42: The Wrath of the Incompetent Crown Prince
“He must have overworked himself both physically and mentally. He’s exhausted.”
The medic who had been called to my brother’s tent, where I was the only one present, said those words.
That’s when I understood why I was the only one called. It would be a disgrace for a prince who was leading the army to collapse from exhaustion on the battlefield.
However, as a medic, he had to report the cause. So who should he tell? That’s why I, the highest-ranking person other than my brother and a blood relative, was called.
This medic was competent. He clearly understood what was important to the royal family.
“Your name is?”
“Jarnal, Your Highness.”
“I’ll remember it.”
“I am honored.”
I doubt he was really happy that I remembered his name. But I would never forget the favor this man had done me by protecting my brother’s pride.
“You have done well. I will take command from here on. You stay with my brother. If anything happens, tell me immediately. Even if he’s sleeping, wake him up.”
“Yes, sir.”
I looked down at my brother’s face. It was a haggard and weak face.
When my brother had a fever and collapsed in the past, he had cried and showed his tearful face to my father, mother, and me. I didn’t feel sorry or embarrassed by his un-prince-like behavior. I was truly worried about him as a cute little brother who admired me, and I held his hand.
That existence as a dear brother had not changed, and it was certainly here now.
No matter how much he had grown, the one who was here was undoubtedly Kreuz, my cute little brother.
After stroking his cheek, I left the tent. My grandfather was there.
“What about Prince Kreuz?”
“He will no longer be able to move in this battle. I will take command from now on. You have no objections?”
“…As you wish.”
For the first time, I stared intently at my grandfather. It was to convey my determination not to let him challenge my decision.
Leaving my grandfather to bow, I headed for the war council tent.
There, the nobles, still looking bewildered, stood up and bowed as soon as they saw me.
I ignored them and sat down in the seat where my brother had been sitting.
Everyone who looked up showed a surprised face.
“From now on, the command will be transferred to me. Duke Zarud has also agreed. Are there any objections?”
When I looked around, no one said anything and just bowed once more.
*
In the early afternoon of the next day, my grandfather headed for the battlefield where Count Jaynal had been defeated. This was because, at the war council held yesterday after the command was transferred to me, it was decided that my grandfather’s army would be the most suitable to send as reinforcements.
It was a choice made by the process of elimination, as it was clear that only my grandfather could go to the disadvantageous battlefield where not only towns and villages but even fortified cities would have already been damaged and win a sure victory.
When my grandfather left, he left me with three hundred soldiers.
This means that I will be directly commanding twenty guards, one hundred direct troops, three hundred direct troops under the Duke of Zarud, the remaining six hundred direct troops led by my brother, and two hundred mercenaries, for a total of one thousand two hundred and twenty.
All the regular troops were assigned to my brother’s guard. Originally, they were the most powerful unit among the troops this time. I would have liked to have them join the army even if it was only half, but the regular army was originally supposed to accompany and guard my brother this time.
Even though I was entrusted with the command, I hesitated to do so on my own. And as I had originally intended, I ordered them to take my brother with them and retreat on their own authority if anything happened.
The remaining troops of the other nobles were about two thousand five hundred. This is the current mobilization limit, and losing or increasing this number would mean a decline in the productivity of some territories – in other words, a decline in national power.
The enemy troops, who had been reinforced, numbered about eight thousand. A life-or-death standoff began with the enemy troops, who outnumbered us by more than double.
*
Day One.
“Your Royal Highness, the enemy seems to be increasing their scouts.”
“Stick to the defense.”
Day three.
“Your Royal Highness, the enemy seems to have divided their army. Could this be to attack other towns?”
“Stick to the defense.”
Day Seven.
“Your Royal Highness. The enemy is moving a small force to provoke us. Should we also move our troops to attack the enemy force?”
“Stick to the defense.”
Day Ten.
“Your Royal Highness”
“Stick to the defense.”
Since the command was transferred to me, I have continued to order defense at all costs.
Even if the enemy attacks and retreats immediately, or if they launch a night attack, we will continue to defend ourselves like a siege. All we can do now is keep putting pressure on the enemy here. We absolutely cannot afford to lose soldiers by moving them unnecessarily.
So, every time a war council was held, I would only listen to the information and reports, and then I would continue to order only defense. I would not listen to anything else. I looked at the faces of the nobles who seemed to want to say something, wondering how long it would last.
Day Fifteen.
“Your Royal Highness! At this rate, we will only lose soldiers in vain! We can neither attack nor retreat, and we are isolated and helpless with no reinforcements coming. If we just sit and wait, defeat is certain! Your Royal Highness, what do you think we should do?”
“Your Royal Highness!”
“Your Royal Highness!”
Just shut up for now. That’s what I wanted to say.
