Chapter 111

The soldiers belonging to Calyx blinked blankly.

There was no one around who looked like they could be giving orders—so who was he talking to?

Lucian clicked his tongue and looked at the soldiers again.

“What are you doing? I’m talking to you.”
“P-Pardon? U-Us, sir?”

“Yes. Tie him up.”
“Ah, but… we…”
“The war is over. This bastard is my prisoner, and your master is now me. Follow my orders.”

…Does it really work like that?

It didn’t seem to make sense, but Lucian’s oddly confident attitude only threw the soldiers into confusion.
Above all, it was true that if you lost a territorial war, ownership changed hands, so it was hard to argue back.

After hesitating for a long while, the soldiers cautiously stepped forward and began binding Norbek.

“He’s all tied up.”
“Good. Then let’s head to Asagrim. Deliver my orders to each unit’s squad leaders.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”

The soldiers obeyed Lucian despite the doubtful looks on their faces.

Thinking about it, it wasn’t such a bad outcome.

Keeping the soldiers belonging to Calyx under his command as they were meant that, from now on, they would be treated as allies.
They wouldn’t be hunted down like defeated stragglers, nor would they be mistreated—so in a way, this was the most amicable resolution possible.

“What do you intend to do now?”

Lucian looked at the knights, who seemed half out of their minds.
Unable to believe the situation unfolding before their eyes, all three knights were utterly stunned.
After a moment, a young knight finally managed to open his mouth and stammered out,

“W-What… what do you want us to do?”

At the foolish question, Lucian let out a hollow laugh.

“Is my will more important than your own convictions? For someone calling himself a knight, your mindset is utterly rotten.”
“…!”

“If you dare call yourself a knight, then act like one. That’s all I have to say to you.”

At the cold reply, the knight shut his mouth, his face flushing bright red.
As the silence dragged on, one of the middle-aged knights drew his sword.

“Draw your blade.”

“Are you planning to die here?”
“Is there any other path open to us?”

A knight’s oath of loyalty, once spoken, could never be taken back.
As long as Norbek continued to resist, the knights who had sworn fealty to him had no choice but to fight to the very end—
even if that end was death.

“I am merely fulfilling my duty as a knight. You, too, would not wish for us to beg for our lives.”

Lucian answered the middle-aged knight’s words with a smile instead of a reply.

Unlike soldiers, who could change masters at any time, knights were bound by their oaths.
The moment they betrayed that oath, they ceased to be knights at all.
Lucian had no intention whatsoever of taking such half-baked men under his command.

“Come at me. I won’t be able to end it as cleanly as I did with Felicia, but I’ll see you off with as little pain as possible.”
“How arrogant. Are you mistaking your vassal’s skill for your own?”

“Not exactly the words of someone who never once stepped forward until everything was over.”

This was a duel where it would have been worth it if only Felicia had been brought down, no matter how many died.
If they had even the bare minimum of skill, Norbek would have sent them out at least to wear his opponent down.
Yet he had held them back from the duel the entire time.
From Norbek’s perspective, it was obvious—they hadn’t even met that minimal standard.

“My name is Lucian Grimaldi Valdeck. The man who defeated Harald the Wolf Slayer. If you have any reputation worth matching mine, speak it now.”
“…If I had anything like that, I’d have said it long ago. You really do scrape at the nerves until the very end.”

The middle-aged knight muttered as if lamenting his fate and took his stance.

His posture was stable, but there was no discernible aura about him.
It didn’t seem like he was deliberately concealing it—rather, his abilities simply weren’t at a level where such presence would manifest.
Lucian spoke to the knight, who was staring back at him without a shred of fear.

“Still, you are a knight.”

At those words, the middle-aged knight gave a bitter smile and replied,

“I have always been a knight.”

Schlak.

Lucian flicked the blood from his sword onto the ground.
As expected, the remaining three knights were nothing special, so he was able to bring them down with ease.
After finishing off the stragglers, Lucian called for Gares, the commander of the Blue Rose Knight Order.

“Sir Gares, take the knights and occupy the territories Calyx had been holding.”
“With only us? Without support from other troops?”

Gares answered Lucian’s order with hesitation.
He had confidence in their skill, but even so, laying siege with just a single knight order was no small task.
Reading his concern, Lucian smiled and said,

“There won’t be any fighting. That old man must have come out to face me without leaving behind even the minimum garrison. You’ll only need to go and plant the flag.”
“And if the frightened townsfolk refuse to open the gates?”
“Take a few of the knights’ heads lying around over there and show them. Once they realize it’s all over, they won’t have a choice but to open the gates.”
“Understood.”

His response was quick, but Gares’s expression remained uneasy.
And it was only natural—Lucian had just turned seventeen.
He likely had little real experience with war, yet he was speaking as though he had seen straight through the post-victory situation of occupied territory.
It was enough to make one wonder whether overwhelming success had gone to his head.

“Well, you’ll see for yourself once you go.”

Catching on to what Gares was thinking, Lucian gave a wry smile.
Suspicion was unavoidable—but in truth, all of this judgment was based on experience from a previous life.

In times of chaos, rulers often poured every last bit of their domain’s strength into a final gamble, without thinking about what would come afterward once they were driven into a corner.
But if things had deteriorated that far, it already meant the tide had turned, so it rarely mattered—and what followed afterward was usually much the same.

