The Founding Monarch Became the Mastermind

Chapter 23

Thud!

“……!?”

Erwin, riding at the front and pushing his horse so hard that foam was forming in its mouth, suddenly experienced his vision flip as his foot slipped from the stirrup.

Erwin’s body rotated in the air, and a powerful impact struck his back.

“Gah!”

Erwin flailed his limbs, unable to catch his breath from the sudden and intense shock.

However, his struggles didn’t last long.

Crunch!

“Urgh!”

This time, a heavy impact struck his chest.

With pressure crushing down on both his back and chest, Erwin could only gasp for air, his eyes focusing on the silver glint of a sword pointed at his chest and the face of the person standing over him.

“You’re just as pathetic as I expected. How convenient.”

“Let’s go!”

With a cold smile, Si-on looked left and right as the Janstrick mercenaries surged forward, forcefully cutting through the mud that sucked at their feet.

***

Only four, including Knight Erwin, had fallen from their horses, caught by the ropes set up by the mercenaries.

The rest of the mounted forces quickly noticed the ropes strung through the oddly positioned grass and jumped over them.

“Sir Erwin! These cowardly bastards!”

“Kill them all!”

The Jetman knights, enraged at the fall of their comrade and leader Erwin, went wild.

But what awaited them after jumping over the grassy ropes was—

Neighhhh!

“H-Hey, what’s going on?”

“Zorro? Why aren’t you running!?”

A warhorse, far stronger than a person, wouldn’t immediately become immobile from getting stuck in the mud.

However, these horses had just galloped several kilometers after spotting Si-on and Piotr, and they had already been on the move for hours without rest.

Trapped in the mud, they couldn’t exert their full strength.

Neigh! Neigh!

The Janstrick mercenaries charged toward the struggling horses and their riders.

The Janstrick mercenaries, who had rotated on and off the wagons to rest during the journey, were full of energy.

For such mercenaries, targets stuck on horses that could barely move were easy prey.

“Y-You bastards… Argh!”

“Gah!”

Those who had followed closely behind Erwin were the first to bleed, surrounded by two or three mercenaries, falling off their horses.

“Damn it!”

Those who realized the situation too late scrambled to dismount, but by then, about half of them had been caught by the rope traps or swiftly cut down by the efficient, machine-like strikes of Janstrick.

Now vastly outnumbered, and with their strength drained from the continuous pursuit, they had no chance of fighting properly in the mud.

Argh!

Guhh!

Some had their heads smashed in by maces or were battered all over, crawling like insects in the mud, while others writhed, bleeding from fatal spear wounds.

“Not bad. Very nice.”

Si-on, still standing on Erwin’s chest, smiled as he watched the scene unfold.

“You… You bastard… Ugh!”

Having somewhat recovered his strength after a brief moment, Erwin struggled to resist.

“Stay still.”

“Hngh!”

Feeling as if a massive boulder was crushing him, Erwin’s body instantly went limp, and he could barely breathe.

‘W-What kind of strength is this?’

If it had been Stelman Janstrick, Erwin might have understood such monstrous power.

But the man before him was just a slightly muscular young man.

“W-Who… who are you…?”

Barely managing to utter a word, Erwin saw Si-on smirk in response.

“The one who wrote the check you cashed.”

“W-What…!?”

“And what’s with this idiot back-talking me in that informal tone?”

Si-on released a faint burst of killing intent.

Already struggling to breathe, Erwin’s face turned a sickly blue as the killing aura washed over him.

The overwhelming weakness that suddenly drained all his strength, combined with finally realizing who his opponent was, filled him with dread.

But proving he hadn’t earned his knighthood through gambling, Erwin used all his might to speak.

“If… if you kill me, you’ll make an enemy of Jetman Estate… A-And this isn’t all of our forces. The mercenaries will…”

“Oh, those bastards coming over there?”

Si-on pointed at the dust cloud rising in the distance, where over a hundred soldiers and mercenaries were charging toward them, and Erwin’s face lit up, even in his dire state.

“Y-Yes, that’s right. It would be wise to negotiate now.”

“They got here less than ten minutes after you guys did, so they must be pretty tired. I doubt they’ll even have time to catch their breath.”

“……!”

Erwin’s heart sank.

Still, they had about 20 men, and the reinforcements arriving would outnumber them by more than five times.

Recalling this, Erwin was about to speak again, but Si-on beat him to it.

“Oh, they’re here.”

Tudududududu!

Erwin managed to turn his head, but he didn’t need to; he could already tell from the sound.

Charging down from a gentle hill opposite his allies, who were frantically rushing forward, was a squad of mounted fighters.

Even if they were in top condition, encountering such a group on level ground would terrify them, but now, in their worst state and the most disadvantageous terrain, they faced heavily armed cavalry.

Erwin, witnessing the impending disaster that was about to unfold, used all his strength to scream.

“N-Negotiation! Let’s negotiate!”

Si-on threw a generous smile at Erwin, who was now shouting words that carried a completely different meaning from just moments ago.

“Fuck off.”

***

Stelman and Janstrick’s elite mercenaries literally swept through the enemy forces that outnumbered them several times over.

Even if they had been heavily armored infantry with long spears, their exhaustion and lack of preparation made them vulnerable to the cavalry charge.

And this group of exhausted, second-rate estate soldiers and ragtag mercenaries?

It was no different from releasing a pack of wolves into a herd of hundreds of sheep.

Nearly half of Jetman’s forces were killed or severely injured in the first clash, unable to ever wield a weapon again, and the rest disintegrated.

Mercenaries aren’t fools.

The moment they were crushed in their first encounter with Stelman’s troops, they either dropped their weapons and knelt on the spot or used their last bit of strength to flee in all directions.

