While I dealt with the guild members, half of the Baron's army had already entered their flying carts. It didn't take long, barely a minute, but it had been enough for the Baron to realize what had been going on.
Barely.
"What are you doing, uncle!" he shouted as he watched half of his army get into the flying carts in a very stuffy manner. I could see that they were already past their carrying capacity, wobbling as they rose. However, even as he shouted, his hundred soldiers continued to fight efficiently against the monsters that surrounded them, disposable cultists preparing to join once the beasts were taken down.
Behind them, the armored cultists were moving forward as well.
I wondered what was going on. When I first noticed their movement, I assumed that they were working for the cultists, but if that were the case, they would have flanked his forces to take him down from both sides.
Instead, he was escaping. A more garden-variety opportunistic betrayal.
"Taking my birthright, of course," he shouted back from his flying cart. "Do you think I wanted to work as your servant my entire life just because my arrogant brother decreed so before his demise? I'm the true Baron Maell!"
"You traitor!" Baron Maell shouted. "Do you think you can get away with this? The courts would never allow a coward such as yourself to become a noble."
"As usual, you're wrong, nephew.I told you, some people shouldn't be angered. You should have paid more attention to my words," he said.
I sighed, listening to them bickeras their words devolved into insults — not particularly creative ones either — at the same time, watching fifty monsters that were clawing against the mana barrier.
Luckily, the monsters didn't have their own mana attacks, and the barrier held without a problem. I was more interested in the fact that neither the Baron nor his traitorous uncle really paid attention to me.
They were probably assuming that I was a solo knight who was trying to make a move for the dregs of the guild, therefore inconsequential, their assumptions were likely reinforced by the fact that I was using my mage to keep the monsters contained rather than killing them. The reasonable assumption to make was to think it was Zolast's limit, and the so-called defensive bulwark was just an illusion.
Nothing was as important as their battle.
"Enough nonsense, uncle. I'll personally take your head once I finish these. Do you think this will be enough to kill me?" he shouted, showing that he was still unaware of the true nature of the trap, showing that he was failing to read the changes on the battlefield even now.
Disappointing.
"Are you sure you'll survive this, nephew," his uncle shouted gleefully.
Better, a part of me thought. As much as I preferred to have enemies that were rash and direct rather than perceptive and alert, it was still good to see some of the nobles had higher standards.
After all, I might soon need to ally with them.
Well, certainly not the uncle, as I wasn't gullible enough to ally myself with someone who was willing to kill his own nephew just because of a few promises — likely from the mysterious support behind the Night Blades — and worse, do so in such a public manner.
But still, it gave me hope about their general tactical awareness.
A flicker that died just as quickly.
"How about now, nephew?" his uncle shouted as he raised some kind of a sigil, and every single armor and weapon of the hundred warriors that was under the skill, as well as Baron's, exploded.
A spectacular sabotage.
It was not enough to kill them, but it wounded them while destroying their armament, a decisive change.
After one maniacal laughter, they started flying away, leaving the Baron and the soldiers to die.
Another disappointing decision. Betrayal of such scale was a disgusting affair … but at least, I could understand the rationale behind it. Leaving them after injuring them without even making sure…
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
It was just stupidity of the highest order.
It was time for me to join the fray. I used my Heroic Party connection to send a message to Zolast, and suddenly, the blue cage that he created to keep the monsters contained turned into a zone of death.
[Invader Slain]
[+91,291 Experience]
[+1 Authority]
[Invader Slain]
[+65,427 Experience]
[+1 Authority]
….
[Invader Slain]
[+83,119 Experience]
[+1 Authority]
Fifty copies of the same notification, raising my Authority over sixty, leaving me wondering what exactly it was.
But I didn't care about that as I ran forward. From the perspective of the cultists, despite all the accidents, their trap had fulfilled its purpose. I could see the armored ones moving forward at a leisurely pace, pulling down their rags to reveal their armor.
It was the armor that the military wore. Interesting. I wondered if their spies in the military supplied them, or if those spies were starting to move openly.
An important question, but not an urgent one. I continued to charge forward, watching the ragged army to see how they reacted to their misfortune.
Admittedly, better than I expected.
