Chapter 10: Surrender

When Olika woke up the next morning, he found a letter next to his pillow and was instantly terrified. It goes without saying how terrifying it is to have someone sneak up on you in your sleep, and he was even more terrified when he opened the parchment and read what was written inside.

Olika knew why Baron Lorient had declared war on Baron Stewart, even though he was the second son: to take advantage of the other party's unpreparedness.

The Continental Covenant clearly states that the Church of the Gods will neither prevent nor participate in wars between nobles.

It will not prevent them, because if there is no war, there will be no army, and if there is no war, how can the faith of the God of War spread? To forbid wars between nobles is to let the God of War fall, and if the gods dare to do so, the God of War will dare to take a few lives before he dies.

Not taking part is, of course, to prevent a war between nobles from becoming a war between believers. However, no matter which noble occupies the other's territory, the beliefs of the original subjects cannot be forcibly changed.

Of course, if Baron Stewart wins this time, the descendants of the subjects who originally believed in the God of Order may slowly come to believe in the Dragon God over time. But if the Baron of Lorient wins, won't the belief in the God of Order spread? Since it is fair to both sides, the Church of the True God will not interfere.

Although there is a unified mercenary guild on the continent, each branch in each country is very autonomous due to the difficulty of communication. No one can afford to use the communication array for 100 gold coins at a time, unless it is urgent. Relying on manual transmission of information is too slow for mercenaries.

As a result, there is no such thing as a mercenary guild, where jobs are advertised uniformly. Ordinary mercenaries only come into contact with county-level guilds, and the main reason for going there is to learn various mercenary skills and martial arts, obtain a mercenary rank, and then buy weapons and equipment. Ordinary merchants are not allowed to sell weapons.

As for hiring, normal adventurers and mercenary teams generally have fixed areas of operation. For example, in Baron Stewart's territory, there are a few adventurers and several mercenary groups of varying sizes, but they dare not take part in the wars between the nobles.

The Thieves' Guild is not worth mentioning. Their strength lies in their ability to operate in secret. For Baron Lorient, there is no need to spend this unjustified money on a war he can win with dignity. Besides, those who operate in this area are all low-level thieves. Even if they go out to assassinate, they may not succeed. Even if they succeed, they will have the bad reputation of having hired someone to kill someone, which is really inappropriate.

On the mainland, apart from the churches of the powerful gods, the largest organisation is the Mage Guild, which is even stronger than the churches of some weak true gods.

Although the number of mages is very small, there are less than 30 full mages in a county's Mage Guild, and half of them are still below the fourth rank. However, their power is truly too great.

A fifth-level mage who has mastered Flight and is willing to spend money on Fireball scrolls can use guerrilla tactics to destroy an army of a few hundred with one or two fifth- or sixth-level knights, not to mention high-level mages who have mastered powerful group spells and legendary mages who can destroy a city.

For this reason, before declaring war, Baron Lorient went to the Mage Guild in the city of Rennes and obtained their promise to remain neutral in the war. After all, Baron Lorient was a 5th level mage himself, and his goodwill was worth more than the already dead Baron and Baroness Stewart.

But no one could have expected that Baron Stewart's mage friend from his lifetime would appear at this time. The chances were not much higher than an elf falling in love with a goblin.

But this sort of thing is actually quite reasonable. Many mages like to travel from time to time, to broaden their horizons and also to gather rare magical materials. Just in time for this mage to visit an old friend and say what he had to say.

Olikar immediately gathered everyone together and passed the letter around, which also caused them to become confused. They thought that if the other party could sneak into Olikar's room, they could sneak into their own. Even knights could not sleep in armour, and they would die if attacked in their sleep.

However, they could not be the ones to surrender, as that would be seen as disloyal and cowardly. The group felt that even if the other party wanted to kill them all, they would probably start with Olika first and there would still be time for them to surrender.

Olika thought the same. Surrendering would mean losing face, but it would also save their lives. He did not dare to bet that the other party would not kill him first next time.

The Baroness was at a loss at the moment. She was in fear of losing her life at any moment. Count Rein's mediation could not solve the immediate problem. So when she saw Orica looking to her for advice, she made no objection.

Clearing her throat, Orica said, "Everyone, Baron Stewart has such a powerful sorcerer to help him. Considering the safety of our family members in the castle, I have decided to surrender and bear the shame of the family.

After hearing his words, the others responded one by one.

Sir Olika, your mercy is admirable.

Sir Olika, we are ashamed of our lack of courage compared to your courage in taking responsibility.

Since there was nothing more to be done, surrender was a good thing for everyone, and no one wanted to die. Olika had made his decision, and the others naturally had to make it easy for him and give him face.

The rest was easy; they just had to send a knight to negotiate.

Christine lived in the former mansion of the Lorien family. Though not as luxurious as her own home, the facilities were standard for a baron.

My lady, the messenger from Baron Lorien's estate has arrived. They have agreed to surrender,' Elena, the personal maid, reported.

Ask him to wait in the drawing room.

Of course one dressed comfortably in one's room, but for an audience one had to change into formal attire.

Seeing Christine enter the room with Knight Liam, the Journeyman Knight immediately rose to greet her: 'Good day, Miss Stewart.

'Good morning, Knight Jour Webb.

The messenger was an old acquaintance, having delivered the declaration of war the previous time.

'I have a letter from Lord Olika, Lady Stewart,' he said, taking out a parchment.

Elena took it and handed it to Christian, who unfolded it to reveal the letter of surrender.

Knight Jour Webb, I hope Lord Olika can come here this afternoon to discuss the surrender. I promise again that he and the others will be treated accordingly.

'Thank you for your generosity. I will be sure to pass that on to Mr Olika,' Knight Jur Weber said with a bow.

The fact that he had come to deliver the letter was actually a formality. As long as every nobleman surrendered, no noble would violate the Noble Covenant. After all, in a world with a true god, no one would dare break the rules.

Therefore, Olika had already made preparations for this matter. After receiving the answer, he would go to the mansion in the city at the agreed time with his butler and the lords and knights under his command.