The worsening war situation. The situation where we are only becoming more disadvantaged. It is natural to be confused by anxiety and impatience and to seek salvation in something. But it should be clear by now that there is nothing we can do but defend ourselves.
For the time being, I have sent a fast horse to the royal castle to inform them of the current situation and to ask for their judgment. Depending on their instructions, we may have some room to maneuver, but for the time being, there is still a limit to what we can do.
“Then I ask you. Do you have any ideas?”
When I asked them that, they all fell silent at once. I suppose so. They can only raise their voices like that because they know that there is nothing they can do about the situation themselves.
“We are in a pressing situation now. I believe that His Highness the Crown Prince’s will is more important than our words.”
Well said. As expected of those who fight in salons rather than on the battlefield. I will give them credit for that.
“Then let me say it again. Focus on defense. A sturdy castle will not fall so easily. The enemy’s morale will also break if they continue to attack a castle that will not fall. Am I wrong?”
This is just an example, of course. But I don’t think it’s wrong in terms of the situation. They are besieging the city. We are defending the city. In reality, it is a battle on flat ground, so it cannot be said that the burden on the besiegers is greater, but at least we, the defenders, have no choice but to fight from the castle walls. It is the same whether it is a night attack or a surprise attack. We, who have the role of holding back the enemy’s main force that is facing us right now, have only one option left. The conclusion has already been reached.
However, it seemed that their thinking was different. They are older than me, and some of them are even at the count level. Some of them must have participated in the battle five years ago. Then they must know more about war than I do , and they must understand the current situation. If they are speaking after understanding, then there is no hope.
“However, if the castle walls collapse, we will not be able to protect what we are defending. If we do not do something about those who are attacking the castle, the castle will eventually collapse.”
In the end, they want to do something about the current situation, so please do something about it. There is only one thing they want to say. No matter how much they try to decorate it with words, it doesn’t change.
“No matter what you say, the only thing I will say is to focus on defense. If you understand, step down.”
“Ugh.”
The noble closest to the head of the table gritted his teeth, bowed, and left the tent. The other nobles followed him out.
I couldn’t help but sigh, even though I was in public.
“But Your Highness is also amazing. To be able to calmly persuade so many people.”
“Yes. He is indeed amazing.”
“Even if it’s not what you really think.”
Behind me, to my left and right, Eldred Marreed, the captain of the Crown Prince’s direct army, and Romero Plum, the captain of the Crown Prince’s personal guard, stood guarding me. They are like my brother’s army captains.
“But Your Highness. I understand, but are we really going to maintain the status quo?”
Eldred asked me in his usual friendly manner.
I crossed my arms and leaned back against the backrest, nodding.
“If there is anything else, I would like to know about it.”
“hahahaha, me too.”
“Romero, do you have anything? If you have a good idea, I’ll adopt it. If you win with that, you might even get a barony.”
“I think His Highness the Crown Prince’s judgment is correct, and if I were to come up with an idea, I would probably just be stripped of my knighthood.”
When Romero made a rare joke, I couldn’t help but laugh. I had only had a serious impression of him, but he’s quite a talker.
Eldred seemed to have the same impression.
“What’s this, Romero? You can tell jokes.”
“My father is a viscount, but the Plum family is originally a family of knights. My father taught me that in order to lead soldiers as a knight, I must also be able to make my subordinates laugh.”
“What’s this, Plum? You’re quite a reasonable guy. I agree with you. Let’s have a drink sometime.”
“Ah, I would be delighted.”
“Then I’ll join you too.”
When I said that, all three of them laughed out loud.
It’s okay. We can still laugh. We can still laugh.
But I think we’ve reached our limit.
*
Night, in my private tent. With only the light of a lit lamp, I spread out a piece of parchment. It was a reply to a letter I had sent to my father. In fact, the parchment itself had reached me over ten days ago.
I reread the brief contents written in beautiful handwriting and shook my head, holding my forehead.
My father’s brief letter, in simple terms, said, “Leave everything to you. Fulfill the duty you have been given.”
It seems that I am only allowed to lose.
The command has already been transferred to me at this stage. Therefore, no matter how I fight from now on, the blame for the defeat will fall on me.
And everyone will conclude that a comeback from this stage is impossible with an incompetent crown prince and the remaining forces. This is the answer my father sent me after receiving my report. In other words, that’s what it means.
It seems like the word “responsibility” is telling me to die quickly. How can I cheer up when my job is to lose my place or die?
“Oh dear. Is this the responsibility of a crown prince who was born incompetent? Or did my brother (Roy) hate me?”
Fortunately, no one heard my unintentional grumble. Instead, there was no one by my side.
I hung my head and couldn’t move for a while.
*
And on the twentieth day. The limit was reached.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince! Our troops are now less than two thousand! At this rate, we will surely be defeated before we even go to war!”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
“Please make a decision!”
