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This convoy was headed from a crucial granary near the lands of Franburg\'s lord, Holger, toward Erntestadt. Winter was approaching, and Lord Wilfried was gradually transferring fresh grains from the granaries to the city.

Lord Holger of Franburg was not exactly known for his diplomatic skills, and tensions frequently simmered between the two lords. Holger was an ambitious man, and although he commanded a military deemed adequate, his income wasn\'t enough to balance his military expenses.

This financial bottleneck often led Holger to contemplate invading neighboring lands, but he lacked both a justifiable reason and the economic support for such actions.

The tax rates in his city were significantly higher compared to other lordly cities, and Holger was increasingly seeking new sources of income as he knew this arrangement couldn\'t last indefinitely.

While he didn\'t have the power for a full-scale war, Holger frequently pursued alliances or covert operations. These operations were generally limited in scope, allowing other lords to overlook them without declaring war on him.

The reason was simple: One of Holger\'s daughters, Helen, had become a concubine of Lord Jürgen of Lichtenfels, one of the region\'s more militarily powerful lords, as part of a defense agreement.

This arrangement granted Lord Holger a sense of security, enabling him to subtly disrupt other lords\' affairs. Yet, despite his growing audacity, he still lacked the power to take direct action against Lord Wilfried of Erntestadt.

Luckily for him, today someone else would execute that action. Yes, Seth would ignite a war between the two lords. Swiftly and without anyone noticing, he would burn all the grain and plant seeds of suspicion in Lord Wilfried\'s mind.

Indeed, the plan was simple yet lacked any alternative suspect. Even if Lord Wilfried stayed calm and suspected someone else, the people would care little—they would be certain that the longtime enemy, Lord Holger, was responsible.

Moreover, Seth had already spread rumors among nearby villages about a potential destruction of the grains. This hint had been laughed off at the time, but after the incident, the rumors would spread like wildfire. People never forgot old grudges; they always found a reason to blame their enemies for everything.

"Well then," Seth muttered calmly. There was no point in overthinking. For now, all he had to do was manipulate the weather a bit. Fortunately, the sky today was overcast, with winds hinting at a coming storm.

As Seth channeled his mana, which instantly dropped by a fifth, lightning began to crackle across the sky. The knights maintained their disciplined march, unfazed by the worsening weather.

During the next ten minutes, the sky grew darker, and fog quietly started to spread among the convoy without anyone noticing. Although the cloudy sky without rain puzzled some, everyone\'s focus remained on safely transporting the grains.

"If everything is ready, then let\'s begin."

A hard smile spread across Seth\'s lips. It was not an easy decision, even though he made it quickly. As a result, a third of Erntestadt\'s excess grain supply would be destroyed.

The destruction of these grains wouldn\'t severely impact Erntestadt\'s economy, though it would cause a slight price increase in some villages and towns.

Though Seth didn\'t particularly relish this decision, he knew it had to be done. A temporary rise in grain prices wouldn\'t harm people much, but a slowdown in Seth\'s power-gathering rate would be a problem for him.

Without further hesitation, Seth allowed his body to slowly merge with the shadows. As he melded into the dark mist, the soldiers\' vision began to dim further.

___

As the knights continued to walk confidently, the horses\' unease was quickly noticed. Knight Captain Nicholas looked at his horse in surprise and gently stroked its mane to calm it.

"Easy now, girl... calm down." While Nicholas\'s horse slowly settled down, it wasn\'t just his own horse but even the grain cart driven by Squire Arnold that showed signs of anxiety.

It was as if they sensed something beyond even the knights\' perception. Nicholas\'s eyes grew serious as he raised his fist, causing the entire convoy to halt instantly.

"Prepare your weapons," Nicholas commanded, and Squire Arnold stopped to grip the hilt of his sword. Nicholas turned his gaze toward the young, black-haired squire and said, "We\'ll rest here for a bit, until the horses calm down."

Obeying the order, Arnold quietly stopped, and everyone else halted the horses as well. They attempted to lead the horses toward the grassy area to let them rest, but something unexpected happened.

Arnold, noticing that his horse wouldn\'t budge, was taken aback. With concern, he looked at his horse, unable to understand what was wrong. "What\'s the matter with you? Why do you look as if you\'re in pain?"

The horse\'s eyes were trembling. Tears welled up as it stamped its hooves on the ground, seemingly trying to expel something causing it great pain. Arnold\'s worried eyes scanned his horse, rubbing its belly and mane, but the horse remained unsettled.

Arnold\'s heart ached to see his horse, which he had raised since its youth, in such distress. His eyes widened as he felt his horse was trying to convey something to him.

But then, the horse suddenly stopped neighing. As if time itself had frozen, its body went still. Arnold\'s eyes relaxed, and seeing his horse calm, he managed a slight smile.

"I\'m so glad you\'re--"

Before Arnold could finish, the horse exploded. As its innards scattered around, blood splattered across Arnold\'s face.

"Wha…?"

