A direct order from the count would mean that the soldiers on Klax’s Hill would abandon their effort to resist our invasion. It was a little less clear what the troops in Castle Auros would do, but considering how difficult it would be for them to hold the castle under the current circumstances, it wouldn’t have been surprising if they surrendered as well.
Executing Barth and informing the enemy of his death, in contrast, had the potential to backfire. It could enrage them, or convince them that their situation was do or die and send their morale skyrocketing. We’d risk running up massive, unnecessary casualties.
I decided to take Rietz’s advice, and we settled down to wait for Barth to recover in the hopes he’d order his troops to stand down. It wasn’t long before the count regained consciousness, and I went to speak with him along with Rietz and Mireille. Rosell still wasn’t great about talking with people he didn’t know─he tended to freeze up from nervousness─so I left him behind this time, asking him to consider our next moves in the war while we were away.
I was a little worried that Mireille might do something line-crossing and inadvisable, but she’d claimed that this sort of thing was her speciality and asked me to bring her along. I had to hope that she’d meant persuading people was her specialty, rather than torturing them.
“Just don’t get too rough with him, okay?” I whispered.
“I know, I know,” Mireille replied in her usual flippant tone. I didn’t have much faith in her, but then again, if worse came to worst I could always just put her in control of the whole discussion and let her do it her way.
We’d locked Barth up in one of the fort’s remaining intact rooms. It was well-decorated, and part of me wondered if it might have been the room that he’d been living in.
I stepped into the room, coming face to face with Barth himself. He was wide awake, as I’d been told, and was sitting in a chair, staring pointedly at me. He looked a little sick, but there was still plenty of life in his eyes, and the glare he was shooting me made it feel like he would’ve stood up and killed me on the spot if he’d had the chance. It was a little overwhelming, but considering what a mess I’d made of his fort, I couldn’t blame him for his hostility.
I decided to appraise him, just for good measure. He was forty years old, apparently, and had a Valor score in the seventies while his Leadership, Intelligence, and Politics scores were all in the sixties. He had no obvious weaknesses, in short, but didn’t have any standout strengths either. All of his stats were close to their max values, as well, which told me he was a man who’d trained himself diligently.
“Greetings,” I said. “I am Ars Louvent, the Count of Canarre.”
“And I am Barth Micnisua,” Barth replied, still glaring at me as he spat the words. “I heard the rumors that the Count of Canarre was still a youth. It seems they weren’t exaggerated.”
I was fifteen years old now, which meant that by this world’s standards, I was no longer a child. That said, I was unmistakably still much younger than you’d expect from a count.
“What business could you have with the commander of the fort you just seized?” asked Barth. “If you intend to behead me, you’d best get it over with. I’ll tell you now that I have no intention of disgracing myself by begging for my life.”
“Taking your life is not one of my objectives,” I replied. “I’m here because I was hoping to negotiate with you.”
“Negotiate?” Barth repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“Correct. If I were to execute you here, then there’s no doubt that I’d galvanize your followers on Klax’s Hill and in Castle Auros─and if they choose to resist, I’ll have no choice but to order their deaths. If, however, you were to declare your formal surrender, it could convince your soldiers to stand down peacefully. Don’t you think that surrendering would be in everyone’s best interests, for the sake of minimizing needless casualties among your people?”
I tried to frame the issue not around how inconvenient it would be for us if his soldiers kept up the fight, but rather, how much of a senseless loss it would be for us to kill them. I had a feeling that would be the much more likely argument to win Barth’s cooperation.
“Hmph… I was wondering what you could have to gain from speaking with me, but this is even more foolish than I’d anticipated. You truly believe I would roll over and do your bidding? Laughable. Needless casualties are a trifling consequence. My men are honorable soldiers of Purledo, and each and every one of them would sooner give up their lives than surrender to the likes of you. We will never yield to Canarre,” said Barth. Clearly, bringing him around was not going to be that easy. He was digging in his heels, preparing to resist us to the end. “In other words, I have nothing to say to the invaders who wrought such devastation upon my fort.”
“Lord Barth,” said Rietz, “you appear to consider our attack on your fort to be a coldhearted act of unilateral aggression─but how do you justify that perspective to yourself, knowing full well that we have only invaded in response to Seitz’s own attack on Missian?”
“You mean to say that Seitz is to blame?” asked Barth.
“I mean only to say that the origin of this conflict lies in a decision made by the Duke of Seitz. He chose to carry out his invasion of Missian, knowing perfectly well that there was a risk Purledo County would be invaded in turn. The loss of Fort Purledo was a consequence of that decision─a sacrifice, if you will. Do you disagree?”
“A Malkan with a silver tongue? Never thought I’d see the day. You must be the one they call Rietz Muses,” Barth growled with a scornful glare. It seemed he was a man who wore his prejudice on his sleeve. Anti-Malkan sentiment had been on a gradual decline in Canarre as of late thanks to Reitz’s achievements, but was as rooted as ever the moment you left the county. “I don’t care how you twist and gild your argument─my answer will not change. The duke has done no wrong, and failing to protect Fort Purledo was no one’s fault but my own. Offering my surrender to you now would disgrace me like nothing else ever could, and I will not have it.”
Barth’s loyalty to his duke clearly ran deep─and to the duke who’d overthrown his predecessor just recently, rather than the one who’d sat on the throne for years beforehand. I found it remarkable that he would offer that sort of faith to a usurper. Was the duke that capable of a person?