and each corps commander quickly returned to the capital through space travel, taking only a few close associates with them.
“Aaaaah~~ It’s nice not to have to smell that awful dirt smell, bro.”
Haha, that’s true. Let’s go see His Majesty quickly. I heard His Majesty has received the news of victory and is anxiously waiting for us to return.”
Prinz and Yuno returned to the imperial palace, escorted by the Guard Knights, in a carriage waiting in front of the space magic circle on the outskirts of the capital.
“Yunoya~~~”
“Oppaaaaa~~”
“Yuno!! Hey dude~~~”
As soon as he entered the main gate of the imperial palace, the four women, Isabella, Marie, Eliza, and Catherine, rushed at him and attacked him with heavy bullets. Juno lost consciousness for a moment, and only after being urged by the crown prince was he able to force them away.
“I’m sorry. Right now, I have to go to see the Emperor with my brother, so see you later. Okay? Everyone?”
“Tch… We’ve been waiting anxiously for almost three months… I guess he didn’t miss us at all.”
“But who is she? Who is the woman behind my brother?”
“Ah! This is my new personal escort. Cordelia. I will assign someone to you, so go to my palace and rest.”
“Yes, I understand. Your Highness!”
The four women looked at Yuno with wide eyes, as if they were suspicious of something, but she didn’t seem to be stabbed at all, so Yuno was confident.
Following the attendant, Cordelia and the four women returned to Juno’s palace, and Juno headed to the palace with Prinz.
And looking at the emperor with a bright smile and the empress looking at Yuno with a faint smile, Yuno bowed to the emperor with the crown prince behind the crown prince.
*Illustration of the younger sister, Princess Marie, who will soon become an adult
