The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

90 Let's go, you sorry bastards!

It wasn't snowing yet, but cold enough for the breath of the men in the unit led by the knight Karcan to turn white as they took the side road south.

There were about fifty of them, and although they belonged to the Knights' Order, only three men other than Karcan, including the vice-captain, had formally been decorated as knights.

The unit was made up of those with the social position of Equestrians, future knight candidates and the apprentices of knights. They were less skilled than knights, but equal to or slightly above the average soldier.

They were wearing old leather armor with numerous patches and stitches rather than suits of armor and helmets bearing the crest of the Hartner Duchy. At one glance, they appeared to be an orderly mercenary band.

"This is certainly not a pleasant mission, but this is for the sake of Lord Lucas, for the sake of the Hartner Duchy's future and for the sake of our people. Don't make those faces; you look like the remnants of a defeated army," said Karcan.

"But is this really necessary? Isn't Lord Lucas's succession to the family already almost certain at this point?" a man asked, voicing his opinion.

He was Froto, the spy who was participating in this mission as a staff officer, the man whom Vandalieu believed to be a virtuous priest of Alda.

Lord Lucas was the eldest son but his mother was a concubine, so people had thought it would be difficult for him to succeed the family. But as Froto said, Lord Lucas's succession to the family was now more or less decided.

The great scandal caused by Kinarp, the former Guild Master of the Mages' Guild, and his subordinates, who revealed that numerous noblemen had connections with Vampires who worshipped an evil god. Lord Belton, the second son born to the duke's legal wife, had been almost certain to succeed the family, but he had been caught up in the big waves caused by this scandal.

He had managed to protect himself, but the fact that his subordinates had been working with the Vampires had been revealed, so he had withdrawn from the dispute to succeed the family. Becoming a duke in the Orbaume Kingdom meant gaining the rights to be a candidate to become the king. Those of the other duchies and the current king himself had expressed their opinions one after another that they couldn't entrust this position to someone whose followers had been traitors to humanity.

Meanwhile, Lord Lucas had given a performance where he conducted a strict investigation to find out if any of his supporters had connections to Vampires and personally hunted and sentenced them.

Lord Belton was trying to appeal his innocence by doing things such as hiring the Five-colored Blades, but people already doubted him, people wondered whether he was simply a lizard sacrificing its own tail to survive.

Now that he had lost the people's confidence and his prominent supporters, every Church, including the Church of Alda, had distanced themselves from him and nobody sympathized with him. Lord Belton had lost his standing.

Of course, the worst-case scenario was that he would be taken somewhere to rest to recover from a "sudden illness" or be made to live a religious life in a remote church somewhere, so the result of losing his standing wasn't particularly unsatisfactory.

Once Lord Lucas succeeded the duke, Lord Belton would live on as the head of the branch family.

And it seemed that the current Duke Hartner wouldn't last until the spring. With the circumstances as they were now, Lord Lucas's succession to the family was all but confirmed.

Froto couldn't be blamed for doubting whether there was any meaning in crushing Lord Belton's cultivation project now.

But Karcan whispered in Froto's ear. "You may say that, Froto-dono, but if you do nothing now, you will return to your previous meaningless position."