Episode 16 ‘As expected…’
The situation went exactly as Logan had expected.
There were two surefire ways to deal with mercenaries.
It was money and power.
Selling military force for money was a mercenary, and selling military force was risking one’s life.
Therefore, they instinctively recognized the strong and tried to become friendly with them.
As a colleague, it is to increase the probability of survival by being next to a strong person and to be able to expect some recognition even if you meet an enemy.
This was a survival instinct that became imprinted in the soul of a person who worked as a mercenary for a long time.
Logan, who had lived as a mercenary for decades in his previous life, knew that fact better than anyone else.
“I will ask the doctor in the territory to use a potion for you, so you will recover after a few days. You all know that the punishment for blasphemy is this light, right?”
Tuk.
When I touched the fallen mercenary with my toe, his body began to tremble.
Even after looking at it, no one had the courage to mention the truth that ‘the son of a nobleman is not an official nobleman and the crime of insulting a nobleman is at most punishable by flogging.’
No, I didn’t have time to worry about such trivial things right now.
“Force user?!”
“At that age?”
“Does this crazy thing make sense?”
There was a clear sense of surprise in the small whispering voices, and those who were making sarcasm turned their heads to avoid Logan’s gaze, as if they had never done that before.
A scene created by vivid golden light emanating from Logan’s hand.
“Hmm.”
Even Kai, who had vaguely guessed that fact, was silent, but he had to say something.
“Did you really need to do this, employer?”
“These are not A-level mercenaries like you. They may not completely break their contract, but they may fulfill it sloppily.”
“What does it matter? If I control it well…”
Kai didn’t seem to completely understand, but Logan didn’t have any intention of convincing him.
It was a process that they had to go through even for the weapons that would be issued to them in the future.
“I will have to lead them later anyway, so if I put pressure on them once, they will not listen to me carelessly in the future. That way, it will be easier for you to train them too, right?”
When Logan came out like this, Kai couldn’t help but change his mind.
‘I guess I really didn’t intend to end it with a soldier game.’
Tension seeped into Kai’s heart once again after hearing the absurd class of crossbow cavalry.
Logan smiled inwardly at that sight. That was the second effect Logan aimed for through this performance.
“I am Logan McLane, who has called you here.”
Only after the commotion was over did the formal greetings begin.
Logan stood on the prepared podium and gave a calm introduction, but due to the demonstration of his skills a moment ago, there was only silence in the parade ground.
Logan, enjoying the silence, opened his mouth again.
“Many people will be curious as to why I invited you all and wasted money.”
Logan paused for a moment, looked at each of the mercenaries’ burning eyes, and then continued with a grin.
“I will tell you in advance that you will be compensated for the wages you have been waiting for. You can rest assured that this is not some idiot who went crazy after eating monster meat and is trying to scam you with nonsense.”
Noisy laughter came out from all over.
As they relaxed a little, Logan didn’t even bother to look at them and got straight to the point.
“I want to train you and raise you as a cavalry soldier. Of course, it will be based on a long-term contract of more than one year.”
“Wow!”
“really?!”
For mercenaries who earn money through life-threatening battles, living on a daily basis, long-term contracts were like sweetheart contracts.
If there is an immediate battle scheduled, the client does not sign a long-term contract.
Since the mercenaries’ lives were reduced by even one battle, a long-term contract was meaningless before the battle.
In other words, a long-term contract was a guarantee that there would be no battle in the near future and a steady income for a long period of time.
“However! It is essential to receive training from this A-level mercenary Kai here. The training period is at least 3 months.”
At those words, the cheers of the mercenaries died down.
“This is a bit…”
“Hey, anyway, how much is the pay?”
“Why are we at this age?”
“Oh, I’m worried.”
The mercenaries became noisy in a different way than before, but Logan’s words soon silenced them again.
“The contract is for one year, and the monthly salary is 400 gold. The horses paid in addition are also yours when the contract ends.”
The mercenaries, who just stared at each other blankly for a moment at the jaw-dropping proposal, soon came to their senses one by one.
