Henry Alfonso, commander-in-chief of the Laurent Kingdom’s defense forces.
When I firmly clasped the thick, rough hand he extended, the crown prince standing beside him showed the faintest stiffening of his expression.
Seeming slightly flustered that I had skipped over him to greet General Alfonso first, he took a step back. Then, no longer bothering to hide his displeasure, he cleared his throat.
“Ahem. While the arrival of His Imperial Majesty’s son-in-law is certainly welcome…”
The crown prince was not openly rude, but there was a barb in his voice.
“The highest-ranking person in this tent is myself, the future king. Even if you are an envoy of the great empire, should greetings and courtesy not be offered first to one’s superior?”
His point was, well, perfectly reasonable.
Inwardly cheering, I hurriedly released General Alfonso’s hand and bowed my head toward the crown prince, pretending to be flustered.
“I have committed a discourtesy. Upon entering the battlefield, I found myself greeting the commander-in-chief first without realizing it. Please forgive my rudeness, Your Highness.”
“You are unfamiliar with this place, envoy, so it is understandable. Do not take it too much to heart.”
I apologized with utmost politeness and carefully clasped the crown prince’s hand.
Just as the crown prince’s stiff expression began to soften a little at my swift apology—
“No. His Highness the Prince Consort acted correctly.”
General Alfonso cut into our conversation in a low, weighty voice.
As the crown prince turned his head in confusion, General Alfonso looked at him with an unwavering, resolute gaze and said,
“In the palace during peacetime, Your Highness would naturally be the highest-ranking person. However, Your Highness, this is a battlefield, and this is the military.”
“…General?”
“No matter that you are a prince, within this operational headquarters, I am the commander-in-chief, and Your Highness is my deputy commander. Of course, I, Henry Alfonso, am a vassal who has served the Laurent royal house with loyalty all my life, but within the military, strictly following hierarchy and regulations is the proper course for the discipline of the troops.”
It was a stiff, upright statement worthy of a soldier to the marrow, without a single word out of place.
But the crown prince, having been embarrassed in front of so many people by those righteous words, flushed red and blue in an instant.
“…Ahem! The general is correct. I forgot for a moment that this is a battlefield. Very well.”
The crown prince forced himself to save face and somehow pretended to accept it, but deep in his eyes, a thick displeasure and inferiority complex toward the hero coiled like a snake.
‘There’s already a crack between them.’
Outwardly, I smiled gently, while inwardly I pondered several ways to pry that gap wider.
The hero’s uprightness was, if anything, piercing the incompetent lord’s sense of inadequacy.
#
A short while later, once the simple exchange of greetings was over, the crown prince approached me as if trying to turn the atmosphere around and seize the initiative, speaking as though bestowing a favor.
“You must have had a hard journey coming all this way. I shall specially prepare an excellent banquet to receive you. This way, if you please.”
“Your Highness, even if he is an envoy, I do not believe it is right to entertain him separately during wartime. It could breed discontent among the soldiers.”
But this time as well, General Alfonso blocked the crown prince’s proposal.
“What grand banquet could there be on a battlefield? Instead, why not go with the imperial envoy to the soldiers’ barracks and eat together?”
“…What? Together with the soldiers?”
“Yes! Our Laurent Kingdom’s army, from the lowest foot soldiers to the officers, all eat excellent meals to their fill. Even if it is rough military fare, in both taste and quality, it will by no means be lacking as hospitality for an imperial envoy.”
The crown prince furrowed his brow, clearly displeased by the suggestion that they eat on the dirt ground swarming with soldiers.
He glanced at me, apparently hoping I would refuse, but I did not miss the opportunity and bit down on the bait at once.
“Ah, that is a truly excellent suggestion. Is it not the nature of a guest to follow where the host leads? I, too, was curious about the fine meals eaten by the soldiers of the Laurent Kingdom’s army.”
In the end, the crown prince had no choice but to follow us out with a reluctant expression.
After leaving the tent and heading toward the mess area, I opened my eyes wide and observed the true state of the Laurent Kingdom’s army.
