The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The final charge was not as spectacular as he had imagined. Because of the high-explosive ray last night, Hammond felt that he could no longer control his magic well, so the strength of his Knight Domain fluctuated and he could no longer completely defend against the burning rain curtain as before.

Moreover, most of the elite troops were lost in the night raid, and there were not many knights left to continue defending Hammond.

So this cavalry unit didn't even get close to the First Army before they were all captured and fell from their horses.

Hammond then vaguely sensed that he was carried to a camp, where the priests and nuns gave him some kind of potion before he fell into a deep sleep.

When Hammond woke up, it was already the next day. Although his body was wrapped in bandages, Hammond was surprisingly in good condition.

Even the occasional dizziness that would follow after being shot in the head was cured.

After getting up and stretching his limbs, Hammond fell silent. For a knight determined to die, the greatest insult was not only failing to die but also being captured.

The other party even healed his own hidden injuries.

"Hey, are you awake?"

Upon receiving the report from the military doctor, Laurie arrived at Hammond's camp immediately.

"I will never betray my lord."

Hammond could practically guess with his toes what Laurie's purpose in sparing his life was.

"Oh, forget it then."

To Hammond's surprise, Laurie didn't seem to care much. After Hammond refused, she waved her hand, and her attendants immediately came over and put the shackles used by prisoners on Hammond.

Seeing Hammond's puzzled expression, Laurie said directly, "I have no interest in playing the game of repeatedly trying to persuade you to surrender and then repeatedly refusing. If you don't want to, then forget it."

"But since you have refused, you are a prisoner, and your fate from now on will be decided by the Governor."

After he finished speaking, two strong soldiers in plate armor grabbed Hammond's arms and dragged him out.

Hammond understood that since he refused to defect, they were going to send him to a prisoner-of-war camp. Well, that was fine. Hammond missed his brothers and wondered how they were doing in the prisoner-of-war camp, what kind of torture they were enduring, and whether they blamed him for not being able to rescue them.

As soon as Hammond stepped out of the tent, he saw another tent next to it. Not only was the door wide open, but it even had several windows cut out, as if for ventilation.

"here it is?"

While being held captive, Hammond curiously peered into the tent.

"Those knights who charged alongside you."

The soldiers escorting Hammond seemed quite agreeable, answering his questions and even allowing him to walk to the front of the tent for inspection.

The tents were filled with the knights who had followed Hammond in the desperate charge yesterday. Some soldiers were wrapped up quite warmly, while others had only minor injuries and were chatting with the nuns who were taking care of them.

Seeing a knight whistling frivolously and making inappropriate jokes with a nun who was tending to other wounded soldiers, Hammond reprimanded him, "What kind of behavior is this, flirting with a medic? What about military regulations?"

The whistling knight immediately jumped out of bed and excitedly asked Hammond, "General, General, are you alright?"

The other wounded also got out of bed, some wanting to get up and pay their respects, but the nuns pressed them down, especially the more seriously injured ones.

"No need for formalities, just listen to the army doctor!"

After saying that, Hammond glared at the knight who had been whistling and said, "Take your punishment."

"General...we are in enemy territory."

Hammond finally realized what was happening, but still angrily retorted, "You still know we're in enemy territory? Then run around this camp until it gets dark."

Several nuns tried to stop him, but the knight immediately bowed and ran outside the tent on his own.

Hammond stormed off, completely forgetting that he was being escorted.

"What is the punishment for harassing a military doctor?"

Along the way, Hammond found himself chatting with the soldiers escorting him.

"There is no specific punishment because these nuns are not professional military doctors, but are on their way to Silverwing City to treat the people and prevent the plague. In addition, soldiers who harass nuns are usually beaten up by other wounded soldiers first."

Hearing this explanation, Hammond smiled with a hint of satisfaction for some reason.

"We are clearly prisoners of war, so why are they treating us specifically?"

Hammond could understand the need to treat himself; after all, it wasn't arrogance. Hammond felt he had some skill in leading troops into battle, but he hadn't expected that even other prisoners could receive medical treatment. For the first time, Hammond realized he wasn't so special after all.

"Because you are also from the North."

Hammond stopped in his tracks, and for some reason, he thought of Grand Duke Lars, who had once been in the North.

Just as Hammond was about to reminisce about the past and wallow in self-pity, a few discordant sounds came from the nearby prisoner-of-war camp.

"Okay, that's it, kick him, kick him!"

"Go, Dean! Yeah, that's it, fuck him!"

"Charge! Sprint! Charge!"

Hammond glanced back at the escorting soldiers; it seemed like the prisoner-of-war camp had rioted.

But the escorting soldiers didn't react in any particular way; instead, they continued to escort Hammond as he opened the gates of the prisoner-of-war camp.

In the prisoner-of-war camp, Hammond's brothers, whom he had been so worried about and worried about being tortured, were now playing a different kind of football with the soldiers of the First Army.

The ball traced a beautiful arc in the air and flew rapidly towards the frontcourt.

Dean sprinted forward, his eyes fixed on the incoming soccer ball, trying to predict its landing point.

But the defenders were already closing in, and there wasn't enough time for the ball to bounce, so Dean opted for a volley shot.

The football flew through the air at high speed and fell into the net.

Goal!

The members of the prisoner-of-war team cheerfully grabbed Dean and tossed him around.

But the guards protested, "It's only one to one! Let's go again! We want to avenge our wounded brothers!"

"Bring it on! You only beat us because of your equipment, didn't you? Without your equipment advantage, you're nothing special!"

One of the prisoners came out and started arguing with the guards.

The two sides transformed their battlefield rivalry into a rivalry on the sports field.

At this moment, the prisoner who was arguing with the guard finally noticed Hammond, who was silently observing from the side, and immediately froze on the spot.

The other prisoners were also stunned on the spot, and even Dean, who had been thrown high into the air, fell directly to the ground.

"Holy crap, my ass!"

Dean rubbed his backside as he got up, pushed aside the petrified prisoners, and yelled, "Is this how you treat your best player?"

Then Dean saw Hammond being brought in.

"General..."

"Well played."

Although Hammond couldn't understand it, he knew Dean had won.

"A beautiful kick."

That evening, Hammond requested an audience with Laurie.

"How's the situation in Silverwing City?"

"Don't worry, there was little resistance over there. Our people have taken over smoothly. As is customary, we still need to clear out the surrounding bandits before we can return to Gray Collar."

Hammond nodded after listening. He had initially been quite dismissive of the slogan that Northerners wouldn't fight Northerners, but now he was starting to believe it.

It was only then that Hammond realized that this simple, even somewhat crude, slogan was not meant for him, but for the ordinary people.

Seeing Hammond fall silent after asking the question, Laurie couldn't help but smile slightly. These old-fashioned Lars Knights were just too easy to understand.

"Once you arrive at Gray Collar, you can meet the other knights of Lars, and then you can decide which one you want to pledge your allegiance to. Of course, I will also report this battle report to the Governor truthfully."

"That's how it should be."

Hammond, having gained a way out, nodded and left, satisfied, dragging his shackles behind him.