Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 242

“Stoke the fire! Stoke the fire!!

We are the Landsknechts.

May the blessings of the mighty and brave Claudia von Reckenber be upon us!

Under her banner, a knightly order emerges, traveling the lands to the sound of flutes and drums. This is what they call the Landsknecht,

And we fear not death!

Thus, stoke the fire!

Stoke the flames of rage in Lord Faust von Polydoro, the Knight of Wrath!”

“Has Polydoro become enraged?”

“He must have, naturally! I used the connections of the city council to gather information! All preparations were made! There’s no room for error!!”

The finest Lied (song).

It was crafted with every ounce of our being to incite Polydoro’s fury.

Using the detestable city council as pawns, with violence and thoroughness, we uncovered everything negative about him.

Every sensitive and secret matter.

We investigated to the ends of the earth to learn how to make him go mad with rage, sparing no effort to insult him.

We knew it was tantamount to dishonoring Claudia von Reckenber, who was defeated in a fair duel.

If this doesn’t drive him mad, we’ll be in trouble.

Stoke the fire!

Stoke the fire!!

With the fullest intent to kill!

We are the Landsknechts.

The fiercest and most foolish of all!”

“What are you trying to accomplish?”

Baumann muttered.

It was spoken so no one could hear, yet somehow, it reached everyone’s ears.

I answered.

“We want to incur Polydoro’s wrath. There’s no purpose beyond that.”

“Why?”

Baumann replied.

This one is truly dense.

Surely, she must understand.

“In order to beg for death at Valhalla, it must be Polydoro, completely consumed by rage. We must face the greatest knight of the Holy Gusten Empire. That is the bare minimum condition for us to earn the right to enter Valhalla.”

There is no other reason.

It’s all to be killed.

We do this to face Lord Faust von Polydoro, fully unleashed, and to die by his hands.

We intend to kill him, yes.

But more than that, we want him to kill us with all his might.

We want to stand against him as a warrior, giving it our all.

“Did you deceive me with such a cheap provocation for that? I never intended to send a provocative letter, like the ones filled with rumors circulating around. This kind of content is an insult to Lady Reckenber.”

Baumann muttered again.

Her hands trembled with anger.

She must have heard the details of the letter from her close subordinate.

Judging from Ingritt’s reaction, she must have realized that the contents were not what she desired.

She seemed displeased.

Indeed, I hadn’t explained it to her.

“Of course. We must make Polydoro go mad with rage. It has to be done.”

Otherwise,

Otherwise,

We must face Lord Polydoro at his absolute best.

“If we cannot, then we will never reach Valhalla. The gates of Valhalla open only to those who have been truly brave.”

“That’s right!”

Someone responded to my declaration.

That’s right!

There’s no other place left for us to go.

We will be slain by an endless champion, praised to the heavens, and after the battle, we will ascend to Valhalla.

Lord Faust von Polydoro is the perfect opponent for that.

After all, he is the true hero who killed Reckenber.

Surely, if we fight bravely to the death, he will lead us to Reckenber’s side in the afterlife!

“You lied to me. That letter, calling it a duel invitation?”

“We didn’t lie. In the end, it turned out that way. The emperor, Empress Maxine, accepted. She’ll allow your duel with Polydoro in front of the imperial audience.”

We didn’t lie at all.

The conclusion is this.

“You promised something else, didn’t you? An imperial exhibition, was it? If you want to fight Polydoro in the Colosseum before a massive crowd, go ahead. No one is forcing you. I’d prefer it if you killed Polydoro, though… but that’s not mandatory. If you manage to kill him, vent some of your frustrations. That’s what I think, though the more I investigate, the more it seems impossible.”

“You think I’ll lose?”

“At the very least, we will die. Even if by some miracle you win, we won’t be around to witness it.”

Indeed.

We are going to die.

We started this conversation knowing the outcome.

From the very beginning, we never assumed we’d win without sacrifice. Our death was a certainty from the outset.

Don’t underestimate us.

“Baumann, what do you think will be the outcome of all this?”

“Simple. Polydoro will be killed, and that will be the end. There’s nothing beyond that. We vent our anger, and it’s over. After that, I don’t care. Whether we’re flayed, or our flesh is torn from our bones.”

