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The army, led by Hilmes and composed entirely of Parsians, left the royal capital on March 1.
His force consisted of 9,200 cavalry and 25,400 infantry. In addition, there was a team carrying grain. The cavalry was composed mostly of those who had followed Zandeh’s late father, Kharlan, and also of Sam’s original troops.
Even Guiscard was surprised that Silver Mask was able to raise more than 30,000 soldiers, and despite his slight uneasiness, he watched Silver Mask set off.
Five days after leaving the royal capital, just halfway to Zabul fortress, they heard a rumor from the civilians along the way.
Some of the more troublesome troops of the Knights Templar had been driven out of Zabul fortress already. They had attacked a group of merchants who had converted to the religion of Yaldabaoth, killing them and plundering their goods. The fifteen men who had been driven out had assembled not far from the mainland highway and become complete thieves, and from then on they made their living by burning, killing and plundering.
Zandeh argued that since they were halfway to Zabul, they should just kill the thieves. Hilmes also nodded in agreement.
However, two days after they continued their march, the rumors changed. The group of fifteen Lusitanian thieves had all been killed by a traveler who had appeared just recently.
The peasant who spoke to Sam looked extremely excited.
“Ah, I’ve never seen a man that strong before!”
“That strong, huh?”
“I never would have imagined that there could be such a strong man in this world! He killed fifteen people by himself, and didn’t even have a scratch on him.”
Hearing such a sensational description from the other party, even Sam became interested.
“What did he look like?”
It was a man who was about thirty years old, sinewy and tall, but blind in his left eye. Although he was not wearing armor, he was riding a brown horse and a large sword in a green sheath was strapped to his waist. This was the peasant’s description of the man.
Sam already had an idea in mind. He asked the citizens to collect more correct information about the one-eyed man.
According to the peasants, the one-eyed man always appeared in a leisurely manner in nearby villages in these troubled times. Although he told everyone that he had a remarkable secret identity, and had killed hundreds of powerful men in a village in the north, and then came out to travel alone, everyone thought that these words were just posturing.
Once he heard that the nearby villages were being repeatedly harassed by the Lusitanian thieves, the man volunteered to go to clean them up single-handedly, as long as the villagers were willing to give him wine and women as a thank-you gift. So he went alone to the thieves’ hideout.
The next day, the one-eyed man rode back to the village on a horse, holding the reins of another horse. On the horse’s back were three sacks, each containing the heads of five thieves.
The peasants swarmed back to the hideout and took back everything that had been taken from them, and gave the one-eyed man wine and women as promised. After three days, the man found it too much trouble to socialize with people in the tiny village, so he left.
That happened to be yesterday. There was a cave nearby, where he left his horse, so he may still be inside the cave today. Or maybe, god forbid, he had already left.
“Your Highness, I think I know who that man is, so I will go and meet him. If I can get him to serve Your Highness, he will be a reliable person.”
Sam said this to Hilmes, and went forward with only twenty horsemen toward the cave where the man was staying.
The opening of the cave was at the foot of a mountain with a view of the mainland highway, near which grew dense goldfinch branches and wild olive trees. The closer they got to the cave, the clearer the sound of a song came from inside the cave. The singing was not pleasant to the ear, but the volume was sincerely admirable.
As Sam approached the cave, a cacophony of squeaks rang out from the goldfinch bushes. It was a family of wild rats. There were pieces of dried meat and cheese scattered in the grass. This family of wild rats seemed to be eating the bait, while simultaneously acting as guards to the cave. The singing stopped abruptly, and there came a human voice.
“Who is so rude as to eavesdrop on other people’s singing?”
“Kubard, half a year has passed, and your singing skills still have not improved! But I am glad to know that you’re alive, more than anything else.”
“…… Oh, is that Sam?”
The one-eyed man who appeared at the entrance of the cave showed his white teeth as he smiled, and his normally shrewd face showed a youthful expression.
He is the Parsian Marzban Kubard, whose whereabouts have been unknown since the defeat of the Battle of Atropatene.
Sam told the cavalry to wait outside and went inside the cave alone. The horse was already saddled, and Kubard seemed to be about to depart. Kubard spread out the blanket rolled up in a corner of the cave and took out a jug of ale.
