24

The road from the Korolyov estate to the Kozlov estate had three branches, of which Sergey was in charge of the eastmost branch. During the march, Sergey entered a village, Slivovaya, and found no young men in town. They were all conscripted and taken to the Lord’s Castle, and the men left in Slivovaya were the scrawny elderly. Many people in the village seemed to be on the verge of starvation because the army had collected food from each town to prepare for the feudal war. Sergey frowned and ordered his men.

“We are going to stay here overnight. Set up a camp and prepare porridge to share with the villagers.”

It could cause trouble if the people who had starved for a long time were fed meat, so they boiled porridge with more grain than usual. The village women came out and helped the soldiers prepare the meal. Sergey told the villagers while they were eating with the soldiers.

“I’m Sergey Korolyov, the successor to the Korolyov Viscounty. We are going to end this war shortly. I’ll hand out some military food to you. I expect you somehow to find a way to survive the war. When the war is over, and we are in charge of this land, we’ll come up with a food aid plan until harvest.”

The villagers did not have much faith in the long-term plan of a young aristocrat who seemed less than twenty years old, but they expressed expectations for the immediate food distribution, even if the amount would be small. It was of no interest to them who the lord would be, provided they could make ends meet.

“If you ever get in touch with Slivovaya’s conscripted soldiers, tell them to desert the army and hide for a few days until the war is over. Then, after the war, they’ll be able to return to town without a hitch.”

The following day, Sergey’s Centria, who left a quarter of their military food in Slivovaya, marched to the Kozlov Castle.

************

Id and Sasha, who had left Nordburg and were running south, had to stop less than a kilometer away from the Southgate. More than twenty Nordburg gangsters were standing in the way waiting for them. The gang’s boss in front of them was Misha, whose arm had been cut off by Andrew five years back. Since one of Misha’s informants worked as a clerk at the store where Id had sold hides, Misha was fully aware of what had happened at the leather shop. Misha did not approach them downtown, fearing Andrew would appear. Even after he got information that Andrew did not show up in the tavern either, Misha led his men outside the city near the highway where they could wait to ambush Id and Sasha without any interference. Fully convinced that Andrew was not around, Misha led his men to block in their way. Though he had heard that Id had overpowered bodyguards in the leather shop, he did not think he would lose to the striplings. Misha threatened Id.

“I’ve heard you are the apprentice to the old Knight who cut off my arm five years ago. I have to pay off my debt to your master today by severing your arm.”

Although Id had never seen Misha before, It was easy to guess who he was since he had heard of the incident from Andrew. When Id was about to say something, Sasha stepped forward, unsheathing his sword. Seeing both of the thug boss’s arms attached, he seemed to have successfully attached the severed arm back at the temple.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Id doesn’t have to come forward to deal with a pathetic thug like you. I’ll save Id the trouble of having to cut your arms off himself.”

Misha turned to Sasha and recognised the sword Sasha was wielding to be Andrew’s, which had cut his arm off. Misha shouted in a sudden rage.

“Why do you have that old man’s sword? Where is he?”

“What’s strange about the apprentice having the late master’s belongings?”

Listening to Sasha, Misha shot looks glaring with greed at Sasha’s weapons one by one.

“Did you inherit all the equipment of the old Knight? I should be the one to have them as a form of revenge for the old man.”

Grabbing the helve of his poleax tightly in his hand, Misha approached Sasha. Id had already lost interest in the situation. Not hesitating, Sasha waved his sword at Misha and shouted.

“How dare you covet our master’s inheritance. I’ll cut off your neck, not your arm.”

Id told Sasha, watching the opponents’ poleax and Sasha’s sword.

“Don’t forget the master’s words. Don’t kill people indiscreetly.”

Then Id also pulled out his sword as Misha’s four men surrounded him. Once the battle commenced, Misha realized that he had been too impulsive after clashing several times with Sasha. The young apprentice’s sword overwhelmed him both in strength and technique. Frustrated, Misha shouted at his men.

“What are you just looking at? Attack him.”

Two of Misha’s men tried to swing their maces at Sasha’s back and thigh. Jumping lightly, Sasha kicked a thug’s chin who aimed at his thigh and then, spinning his body, swung the sword sideways at another thug who attacked his back. The man, kicked on the chin, flew about five meters and crashed onto the ground, gushing blood out of his mouth with a broken jaw. The other, who aimed at Sasha’s back, was shaking, grabbing his right shoulder with his left hand, his right arm lay on the ground holding the mace, still twitching. Misha was discouraged entirely and faltered back, but Sasha ran straight at him. Misha managed to block Sasha’s sword several times, but his right arm was finally cut off. Misha knelt on the ground and could not say a single word.

Misha’s other men all stood devastated, bleeding from their forearms or wrists, having dropped their weapons. Though Id did not cut their limbs off, he incapacitated them all with a single attack per person. The other gangsters who had chased Id since Nordburg had arrived, but they refused to approach the ridiculous scene before their eyes and were watching from afar. Id patted Sasha on the back and said,

“You held it in well. Let’s leave without further delay..”

The two leisurely continued south, but no one followed or spoke to them. Id and Sasha were not running as they had been. Still, they headed south along the national highway at a rapid speed. They planned to cut through the Kozlov estate and Korolyov estate, then through the Great Canyon of the Pleo Mountains to Scandia City. As the Kozlov Barony bordered the territory of the Free City Nordburg, the two soon entered baron Kozlov’s land.

The Kozlov Barony was the northernmost territory of the Scandia Kingdom, which bordered the Pleo Mountains to the west, the Forest of the Evil Spirits to the north, the Free City Nordburg to the northeast and the Korolyov Viscounty to the south. Since mountains and forests kept out the cold northwestern winds and the stream flowing through its center had abundant water, the Kozlov Barony was fertile. The territory could have been a prosperous land if only the lord had ruled it well. However, as the population decreased and its crop production dwindled, it became desolate. Kozlov's tyranny over the estate had continued for almost twenty years.

Shortly after entering the Kozlov estate, Id and Sasha encountered a group of Knights. During his touring of the northeastern border area behind the scenes with eight of his Knights to guard against the surprise attack by the Korolyov Knights, Knight Commander Aleksei encountered Id and Sasha, who crossed the border of the Barony from the direction of Nordburg. The quality of the Kozlov Order was poor since Baron Kozlov was stingy in nurturing talents.

Out of the twenty-nine Knights of the Order, twenty-three belonged to the low-class leaving five intermediate-class Knights and one advanced-class Knight, Aleksey. Their quality was significantly inferior to the Korolyov Knights, which consisted of thirty-two intermediate Knights and three advanced Knights. Aleksey’s swordsmanship was also estimated to be inferior to Knight Commander Daniel of the Korolyov Order.

“Stop. Why did you break into Kozlov territory without permission?”

“No one worked at the border post, so we could not get checked. We are going to the Empire via Scandia City.”

“Identify yourselves.”

“We are apprentices Id and Sasha who served Andrew Adelian, the Knight of the imperial Marquis family. Unfortunately, our master has died recently, so we’re on our way to deliver his obituary and will to Marquis Adelian.”

Sasha lifted the shield and showed the crest of the Marquis Adelian family.

“As we are in the feudal war and you have trespassed on the territory of our estate, we cannot blindly trust your words. Therefore, I’ll take you to the Castle for investigation to make sure you are not the enemy's spies.”

“We’ve been training in the woods for the past five years, and only arrived this morning in Nordburg. We didn’t know that you were in a feudal war. If we had known beforehand, we would have taken a detour. So let us return to Nordburg and find another way to the Empire.”