Chapter 161

With twelve unconscious prisoners loaded onto the carriage, it was hard to pick up speed.

So, on the way back to Maronford, I decided to use Iver to clear up some of the questions I’d been harboring.

“You said you’re with the Lofield Cavalry?”

“Yes.”

“What exactly are you people?”

“…Huh?”

“I’m asking why a noble’s military unit is out here acting like bandits.”

I’d been too busy cleaning up the aftermath until now, but thinking back on what happened today, it was honestly absurd.

If it had just been bandits threatening the carriage and trying to extort money, I could’ve shrugged it off.

But cavalrymen?

It’s the sort of thing you might expect when noble families are at war, and a defeated unit, having lost its main force, is wandering without supplies.

But the guys I’d just faced didn’t show the usual stress or desperation of routed soldiers.

On the contrary, they seemed to enjoy harassing travelers.

They were less like a military unit and more like a gang of thugs.

When I explained this to him, Iver responded in a wounded tone.

“Thugs? No way. We were merely conducting long-range patrol and supply training under simulated wartime conditions…”

“I doubt extorting people at swordpoint counts as ‘supply gathering.’”

“I told you, it was wartime simulation. We were taught that in emergencies, requisitioning resources like that is acceptable.”

“Who taught you that?”

“Well… the elders in my family, of course.”

Unbelievable.

Maybe this is one of those cultural gaps between the capital of Laurencia and the outlying regions.

The more closed-off a group is from outside contact, the more rigid and vertical its power structure tends to become.

A kind of “I’m the king around here” mentality develops.

But pulling that kind of stunt on free city citizens instead of your own territory’s residents?

That would spark a full-blown revolt.

“Besides, judging by what you guys were doing, it didn’t seem like you were just requisitioning supplies.”

When I stripped off their armor and helmets to check their faces, I saw that most of the Lofield cavalrymen were barely past puberty.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess what kind of desires boys at that age, full of untamed energy, would act on.

Iver responded in a defensive tone.

“That’s… Francis and his gang just have a dirty way of having fun.”

“Francis?”

“You know… the guy with the really crooked nose and a bunch of pimples on his chin, one of the ones we loaded onto the carriage earlier.”

Ah, that one.

The guy who had lewd thoughts when he saw Dahlia who now, thanks to a bit of surgical intervention, probably wouldn’t be producing much testosterone anymore.

“Francis and the soldiers he brought from his family make up the core of the cavalry. The rest of us were just thrown in to make up the numbers.”

“So he’s the leader?”

“Yes. He’s the one who started the cavalry. Though, back then, it wasn’t even a cavalry unit. The Lofield Cavalry actually started as a small riding club.”

“A riding club?”

“It’s a trend in big cities like the royal capital, right? A way to build connections, form relationships, and have some fun.”

Considering even Winter Winslet was a member of one of those clubs, I guess calling it a trend wasn’t inaccurate.

“But in Lofield, there aren’t any real cities, nor any influential families strong enough to serve as a central figure. So no proper club ever formed. The heirs from families who needed connections just left for the cities.”

And so, according to Iver, the Lofield Cavalry had originally been nothing more than a casual horseback riding club, created by the bored second and third sons of minor noble families left behind in the countryside.

“So basically, a bunch of good-for-nothing thugs playing at war, wandering around and bothering everyone in the area.”

“Well… I mean… you’re not wrong…”

“But for something that started like that, the cavalry’s gear is surprisingly high quality. What’s the story there? Did your families start funding you?”

It was strange.

If you had the money for well-trained warhorses, high-quality weapons and armor, and the maintenance costs to go with all that….wouldn’t it make more sense to send your son to study in the city instead?

“I’m not sure. At first, even our families treated us like burdens. But lately, they’ve started to show interest in what the cavalry’s doing. Maybe they’re recognizing our achievements?”

“Achievements? What kind of achievements could a riding club possibly have?”

“Well… we hunted a lot of animals. Got plenty of furs and leather while doing reconnaissance in the forest.”

That gave me pause.

For nobles, hunting meant more than just entertainment.

Hunting was a way for nobles to flaunt their power—

A stage to demonstrate their command and test their soldiers’ loyalty.

The wild animals consumed in such events were valuable resources.

No noble house would waste such resources on second or third sons.

If they’d hunted without permission, even as the lord’s children, it would’ve caused problems.

“Did your family give you permission to use the forest?”

“No. We mostly caught animals around here.”

“Here?”

“This chestnut forest. The forest around Maronford is full of wildlife. It’s nothing like Lofield’s woods. Not that Lofield’s forest is all that big to begin with.”

Whack!

A sharp slap landed on the back of Iver’s head.

I hadn’t hit him myself. It was a flick to the head delivered via telekinesis.

With no one visibly around to strike him, Iver jumped in shock and shouted,

“Eek! A ghost!”

