26

Aleksey, who elaborated on his plan to Id, made him an offer,

“I’ll release your friend if you can disguise yourself to be Oleg Kozlov and beat Sergey Korolyov in a one-on-one duel.”

Id, who had been lost in thought for a while after listening to Aleksey, finally made up his mind.

“All right, I’ll have a one-on-one match with Sergey. Only, I’ll just subdue him. I refuse to kill him. What happens next, that’s your business.”

“Good. All you have to do is win the duel. I’ll take care of the rest. Then try on the armor. If any part doesn’t fit you, we need to fix it immediately.”

Oleg’s full plate mail fitted perfectly as if it had been custom made for Id. They may look similar, but Id’s body was generally a little thicker than Oleg’s because of his muscles. But Oleg, who had no intention of going into battles in armor, requested to manufacture it a little larger than his body size to ease movement at traditional or ceremonial events. Therefore, fortunately, the armor was made to fit Id perfectly. Aleksey said, looking at Id wearing the armor curiously.

“It's magic armor, but the magic engraved on it won’t be activated since it’s not equipped with a magic stone now.”

By injecting their manna forces into jewelry, sorcerers produced Magic Stones, which were very expensive and could be used for multiple purposes, for example like a magic communication device using a crystal ball. Kozlov decided to give Id the armor without a magic stone as he didn’t want to have to lend even more items of value to a stranger.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m wearing it only to disguise myself as the lord’s son. I don’t need the magic armor anyway.”

Aleksey called in two Knights and gave them orders.

“Aton, you work to ensure Sergey gets the information that Oleg Kozlov is guarding the western fortress. Information should be delivered naturally so that they don’t notice that we leaked it. Denis, it’s an important mission, so I need you to take care of it. You go to the Western Fortress with Id and make sure that Id and Sergey have a one-on-one confrontation. Take fifty soldiers with you and send messengers to the headquarters twice as often.”

While Aleksey was instructing his men, Id was engaged in an invisible battle of nerves with the magic armor. The magic diagrams carved inside the armor were attempting to absorb the manna from Id’s manna hall. The magic diagrams recognized the manna, which had been purified and accumulated in Id’s manna hall, as a Magic Stone’s manna force and intended to absorb it to activate the magic imbued into the armor. Sorcerers’ magic force infused to Magic Stones was essentially the same as Id’s manna because it was produced by rearranging manna. Id, who initially tried to block manna from being absorbed into the armor, soon changed his mind. Until then, Id had never been one to block manna’s natural flow, so he let it go. Another reason was that he noticed the amount of manna absorbed into the armor was not that significant. Soon after, Id noticed a significant difference in the weight of the armor, and although at the time Id may not have been aware, this was due to one of the three kinds of magic inscribed on the armor, called Light Weight.

Since the western fortress of the Kozlov Barony was a mountain fortress, the road to it was very rough. Except for two apprentices and two servants of Denis taken as messengers, the remaining forty-six soldiers were conscripts from serfs. They were dressed in thick cotton or leather pieces barely covering their torso, and the quality of their spears and shields was so poor. Denis let his servants carry his plate mail and only wore thin chainmail in preparation for the mountain march.

“Take off your armor and let my servant carry it. It’ll be hard to climb all the way to the fort in full plate mail.”

Denis offered to have Ids armor carried, but Id refused it.

“It’s OK. When I was training in the Forest of Evil Spirits, I ran in the rough forests with a much heavier load than this armor every day. So I’ll walk like this. I can just treat it like physical training.”

Id did not want to tell Denis that Light Weight had been activated. It would be difficult to explain how the magic was activated without a Magic Stone, and Id had no intentions to reveal the secrets of his manna Hall to those who threatened him and held Sasha as a hostage. The road was rough, and the march of Id’s troops was slow. They camped under the mountain that night and could not reach the fortress until later in the following day. Despite the mountain trail, the march led by Id was incredibly fast, so when they arrived at the fort, the whole unit, including Denis and his apprentices, collapsed in exhaustion. Having looked at Id for a while with an astonished face, Denis gathered thirty fortress defending soldiers and the fifty soldiers brought by him.

“We have received intelligence that the main enemy troops will attack this fortress, so the Baron’s son came here in person. From today, everyone will take emergency guard duty against the enemy’s attack.”

Denis watched Id as Id stepped forward to speak to the soldiers.

“It is impossible to conduct military training during the war, so you should try as hard as possible to replenish your physical strength. Raise your hand if you have any hunting experience.”

Although most of them were serfs, those drafted from the villages close to the mountain had experience catching mountain animals during the agricultural off-season. So when a dozen soldiers raised their hands, Id pointed at five of them, young and big.

“You five will go hunting with me. It is difficult to carry out the war when you are malnourished.”

Since the Kozlov Barony’s territorial army was in insufficient food supply, the fifty soldiers, who came to the fort with Id, were also in poor condition, not to mention the thirty soldiers guarding the fortress. A discontented expression could be seen on Denis’ face, but Id ignored it and led the five volunteers out into the mountain. Since Denis had introduced Id to the soldiers as Oleg Kozlov, he could not reveal his discontent outwardly as it may lead to the soldiers doubting Id’s identity. On the surface, Id was the Commander of the unit, and Denis was the subordinate under his command.

Entering the mountain, Id told the five soldiers he brought.

“All you have to do is follow me carefully. I will hunt by myself.”

Hunting had been an everyday routine for Id, who lived in the woods for almost eight years. About three hundred meters into the forest, Id went off the road and jumped past the trees on his left. Three deer, who were grazing leisurely, collapsed with their neck pierced by Id’s sword. Hunting deer was a piece of cake for Id, who had easily overpowered even evil beasts. Id called the soldiers towards him and instructed them to tie the dead deer to branches to carry them more easily. Then, he went a little deeper into the woods alone. After a while, he returned with a boar hanging over shoulder. Id, who went back into the woods with four new soldiers after bringing the hunted game back, caught three more wild boars. It took him less than an hour to return to the fortress after hunting three deer and four wild boar.

The faces of soldiers preparing for a rich meal after a long time were bright, but Denis looked embarrassed. Id had quickly earned the hearts of the fort defenders. The following morning again, Id went into the mountain to hunt with his men.

Until then, the Centuria in charge of Korolyov’s western front had no plans to attack the fortress since the terrain was too rough and it was not a point of strategic importance. After taking control of the villages around the fortress, they were scheduled to march directly to the Lord’s Castle. Having heard that fifty soldiers had been added to the fort defenders, the Centurion in charge of Korolyov's western front sent a messenger to the headquarters, asking for instructions whether to capture the fortress with his troops stationed underneath the fort or not. However, unexpected instructions came from the headquarters. He was ordered to return to the main camp after handing over his mission to the Centurion in charge of the eastern front.

Having obtained the intelligence that Oleg Kozlov entered the western fortress, Sergey Korolyov requested the headquarters to let him move to the western fortress to deal with Oleg. Korolyov's Knight Commander Daniel sent a reserve Centuria from the main camp to the east, moved Sergey’s Centuria to the west and ordered the Centuria stationed beneath the west fort to return to the main camp. Due to this series of deployments of troops, Korolyov’s attack on Kozlov Castle was delayed by more than three days.

Having earned time, Aleksey was keeping a close eye on the overall situation of the war, proceeding step by step with plans to attack the main camp of Korolyov confidentially. But, even if there was a chance, there would be only once. If they did not capture Viscount Korolyov in the surprise attack, there would be no way to turn the war back around.