“Wow!”
“I will do it no matter what!”
The parade ground was once again filled with cheers.
It had to be that way. The basic ransom price of a C-class mercenary was 400 gold, which was also the price during war.
In peacetime and when the contract period is long, the ransom price may drop to less than half in severe cases, but 400 gold is guaranteed without cutting a single penny.
Additionally, paying a horse worth at least 1,000 gold was no different from saying that if you signed a contract, you would be given three months’ worth of monthly salary as a bonus.
It was a condition that mercenaries could not help but welcome.
“However, I plan to train you as crossbow cavalry. I have no intention of accepting those who do not fit in.”
However, the faces of some mercenaries darkened due to the conditions that followed.
Aside from the ridiculous class of crossbow cavalry, you must have a flexible and agile body to ride a horse and shoot an arrow.
No matter how many mercenaries who knew how to ride a horse were gathered, knowing how to ride a horse and shooting an arrow while riding a horse were completely different things.
“So now, we will begin a simple qualification test.”
The mercenaries’ murmurs grew louder, but no one came out to protest.
In the end, 312 mercenaries signed a contract with Logan that day, excluding 13 who did not want to receive training and 25 mercenaries who failed the test, for a total of 38.
And from the very next day, Kai and the mercenaries began their own training.
* * *
– Be my knight.
Victor was prepared to do anything to achieve the goals set by his new owner.
However, the order given by the owner on the first day of arriving at the territory was very perplexing.
“First, eat well and sleep well.”
“yes?”
“That’s all you have to do now.”
Whether he was embarrassed or not, the new owner left those words and disappeared.
In addition, the meals and sleeping provided from that day were actually a luxury that Victor and his younger sister Lia had experienced for the first time in their lives.
Soft bread, meat, and even a soft bed.
All of that actually made Victor uneasy.
‘Why? ‘Why are you doing this?’
It was even more strange because I had promised myself that I would endure harsh treatment.
However, on the morning of the third day, Victor’s curiosity was immediately answered.
“Come out, Viktor. Training is starting.”
The day began very early for him and his new owner, just as the sun was starting to rise.
“Maybe it’s because they are young, but they change quickly after eating well and sleeping well for a few days.”
This was what Logan said as he stopped Viktor on the parade ground and looked at him for a moment.
The moment Victor heard those words, he felt a chill from an ominous premonition.
“Then let’s run.”
And that premonition immediately became reality.
“Hehe. Hehe.”
“Your feet are slow again! You can do more, run!”
Viktor gritted his teeth again as the shouting echoed through the parade ground.
Of course, even if he did that, his tired body didn’t suddenly become faster, but in fact, Logan was already surprised just by the appearance that Viktor was showing right now.
‘I can’t believe this is what happened after a few days of good feeding…’
Logan was impressed and checked Viktor’s condition closely, stopping the training just to make sure the boy’s body was not damaged.
“rest!”
“Huh.”
Victor collapsed so hard that he could not speak.
“brother!”
His younger sister Victoria, who was watching him restlessly, screamed.
And then he looked at Logan with pitiful eyes.
Logan grinned and nodded his head.
She grabbed a water bottle and a towel that she didn’t know when she had prepared and ran towards her brother.
Logan looked at the back happily.
“As expected, he is talented. And…”
The boy, who was only 14 years old and did not eat well, so he looked much smaller than his peers, only ran out of stamina after running almost 20 kilometers.
At least it seemed clear that he had potential far beyond that of an ordinary human.
More than anything, I liked the tenacity of running to the end even though it looked like it was going to collapse at any moment.
That patience and perseverance was slowly erasing one of Logan’s worries.
‘At least it means he’s not born to be a noble slayer.’
Victor in his past life was like a symbol of violence, but from what I’ve seen so far, it doesn’t seem to be his original personality.
‘If a guy like that changed that much, there must be a good reason. ‘Maybe…’
Logan’s eyes turned to the girl who was fanning her brother with her small hands.
Logan looked at the siblings for a moment and then shouted again firmly.
