Conquest

Editor: BlinkToThePast

When this hillbilly suddenly started to play the rascal, Ruhr became somewhat helpless. Revealing a face like someone with a toothache, he grinned: “You punk, I am sacrificing my face to take you out and you actually end up making it hard for me.”

Ruhr made an effort and tried to pull Shaar up. However, now that this sly hillbilly had recognized a small advantage in his heart, why would he be willing to get up? After pulling for a while, Ruhr, who didn’t have this hillbilly’s inhuman strength finally ran out of breath. Full of ridicule, he said: “You sly fellow. Sure enough, this uncle wasn’t wrong about you. Although you have an upright and honest face, you have more cunning in your head than I did when I was your age!”

Shaar tightly clung to his bed and smiled: “I got imprisoned for more than ten days for no reason, if it was someone else wouldn’t there be some resentment? You guys want to imprison people when you like, and then free them just like that? If it’s like that, this uncle will just throw away his status. At the worst, I will go back to the mountain and become a hunter. I am not a Byzantine citizen in any case.”

Ruhr frowned as he was helpless against this guy. He finally sighed: “Alright! You sit down first, I will talk about it and you only need to listen. However..... You must keep your mouth shut and not say a word about it. Just pretends not to know about it.

While talking, the fat fellow sat down and stared at Shaar. He then sneered twice: “You don’t know, right now, your name has already spread to Osgiliath! No matter which military headquarter or even on the table of His Majesty in the imperial palace, there are copies of the report on your background! In brief, in a few words. . . . You are currently in the limelight and after Bonfret died, the fact that he falsely claimed the medal for your deed was exposed. The military headquarters couldn’t save its honor and His Majesty was furious. In the end, the deputy minister of military affairs has been severely scolded by His Majesty. The commander-in-chief of the military headquarters also took the blame and resigned. Moreover, more than a dozen high-ranking officers in the military have been forcefully punished. The news spread yesterday, the deputy minister has written his resignation letter and His Majesty has approved it! All of these events, because of you!”

“Me?” Shaar pointed himself on the nose.

Since he was only a hillbilly, the people with the highest status he had previously seen in his life were General Adrick and General Ruhr. Certainly, Odin’s Hasting was also one of them.

However... The deputy minister of military affairs of the Empire? Such a big shot, he only heard about him in the past. However now, he unexpectedly. . . . Had to resign his post because of him?

“Anyway, His Majesty was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with some of the old men in the military headquarters in recent years. He seized the chance to get rid them by taking advantage of this matter. He used you as an excuse. There was some high-level power struggle involved here, even if I tell you, you won’t understand.” Ruhr smiled bitterly and lowered his voice: “To be honest I am also ‘responsible’ for this matter.”

“I am not afraid of telling you the truth. Initially, making Bonfret fraudulently receive your military exploit was my idea. I wasn’t trying to harm you, instead, it was for your own good ......You offended that pretty boy on the battlefield and although that he was an idiot, he was favoured and trusted by his highness the crown prince. You ungrateful kid unexpectedly offended him severely. Even in the protection of the tyrannical Adrick, facing against the future Emperor, it is impossible to hide. Therefore, I thought of a way to calm Bonfret’s anger. He would receive the military exploit, however you accompanied him on that day to face Hasting and became a witness this way. Once the medal was given, his matter would be closed since it is not possible to reverse a verdict again! In that case, Bonfret obtained the benefit of the medal and would get its honor. However, he wouldn’t be able to act against you since you were the witness of his medal. Instead, he would even try to find a way to protect you....... “

When Ruhr arrived at this part, his face tightened but he continued with a forced smile: “However, who would have thought that Hasting was so courageous and arrogant that he unexpectedly rushed to our rear single-handedly to kill that pretty boy Bonfret.”

Shaar touched his head and laughed hollowly: “No wonder, at that time even General Adrick didn’t say anything about this matter. It turned out that he wants what’s best for me. However, I don’t actually care......From the look of it, this medal is not easy to obtain. Bonfret that idiot, if he didn’t seek the fame of wounding Hasting, then he wouldn’t have become his target.”

“This matter is something to be talked about later.” Ruhr rubbed the fat on his face: “You were imprisoned because the military simply wanted a scapegoat. After you were arrested, your men ran back with the news and Adrick was furious. If I haven’t noticed that things were not right and went with him to the military headquarters to calm him down, I only fear that he would have drawn his sword to duel with the guys of military headquarters. Ah, this fellow really cares for you a lot. However, this tyrannical general usually lives up to his name. When coming across this kind of matter, he normally twists an arm or leg of someone. Furthermore, this defeat had cost the 13th Army half of its men. He wasn’t as energetic as he usual is. Once I saw that things were not looking good, I grabbed him to discuss a solution. The military could only punish you with the prerequisite that Bonfret was a hero! Since that was the case, this matter could be easily handled!”

