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🕑 Added 2025-08-10 00:06:27 +0000 UTCEP.35 The Fall of Streve Fortress (2) + Triumph
The Fall of Streve Fortress (2)
Looking at Yuno, Count Redelmo stated his requests with dignity.
"First. I want Your Highness to take my life here. I have spent my whole life defending Streve, so it is only right that I die here. And if possible, I wish to die by the hand of the one who broke my defenses."
"...By the rules, a captured enemy commander should be publicly executed in the imperial capital of Adria... but your request... I will grant it."
"Second, please take Sir Cordelia here as your knight, Your Highness. Even if she survives as a prisoner, there is nowhere for a commoner knight who lost her lord in battle to go... I do not want the girl I thought of as a daughter to live such a life."
"Sir! I cannot accept that!! How can you ask me to swear loyalty to the one who killed you!! Absolutely not!! Sir!!!"
Cordelia protested desperately, but Count Redelmo met Yuno’s gaze and nodded. Yuno, too, nodded in respect for his firm resolve.
"Very well! Since she is of common birth, she won’t be on Teseito’s noble rolls, so there should be no issue."
"Shut your mouth!! Do you think I would ever pledge loyalty to a filthy Balkan prince?! I’d sooner end my own life!"
"Cordelia!!"
At Count Redelmo’s stern rebuke, Cordelia flinched.
"You are like a daughter to me... No, I have always thought of you as my daughter... So please, don’t say such things as dying before your father."
"Sir... no, father... sob... no!! How can you ask me to serve the one who killed you!! I’d rather live and die as a wandering knight! Even as a mere mercenary! Please... sob..."
"I know your talent well. You are a child with much greater talent than I ever had. As your father, I cannot let that talent go to waste... So, please grant your father’s last request, my daughter..."
"Sob... Father..."
"Cough, cough... This is my last wish... Promise me you’ll grant your father’s request."
Perhaps because the arrow had pierced his lung, Count Redelmo spoke with labored breaths, coughing blood as he addressed Cordelia.
"Sob... fine... I promise. As you wish, I’ll become that damned prince’s knight! I’ll live as a damned Balkan knight!! Are you satisfied now? Sob..."
When Cordelia promised, Count Redelmo finally managed a faint smile. He then looked back to Yuno and continued.
"Thank you for granting this old man’s last requests. It’s not much, but let me give you a word of advice. In war... especially in all-out war, do not hold yourself back. If Your Highness had stepped forward from the beginning, far fewer soldiers would have died. I never accounted for a monster of your caliber in my calculations, so it was inevitable. Never treat your soldiers’ lives lightly."
"Thank you for your advice. I will remember it well. Now then..."
Yuno drew the sword he had been given as vice-commander of the expeditionary army.
Count Redelmo bared his neck and bowed his head.
"W-wait!! Just a moment!!"
As Yuno raised his sword, Cordelia blocked it.
"Let him say his last words!!"
"If you’re going to, do it quickly! If my brother the Crown Prince arrives, the Count will have to be sent to the capital..."
Sensing the Crown Prince’s presence approaching, Yuno hurried Cordelia.
"Father, I love you!! I’ll remember you forever!! Sob..."
Cordelia gave her father a tearful kiss on the cheek, stood up, and nodded to Yuno.
Count Redelmo also gave Yuno a final look of gratitude, bowed his head again, and Yuno’s sword, imbued with sword energy, cleanly severed the count’s neck.
"...I used sword energy, so there should have been no pain."
"...Thank you for your consideration... And..."
Even through her tears, Cordelia bowed before Yuno and expressed her gratitude.
"Intermediate Knight Cordelia. I swear loyalty to His Highness the Third Prince of the Balkan Empire! Until the day I die, my sword will be used to destroy your enemies, and my shield will be used to protect you."
Hearing Cordelia’s oath, Yuno tapped both her shoulders with his sword, accepting her as his knight.
"I swore loyalty on my father’s orders, so as a knight I will obey Your Highness’s commands... but you will never have my true loyalty from the heart!!"
Her eyes were filled with resentment toward Yuno, who had slain her lord and the man she thought of as her father.
"Sigh... I understand. Still, I’ve accepted you as my knight, so I’ll look after you. Discard all symbols of Teseito’s army and follow me. As long as you stay by my side, there shouldn’t be any problems, but if you wander off, something could happen, so you’ll have to stay in my tent for now."
"I obey, my lord."
Yuno went outside, tore apart some wooden walls to make a makeshift coffin, borrowed a uniform from the soldiers stationed in the fortress, and returned. He gave Cordelia the imperial army uniform and placed Count Redelmo’s body and head in the coffin.
Cordelia stripped off the symbols and uniform of the Teseito army and changed into the imperial uniform Yuno gave her, then followed him.
Soon after, Yuno, having met up with the Crown Prince, reported that he had executed Count Redelmo and showed the body and head.
