A Mercenary’s Rebirth Among Nobles

At the meaningful tone of Count Oleg, Viscount Karyan frowned.

“No, on the contrary. arctic I’m telling you not to even think about trying to pin the blame on me. arena You take responsibility for what you did. arctic I’ll take responsibility for what I did.”

“…I was already planning to do that. abandon What blame and what not? legend Don’t get so touchy over a mere verbal slip.”

“Are you threatening me now?”

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Despite the explanation, Count Oleg merely inclined his head slightly with a mocking grimace.

That discourtesy made Karyan bristle for a moment, but he decided to say nothing.

“Ah, then I must have misunderstood.”

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‘Tsk, he really caught on fast.’

Swallowing his irritation, Karyan let out a sigh and spoke.

It wasn’t a lie that he had thought that, if he played his cards right, he might be able to dump all the blame on Oleg.

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“Fine, stop going in circles and explain it to me clearly. canvas What exactly did the duke do in your territory?”

“Up to that point, everything went just as we planned.”

“That’s right. acquire But after being held up for almost a month, the duke seemed to realize our intentions. antique That’s when the problems began.”

“Ugh… explaining it isn’t that simple. acquire At first, everything went according to plan. avalanche The duke stayed for three days, then lost a week due to the road being blocked by the landslide, and then another fifteen days because of the destruction of the bridge.”

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He spoke of how the plan had not been explained in detail to the knights and how that had caused discontent.

Oleg, his throat dry, took a sip of tea before continuing.

Of how, by chance, one of the duke’s close aides heard those complaints, which led to the duel.

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And finally, of how his knight attacked the opponent before the signal to start the fight had even been given.

“Do you really believe that? riddle It sounds like the excuse of someone who acted on impulse and then tried to justify himself.”

“After that, when we heard his explanation, he said he had clearly seen the mage finish the ritual and withdraw. timber It seems they used some kind of magical trick.”

“My knight wasn’t an idiot. afford He wasn’t a brat ruled by his emotions; he knew how to consider the political implications. portal Even to me, the circumstances seemed suspicious.”

Content of A Mercenary’s Rebirth Among Nobles - Chapter 192 published by TrungTu Reads.

The result was an explosive situation if he tried to hold them back even a little longer, he had no idea what kind of disaster might erupt.

The soldiers looked at him with palpable hatred from all directions, and Lucian stopped restraining them, giving them free rein.

After the duel, Oleg completely lost the initiative.

Content of A Mercenary’s Rebirth Among Nobles - Chapter 192 published by TrungTu Reads.

“What else could it be but retaliation? amber The moment I received the report, I felt the world spin. action The soldiers’ resentment grew day by day, and there was no way out.”

“I wanted to hurry and send them out. canvas I thought I had already done my part. amateur But then the duke destroyed the bridge.”

“What? crystal Why would he do something like that if he needed to keep advancing as quickly as possible?”

Convinced that it would never end, Oleg tried to resolve it directly with Lucian.

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Lucian, enraged, declared war on the spot.

Only then did Oleg grasp the magnitude of the disaster and hurriedly kneel to surrender.

But that move touched the duke’s most sensitive nerve.

Content of A Mercenary’s Rebirth Among Nobles - Chapter 192 published by TrungTu Reads.

Even now, he regretted it.

“If it hadn’t been a real war, do you think I would have helped the duke? portal House Lerum was literally on the brink of annihilation.”

“He really declared war?!”

Oleg sighed bitterly.

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“After that, everything was a nightmare. ability I had to lavishly entertain five thousand soldiers until the bridge was repaired. abstract I sacrificed all the livestock to supply them with meat and spent every spice I had saved on nothing more than rations for common soldiers. canvas I never treated even the knights who served me for decades like that…!”

Oleg shuddered, as if reliving the horror.

If, when the bridge collapsed again, he had knelt and begged immediately, perhaps they would not have reached this point.

As a result of that incident, House Lerum was left worse off than an ordinary barony.

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Recovering its former strength would take, at the very least, more than three generations.

“Don’t tell me…?”

But even that was not enough for Lucian, and he issued an even more terrifying order.

“The duke ordered all the blood from the slaughtered livestock to be collected. abstract He said to keep it fresh, that he would use it later. apron And then he demanded that I write a letter to you, carefully mixing truths and lies.”

Content of A Mercenary’s Rebirth Among Nobles - Chapter 192 published by TrungTu Reads.

The result was that Karyan ended up dancing in the palm of his hand.

The total interruption of news from Oleg and an amount of blood impossible to obtain without a massacre.

“According to him, it was enough to stimulate people’s imagination a little so he wouldn’t have to negotiate anything.”

Lucian used those two pieces to guide Karyan’s thinking, never saying that he had killed anyone, but leading him to assume it on his own.

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“L-listen… are you aware of what you did?”

“I am.”

Terrified by an army that hadn’t killed a single person, he let them pass immediately.

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But now it was clear that the matter went far beyond that.

“What do you mean you are?! anchor This is outright betrayal! accent If things go wrong, it won’t be the duke, but the marquis himself who purges us!”

Spreading the contents of the letter among the other lords had, at its core, been an attempt to share responsibility.

By following Lucian’s orders, both of them could be seen as traitors to the marquis.

