Chapter 4
“You insolent thing. Remember this. If you act on your own again this time, let alone the Royal Academy, I’ll make sure you never step on stage again, not even once!”
Adrian, who had threatened her, smirked.
“By the way, it seems there are quite a few wounded on the battlefield.”
The list of additional supplies newly requested by the Black Iron Knights was packed with medical supplies.
“My, can’t they fight a bit better? So careless.”
It was a shameless attitude with no trace of humanity.
Adrian called an errand runner and handed over a roughly scribbled piece of paper.
“Send a telegram to Lieck Base just like this.”
Having finished his task, Adrian frowned.
It was because Agnes was still guarding her spot.
“What are you still doing without departing!”
In the end.
As if being pushed, Agnes, who had boarded the carriage loaded with supplies, clutched her forehead.
“This is too much…….”
The Black Iron Knights. The thought that they, holding out on the northern front, might have to fight without weapons again weighed heavily on her mind.
At the same time.
The yaksha-like face of Adrian as he threatened her also came to mind.
In fact, it was impossible to graduate from the Royal Academy without Adrian’s permission.
Even if she somehow managed to enroll.
She wouldn’t be able to afford the tuition that cost as much as a townhouse in the capital per semester.
“Yeah, endure it. Just this once…….”
It would be delayed a bit, but they would send the weapons anyway.
There was no need for her to step up this time. Agnes whispered that to herself.
However, that resolve didn’t last long.
It was because a newspaper placed on the seat next to her caught her eye.
[The Black Iron Knights struggling under the fierce attack of the 5th Brigade. Anxiety rising that the tide of war might reverse if things continue like this.]
The article with that headline featured a blurry black-and-white photo.
In the photo, a man looking down at the battlefield with a very grim face.
It was Lionel.
Though he had a somewhat irritable impression, with his sharply upturned eyes and beautifully straight nose.
His childhood face remained exactly the same.
“As expected, I can’t do it.”
The deliberation wasn’t long.
Agnes, who had been biting her lip, immediately opened the small window leading to the coachman’s seat without hesitation as soon as she made her decision.
“Sir, go north.”
“Huh? But miss. The master clearly said to go to the Thalia Company-,”
The coachman, who had intended to try persuading her, soon shook his head.
Seeing Agnes’s unwavering expression, he realized that no matter what he said, it wouldn’t get through to her.
The reactions of those in charge of escorting the carriage were similar.
Far from stopping her.
Since they all had children or siblings on the front lines, they even seemed to secretly hope that the supplies would go north.
Agnes spoke again with emphasis.
“I’ll take full responsibility. I’ll make sure no harm comes to you all. I promise.”
“Well now……. Even if you get caught by the master, this old man knows nothing.”
Giddyup!
The carriage that had been heading south abruptly turned direction.
Agnes clenched her fist at the rapidly changing scenery outside the window.
“……Even if it’s not necessarily the Royal Academy, there are many private dance troupes, so it’s okay.”
Yes.
Even if it was a small theater with only one beam of light turned on, if she could dance sincerely, that would be enough.
“Will Rael recognize me……?”
Agnes, looking again at Lionel in the black-and-white photo, swallowed dryly in tension.
This was the first time she had gone out directly like this. Because she had always been confined to Adrian’s office, only handling documents.
So, naturally, her reunion with Lionel was also the first in over ten years.
She was afraid of heading into the middle of the battlefield. But that wasn’t a reason to reverse Agnes’s decision.
Agnes, having firmed her resolve, looked out the window with impatient eyes. But in that expression, a faint anticipation she couldn’t hide was also mingled.
“I hope it’s not too late.”
Just before departure, the box of medical supplies she had packed after hearing Adrian’s words rattled and shook with a clunk.
Fortunately, no one pursued them while heading north.
However, when the carriage that had run through several nights reached the bridge heading to Lieck Base.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped abruptly.
Then, without permission, the carriage door opened.
Before she could even grasp what was happening,
Slap!