“Stop! Get up and go to the next training.”
Only 15 minutes had passed since Victor lay on the ground.
“What I’m going to show you from now on is the kingdom swordsmanship that all knight trainees in our Kingdom of Grandia learn. This swordsmanship…”
While explaining and demonstrating at the same time, Logan focused his attention on Viktor’s condition.
“Be careful of your feet when going from this position to dessert…”
The trembling body and heavy breathing that had not yet recovered and the stamina that had not yet recovered would lead to a decrease in concentration.
Yet, there was no wavering in Viktor’s eyes as he looked at him.
‘Good.’
With satisfaction, Logan continued his demonstration of swordsmanship in more detail and length.
So that Victor can recover a little more stamina.
“Breathing is important here. When you breathe in….”
‘Let’s focus. Concentration!’
Victor gathered his mind, which was trying to become cloudy.
I kept feeling like I wanted to collapse and sleep right now.
No, I wasn’t confident that I would be able to get up again after falling.
There was only one fact that supported him.
‘Good food, good sleep. If the price is like this…’
Viktor thought about the hardships of the past and bit his lip until it bled.
Then, for a moment, I felt like my mind became clearer.
With his eyes becoming a little clearer, Victor focused on his new master’s swordsmanship demonstration.
“Hmm…”
Logan had to try not to show surprise.
‘I only showed it once, but you can follow it so easily?’
No matter how basic the sword technique was, it was not easy enough for an outsider to follow it after seeing it once.
This is also training that takes place after pushing Victor’s body to its limit.
Even though I couldn’t concentrate, there was nothing wrong except for a few small movements.
‘How many days did it take me to do something like that?’
Logan couldn’t even be compared to himself, so he had no choice but to compare himself to the greatest genius he knew.
‘…I don’t think Ronian was like this either. Didn’t you see it twice?’
The more I thought about it, the more amazing talent it was. Then, a surprising fact suddenly occurred to me.
‘This guy. Come to think of it, I’m the same age as Ronian.’
In his previous life, this guy was infamous as a noble slayer, and Ronian was renowned as the youngest Auror user.
So, in my past life, I didn’t even think about comparing the two, but…
‘This guy is probably better than Ronian…’
Now, the first day of training.
It was a bit early to make a judgment based on just two exercises, but Logan couldn’t hide the deep smile that spread across his face.
And I shouted with that proud feeling.
“Now again! My footwork was a little wrong. Today’s goal is to perform 100 times perfectly! There is no food before that!”
The sword training ended three hours later.
“Haha. Haak.”
“Thank you for your hard work. What you did today is the basic training you will need to do every day from now on.”
“Hehe. Whoa.”
“I can’t watch your training all the time. So from now on, when I’m not here, you’ll have to do it yourself. I’m sure you understood it properly, right?”
“Huh. Huaa.”
Despite Logan’s question, Victor, who was just collapsed and busy breathing, was unable to answer.
Logan looked down at the sight happily.
“If you build up your stamina and can perfectly perform the Kingdom Swordsmanship more than 1,000 times in a row, then perhaps you too can be called a knight.”
Instead of using the word force, which can be vague, he gave some specific numbers.
To do that in the first place, you had to be at the level of a force user.
But Victor’s expression changed drastically at those words.
“Knight…”
Viktor didn’t even know how difficult the conditions were or if they were true.
But that didn’t matter.
The word meant freedom to Victor, it meant success, it meant hope.
And….
‘Leah, my sister.’
It meant the safety of his younger brother, who even now watches him with worried eyes from afar.
“You can do it, right?”
“yes!”
It was the most determined answer since I started training.
“Good. If there’s anything else you want for training, tell Rick. He’ll take care of everything.”
“…doesn’t exist.”
Victor hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.
It was a very minor hesitation, but there was no way Logan would have missed it.
“Hmm. Is there really nothing?”
“Just…”
“Just?”
“…Please take care of my little brother just like you are now. That is enough.”
An expected answer. But the words were enough to make Logan laugh.
