I Was Reincarnated as a Mob Noble, and I Swear I'll Protect the Villainess Who Got Married Off to Me No Matter What ~To Dodge Our Total Downfall, I Went All Out Training My Trash Skill [Super Recovery] Through Crazy Hard Work, and Before I Knew It, I Could Totally Wreck the Game Protagonist Who Condemned My Wife Easily

Chapter 31: Sword Saint Baldo Rejoices at His Son’s Great Achievement and Praises Him as a Famous General

【Sword Saint Baldo’s Perspective】

I am Sword Saint Baldo. For about twenty long years, I’ve been the proud shield of this kingdom—the Greivan frontier count—fending off the Balzark Empire’s invasions time and again.

Right now, what fills my chest is the memory of twenty-three years ago: Princess Lydia, after I’d become the strongest swordsman, when I swore to protect the kingdom.

“Lord Baldo, your oath makes me very happy. Please, use your sword to guard the people of our kingdom.”

That’s what Lady Lydia said to me.

The one woman I truly loved in my entire life. Even after entering a political marriage with another noble daughter, I kept swinging my sword with everything I had, all to honor that promise to her.

I’d never let some filthy invaders get anywhere near the royal capital where she lives. Deep down, I always believed that the one truly protecting her wasn’t Duke Asphodel Ernst—it was me.

But tonight, pathetically enough, here I was inside the main tent of the frontier count army headquarters, once again receiving crushing casualty reports from my subordinates.

In today’s battle against the imperial army, we’d been forced to taste defeat yet again.

“My lord, today’s dead number nearly three hundred… The wounded exceed five hundred, and we’ve completely run out of medical supplies.”

“Damn them…!”

I slammed my fist down on the simple folding table in frustration.

I used to look down on the imperial army as weaklings who relied on magic… Back when we were winning battle after battle, that’s how I saw them. But now the power balance had completely flipped.

The strength of those golem soldiers surpassed the swordsmanship we’d built up over centuries of history.

Our army started the war a year ago with nearly forty thousand men. Now, the number who could actually fight had plummeted to around fifteen thousand—less than half.

Very few could deal proper damage to those golems that deflected slashes, so our forces were being whittled down bit by bit.

What pissed me off most was that if they really wanted to, they had the power to wipe us out completely—yet for some reason, they weren’t doing it.

I’d thought they were just wearing us down before launching a decisive battle, but it seemed the imperial supreme commander, that Leticia, was treating this whole thing as a live field test for the golem soldiers she’d developed herself.

That’s what we learned from captured enemy troops, and realizing she was looking down on me made my guts boil.

“…Instead of avenging Alfin, here I am getting toyed with by a twenty-something imperial princess.”

Half a year ago, my daughter Alfin died on the battlefield at just eighteen.

Her entire unit was wiped out, so we never knew exactly who killed her… but if anyone could take out an entire detachment along with her, it had to be Leticia’s right-hand man, General Baldo.

Later I sent men to search for Alfin’s body, but they never found it.

I couldn’t even give her a proper funeral…

Because I stubbornly insisted on avenging her with my own hands, and because more than anything I refused to show Lady Lydia a pathetic side of myself, I’d stubbornly refused to ask the royal government or other houses for reinforcements.

I even foolishly scolded subordinates who went ahead and requested aid from the capital on their own.

That’s how I drove us into an irreparable disadvantage, trembling with regret every single day.

“…If only Zenon hadn’t gone soft and had actually obtained the 【Sword Saint】 skill.”

It’s pointless to grumble about what-ifs.

I’d wanted to charge across battlefields side by side with my son Zenon.

Unlike me, who lost my right eye, I’d hoped Zenon could become an even greater swordsman than Alfin…

But that was me overestimating him.

Zenon didn’t get 【Sword Saint】—he didn’t even get any combat skill at all.

He probably skipped sword training and wasted his time messing around with magic instead.

Otherwise there’s no way he’d be thrilled about getting some weird magic-type skill.

Maybe seeing Alfin try to blend magic into swordsmanship stupidly inspired him?

“Wasting such talent for the sword, what an idiot.”

As my last hope, I arranged for Zenon to be engaged to Valeria, the daughter of my old friend Ernst and Lady Lydia.

I was past the point of stubborn pride.

When Ernst asked me to take his daughter—who’d become a great sinner—as a wife, I jumped at the chance like it was perfect timing.

I’d always looked down on mages, but I decided to bring Valeria and the Schwarz Ritter magic users into our fighting force.

I even used communication magic myself to request reinforcements from the capital.

But things didn’t go as planned. On her way here to the frontier, Valeria’s group was ambushed by the imperial army. Her Schwarz Ritter escorts were wiped out, and since her body was already frail to begin with, she ended up falling ill.

To make matters worse, the royal army had marched south to deal with a massive monster outbreak.

But on the bright side—maybe—the saintess Alicia’s volunteer army was coming from the capital in their place.

