Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 189

The figure before me was a young woman dressed as a light cavalry soldier, wearing only a breastplate and helmet, with a pistol and saber hanging at her waist.

She appeared to be quite young—around 16 years old, judging by her freckled face.

She had a mischievous glint in her eyes as she playfully stuck out her small tongue.

Standing before this young knight, I was desperately trying to gather my thoughts.

“I am Eugen von Mainz.”

It was a name I had never heard before.

However, the young knight before me declared herself to be a relative of the Electorate of Mainz.

I exchanged glances with the scribe from the Cologne Sect beside me to confirm the truth.

The scribe shook his head, indicating that he had no knowledge of this.

“Do I not resemble my mother?”

“You mean to say that you, Lady Eugen, are the daughter of the Elector of Mainz?”

“I only realized it about two years ago.”

She explained that her relationship had been kept a secret.

Although she was merely the adopted daughter of a knight who had no children, she had been given every educational opportunity despite not knowing her true parents. Over time, it became clear to her. The Elector of Mainz and the high-ranking clergy around her had been unusually kind, preparing her for a future role as Elector. No matter how much her mother tried to hide it, she eventually figured it out.

Eugen smiled as she spoke, though there was no way to confirm the truth of her words. She didn’t appear to be lying.

“Now then, may I ask your name?”

Since Lord Faust was hiding his name on the battlefield, I too needed to conceal my identity.

I hesitated for a moment before deciding to reveal my true name.

“…I am Martina von Bösel,” I replied, deciding that it was best to be honest in this situation.

Though there was a possibility that I would become Martina von Temeraire in a few months, it wasn’t something to mention at this moment.

“I see. Then, Lady Martina, may I ask directly—do you have a direct line to Lady Valiere?”

“And why would you think that of this young girl?”

Indeed, I did have a crystal ball that allowed direct communication with Lady Valiere. However, I was only a nine-year-old girl.

Riding alone on horseback, Eugen had come here after surveying the hill.

Despite the hundreds of merchants and traveling performers that crowded the hill, she immediately made her way straight to me the moment she saw me.

“I’ve heard that Lord Polydoro keeps a child as his attendant,” she said softly.

Her words were troubling, and although I considered feigning ignorance, I realized it would be futile.

Before I could respond, she continued.

“Currently, I am supposed to be staying in the Imperial Capital, Windbona. However, no one is really keeping a close watch on me. If I had wanted to, I could have visited my fiancé. It was careless of me. If I had read the situation before leaving the territory, there were countless ways I could have handled it. I could have even stopped my mother from leaving.”

“And when did you realize this?”

“When Lady Valiere declared war in response to my mother’s heresy trial. Forgive me for saying this, but I had never heard of her as someone bold enough to make such a daring move.”

At least, I had heard that she was far from being bold and fearless.

If a girl like that decided to challenge us to a battle…

“It was likely because the man she loves encouraged her. And at the same time, she must have seen a slim chance of victory against our Mainz Order of Knights.”

Indeed, Eugen did not seem incompetent.

She understood what was happening and why Lady Valiere had decided to act.

However, knowing that didn’t change the fact that there was little that could be done. This Martina knew that as well.

Even if she understood that Lord Faust von Polydoro was a powerful and unrivaled knight, there was nothing she could do once the battle had begun.

“My mother must have foreseen the possibility of defeat, even if she couldn’t see what was happening behind the scenes. She ordered me, her heir, to return to the territory. But I could not abandon my mother and the people and flee back home. If I had fled back to the territory, I would have lost everything important to me.”

“So you thought there would be someone with a direct line to Lady Valiere among the group of people who evacuated to the hill behind the battlefield?”

“Perhaps the representative of the merchants or one of Lord Polydoro’s attendants. I believed Lady Valiere would have provided them with a way to communicate in case they needed to flee in the event of a defeat. I pretended to flee back to the territory, circled around the battlefield, and ended up here.”

I see.

Her assessment was entirely accurate.

So then, what was her objective?

“Negotiation, I presume?”

