Chapter 65
In the room assigned to me, I thought things over alone.
Our march had also served as cavalry training, and we had made it to Ocle Fort at a fairly brisk pace. Even though we had taken a slight detour, we still had to pass through four forts.
Once we arrived, a question surfaced in my mind.
—In the future where Ludeck was destroyed, the time until Lifrea's soldiers poured into the capital was far too short.—
Even assuming they had been preparing to deploy at the border and then attacked Ludecktrad at top speed, there simply would not have been enough time, given the invasion speed I remembered.
In other words, what did that mean?
Most likely, Lifrea had seized either Ocle Fort or Hockehalun Fort—or both—and waited for the capital to go up in flames. That would explain how they advanced so quickly.
If they had occupied the forts without being noticed, the natural conclusion was that one of Ludeck's knight orders had betrayed us—one other than the First Knight Order, which had been in the capital at the time. Otherwise, fighting should have broken out at the forts along the way to the capital.
If Lifrea's army had been delayed at one of the forts and failed to reach the capital, the First Knight Order would have been isolated there. The other knight orders might have had a chance to notice that something was wrong.
But if a knight order other than the First had betrayed us, there was still something that didn't add up. It should have been only the First Knight Order that was incorporated into Lifrea. To Lifrea, they should have been the key players in its conquest of Ludeck. Why was there no record of that?
What did that mean? There was only one answer.
In the end, Lifrea must have crushed them. I didn't know why. Perhaps it hadn't considered them as valuable as the First Knight Order and had simply used them as tools?
In the future I knew, even the First Knight Order was destined to be used however Lifrea pleased, ground down, and erased. Thinking of it that way, Lifrea seemed perfectly capable of secretly massacring the others as well. Calling itself a Holy Kingdom was a joke.
I had no evidence. All of this might have been my delusion. But one fact was undeniable: Lifrea's invasion had come abnormally fast. If so, it was more realistic to assume that, besides the First Knight Order, one or perhaps several other knight orders had betrayed us.
Then which knight orders were suspicious? I would proceed on the assumption that one or more had betrayed us and consider the possibilities.
First, there were several knight orders that were absolutely impossible.
The Third Knight Order was impossible. Even after the capital was set ablaze, it fought to the very end in Gadeland under Zackhart-sama's command and was wiped out. Besides, its location made that impossible.
The Sixth Knight Order could be ruled out as well. The future had changed slightly here, but originally, it should have suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Haksha and still have been holed up in Liese Fort, unable to move.
The Eighth Knight Order could be ruled out too. Despite the name, it was actually an intelligence unit.
Come to think of it, Nerphia and Sazaby probably belong to the Eighth Knight Order, don't they? I have no intention of asking unless they tell me themselves, but even if they're King's scribes, there aren't any civil officials who regularly go to the battlefield. And from the way the two of them talk, they seem to think it wouldn't matter if we figured it out.
Still, I don't mind having people who can contact the king directly. I don't know what their objective is, but I'll set that aside and continue working with them. They don't seem to harbor any ill will, at least.
That would mean the Eighth Knight Order wasn't operating as a unified order, but was instead dispersed across various locations. That would make more sense for an intelligence unit. It also explained why the existence of the Eighth Knight Order was so vague. No such group existed as a single entity.
So far, these were the orders I could rule out with certainty. Next, I considered the orders that were less likely.
Knight orders that would have difficulty leaving their posts to travel to the forts in the north.
First up was the Fifth Knight Order.
The Yoros Corridor, which bordered the Empire, lay in southeastern Ludeck. It wasn't realistic for them to keep an eye on a fort from a position even farther from the capital.
The Seventh Knight Order could be ruled out for the same reason. In the future, it was confronting Golbel in southwestern Ludeck while supporting the Sixth Knight Order, which tended to become isolated at Liese Fort.
That left the Second Knight Order, the Fourth Knight Order, and the Ninth Knight Order.
I couldn't say for certain, but among them, the Fourth Knight Order seemed the least likely.
After the Sixth Knight Order suffered defeat in the Battle of Haksha, Golbel's activity increased. In the future I knew, Ludeck would eventually push Golbel back considerably, but even so, the Fourth Knight Order should have been occupied responding to Golbel.
That left the Second Knight Order and the Ninth Knight Order.
All of this might have been my delusion, and perhaps no knight order besides the First had betrayed us.
But if I had any doubts, I should put at least one of them to rest.
For when the time comes.
I stretched once, opened the window, and aired out the room.
The air was growing colder little by little. This year's snow might come early. For now, I was grateful for the cold air. When I took a deep breath, I felt as though it cleared my head.
Maybe this was a good opportunity to think things through.
I decided to make a point of meeting the Second Knight Order while I was on this mission.