I tamed my ex husbands mad dog

24

Reinhardt's thought on Wilhem were always the same.
A little boy and a good boy who followed her obediently. A child who was quiet and didn't talk, but only smiled brightly and kindly to Reinhardt. Now that he was grown, he couldn't be called a child, but Reinhardt still behaved as if Wilhelm was a little boy in her arms.
If Algen Stugall had looked into Reinhardt's head, he would have been shocked. Or he would have been rude and asked:
'I'm really sorry, my lady, but are there two knights named Wilhelm in the Luden estate?'
Marquis Glencia was keen to deal with the conscripts sent from the Empire every year in preparation for the spring barbarian raids. To be precise, it meant to drive out the savages by conscripting a bunch of misfits, tossing them in the territory, and following them with his own soldiers to wipe out the barbarians.
Because of the conscription, the misfits had crawled all the way to the northern part of the empire and only contemplated saving their lives.
That was what the border guard called the conscripts. There were also many soldiers who thought that the northern battles belonged in the north. At the most, there was no one who would risk their life to fight a fight that lasted for two months.
But that year was different.
At the name Dietrich Ernst from Luden, Marquis Glencia's face twitched. The second son of the Ernst family was a welcome name for an old veteran who had spent his life in the north. Dietrich, who went in front of the Marquis, asked if Nathantine's knight who had come with him could be sent with him to the front.
That was Wilhelm.
<What is that? Did you bring a scrawny chicken?>
These were the words that Marquis Glencia uttered when he saw a half-grown child. Not a chick, not a chicken, something in between. Dietrich replied with a smile.
<This is an excellent fighting chicken.>
Algen Stugall learned the meaning of the word in his second meeting.
Wilhelm, who had only been able to fend for himself in the first few battles, took a completely different turn in the next ones. After identifying the enemy, his method of wielding a sword and an ax like a ghost was sharp and cruel. Even Dietrich, who taught him, was astonished.
The fight with the barbarians was close to a melee in nature. And Wilhelm was specialized for that melee. Even if he wielded a sword, he threw it away and swung an axe. It was not the usual knight's fight. But all the knights of the North fought like that. If you were only to sharpen your sword, you would lose your sword and have your head cut off by the barbarian's whip and axe.
After the second battle, the knights were busy praising the boy. They didn't know where this crazy guy came from. But Wilhelm hardly responded to them, and barricaded himself in the corner of the barracks where the young knights slept. He was so standoffish that it embarrassed even the knights that have been through all sort of craziness since they left their mother's arms.
Wilhelm was always the same. After only exchanging a few words with Dietrich, most of the time he fell asleep cradling the sword in the dormitory after the battle. It was the sword that the lord of Luden had given him. The blade was an overwhelmingly better sword than the standard sword he was given, but he never used it in battle. He just wore it around his waist.
No one would have expected that Wilhelm, an excellent warrior but normally docile boy, would have killed the warchief's son. The Imperial Army cheered when they learned that the warchief's son had died, but Marquis Glencia wrinkled his forehead.
This was because the fight against the barbarians had been going on every year, as if following a script. When the barbarians blew their horns and bore down because they were starving before spring, the marquis gave away to them two food warehouses closest to the barbarian territory and retreated. Well, if you do this for 30 years, you are bound to get the hang pf it.
The incoming conscripts could not follow Glencia's training, let alone properly follow commands. So, in the end, the only soldiers that the marquis could command satisfactorily were those trained in the north. There was no way they could completely wipe out the barbarians with that trifling amount of soldiers. The situation was good for the savages and Glencia.
So, the food given by the Marquis was like a promise that had been kept tacitly for a long time. It meant that the barbarians should eat in moderation and rather than get rid of each other and shed blood needlessly.
Of course, the savages couldn't back down right away. They plundered a few villages in the north and tried to take everything they could from the northern army for a couple of months. Nevertheless, for the past 10 years, the fight has not dragged on for more than a month. Because the warchief was also senile. So, the Marquis of Glencia predicted that the fight of that year would also be a fight that would be 'eat in moderation and leave'.
