Chapter 267: The Victory Conditions Changed?

I had thought the inside of the Count’s residence was unusually brightly lit, but it turned out they had lit it so the guests could watch. Hearing that spectators had also come to the neighboring Marquis’s residence was a surprise. With this much attention, what would they do if they lost?

As for me, I would just be adding another layer of shame on top of the old one and things would continue as usual!

"Is there anything else that’s causing trouble?"

"Well, it’s not a big deal, but we had talked about settling it face-to-face in the Count’s garden. Then they said we could attack from anywhere inside the residence."

"Hah?"

I thought that was obvious, but what had the Duke been thinking?

"Um, Your Grace, what had you been imagining?"

"I had been thinking of a ten-versus-ten clash from the front—power against power!"

Huh?

"What do you mean by that?"

"That’s what I mean! We assembled burly men whose bodies are large enough that they won’t lose in a shoving match. Both sides would raise shields, smash into each other, and not get pushed back. Gan!! We’d hit them, smash the Kirchhoff men to pieces, then rush straight to Count von Kirchhoff and win! We’d take him down before he could do a thing! That’s the scene I had pictured!

And then just now the Count came saying it was His Majesty’s words—that such a scene would never happen on a real battlefield, so we should fight normally. What is that supposed to mean?! It’s completely different from what I had in mind! His Majesty would never say such a thing. The Count must have bought His Majesty off and arranged it this way!!"

Halfway through, the Duke’s face turned bright red. I thought that was just how these things normally went. The men around him also wore faces that said Well, that’s how it is, isn’t it...

Hadn’t the Duke said he would take command?

"Um, Your Grace, didn’t you say you would take command? How had you intended to do that?"

"Obviously I would have them raise shields, form a wall in a horizontal line, and push forward, right? I was going to shout encouragement at that time!"

"Then what were the blunted swords for?"

"Swords and spears are for thrusting and striking the enemy. Isn’t that obvious?"

In short, the Duke had been imagining a shoving match between men and thought all he needed to do was shout at them? What a plain scene that would have been. Even I wouldn’t have wanted to watch that. I could understand why there had been a word from on high from His Majesty.

That meant Rudolf had been counted as part of that shoving match. For the Duke, Lily’s arrival had been unexpected; he had probably been expecting a more heavily built man.

"On top of that, they said ten versus ten would be over too quickly, so let’s make it twenty versus twenty. Of course we brought more than thirty people and a full set of armor for that many, so there’s no problem."

The Duke declared there was no problem, but—

"Your Grace, those full sets of armor are metal, aren’t they? Yesterday you said that wearing armor makes you look cowardly and that it was better to wear nothing and stay close to bare skin, didn’t you?"

I thought the Duke would look at least a little ashamed at my question, but instead—

"I did say that yesterday, but after thinking it over I decided we should prepare so that no matter how the Kirchhoff side is equipped, we’ll be fine. You people came wearing leather gear too, didn’t you? It’s the same."

His Grace said it with a completely unbothered face. I was starting to feel that the enemy was not Count von Kirchhoff but this Duke of Vélez.

"And there’s one more problem."

The Duke spoke in a suggestive tone.

"In the original arrangement, victory was decided by either defeating all of the opposing side or seizing their banner. But there were voices saying seizing the banner wasn’t interesting, so the banner contest was dropped. Instead the victory conditions changed to something else."

"What is it?"

"Defeating or forcing the surrender of the opposing side’s general."

"Excuse me? Who decided that?"

"Well... Count von Kirchhoff and I."

"So that means either Count von Kirchhoff is defeated, or Your Grace the Duke of Vélez is defeated?"

"No, that’s not it. This is a battle between House Kirchhoff and House Marie, so you are the general! Do your best!! Ahahaha!"

His Grace said it cheerfully, without the slightest hint of guilt. I could hear Rudolf sigh behind me.

"Me? Not Your Grace?"

I confirmed again, even though it was repetitive.

"Of course! Naturally!"

As I thought...

"If I am defeated, we lose?"

"That’s right! So you just stay by my side until the end. I’ll surround myself with shields so tightly not even an ant can slip through. While we hold a perfect defense, House Vélez’s assault unit will capture Count von Kirchhoff! Perfect, don’t you think?"

"Yes... it’s perfect..."

The assault unit... where were they? Could they be relied on?

"That assault unit has been prepared, of course?"

"Of course! I’ll put the original ten entirely on defense around me and have the additional ten attack!"

"And Your Grace will command that? Does that mean Your Grace will charge in together with the assault unit?"

It was an extremely faint hope, but I imagined the Duke standing at the head of the assault unit, swinging a sword.

"Your Grace, incidentally, do you have any experience commanding an army?"

When I asked, he answered with his chest puffed out.

"Army experience? What are you talking about! A duke does not do such barbaric things! There is no way he should!"

He had never commanded and had probably never even seen an army. I asked with a faint hope.

"Then Count von Kirchhoff also has no military experience, right? He wouldn’t command barbaric soldiers or anything?"

When I asked timidly:

"Count von Kirchhoff? That man has a domain, so he probably has a domain army. Therefore he may have commanded the domain army before. Ambassador Marie, is something the matter?"

...No. Nothing at all.

A man came out from the gate.

"We would like to begin soon. May we? Would you please come inside?"

It only occurred to me now: if we were doing this in the garden of Count von Kirchhoff’s residence, we would be fighting in the middle of enemy territory. They had home-field advantage and we were the away team! They were absolutely at an advantage! Hey, why did you agree to this? The Duke had wanted to start it and at first I had thought he could be relied on, but my evaluation of him had been dropping steadily.

What should I do... not that I had any choice but to fight.