With a sharp noise, Agnes’s face turned to the side.
The next thing was a tearing, shrill scream.
“You’ve really got your guts sticking out of your belly, huh? How dare you disobey Father?”
Luxuriously flowing bright yellow blonde hair. Eyes seductively upturned like a cat’s.
The one who slapped her cheek was Chloe Bardo, Anes’s half-sister.
“C-Chloe miss! We definitely tried to stop her, but Agnes miss went ahead on her own-! It’s true!”
Behind the open door, the escorts with pale faces, not knowing what to do, were visible.
“Who said they were curious about your excuses? What are you all doing without turning the carriage around right now?”
Without even time to gather her bewildered feelings.
Agnes blocked Chloe.
“No! Keep going. Sir!”
At Agnes’s appearance ignoring her words, Chloe’s eyes became triangular.
“Are you crazy? Do you know how much loss there will be if this deal falls through?”
“If the northern defense line is breached, the entire empire will be in danger. Then there won’t even be time to calculate losses.”
“Are you teaching me now? Shut your mouth! And if they lose just because they lack those weapons, doesn’t that mean their skills were pathetic from the start?”
“Sister!”
It was when the argument was intensifying.
Suddenly, the sound of countless horse hooves thundering the ground was heard.
Agnes stiffened in surprise at the commotion, but Chloe just snorted with an “hmph.”
There was no sign of surprise at all. As if she had known in advance.
In an instant, those who surrounded the carriage were none other than soldiers from Sercadia.
“Huh? The supply carriage really came this way.”
Among them, the rough voice of the man at the very front pierced her ears.
It was a tone full of certainty.
As if he knew the carriage would pass this road.
‘No way……. That can’t be.’
It was a route she had arbitrarily changed without any notice.
But this looked exactly like they had been ambushed in advance and appeared.
“Tie them all up!”
“Let go of this!”
As Agnes was pushing away the soldiers rushing into the carriage, a shock was applied to her head.
Someone had struck Agnes’s head with a rifle butt.
“Ugh……!”
Agnes, swallowing a groan from the pain, discovered something strange.
Because a familiar emblem was engraved on the enemy’s gun that had struck her.
It was precisely the emblem of the Bardo Company.
‘Why is that……? Why do these people have guns with the company emblem?’
Amid the confusion overwhelming her, another movement caught her eye.
One man standing blocking the carriage door was taking out a radio from his waist.
Zzz— Zzz.
When he turned the frequency channel, a noise-mixed voice flowed from the radio.
「Lieutenant Greg. Are you safe?」
“I guess the owner of this radio was named Greg. This is the first time talking like this, right? Colonel Valheim.”
The radio was from a Black Iron Knight member killed in battle two days ago.
“I am the operations commander of Sercadia’s 5th Brigade. I propose negotiations regarding the safety of our side’s overall commander whom you have captured alive.”
The man fiddling with the radio pressed the transmit button again.
“We have surrounded the supply carriage heading to your knight order. Moreover, inside the carriage-,”
The general commander’s gaze lingered on Agnes for a moment.
“There’s a young lady who looks quite valuable riding as well. How about it, wouldn’t a hostage like this have exchange value?”
With a face full of certainty that Lionel would naturally accept the negotiation, the general commander raised his cheekbones.
That was when it happened. Contrary to his expectation, what flowed over the airwaves was a sneer.
「Negotiation, huh. That’s the most amusing thing I’ve heard.」
***
At the same time.
Lionel was tapping the telegram placed in front of him with his fingertips while resting his chin crookedly.
The content of the telegram sent from the Bardo side was that they couldn’t send supplies at all for the time being.
Despite having taken the money and eaten it.
Shamelessly, this time it was a unilateral notice without even the usual reason like unit price adjustment.
Moreover, he had just heard news through another informant that the supplies had headed south.
Yet,
“They took the supply carriage hostage?”
Lionel tilted his head coolly.
“They’re spouting nonsense that isn’t even funny.”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