“We have endured and endured! I believe we have no choice but to retreat!”
They were making a fuss. Their eyes were completely bloodshot and they were foaming at the mouth.
“Everyone, please calm down.”
“A mere knight, shut up! Who gave you permission to speak!”
“I apologize for that.”
Eldred tried to calm them down, but the nobles who were sitting closer to the head of the table influenced at him. It was beyond the point of getting heated. The hunger for life that comes from the survival instinct of people on the verge of death was overflowing with indignation.
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The current troop count. There was a slight margin of error, but the Arley Kingdom had 2,220 troops, while the Nadz Kingdom had 7,000. Our dead numbered 1,500, while theirs numbered 1,000.
That was inevitable. The number of troops was different in the first place. Even in a skirmish, they originally had twice as much margin as we did. Even if we had focused on defense, we would have lost. I think we fought well. If we had the same number, we would never have lost.
However, the gap between us and them had already widened to three times. They would want to scream.
I thought the same as them. No matter how much we endure, there is a limit to the difference in troop strength.
In this situation, the only way to fight the enemy on equal terms would be to have a real siege in a fort or a fortified city.
It would be out of the question to fight three times as many enemies head-on on flat ground.
Therefore, the limit. Both the troops to defend this place and the spirits of the nobles. Rather, I would praise them for having endured for twenty days. If they had been properly provoked, our army would have already been routed.
At this point, we had only two choices.
This was similar to when my brother was badly defeated in the first battle. If we made the wrong choice, we would be annihilated and suffer a greater defeat than my brother.
And that choice was up to me.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince!”
Unable to bear it any longer, one of the nobles approached me, his voice raised.
I took a step closer and looked into his eyes, and opened my mouth.
“–Hey”
Not only did he stop moving, but the place that had been so noisy suddenly fell silent.
I looked around at everyone, then looked back at him.
“Who gave you permission to speak? Tell me.”
In the air that had become deathly silent, I called out to the man near the bottom of the table.
“What is your name?”
“Ah, no”
“I asked for your name. Answer me.”
“I am Baron Danno.”
“Hmm. And you?”
This time, I asked the man sitting next to him.
“W-well, I am…”
“Answer me.”
“Viscount Levelle, at your service.”
“Hmm. Then next, you?”
In this manner, I confirmed each of their names. Everyone uttered their names with trembling voices. I groaned at each one.
Finally, I addressed the one closest to me.
“You, state your name.”
“W-well,…Count Mataneet, at your service.”
“Very well. Then let me ask you, Count Mataneet—by whose permission do you speak your mind? Answer me. And you as well. Will you not tell me? You, who are mere counts and below, by whose permission do you dare speak to me? Is it His Majesty the King? Her Majesty the Queen? Or could it be that you dare to scorn the royal authority?”
“We beg your pardon!”
All of them prostrated themselves, their foreheads touching the ground, begging for forgiveness.
I looked down upon them with narrowed eyes.
I may be incompetent, but I am nevertheless the Crown Prince, first in line to the throne, and I am also the one who has been entrusted with supreme command authority on this battlefield by royal decree.
To have them willfully rise from their seats and hurl insults at me like this, they could easily have been cut down on the spot for the crime of insulting royalty. In fact, it is more strange that they have not been killed.
Indeed, the moment I rebuked them, the two men behind me made the sound of drawing their swords.
Knights cannot defy nobles, but if ordered by their master, they will bare their fangs even against a duke. Knights are not great. However, knights who have a master are far stronger than nobles.
As I looked at the backs of the prostrating nobles, I understood. I understood why the captain of the guards, who was my younger brother’s aide, had said nothing.
He only held the rank of knight. In other words, he was not permitted to offer any opinions to the nobles present.
At first, my younger brother must have asked him many things. After all, my younger brother had no experience in commanding, let alone in battle. He had no choice but to ask the highly experienced captain of the guards about everything. That must have been why Father had assigned him in the first place.
However, the nobles would not have been pleased if he had simply listened to the captain of the guards’ opinions and noise in agreement. That is why, as my younger brother had approached me the other day, if he had said, “I would like to hear Prince Kreutz’s thoughts,” my younger brother would have had to answer. Even if the captain of the guards had tried to offer advice, he would have been silenced with a single word, “Be silent.”
If he had been as forceful as I am now, saying, “You, be silent,” things might have been different, but my younger brother would not have been able to do that.
After my grandfather and I arrived, the situation was resolved by the words of my grandfather, a highly experienced, first-rate warrior and a member of the highest nobility.
But until then, my younger brother must have endured it all alone.
On a battlefield where he understood nothing, unable to receive advice from anyone, and yet being blamed by the nobles. And with the decisions he made, he was killing his own soldiers.
