Chapter 93: To The Desert (2)

“I’m a little late”

“No, it's alright.”

As soon as Eisen arrived, the other counts and the messenger quickly got up from their seats and greeted him out of respect to a senior count.

“This is Count Oscar of the Eiji family and Count Terion of the Falcon family.” At Eisen’s introduction, Henry bowed to the two counts.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Henry. I have recently been appointed as the Shonan family’s vassal.”

‘A vassal?’

The two counts looked surprised. It was well known that Eisen did not have a proper vassal.

When he saw their bewildered expressions, Eisen laughed and said, “What’s with your faces? It looks like you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have.”

“N-no. We were just a little surprised because we didn’t realize you had a vassal by your side.”

“Haha. It’s not like I can always live in solitude, so I took an opportunity to make this smart guy my vassal. He’s like a close friend, and you’ll see each other often in the future, so say your greetings.” Esien looked like he was introducing a little daughter he was so proud of.

The two counts looked at Henry's face carefully.

‘It must be this guy.’

After the grand duke and marquis were executed, two spaces in the Patrician Families became vacant. As a result, Oscar and Terion had been promoted to count.

‘The two are pretending to be polite, but it seems that they can’t hide their greedy intentions.’

If they lost this opportunity, they might not have a chance to become a marquis at all. In addition, they were fighting to become not just an ordinary marquis but a grand marquis. They were clearly ready to make a great contribution to the suppression of the rebels, even if it meant stomping over Esien.

.

‘I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.’

Of course Henry wasn’t going to hand over the position so easily. The vacant seat had to go to Eisen. Only after Eisen became one of the pillars of the Three Great Families would Henry’s revenge really begin.

“Let’s start the meeting. How long do you plan to keep me waiting?” said Eisen.

“I apologize. Let’s start discussing the rescue operation for the Khan dynasty, which is hiding from the rebels.”

The situation was simple. The Khan dynasty of the Shahatra kingdom and their subordinates were waiting for the help of the empire in a secret safe zone near a southwest oasis.

“The place is called Khan’s Eye, and only the Khan royalty knows about it. Right now, the high priest Viram is resisting the rebels with a magical barrier, but we must hurry and rescue them as the barrier is only a temporary measure,” said the Khans’ messenger.

“Where is Khan’s Eye exactly?”

“It’s right here.” The messenger pointed at a location on the map. “There is a triangular rock wall near here. High Priest Viram will break the barrier if you go with me to this area.”

“How many enemy troops are stationed nearby?”

“I’m not sure of the exact number, but the rebels are searching the area.”

“It’ll be all over once they capture the king, so they must be very desperate.”

“That’s right.” The messenger’s expression darkened at Eisen’s comment and he seemed genuinely concerned about the king’s safety.

“Who is the head of the rebels?” asked Henry.

“His name is Benedict Caliph, and he was once a military minister.”

Henry frowned as soon as he heard the name.

‘Damn, he just had to be the head of the rebel army.’

Before he was the military minister, Benedict had enjoyed the highest status among the warriors in the desert, and he was called the desert’s best warrior. He was the equivalent of the best knight in the empire.

‘This suppression may be harder than I expected.’

The desert’s best warrior was also known as La's Sword. La was the sun god and guardian deity of the Shahatra people. Shahatra had a unique religion. Once someone became a disciple of a god, like the pope of the empire, they could borrow that god’s power and would become difficult opponents.

‘He’s an incredible guy. He’s the desert’s eyes and can see throughout the entire desert, the sun’s sword that utilizes the power of the sun, and can freely manipulate sand and sandstorms. I should have killed him back then.’

During the unification war, Benedict had been a master of surprise who could escape immediately if the situation grew disadvantageous, and he would return like a ghost to kill an army even if they were far away.

The sun’s sword was the power of the sun augmenting a blade already filled with aura. It would glow red as if it had absorbed the heat of the desert and sent out an inextinguishable flame to any being that touched the blade. The power of La’s Sword was limitless, which was why even Henry struggled to capture him.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Henry recalled Benedict’s power and compared him to the three counts.

‘These people with no experience in the desert facing the desert’s best warrior…? This is going to be insane.’

The three counts had excellent private soldiers who always won battles, however, that was only within the lands of the empire. Nothing was more fragile than an inexperienced army.

Eisen frowned and said, “This isn’t a rebellion, it’s civil war.”