“You’re wrong. At first, we thought the same. That was the starting point. But if you consider what happens after we die, it’s different. We may be fierce fools, but we are not illiterate simpletons who cannot read the room.”

No, Baumann, it’s different.

Though it would be fine if that were the case, I, we, aim for something greater.

Insulting the strongest knight in history, Polydoro, is evil, and we are not in our right minds.

But he has a role—to kill us.

“We, the old Landsknechts, can serve no one but Claudia von Reckenber. Even if Nina von Reckenber, her daughter, extended her hand, we could never accept it. We cannot forget everything and head into a new battlefield. We are prisoners. We can no longer serve anyone but Claudia.”

We are prisoners to the brilliance of Claudia von Reckenber.

I, we, the old Landsknechts, know where this will end.

We are not a bunch of ignorant fools.

We will feel Polydoro’s strength deep in our bones, and we will search for a resolution.

That’s why we can’t accept it.

Katarina, the daughter raised by Reckenber, must be trying to guide us.

She is trying to give us a new place to belong.

Somewhere, surely a new, better battlefield awaits us.

That is surely a good thing.

For us old Landsknechts, it’s an unfortunate thing, but for most, it would be a blessing.

But we are different.

Stoke the fire!

“To return the Landsknechts to the flames, a sacrifice is needed. That sacrifice is us. Have you seen the remnants of Valiere? That was once us. For the old Landsknechts to return, we are now nothing but a hindrance.”

Then, at least, let us die bravely as that sacrifice!

We wish to face a truly enraged Polydoro, who will kill us without mercy, without holding back.

Let our guts spill onto the ground, and our powerless hands reach to the sky!

To be led to Valhalla!

It may be troublesome for him, but we are suffering because of him.

Because he killed Reckenber.

We can no longer take the hand extended by Nina von Reckenber.

If Polydoro feels any pity for us and decides we aren’t even worth killing,

Don’t you think that would be humiliating?

Don’t you think that would be unforgivable, even in death?

For us, who beg for death so disgracefully.

He must be enraged, to the point of madness.

That’s how we will receive our death and be led to Valhalla.

If we’re lucky, if we remain brave until the end, it will come true.

“You are insane.”

“We never claimed to be doing this with a sound mind. No one here is sane. We are fully marching toward death.”

I will need to find time to stitch my pants.

When Polydoro kills us and we head to Valhalla, Claudia von Reckenber will spit at us, calling us fools.

We cannot afford to be scolded for frayed trousers.

We must pay a hefty price, use every last bit of our wealth, and avoid showing any sign of misery. We need Polydoro to kill us.

In the Landsknechts’ death attire, with bright pants and shoes, we will stomp our feet!

We will drench our shoes with our own blood.

Then,

Then,

We will wake the sleeping lion, Polydoro, with a charge!

“What more can we do to enrage him?”

“It’s simple. We’ve been ordered by the city council—they are convenient enough to use, so we’ll do it.”

“That?”

We will commit the act that will undoubtedly enrage Polydoro the most.

We will kidnap his fiancée, Valiere von Anhalt.

“We’ll abduct Polydoro’s fiancée. Evade the guards, and with the death-soldiers of the Landsknechts, we’ll take Valiere.”

“Very well. How many deaths will it take?”

“A hundred should suffice. The sacrifice will be enough. Valiere’s actions are fully monitored by the city council. The opportunity will come. Our goal will be achieved in exchange for the deaths of our fierce fools.”

For now, we’ll act as the city council commands.

Of course, we’ll only act.

We don’t intend to harm Valiere in the slightest.

We have no intention of using her as a bargaining chip for the city council.

That would be a taint.

It would interfere with our duel with Polydoro, and we won’t allow that.

“Baumann, you wish to participate in the imperial exhibition, don’t you? To stand against Polydoro in a duel for the honor of Reckenber? Our desire is different, but if you wish to go down that path, so be it. We have no right to force you otherwise.”

Seeing Baumann fall silent,

We shouted.

“Spare no money or lives! This is our final show! Before we depart for Valhalla, Polydoro will bear the burden of killing Reckenber!”

We have no future, nor do we wish for one.

We will die, burdensome as we are, headfirst.

We are the sacrifice for the rebirth of the Landsknechts!

After shouting that, a sense of emptiness washed over me.

I brushed my left shoulder, once struck by Reckenber’s sword.