Chapter 88: Chapter 88: Ducal Power and Ducal Arrogance

“Impressive indeed, and how many men do you have armed with these ‘crossbows’?” As everyone was discussing the new toy that Duke Oakley now had, one voice pierced through the crowd. From his tone, it was clear that he was trying to gain attention more than he wanted a response. And the look of disgust that appeared on almost everyone’s face at once clued Braydon into who it was.

“More than the number of men that you brought, Chandler.” Duke Oakley confirmed Braydon’s suspicions, it was the same Earl that Cinar had bet would make a fool of himself. ‘I’m glad that I didn’t bet money on that.’ Now that he had spoken, not only Braydon, everyone was sure that he was going to make a fool of himself. There had not been a time where that wasn’t the case.

“But I did not claim that I could beat an entire army with toy ballistae. If you truly intend to beat the enemy with just that, you should at least have brought a lot of them right?” While they could tell that the idiot knew nothing, he somehow managed to ask a question that everyone wanted to know the answer to. And nobody was going to stop him, it was better to just let Duke Oakley deal with him than try to get entangled in whatever mess Earl Chandler was going to create for himself.

“Since you want to know so badly, I brought 2000 men equipped with crossbows. More than enough to rip through the enemy, or any idiot who thinks they are a toy.” With that, the Duke gave a fierce look to Earl Chandler who quickly went pale. Braydon didn’t know if it was because of the crossbow being pointed at him or because of the number of them that the Duke had, though he suspected it was the more immediate threat.

“The manpower that the Dukes have never ceases to amaze me. Even when I had all of my land, I was not able to maintain a force more than one or two thousand men strong.” Cinar sighed, nominally Marquesses were meant to be of similar standing to dukes, but this was nothing like normal. The dukes of Fiveria were far more powerful than their counterparts in other countries. 2000 men would be the number of men that a duke would be expected to have in his entire army, not just ranged combatants. And nobody doubted that Duke Oakley had many more men aside from his 2000 crossbowmen. None of this was counting the additional power that he could call upon from his numerous allies, who could more than double the number of men that were on his side.

“At least you could even think to compare yourself, I’m considered extremely powerful for a viscount and I only have just over 500 men. There is simply no comparison.” Braydon did not want to think about the power difference between himself and the various Dukes. That there was such a power difference was the whole reason why he joined a faction in the first place. 

While he could claim to have the power of a weak earl, that was only a platitude, most earls fielded upwards of 700 men. Only those who had run their territory into the ground would have comparable armies to Braydon. He only looked relatively powerful because the earls present had decided to bring an even smaller fraction of their forces than he had.

“I think that this should be enough to satisfy you that my claims are justified.” While they were pitying themselves, Duke Oakley was looking if any serious opposition was going to arise. But nobody wanted to take that risk, it was not worth it if they became the net Earl Chandler.

“I am not satisfied! You haven’t actually done it yet, why are you looking so smug?” And the epitome of non serious opposition continued to make a fool of himself. Braydon had not seen it before but now he was starting to realise why nobody liked him, Earl Chandler did not know when to back down. He hadn’t even noticed that he had made a complete fool of himself already.

“We will see if that happens when we actually fight them, can’t we? Or do you have anything more to say?” Duke Oakley was growing tired of Earl Chandler, enough that his good mood from showing off his latest toy was all but erased. By the end of his question, his voice was so cold that the cause of his ire shivered.

“Well... Well… We will just have to wait and see.” Earl Chander clearly didn’t know what had caused him to fear for his safety, but he was making a hasty retreat anyway. ‘It is truly only the instincts of an idiot that have kept this man alive for so long.’ Braydon couldn’t think of another explanation, he was sure that there had to have been at least one assassination attempt on him by now. But here he was, completely safe and unharmed after pissing off literally every person of importance in Fiveria.

“It is a miracle that that man is alive.” Rhydian stated, clearly thinking along the same lines as Braydon was.

---

“What do you think?” Braydon asked Rhydian, they were now in their own camp that had been set up the day before. Not long after the demonstration, Braydon had gone straight to sleep to catch up on the most important thing in life. If the number of nobles in the vicinity was anything to go by, he would be invited to drink with at least four different people each night. Sleep was not a thing that was going to come easily in the following days. Any discussion and planning would have to happen during the day.

“I think that he is slightly less ambitious than we originally thought.” Rhydian’s assessment was harsher than he thought it was going to be, these crossbows appeared to be an extremely potent weapon. Even if they were not a sure fire path to victory, they would at least do severe damage.

“Oh? You don’t think that he has good odds of success?” Braydon wanted to know what Rhydian thought was stopping this from being as successful as Duke Oakley seemed to think.

“They are essentially harder hitting and slower reloading archers. There may be power behind those shots but shields should still be effective. From what I have seen, crossbows should be easier to use than bows but not all that much more effective. I still think that they would serve better in siege battles than they would on the field, even if they have been sized down from the ballista.” Rhydian had a good point, so long as their enemy had a decent commander, crossbows would not be much more effective than regular bows.

“Then do you think that we will win?” If that was true, then these new weapons might not give any great advantage at all. And from history, there was a coin's toss as to who would win between Fiveria and Casburland.

“That still remains to be seen. I hate to admit it but Earl Chandler was right, it is all bravado until Duke Oakley can actually pull it off.”