And yet, he had endured it all, alone.
I finally understood. The reason my younger brother had lost his first battle was because of this. For the one who holds command authority to make ambiguous judgments, to delay judgments, is the worst possible thing to do.
Soldiers only move when they receive orders. Fighting without receiving orders only leads to confusion. There is no way that a battle can be fought in such a situation. It is only natural that he was utterly defeated.
And yet he endured. Even after his crushing defeat, he was not allowed to flee the battlefield, and he continued to endure, sitting on the thorny throne of a defeated general who had lost his position.
And yet, what are these people? They push the blame onto a child (my younger brother) who is not even an adult, and they make a pitiful fuss. And yet, with a single word of incompetence, they grovel on the ground.
–How unsightly, how truly unsightly.
I picked up one of the choices I had to make.
“Raise your heads.”
“Yes, sir.”
All of them looked at me. Their faces were filled with clear fear.
“From now until noon today, and then again tonight, feed the soldiers these two meals to their satisfaction.”
“Yes, sir? –Yes, sir!”
I glared at Count Mataneet, who looked confused, and he immediately prostrated himself.
“At night, keep the watch to a minimum. Tell the watchmen that they will be given plenty of food and rest the next day, so they should endure it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Marleed”
“Hah!”
“Send a messenger.”
“As you wish—and what shall I say?”
I looked down at Eldred, who was kneeling beside me, and smiled.
“Tell them that we will engage in battle tomorrow at noon. If they flee in cowardice, we will let them go.”
“As you command.”
Eldred returned my words with a cheerful smile. He understood. He was a true warrior.
“Plum.”
“Hah!”
“Do you have any objections?”
“The will of His Royal Highness is our desire!”
“Very well.”
I stood up as I said that.
“Everyone, this is a decisive battle. Those who wish to flee may do so. Go home and boast to your families, saying, ‘I ran away from the battlefield because I was afraid.'”
*
“That was too much posturing. It doesn’t suit me.”
“Not at all. I have never been so proud to be a member of His Royal Highness’s guard as I am today.”
“What, you weren’t proud before?”
“That was a slip of the tongue.”
The three of us laughed in the tent after the nobles had left.
“But if the soldiers actually flee because of this, we’ll be the laughingstock.”
“In that case, we’ll fight alone. What, if we each kill a few dozen, the numbers will add up.”
“Hey, there are only twenty guards. You’ll have to kill a hundred each.”
“I’m willing to let you have some of the glory.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
I leaned back, exhausted, while the two behind me continued to banter cheerfully. The messenger must be writing the letter with trembling hands. Well, I used a soldier as the messenger, and I told him to run away as soon as he delivered the letter, so it should be fine.
“But Your Highness, you were incredibly imposing just now.”
“I thought so too. Even we, who were standing behind you, felt our bodies stiffen. I pity those who met your gaze directly.”
Imposing, huh? There’s another word that doesn’t apply to me.
Imposing is a skill that only those of high rank can use, and it is said to give the opponent an overwhelming sense of oppression. There’s no way that something like that could come from me. They must be joking.
I shook my head, playing along with their teasing.
“That’s strange. I’m supposed to have my mother’s gentle eyes.”
“Indeed, Your Highness’s facial features resemble Her Majesty the Queen.”
“That imposing aura just now must have been from His Majesty the King.”
“So, Her Majesty the Queen has His Majesty the King’s strength? hahahaha, conquering the continent is not a dream after all.”
“Ah, it is well-known that Her Majesty the Queen is the strongest in the kingdom.”
“You two will be executed for insulting the royal family one of these days.”
I really think this conversation is pushing it.
“In that case, we will hide behind Your Highness.”
“As expected of our master.”
“But if you’re the Imperial Guard, shouldn’t you be protecting me?”
“That is correct.”
Up until now, we had hardly ever interacted, but I found this kind of banter with these two enjoyable. Looking back, it’s too late now, but I should have spent more time socializing at the mansion.
Really, it’s too late now.
“Well, then,”
I said, standing up. There was still plenty of time, but I was feeling drained, so I decided to go and relax in my tent.
“You two should rest as well. You’ve done a good job guarding me.”
“In that case, we will assign someone else to you.”
“No need, no need. If I’m going to die today, I’ll die tomorrow. So I won’t die today.”
I wonder if they understood what I meant. I turned around.
“That reminds me, I forgot to ask—are you willing to die for me?”
In response to my question, the two knelt down and looked at me with intense gazes.
The gazes that met mine were those of true warriors.
The words that came back were those of true knights.
“Forgive my impertinence, but such a question is considered foolish.”
“From the moment we were appointed as the Imperial Guard, we have been prepared to follow you to the ends of the earth.”
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“Very well.”
With that, I exited the tent.
I looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful shade of blue.