How to Survive as a Knight’s Son – Chapter 99

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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What would a person do if a horse charged at them at full speed? Especially if a fully armored knight, lance lowered, was riding it?

With a few exceptions, such as having a loved one behind them or being frozen in fear, everyone would flee.

That’s what Antonius’s army did. Faced with the charge of the heavy cavalry, their thighs practically touching as they advanced in a single line, they didn’t dare to resist.

“R-Run!”

The enemy soldiers, who had been retreating, turned and fled.

The problem was that the heavy cavalry had already reached full speed.

The knights gripped their lances tightly, tucking their arms close to their bodies, the shafts secured between their armpits.

“Agh!”

“Gah!”

The lances, propelled by the speed and weight of horse and rider, pierced through the enemy soldiers, a display of overwhelming force, crushing and pulverizing them.

“Mercy!”

“I-I don’t want to die!”

At that moment, the enemy’s superior numbers became meaningless.

A flock of sheep couldn’t defeat a wolf. All that remained were merciless predators and helpless prey.

Objectively, the casualties were minimal, but the overwhelming force of the heavy cavalry demoralized the enemy, deterring any thoughts of resistance.

“Don’t run! There are only a few of them! I’ll kill anyone who flees! Form ranks! Form ranks and hold them!”

While Antonius tried to rally his troops, his knights took action.

“Follow me!”

They couldn’t maintain their top speed indefinitely. Horses weren’t machines.

The enemy knights charged towards us as our momentum slowed after the initial charge. They had waited for our breakthrough power to diminish, using the mercenaries as sacrifices.

They wouldn’t have hesitated. Dead mercenaries didn’t need to be paid.

Knights might be known for their brute force, but they weren’t stupid.

“Turn!”

I met the enemy knights who were trying to flank us.

There were about twenty of them, seven knights and the rest squires.

The knight at the front aimed a warhammer at my face. The hammer, carrying the momentum and weight of the charging horse, packed a devastating punch. A direct hit would have been fatal.

‘If it connected, that’s it.’

I swung my cavalry saber before the hammer could reach me.

My superhuman strength snapped the hammer’s shaft. While a chunk of my blade was lost, the edge remained sharp.

I immediately retrieved my sword and thrust.

“Gah!”

The links of his chainmail snapped as my sword pierced his body.

I immediately dropped the sword. Having cut through chainmail, muscle, and bone, the ordinary blade was now useless.

I drew the warhammer I had secured to my saddle. The Trolls Blade was too long for mounted combat.

“Die!”

Another enemy knight seized the opportunity while I was switching weapons.

His muffled voice came from my right. I pulled on the reins with my left hand and turned my body. My horse changed direction.

Sparks flew just below the eye slit of my helmet. The enemy’s sword had grazed my visor. A little higher, and I would have been blinded.

Attacks from my blind spot didn’t give me enough time to enter my slowed perception. It was a close call.

‘I’m not invincible.’

The adrenaline from the intense fighting subsided, replaced by a cold realization. Even the strongest knight could be killed by a stray arrow in war.

Having blocked the attack, it was my turn. I swung my warhammer. It struck the knight’s head before he could retrieve his sword.

With a sickening crunch of metal against bone, his neck snapped at an unnatural angle. He rode a few more steps, then fell from his horse.

The knight behind him, seeing the unexpected obstacle, pulled on his reins. His horse reared, coming to an abrupt halt.

I seized the opportunity and spurred my horse forward. My hammer flew through the air before the enemy knight could regain his balance.

He raised his shield, but his posture was unsteady.

My hammer shattered his shield and struck his chest.

“Gah-!”

It was a fatal blow, leaving a visible dent in his armor. He coughed up blood and fell from his horse.

Having killed three in quick succession, the remaining enemy cavalry hesitated. Their hesitation disrupted their formation.

As I pulverized another knight, their disarray intensified.

“It’s the devil! The devil!”

Horses were sensitive creatures. Their riders’ fear slowed them down.

“Follow me! Break through!”

The heavy cavalry had reformed their ranks. I led the charge, a warhammer in hand.

The enemy knights resisted longer than the infantry, who had been like scarecrows, but the result was the same.

With the knights meeting the same fate, the enemy’s collapse accelerated.

The mercenaries who were further away began to flee, while those who couldn’t escape surrendered, dropping their weapons.

As I charged through their ranks, they parted like the Red Sea before Moses. Antonius stood at the end.

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“Lord Antonius! It’s him!”

“Don’t run! Don’t… Gah!” His adjutant alerted Antonius to my presence.

Startled, Antonius turned his horse and fled without hesitation. But I was too close.

I caught up to him before he could gain speed and struck his horse’s hindquarters with my hammer.

-Neigh!

The horse screamed and collapsed. Antonius was thrown to the ground.

“Whoa.”

