"Ryan, this is all your fault!"
As a noble and a lord, of course Baron Barnes wouldn't reflect on his own responsibility. People like him were never taught to look inward for blame. That opportunity never existed in their upbringing.
"If you hadn't ordered us to leave the castle, how could my soldiers have suffered such losses? How could my territory have been looted?!"
Ryan stared coldly at Barnes. He hadn't even had time to vent his own anger, and yet Barnes dared to explode first?
"Barnes… are you questioning me?"
"Between noble allies, when one side abandons the field mid-battle—this is the honor of the Barnes family?"
"Nowhere in the southern continent have I heard of such a thing. Barnes, do you know what will happen if this story reaches the southern provinces of the Empire?"
"You will be scorned by every noble. No one will ever see the Barnes family as an ally again. You'll become a laughingstock—a dishonorable traitor, feared and ridiculed!"
"You—!"
Barnes pointed at Ryan, his chest heaving, but not a word came out.
He had abandoned Ryan's army during the war. Though not a full retreat, he had left the field.
It was a fact. Undeniable. And he couldn't argue against it.
"Your soldiers died? If you had stationed them at the town, would they have died like that—at your own castle gates, trapped outside by the narrow mountain path and the heavy doors of your so-called impregnable fortress?"
"Your town was looted? Your enemies weren't orcs—they were nobles. And nobles follow rules. They would never openly raid your lands without cause. The reason they plundered it is simple—you lost the war."
"They were the victors, and they exercised the rights of the victor. Plunder is one of them."
"Did they raid your town before your army fell? No. Everything was caused by your defeat. The spoils of war belong to the winners."
"This is all your doing, Barnes!"
"Not only did you cause your own army's death and your territory's loss, you also got over half of my army killed."
Ryan locked eyes with him. The blazing aura of the Flame Dragon Knight Order radiated from him, making Barnes instinctively take a few steps back.
"Barnes, you didn't expect me to win, did you? But I did. I claimed the victory that should have belonged to all of us. I inflicted massive losses on Count Weiss's army in Zero Crossing County. I took a thousand men and crushed an enemy force several times larger."
"This war will be remembered and retold. And in that story, you, Barnes, will be the noble who abandoned his allies, who betrayed his honor, and who will be known as a faithless coward without credibility!"
Hearing this, Barnes finally began to panic. His voice dropped.
"I didn't run. I… I was just too worried about my castle."
"Hmph! Then pray that was truly your reason, and not because you panicked at the sight of Count Weiss's army."
"And you should be grateful that I won this war. Perhaps the victory really should have belonged to the three of us barons."
Barnes's eyes lit up.
"Ryan… I agree to your share of 30% of Icepeak Forest. Baron Hutton and I will each take 10%."
"And Ryan… when this story gets written down, could my men also be mentioned in it?"
Indeed, a battle in which the outnumbered triumphed would surely be recorded and passed down. Barnes didn't want any bad press attached to his name—he wanted to be remembered as a victor.
Ryan looked at him with a cold smile.
"We'll discuss that later. You'd better focus on cleaning up your territory. If those corpses lie around too long, plague will spread."
There was no way Ryan would let Barnes off the hook so easily.
From now on, among the three allied baronies, Frozen Soil Territory would be the clear leader—in every sense.
"They actually… lost?"
Viscount Miles stared in disbelief at the message in his hands, rereading it multiple times to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.
In the end, he had no choice but to accept it—this was a war destined to be recorded and remembered.
"The Baron of Frozen Soil defeated 4,000 soldiers from the Weiss family with just 1,000 troops. This war will shake the entire Northwind Province."
Beside him, Cristan couldn't help worrying for his father.
"Father, at least we didn't send our own army. This defeat… has nothing to do with the Miles family."
"You know nothing!"
Miles roared like a wounded beast, staring resentfully at the report.
His youngest son, Larg, then spoke up:
"Brother, this war represents a conflict between Viscount Miles and the Baron of Frozen Soil. Our family name will appear in every retelling of this war—front and center."
"Now that Count Weiss's army has lost to that baron, we no longer have a clear advantage over Viscount Dragon. If anything, Dragon may now take the offensive—perhaps even attack us."
"We were supposed to support Count Weiss, to help him win over the nobles of Zero Crossing County, and use his family's strength to keep the others in line. That way, the Miles family could maintain control of this land permanently."
"But now…"
Cristan looked at Larg. He understood his brother's reasoning—it was sound. Exactly the sort of thing their father wanted to hear. But behind his eyes, Cristan's gaze burned with hidden rage.
His younger brother had just claimed the honor that should have been his.
"Cristan, leave us."
Miles's weary voice cut through the air.
Cristan clenched his fists—but dared not defy his father.
"Larg… maybe you're right."
This war would be remembered—and it would reshape Zero Crossing County's power balance.
Viscount Dragon soon sent envoys to Northwind's Flower to personally congratulate Ryan on becoming one of the Empire's most dazzling military nobles.
He also extended an invitation—to join him in launching an assault on Zero Crossing City. His army had already assembled and was ready to move on the land he had long coveted.
Naturally, Ryan declined. His reason was simple and sound: his and Baron Barnes's armies had suffered unprecedented losses and were no longer combat-ready.
He was sure none of the other nobles would question that. A victory against overwhelming odds, without the advantage of terrain, had to be bought in blood.
And the defeat at Northwind's Flower would only serve to exaggerate their losses in the retellings by those prideful nobles.
By now, those same nobles were probably claiming that Baron Barnes had no soldiers left—only slaves.
Five days after the envoy departed, Ryan's scouts reported that Viscount Dragon's army had reached approx. 15 km outside Zero Crossing City—more than 10,000 strong.