“Yes…” replied the messenger with difficulty.

“If it’s a civil war, do we really need to step in?”

“...What do you mean?”

The messenger began to look very nervous at Eisen’s words.

“The king may be too incompetent to protect his throne, but from the empire’s point of view, we don’t care who sits on the throne, only that we maintain the relationship between the countries.” As long as the duties of the vassal countries were fulfilled, civil wars could be dismissed as family quarrels.

The messenger’s face began to turn pale.

“That’s not true, count,” said Henry as he shook his head.

“What?”

“They’re dogs that have already bitten their owner once. There’s no guarantee they will not do this to the empire.”

“Hmm, I guess you have a point.”

A good hound was not a dog that was good at hunting but a dog that didn’t bite and was loyal to its owner. Eisen nodded and agreed with Henry.

The messenger’s expression relaxed.

“I think it’s a good idea to use this opportunity to help the Khan dynasty and increase the amount of tribute every year.”

“True. There must be give and take.”

“That’s right, His Majesty will surely be pleased if you not only bring the head of a rebellious hound along but also a handful of gifts.”

“You’re right. From now on, we will discuss how to cut Benedict’s head off, not whether to simply subdue him or not.”

The two counts did not show much discomfort even though Eisen had taken a new direction of the meeting, because a spectacular war was much better for gaining merit than peaceful negotiations.

The goal was now to defeat Benedict.

‘We need to get rid of everything that will cause anxiety while we have the chance.’

This was a good thing for Henry, as he was already busy trying to destroy the Three Great Families and the emperor, and a troublesome obstacle like Benedict would only be a waste of time.

“Looks like we’ve decided what to do. The most urgent thing on our list right now is to rescue the Khan royalty and meet the head of the rebels, Benedict.”

As Henry summed up the main points of the meeting, Count Oscar said, “It would be good for everyone to meet Caliph Benedict first.”

“No, the Shonan army will go and meet with Benedict.”

“What?”

Oscar showed signs of distress when Henry contradicted him, and Henry began to explain why with an easygoing expression. “I hope you don't misunderstand. Before I arrived, I looked at the count’s troops stationed outside. However, those soldiers did not look prepared for the desert at all.”

“What do you mean not prepared for the desert?”

“The soldiers are wearing heavy armor without caps to keep out the sun. We might also have to camp overnight, which will require firewood, but they did not seem prepared at all. If I’m mistaken, I will apologize right away.”

“Why are there so few Shonan soldiers…?”

“For the time being, we will be focused on exploration and negotiation anyway, so we decided that there is no need to exhaust ourselves. We only prepared the minimum number of soldiers necessary.”

Henry’s reasoning surprised not only the counts but even the messenger.

Count Terion asked the messenger, “Is this true?”

“It’s true. He is very knowledgeable about the desert.”

The corners of Eisen’s lips rose.

“The Shonan army will go to Benedict and in the meantime, can the two counts go with the messenger to rescue the royals in the safe zone?” said Henry.

The two counts considered which task would create more merit, and they believed that it would be better to save the Khan royalty.

‘But why?’

This was even more suspicious. If they beheaded Benedict and subdued the rebels, their achievements would be even more burnished if they rescued the royal family.

“Oh, and I hope there are no misunderstandings. Although I am a vassal of the Shonan family, my biggest priority is the welfare of the empire and the well-being of His Majesty,” said Henry.

“...Alright.”

How could they refuse Henry’s patriotism? The two counts finished their calculations, decided not to worry any longer, and willingly accepted the division of work.

Henry thought to himself while looking at the counts.

‘They’re probably wondering why I’m doing this. How stupid of them.’

As he’d expected, they believed that it was a bigger achievement to save the royal family. However, in the long run, it was much more efficient to meet the head of the rebels and observe the situation in the capital. Because Eisen trusted Henry’s judgment, he did not say much.

“After each army gets ready, we will carry out our missions.”

This marked the end of the meeting.

The Shonan army’s preparations were all done since everything that they needed was inside the Chest. They could depart at any moment. However, the two counts had to hurry to get supplies from nearby villages.

As they returned to Shonan’s barracks, Eisen let out a loud laugh and said, “Hahaha! As expected of my military head. There’s really no one else like you!”

“I’m flattered, count.”

“Aww, I’m so proud of you. Ho