Win without a fight

Making choices means giving things up and paying the price.

Adler finally decided to give up his sister as a bargaining chip and focus on stabilizing his own career.

Originally, he wanted Andreas to bring Conosa back, but unfortunately, this fool only thought about running the Gothingen monastery as his own business.

Meanwhile, Damian, who was far away at the border between Gothingen and Kassel, surrounded by the three principalities of Upper Lotharingia to the west, Franconia to the south, and Saxony to the north, chose to continue opposing the Count of Kassel.

At the cost of potentially facing defeat.

"An Eastern military strategist once said that a commander should not start a war based on personal emotions. Count Tepler hastily ordered the army to attack just because we mocked him a bit, which is truly foolish." At this moment, Damian was riding on horseback, chatting amicably with his subordinates.

In fact, after this war with Kassel, Damian's reputation had significantly increased among the people.

Previously, he had gradually built his unique prestige as a war priest through numerous battles of varying scales.

There were plenty of capable generals, but how many priests could also fight?

As Damian's opponents became stronger, the surrounding forces gradually lowered their expectations of him.

From one perspective, Damian's opponents were constantly upgrading, but his battle achievements were becoming increasingly mediocre. Although this was understandable to most people, Damian's performance did not meet their satisfactory expectations.

On the other hand, the more Damian served Conosa, the less likely they were to get his services, so their originally friendly attitudes gradually turned hostile.

Under such circumstances, Damian managed to block Count Tepler's invasion at the border using only the forces from his baronial domain. This unequal combat power comparison once again led the surrounding forces to change their views on him.

Perhaps this monk still had underestimated potential?

...

Four days later.

After almost a month of standoff at the border, the time had come to September.

War cannot be waged just because one wants to.

Before a war, there must be motivation, reconnaissance, decision-making, and instilling the soldiers with the will to fight; after a war, there must be relief, compensation, and rewards to stabilize the soldiers' emotions.

The Kassel family are all blood relatives, so they could barely maintain stability among the knights.

Even so, Count Tepler fell into an emotional low after withdrawing from the battlefield.

Their family lost nearly ten knights, in addition to twenty or thirty precious warhorses. Such a significant loss was much more severe than the thousands of gold coins Damian paid to re-establish feudal contracts.

The greater loss was that his lifelong reputation as a warrior was almost entirely damaged in this battle.

This caused him to even avoid meeting visiting nobles to prevent them from discovering his cowardice.

Tepler deeply regretted his hasty and blind decision to enter the battlefield. The reckless charge led to severe knight casualties. In this battle, almost every move he made was wrong.

Baron Otter came to see Count Tepler that day.

"My lord, we cannot drag this on any longer. We didn't harvest much grain in the summer, and we don't know how many people will die in the winter. Why not… let me challenge Damian to a duel! I want to see who is truly stronger!"

Baron Otter, the spark that ignited this war, chose to step forward and take responsibility.

Tepler, fearing the consequences of another defeat, cautiously asked, "Are you confident? Damian had defeated Howard, the Viking descendant who organized the rebellion in a duel before."

Otter clenched his fist confidently, indicating he would not fail.

"Alright." After much hesitation, Tepler nodded heavily.

"Go prove yourself and bring us victory and glory!"

…

A few days later, Otter sent an envoy to Damian's camp to issue a duel challenge.

Of course, Damian was not foolish.

Engaging in a single combat with a knight trained from childhood would be be asking for trouble.

Unlike ordinary knights, Otter was a true elite knight. Although Damian had defeated several knights in the previous encircled battle, he had also sustained some injuries, leaving him not in the best condition at this time.

As the commander, Damian had to maintain his undefeated persona, so how could he duel Otter?

Just as he was about to refuse, Henrik, sensing Damian's thoughts, reminded him, "You can ride Gefen in the duel."

Right!

Damian raised his eyebrows.

The half-griffin Gefen, presented by the halflings, though not as formidable as a full griffin, was more than enough to deal with a warhorse.

So, Damian immediately agreed to the envoy.

The next day, both armies, unable to bear the prolonged standoff, gathered on the battlefield with a sense of relief.

Baron Otter appeared in full armor, riding a warhorse covered with thick felt cloth and wearing heavy chainmail, receiving loud cheers from the Kassel troops.

In contrast, Damian's armor was not as luxurious and extravagant, consisting only of a set of relatively thin chainmail, but his mount drew everyone's attention as soon as it appeared.

A gigantic beast taller than a horse. Its head resembled a griffin, its body was sturdy and thick, and its legs were as powerful as excavator arms. It was the half-griffin Gefen.

Gefen, with its high intelligence, seemed to know that Damian was its master and gently carried him around the field, earning numerous excited cheers from Damian's troops.

Seeing Gefen, everyone already knew the outcome of the duel.

Damian was destined to win!

The enemy obviously realized that defeating Damian in a duel was impossible.

Count Tepler hurriedly ordered his men to restrain Otter.

He looked at the flaunting Damian with a gloomy face.

"Retreat. We lost this battle…"

A loss is a loss.

Count Tepler disdained to cover it up.

He admitted his lack of investigation into Damian.

He neither anticipated Damian's command ability nor discovered that he had a war beast in reserve.

The gap between people was indeed greater than that between a man and a horse.

Attempting to take advantage, only to suffer a significant loss, Count Tepler and his kin retreated to the Kassel County in disgrace.

Damian, who won without a fight, adhered to the noble tradition of virtue and did not launch a deadly pursuit, instead retreating back to Gothingen County.