"Well done, Yuno! You achieved great merit in this campaign!! Still, it would have been nice if you’d captured Count Redelmo alive... His Majesty would have been so pleased to see him executed in person."
"I’m sorry, brother. The count resisted fiercely, so I had no choice but to kill him."
"No!! If not for you, the capture of Streve Fortress would have failed. Killing him was far better than letting him escape!! Ha!"
Cordelia briefly radiated murderous intent at the Crown Prince for talking so lightly about executions, but Yuno nudged her with his foot, and she calmed herself.
'Ugh... I must endure, Cordelia... From now on, you have to live as a subject of the Balkan Empire... Father, why did you give me such a trial...'
When Count Redelmo’s head was hung on the fortress wall, the Streve defenders despaired and quietly went to the prisoner camp.
Unlike usual, there was no abuse of prisoners.
With the 11th Corps annihilated and heavy losses in other corps, Yuno thought further campaigning would be impossible, so he suggested to the Crown Prince that they offer to exchange the Streve salient territory for 4,000 prisoners, believing Teseito would accept. The Crown Prince agreed and strictly forbade any abuse of prisoners, sending a diplomatic note to Teseito proposing a ceasefire.
The next day, a large number of cavalry and infantry gathered in front of Streve Fortress.
Duke Tiruen, leading them, gave a wry smile when he saw the Balkan Empire’s flag flying over Streve.
"Damn! I can’t believe Count Redelmo fell so quickly!! I should have defeated the imperial army in the south and come straight here. I was a fool... damn!!"
"Who would have thought the iron walls of shining Streve would fall in just a month? It’s not your fault, Your Grace."
"Tch... With our cavalry-based army, it’s impossible to retake Streve now. Whoever did it, they repaired it incredibly fast."
"Yes. I also agree we should retreat."
The 5th Corps engineers quickly repaired the fortress after the siege, replacing the broken gate in less than a day, demonstrating their skill. Thus, Duke Tiruen, leading Teseito’s reinforcements, could only sigh in regret.
"Still... it would be a shame to leave without at least saying hello to those imperial bastards, right?"
Duke Tiruen rode up alone, and the imperial troops, tense at the sight of Teseito’s army, relaxed.
But when the soldiers thought Duke Tiruen was a messenger, he drew his sword and unleashed a tremendous sword aura at the soldiers on the wall.
BOOM!
The soldiers instinctively braced for death, but a bright blue light flashed atop Streve’s wall, and with a huge explosion, Tiruen’s sword aura vanished without a trace.
"Huh? My sword aura was blocked? Is that the Third Prince who just became a master?"
"Whew~ I don’t know who it was, but that sword aura was almost at my master’s level. That was a thrill! Heh heh heh."
Tiruen and Yuno faced each other across the wall, recognizing each other as future rivals for fierce battles to come.
"We can’t fight to the death here, so I’ll withdraw for now. But for a newly adult prince to block my sword aura... Balkan is no pushover."
But in Tiruen’s mind, a plot to overturn the Balkan Empire was already forming, and he was slowly putting it into action.
"Let’s meet again on the battlefield, Prince Yuno... heh heh heh."
With those words, Tiruen and Teseito’s reinforcements withdrew south.
The diplomatic agreement to exchange 4,000 prisoners for the Streve salient was delivered to the Teseito royal court, and with King Teseito and Duke Tiruen’s approval, the Battle of Streve Fortress ended in a complete imperial victory.
The 5th Corps remained to garrison Streve, the 1st and 4th Corps returned to their posts, and the 10th Corps began the march back to the capital.
Finally, Crown Prince Prinz, Yuno, and the corps commanders, accompanied by a handful of close aides, used teleportation to quickly return to the capital.
"Ahhh~~ It’s so nice not to smell dirt anymore, brother."
"Haha, you’re right. Let’s hurry to see His Majesty. I heard he’s been eagerly awaiting our return after receiving news of our victory."
Riding a carriage that had been waiting at the teleportation circle outside the capital, and escorted by the imperial guard, Prinz and Yuno returned to the palace.
"Yunooo~~"
"Oppaaaa~~"
"Yuno!! Hey, you brat~~"
As soon as they entered the palace gates, they were swarmed by Isabella, Marie, Eliza, and Catherine, and Yuno was overwhelmed until the Crown Prince pried them off so they could go see the emperor.
"Sorry, I have to go see His Majesty with my brother now, so I’ll see you all later, okay?"
"Tch... We waited almost three months for you... It’s like he didn’t miss us at all."
"Who’s that girl behind him?"
"Oh! That’s my new personal bodyguard, Cordelia. I’ll assign someone to look after you, so go rest in my palace."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The four women eyed Yuno suspiciously, but since he had nothing to hide, he was unbothered.
Following the attendant, Cordelia and the four women returned to Yuno’s palace, while Yuno and Prinz headed to the throne room.
There, Yuno greeted the emperor, who wore a bright smile, and the empress, who gazed at him with a wistful expression, standing behind the Crown Prince as they both paid their respects.