I turned my horse around and saw him crawling on the ground. He seemed to have broken his leg in the fall.

He looked up and saw me, a forced smile on his battered face.

“I-I’m the Count of Bruah…!”

Those were his last words. My hammer crushed his skull. I pried off his dented helmet and raised it high.

“Antonius is dead! Surrender!”

The remaining knights and soldiers, who had been fighting until the end, laid down their arms. They still outnumbered us by more than two to one.

“We’re heading straight for Roxwood.”

I left Dreng and Zant, who had reassembled the disbanded troops, in charge of the aftermath and headed for Roxwood with the heavy cavalry.

If the remaining forces in Roxwood learned of the defeat and prepared for our arrival, it would be difficult to take the city.

Roxwood was a fortress city, and I lacked proper siege weapons.

However, when we arrived…

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Roxwood was in chaos. The gates were wide open, and fires raged throughout the city, punctuated by the sounds of fighting.

The inner castle within the fortress was no different. A soldier, having interrogated one of the looters, returned with the news.

“The Count’s mistress and her family have fled with all the valuables!”

It seemed that after Andril’s mother had fled with the Count’s fortune, the other influential figures had begun looting to recoup their losses.

They planned to shift the blame onto the Count’s mistress.

They must have been certain that the allied forces of the three successors would be victorious, unlike the Count’s mistress.

“This morning?”

The timing was crucial.

The servant who had been working in the castle testified that he had last seen the Count’s mistress last night.

In other words, she had fled sometime between last night and this morning.

However, I suspected that the preparations had begun much earlier. The Count’s fortune was too vast to be moved in a single night.

“Then we’re in trouble.”

Otto, the cavalry captain, was right. We were already on the verge of bankruptcy. If we couldn’t recover the Count’s fortune, I might actually go bankrupt.

“They can’t have gone far.”

“The problem is, we don’t know where they went.”

“East.”

North was the Giant’s Shoulder mountain range, and south was where we had just fought the battle.

Duke Beneng, to the west, wouldn’t have allowed Andril and his mother to escape with the valuables.

With the Bruah family gone, he no longer had to worry about repercussions.

I pulled on the reins. With the city in chaos, there was no need to leave any troops behind. Otto followed with the cavalry.

“East? That’s a dead end, isn’t it?”

“There’s the sea.”

“It’s just a fishing village. There are no proper docking facilities.”

It was a knight of the Dressten family, who controlled the eastern sea, who spoke. There was no reason to doubt his words.

However, he hadn’t considered something.

“Aren’t fishing boats still boats?”

“You’re saying they used those flimsy things? Ah, if they started preparing early, as you said, it’s possible. They could have used fishing boats to reach the larger ships anchored further out.”

Otto nodded, then added in a serious tone,

“But if they started preparing early, as you said, wouldn’t they have already left?”

“Well, the fact that they managed to keep their movements secret until today means the key figures didn’t leave the city. In other words, the lower-ranking members were responsible for moving the valuables. Do you think they would have entrusted such a vast fortune to them all at once?”

They must have gathered the valuables at a safe house outside the city, under the watchful eye of a trusted individual. And they would have left this morning.

“Then there’s still a chance. They can’t be moving fast with all that wealth.”

“I made some preparations.”

“Preparations?” Andril was the weakest of the successors. He couldn’t claim the Countship without outside help.

The problem was that no one could help him, given the watchful eyes of the King and Dressten.

In other words, it was impossible for him to become the Count. Therefore, he had only one choice left.

To flee and plan for the future. He would have seen the family fortune as a stepping stone.

“Yes. I’ve already made arrangements.”

I had sent Muel and a small detachment ahead. Their mission was to reach the fishing village before Andril and destroy all the boats.

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They had carried out their mission perfectly. The waters off the fishing village were littered with the wreckage of burned and shattered boats.

But that wasn’t all. Bodies lay strewn across the beach, the sand stained crimson.

Carts were overturned, their contents, presumably valuables, scattered everywhere.

I had only instructed them to destroy the boats and wait. Had Muel, eager for glory, overstepped his boundaries?

‘Muel, the opportunist, wouldn’t act recklessly.’

As I suspected, Muel appeared shortly after, unharmed. The five soldiers he had taken with him were also unscathed.

“What happened?”

“There was infighting among the enemy!”

When Andril arrived, his forces numbered just over thirty.

He must have dismissed the mercenaries, fearing they would be tempted by the wealth.

However, even among those thirty, presumably chosen for their loyalty, there were traitors. Many of them.

Muel continued,

“They must have realized something was wrong when they saw that the boats were destroyed. Andril insisted they could build new boats, but the others disagreed. They decided to split the valuables and scatter, since Andril was the one being pursued.”

“Andril didn’t agree?”

“They outnumbered him and demanded the most valuable items.”

Muel described a scene of madness. They fought over the valuables, even though they couldn’t possibly carry them all.