From what I heard, it was an army the saintess Alicia had personally recruited from the people. A bunch of total amateurs, so I didn’t expect much combat power…

But if the saintess herself—who could use 【Miracle of Healing】—came, she could heal our wounded and give us a real shot at turning things around.

Maybe she could even heal my old right-eye injury.

The reason I’d fallen behind enemy general Baldo was because that eye lost its light. If I could see with it again…

“…I will definitely fulfill my oath, Lady Lydia.”

I muttered that to myself.

More than anything, the Valeria we’d taken in looked so much like Lady Lydia in her younger days.

If I lost and let my beloved daughter die, I’d never be able to face Lady Lydia again for the rest of my life.

“Emergency! Big emergency!”

“Is it an enemy night raid!?”

Right then, a messenger came tumbling into the tent.

I grabbed my sword and stood up.

The enemy golem soldiers didn’t need sleep—they attacked at night without hesitation.

The arrows they fired from giant ballistae were powerful enough to smash a human along with their armor. Any delay in responding meant catastrophic losses.

“No, sir—flames are rising from Dalham Castle!”

“What…?”

“And the entire enemy force has started retreating toward Dalham Castle!”

Fire at the enemy’s forward base…? The whole army pulling back?

Something massive—either an incident or an accident—must’ve happened at Dalham Castle.

“…A chance to counterattack!?”

I couldn’t help feeling a surge of joy, but I quickly reconsidered.

This could be a trap to lure us in.

If we rushed after their rear in excitement and got caught in an ambush, it’d be over for us.

We couldn’t afford to lose any more men.

“Send scouts immediately! Find out exactly what happened at Dalham Castle!”

I decided to move cautiously.

The most likely thing was a rebellion inside Dalham Castle, but…

It could also just be a small fire that’d be put out quickly—no need to panic. Better to focus on gathering information first.

“My lord, urgent report about the fire at Dalham Castle! We’re from the main castle garrison under Master Zenon’s command!”

Three soldiers burst into the tent without waiting for permission.

“Zenon’s… men? Speak.”

Normally I’d chew them out for breaking military rules, but I wanted to know about the enemy movement, so I let it slide.

“Yes, sir! The truth is, Master Zenon pretended to surrender to the enemy, infiltrated Dalham Castle, took down Prince Lucian the castellan, and set fire to their food supplies!”

It hit me like a bolt from the blue.

It took me a moment to even process it.

“…Is-Is this true!?”

“Yes, sir! That’s why Master Zenon has been acting like a useless fool all this time! It was all to lower Prince Lucian’s guard so he could take him out and recapture Dalham Castle—for our victory!”

It sounded too unbelievable.

But the garrison soldiers’ eyes were shining—they didn’t look like they were lying at all.

Still, if he tried something that reckless alone, Zenon should’ve been killed instantly.

The fact that he succeeded in burning the supplies, and that the enemy army was fully retreating…

“Y-You mean Zenon has a decent number of troops under him right now, and he’s fighting to take back Dalham Castle as we speak!?”

It was incredible.

If he pulled this off, the whole war situation could flip in an instant.

“Yes, sir! Master Zenon sold your treasured tea set and Lady Valeria’s accessories to hire about twenty-five hundred mercenaries!”

N-No way…

“Plus, Master Zenon really is a user of 【Miracle of Healing】. With that power, he even healed Sir Felix’s right knee!”

“Sir Felix is leading the mercenaries to recapture Dalham Castle. And Lady Valeria is right there with Master Zenon—they’re both fighting hard!”

“Master Zenon instructed us: the moment flames rise from Dalham Castle, tell my lord to strike the retreating enemy from behind!”

“Right now there’s no golem soldier shield protecting their rear—just fragile magic units ripe for the taking!”

“My lord, let’s wipe away all our past humiliations!”

“I-It can’t be… Zenon came up with a plan this good!?”

I was completely stunned.

“Not just recapturing Dalham Castle—he even planned a way to deal a massive blow to the imperial main force!?”

Wasn’t this the makings of a famous general…?

At the very least, he seemed far better at strategy than I was.

And to think he deliberately played the fool, endured humiliation, even deceived me… What terrifying guts.

But more than that—if he really possessed 【Miracle of Healing】, a power only granted to the saintess, that alone could completely change the course of the war.

No matter how badly I got hurt, as long as Zenon was there, I could come back.

The wounded soldiers who lacked doctors and supplies, who couldn’t get proper treatment—they could return to the front lines without waiting for the saintess.

Then we could avenge Alfin!

We could keep my oath to Lady Lydia!

We could take back the land we lost and protect the people!

My body trembled with joy as something suddenly clicked.

“…I see. That day at the 【Skill Bestowal Ceremony】, Zenon was seriously trying to heal my right eye.”

And yet I’d called him useless.

Even after that treatment, he kept working secretly for our army’s victory.

Shame burned in my chest, and my heart grew hot.

“I can’t let Zenon—my son—die…! Zenon is my pride! He’s the man worthy to succeed me and take charge of this land!”

“Yes, sir! We feel the same!”

The soldiers snapped salutes.

I bellowed out my command.