Midnight, 1:30 AM.
On the Bern territory plain, swallowed by the night.
"—RUMBLE!"
The dense drumming of hooves pounded the ground as a 3,000-strong cavalry regiment charged furiously towards the northern side of the plain. They were clad in bronze breastplates and helmets, carrying shields, wielding 4-meter-long sarissa lances, and armed with straight double-edged swords at their waists. Even their warhorses were Thessalian or Thracian thoroughbreds, wearing chamfrons and barding.
These knights wore calm expressions; simply by gathering together and charging forward in a wedge formation, they made the earth groan and insects and snakes flee!
However, the two figures leading the charge at the front of this cavalry regiment were not in such high spirits.
Lucan narrowed his eyes, his gaze constantly sweeping left and right through the cavalry formation, searching for an opportunity to escape.
Yes, Lucan, the Companion Cavalryman who had ordered Hector to reinforce the Conqueror King's main army camp to the north, was actually Lucan in disguise.
Although there was a 'tiny problem' during the execution of the plan, it was still completed as he and Suya had planned.
As for this tiny problem—
To trick Hector into moving the Companion Cavalry, Lucan and Suya had targeted a scout transmitting information from the main army to the Seleucus Legion. After a brief exchange, they realized this was an opportunity that might increase the success rate of their already low-probability plan. So, Lucan took the initiative, leaving the cavalry regiment alone to intercept the scout and then disguise himself as the scout to go to the Seleucus Legion and falsely report military intelligence.
The plot was supposed to unfold that way. However, just as Lucan was about to make his move, he suddenly discovered that, besides himself, there were others also planning to kill this scout. He decisively acted, eliminating the Companion Cavalryman who had intended to kill the scout. From that person, he found a letter.
This letter was not for Hector, but for a knight named Woven Hawkins, who was under Hector's command. When Lucan saw the content of the letter, his scalp prickled with dread. He didn't even pursue the scout further.
This was because the letter revealed an absolutely massive bombshell:
It was a letter written by someone named Mausolus. In the letter, he told a knight named Woven Hawkins that 'they' had completed all preparations to instigate a rebellion among their 'Halicarnassian' soldiers, who were secretly embedded within the Conqueror King's 40,000-strong army tonight. They intended to manipulate the hero Philotas, who had turned a blind eye to their covert development, and lead him to attack the Conqueror King's royal encampment.
At the end of the letter, the writer instructed Knight Woven, who had chosen to pledge allegiance to Hector and thus retained a significant portion of Halicarnassian knights, embedding them within the Companion Cavalry Regiment, to immediately kill Hector, take all the cavalry, and rendezvous with them.
Upon seeing the signature at the end of the letter, Lucan immediately recalled—
Mausolus. This person was the king of a kingdom called Halicarnassus, a vassal state under the Persian Empire, which had already been conquered by Macedonia. But according to both conflicting memories in Lucan's mind, this was undoubtedly a dead man. This person should have died when Macedonia conquered Halicarnassus, yet the person writing this letter was still alive. The only possibility was—
General Philotas, who had led the conquest of Halicarnassus at the time, had concealed this fact and used the opponent's power to develop his own influence within Macedonia.
This was no longer a 'tiny problem'!
Lucan's heart pounded as he nervously eyed the cavalry around him, especially Knight Woven Hawkins, who was galloping beside him. He thought, You, with your thick eyebrows and honest face, are actually the deepest traitor hidden here?!
At this moment, the reason Lucan was here, despite knowing there was a huge trap, was to continue deceiving Hector—
He knew that Suya was about to charge the Conqueror King's main camp with the Royal Guard Cavalry. However, now, waiting for Suya in that place was another 'Suya'-led Halicarnassus Knight Order.
So, the plan changed slightly. First, he tested whether Hector belonged to the Mausolus faction. After seeing Hector's idiotic expression, completely unresponsive to the name 'Mausolus,' he proceeded to trick this former Companion Cavalry commander into leading his cavalry regiment to clash with this Halicarnassus Knight Order disguised as Britannian cavalry.