And I realized to the bone why General Alfonso was the famed commander who had inflicted such horrific trauma on the empire’s leaders.
“Loyalty! General, you’ve arrived!”
“Indeed. What is today’s meal?”
“Bread, meat stew, and cheese! There are plenty of apples prepared for dessert.”
“You’ve come to eat again today, General!”
“That I have. I’m hungry!”
The soldiers waiting in line for their meals all snapped to attention and saluted General Alfonso in unison when they saw him.
Military discipline was razor-sharp, but the eyes with which the soldiers looked at the general were filled not with fear, but with blind affection and respect.
“Oh, Michael. How is the shoulder you injured yesterday?”
“Loyalty! After receiving treatment as you ordered, it has improved greatly! I believe I can return to my original duties starting tomorrow!”
“That’s good. Ah, Thomas! Did you send a letter to your widowed mother back home? Eat plenty!”
“Loyalty! Yes, I sent a letter yesterday. Thank you very much for your concern!”
General Alfonso called the soldiers by name one after another and affectionately patted their shoulders.
The overwhelming martial might radiated by the invincible commander-in-chief, and the warm trust he inspired like a father.
The morale of troops formed from those two things combined was truly enough to pierce the heavens.
“…”
What was even more surprising was the process of receiving food.
Even though the general, the crown prince, and even I, the envoy, had joined them, General Alfonso did not cut in line or attempt to receive special treatment.
“Now then, let us stand in line and receive our meals as well.”
The sight of the commander-in-chief standing silently at the very end of a line of hundreds of soldiers, waiting his turn, was truly astonishing.
The soldiers accepting that sight as utterly natural was astonishing as well.
In this feudal age where the status system was rigid, I was sincerely shocked to see a general line up just like ordinary soldiers to receive his meal.
Even in the modern South Korean military of my previous life, it was difficult to see a general standing behind soldiers and waiting to be served.
‘The empire’s generals also care for their soldiers, but not to this extent. This man really is the genuine article of a hero.’
The meal I received when my turn came was, just as the general had boasted, extremely fine.
Stew brimming with meat, soft bread, fresh cheese, and even a large apple.
It was a level of quality that clearly showed how the overwhelming productivity the Laurent Kingdom boasted was being applied to logistics.
“Now, let us eat! Today’s meal is excellent as well. The cooks have put their skills to good use!”
General Alfonso plopped himself down at the same place where the soldiers ate, at a wooden table with seats made from cut logs, and dipped his bread into the broth, enjoying his meal with such natural relish.
Near him sat several soldiers who had given crisp military salutes, and even upon seeing us, they did not particularly move aside.
“Loyalty! General, who is this person…?”
“This is an envoy from the empire. Treat him with courtesy. I am told he is the emperor’s son-in-law.”
“Ah, my apologies!”
But the crown prince was different.
The very fact that he had to sit among soldiers, where dust rose from the ground and the stench of sweat hung heavy, and eat with them seemed unbearably unpleasant to him. Holding his spoon, he only picked at his food while constantly grimacing.
The soldiers, too, watched the crown prince’s mood and did not approach him, leaving the area around him strangely isolated like an island.
“Mmm, the stew is truly delicious.”
“Our Laurent Kingdom raises plenty of cattle and pigs on its fertile plains. There is as much stew as you could want, so if you desire more, please have another serving.”
As I swallowed a spoonful of the savory stew, I looked in turn at General Alfonso, the soldiers, and the crown prince, who sat excluded and adrift.
‘An all too perfect hero. And a young lord full of inferiority, nearly suffocating in the shadow of that overwhelming light.’
The crown prince is impatient.
Objectively, he is not a foolish man, but with the succession unclear, he wants to prove his presence in this war by any means necessary.
With the king effectively excluded entirely from power, he must need many things if he is to push aside the young queen circling the king and her faction, then ascend the throne.
‘Good. This crack… I can dig into it.’
Wearing a spotless, clear smile, I slowly tore off a piece of bread and put it into my mouth.