My Villains Chapter 429
65. The Peak of Spring (4)
“All guards are on standby at headquarters.”
Shortly after Mungchi and Iofya left, Sergeant Gottlob came to the office and started reporting.
“The Permanent Court and the Council of Ministers have requested to send security forces instead of vigilantes-”
“Stop talking nonsense, that’s right. I know you are a real guard just because of your title.”
‘Guards’ refers to the troops under my direct control. The main members are the anti-army soldiers obtained by capturing Proshafen and Eisbowald, and the number is a little less than 200.
Reorganization and maintenance are underway, led by the sergeants loaned by Sir Langbolt and the Gothrop in front of them. Seeing as they had surrendered, I was afraid to scatter them all over the place, so I put them in the headquarters of the guards that I am using as my residence
.
“Isn’t there anyone who does stupid things?”
“Yes Nari. Even if they were anti-army, most of them were serfs who dug up dirt and ate only a few mercenaries. As long as you manage it well, you won’t have anything to worry about.”
“You would say that. It’s important to watch out for newcomers, but don’t trust the kids in your neighborhood too much.”
“Okay, sir.”
The main force of the guard is still Prosha Fen’s soldiers.
They were all skilled soldiers in their own way, probably because they were soldiers in a large port city. Although he shrunk to about 70 due to various damages and deviations until he captured Icebobalt, he was able to build some trust with the surviving guys.
All I did was participate in four or five group training sessions, hand out loot and combat allowances generously, and memorize the names of a few that stood out. It was an insignificant act, but it seemed to be quite meaningful to the soldiers thanks to my reputation and status.
Excluding the soldiers from Proshafen, about 120 people surrendered here in Eisbobalt.
Even among Eisbowald’s anti-army soldiers, none of them were originally soldiers belonging to the city. This is because most of the standing army died during the battle, and the few captured prisoners were not even invited to surrender from the beginning.
So, the ones who joined the guards were conscripts from nearby manors and villages, or mercenaries hired by the mayor of Pashhorse.
The mercenaries are the servants who have no hesitation in changing sides depending on the situation. In addition, I have experience dealing with so-called ‘high-level’ mercenaries, such as horsehair Fritz, heavy general, dervish, and veteran commander, as well as rookie mercenaries like Amias’ gang. It wasn’t even a job to manage the mercenaries.
Rather, it was the conscripts who became obedient.
They had a strong identity as a Gellan people, probably because they had been farming in Obdorf for generations. That’s why it was disapproving of obeying a knight from the kingdom.
However, 90% of those who belonged to the guards were Gellans, so there was no conflict between soldiers. No one had gone big enough to show their displeasure to my face.
I think it will take time to completely digest them as my subordinates. It might be better to let go once the situation is sorted out rather than forcibly holding on to it.
As I was sorting out my thoughts, I suddenly had a thought and asked Sergeant Gotthrop a question.
“Are you worth it?”
yes’?” “Are you able to do it? Be my subordinate.”
” ah.”
He hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes what. It is surprisingly worth doing.”
“Surprisingly? this bastard.”
Glancing at him, Gothrop shrugged.
“As a subordinate, he seems loose and lazy. But compared to the great men I’ve met all my life… It would be rude to compare anything. And when will I meet eyes with someone like him?”
“What is someone like me?”
“Huh, do you want flattery?”
I nodded shamelessly and Tropp continued with a smile.
“Aren’t you the one who will decorate a side of history?”
“…history?”
“yes. If I stick well next to Nari, I might be able to leave a name for myself.” “I didn’t know you had a strong desire for honor.”
“I tried to make it plausible to say flattery. In fact, I will be satisfied as long as I have a business fund.”
“The bottom line for business? Didn’t you pack quite a bit of money?”
“It’s too late to go back to Proshafen and do business, so we have to go to Faberis. To open a fancy bar there, we need to collect 20 times more than we do now.”