“That is correct.”

In other words, if the Mainz army’s defeat became clear, she intended to surrender to Lady Valiere at that point.

To do so, she had appeared before me alone, practically as a hostage.

Looking around, I noticed that Ingrid, the leader of the merchants, had arrived with a few guards, having overheard our conversation.

They seemed tense, likely due to the life-or-death situation the Mainz Electorate had put them in. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they clutched pistols in their hands.

I held up my hand, signaling them to do nothing.

“Lady Martina! We should capture her!!”

“Chairwoman Ingrid, it’s pointless. Stop it. She could kill everyone here and escape,” I told her.

I thought about it.

We still didn’t know the outcome of the battle.

We could hear the shouts of the soldiers, but we couldn’t tell who was winning.

Eugen likely didn’t know either.

With the outcome still uncertain, why would Eugen present herself so boldly and alone?

“Are you a superhuman? You must be, or you wouldn’t have come here alone.”

“I am no match for the rumored Lord Polydoro. My mother mocked the stories about him deflecting cannonballs and Lord Reckenber’s legend as mere idle gossip, but—ah, I suppose that’s also my fault.”

Eugen glanced around at those surrounding her, smiling as if it were nothing.

Even if a dozen people stood against her with pistols, she would begin the slaughter with that saber of hers.

That’s what it means to be a superhuman.

“Because she recognized that I was a moderately capable superhuman, and because she knew the limits of that capability, my mother concluded that the threshold for superhumans ended with me. She believed that figures like Lord Reckenber and Lord Polydoro were nothing more than fantasies, figments of imagination that didn’t exist in this world.”

Eugen spoke sadly, perhaps realizing the truth too late.

Even when seeing Princess Anastasia, Lady Valiere’s sister, or Duchess Astarte, her kin by marriage, and Katarina of Virendorf, she assumed they were of similar caliber to herself.

Eugen had dismissed the existence of monstrous beings like Saint Georgius, the dragon slayer, as mere legend.

“And like my mother, I too couldn’t believe it. But if Lady Valiere is indeed going to war, then Lord Polydoro’s strength must be real. Or perhaps there are other powerful superhumans besides him. Moreover, perhaps there is something akin to the ‘Knights of the Raging Boar,’ who serve directly under Duke Temeraire, within the Valiere army. But it’s too late to say anything now, given that the battle has already begun.”

I clicked my tongue in frustration.

Even the possibility of the ‘Knights of the Raging Boar’ participating had been foreseen.

While she hadn’t outright said she was certain, she had at least taken the worst-case scenario into account and acted accordingly.

But still, there was nothing that could be done in the current situation.

This Eugen before me hadn’t realized the truth until Lady Valiere declared war.

The victory belonged to Lord Faust and me.

“…You believe your mother, the Cardinal of Mainz, will lose?”

“I believe it’s highly possible. However, we can’t avoid the fight anymore.”

After all, they had attended the heresy trial and declared her a heretic.

Even if Lady Valiere resisted, they couldn’t just walk away and say, ‘Well, okay then.’

A battle was inevitable.

Eugen smiled and shook her head.

“As a daughter, I want to believe in my mother’s victory. But even my mother has considered the possibility of defeat. She told me to take full authority over the Mainz territory if something were to happen, prepared to die. As her child, I must negotiate for my mother, and as the successor to the territory, I must negotiate for the people. If defeat is inevitable, I will receive a direct line from the subordinates monitoring the battlefield. At that point, I intend to surrender to Lady Valiere. I will also call for the Mainz forces to surrender and disarm from within.”

I thought it over.

It was reasonable.

Eugen von Mainz’s judgment was flawless.

But—

“And you expect me to comply? To connect you directly to Lady Valiere for your benefit?”

“You will comply. What benefit is there in refusing? Does Lady Valiere enjoy meaningless slaughter? Would you like to call her the Bloodthirsty Fairy of Valiere, hungry for blood? I haven’t heard that she is someone who revels in merciless victories, nor someone who doesn’t desire a compassionate resolution.”