The townsfolk are one thing, but the real problem is the administrators, starting with the stewards. Once word spreads that Norbek has been captured, they’ll try to slip out of the fortress. I need to catch them before that happens…

Lucian had no intention of punishing the officials who had worked under Calyx.
No—if anything, administrators were the people he needed most in order to govern the occupied territory.

Population figures, tax revenue, the cost of maintaining soldiers, average crop yields, production volumes of various goods—
if the officials responsible for keeping those records disappeared, he would have to spend an enormous amount of money to redo all the surveys from scratch.

The problem is that administrators panic and run far too often. The moment they lose a war, they scoop up whatever money they’ve hoarded and vanish…

It wasn’t hard to understand.
Looting by soldiers blinded by greed, or senseless massacres carried out by foolish occupiers, were hardly rare occurrences.
Still, understanding or not, their flight would cause Lucian tremendous losses.
Before news of the war’s outcome spread, he needed to send the knight order ahead and detain the administrators.

If there’s no chaos, they won’t even dare to run. Once the occupation is complete, there’ll be no need to pressure them—they’ll stay put on their own.

Lucian turned his gaze away from the Blue Rose Knight Order as it rode off into the distance.

There were no enemies left here now.
Only soldiers who had changed allegiance from Calyx to Grimaldi, and those who had belonged to Grimaldi from the beginning.

Lucian, now commanding them all, issued his order.

“We return to Asagrim.”

It was time to announce the victory to those who were waiting.

***

When they returned to Asagrim, the soldiers who had once belonged to Calyx all began murmuring at once.
It wasn’t murmurs of fear, but of surprise and amazement.

“Good heavens, people really live in Asagrim!”
“I heard rumors that the lord had changed, but I guess it was true.”
“Does that mean we can move here and live too?”
“No matter what, moving to a place without even a single tavern is a bit…”
“Idiot, is that really what matters right now!? Do you even know where this place is!?”
“Just buying a house here now would make it worth a thousand times more in a few years!”

Listening to the soldiers chatter, Lucian smiled with satisfaction.
This reaction was exactly why he had deliberately brought them along.

“Just as expected. Once they’ve had a look around and are sent back, they’ll come of their own accord.”

No matter how generous the compensation promised, forced relocation always bred resistance.

It was far better for the townsfolk to move on their own, without Lucian ever having to issue an order.
Fortunately, Asagrim was land once revered as a sacred site of the north.
Its very reputation was enough to attract more than enough people eager to relocate.

Some may only intend to stay briefly and sell at a profit later—but as long as the population increases, that’s enough. Commerce will only truly come alive once there are more people.

To a merchant, population meant the number of consumers.
As the population grew, marketplaces would naturally form.
Those markets would increase convenience for the residents, and that increased convenience would draw in even more people.
And along the way, a portion of the profits would flow back as taxes.

“Wait here for a moment.”

Lucian had the soldiers remain outside the inner fortress, then summoned Lothier, who had been staying in the White Palace.
Lothier, the former commander of Asagrim’s garrison, appeared with a self-satisfied expression at Lucian’s call.

“So you’ve finally decided to accept my proposal.”
“No. The deal’s off. Instead, do some work.”

“…Pardon?”

“There are soldiers from outside gathered out there, and Asagrim seems quite novel to them. Those who once served in the garrison should know this place well, so take them around and show them the sights.”

Lothier blinked at Lucian, who had abruptly saddled him with a task.
So he was supposed to act as a tour guide now?
And not even for distinguished guests, but for ordinary soldiers?

“Your Highness, I believe you are under some misunderstanding. We are not your vassals.”
“I know. You have no particular relationship with me. If we’re being precise, you’re more like an idle freeloader, and I’m a generous homeowner.”

Lucian responded to Lothier’s blunt sarcasm with even sharper sarcasm of his own.
Seeing Lothier gape wordlessly, Lucian continued.

“So this isn’t an order—it’s a request. Since I’m asking politely, I trust you’ll naturally agree.”
“And if I refuse?”
“What would I do? Nothing. You’d simply become a parasite who lounges around doing nothing and won’t even grant a small favor to his host.”
“….”

“And we don’t have any food to spare for parasites. If you won’t even comply with such a small request, then you’ll have to leave.”

Lothier flared up, about to say something—but in the end, he couldn’t utter a single word and only bowed his head deeply.
Humiliating as it was, the truth remained: he was staying in Asagrim only by Lucian’s mercy.

If I’m being honest, I want to shout back that I can just pay room and board…

But if they actually demanded payment, he’d have to drain even the money he needed to return to the capital.
And if he ended up unable to pay his living expenses after becoming penniless, he’d be thrown out with nothing to his name.

Realizing this wasn’t a situation where he could let his emotions lead, Lothier muttered with a resigned expression,

“…What is it that you want?”

“I already told you. Guide the soldiers outside through every corner of Asagrim. If possible, focus on places that look appealing and are good to live in.”
“And if I do my best, but their reaction still isn’t good?”
“What would happen?”

At Lothier’s question, Lucian gave a faint chuckle and replied,

“Starting tomorrow, your meals will become rather meager. Someone who can’t properly carry out the task they’ve been given doesn’t need even a single person’s portion of food.”