Chapter 53 Territorial Dispute V

Translator: Isekai Shousetsu

What did you just do (Almis)

I hold my head after hearing Rons report.

Just what the hell

IIm sorry (Ron)

No, its fine. Saving the fugitives waswell, its bad but as a human, you did well, I think. Yes. You did well in that situation. However, why did turn the tables on them!!! (Almis)

If we had just sent them an earnest apology then we could probably have make do butwith this didnt we just completely make them enemies?!

It still hasnt even been a week since the last refugee incident!!

Well, Almis. Calm down. No matter how you look at it, the enemys objective was the salt mine. Weve secured it for the meantime so I didnt think that was a horrible plan. In fact, I think it was great given the huge difference in our military force.

Tetra sticks up for Ron.

Well, certainly thats correct. They will probably ask for the salt mine as reparations though.

By the way, what did you do about Lord Regals second cousin you captured, that Lord Gilberto? (Almis)

Well, he kept complaining at the beginning but he got drunk and fell asleep after we brought out some spirits for him to drink. (Ron)

Hey, dont drink the liquor than an enemy brought out. Also, dont sleep!

Perhaps, hes actually a big-shot?

Nevertheless, Roswald made a good call huh. If he had killed Gilberto then for sure Rons, Roswalds and Soyons lives would be demanded and that would be next to impossible to reject.

Getting captured is without a doubt a scandal though. The DeBell Clan would probably want to cover it up.

It seems we obtained a good card.

It cant be helped. Please be careful from here on out. By the way, the casualties are? (Almis)

I feel a little nervous.

It was a battle so it would be normal for there to be deaths.

Howeverif possible I dont want anyone from the same village as me to die. They are people whose faces, names, and lives I know very well, after all.

Deaths are 10 people. All of them are recruited soldiers. (Ron)

I see

My nervousness settles down.

I might have been lacking as a leader butstill I want them to forgive me.

However Ron makes a difficult face.

Soyon takes over for Ron.

Three people are got injured - one in the right hand, one in the left leg, and another in the left hand. All of them got festered and rotten so I made the decision to amputate them.

I see

Well, thats somewhat less objectionable to dying.

Then lets visit them immediately. (Almis)

I rise up.

The three have already woken up.

Because theyre under the influence of my divine protection, their amputation wounds healed in the blink of an eye. However, it still couldnt get back their lost limbs.

The three show disappointed faces.

Im sorry (Injured Guy)

I got humbly beaten (Guy #2)

To be not able to fight anymore for Almis-sans sake (Guy #3)

These guys

Why are you worrying about that when youre seriously injured!

I stroke the heads of these three people while feeling a mixture of happiness and a little dismay.

Stupid!! We lack talented people right now, you know? I cant let you guys rest just because you lost a limb or two, right? Ill have you guys do paper work. Itll be something tougher than the battlefield so prepare yourselves, okay? (Almis)

The threes faces light up.

It seems my support wasnt wrong.

Even so

This is hard, huh

Screw him!!!!!!! That brat!!!!

Regals been hitting things for quite some time now. There are already more than 10 furniture and ornaments nearing their last moments.

Bermet exhales his heart out while looking at that scene.

While Regal may be angry at Almis, Bermet is angry at Gilberto.

Why the hell did Gilberto lose even though theyve prepared for the inevitable scandal and everything was set up for him. Bermet tries to find an answer for nearly an hour.

In the end, he got captured.

If he had just died then, the balance of power would be better here and they would be able to demand vast amounts of money for indemnitybut

With this, they could not avoid having a scandal that the DeBell Clan has weak soldiers. What with they hopelessly lost even though they had a double size advantage, after all.

Although it couldnt be helped if you say it was inevitable since, except in number, they completely lose in equipment, experience, and command.

Without a doubt, the DeBell Clan has certainly weakened in its unifying power. It would be best if they prepare for seeing various clanmen switching sides to the Ars Clan.

Nonetheless

We can secure the rock salt mine.

From the very beginning, it was possible to secure it regardless if they won or lost.

If they had won, then there wont be problems in imposing effective control. If they had lost, they could take it away as reparations.

This time, they will go with demanding it as reparation.

They were the victims after all.

Well it was problematic that Gilberto got captured but

With this, demanding the whole salt mine would seem very tough. As such

Bermet continues to ponder over the matter.

He works over the best policy to do about it.

Its desirable to settle out of court rather than go for arbitration.

They wouldnt want the scandal to propagate further.

Arbitration would be more advantageous for the opposing party so it couldnt be helped if they demanded favorable conditions for them in order to agree with settling it out of court.

Lord Regal. Ill head for the Ars Territory. Please wait for the good news. Bermet heads out alone as he declares so to Regal.

If possible, we dont want the matter to get bigger so let us just settle out of court and get this over with. (Bermet)

An old man declares such before me.

This old person seems to be called Bermet. His body looks like an old dried up tree but his eyes show a deep intelligence.

At the very least, he doesnt seem to be a stupid old man.

Settlement, is it? I wanted to officially end this in arbitration, however. (Almis)

Since King Rosyth would favor me after all.

Arbitration would be more advantageous. If I shout the opposite partys injustices with a loud voice, the blame would move greatly towards the DeBell Clan and the one towards mine would relatively weaken.

Should we end up with arbitration this time, we will demand for the heads of the people responsible.

You really hit where it hurts huh

Did they know that I hold Ron and the others dear?

Even if you say arbitration would be more advantageous, I dont know up to what extent I can reduce the penalties. Its not like Ron and the others have royal blood in them nor are they great clansmen. Theyre just commoners.