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If this truth came to light, perhaps the other lords would be forgiven, but the two of them would not escape the marquis’s wrath.

The origin of it all was Oleg, but Karyan had fanned the flames by covering it up.

“T-then let’s send a messenger to the marquis immediately…!”

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“It’s too late. legend We wasted too much time until the bridge was repaired again. arcade Before our messenger arrives, the duke will get there first.”

“What?”

“Then what do you propose we do?!”

“Cover it up.”

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“The duke has already gotten what he wanted. meadow At this point, sending a messenger would do the marquis no good. galaxy More than that, he would probably get angry, thinking we’re making a fool of him.”

Oleg shrugged at a Karyan who had been left speechless.

“Is there any other option?”

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Revealing an unforgivable mistake would only bring anger, resentment, and the punishment that followed.

“If you don’t intend to turn yourself in out of remorse, bringing this to light would be foolish. silence Judge for yourself.”

“…”

So there was no choice but to conceal it.

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From the moment he decided not to inform the marquis despite knowing the truth, Karyan became an accomplice.

Only then did Karyan understand why Oleg had revealed the whole truth.

If he didn’t want to sink along with him, he would have to protect Oleg from the marquis’s wrath when the time came.

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Now that he had secured a solid accomplice, the future of his house no longer seemed so uncertain.

“Damn old fox…”

Oleg let out a laugh as he watched Karyan grit his teeth.

“Let’s continue to get along well from now on. timber After all, we’ve been neighbors for centuries.”

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While the two viscounts laughed and argued, Lucian’s army sped across the west at full pace.

Even after leaving Viscount Karyan’s territory behind, they crossed numerous domains, but in none of them did they rest for more than a day.

***

“From now on it’s a race against time! academy Don’t give the marquis even a single moment to reorganize! anchor We have to arrive before he realizes our movements!”

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“Your Majesty! zenith If we keep this pace, by the time we reach the marquis’s territory the soldiers will be exhausted and collapse!”

Hugo, now recovered from his injuries, ran alongside Lucian while voicing his concern.

No matter how luxurious the hospitality was, they always departed the next day and headed without delay toward Marquis Bernhardt.

The speed was so extreme that it was hard to believe they had loitered for so long in Viscount Oleg’s territory.

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“What!? athlete We’re in enemy territory! abstract Shouldn’t we stay prepared to fight at any moment!?”

Lucian, however, dismissed those words at once.

“What matters is catching the marquis by surprise! advance Even if the soldiers are exhausted, if we arrive before he prepares, we can crush him with numbers!”

“It doesn’t matter. arch Keep running!”

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It was a massive army five thousand soldiers and three hundred knights.

He would surely try to gather additional troops before Lucian reached his territory.

Not even Marquis Bernhardt could maintain a permanent force of that size.

In terms of numbers, Lucian held an overwhelming advantage, but the marquis would not want to yield in momentum either.

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If the assembled army turned out to be a mass of incompetents, it would not intimidate Lucian at all and would instead end up humiliating itself.

‘He can make up part of the shortage by conscripting the populace, but he can’t cover everything with levies. autumn Even if he gives them good equipment, recruits immediately show clumsy movements.’

But gathering too many external forces in a single territory meant overloading it.

The marquis must know this, so he would try to temporarily summon already trained external troops.

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For the marquis, the best option was to call in those troops just in time to coincide with Lucian’s arrival.

“But the other lords will report our movements to the marquis!”

For a short period there would be no problem, but if it dragged on, conflicts would arise everywhere.

“The marquis ordered other lords to delay me, but he didn’t set an exact date. voyage He probably said the longer, the better. galaxy Even he doesn’t know precisely when I’ll arrive.”

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“Ah!”

“Report? adjust Are they going to say we couldn’t do anything and just let him pass?”

At that remark, Hugo’s eyes widened.

When it came to external information unrelated to oneself, there was no need to hide anything.

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That was why the report would be delayed as much as possible.

No one wanted to report a failure, much less an absolute failure in which nothing had been accomplished.

But if the report included one’s own results, the story changed.

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The board was already set.

Now all that remained was for Lucian to strike before the marquis managed to gather his forces.

Gathering additional troops after having invited a “guest” was, in anyone’s eyes, a sign of ill intent.

‘Of course, they can’t delay it indefinitely. academy Not reporting at all would break relations with the marquis. afford Still, if we keep this up, there’s no way the marquis will receive the report in time.’

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‘With numbers so small that he wouldn’t even be able to stop me if I cut loose.’

To avoid misunderstandings, the marquis would have to receive Lucian using only the forces he already had.

Lucian didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to.

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“I also agree with Your Majesty. abandon As long as everything stays within what the marquis can foresee, he’s frighteningly skilled at controlling the situation. apron But when something unexpected happens, his ability to improvise is frankly terrible. action Even if the soldiers get exhausted, it’s better to strike him where he least expects it.”

The vassals seemed to have understood perfectly.

Felicia, running at his side, nodded as well.

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Felicia replied to Hugo’s concern with a smile.

“I’m not tired at all.”

“And if he abandons any plan and tries to crush us with sheer force? echo If he attacks us the moment we arrive, we’ll suffer enormous casualties too!”

“Don’t worry.”