Chapter 577: Kaizon’s Fate
Dominic and Kaizon stared at each other for a second, then the Prince opened his coat to reveal a vest of explosives strapped to his plate armour.
He smiled as Dominic took out a pistol, letting it hang casually at his side.
"Are you sure that this is how you want to go?"
"It’s the only way to be sure."
He lifted his right hand, and tilted his sword forward.
"CHARGE!"
*crack*
The single gunshot rang out in the air, and the Prince toppled backward into the dirt, only to be nearly trampled by the heavy cavalry charging past them.
An [Area Barrier] surrounded the fallen Prince’s body before it could be crushed or explode, and Dominic turned his attention to the Cavalry, who were charging right past him at the Trolls.
Every man among them was dressed in ragged Noble finery, and most of them were wounded.
Not freshly, the bandages showed mostly dried blood from an engagent days ago. But their hollow eyes showed nothing but hopelessness as fifty n charged ten Mountain Trolls in battle armour.
It wasn’t even a contest.
The horses were lighter than Dave was, and with their shields planted in the ground, the Trollish defensive line might as well have been a castle wall.
They crashed into it, and lances shattered right before spiked clubs whistled over the shield wall, crushing riders and horses alike.
The screams of the dying caused the infantry in the back, the only ones still in front of Dominic, to falter. The Prince was either dead or dying, the Nobles on their cavalry were dying, and they found themselves staring down the Butcher of Wistover, who had mortars in both hands, waiting for them to get in range.
A horn blew, and the infantry slowed to a stop, still a hundred tres from Dominic.
From the ranks, two elderly n in Sergeants uniforms stepped forward. One of them removed his coat, then his shirt, to tie it as a white flag on his spear.
"Your Grace, we formally offer you our surrender."
Dominic stared at him in silence for a mont, then nodded.
"Lay down your weapons, and Cygnia will offer you dignity in defeat. Na your ho city, and we will send you ho from the battlefield."
The Sergeant laughed, his voice cracking with pure desperation.
"Your Grace, I am from Lytesin. There is nowhere left to go ho to. The whole city is gone, washed away by the floodwaters. My family, my ho, there is nothing left.
All that I can hope is that the Lord was kind enough to make it quick for the staff. My daughter worked in his manor."
Dominic nodded. "Indeed, your family is gone, as is your ho. But perhaps one might live. I moved the occupants of the Lord’s Manor to the outskirts of Soutford.
A few dozen servants from the manor are still alive."
The other Sergeant looked a bit hopeful. "Any news of Westleby? Were there survivors?"
"There were. The city flooded, but wasn’t destroyed. There are so survivors, but I would be prepared to accept that most of the city is dead. I personally razed their military camp."
The aging Sergeant nodded. He had already heard that much.
But he wasn’t sure how true it was that the commoners had been mostly spared. If The Butcher of Wistover said that he killed everyone in the military camp, they believed him. But if he said he didn’t target everyone in the city, they would believe that as well, even if it wasn’t entirely true.
Dominic moved to the side and lowered the barrier around Prince Kaizon, then removed the explosives from his armour. It was better to proactively prevent accidents than to leave unexploded ordinance on the battlefield.
However, as he finished stripping the Prince down, the man began to stir.
There was definitely a bullet wound across the side of his face, but it looked like the majority of the damage had been absorbed by a magitech artifact, and it was only a small amount of energy that had punched a hole in his cheek bone below the eye, then back out near his ear.
He had been knocked out, but not killed.
"Amie, give
a hand and restrain the Prince. He’s starting to co to."
The little mage was so startled that she didn’t know how to answer. Kaizon had clearly been shot in the head, and that was a Mana Pistol with a Rare Grade enchantnt on it.
The residual energy should have blown his head into shrapnel, even if Dominic hadn’t enchanted his pistols with fire damage, which would explode on contact.
Amie cast a binding spell on the Prince, preventing him from using transport magic, casting spells, or moving more than a wiggle.
"Got it Boss. Didn’t think that you had it in you, letting him live to stand trial."
Dominic turned to give her an unimpressed look, and Amie understood.
He hadn’t intended to leave the man alive, sothing had gone wrong with the process.
The fact that he was alive did not deter the infantry from their intentions to surrender. They were going to find a new place to live, and that was that. If they could find one within Dagos, near their families, that was great.
However, many of them knew already that their hos were gone, so all they could do was start over sowhere else and hope they didn’t actually starve to death.
Clearly, that new start wouldn’t be here. Asking to stay in Wistover after coming as invaders would be crass and suicidal.
But at this point, they weren’t certain that anyone else would take them in either.
So, their final hope for survival was likely to be the flooded territories of northern Dagos and a bit of luck with next year’s crop.
Until Amie had a suggestion.
"Why don’t I trade you a spot abandoned by a group of refugees that just arrived here? Their hos are in rough shape, but they are partially intact and there are so surviving crops in the fields.
The area between Soutford and Thetle is mostly Dagos land, with so Axbridge and Skiple, given that weird border zigzag. You can settle in there sowhere.
Most of the locals already left, so there should be available cropland for you and no Nobles to tell you no."
"Why no Nobles?"
"They had a run in with the Shersdonian Army. It’s better not to ask. But there are no more Noblen in the countryside north of Soutford."
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