“Quiet. Don’t you realize what you did wasn’t hunting, but poaching?”

“Poaching? But this forest doesn’t belong to anyone.”

The answer was so stupid that I almost didn’t bother responding.

“This forest lies within the territory of a free city. Which means it belongs to Maronford.”

That explained why wild animals were so plentiful in the chestnut forest.

Unlike nobles, who needed to hunt regularly to maintain their prestige, the citizens of a free city likely had little reason to do so.

At any rate, whether they called themselves the Lofield Cavalry or the Lofield Neighborhood Watch, they had conducted military operations on foreign land and stolen property without permission.

Depending on how the matter was handled, this could turn into quite a serious issue.

“Good grief. You lot are even dumber than I thought.”

Perhaps offended by the insult, Iver snapped back,

“Honestly, all this talk about ‘free cities’ is just nonsense, isn’t it? Commoners owning land and collecting taxes like nobles…it’s completely absurd.”

“Who fed you that crap?”

“Well… the elders, of course.”

“Listen carefully. A free city is a governing system established by royal charter. Questioning Maronford’s autonomy is the same as challenging the king’s authority.”

“I-Is that so…?”

Iver’s mouth moved wordlessly like a fish out of water.

Gradually, the background behind this cavalry unit was starting to come into focus in my mind.

Noble supremacism.

There’s no way that the elder members of noble houses who’ve likely seen and experienced it all truly believe in such impractical ideas.

More likely, they instilled that ideology when it suited their purposes.

To manipulate young nobles, hungry for praise, recognition, and the chance to show off.

I still didn’t know exactly what their goal was, but one thing was clear: I’d been harmed as a result.

At first, I thought I’d just had the bad luck of running into some bandits and planned to throw them in a jail cell.

But now?

If this is how things really are, I have no intention of letting it slide for free.

You don’t just go throwing crap onto someone’s travel plans and expect to walk away clean.

Now that I knew the prisoners in my hands were sons of noble families, I began to wonder…what kind of ransom could I demand?

Just as I had a brilliant idea, Iver called out to me.

“Um… Mage, sir?”

“What is it?”

“When we arrive in Maronford… are you going to throw me in jail too?”

While Iver was technically part of the cavalry that caused the trouble, he hadn’t been caught in the act.

Which meant I was still undecided.

“That depends on what you do.”

“In that case, I think you’d better decide quickly.”

What, is this guy out of his mind?

Seeing the look in my eyes through the side window, Iver quickly added,

“No, no! I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. Just… you might want to take a look outside.”

Look outside?

We had just about emerged from the chestnut forest.

Blocking the path ahead was a military unit.

About fifty soldiers stood in formation. Their armor was old-fashioned, but every last one of them wore it, and they were armed with spears and crossbows.

“Looks like Maronford’s city guard.”

“Yeah. That’s what it looks like to me, too.”

A man who appeared to be their commander rode toward the carriage on horseback.

“Halt your carriage immediately!”

Being stopped by armed forces twice in one day….what a chaotic journey this has turned out to be.

Iver did as he was told, and the man on the horse approached slowly.

“I am Adolf Sneidel, Captain of the Maronford Guard. We received a report that a carriage passing through the forest on the outskirts of Maronford was attacked by a cavalry unit. And you are the first travelers to come from the location that was reported. Step down from the carriage, identify yourselves, and comply with inspection.”

They were very late.

We’d already wrapped up the situation and loaded the prisoners before they even showed up.

Still, something bothered me….who exactly filed the report about what happened deep in the forest, where there hadn’t been a single witness?

Just then, a man stepped out from among the guards.

It was the coachman who had abandoned the carriage and fled.

“That’s it! That’s definitely my carriage. The one I was driving when I was attacked by those cavalry bastards!”

“……!”

The guards immediately moved into a combat stance.

They formed a tight formation and aimed their weapons in our direction.

The captain drew his sword, radiating killing intent.

“You bastard! What did you do to the passengers?! Did you already slaughter them and feed their bodies to wild beasts so you could pose as the carriage’s owner?! All units, surround the carriage!”

“W-What’s going on?! I didn’t do anything! I just drove the carriage out of the forest, that’s all…”

At that moment, an officer handed a sheet of paper to the captain.

He scowled as he read it, then shouted:

“Iver Marintz! Your name and sketch are already on the wanted list, so don’t think you can lie your way out of this! There’s no way you came here alone. Where are the rest of the cavalry?!”

“If you mean my companions… they’re in the back of the carriage—”

“An ambush! We’re being ambushed!!”

“No, that’s not it… They’re in there, covered in blood.”

“……?”

Figuring that things had more or less settled by then, I opened the door and stepped down from the carriage.

As the soldiers flinched with their crossbows still aimed, the coachman who had abandoned the carriage widened his eyes in shock.

“Uh… sir?!”