Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 134 - A Matter of Lineage

"What the hell is that?"

Marilyn squinted as she said the words everyone was thinking. After a good twenty minutes or so, the tower in the distance had finally stopped rising and the ground had stopped shaking along with it. In spite of that, the air of malaise didn't lift from the soldiers. Rather, it just got worse as the tower continued to stand ominously in the distance as if it were an evil god looming over the empire.

"No fuckin' clue, but it must be huge." Medrauta said. She and Viviane had regrouped with the baron's forces a short while ago, the two of them availing themselves to the services of a knight-hospitalier. Though Viviane lacked any serious injuries, the fact that she'd fallen unconscious during their battle against Bastiche and Ritya still worried Medrauta, forcing the noblewoman to undergo a checkup upon her knight's insistence.

"...Yeah. It's around six days of straight riding to the capital. Three if we ride during the night," Viviane remarked. "That means the tower must be around..."

"...Five thousand meters." Krista said, shuddering. "That thing's five thousand meters tall."

"Leave it to the archers to give us an estimate of the damn thing's height." Medrauta chuckled, the sound of her laughter relieving some of the tension felt by nearby soldiers. With her arm nearly healed thanks to the efforts of the knight-hospitaliers standing by, the troops felt a lot more confident and in high spirits with Medrauta by their side. After all, she had shredded through just as many soldiers as Marilyn after all, if not more.

"So... What now?" Trianna asked, her tone more than a little uncertain. Seeing as her ultimate fate hinged on the victory of this entire battle, the junior knight's nervousness was understandable. Much like how the criminals who emerged from the underground to fight for the baron were anxious to receive a pardon for their crimes, Trianna was hoping that Baron Dietrich and his allies would promise to vouch for her when the time came.

She had ridden ahead of the supply unit after seeing the massive homunculi reinforcements swarm the baron's main force. Although her actions had technically gone against orders, no one complained, least of all Marilyn who served as the army's commanding officer. The junior knight had saved her from a particularly nasty encounter against a large group of homunculi just as her berserker rage began to wane, pushing them back and giving Marilyn time to recover.

"Now we wait for Baron Dietrich to ride here. I'm not sure what's taking him so long, but I've sent the foreigners to go check on the nobles' entourage. They're not too far behind, so they should be arriving any second now," Marilyn said. "After that, I'll probably be holed up in the castle writing pardons while the baron establishes himself as the temporary duke."

"A baron becoming a duke in one day?" Medrauta raised an eyebrow. "Talk about a promotion. Shouldn't the position go to a marquis or something, or does noble society not work like that?"

"The baron is the only individual who supplied forces for this attack. Even his supposed 'allies' didn't send a single soldier in the end. All they did was promise neutrality, and I suppose they held up that part of the bargain at the very least. The baron will likely spare them in his restructuring."

"My apologies, but I do not believe His Imperial Majesty would approve of a baron setting himself up as high lord of the land while the country wars with Kaslavna." Viviane said, deciding to step into the conversation now. With Bastiche's death, Viviane's position as acting duchess of Castellia duchy technically allowed her to outrank everyone in the Revelo dukedom.

Marilyn stiffened. "...Lady Castellia, I mean no offense, but you are still young. Would it not be better for someone else to rule this territory while you deal with your own responsibilities? I am sure that you will need to report back to the academy and ensure the Castellia duchy's stability given these new... developments."