“Please sit down! To be honest, I thought you were dead. In that case, there are probably many more alive! How is Garshasp, who was guarding Ecbatana with you?”
“Garshasp died bravely in battle. It is very different from me, a man who is living on the run.”
Sam said this with a self-deprecating tone. Kubard smiled, the jug of ale still in his hand.
“If you want to despise yourself, that is your freedom. But I do not think surviving is deserving of shame. Because I survived the Battle of Atropatene is why today I can drink wine, embrace women, and sometimes kill those damn Lusitanians.”
Kubard placed the bronze cup in front of Sam and poured some ale, while he himself started drinking directly from the spout. He’d always had a reputation for being a heavy drinker, and to him, ale was pretty much the same as water. Sam only brought the glass to his mouth and sipped.
“How about it, Kubard? Now that I am following a lord, would you like to join me?”
“I appreciate the offer, but ……”
“You don’t want to?”
“Honestly, I’m tired of serving others.”
Sam was not able to understand Kubard’s feelings. He had been known as the “Braggart Kubard”, and he was ruthless on the battlefield, but at court, he was always out of place.
Once during a banquet, a young nobleman had asked him “what it was like to be covered in blood and sweat and sand and dust, running around on the battlefield”, and Kubard suddenly grabbed the nobleman’s body and threw him into an ale barrel in the corner of the hall, saying “Well, it’s probably something like that. I bet you can’t wait to take a nice, comfortable bath ……”
“So, it’s a shame that a brave man like you spends his days wandering around in the wilderness with nothing to do, right?”
“It’s a great way to live! By the way, Sam, who even is it that you’re following? I heard that after the fall of Ecbatana, the king and queen are nowhere to be found.”
Asked by the other party, Sam replied with a bitter tone.
“I am now following His Highness Hilmes.”
“Hilmes ……?”
Kubard, who cocked his head in thought, remembered that name and frowned slightly.
“Is the Hilmes you’re talking about that Hilmes?”
“Yes. It is the very same Prince Hilmes that I am following now.”
“He’s still alive, huh? I would never have expected this! You’ve become a subordinate of Prince Hilmes…”
Kubard did not want to ask why it had become like this, perhaps because he knew it must be a complicated matter. Sam explained the current status of Pars to Kubard and told him that Prince Arslan might be somewhere along the eastern border.
“In that case, the royal family of Pars is torn apart and fighting against each other? It would be foolish to get involved in this fight again! Forget about me!”
Sam raised a hand to stop Kubard who was about to stand up.
“Wait a minute, Kubard, no matter which one becomes the ruler of Pars in the end, we can’t let the Lusitanians continue to dominate so tyrannically, right? Can’t you just lend us your strength to drive them out of Pars?”
Kubard frowned and sat back down. He threw the empty ale jug to the corner of the cave, and then fell into deep thought. His temperament was bold, sometimes even a little rough, but although he was young for a Marzban, he wasn’t foolish.
“Sam, Prince Hilmes has you, so who is supporting Prince Arslan?”
“Daryun and Narsus.”
“Oh ……?”
Kubard’s one eye widened.
“Is that true?”
“It was His Highness Hilmes himself who told me.”
“Leaving aside Daryun, I thought Narsus hated serving at court even more than I. How did his state of mind change? Does he think that the future of Pars lies with Prince Arslan?”
“I’m sure that’s what Narsus thought.”
Sam did not have much of an impression of Prince Arslan, who was only fourteen years old when he participated in the Battle of Atropatene. His temperament was not bad, but after all, he was still an immature teenager.
Could it be that Arslan had enough qualifications to recruit people like Daryun and Narsus? And is it true that Arslan is the son of King Andragoras? Did the boy not have the “impure blood” that King Andragoras said?
With his one eye, Kubard gazed at Sam, who was deep in thought, with great interest.
“Sam! What are you thinking about?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you truly loyal to Prince Hilmes from the bottom of your heart?”
“Can’t you see that?”
“Hmph ……”
Kubard stroked the beard on his chin. Even if he would leave behind his life of leisure, he would not return to serve at the court.
“Fine! Sam, I have nothing to do now anyway, so I’ll help you out! But, I’ll say it up front, if it doesn’t look good, I’ll turn around and leave immediately, how about that?”