Chapter 49: Two Birds with One Stone Using the Subjugation (3)

Orcs, along with several men, were sprawled across the ground.

Among them, Gedwin—their target—was foaming at the mouth after being struck by Raion’s attack.

“You’ve really made quite a mess here.”

“I had some expectations, but he wasn’t even close to living up to them.”

“Well, scum who live off cheating others are all the same, aren’t they? By the way, how many orcs did you lure here?”

“Roughly seventy? The knights and soldiers aren’t bad, but their formation setup is a little weak.”

“That’s probably because we’re short on knights. Still, Baron and Cayman’s leadership wasn’t bad at all.”

Just now, those two had done their best to command the troops so as not to put them in unnecessary danger.

And instead of staying behind, they had personally charged into the battlefield themselves.

Compared to the number of so-called ‘knights’ in the royal castle who only wore the title, their results weren’t half bad.

“If this area’s cleaned up to this degree, the remaining subjugation should go smoothly. Shall we move on to the next?”

“What about these men?”

Jade pointed toward Gedwin and his subordinates, all unconscious on the ground.

“Call Baron and Cayman. I’ll tell them myself.”

“Understood.”

After replying, Jade went off to fetch them.

A short while later, Baron and Cayman arrived—and were greeted with a bewildering sight.

Then their eyes fell on the man standing beside Jade—Raion.

“Who might this be…?”

The two had never seen Raion’s face before, so they tilted their heads in confusion.

“This is His Highness, the Prince.”

At those words, Baron and Cayman were so startled that they immediately dropped to one knee.

“Y-Your Highness! Knight Baron pays his respects!”

“Knight Cayman pays his respects!”

Raion waved his hand dismissively at their salute.

“Getting struck in the back of the head while bowing during battle would be a stupid way to die. No need for formalities here.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. But how are you here, may I ask? Did you follow from the castle?”

“That’s right. I wanted to see how the subjugation squad performed.”

“How could you come to such a dangerous place, Your Highness? You must return to the castle at once with Sir Jade.”

Neither Baron nor Cayman had witnessed Raion’s true strength.

To them, ensuring his safety here was their top priority.

“Knights who can’t even properly command mercenaries and adventurers—are you the ones telling me what to do right now?”

Raion’s gaze swept over the surroundings.

Seeing the mercenaries strewn all over the place, both men hesitated with awkward expressions.

“What… happened to these men?”

“I did this.”

“Pardon? What do you mean…?”

They had assumed these mercenaries had fallen to monsters. Hearing Raion claim responsibility made their jaws drop.

“They tried to ambush their own comrades and forcibly snatch monster cores.”

At his words, both Baron and Cayman’s eyes widened in disbelief as they looked over the fallen men again.

They had never imagined something like that could occur within their own ranks, especially so early into the subjugation.

“What do you plan to do with them?”

Raion’s question made Baron pause in thought before he finally spoke.

“I’ll have them bound and ordered to be escorted back to the castle by our soldiers.”

“During a subjugation? The command structure is already unstable, and you’d pull more troops from the line?”

The criminals were mercenaries of roughly C-rank strength.

If not properly restrained, they could easily escape, so a considerable number of guards would be required.

“T-That is…”

“I’ll take responsibility for these men. Baron, you focus on gathering the wounded.”

“You mean… Your Highness won’t be returning to the castle?”

“Why would I leave when your command skills are already in question?”

He said it deliberately—to provoke them.

As expected, both Baron and Cayman’s brows furrowed deeply.

“With our current forces, we’ve done our utmost. I do not know what Your Highness witnessed, but I must ask if this criticism isn’t unfair.”

Baron maintained his composure and spoke as respectfully as possible, convinced his judgment wasn’t wrong.

But to Raion’s eyes, their efforts still looked laughably lacking.

“That was your ‘utmost effort,’ was it…”

“What could Your Highness possibly know about tactics!”

“Hey! That’s going too far—!”

Jade flared up instantly and stepped forward, but Raion raised his hand to stop him.

“Heh… so you think I know nothing, do you?”

“This is Kanas, where monsters run rampant. You cannot treat it like the peaceful royal castle in the heartlands!”

Baron judged that Raion was simply arrogant from learning superficial swordsmanship at the castle.

Of course, Raion could already guess what kind of assumptions lay behind his tone.

“So you don’t even believe that I was the one who defeated all of them?”

“That must’ve been Sir Jade’s doing.”

Baron glanced among the fallen and recognized one familiar face—Gedwin.

Among mercenaries, Gedwin was notorious for his violent temper, but equally well-known for his skill.

Of course, with the level of skill Baron imagined the prince to have, it would’ve been absolutely impossible for him—let alone his subordinates—to defeat them.

“This is our first meeting, but it seems I’ve been taken too lightly.”

Shuaaaak!

At that moment, Raion drew the sword from his waist.

Baron, who had been tensed up, thought he barely avoided the blade—until he suddenly realized Raion, who’d been right in front of him, had vanished from sight.

“Where did he—?”

Chaak—!