Shaar smiled.

“Then we assembled all the officers of the 13th and my 6th Army in jointly denouncing Bonfret and spread that he has fraudulently received the medal. First, we spread the news and made outside know that you were the person who truly wounded Hasting on the battlefield...”

The fat fellow pinched Shaar and smiled deceitfully.

“Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for other regiments to do something like this. Once the Imperial Army put out an order, normally nobody dares to speak out. However, in the 13th Army, Adrick immediately hoisted the flag of mutiny and the men of the 13th Army immediately follow with him. Therefore, once this trouble came out, the news quickly transmitted to the Royal Capital and it didn’t give the military headquarters time to respond....”

Shaar opened his mouth: “Which means...”

“Which means, right now you are a hero, boy!” Ruhr stared at Shaar, but no matter how you look at it, his eyes had a trace of evil intentions: “Hasting became so famous because no one was able to wound him on the battlefield. For so many years, you are the first!”

Pausing for a moment, Ruhr sighed: “To be honest, this is a shame that we Byzantine soldiers carry. In the Byzantine army, the military officers are more accomplished in military strategy and tactical aspects. Being recognised in martial arts was no longer important. However, the Odins live in a barbaric country. In an army, if a leader’s martial arts is insufficient, he wouldn’t be able to suppress his men.”

“His Majesty was frantically searching for a chance to move against the military headquarters and this matter gave him an exceedingly good excuse. Receiving fraudulently military exploits was neither big nor small. There have always been such matters in any imperial army. However since it was investigated by His Majesty, no matter how small the excuse, he could find an infinite amount of good method. Let alone, this time the military headquarters had dug a big hole for itself! They prepare everything to give a good hand to Bonfret and made the stake high. His Majesty now took the advantage of this opportunity to push; they didn’t even have time to clean after themselves. The pit that they dug was used to bury themselves.”

Shaar nodded and pointed at his nose again: “Then... I am vindicated?”

Ruhr happily smiled: “Not only will you be released, but there is also a big merit waiting for you to take. However, this whole event will also put you in an extremely dangerous position.”

When Ruhr talked until here, he finally restrained his happy expression and put on a serious face: “In face of those strives, those who are caught in the middle never end well! You are currently a sword in His Majesty’s hand, used to stab the old geezers of the military headquarters. Although you have been released, this matter caused the deputy minister of the military affairs to resign and a group of high-level officers to be punished, demoted, removed and transferred......These people don’t have the skills to cause trouble for His Majesty, but a small ant like you is a completely different matter!”

Shaar’s complexion abruptly changed.

“Congratulations, after enlisting in the military for just several months, you haven’t even set a foot in the Royal Capital but a third of the people in the army have heard your name, and their teeth would start itching from hate. Making so many enemies quickly, after thousands of years, you can be considered the first who achieved this in the Byzantine army!”

“Hey, fatty, your smiling face is very treacherous!” Shaar stared at him.

Ruhr snorted: “Your situation is very dangerous. The people in military headquarters hate you. Your name is already known by those old geezers, no better said— on their blacklist. However, the army has its own tradition. Even if they want to go against you, these old geezers have to be cautious because of their status and limits. At best, they could make you suffer some hardship and at the worst they would reward you for the military exploit by giving you a position at some godforsaken place to let you rot. They would make you fend for yourself, but if you want to rise, they would make it difficult for a lifetime. However, for a small hillbilly like you, I guess you probably don’t care about these things.”

Ruhr guessed right, this hillbilly didn’t care in the slightest.

In any case, he wasn’t a citizen of the Byzantine Empire and didn’t really have a lot of senses of belonging to this country. As for the things like getting a promotion and getting rich, he didn’t think too much of them.

Ruhr then took a deep breath: “However, there is another person hates you! If it was just the people from the military headquarters moving against you, I would not too worried about it. However – this guy hating you, this is what has Adrick and me worried the most!”

“Who?”

“Who else could it be? Idiot!” Ruhr scolded one and then cautiously looked at an entrance while saying in a low voice: “His Highness our crown prince, the Empires’ future Emperor! That Bonfret was his guy, ah, according to the rumours, they shared a bed! Right now his beloved man was killed under your protection. Moreover, because he tried to receive a medal fraudulently and the story broke out, after dying, it brought ruin and shame upon his name. You tell me, who can that crown prince not hate you?”