Chapter 456: Did I Ask You To?

"Did someone set a fire or something? I hear screaming."

"I hear weapons clashing, too."

Just as August said, these were unmistakably the sounds of fighting. I had no idea what was going on, but they were fighting among themselves inside Basel Castle. We just stood there like bumps on a log, watching the spectacle.

What the heck is going on here?

Oscar and Gustav assembled the troops.

"My lord, this is a golden opportunity! We must attack at once!"

"It’s definitely the right moment, but I’d rather not get dragged into that mess."

The way I saw it, wouldn’t it be better to get them to open the gates themselves than to bother attacking? I didn’t want to scale the walls with ladders and burn through the troops I’d worked so hard to build up, all in the middle of that chaos.

"Then what will you do?"

"First, I’ll try to talk them into opening the gates."

"...The gatekeeper would never open the gates for us."

"But this isn’t exactly a normal situation, is it?"

[Gale Plunderer V Quest]

[Secure the Count of Basel’s surrender]

[Reward - 30,000 points, 300 gold coins]

[Gale Plunderer Trait 4/5]

[Danger Rating ★★☆☆☆]

August and I approached the castle gates.

One look at the moat surrounding all of Basel was enough to tell me that my current forces couldn’t take it easily. But with chaos breaking out inside the castle, could the garrison really hold us off if we crossed the moat and attacked?

Startled to see us come so close to the gates, the garrison hurriedly called for the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper, who had been frantically directing the garrison, was shocked to see me come in person and didn’t know what to do.

Put down the rebels or fight off the invaders? If it were me, I’d say screw this, I quit. The fact that they didn’t even draw their bows on us said it all.

"Gatekeeper! What’s going on in there?!"

"I can’t tell you that! It’s nothing serious, so back off!"

"Nothing serious? We can hear the screams and the clash of swords all the way out here."

"The guards are putting it down, so things will settle soon!"

Funny, the garrison sure looked terrified for something that was supposedly under control. And my Manager Scouter had already exposed the gatekeeper’s claim as a lie. Then again, the gatekeeper couldn’t show weakness in front of the enemy, so I suppose it made sense.

"Gatekeeper, tell me the truth. Is this rebellion small enough for you people to handle on your own? If not, your families and friends might all die at the hands of those rebels."

"...."

"Time is running out. Just as you can’t make the Main River flow backward, you can’t bring the dead back to life. We’ll help you crush those rebels."

The longer he hesitated, the more time slipped away. Under normal circumstances, this kind of persuasion wouldn’t have stood a chance, but if the gatekeeper was hesitating like this, something really big must have happened.

The gatekeeper’s gaze turned toward the lord’s castle.

"Block the east gate! Don’t let them get near the lord’s castle!"

"Sir, we don’t have any men to send!"

"Oh, damn it! Those accursed mercenaries!"

With the situation beyond his control, the gatekeeper let out a long groan. Aha, so the mercenaries had started the rebellion. Had Basel failed to pay their wages on time? I’d heard the county had run out of money.

"Listen, gatekeeper. Open the gates. A mercenary revolt is no small matter."

After all, a mercenary revolt isn’t about taking the castle; it’s about plunder. If the mercenaries had their way, there’d be nothing left for me to take. In the end, it was the lords following behind me who stepped in to sway the wavering gatekeeper.

"Gatekeeper, I am the Lord of Wischelbach. The Baron of Rosenheim is a noble you can trust, so open the gates."

"The longer those mercenaries run wild, the worse the damage will get. Make a decision! Now!"

With even the regional lords stepping in to persuade him, the gatekeeper’s dilemma reached its peak. By now, Basel must have been a living hell, with mercenaries setting fires and plundering everything in sight, from valuables to women.

"That’s not my call to make! I’ll go get the lord’s permission!"

"Gatekeeper! Everyone will be dead by then!"

"There’s nothing I can do about it!"

For a gatekeeper to open the gates on his own authority would be treason. The lords knew that too, so they couldn’t press him any further. The gatekeeper sent a man to the lord’s castle, but whether a reply would come was anyone’s guess.

"Do you think the Count of Basel will open the gates?"

"He might think being occupied by us is better than being plundered by mercenaries."

"True, those mercenaries are ignorant brutes who don’t know the meaning of restraint."

Mercenary plundering was notorious throughout Europe. There’s a reason people say that wherever mercenaries plunder, nothing but wasteland is left behind. Many of Basel’s villages had already been destroyed that way.

All of our troops were already assembled in front of the gates.

Honestly, the answer was as good as decided.

What if the Count of Basel refused? Then I’d simply let him fight the mercenaries and take over at my leisure afterward. But if that happened, Basel would suffer enormous damage. The Count would be better off surrendering.

That is, if he made the rational choice.

After a long while, the raised drawbridge finally began its slow descent.

"The lord has granted you entry."

"Smart choice. All troops, enter the castle!"

The Rosenheim army entered Basel Castle without a hitch. The town inside was a complete disaster. Flames shot up everywhere, and the merciless, brutal plundering was heartbreaking to witness.

"We’ll help the Basel army put down the mercenaries. Kill them all! No prisoners!"

With no agreement with the mercenaries to hold us back, my army engaged them in street fighting. Under August’s command, Oscar and Gustav maneuvered the soldiers with perfect precision.

"Aim! Feuer!"

Ratatat-bang!

Meanwhile, I raced to the plaza with the Gale Knights. Amid the corpses and screams, I spotted those lunatics ransacking a church. Did they have no regard for religion when it came to looting?

"Cavalry lances! Charge formation!"

My men couched the spare cavalry lances they carried and formed up for a charge. Then they mowed down the mercenaries who were carrying off the church’s treasures and even laying hands on the nuns.

We pushed forward all the way to the front of the lord’s castle, sweeping away anyone who looked like a mercenary. I didn’t even have time to wipe the blood off my halberd as I hacked at the necks of mercenaries popping out of nowhere.

At last, I came face to face with the mercenary captain leading the attack on the lord’s castle.

Or rather, four mercenary captains, to be exact.

"Damn it, why are you attacking us?!"

"You only got in thanks to us, and instead of helping, this is how you repay us?!"

The mercenary captains insisted that it was thanks to the riot they’d started that I’d been able to enter without any resistance. Hmm, they certainly had a point. But did I ask you to, you plundering bastards?

"You plundered under the pretext of helping, and you expect me to take your side? What are you all waiting for? Slaughter every last one of these plunderers! No prisoners!"

"Gale Knights, charge formation!"

The cavalry under Barosi cut down the mercenaries in an instant, but there were so many of them that they put up fierce resistance. I immediately dug my heels into Chrysos’s flanks and charged at the mercenary captains.

"Stop him! Raise your spears so he can’t get close!"

Aaaargh!

I swung my halberd in a wide arc and swept away the mercenaries blocking my path. Most of them were crushed to death, armor and all, by its axe blade. In the blink of an eye, I broke through their ranks and fell upon the mercenary captains.

Clang! Screech!

I thrust the halberd’s spike at one captain’s neck, but he blocked it with his sword and deflected it upward. The spike glanced off and passed over his head. Not bad reflexes, huh?

I immediately flipped the halberd around, caught the seam of his visor with the hook on the back of the blade, and yanked. As he lost his balance and fell, I raised the halberd high and brought it crashing down on his head.

Crunch!

Blood spurted from his shattered skull.

It happened so fast that the mercenaries could do nothing to stop it.

"C-Captain! Aaaargh!"

"Run! If we stay here, we’re all dead!"