Chapter 26:
Bestowed with a Full Suit of Armor
“HE LOOKED FURIOUS,” I SAID. “BUT, WELL, IN THE end, he heard me out and even accepted my request.”
“He forgave me, so I’ve got no complaints there,” Astarte said.
I removed my long fake nails, placed my hands together, and stretched them out. Faust, his apprentice Martina, and my sister Valiele had already left the room to prepare for their journey to Villendorf. Astarte stood up from beside me and sat in Faust’s seat, then expelled a sigh. Is she trying to feel Faust’s butt warmth with her own? I wondered. Nah, it can’t be. She’d be a lost cause if she did something like that—it’d be so creepy. Despite that thought, my eyes were filled with suspicion as I glanced at her. Astarte was a pervert to the core. I realized that my mind was going off on a tangent, and I returned to the matter at hand.
“I guess abruptly ordering his return after a month would anger him,” I said. “I don’t blame him either. But we can’t leave Villendorf on the back burner for much longer.”
“I know it’s a bit late to say this, but are you sure that there’s no other way?” Astarte inquired. “Are the Nobles of the Robe doing their job?”
“They are. I personally selected the best woman I could find to handle this matter.”
My mother, Queen Liesenlotte, had allowed me to handle Villendorf by myself. I chose a prominent Noble of the Robe, skilled in both negotiation and martial arts, so that we wouldn’t be underestimated. However, the Villendorfians judged her frail, and they refused to hear the words of the weak. The only choice I had was to send someone so strong that they would snap their mouths shut. Villendorf undoubtedly saw Faust as a strong knight, but sending him over gave me a new set of worries.
“Faust’ll probably get attacked,” Astarte said, reading my mind. “I don’t think the Villendorfians will attack him in his sleep, but they’ll all proudly challenge him to duels.”
“I suspect that as well,” I replied. “I need him to win those duels, though I’m not worried about his combat prowess.”
Faust von Polidoro was the type who could take on a hundred one-on-one duels in a row and win them all. I couldn’t even imagine him losing to anyone, though he claimed that Lord Reckenbell, the hero of Villendorf, really had cornered him at one point. But even Villendorf’s champion had fallen before Faust. I had no concerns in that regard.
“But that’s not the only threat that he faces,” Astarte said. “Villendorf isn’t like Anhalt, which values small men with delicate porcelain skin and little muscle. Faust is burly, brawny, and more than two meters tall. Factor in his heroic combat prowess, and he aligns with Villendorf’s values and virtues in every possible way. I’m certain that people will try to woo him.”
“They’ll treat him like a walking sex symbol, no doubt,” I agreed. “Villendorf will see him as the embodiment of every sexual desire they’ve got. That’s partly why I’m sending him over—I’m hopeful that they’ll receive him well.”
Frankly, I was worried about his chastity. I knew that Faust was the type to always be vigilant; he wouldn’t easily spread his legs for anyone, but I still fretted over the potential of the loss of his virginity. The mere thought of his body being defiled by another woman drove me mad. But I was out of luck now. I’d already decided to send Faust to Villendorf as our envoy, and there was nothing I could do about it. A knock echoed from the door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Your Highness, I’ve brought some tea,” a reply came.
“Ah, I was just getting thirsty. You may come in.”
The captain of my corps entered the room. In her hands was a tray with tea for two. She placed it onto the table, and Astarte and I grabbed our cups.
“So, what do you think?” the duke asked, enjoying the aroma of her drink. “Do you believe that Villendorf will invade our kingdom the moment our truce expires?”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “I’m not sure just how impactful the loss of Lord Reckenbell was to those savages. I can’t understand the Villendorfian queen’s mindset, and my spies aren’t giving me much to work with either. They don’t seem to be preparing for war—when they start any sort of battle, their citizens will respond immediately. They’re a kingdom that can get into formation immediately, and we can’t let our guards down.”
I could only praise Faust’s hard work. Lord Reckenbell had been infamous as the monster of Villendorf, and he’d defeated her by himself.
When the current queen of Villendorf was the third-eldest princess of her kingdom, she’d taken Lord Reckenbell as her advisor and engaged in a tough struggle against the nomads. “Tough” might be an overstatement—it was a one-sided massacre on Villendorf’s part. I heard that a few of the nomadic tribes had been utterly wiped out. Villendorf’s method of attack was to use magical longbows, which boasted a longer range than the nomads’ composite bows, to take out a tribe’s chief and her archers in a flash. The current queen even personally stood at the vanguard and ordered her cavalry to charge, slaughtering the nomads with little resistance.
Villendorf’s strategy was neither particularly novel nor difficult to replicate, though Villendorf’s cavalry was stronger than Anhalt’s forces. Still, it was easier said than done. We couldn’t possibly copy their tactics and hope for the same outcome. The minstrels of Villendorf sang heroic tales about Knight Captain Reckenbell, who never missed a shot. In fact, every shot she took landed a fatal blow on an enemy. Every now and then, this world would give birth to people like Faust, who possessed seemingly superhuman powers and extraordinary abilities. I was so glad that he’d taken Lord Reckenbell down.
“Lord Reckenbell possessed godlike combat prowess, but she was also known for creating excellent plans and wielding her political influence well,” I said. “If memory serves, she was around the same age as my mother. My mother grumbled about how she was often compared to Lord Reckenbell.”
“Yeah,” Astarte agreed. “She’s the very woman who educated their youngest princess and brought her all the way to the throne.”
The Villendorf savages operated on a different noble system than our own. Villendorf didn’t automatically choose the eldest child of noble blood to inherit her house or throne. Instead, succession was decided through duels.
Sisters would battle against each other, and the victor would take all. The losers would either obediently assist the leader of their house or leave their household altogether. There were no hard feelings after the duel, and they bore no grudges—it was honestly a bit refreshing to see them take their losses in stride. In fact, I was almost shocked that people abided by those policies to the point where a kingdom could function.
Villendorf’s culture was simply too different from Anhalt’s. Those who assisted the lord of their house could make enough to live on, and those who left their households could also get by without much trouble, despite casting their nobility aside—it wasn’t all bad. It was essentially the duty of the successor to ensure that her siblings would be fine on their own; everyone in Villendorf considered that to be common sense. Women who didn’t follow those rules wouldn’t be treated as nobles.
Those values were absurd from Anhalt’s point of view, but such was the mindset of Villendorf. We shared a few common policies, though, including the newer generation taking over quite quickly. When the eldest daughter was around twenty years of age, the duel to decide the successor of the house would begin. Inevitably, these duels were biased in favor of the eldest daughter, for she had the advantage of age, and younger sisters would be at an overwhelming disadvantage because of their youth. And yet, the current queen of Villendorf had won her duels despite being the youngest of her siblings, third in line for the throne. She was around fourteen when she inherited the crown.
I could only assume that it was all thanks to Lord Reckenbell’s education. No matter the case, the mere recollection of the Campaign of Villendorf would fill me with woe; I still had nightmares about it, even after our victory.