Chapter 28: The War with the Harmon Territory (1)

Viscount Harmon had a good feeling when he first heard of the letters arrival. Guessing that the upstart youngster was finally getting to grips with his situation and submitting to him, Harmon excitedly tore off the seal of the letter and began reading.

Dear Viscount Harmon,

Recently, some leavers from your county have come to us and are causing a commotion.

I do not know how awfully one has to manage their territory in order for good, upstanding members of your county to be ready to up their roots and come to ours. Regardless, as a result of them, our territory is now undergoing considerable strain.

No matter how incompetent one is, they should not cause trouble to others because of their own ineptitude would you not agree?

Keeping in mind the relationship you had with my forebears, I shall forget the wrongs you have inflicted unto me until now.

However, in the event that your people continue to breakaway to our territory in the future you shall pay the appropriate price.

Kind regards, Milton Forrest

Viscount Harmon tore the letter to pieces and screamed.

This impudent brat!!

His patience, already at its breaking point like water sloshing in a cup, finally reached its limit. The contents of this letter went beyond the point of mere impertinence, openly criticizing Viscount Harmons incompetence and blatantly asking for a fight. His patience was not strong enough to stay put, while being treated by a green-as-can-be youngster like Milton in this manner.

Gather the knights! Were attacking Forrest county immediately.

My Lord, how about we think this throu- UGH!

Pow!

For the chamberlains efforts to calm the Viscount down, he received a boot that sent him rolling.

Stop fluffing about and do as I say at once!

In the end, the pact he had made with the other two nobles was erased clean from his mind as he promptly rounded his soldiers.

Milton Forrest! I shall quell my anger by taking your head myself.

Enraged, Viscount Harmon resolved to personally lead his army to them.

Viscount Harmon mobilized his troops without a declaration of war.

Even if this was a county war no, specifically

because

it was a county war in order to properly lay claim to captured territory as a victor, it was important to declare the justification for war and perform due procedure. However, after having his anger stirred, Viscount Harmon cleverly (?) decided to attack the Forrest county unannounced, to take what would be the astonished Miltons head.

However

My Lord, they say that Viscount Harmons army has begun moving.

Is that so? All according to plan.

Regardless of whether a declaration of war was received, Milton had already established a reconnaissance network to preempt Viscount Harmons movements.

Next to Milton, Jerome was dumbfounded.

He is more nave than I expected. To think a single letter would bait him into moving his army

You see, hes a rural noble with the stubbornness of a Duke. Im sure all other thoughts were wiped clean from that head of his after I insulted him.

In all honesty, I nevertheless did not think we would catch him so easily. Its like he bit the hook when we havent even stuck the bait on yet.

Hes a frog, not a fish in the way that he moves without thinking, just like a frog eats things first and then sees what happens. Milton mocked the Viscount.

Now that the enemy was mobilizing, Miltons first scheme had hit its mark.

No matter how confident he was in his prospects of winning, facing off against three counties at once was a tad too much to handle. So Milton formed a plan to face only one of them for the present. The target of that plan was Viscount Harmon.

He was famous for his impatient personality around these parts, and Milton had personally confirmed those rumors to be true in their recent meeting. Subsequently, Milton sent a letter that openly picked a bone with Viscount Harmon in order to provoke him. In fact, if this letter did not work, they had a Plan B and C prepared to continue provoking him but Viscount Harmon fell for it hook, line and sinker with only the letter, causing him to mobilize his army.

How large are their forces?

Sir, they are shaping up to be around 600 men strong in total.

600? Thats more than we expected.

Yes. Word is that they have recently been hiring mercenaries in preparation. And

And what?

Our scouts say that he mobilized a great number of his countys common people. A large portion of them are poorly armed males.

He rounded up his civilians? What a lunatic.

Indeed, he does not seem to be of sound mind.

A lords subjects were meant to be protected by him. The people paid taxes to the lord in exchange for living in a lords territory but in turn, the lord had a duty to protect them.

Of course, there were instances where common civilians had been forcefully conscripted, in critical situations such as large wars that affected the entire nation; but even then, this was a last resort.

But who would forcefully round up his own civilians, not in a dire war of a national scale but for a territorial tussle?

This was a complete abandonment of ones obligations as a lord.

I already knew he was a trashy guy, but who wouldve known he was this much of a snowflake.

Milton was dumbstruck, while Jerome could not hide his disgust.

My Lord, simply give me the command, and I shall take the head of Viscount Harmon at once.

Jeromes spirits were simmering as he wanted to lead the troops in a sortie immediately.

That was the original plan anyhow.

The plan was for Jerome to take the lead and break through the enemy lines at a single focal point in one fell swoop, with the o