Arnold\'s eyes widened, paralyzed in shock. His gaze slowly lowered to his hand, horrified to see it covered in blood. The entire ground was gruesomely drenched with the horse\'s organs and blood, not just on his hand but everywhere.

"Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!" Arnold screamed, shaking in terror, his breathing becoming ragged as tears streamed down his face.

As the horse\'s organs floated in the blood, not only Arnold but also the cart drivers shrank in fear. Even the knights lost their composure, and seeing the situation unfold, Sir Nicholas rushed to Arnold\'s side.

"Arnold! Stand up! Are you alright?!"

Still paralyzed in fear, Arnold failed to acknowledge Sir Nicholas. With a heavy sigh, Sir Nicholas struck Arnold\'s face with a sharp slap.

Arnold fell into the blood-stained ground, his uniform smeared, but it seemed to work as he turned his gaze to Sir Nicholas. Nicholas\'s eyes were stern, showing a hint of regret.

"A knight doesn\'t falter at the smallest loss. He stands tall and unwavering. Now rise and show your courage."

Arnold\'s eyes glimmered briefly at these words, but the light quickly faded as he lowered his gaze. His eyes grew misty; it was clear he had never encountered anything this horrifying before.

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"Look at me," Sir Nicholas said calmly. When Arnold continued to stare at the bloodstained ground, Nicholas firmly grabbed his collar and pulled him up. "You\'re not a child. If you continue like this, I don\'t want you as a knight."

Arnold raised his gaze and wiped away his tears. Sir Nicholas released his grip and sighed once more. "Look, you\'re a good lad. You\'re strong and diligent. You have a mother and a little brother who rely on you."

Arnold\'s eyes regained a glimmer of seriousness as he looked at Sir Nicholas. With gentle words, Nicholas continued, "If you wish to be a man of value for their sake, face this bravely, for their future rests with you. Without you, who would look after them?"

"I... I\'m sorry, it\'s just--"

"I understand, Arnold," Nicholas said, his eyes intense. "Witnessing such a scene is deeply unsettling for you. But don\'t worry; you\'ll overcome it in time."

"Because you\'re a strong man, Arnold."

Arnold\'s eyes grew resolute, and he nodded firmly. Although his gaze still reflected some pain as he looked at the blood-drenched scene, he appeared slightly better than before.

"What could have caused this?"

Arnold murmured. Sir Nicholas looked at his knights, who were already clearing the horse\'s remains off the path, and frowned. "I don\'t know; this makes no sense."

The Franburg border was nearly a kilometer away. It was almost impossible for them to plan an attack and poison the horses in such a short time.

"Do you think the people of Franburg are behind this?" Arnold spoke softly, sensing Sir Nicholas\'s thoughts. Nicholas hesitated, shaking his head with uncertainty and shrugging. "It seems unlikely."

"But you\'ve mentioned before that Lord Holger has quite a knack for such schemes," Arnold recalled his lessons, speaking hesitantly. Sir Nicholas sighed but, at the same time, agreed with his squire.

All evidence pointed to him. Lord Holger was indeed audacious enough to carry out such an attack. Who else could orchestrate such sabotage here?

Yet, one question lingered in their minds. How did the horses explode? Did they poison them or use something unknown to Nicholas?

Although Nicholas didn\'t fully understand it, he was sure of one thing: this was a deliberate attack. With the horses eliminated, transporting the grain to the city would be challenging.

Gathering new horses would certainly waste time. Sir Nicholas grew anxious, thinking of the grain spoiling or rotting.

It would take at least a week to send a messenger for horses and another week to bring them here. By then, the grain would surely be inedible.

As Sir Nicholas pondered what to do, he felt a strange increase in temperature and frowned.

The heat that continued to rise began affecting not only the knight captain but everyone else. As the knights struggled to understand what was happening, hundreds of red dots descending from the sky caught everyone\'s attention.

"Something\'s falling from the sky!"

"Take cover!" At Nicholas\'s command, everyone scattered as flaming arrows rained down. Nicholas stepped forward, observing the descending projectiles.

"These aren\'t arrows! They\'re flaming spears!" Sir Nicholas\'s eyes widened. These were not ordinary flaming arrows but blazing spears charged with a much more dangerous power.

Moreover, they were all aimed precisely at the grain carts. Nicholas advanced and raised his sword. It suddenly began to shimmer with gusts of wind.

"Fall back!"

As the knights regrouped, Sir Nicholas\'s mana surged fiercely, his gaze intensifying. His short black hair fluttered, and his blue eyes grew steely.

"Haah!" Nicholas swung his sword, releasing a wind slash. Without pausing, he unleashed nearly ten wind slashes in quick succession to intercept the flaming spears.

"It\'s working!" a knight cheered. They all watched as the fiery spears seemed to dim and slow. However, Sir Nicholas didn\'t share their optimism.

The flaming spears easily sliced through the wind slashes, continuing to fall from the sky. The knights\' cheers were cut short, and Sir Nicholas\'s eyes widened in helplessness.

"Boom!"

The fiery spears struck the ground,

obliterating all the grain carts. The smoke from the explosions quickly obscured everyone\'s view.