Our Family Has Fallen

As he spoke, his words faltered. He looked up at the Earl, unable to continue defending Alvin and forced to go on.

”Only by capturing Alvin first can his identity be used to coerce the rest of the Order of Knights into surrendering. Alvin’s status would even leave Baron Lawrence constrained.”

”Alas,” the Earl sighed upon hearing this, realizing there could be no other reason. ”You were right before. I should never have harbored any illusions about Alvin.”

For the future of the Bastia Family, he, like other nobles, focused on cultivating his eldest legitimate son. To prevent conflicts among siblings, he had to keep the others out of the public eye. A daughter married into an alliance could stabilize the family, but sons were a different matter. They might be given an estate or farm to live as wealthy landowners, or become Wandering Knights—anything to avoid endangering the heir’s position.

Yet, he still harbored a glimmer of hope for this energetic son, who also possessed considerable ability. This expectation wasn’t due to Alvin’s abilities but stemmed from the Earl’s own past. He had been a second son with no inheritance rights, only ascending to his position after his elder brother’s death. He had thought of training Alvin, hoping that if he showed talent, he could serve as a contingency.

Unfortunately, this decision had blown up in his face.

”Father! We now have a reason to act,” Bruce said, rising righteously. ”I will lead the troops to flatten Hamlet and rescue them!”

”And what if they use Alvin and the other knights as shields on the front lines?”

With just that soft question, the Earl plunged Bruce into silence.

He wanted to cry out, ”Charge! They are all sacrificing themselves for Bastia!”

But reason told him such an act would likely cause severe turmoil, for these were not commoners, but knights. Although without fiefs, they were nominally knights of Bastia.

”This is not bravery; it’s folly,” the Earl said, waving his hand dismissively. ”Sit down.”

Bruce was still mulling over a solution, somewhat distracted, when he was startled by the Earl’s sudden bellow.

”Sit down!”

Before Bruce’s strapping figure, the Earl appeared somewhat frail. Yet, at that moment, he was like a dozing tiger awakened, letting out a powerful roar. And before the Earl, Bruce was like a startled kitten, jolting and quickly coming to his senses.

Only when Bruce had retaken his seat did the Earl continue.

”This is not your task. You need to understand that you are the heir to Bastia. You can face controlled dangers, but you must never expose yourself to unknown ones. Alvin has already led the Order of Knights into a trap. Have you considered the impact on Bastia if you, too, were ensnared, with two men of the Bastia Family falling in Hamlet, one after the other?

”Then, the Barbarian Tribes will challenge us, and even our own subordinates will perceive our weakness. You must realize that this world never lacks challengers.”

”Yes!” Bruce finally understood why his father had reprimanded him so suddenly; indeed, he could not afford any more risks until the situation became clear.

Seeing Bruce earnestly admit his mistake, the Earl did not dwell on it further but continued to guide him on how to become a competent Lord. He had taken many wrong turns, stumbling his way to where he was today; he didn’t want the next generation to do the same.

”As a Lord, you must understand that you represent the entire domain. You are no longer just an individual. You must maintain your composure at all times. Any slight emotion could sway your judgment in the wrong direction, and your decisions could inflict immeasurable losses upon your territory.

”Furthermore! Everything so far is merely our speculation. In truth, based solely on the words of the Eagle Flock, we cannot be certain what truly happened to the Order of Knights. As a Lord, you cannot make judgments based on conjecture. We must obtain concrete evidence and understand the actual situation.”

”I understand. I will have them ransomed before the news spreads to prevent the situation from worsening,” Bruce replied, realizing he had been too impulsive.

However, the Earl’s brows furrowed, his dissatisfaction becoming more apparent as he tapped his fingers on the table.

”Why haven’t you realized that this is also an opportunity?”

Bruce was somewhat taken aback.

Opportunity? What opportunity?

You were the one who said we couldn’t send troops, you also said we couldn’t take risks, and finally, you said we mustn’t damage our prestige.

Isn’t the only option to suppress the news and then quickly ransom our people before it spreads?

”Unlike war, politics isn’t just about fighting and killing; politics is about human connections and understanding the ways of the world,” the Earl slowly calmed down. ”We have indeed encountered an unavoidable difficulty: the capture of the Order of Knights, whom we must ransom. Thus, as a Lord, when faced with such a predicament, we must consider how to use various means to maximize our benefits.”

The Earl was still educating Bruce. The events in Hamlet had left too deep an impression on him, showing him the damage a failed heir could inflict on a domain. In the eyes of others, Bruce was the perfect heir, but to be an heir that truly satisfied the Earl, he still had much to learn.

”We must not only refrain from suppressing the news, but we should actively promote and hype this topic. Our official narrative will remain that we were pursuing Barbarian Tribes, accidentally strayed into Hamlet, and were backstabbed by Hamlet’s forces during a bloody battle with the Barbarians.

”The key is to cast ourselves as tragic figures: for the sake of the bigger picture, amidst the Empire’s internal strife, we selflessly defended the Empire from the Barbarian Tribes’ aggression, suffering a grievous price only to be unjustly oppressed.

”We need to evoke empathy, instilling a negative image of Hamlet in the minds of the People of Bastia, making them feel the humiliation, while simultaneously crafting an image of our own innocence and vulnerability.

”Fifty knights? How could that be enough? We’ll say it was two hundred knights! We dispatched two hundred knights to pursue Warwolf, and those captured were all gravely wounded in the fierce battle.”

This wasn’t just doubling; it was a super-sized exaggeration! With this move, the Earl not only crafted a narrative for the captives but also showcased Bastia’s supposed ”weakness” to others. The entire Empire might not even be able to muster three thousand knights; two hundred knights would be a crippling blow to Bastia.

Bruce was engrossed in the Earl’s explanation. He wasn’t foolish; on the contrary, he was very intelligent. However, having spent his adult years leading troops in the field for experience, he seldom had the chance to be taught by his father. Dealing too much with the barbarians from the Mountains had dragged his thinking down to their level.

”And this is just the first step,” the Earl continued. ”Next, we need to hype up Hamlet from all angles. We’ll take those previous rumors, no matter who spread them, add fuel to the fire, and make it burn even hotter.

”Remember, we weren’t the only ones involved in carving up Hamlet back then. Those other players certainly won’t sit idly by and watch Hamlet rise again. When we exaggerate Hamlet’s strength, who do you think will become restless first?”

But this was only part of the Earl’s plan. The subsequent maneuvers directly corresponded with the initial setup.

”At that point, the groundwork we’ve laid will come into play. Can you guess what will happen when the initial news spreads?

”It will be tantamount to publicly exposing Bastia’s weakness. We’ll then have an excuse to loosen the restrictions on the Mountain Barbarian Tribe, let them in, and shift the blame onto Hamlet.

”The third step is to play up the ’Barbarian Invasion,’ making Bastia appear to be mired in a difficult war with them, so weakened that we have no capacity to deal with anything else.

”Then, the Empire, Hamlet, and other neighboring lords will temporarily overlook us, because we’ll be perceived as too ’weak’ to even be a player on the board.

”When they start fighting, we’ll conserve our strength and stay put, letting the Barbarian Tribes enter Hamlet and get into a chaotic fight with them.

”It’s like watching beasts in a hunting ground prey on each other. When the time is right for us to make our move, they will all become our quarry.”