A Mercenary’s Rebirth Among Nobles

After concluding his unilateral declaration, Lucian immediately left the house of Viscount Lerum at the head of the army.

As soon as he passed through the gates of the fortress, he headed toward a basin located at some distance from the viscount’s castle.

It was neither too far nor too close, easy to defend and also well suited as a route of advance.

Upon seeing Lucian openly occupy a strategic military point, House Lerum fell into chaos. This was not a mere threat; it was clear that, if necessary, he truly intended to attack.

“Viscount! What does all this mean?”

“A joke? What was said for the king to act this way?”

The knights rushed at Viscount Oleg Lerum from all directions, but he had no leeway to respond.

The words Lucian had left behind echoed in his mind like thunder.

‘Surrender or extermination? Surrender or extermination…?’

Oleg felt his head spinning. If those words had been spoken in private, between two people, there would always have been room to retract them.

But words that enter the ears of others cannot be taken back, not even with the power of the gods.

The moment he spoke of war in front of the soldiers, any peaceful solution was discarded.

If, after such a declaration, he were to change his mind, Lucian would become the laughingstock of the entire continent.

“Wh-what is th… ugh!”

“V-viscount!”

“The viscount has collapsed!”

Faced with such a desperate reality, Oleg could not withstand the shock and collapsed.

The knights surrounding him panicked and hurriedly carried him inside.

While House Lerum lost its composure, the five thousand soldiers encamped in the basin were brimming with calm.

“Look at them, it suits them well.”

“That’s why they should have behaved properly from the start.”

“This is the perfect opportunity to teach them a good lesson.”

“Right, we have to show them their place.”

Lucian’s declaration of war was sudden even for them, but it was also something they had been expecting for a long time.

When they entered the West with imposing steps and saw the lords trembling with fear, their pride swelled.

However, the moment they set foot there, they were trapped by natural disasters and spent days unable to do anything.

As their stay dragged on longer than expected, the viscount’s treatment gradually worsened.

In the end, claiming they lacked sufficient food, even the meals were covered by the rations brought by the supply unit.

“Damn it, now that I think about it, my blood still boils. How dare they treat us like parasites?”

“They said they had their difficulties, so we understood—and then they stabbed us in the back like this.”

The soldiers recalled the moment the meals were changed and clenched their teeth.

Of course, they knew that House Lerum did not have the resources to properly attend to five thousand men.

But reality is one thing, and atmosphere is another.

When they stopped attending to them, they did not show even a hint of apology; they cut off the treatment abruptly.

That attitude alone was enough to make soldiers brimming with pride feel humiliated.

The army that had made countless lords tremble was, overnight, treated as five thousand parasites.

“Let’s wipe out those who mocked His Majesty the king!”

“Let’s avenge Sir Hugo, victim of a cowardly ploy!”

“Let’s show them the power of the North!”

Seeing the chance to settle scores, the five thousand soldiers erupted into cheers in unison.

In their eyes, there was not a trace of doubt or fear.

Whether it was called a war or not, in practice it was nothing more than crushing an enemy with no chance.

***

“Right now, the viscount’s head must be splitting.”

Lucian curved his lips into a smile as he listened to the soldiers’ shouts.

“He planned to strip them of their hostility with hospitality, then erase their presence through shame and helplessness—but now he’ll have to shoulder the anger of all the soldiers.”

“He devised something he couldn’t handle. That’s his own punishment.”

“That’s right. No matter how grand a plan is, if it exceeds one’s own capabilities, it shouldn’t be touched.”

At Marius’s comment, Lucian nodded.

To be honest, Viscount Oleg’s plan had not been bad.

If it had unfolded as he expected, Lucian would no longer have been able to walk with his head held high as before.

The problem was that, obsessed with the perfection of his plan, he forgot two things.

That Lucian could flip the table whenever he wanted, and that in these chaotic times, doing so was not a big problem.

“He was quite a capable man, but it seems he still retains the mentality of times of peace. He still believes he can make up for the difference in power with politics.”

“He must have trusted his backing, Marquis Bernhardt. If he trusted it that much, he must have received help several times.”

“If the request had arrived in time, he might have received help, but no matter what he does, it won’t arrive in time. It’s a pointless assumption.”

Lucian let out a light chuckle and lowered his gaze to Hugo.

With his arm wrapped in bandages, Hugo had his eyes closed, as if sleeping deeply.

As the silence stretched on, Lucian sighed and slapped him with his palm.

Smack!

“Kek!”

“Stop pretending to sleep and get up. There’s no one left to watch—what’s the point of keeping up the act?”

“Pretending, sure, but the broken arm is real! Don’t you see the bandage?”

Felicia, smiling, interjected at Hugo’s indignant protest.

“Yes. It’s broken very cleanly. As if someone deliberately diverted the blow so there wouldn’t be any lasting damage. When it fuses, it’ll be even stronger.”

“Well, even stealing requires good coordination.”

Hugo shook his head, then lay back calmly with a smile.

“Anyway, the people of House Lerum are in really bad shape now. I wonder if they aren’t so scared that they’ve already wet themselves.”

“They must never have imagined that a simple conversation would make everything escalate like this. The regret must be enormous.”

“Regret isn’t enough. Whether they make war or surrender, we’ll have to find them and at least cut off an arm to feel at ease.”