"Stand your ground," the Baron shouted as he swung his cracked sword to take down another cultist, which, despite its ruined state, worked better than the intact swords his other soldiers had. "We are House Maell. We won't be felled by the trap of a traitor and a few heretics. Fight!"
I had to give him some credit. He might be tactically illiterate, and almost blind when it came to maintaining any semblance of awareness … but he was brave. And, his soldiers weren't too bad either. After the damage, the command skill of the Baron staggered for a while as he tried to heal his wounds, but his soldiers continued to fight despite having the opportunity to escape.
However, they were lucky that only the baron's personal forces had their weapons and armor sabotaged. The seventy warriors that had stayed with the Baron had their armament intact, allowing them to move forward and defend the others while they got rid of the gear they couldn't use.
"I have already called reinforcements from the military," one of the soldiers shouted, probably one of the lieutenants considering the fancy nature of his ruined armor. "They will be here in just a few minutes, fight!" he said.
"Fight!" they cheered, but despite their bravery, I could see them flinching as the armored force started to come closer and closer, showing far greater discipline.
For some reason, they were spreading to surround the group rather than taking them down directly.
Maybe they wanted to imprison and convert them. My own encounter with Toross had shown that the general power level of the target mattered quite a bit … but it didn't feel like that. There was something to the situation I could not point out, but something felt off.
I didn't care much about that as I continued to approach, and spread a wave of Charisma to bolster their courage. "Resist in the name of the Sun God," I shouted, still playing the character of a devout crusader as I arrived.
And charged right where the beasts were the most crowded. I did so because, unlike the cultists that were mainly coming down from the hill, the beasts already spread enough to surround them completely as wild animals do.
I needed to kill the monsters to give them a path to retreat.
[Invader Slain]
[+77,291 Experience]
[+1 Authority]
…
[Invader Slain]
[+94,015 Experience]
[+1 Authority]
The reward I received was just a bonus.
"Who are you?" Baron Maell asked.
"I'm a crusader of the exalted Sun God, vowed to destroy every inch of corruption!" I shouted, a cry that was accompanied by another blast of emotions, one that was designed to awaken a deep respect. Since they were higher level and much more disciplined than the rabble that was sent by the guilds as placeholders, that didn't work on them too well.
Luckily, with every swing of my great sword, I bisected a monster, which gave me the necessary leverage. I had to admit, with both my armor and weapon glowing blue and golden, I made an impressive sight.
Tacky … but impressive, especially to a bunch of soldiers that had been stabbed in the back by a member of the noble family they served.
I didn't maintain that emotional manipulation across the whole army. An initial impression was good enough. Ultimately, no matter how much I manipulated them, one thing was clear. They were loyal to their lord enough to face certain death with him rather than trying to join the traitor uncle.
I needed to convince the Baron if I were to have any hope of making them follow my orders. I had a feeling that, if I left them to their own devices, they would just rush forward. "In the name of the Sun God! Gather behind me!" I shouted as I enhanced the glow function of the armor even further.
Though, in that shout, there were two other tricks buried. First, I deliberately avoided mentioning the word retreat, not to trigger the Baron who looked like the kind of man that would take that as an insult. Second, and more importantly, I blasted him with a tight beam of Charisma, aggressively triggering a sense of respect.
It was a bit too overt compared to what I would have normally preferred, but Baron Maell didn't give me the impression of someone who would catch the artificial nature of his emotions … especially not when he was still reeling from the betrayal of his own uncle.
It was still a risk, but one that paid off well. "Follow the holy crusader. For the Sun God!" he shouted.
"Follow me," I ordered even as I spread tendrils of Charisma once more, but this time, using it as a more traditional command aid rather than to manipulate their emotions. Command tricks required them to be willing to follow my orders, but luckily, the direct order of their liege lord handled that part.
Though, the second part of his shout, about the Sun God, was a nice touch. Maybe I underestimated his cunning. That thought only survived until I got a glimpse of his face, and found an intense devotion. Either he was a far greater actor than I expected…
Or, my Charisma trick was more effective than I expected.
It made my immediate mission much easier … but then, why did I feel that it would create a lot of trouble for me in the future.
I sighed as I swung my blade, taking an enthusiastic cultist down, ignoring the potential future problems.
I had enough present problems to solve.