Chapter 69
#Chapter 69: Phantom Thief Dauphin (13) - Unprincipled Violence
Originally, Count Sarnos had no intention of getting involved in Revbruk's affairs.
It wasn't that he respected local autonomy or anything like that; it was simply that the count's attention was fixed elsewhere.
The political infighting within the royal court.
The division within the Birka royal family was a massive opportunity for the marquis and count houses, which boasted the greatest power in the kingdom, and the side that succeeded in putting its chosen candidate on the throne could, in recognition of that achievement, rise to a position above all others, both in name and in reality.
No, it might even go beyond that, allowing them to turn the royal family into puppets and effectively rule the country.
So what if it was just one of the many mediocre countries scattered across the continent?
So what if he became the ruler of a state whose internal affairs were a complete mess?
He didn't know any better.
For those in power, craving even greater power is almost instinct.
Even in a frontier noble house, even in some insignificant business, people fight over who gets the top seat; let alone a nation.
“No matter what happens, I'll win and force that beast-stinking marquis bastard to his knees!!”
And Count Sarnos had more than enough personal reasons as well.
The relationship between Count Sarnos and Marquis Redbel went back to their days as heirs, before either had inherited their houses, but even then the gap between them was so vast that comparing them was pointless.
Unlike the Redbel Marquis House, which had a long history but had already fallen to ruin, the Sarnos Count House was already renowned as the kingdom's strongest house of warriors.
But Marquis Redbel, with what was practically divine cunning and boldness, seized the collapsing house by the scruff of the neck and forcibly dragged it back up, until the marquis house that had once seemed destined to vanish into history had somehow grown large enough to stand against the Sarnos Count House.
They were of the same generation. Both were among the kingdom's most prominent power players.
Yet one was merely an heir who had inherited everything from his parents, while the other was a self-made man who had risen on his own merits.
Everywhere in the kingdom, even Count Sarnos's own parents compared the count and the marquis, and Count Sarnos gritted his teeth whenever Redbel Marquis was mentioned.
After succeeding in landing a blow on Redbel Marquis through political maneuvering, he became so addicted to the thrill that he practically threw family matters aside and devoted himself day after day to scheming with court nobles.
The retainers of the count house felt distinctly uneasy at that sight.
To them, their lord was a man fairly far removed from devious schemes or meticulous political offensives.
As the head of a noble house, he had the bare minimum of qualifications, but no matter how they looked at it, he was nowhere near the level of a marquis who probably had hundreds of cunning snakes living in his belly.
‘Wouldn't it be more effective to pressure them the traditional Sarnos way with brute force instead of trying to fight clumsily on the political stage?’
‘In gambling, too, don't you let the mark lose by a hair so he'll get hooked on the thrill of winning?’
‘Could it be they're feting him on purpose so he'll get absorbed in politics?’
There were suspicions, but no one told the count about them.
In the first place, there was nothing resembling proof, only suspicions, and the count was not the sort of ruler who readily accepted his subordinates' advice.
If you needlessly picked a fight with a count who was clearly obsessed with political maneuvering and his anger blew up in some strange direction, who would handle the aftermath?
If it were only a figurative decapitation, that would be one thing; given the hot-tempered count's disposition, there was even a chance of literal decapitation.
Thanks to the self-preserving efforts of his retainers, Count Sarnos was able to immerse himself in political struggles at court, and since the territory's top authority had no interest in the domain, the response to some phantom thief running wild there was absurdly slow.
But even that had limits.
“I hear you've had your hands full lately with some thief. I hope the situation settles soon.”
“Huh? Ah, yes, well.”
When the many power brokers in Revbruk got no reaction no matter how much they complained to the count house, they changed tactics and leaked the matter to the court nobles the count usually socialized with, and the count, who had been happily enjoying polo when he heard, 'I hear your territory's a mess these days?,' had his mood plummet straight to hell.
On top of that, the retainers who had welcomed their lord back to the main house after a long absence had to shrink their necks at the sudden bellow.
“How can you people let me hear about this from others at court because you couldn't handle one damn thief yourselves?! What the hell have you been doing!!”
“S-Sorry—kugh!”
Crash! Thwack!
After smashing all kinds of things to pieces and using an ashtray to bash one retainer's head into a bloody mess, the count finally managed to calm down and, with a bored expression, leaned back in his chair as he said to his retainers:
“Dauphin, Dauphin. So that's the second time I've heard that name. Didn't I tell the guards to handle it properly on their own because I was keeping an eye on things? Was what I said not properly passed down to the lower ranks?”
“There's no way! It was passed down properly! Even the guards were fired up, saying they'd catch him no matter what!”
“Then why is that fly still running wild in my territory? No, never mind. Hearing excuses will only dirty my ears further.”
Whatever the cause, whatever the process, none of that mattered.
What mattered was that because of a mere thief, the pride of one of the kingdom's top power brokers had been wounded.
