“Your Highness, do you hear something?”
Along with ground-shaking tremors like a horde of monsters marching, I heard a voice, though I couldn’t tell who it belonged to.
Neither Todd nor Rai knew who was shouting, but seeing Haruto break into a delighted smile told us.
“That kid’s nothing but trouble.”
While thinking he’d get angry if anyone else said that, I looked at Haruto and pointed in the direction of the voice.
“Go get him, since you’re here anyway.”
“Aha… Got it, I’ll go!”
With that, Haruto bounced, or rather rocketed using the fortified armor, towards the village exit.
We followed behind him and stepped outside.
There we saw mountain folk gathered in small groups, riding their horses and advancing in formation, led by our companions at the head.
“Haruto!”
“Hugwohh!?”
The moment Todd was able to survey Renge and the others’ results, Renge, riding at tremendous speed, charged into Haruto.
“A-are you okay, Haruto!?”
“Aha, I’m fine, totally fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me a bit.”
“Let me see! I’ll heal you right away!”
“Ah, no, don’t suddenly strip me, please… Ahh, jeez!”
Averting my eyes from Haruto getting swiftly undressed by Renge, whose tension seemed out of whack from seeing him after so long, I straightened my posture.
Though not much time had passed, just three days of separation made them look as if they hadn’t met in years.
“It’s been too long, my lord. We three royal guards, Landon, Mikito, Soot, have brought nine hundred fifty troops, combining fifteen clans and some stragglers. We were careful not to leave any stragglers, which made us late meeting up, please forgive us.”
Landon, Mikito, and Soot wore fortified armor.
They had been riding horses, but now dismounted to salute Todd.
When they parted from Todd, the three had seemed like youths newly come of age, but… how true that three days without meeting can change a man’s countenance.
To Todd they now looked like seasoned warriors, whether from battle experience or otherwise.
“No, don’t worry about it at all. But you’ve gathered quite a force. If I recall, all the mountain folk between the mountains and kingdom originally numbered only a few hundred…”
“Yes, well… it seems many of the soldiers came from the other side…”
Where Landon pointed was the direction of Mount Marb, which we’d been pondering how to attack.
I wondered if they were clans living east of Mount Marb, but apparently that wasn’t the case either.
According to their explanation, these were people who had come from mountains east of Mount Narup under Totila’s domain.
People who’d been driven out by Totila and his followers, or revolted along with their entire families against his methods – their numbers already exceeded the mountain folk previously scattered between the kingdom and the mountains.
Though a bit perplexed, Landon and the others welcomed them in as part of Todd’s clan so long as they swore fealty.
And as a result, their numbers had swelled this much.
“Can they be used?”
“A trump card.”
Nodding at Raienbach’s words, Todd couldn’t help but be glad they’d gained such a powerful card.
Landon and the others had likely won over the mountain folk who’d come for the sake of the way of life they couldn’t compromise on.
Or rather, by completely assimilating into the mountain folk’s ways like Todd, they’d firmly established themselves as allies.
Looking closely, Landon and the others wore necklaces with beads and fangs that looked like they came from magical beasts, and the women tending to their horses were familiar faces.
The girls who had been ordered to have a night with Todd had come in with Hamarm.
One could also refer to them as the women who Landon and the others had interacted with.
The fact that they were living as Todd’s tribe was a means of attacking the mountain people in the camp of Totila, aside from bows and swords.
A tribe was like a large family, and it was the very essence of the mountain people’s society.
Those who had once belonged to the same tribe could greatly blunt the enemy’s blade, and their words would certainly shake the enemy.
And the fact that they could live here without any problems was evidence that they were not neglecting the mountain people.
It was an effective card that could be more than just killing two birds with one stone.
“But you see, what’s the trump card?”
“I’ll tell you later. But Landon, you’re quite quick, aren’t you? Mountain women are known to be passionate.”
“Well, yes. I was planning to tell you later, but I intend to marry Eira. When I think about what will happen when I return, she’ll probably become a concubine, but she’s agreed to it.”
“Oh, really…”
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In conversations at drinking parties with the mountain people, he had heard things like being stabbed by his wife if he cheated or love being heavy.
So he said it as a joke, but… it seemed that Landon had actually fallen in love with a mountain woman.
It would be difficult for him, a noble, to marry a foreign tribe that was considered barbaric in the kingdom… Knowing Landon, who had common sense, he probably did it with resolve.
Todd knew that the mountain people were those who would decline in the future history.
So he intended to be considerate of those who belonged to Todd’s tribe as much as possible, respecting their way of life.
But in this way, the ethnic group known as the mountain people might continue to exist.
They, and their children with the kingdom people, would live as kingdom people.
In that case, there would certainly be mountain people’s blood left in the continuing line of families.
Todd felt like he had glimpsed a part of the mystery of life.
“Then we have to win to protect them.”
“Haha, you’re right. We can’t let Totila ruin our future from now on.”
Todd’s determination to have this land as his territory, to divide the house, and to abandon the right to the throne remained unchanged.
So he didn’t want to kill those who would become civilians in the future as much as possible, and he wanted them to live happily.
In fact, if they didn’t, their lives would likely be torn to shreds by the intervention of the kingdom.
If that happened, they might have to shed blood that didn’t need to be shed.
And it was the mountain people who pledged loyalty, not to the king or Edward, but to himself.
It would be nearly impossible to use them as the national army, and they wouldn’t accept it either.
That’s why he wanted to continue developing while using them as his private army, being careful not to disrupt their way of life.
The reins of that could probably only be taken by Todd, who had two sets of common sense, the kingdom and Japan.
(…But before thinking about the future, I have to think about what to do now.)
Todd had several plans in mind, but if he lost, all of them would be in vain.
For now, they had to defeat Totila, or both their own and the kingdom’s futures would be in jeopardy.
Todd welcomed Landon and the others once again, and they decided to put off the march for today and spend the night drinking.
Through conversations at the drinking party, Todd learned that Mikito and Soot seemed to have relationships with several mountain women.
Gone were the days of monogamy among the kingdom people; they were now fully assimilated in their thinking with the mountain people.
Landon seemed to be devoted to a girl named Eira, so there were differences even among the royal guards.
But it wasn’t just about indulging in lust; everyone had a solid understanding of the customs and ways of fighting of the mountain people, which was surprising.
The saying “women change men” seemed to be true after all.
The newcomers recognized Todd as their tribe leader, even though they were surprised that he was only twelve years old.
However, it was natural that there were some who looked down on him.
As a result, Todd and Raienbach, who hadn’t touched alcohol, showed a mock battle and demonstrated their martial prowess.
The amazed onlookers all pledged loyalty to Todd without exception.
Of course, they weren’t just deepening their bonds and bowing to each other at the drinking party.
Several of Ho’s top messengers were dispatched to negotiate with Mab, Soot, and Sheila.
Although it would become a forced march, it was decided to return some of the people who lived east of Narup, where Landon lived, to their original tribes.
They would select only those who were devoted to Landon and the higher tribe leaders like Todd and use them as time bombs within the tribes.
By the next day, thanks to the preemptive moves made in the Marb Mountains, both tribes had shown their submission to Todd and joined his side.
There was no time to absorb the tribes at the foothills or in distant areas as they had done before, so they aimed to conquer them in point rather than area and head to Sout Mountain as quickly as possible.
But Todd’s tribe was already larger and stronger than any of the tribes in the Marb Mountains.
When the various tribes saw the march of the large army, they all surrendered and were absorbed.
Todd and the others hurried to Sout Mountain…
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