“Where’s Andril?”

Andril’s body wasn’t among the dead. Muel, eyeing me cautiously, replied,

“He… escaped using the wreckage of the boats as cover when we arrived. We couldn’t pursue him because we were worried the others would steal the valuables.”

With only five men, Muel had to choose between the Count’s fortune and Andril. He chose the fortune.

“You made the right decision.”

Muel beamed at my praise.

“Haha. It was nothing. I simply followed your orders.”

“Gather the valuables.”

“Yes, sir!”

Muel, the five soldiers, and the heavy cavalry began collecting the scattered valuables.

I looked over the bodies. One, in particular, caught my eye. It was the only female corpse.

“He abandoned even his own mother.”

Her expensive clothing suggested she was Andril’s mother, the Count’s mistress.

“He’ll be in trouble.”

Otto, standing beside me, warned. Andril, now driven by revenge and possessing a cunning mind, was a potential threat.

“We’ll meet again soon. There’s only one place he can go.”

The nobles on the mainland, wary of the King and Dressten, wouldn’t offer him refuge.

His only option was to flee across the sea, beyond their reach.

I gazed at the distant sea. Perhaps it was the clear weather, but I could almost see the shadow of the Northern Continent.

Did Andril know that there was no paradise to be found in his escape?

“This works in our favor. He’ll be eager to help us.”

The agreement with Dressten was that in exchange for ceding Count Bruah’s territory, I would assist in their expedition to the Northern Continent.

While Andril might believe he had escaped, our paths would cross again.

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Meanwhile, Eric was meeting with Adelia in the Barony of Rasino. He had left Otto behind and departed after disbanding his forces to deceive the enemy.

He stated his purpose before the servant could even bring the tea.

“Marry Sir Allen.”

“Haa… you haven’t visited in nearly twenty years, and that’s what you have to say?” Adelia’s already sour expression darkened. Eric, however, remained impassive.

“It’s the Count’s order.”

“My daughter… she’s loves him!”

“What does that matter?”

Eric looked genuinely puzzled.

Adelia felt suffocated. While she, too, possessed the cold, calculating nature of a Dressten, she was nothing compared to Eric.

“Haa… Even if Sir Allen marries my daughter, he’ll still be on our side.”

Adelia believed that Eric needed assurance that Allen wouldn’t betray them, but Eric’s thoughts were different.

“That’s not enough.”

“What…”

Eric stood by the window. The sunset cast a golden glow over Polton, visible below. Beyond it lay the territories of Baron Debussy and Count Bruah.

“Sir Allen’s foundation is weak. His power is like a castle built on sand. If anything were to happen to him, everything he’s built would crumble like a mirage.”

“Are you suggesting… you’ll assassinate Sir Allen?”

If Allen were gone, Adelia could reclaim everything. All of Allen’s achievements were done in the name of the Rasino family.

And with Dressten’s help, there would be no unforeseen circumstances. Dressten would become the most powerful family on the continent, surpassing even the King.

Adelia’s suspicion was understandable. However, Eric shook his head.

“I considered it.”

“But not anymore?”

Adelia wasn’t reassured. If Allen died, Usebia would follow him in death, and Adelia would have nothing left.

“The more I learn about him, the more impressed I am. His strength, his cunning, his leadership… he’s exceptional. He would be a valuable asset in achieving our family’s ambition.”

Eric valued Allen more as an individual than as a conquered territory.

Of course, this was only possible because their ultimate goal was within reach.

In any case, that was why he had changed his plans. Allen had unknowingly escaped a perilous fate.

“Then what did you mean earlier…?”

Eric turned away from the window to face Adelia. The setting sun cast his face in shadow.

“Bear Sir Allen a daughter. I’ll have my son marry her. That way, everything he’s built will belong to Dressten.”

“That’s absurd! What if I have a son?”

“There’s a secret technique passed down through ancient families. A technique to change the sex of a child in the womb.”

Adelia was shocked. Not only by the existence of such a technique, but also by its implications.

Even if she used the technique to have a daughter, what if her second child was a son?

To fulfill Eric’s plan, she would have to either keep using the technique until she had a daughter or eliminate any sons.

Eric left the room without waiting for a reply, as if Adelia had no choice in the matter.

Adelia followed him. Eric, mounted on his horse at the main gate of the inner castle, looked down at her and said,

“You’re not getting any younger, so it’s best to have a daughter quickly.”

Adelia expressed her displeasure with silence, but Eric ignored her and spurred his horse, quickly disappearing into the distance.

He left Adelia with a heavy burden. And before she could even process it,

“Mother, what was that about? Having a daughter?”

Adelia turned sharply at the voice behind her. Usebia stood at the top of the stairs, clutching the railing, staring at her.

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Imma get your husband to fille ma womb usebia~ 😏