I clicked my tongue again.

This Martina was inexperienced.

At this point, I should have demanded something in exchange for her surrender, but nothing came to mind.

But it wasn’t just about easily connecting her to Lady Valiere.

If I were to report that the daughter of the Cardinal of Mainz had surrendered, I could already imagine Lady Valiere’s reaction—something like, ‘Really? This means the war is over!’ without even asking for the terms of surrender.

Damn it, Valiere, she’s already been figured out by Eugen.

Even though I’ve grown to respect Lord Faust’s fiancée a bit more recently, I still understood that Lady Valiere was incompetent in this regard.

The best scenario would be for that utter scoundrel, that lunatic Sabine, to handle the negotiations. But she was likely at the front lines, directing the guards’ gunfire.

Damn it, that chimpanzee is useless when it matters!

“…”

I thought it over.

Rather than having Eugen list the terms of surrender, I should have extracted them from her.

Even Eugen wouldn’t think she could surrender without offering something.

If Lady Valiere were to accept the surrender, Eugen’s side would undoubtedly have to offer something in return.

“And what would the Cardinal of Mainz be willing to offer in defeat?”

“In the end, it would likely come down to a direct negotiation between my mother and Lady Valiere. But how about the retraction of the heresy trial and the seven accompanying demands? Of course, we could also promise a formal apology to Lady Valiere and the payment of reparations as a gesture of reconciliation.”

I considered this.

It wasn’t bad and could be seen as a sufficient victory.

Rather than exhausting both sides’ resources in a prolonged battle and claiming victory, it would be smarter to accept the surrender.

Frankly, even if we were to annihilate the Mainz forces and deplete our own in the process, what would we gain from it?

We weren’t fighting over control of each other’s territories, and even if we were to seize the Mainz army’s funds and armaments, it wouldn’t amount to more than the reparations the Cardinal of Mainz would pay.

In other words, there was no advantage to continuing the war from Lady Valiere’s side either.

“…”

I fell silent, deep in thought.

Eugen, seeing through this, likely thought that her mother would accept these terms regardless.

With a calm expression, she muttered under her breath.

I was annoyed by that freckled face of hers!

Even if I agreed to this and Lord Faust praised me for a job well done, something about the way everything was playing out exactly as Eugen had planned irritated me.

“…Yes, I’ve got it.”

I had a good idea.

Indeed, Eugen had accepted the terms of compromise.

So why not have her swallow one more condition?

To make her a useful pawn for my lord, Lord Faust—something that could even counter the Mongols.

“I have a good idea, Lady Eugen. I see, I’ll connect you to Lady Valiere. However, the root of this conflict is a matter of faith. Simply declaring that you’re not a heretic and apologizing won’t resolve it. We need something more tangible, something everyone can see as a genuine repentance to the Cologne Sect.”

“Repentance?”

Noticing the subtle resolve hidden behind Eugen’s eyes, I pressed on.

“Repentance. You need to recognize that your actions were wrong and confess this to the Cologne Sect. A visible act of contrition, something that we, the faithful of the Cologne Sect, can see as sincere. For example—”

I spoke casually, as if just having a chat, though I had thought of a good idea.

“You’re going to inherit the Mainz Electorate in the future. How about converting to the Cologne Sect, Lady Eugen von Mainz? Show your clear defiance against the Pope who demanded the heresy trial. Proclaim that the Pope is wrong and the Cologne Sect is right. Yes, this is a brilliant idea.”

I watched Eugen’s face, still smiling, but I could see a deep anger in her eyes.

However, one of the pouches hanging from her waist began to glow.

It was the direct line from a trusted subordinate in the Mainz army.

“Lady Eugen! The right wing of the Mainz army has been broken by enemy cavalry. The battlefield is in chaos, with many fleeing soldiers! The Elector of Mainz has led a cavalry charge in a desperate attempt to save as many troops as possible!!”

Hearing that report—

Knowing that her mother was making a last stand and that her people were being slaughtered—

Eugen had no choice left.