Theres no way some kind of punishment wouldnt fall upon them. As expected, settlement would be the safer way to go.

Well. Its going according to my assumptions.

I see. Our territory is lacking in human resources, you see. Their deaths would be bad. Alright. Depending on the conditions, let us aim to end this in a settlement. (Almis)

Bermet takes out a pen and parchment as I say so.

You could write old man?

First, Condition No.1, we want to receive an apology from your side. The incident happened because you couldnt discipline your soldiers properly. (Bermet)

I understand. My unworthiness has caused things to come to this.

I will apologize so I had Tetra bring me the paper.

Settlement Conditions

I, Almis Ars, accept fault for this incident and apologize.

For the meantime, we complete the first line.

The next matter would be about money.

Alright, as for the next conditionwe demand rights over the whole rock salt mine. (Bermet)

Thats too much, right? Only a third. (Almis)

Our opinions diverge.

Nonetheless, you have to persist here.

Then lets go with this. We shall surrender two-thirds of the rights to the mine to you. In exchange, we shall release Lord Gilberto, who weve taken as prisoner-of-war, without compensation. (Almis)

Well, can this be a compromise?

As expected, demanding the ransom money would be

Moreover, the other party wont seem to assent to just a third of the mine.

Releasing the prisoner is only natural. However, we would be troubled if you dont compensate for the equipment. Our soldiers were pointlessly reduced because of you, didnt you know? (Bermet)

I understand. Then lets have the compensation for the equipment be paid in wheat. In exchange, the remaining third of the mines shall be ours. In addition to this, the one who will conduct the punishment of the fugitives shall be us. (Almis)

With this, we would be able to keep face while allowing the other party to profit.

How about it?

Unfortunately for them, we have enough wheat. We could also afford to just return the equipment as is.

Then that should be fine. We will accept.

The Settlement Conditions are:

Almis Ars shall surrender two-thirds of the rights to the Salt Mine.

Almis Ars shall release the prisoner of war without ransom.

Almis Ars shall pay wheat as compensation for the equipment reparations.

With this, it ends.

Well settle with this for now.

I see. And with that, you settled, am I right? You could have won if you had pushed for arbitration, you know? (Rosyth)

If I became even more indebted to you then you would probably force me to agree to succeed the throne. (Almis)

King Rosyth laughs scornfully.

What are you even saying after having this territorial disputeif that brat becomes king then your position would become dangerous, you know? Its not just that. Your family and your subordinates too. Theres a lot of cases since long ago that the victor in a war takes in the losers wife as a concubine. (Rosyth)

Dont tell me unpleasant things

Jeez.

Even I know that much.

However, this is not a problem you could just conclude that easily.

Once youve decided then you wouldnt be able to take it back. Thats why Im troubled.

Its not like I specifically want to become king.

However, I do want to marry Julia.

Even I dont understand what I want to do.

Well, thats fine. Youve really thought about this, huh. Itll be troublesome if youll regret it after all. Then lets talk about other thingsdidnt you just have a crushing victory? Its become the talk of the town, you know. That the 300 man-strong DeBell Army lost to the 160 man-strong Ars Army. (Rosyth)

Its not like I was the one who won, you know. It was my subordinatesRon and the others victory. (Almis)

The subordinates feat is the lords feat, you know. There are people who couldnt use talented subordinates even though they have them. Conversely, there are people who bring out the very best out of their subordinates, even out of the not so talented ones. I also put the value of your subordinates into you. (Rosyth)

Rosyth violently coughs after saying so. It seems his illness have completely progressed.

Raymond-san even said that he doesnt know whether he could still hold out for a year.

By the way, what did they do to win? Teach it to me. (Rosyth)

Thats alright. However, I can only say as much as Ive heard (Almis)

I speak of Ron and the others strategy - the clever use of cavalry and topography. Honestly, I was surprised.

When the hell did the guys learn about tactics?

When I think back, the guys talk a lot with Bartoloso they probably learned from there.

Well, even if they werent hoplites, any branch of the army has the rear as the same weak point. Plus, its easy to predict that the formation would crumble if you hurriedly changed directions in the middle of a river.

They were probably also lucky that the enemy used centuries (1oo men). If they had used legions (10,000 men), then it would take time for the cavalry to go around them.

Its a small number vs a small number so they were able to complete the tactic.

I see. Its quite simple huh. I heard they defeated an enemy twice their size so I was thinking what kind of clever scheme they used but (Rosyth)

Clever schemes dont work all the time after all. Simple tactics rarely fail so I think theyre more reliable. (Almis)

As a certain famous general used to say, Rather than hitting the enemy with a small force, bring a big army from the start and hit them with it.

My duty is to make sure that we dont get cornered into a situation where we have use something like clever schemes, dont you agree?

I see. Theres one thing I absolutely have to tell you. (Rosyth)

What would that be? (Almis)

The De Morgal Kingdom and the Gillbed Kingdom have agreed to a truce. It appears that it was to oppose the Rozel Kingdom butits probably so they could advance south, dont you agree. A war will happen before long. (Rosyth)

The De Morgal KingdomI heard that Kingdoms combined forces numbered around 10,000. If they mobilized to the limit, then they could probably reach around 30,000 soldiers.

10,000 soldiers are coming, huh? (Almis)

Im afraid so. That country can mobilize up to 30,000 soldiers. At the very least, they will probably mobilize around 15,000. However, the more soldiers they mobilize then the more time itll take. That countrys great clans are as powerful as ours. If theyre planning a large-scale war then adjustment is necessary. I fear we have us much as half a year. Until then, well have to prepare countermeasures. We were caught off guard when that brat Ferrum attacked butthis time, we know in advance. We could probably mobilize around