Let them fight each other.
Currently, the plan was proceeding smoothly, and his acting was impeccable. He had successfully tricked the semi-hero Hector, who was under Hero Seleucus's command, right in front of Seleucus himself.
But…
Lucan looked around at the surrounding cavalry, tears welling up in his eyes.
He couldn't understand why he, who always lived by the code of self-interest, had to do this. Nor could he understand what he was doing this for, acting on instinct. Was it for that extremely talented, golden-haired little conman? Or for the future of this country? Or perhaps, for that lingering resentment from waking up in a blank, desolate sandy land fifteen years ago?
But no matter what it was for, he felt like... he couldn't escape.
And right beside Lucan, at the tip of the wedge formation, as a semi-hero and the commander of this Companion Cavalry regiment, Knight Hector, with short black hair and wearing a dark blue cloak emblazoned with a standing yellow lion, had a grim face. His tightly furrowed brow was troubled, as if many things weighed on his mind.
Relying on the irrational intuition and muscle memory of a semi-heroic knight, he could sense a hint of dissonance in the tense, somber atmosphere.
He remembered the letter his father had sent him, and the single line written in it—
'Hold your ground.'
And then he recalled the order just transmitted by his brother Philotas—
'Lead the Companion Cavalry to reinforce the main army.'
Two completely contradictory orders filled him with deep unease. In fact, Hector was not entirely ignorant of what his brother Philotas had been doing. Before this, Philotas had repeatedly indulged his soldiers, even audaciously calling himself a god when no one was around, for which he had been reprimanded by the King.
And ever since the conquest of Persia, when the King stepped from behind the scenes to the forefront, taking the throne prematurely due to his terrifying military achievements, assassination attempts on the King had never ceased. Several generals, including his father, had long suspected that his brother Philotas was secretly condoning these illicit activities. However, there had never been clear evidence.
And now, his brother Philotas, at this very moment, when the Conqueror King was at his most vulnerable, summoned him and even had the messenger Companion Cavalry deliberately mention the name 'Mausolus.'
The implication was quite clear.
But—
Hector didn't understand. Why him? Why did they have to force him to make a choice in this situation? As a knight, he had sworn allegiance to the Conqueror King, vowing to dedicate everything to that King! But also as a knight, he was a despicable knight who had accidentally sworn allegiance to Suya Pendragon, an object of ridicule, even a laughingstock that Callisthenes might record in history.
And as a relative, his own brother was about to launch a rebellion against the King, a rebellion that would surely implicate his father, his sister Nicanor, and himself.
Where exactly should he stand at this moment? What choice should he make?
Was he now the King's knight, Suya Pendragon's Britannian knight, or Hero Philotas's brother?
When this question became clear, Hector made his choice with almost no hesitation.
"—Whoa!"
He suddenly yanked the reins, let out a long sigh, and then raised his hand!
The Companion Cavalry regiment, seeing this signal, immediately came to a halt with a chorus of whinnies!
Knight Woven Hawkins looked on in confusion, asking gravely, "Commander, what's wrong?"
Hector raised his riding crop, tugging the reins to slowly turn his warhorse, facing the Companion Cavalryman who had delivered the message for the traitor Philotas.
"Knight,"
"Now, I have a question for you."
The Companion Cavalryman, who was Lucan, being coldly stared at by Hector, felt his heart suddenly skip a beat. He frowned at Hector, wondering what this greenhorn was suddenly doing, stopping abruptly like this.
But Lucan maintained a stern and solemn expression, slowly raising his head.
"Commander Hector, please ask."
Hector nodded, took a deep breath, and then—
He slowly drew his dark blue, 4-meter-long giant cavalry lance, looked coldly at Lucan, and asked:
"Knight, in your opinion, to whom am I sworn?"