Who Gets to Escape?

The first mate had some backbone. As infantry and cavalry converged and crossbow bolts and throwing spears filled the air, he raised his German Shield, gripped his German Sword, and charged straight at Ergons Tevalin.

He did not want to give Ergons time to settle into his attacking rhythm and leisurely pierce him through with a lance from horseback.

Even if he was going to die, he had to be the one to close in and meet death head-on.

However, when Ergons faced the charging man, he gave the reins a nimble tug. The warhorse inherited from his original body's father moved forward in perfect understanding, taking a few short hops.

The first mate clearly hit nothing but air.

He stumbled and nearly killed himself by crashing into the ground.

"I see the two of you really do have some comradeship. You're both men of honor! Stop!"

The first half was addressed to them, while the second half was shouted aloud to stop his men, who were still closing in around them.

"Go on and run. I keep my word!"

What he had actually thought was that he could do without the few extra heads. His earlier intention to kill them as well had clearly overlooked something: if all the pirates died, who would take responsibility for Igli Tal's death?

By releasing these two, he might muddy the waters even further.

At that moment, Old Adam ran over from behind the infantry and pointed at the man confronting William Adena.

"Igli Tal, the murderer who killed the lord!"

Ergons did not feel much of anything toward this enemy who had killed his father. But to put his original body at ease and resolve this so-called hidden danger for himself, he still had to do it.

William Adena was having an absolute blast.

For this group of knights, chasing those infantrymen on horseback could not have been easier.

A horse that already weighed several hundred pounds, draped in a hundred or so pounds of chain mail, possessed enough power at a trot to knock any adult to death on the spot.

Those peasants, who had just put down their hoes, grabbed pitchforks, and come out to imitate patrolmen, could never have imagined that they might end up in such a situation.

They could run, but they could not outrun the cavalry. Yet if they did not run, they could only be toyed with.

Igli Tal could not exactly be called favored by fortune, but he had certainly stumbled into good luck before. Driven to desperation by the torment, he angrily threw the pitchfork in his hand!

William Adena casually dodged to the side. Then he turned his horse around, and the chainmail-clad horse slammed its rear into Igli Tal's face, sending him flying.

"Great!"

The nine heavy cavalrymen cheered. Ergons also rode over, reaching the mud-covered clown without slowing down at all.

He simply let the old warhorse beneath him plant both front hooves on the man.

"You, of all people, actually managed to rise above your station? Or did you think that leading a few cats and dogs around this place once or twice meant you had made something of yourself?"

He waved casually.

Although William Adena had no idea what was happening, he still had Adamson and the others restrain the unarmored militia.

Ergons Tevalin sat high on his horse, leaned forward slightly, and pointed at the emblem on his chest.

It was a red cross, symmetrical from left to right. A band of alternating black, white, and red squares encircled the cross as decoration.

He was more familiar with this emblem than anything. Back then, he had stabbed a spear into its right side, and only after that had he gained everything he possessed now.

"Listen to me. At the time, he fell onto my—"

"Shut up!"

With a single thrust, he smashed all the teeth in the man's mouth. Ergons Tevalin raised the lance in his hand and shouted to everyone present, "This is the man who treacherously assassinated my father! Now I will avenge my father, kill this vile assassin, and cleanse the disgrace inflicted upon my family!"

"Kill him!"

Adamson was the first to raise his arm and shout.

The other villagers followed close behind. They had all received favors from the Old Lord, so in this situation, they naturally shared a common hatred for the enemy.

As all the cries merged from disorder into a single, ever-rising roar, Ergons Tevalin reversed his lance and struck Igli Tal, who was pinned beneath the hooves yet still trying to struggle.

Thud...

It sounded like a lightbulb shattering. The not particularly sharp tip of the light lance pierced through his skull, killing him in one blow.

Using the weight of the warhorse to hold down his corpse, Ergons clamped down hard on the lance and wrenched it sideways. The murderer's head was torn free.

"Kill!"

Ergons Tevalin did not care whether these peasants had families. Their only possible fate was death.

The heavy cavalry and light infantry working together against these patrolmen—who were nothing more than ordinary farmhands—was a one-sided massacre in the purest sense.

Once all of them had been killed,

they did not even consider searching for spoils. What valuables could these people possibly have? The answer was obviously nothing.

Horus, standing off to one side, was completely dumbfounded. Ergons, however, smiled with complete candor. "I won't kill you just because you witnessed all this. My earlier words still stand. You can repeat everything you saw and heard today to anyone you like.

"If anyone is willing to believe you."

After saying that, he really did watch them leave.

But the two pirates did not dare turn around at all, seemingly afraid of a cold arrow from behind.

They kept nodding and bowing as they retreated a long way. Only then did they suddenly turn around together and run for their lives.

"Run!"

"Haha, run harder!"

The group, which had originally still needed to maintain the pretense of watching them depart, suddenly burst into laughter. Looking at the two absurd fellows, everyone's mood became cheerful.

It was not only their string of victories that had given them enough confidence. More importantly, they had truly avenged their old master.

Ergons Tevalin seemed to feel his entire body grow inexplicably lighter.

Although he did not really believe in the so-called matter of two souls sharing one body, at least there was no hidden danger anymore.

And after that one-sided massacre ended, although he had not leveled up again, three more light infantrymen had become eligible to level up.

"It'll cost money again. Fortunately, we recovered the supplies, along with the equipment on these pirates."

He thought about how, at the very beginning, these soldiers had been best at haggling and carrying things around.

He ordered everyone to clean up the battlefield, then sent Old Adam to Tevalinburg to report everything that had happened here to the Public Office.

Everywhere in the entire duchy had similar Public Offices. They allowed a city to have the power of the Church as well as its city lord and nobles, but the place that truly made decisions was not the noble chancellor's office. It was the Public Office.

"This band of wandering thieves, whose origins are unknown, is not to be underestimated. They first attacked the supply line within Tevalinburg's territory.

"Then, after we pursued them with all our strength, their numbers were reduced by more than half. Yet the remaining remnants actually drove back the allied troops who came to assist in the pursuit and carried out a brutal, inhuman massacre of them."

That was what he had Old Adam say. The corpses of the pirates were sent along as well.

"William, have someone cut down a large tree stump and strip the bark from one side. Whether you carve it with a knife or smear it with blood, write down everything that happened here clearly. Consider it an explanation for that viscount."