Recalling the conversation the knights had earlier, Hugo wiped the smile from his face.

Just when they were looking for a pretext for a duel, those guys had been insulting Lucian.

In a way, they had handed over the justification themselves.

But it wasn’t something that could be forgiven so easily.

Their words had crossed the line by far.

“Pretending to lose against those guys twisted my guts. Honestly, if it hadn’t been my lord’s order, I would’ve torn them to pieces right there.”

“You held back well. Thanks to you, the flow is now on our side.”

Lucian smiled as he patted Hugo on the shoulder.

Why had the viscount dared to detain a foreign army in his territory—and one of five thousand men at that?

Because he was convinced that with initial hospitality, the soldiers’ anger would not turn against him.

However, the conflict between Hugo and the knights redirected that anger toward House Lerum.

Once the course was twisted, Oleg had to try to expel Lucian and his people as quickly as possible.

He didn’t know when those five thousand soldiers, filled with hostility, might cause a disaster in his territory.

‘But I don’t have to move the way he wants. After grabbing someone else’s ankle like this, does he think he can just pass by without paying any price?’

Lucian secretly went to the nearly finished bridge and destroyed it again.

He intended to return exactly the same treatment the viscount had used on him.

If at that point Oleg had admitted his mistake and humbly begged, Lucian planned to squeeze him a little and then leave.

He had deceived him, yes, but the real damage had been minimal.

However, the viscount trusted his backing to the very end—Marquis Bernhardt—and tried to negotiate as if they were equals.

‘How insolent.’

Sparks flew in Lucian’s eyes.

Even after being offered the most lenient price possible, he rejected it.

Then only one option remained.

‘If you won’t admit your mistake, I’ll make you kneel as a defeated man.’

***

Viscount Oleg Lerum, who had been unconscious, regained consciousness shortly afterward and summoned his vassals.

As soon as they gathered, a desperate voice spilled from the viscount’s mouth.

“So what are we supposed to do now?”

“…”

“…”

The vassals said nothing and merely lowered their heads.

Seeing that reaction, Oleg Lerum felt frustration consume him and clutched his chest.

“Say something. Even argue about whether we should defend the castle with suicidal resolve or whether there’s no chance at all and we should surrender.”

Even so, the vassals only hesitated and averted their eyes.

After a short while, one of his closest aides, with a grim expression, stepped forward and bowed his head.

“Viscount.”

“Good. Is there any solution?”

“There is none.”

“…Are you mocking me?”

The viscount’s face twisted with anger, but the aide, even in the face of his lord’s fury, only let out a deep sigh.

“We must surrender.”

“Isn’t that decision too hasty?”

“There is no room for debate. The bridge is destroyed, so we can’t request reinforcements from the marquis. And even if we did, by the time they arrived, the castle would already have fallen.”

At the mention of the bridge, Oleg Lerum ground his teeth.

The bridge he had destroyed to stop Lucian had now become a noose around his own neck.

But surrendering because they lacked reinforcements meant becoming a prisoner of war.

The viscount wracked his brain, trying to find even the slightest possibility of victory.

“…In a siege, the defender can hold out even against a force ten times larger.”

“The enemy has a Swordmaster and a mage. That more than compensates for the attacker’s disadvantage.”

“The Swordmaster is also human, and the mage is an old man who could die at any moment.”

“Just a few years ago, a single lightning spell nearly killed the first prince. Do you think the duke would choose a court mage inferior to that?”

“Even if it were possible, do you think that after something like this, they could return alive from the west?”

“This isn’t the heart of the west, where they could surround the duke. If they wipe out House Lerum and return north, no one will be able to stop them.”

“Is it that every time you open your mouth all you can say is that we’ll lose?! At least propose a plan that sounds convincing!”

The viscount’s voice finally exploded into a shout.

After a brief silence, the aide bowed his head calmly.

“If that is your wish, I will go out to fight.”

“…”

“I will stake my life to defend the castle. Just give the order.”

“Heh… heh…”

The viscount let out a choked laugh, almost like a sob. After a while, amid ragged breaths, he spoke again.

“Yes… we cannot win.”

“…”

“I’m not an idiot. I know perfectly well that we have no chance. But if we surrender, what do you think will happen?”

Oleg Lerum’s body trembled.

He knew all too well what awaited him after surrender.

“I mocked that young duke. And he knows it. If I surrender on top of that in a war, what kind of treatment do you think I’ll receive?”

“…Custom for thousands of years dictates lenient treatment for those who surrender without fighting.”

“That leniency only guarantees life and lands. It does not prevent plunder or humiliation.”

“Viscount, it is not possible to get out of this without paying some price.”

The aide’s words struck the viscount like a hammer to the back of the neck.

He was right.

Thinking back now, the moment Lucian took the initiative, he should have bowed to the ground, abandoned all pride, admitted his mistake, and begged for forgiveness.

But he tried to evade the price by hiding behind his political backing.

And now that price had returned multiplied, tightening around his throat.

‘If this time as well I try to avoid paying it…’

Surrender or annihilation.

A declaration that, once spoken, not even Lucian himself could withdraw.

If Oleg Lerum once again refused to pay the price, just as Lucian had warned, House Lerum would be exterminated without leaving a single brick standing.

“…Bring pen and paper.”

With his eyes tightly shut, the viscount spoke in a trembling voice.

“I must draft the document of surrender.”