In the blink of an eye, Raion appeared behind Baron and Cayman, his single-edged sword glinting as it pressed between their necks.

He had used Absolute Step to move swiftly through their blind spot.

“Do I still look weaker than those men to you?”

From behind them, Raion released a murderous aura so intense it froze them in place.

Even Alkas, the Commander of Kanas’ Knights who had fought through countless battlefields, had never exuded such killing intent.

Cold sweat streamed down Baron and Cayman’s backs as they stood frozen, unable to move.

“Master, that’s far enough.”

Srrring… clack!

At Jade’s interjection, Raion sheathed his sword and strode back to where he had been standing before.

“You can’t even handle a mere seventy orcs properly, and you call this a subjugation?”

Clicking his tongue, Raion fixed the two with a piercing stare.

The two knights were still replaying the scene of Raion’s overwhelming skill again and again in their minds.

“From now on, I’ll take command of this subjugation squad. Jade, Baron, and Cayman—you’ll each divide the soldiers, mercenaries, and adventurers into three groups and take position.”

“Pardon? You’ll personally lead, Your Highness?”

“Is there a problem?”

“N-No, it’s just that…”

Baron knew full well he couldn’t oppose Raion’s strength, yet as the current leader of the western subjugation squad, the issue of responsibility weighed heavily on him.

“The Lord of this territory knows I came here. If anything goes wrong, I’ll take full responsibility.”

“In that case, there’s no issue.”

At Baron’s reply, Raion nodded.

“First, wake these men and gather everyone at the previous assembly point. Injured ones are to be grouped separately.”

“Injured… you say?”

Baron looked puzzled, and Raion replied with a serious expression.

“If they’re hurt, they need to be treated.”

“But the only treatments we have here are herbs and the lowest-grade potions. We can’t use those right from the start.”

Potions were fast-acting healing agents made by combining blood from certain monsters with medicinal herbs.

Their ingredients were hard to obtain, and the process itself was so complicated that only a few could make them—hence their exorbitant price.

Of course, there were different grades, and the lowest ones were distributed to ordinary knights and soldiers.

However, since the quantity was limited, it was difficult to use them this early on.

“I’ll heal them myself. Just gather them quickly.”

“Your Highness… personally?”

“Can’t you move faster?”

The heavy killing intent that had briefly subsided began to stir again. Startled, Baron and Cayman quickly rushed back to camp.

Meanwhile, Raion turned to Jade.

“Wake all of them up and drag them to the camp. If anyone tries to run, feel free to break a bone or two.”

“Understood, Master.”

Leaving things to Jade, Raion made his way toward the camp where the two had gone.

The encampment that had been set up in the forest was a complete wreck. The ground was littered with the corpses of orcs and scattered supplies.

Meanwhile, mercenaries and adventurers were frantically retrieving monster cores from the orc carcasses.

Watching the scene, Raion walked over to where the wounded were being gathered.

There were about twenty injured, most of them only lightly hurt and unable to move properly.

“They’ve all been gathered.”

As Baron approached and reported, Raion raised his hand toward them.

“Restoration!”

As he spoke the name of the ability, the wounds on their bodies began to return to their original state.

“Holy power?”

Baron and Cayman, who were watching beside him, were astonished at the sight.

Raion wasn’t even a priest, yet he had just cast a perfect healing spell.

“Your Highness, how did you come to wield holy power?”

Raion couldn’t even be bothered to explain.

“It just happened. Now, line the injured up.”

Once the full treatment began, everyone was healed one after another through Raion’s ability.

Each person, marveling at how their wounds had vanished in an instant, looked at Raion with awe and disbelief.

As the treatment was nearly finished, Jade arrived—dragging Gedwin and his subordinates along.

“All has been taken care of.”

Gedwin and several of his men had bruised, swollen faces—no doubt a result of trying to flee and getting caught by Jade.

“Those who’ve been treated, step back.”

Following Raion’s orders, Baron and Cayman instructed the others to move away.

Then Raion fixed his gaze on Gedwin, whose eyes were bruised black and blue.

“Do you know why you ended up like this?”

“I don’t! Why are we being beaten like this?!”

Thwack—!

At that moment, Jade’s palm smacked the back of Gedwin’s head.

“I told you earlier to mind your manners! You think His Highness is your drinking buddy?”

“H-His Highness?”

They hadn’t been told that before, so Gedwin’s eyes went wide.

“That’s right! This is Prince Raion of the Canel Kingdom!”

Gedwin and his men turned pale as death.

Seeing their expressions, Raion smiled meaningfully.

“I’ll ask again—do you know why you ended up like this?”

“I-I don’t! We just got a little too greedy over the orc cores, that’s all!”

Just as he said, minor quarrels between mercenaries or adventurers over monster cores weren’t uncommon.

But that wasn’t the full extent of Gedwin’s crime.

“You mean you don’t remember making a deal with Conrad Vivalous, the lord’s man at the castle, to embezzle the subjugation funds?”

At that exact, damning statement, Gedwin’s face turned from pale to ashen blue.

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