Chapter 80: Unsung Heroes of War

It’s no exaggeration to say mercenaries were the unsung heroes of the Hundred Years’ War.

With its entire territory ravaged by the Hundred Years’ War, France couldn’t rely on militias and instead hired foreign mercenaries in droves to fight England. Sure, there were still bandit-like mercenary bands here and there, but the war completely changed how people viewed mercenaries.

European history is basically a history of war. On a small scale, neighboring territories fought each other, and on a large scale, there were massive wars between nations like the Hundred Years’ War. Victory or defeat often came down to who hired better mercenaries in greater numbers.

That’s why the mercenary business became a new frontier where medieval people could strike it rich.

Plenty of mercenaries fought in the Hundred Years’ War, but the most famous was probably Étienne de Vignolles, a noble-born mercenary who was Joan of Arc’s comrade-in-arms. Known as La Hire, he helped Joan of Arc defeat England through outstanding achievements.

He had some things in common with the cavalry commander—violent and hot-tempered—but honestly, most mercenaries weren’t exactly sweet-natured, so having a bad temper wasn’t all that remarkable. Still, he went on to distinguish himself under the French Constable even after Joan of Arc was unjustly burned at the stake.

Nobles started wars; mercenaries fought them. As this became the norm, battlefields became mercenaries’ workplaces, leading to the creation of countless mercenary bands. Among them, Swiss and Italian mercenaries were considered the best.

Swiss mercenaries were friendly toward the Duchy of Beren. We had hired Swiss mercenaries to halt France’s vaunted heavy cavalry twenty years ago and again five years ago. On top of that, Swiss mercenaries never retreated, even if it meant total annihilation. That’s why they were considered the finest in the trade.

On the other hand, Italian mercenaries had a mixed reputation.

Their combat ability was on par with that of Swiss mercenaries, but their insatiable appetite for looting was the problem. Italian mercenaries viewed their bodies as their greatest assets and saw battlefields as opportunities to make serious money.

This raiding party of Burgundian light cavalry had been wiped out in an instant because they were so focused on looting that they didn’t notice our approach; they were Italian mercenaries, notorious as the poster children for plundering. I confirmed this through the Manager Scouter.

Since they were light cavalry, a minority branch of warfare, their combat power was lower than that of heavy cavalry, but they specialized in looting and pursuit, so you couldn’t take them lightly. Burgundy’s raiding parties were made up of these specialists.

They were notorious for hitting the enemy’s unguarded main camp or supply lines first when battles started. In the past, they had a terrible reputation for indiscriminate looting, but after the Hundred Years’ War raised the value of mercenaries, that kind of ruthless plundering was becoming a thing of the past.

That doesn’t mean looting had disappeared entirely.

Even though they cared more about looting than fighting, they were still a popular international "commodity" because they had quality weapons and horses. Believe it or not, one of Italy’s chief exports was mercenaries. The Duchy of Beren also spent huge sums hiring Swiss or Italian mercenaries.

Count Euz said the enemy’s movements were slower than expected. Thinking back on it now, since there were cases of them being hired by the Duchy of Beren, maybe the raiding party had deliberately waited for the northern village residents to evacuate to avoid creating bad blood? That seemed most likely.

We gave them enough time, so they’ve probably all gotten out by now, right?

Now let’s loot what’s left in the village!

Something like that, maybe?

Looting an empty village doesn’t even count as real looting. Residents who were slow to evacuate or merchant caravans unlucky enough to enter Euz at that exact moment got attacked, but for Count Euz, the damage was less than expected.

Unfortunately for them, the Burgundian raiding party’s Italian light cavalry never made it back with their loot—because I threw myself into guerrilla warfare, leading the duchy’s light cavalry to ambush them at every turn. Including the ambush at the small village, five raiding parties were completely wiped out.

One of those parties was commanded by a knight from Épinay, the raiding party’s overall commander. With him gone, the scattered looting parties couldn’t get proper information or orders and were picked off one by one.

Command belatedly figured out what was happening and sent search parties, but it was like closing the barn door after the horse had bolted.

For those Italian mercenaries who saw battlefields as the ultimate workplace and were trying to score big while keeping themselves safe, I must have been a complete nightmare. That’s why they split into two groups of fifty to search the northern plains. But I circled west to avoid them and pushed north to ambush the raiding parties from the rear.

Hmm. Looking at it this way, I’m basically cheating through and through right now. Like using a map hack all by myself. I know the enemy’s position, but they don’t know mine. I didn’t fall for any ambushes and slipped past all their search parties.

Anyway, I figured that last light cavalry unit from the north was a clue. I had a hunch that if I went in the direction it came from, I’d find something. If my previous results came from using the scouter to gather comprehensive information, this was pure gut instinct.

"Captain, if we keep going north like this, won’t we cross into Burgundian territory?"

"Burgundy? No, maybe we’ll have Paris right in front of us."

"Haha, even so, Paris is really far from here."

Fiel chuckled at my joke.

While commanding the light cavalry, I wasn’t exactly polite to Fiel and August, but they actually found it more natural when I gave them orders directly and didn’t mind at all. After all, once this war ended, I would definitely be their superior anyway, so it didn’t matter.

If anything, I was the one who felt awkward for overthinking it.

August was currently a guest knight, but after seeing me defeat enemy light cavalry units one after another, he had decided to become a Streit vassal. Fiel was a Steinhof man, so he wouldn’t become my vassal, but he said he wanted to fight alongside me.

Honestly, having two knights backing me was incredibly encouraging and reassuring. It felt like just yesterday I was being pushed around by the Finance Minister, but somehow I had become the War Minister’s son-in-law, and now I had gained two allies here in the north. Just two men, but that’s what I had accomplished in five months.

"Whoa, whoa! Let’s rest here for a bit!"

"Halt the unit!"

I think we had come farther than expected.

The horses were starting to tire, so I stopped the unit for a rest. Since we had loaded the horses with the enemy light cavalry’s equipment, the extra weight meant it was important to mix in proper rest breaks. While the horses rested, I scanned the surroundings with the scouter.

Nothing turned up. Maybe my gut instinct was wrong? Just as I started getting anxious that I had led the unit to some random place far from the battlefield, the cavalry commander’s lieutenant and a few men found enemy traces while scouting the area.

They found a road crossing a small stream.

And on that road were countless footprints and wagon wheel tracks.

"With ruts this deep, they were definitely carrying a heavy load."

"And these tracks look pretty fresh."

The lieutenants’ eyes filled with greed. Typical former mercenaries. The cavalry commander’s lieutenants were always first in line when it came to looting. This road crossing the plains stretched from west to east along the stream. There was a strong chance that a supply base lay somewhere along it.