‘When facing the leader of a hundred thousand men army, you do not need to fear him.’
To Cassel, it looked as if the bandits were that many in number. That is why he recalled those words, but it was near impossible to not cower in fear in front of that many archers. However, when the knights beside him looked just it scared, he felt a little relieved.
‘Looks like I'm not the only one afraid.’
He then quietly spoke to the Rose knights.
“Let us give in to his demand. If he was going to kill us, we would have been pierced by dozens of arrows already.”
The knights hesitated but then dropped their swords to the ground. Cassel reached for his sword as well but stopped mid-way. The bandits were oblivious of the sword. He did not know how to use it in combat anyway, but it gave him an idea.
‘It might be possible if I time it right.’
He did not drop his sword like the rest of the knights and the bandits took no notice of this.
“Now get off your horses. Hands above your head.”
Falcon gave strict orders.
Cassel obeyed, and while the knights did too, their unwillingness showed in their faces.
One of the knights asked Cassel.
“Do you know about this Falcon?”
“I heard about him two or three times.”
“Then you must know this is not a wise thing to do? He has never let out a hostage alive.”
“He doesn’t seem like the type to me.”
Appearances aside, his manner of speaking and actions seemed more like a nobleman rather than a bandit. Even Tiger had more of a brute look than him.
One of Falcon’s men approached them with a sword in his hand, and started to frisk Cassel, then the knights. The blade was right beside the neck to remove any resistance. He was well-trained and did not seem to fear the name ‘knight’.
After checking there was no weapons, he signaled Falcon with his head. Falcon then gave an order.
“Kneel.”
“No way!”
One of the knights yelled.
The others joined in.
“The only person we kneel to is the Red Rose earl.”
“You amuse me. You would kneel before the earl and not the King of Karmorte?”
In Falcon’s sarcastic tone, there was a scent of anger.
The knight did not back down and shouted toward Falcon.
“You talk knighthood when you are a mere bandit? Kill us if you must.”
Cassel sighed.
‘I could see why Falcon does not let a hostage live.’
He kneeled down first. The knights looked around toward him, surprised.
If they knew he was a farmer who did not listen to his father, left his home, participated once in a battle he did nothing in, this would mean nothing. However, right now, to them, he was a more renowned knight than they were.
“W-what are you doing?”
One of the knights whispered.
‘What am I doing? Our lives depend on Falcon, that is what!’
Cassel made an awkward smile and replied.
“In Arantia, we put our survival, our future honor to protect, more value than the past honor we protected.
To the knights, it was sophistry, and made their faces contorted.
His words attracted the attention of Falcon.
“Arantia?”
Falcon asked while getting of the horse. Cassel was ready to speak.
“There must be a reason to let us live. Come say it. The reason I kneeled down was to listen to whatever you wanted to say to us.”
“You speak like you are going easy against us. Quite prideful, are we?”
Falcon smiled and came close.