However.
If the warchief's heir died, the matter would be different. The nature of the fight immediately changed. The light in the eyes of the savages who had been stealthily plundering and tearing up the barracks before lit up and they rushed to die. The marquis summoned the boy.
<Did you know that he was the warchief's son?>
<Yes.>
The marquis suddenly shifted uncomfortably.
<I heard from a nearby soldier that you could have captured the warchief's son. Why did you kill him?>
It was basic knowledge to capture important people on the battlefield without killing them. This was because hostage negotiations become possible along with the exchange of prisoners. That was the first thing that every soldier who went to war learnt. The boy couldn't have not heard it either. But the boy responded sternly.
<He stole my sword.>
<... ... What are you talking about? I heard you stabbed the warchief's son with a sword.>
<I wield two swords.>
Only then did the marquis' eyes turn to the boy's waist. Indeed. There was a sword of rare quality hung in the back. And somehow, it was also the sword that the marquis was familiar with. It was natural since it was the sword Hugh Linke always wore. The Marquis and the Marquis of Linke were the two greatest military commanders of the Empire, and met once every few years. It went without saying that the two veterans had feelings of admiration and respect for each other. However, the marquis at this time couldn't even think of such a thing. He just got angry.
<Anyway, if he could have been captured, you should have done so.>
And, surprisingly, the boy responded to the Marquis' anger.
<He disgusted me.>
<... ... what?>
<The filthy bastard stole my sword with dirty hands and smirked.>
<It's disgraceful to have your sword taken away on the battlefield, but that doesn't mean you should ignore taking an important hostage... ... .>
At that time, the boy's disrespectful attitude was talked about throughout the three-year war. The boy looked at the Marquis in front of him and said,
<Your lordship knows the score. Leaving him alive would have been far more disgraceful to me.>
<Hey, you crazy bastard! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my lord!>
In the end, Dietrich Ernst, who could not stand it and ran out, bowed his head and apologized. Dietrich pressed the back of the boy's head with his large hand and demanded from the boy an apology to the marquis.
The boy finally bowed his head with eyes full of discontent. <... I'm sorry.>, but nobody would believe that he was very sorry.
Later, he found out that the boy's sword was bestowed by his liege. The marquis wondered if Nathantine was such a highly trusted lord, but soon learned that the boy was a hired knight from Luden's estate, and everything was revealed. Reinhardt Linke. The rumored princess and the daughter of Marquis Linke was his liege.
<The sword the Marquis of Linke left behind is worthy of treasure for a young knight. Well, anyway... ... .>
Fernach Glencia thought that and tilted his head.
<Was he crazy enough to kill the warchief's son over that?>
<It must have been because the young man had blood rushing to his head.>
Algen said so at the time, but soon found out. That child was just a nutcase.
***
The war quickly escalated. It was foreseen when the warchief's son died. The conscripts who only had trained or guarded inside Glencia Castle eventually had to go to the battlefield. The Marquis of Glencia wrote a letter to the Emperor. It meant that the war would be prolonged because of this and that.
The emperor was dying of excitement.
Tax revenues immediately increased on the pretext of war. Some of the money was delivered to the Marquis as reward money, but most of it belonged to the emperor. The crown prince, who just happened to recover from his illness, welcomed the new crown princess with great grandeur. Princess Canary, who came as a hostage, it was said that she had commissioned and wore a dress several times more fancy than the one worn by the former crown princess. A huge wedding was held as if it had nothing to do with the war-torn North.
The marquis sent the boy to the front on purpose. It was half out of annoyance and half out of necessity. Even on the battlefield, the boy did not become dull, but rather became sharper and sharper. The dark-eyed boy did not associate with any soldiers, but he killed the most barbarians.