Though they were greedy mercenaries, they valued their lives.

They had no loyalty to uphold for an employer in a lost battle.

Stelman did not bother pursuing those who ran.

Those already depleted of energy wouldn’t get far anyway.

They would likely be torn apart by the wild beasts and monsters drawn to the scent of blood and corpses, or if lucky, they might reach Jetman Castle, only to be whipped by their lord.

Around half fled, while about 50 were taken captive.

Although the number of prisoners outnumbered their side, Si-on wasn’t worried, having encountered such situations often in the past.

After stripping the captives of all weapons and gear and leaving them clothed, Si-on loaded the empty spaces in the wagons and the captured warhorses with the confiscated equipment.

“As promised, this is part of the loot, so we’ll split it evenly.”

Stelman and the Janstrick mercenaries, who had been resting after the battle, were deeply moved by their extraordinary employer’s generous spirit, especially after witnessing their impressive skills today.

“What do you plan to do with the prisoners? I suppose you’ll ransom them back to Baron Jetman?”

Piotr, still flushed with excitement from experiencing real combat for the first time—albeit against enemies floundering in the mud—asked eagerly.

“Typically, that would be the standard approach, but I doubt Baron Jetman will be in any state to deal with that.”

Si-on’s cryptic smile left Piotr, Stelman, and the other mercenaries puzzled.

“He’ll be quite busy entertaining some guests for a while.”

“Um… What do you mean by that?”

“There’s something like that. Anyway, I’ll handle the prisoners when we reach the nearest large town or city after leaving this area. No point in feeding these useless guys for nothing.”

While Si-on planned to collect from them eventually, he saw no reason to waste resources on them for now.

It was better to reach a place where he could deal with the captives as soon as possible.

“Let’s move quickly. We’re leaving this area by today.”

“Yes, sir!”

With a resounding response, the Janstrick mercenaries resumed their march, proudly leading their spoils and prisoners.

***

As the red sunset, as if soaked in the blood spilled during the day, painted the western sky, Si-on and his group arrived at a fairly large village.

The village was located at the edge of the kingdom’s directly controlled territory, where an administrator had been dispatched.

After verifying Si-on’s identity and circumstances, the administrator treated him with great respect and readily accepted the prisoners.

Of course, the 5,000 Dien Si-on discreetly offered played a significant role, and the group stayed there for a few more days.

Piotr and the mercenaries, who had thought they would rest for just one day and then set off again, had their questions answered on the third day.

Jenna and her two subordinates, who had quietly disappeared during the night by the Marin River, came to the village.

And they weren’t alone.

Alongside them were a knight wearing a surcoat adorned with an emblem of two wolves raising their paws under a birch tree, and three lightly armed nobles who had come to see Si-on.

“What’s this?”

Seeing the unexpected visitors, Piotr was puzzled, and Stelman, unable to hide his surprise, spoke.

“Sir, that’s the crest of the Volphart Estate.”

“Volphart… Ah!”

It was the estate currently in conflict with Jetman Estate.

“But why are they here…? Oh, no way.”

“That’s exactly what it is. It seems Sir Salen had intended to contact the Volphart family even before leaving Alphmarine.”

“Haha…”

Piotr let out a hollow laugh, feeling as if he had been struck on the back of his head.

However, thinking it over, it was only natural.

It was clear that Baron Jetman had set his sights on them, and Jetman was preparing for war against Volphart Estate.

The enemy of your enemy is your ally.

Not forming an alliance with Volphart Estate would have been the stranger move.

But since unexpected things kept happening, and given the rushed schedule, no one but Si-on had thought that far.

And even if they had planned to contact Volphart Estate, how would they persuade them?

But from the current situation, it seemed that Si-on had tried and succeeded.

“Truly, Sir Salen is…”

“A remarkable individual.”

Regardless of whether they admired him or not, Si-on paid no attention to them and focused solely on the representatives from Volphart Estate in front of him.

“Five thousand Dien for knights, one thousand for soldiers.”

“That’s too expensive. You’ve already taken all the equipment as loot, haven’t you? How about three thousand for knights and five hundred for soldiers?”

“I kept my promise to deal with 20-30% of Jetman Estate’s forces. Now, you should keep your end of the deal too. And if you win, you’ll extort from Baron Jetman anyway, won’t you? Five thousand for knights, one thousand for soldiers.”

“Even so…”

“Remember, the royal family does not speak falsehoods.”

“……”

The knight and nobles from Volphart Estate fell silent.

Even if he was from a collateral branch, the young noble before them was a member of the royal family.

Moreover, he had somehow managed to annihilate part of Jetman’s forces and had even captured several knights, including the key figure Erwin.

They couldn’t dare say, “You’re just a powerless collateral,” in front of such a figure.

Especially not during a time when the capital was in turmoil over the royal succession.

“Very well. Five thousand for knights, one thousand for soldiers.”

“Unlike the despicable Jetman family, Volphart is truly a house that understands honor. I’ll be sure to convey this well.”

To whom he would convey this, no one knew.

But given that it was a good thing, the knight of Volphart, assuming it was likely the Crown Prince, awkwardly smiled and shook hands with Si-on.

“Thank you. I look forward to working with you in the future, sir.”

“Best of luck to you as well. Oh, and I’ll sell the seized equipment and warhorses from the prisoners at a fair price. Wishing for Volphart’s victory.”

Feeling somewhat regretful that he hadn’t been able to directly deal with Jetman due to various circumstances, Si-on spoke sincerely, believing he was showing generosity.

“Th-Thank you for your kind words.”

The opponent, who had just moments ago been convinced that Si-on wouldn’t budge even if stabbed, could only manage an awkward smile.