“Summon the knight commander. I'll have him order that Dauphin bastard's head cut off and brought before me.”
***
No subordinate unit likes being inspected from above.
All the more so if they have something to feel guilty about.
Therefore, the closer the Sarnos Knights' visit drew, the more the guard company commander drove his unit with all his might.
Cleaning was basic; if their armor or weapons weren't shining, they'd get an earful about their parents, and rain or shine, holiday or watch duty, every single one of them had to attend the knights' welcome ceremony in full gear.
“Welcome, knights. Thank you for making the long journey. This way, please. I will guide you.”
At the company commander's repeated bowing and scraping before the knights, the guards clicked their tongues inwardly.
It was obvious to everyone that the company commander's intent was to somehow gain even a little favor and minimize the reprimand.
But there were also those who understood the company commander.
Rather than pointlessly holding your head high and provoking them, it's better to bow properly when you bow, they said.
However, both those who viewed the company commander positively and those who viewed him negatively were equally horrified by what happened next.
Wham!
At the fist thrown by one of the knights, the company commander went flying backward, bleeding.
While the guards and the citizens who had come to watch the knights stared wide-eyed, the knight who had thrown the punch calmly walked up to the company commander, grabbed him by the collar, and kept punching him.
Each time the horrifying sound of flesh being crushed rang out, the company commander's limbs jerked as if in convulsions, and something white like corn kernels burst from his mouth and fell to the ground.
“W-what are you doing!!”
A moment too late, Dahlia stepped forward to protest, but the knight kept beating him in silence, and the other knights watching him did not react either.
Just as Dahlia, unable to endure it any longer, was about to restrain the knight by force, beside the knights,
an elderly man standing at the very front, dressed like the guards, spoke instead.
“Are you the platoon leader from Revbruk? Stand down.”
“But...!”
“That's the battalion commander's order. Do you intend to ignore your superior's orders?”
At the words 'battalion commander,' a small murmur arose among the guards.
The overall commander of the guard force.
Those who didn't know his face looked to those who did as if asking whether it was really true, and those who did know him nodded bitterly.
The absurd situation of a knight of the order assaulting a middle-ranking guard officer while the guard force's top authority ordered everyone to stand by and watch.
While Dahlia, thrown into confusion, couldn't easily move, the man at the front among the knights, wearing the most ornate armor, spoke up.
“Enough.”
“Yes.”
The knight beating the company commander stopped at once the moment he heard the order, and the commander, finally freed, went limp on the floor.
He seemed to be barely breathing, but his face, smashed by the gauntlet, was utterly mangled beyond recognition.
The people were completely frozen by the mercilessness of it all, but the one who had set up this spectacle—that is, the commander of the Sarnos Knights—didn't care.
No, rather, as though he liked the atmosphere, he swept his gaze around once and then spoke in a condescending tone.
“From this moment, the Revbruk guard company's commander is stripped of his post and expelled from the guard force. Until a new commander is appointed, Battalion Commander Bober here will take over command of the guard. Normally, I would have punished every guard here for failing to catch a mere thief and for troubling Lord Count, but by the count's merciful ruling, only the person in charge will be punished. Keep that in mind and engrave that mercy in your hearts.”
There was no answer.
But that silence came not from any objection to the knight commander's words, but from fear of drawing attention by speaking carelessly.
The knight commander himself, apparently not expecting an answer in the first place, didn't even look at Dahlia or the other guards as he moved off.
Seeing him naturally head toward the upper-class district, it looked as though he had never even considered staying in the same place as the guards.
“Ugh, ah...”
Company commander.
No, a man who was no longer even a guard sobbed with tears streaming from both eyes and a mangled mouth.
Even seeing that he couldn't so much as get back on his feet by himself, the guards all averted their eyes; not a single person approached him.
The platoon leaders who had fawned over him in every possible way to curry favor with the company commander were no different.
In the end, Dahlia stepped forward and supported the former company commander once more.
Grrk.
Dahlia clenched her teeth.
Dahlia was no different in that she had almost no good memories of the company commander either, but no matter what, she could never accept someone being beaten in front of everyone as though for show, then left in the street like a rag.
Calling it an example was laughable.
It was closer to a crude outlet for their frustration.
In other words, because they couldn't even deal with one thief, they had come all the way here and beaten him down under the guise of punishment.
Dahlia looked at the Sarnos Knights as they departed into the distance.
Armor that shone brilliantly, reflecting the sunlight.
Their steps, unified yet impeccably restrained.
The elite among elites, forged by the count house over long years by pouring in the money scraped together from the domain, so that anyone who saw them would have no choice but to admire Sarnos's dignity and martial might.
That seemingly flawless appearance felt to Dahlia like nothing more than a hollow imitation.
Strength without honor, pride, or mercy was nothing more than an instrument of violence that only oppressed people through fear.