Chapter 434

Fortress at the Entrance to the King's Brother's Territory
"Hmm. No attack last night, I see."

"Yes. None at all."

A final confirmation before departure.
We checked to see if there had been any attacks during the night, but apparently, there hadn’t.
Even the Kiblinki Saltas, who had formed a wide-ranging watch network beyond the knights of Marquis Vardmoi’s household, hadn’t found any trace of suspicious activity approaching.

I mean, we can clearly see the enemy fortress from here.
If anything, the massive chunk of ice makes it stand out more.
And yet, they haven’t made a single move.
Honestly, it’s downright eerie.

"Thanks for the report. There’s no point in overthinking it. Let’s move forward."

"Yes, sir!"

The preparations for the advance were swiftly completed, and the formation began to move once again.
With the fortress so close, the air was noticeably tense.
After all, if a battle does break out, it’s natural to fear injuries or death.

It would be ideal if I could go ahead and freeze everything, but they’ve forbidden that.
Apparently, we must maintain proper military protocol.
I wonder how things will unfold?

“Halt! Are you troops of Vardmoi!?”

A voice called out from the top of the fortress, demanding to know who we were.
When the commander at the front replied, “We are,” the soldier shouted back, “Wait a moment,” and disappeared from view.

What’s going on here?

“Marquis Vardmoi, what does this mean?”

“I don’t know either… Ah, the gate of the fortress is opening.”

“Yes, and armed soldiers are approaching. Huh? But… they haven’t drawn their swords?”

“Indeed. It seems they may be willing to listen.”

The soldiers who emerged through the open gate spoke with the frontline troops.
When they finished, the frontline commander came over to our carriage.

They were offering to surrender.

“Surrender? Why?”

“They appear to be soldiers from Duke Plafard’s house. It seems someone under Lady Plum distributed letters from Duke Plafard himself to the soldiers. As a result, they agreed to let us pass through and take the fortress, in exchange for sparing Duke Plafard’s life.”

“But if this is discovered, won’t it put Duke Plafard’s life in danger?”

“That’s why they say they need some proof of a battle. Specifically, evidence that they were defeated.”

Hmm, loyal and thoughtful subordinates, aren’t they?
But if they need evidence that they lost… then maybe it’s time for me to step in!

“Marquis Vardmoi, Talat and I will freeze the soldiers along with the fortress. Once the fortress is thawed, they’ll come back to life, and it’ll clearly look like they lost. What do you think?”

“That’s certainly the quickest way to show they were defeated. Relay the plan to Duke Plafard’s soldiers.”

“Understood.”

Once the frontline commander relayed the message, the enemy soldiers stepped back a little and took up a defensive stance.
They must want to be frozen just like this.

“Talat, freeze them all — soldiers and fortress together.”

(Got it. Be right back.)

Talat went outside, and a storm of icy threads surged forth, engulfing the fortress and the soldiers from Duke Plafard’s house in frost.
When the blizzard of threads subsided, all that remained were frozen statues — of the soldiers and the fortress itself.

Talat was thoughtful enough to leave the fortress gate unfrozen, so we can pass through.

We’ll have to make sure to thaw these soldiers once everything is over.

What do you think about this chapter?