Wilhelm rarely spoke to anyone first, but there were many cases in which numerous soldiers and knights scrambled to talk to Wilhelm. As time passed, Wilhelm became almost a hero to some soldiers. Having few words, he was immediately labeled as a taciturn person, and he was forgiven for not joining group meals or sleeping apart.
However, the soldiers and knights close by knew roughly that he sometimes went insane like a lunatic.
For example:
<Hey, did you hear that the prince has remarried?>
<My wife says they spread flowers and bread on the street for three days. Damn it.>
<Shit. We're here shivering and struggling in the North. And he's married a princess who came as a hostage?>
Autumn was slowly approaching, and the soldiers were stacking straw in preparation for setting up camp in the winter. Naturally, some soldiers among them started talking nonsense, and the news spread. The prince's grand marriage was bound to be a hot topic. In the process, the story of Reinhard Linke, who became a deposed person, also circulated. A woman who crippled the prince by stabbing him in the right leg when he asked for a divorce.
<No, she can get married with a new man. Why did she stab him?>
<Who said what? They say she has a pretty face too. I'd marry her too, spread those legs and... ... .>
The soldiers made crude gestures. A certain amount of obscenity was common on the battlefield, so Algen, who was sitting nearby and oiling a saddle, pretended not to hear. It wasn't like they were swearing at anyone present here, and since the story of the crown prince was mainstream, he didn't take it seriously. But there were some who were serious about it.
Crack
A strange sound reached to the soldier's ears as he twisted the straw, saying, "I'd marry her too." At the same time, something hot splashed on his face.
<Ahhhh, what is this... ... . Ahhh!>
The soldier who was reflexively wiping his face screamed. There was blood on his hands and face. A sword was pushed through the neck of the soldier next to him, the one who was making obscene gestures and talking about spreading legs.
<It's an attack!>
The momentarily confused soldier thought it was an attack by barbarians and screamed. At once, the knights in the vicinity came out without even wearing armor. A sword and an axe were all they managed to bring out. However, instead of the enemy, they only witnessed the sight of an Imperial knight pulling out a sword from a soldier's neck.
<What's going on, here?>
The knight of the Imperial Army, Wilhelm, carelessly twisted his sword and snapped the soldier's neck, killing him.
<It's not a big deal.>
<Oh no... ... . AHHHHHH!>
The soldier who was talking next to him screamed again. As soon as Wilhelm removed the sword from the dead soldier's body, he swung it again, cutting off the screaming soldier's nose.
The soldier held his wound and groaned. Algen, who was brushing his horse after cleaning the saddle, witnessed all of this. However, he could not stop Wilhelm because he was calming down the horses startled by the sudden screams. So, it was another knight who stopped Wilhelm from raising his sword again.
<Stop! What kind of cruelty is this? Explain, knight!>
To that question, Wilhelm stared intently at his face and answered.
<There are those have caused military discipline to be lax by insulting the imperial family. We have summarily disposed of them.>
Eventually, a small hearing was held. The soldiers around them flinched, and rushed to tell the knights that the dead man and the man with the nose cut off had cursed the crown prince and the emperor. The dead soldier was burned and they sent his ashes back to his hometown, and the man with the cut nose was sent back without receiving a penny of consolation money. Dietrich scolded Wilhelm, but to no avail.
<Terrible. You weren't like that in Luden.>
Dietrich worried about the boy as he said that. Some knights lamented, saying that it was not too strange that the boy had changed since there were many people who changed after killing people in the war.
Even after that, Wilhelm often killed people for 'lack of discipline'. A certain savage tribesman learned that he was a knight from Luden and mocked him as the beggar woman's bed-boy for having come this far. After the battle, Wilhelm cut the body of the savage into pieces and crushed it with his feet. Until the corpse was stomped into mashed meat, and then into an unrecognizable clot of blood.
Algen came to the conclusion after watching Wilhelm do that all night that the boy was crazy. That bastard didn't change on the battlefield, it was clear that he was always this way.