After the capture of Frederick, the rest of the ti was spent pursuing those who managed to get away, cutting them all down.
But sparing those who surrendered willingly.
SLASH.
Justinian rode out quickly, leading a group of twenty n to pursue three stragglers, attempting to escape to one of Rhyne’s outposts.
"Kalos!"
He shouted, the horse responding as he began to gain speed, catching up to the targets.
SLASH.
Justinian cleaved one on the back, causing him to stumble off his horse in pain.
THRUST.
The other, he had to target the horse itself, cutting its legs to slow its advance and causing it to trip and sending both horse and man tumbling across the plains.
However, even with Justinian’s powerful steed, it was starting to get tired, and they were already nearing a nearby outpost.
So Justinian had to improvise.
"Hmph!"
He grunted, throwing his sword straight onto the horse’s legs, once again causing another to stumble and send both crashing onto the grassy plains.
SLICK.
Justinian grabbed his sword from the horse’s legs, now lying on the ground in pain as he and the rest of his n surrounded the three.
"Take them back to Herdrin; that should be all of them."
He commanded, riding back to their temporary camp, leaving his n to carry the living ones left from the three back as prisoners.
"How is it at your end, Marshal?"
Now back at camp, multiple of Frederin’s forr n were now tied up and were placed on a line formation, each one stripped of their armor and weapons.
"No one escaped; none of them can outmaneuver my n."
Cassia, anwhile, was still not present, pursuing another group.
"Anyways, what do you want to do with the prisoners? It’d be better if we just kill them."
Justinian shook his head, dismounting his horse as he took off his helt, revealing his sweat-covered face.
"No, we can use this to rally the capital."
"How?"
Lucan asked, not quite getting Justinian’s idea.
"Let show you instead."
Justinian approached the prisoners, handing his helt to one of his other n who was collecting the spoils from the battle.
"Tell , all of you, is your loyalty to Elberich worth dying for!?"
He yelled, coldness and apathy in his voice. He needed to look and sound as fearso as possible for this plan to work, after all, for those outside his capital, he was still the incompetent duke.
"And you’re any better?"
One of the kneeling n spat, snickering, and the others agreed with him.
Justinian curled a smile at his defiant response before stepping closer to him and kicking him on the head, making him fall on his back.
CLANG.
"Of course I’m better."
Justinian laughed, pinning the man’s chest with his steel greaves.
"Will you swallow your pride just to live another day?"
He unsheathed his sword, pointing it at the pinned man’s neck.
"Or die serving a pathetic leader?"
The prisoners were barely fazed at his threat, seeing Justinian as nothing more than a cruel pretender, only good at killing. To them, Elberich might be cowardly, but at least he isn’t a tyrant.
And that was the reaction Justinian had hoped for.
The greater the opposition, the harder they will bend.
CLOP. CLOP. CLOP.
The sound of horses arriving made all of them look sideward, seeing Cassia and her own group return with more prisoners, with her removing her helt as her job was finally done.
"Did everything go well on your end, Justinian?"
"I’d say it was perfect."
Justinian answered, before returning his focus to the threats.
"Well...? Care to speak?"
The n had seen everything, from how Justinian commanded Lucan and Cassia in battle to how he had fought personally with the cavalry; it was the opposite of what they knew about him.
But they were still skeptical; it must have been a bluff, but now that they saw Cassia removing her helt and smiling warmly, they were at a complete loss.
After all, a knight of high acclaim, such as Cassia, being anything other than cold and formal to Justinian was huge.
"H-how..."
The pinned man spoke finally after seconds of silence, his face strained as he felt the weight of Justinian’s steel greaves.
"Maybe you shouldn’t believe rumours too quickly."
Justinian slyly replied, before backing off.
"I’ll give you all today to decide your loyalty; you all should know the consequences of your answers."
He gave them an ultimatum, returning to Lucan.
"Do you understand now, Marshal?"
Lucan only sighed, annoyed at being outplayed by Justinian, but he liked it, being challenged actually being a nice change of pace for a man as free as him due to his power.
It ant that Justinian was actually proving himself to be a duke.
"The n should be ready, gathering all the loot in a few more minutes."
Lucan changed the topic quickly, seeing the growing pile the n gathered.
"Great, we’ll return after they’re done, then. It wouldn’t hurt to grab more resources."
Despite such a bloody battlefield, the forr beautiful grassy plains, turning into a red canvas for such a bloody battle, Justinian’s n were at their highest morale yet, celebrating their first battle, especially with zero casualties.
Most laughing and talking about the experiences, each one talking about either Justinian, Lucan, or Cassia, all talking highly about all three of them.
[Army Swordsmanship - Increased]
’This is great... not only did I not lose a single thing in this battle, I even gained experience for my army.’
Justinian clenched his hand, leaning on Kalos as he looked at the scenery, the grass stained with crimson flowing in the wind.
It was strangely beautiful, and for soone so used to modern cities and huge traffic, it was a therapeutic sight.
’That reminds ... I haven’t eaten breakfast yet...’
He looked at his n who were working hard, an idea rising in his mind.
"I should repay them with so of my cuisine..."
He chuckled to himself, not expecting Cassia beside him to hear everything.
"Did I hear that right?"
Justinian jumped slightly, but after spilling blood, it now barely affected him compared to Matthias’s scare from before.
"Interested?"
"Well..."
She blushed slightly, embarrassed at answering the question; a noble lady shouldn’t eat too much after all, but after tasting Justinian’s food, it was impossible not to think about it.
"I’d be lying if I said I didn’t."
Justinian crossed his arms, taking a deep breath.
"Then we’ll celebrate back at the palace."
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