I smiled and gestured at his boastful words.
“Go and invite everyone in, one by one.”
“Yes Nari.”
Sergeant Gotthrop gave an inappropriately disciplined Milano-style courtesy.
Currently, the occupied areas of the army I lead are two, Proshafen and Eisbowald. If we add a few more to this, we’ll include fortresses – ‘Untrier’ and ‘Zirna’ – and five villages the size of the palm of your hand.
Among them, the port city of Proshafen and the four villages of Untrier, which belong to the Angst region, are managed by the clan chief under Atalante, ‘Annenso of Rezun’. In other words, since Prince Ulkar promised to give half of the Angst region to the Nudin people, he handed over the authority to them.
Of course, Anenso, an old nude woman, did not manage it alone. The knights and retainers left behind by Count Ines remained as advisors. She had a 15% stake in Proshafen, so she deserved it.
Eisbowald, the fortress, and the small farm village attached to it are managed by Count Ines.
Of course, since I was in charge of military-related matters, most of her duties were related to administration. The owner of this area had not yet been decided, and Count Ines had been promised a 15% stake, so he left the ruling power for a while.
Of course, it was impossible for a girl in her mid-teens to rule the city alone, so the competent retainers she brought took on the role of key officials. Still, it was Count Ines himself who made the decisions on major issues. Considering his age, that
was quite a feat.
Due to these circumstances, Count Ines frequently sent messengers. It was no wonder that the four of Milgrester’s retainers, who had just entered the office, each brought a different issue.
The man who stepped forward first gave shocking news from the beginning.
“Ruilix II has joined his family.”
“…a relative? the emperor?”
When I opened my mouth slightly, the knight serving the Milgrester family nodded with a firm face.
“When is the departure date? What size?”
“It is said that over 20,000 troops left Mitel Tang seven days ago.”
“one week? No, even if the information is slow, isn’t it too slow?”
“The distance itself is quite far, and the Imperial Army is controlling the spread of rumors. It is fortunate that the news has been delivered now.”
“Damn it…
I narrowed my eyes and quickly opened the map.
Mittelthang, the capital of the Mittergerland Empire, lies across the borders of Viceroy Burkad and Duke Avillambus. It would have taken three weeks for the large army to march to this place.
“If we went out a week ago, it would mean that there were roughly 15 days left… and 20,000 is less than I thought.”
At my words, the knight shook his head with an awkward expression.
“Twenty thousand, counting only the troops that came out of Miteltang. The summons had been announced right away, so by the time we pass through the Altenberg region, it should have at least doubled in size.”
“……crazy.”
It was about three weeks ago that I set foot on the land of the Empire. If the emperor’s army had launched a week ago, it means that they raised the army as soon as they heard the news of me.
“I knew that the reaction would be quite quick because the prince tipped me off in advance, but… This is a bit harsh. 20,000 and 30,000 troops are not even named.”
“Ruilix II has been talking about conquering the Amir allies since last summer,
right?”
The Amir Alliance is managing the southern colonies and accumulating enormous wealth. It was already a well-known story that Emperor Ruilix II and the Elector Counts of the southern Empire coveted the colonies.
“It is clear that the troops prepared for this are moving this way. There’s no way I could react this quickly otherwise.”
I sighed and cupped my forehead.
How is Prince Ulkar going to solve this problem? It was a daunting task just to deal with the Duke of Avilambers and the Viceroy of Burcard, but to think that even the emperor’s large army had attacked.
Is it trying to induce Zacharys, who has launched from the capital, to confront the emperor and devise a plan?
If that were the case, the chances of success would be extremely low.
Even so, the emperor and Zacharys had no reason to fight each other.
The Emperor needs to take care of my army and stabilize Angst and Obdorf, and Zachary’s goal will be to drive out the army of Duke Avillambus, who occupied Unfast and the plateau.
In my opinion, it was as if there was no possibility that the two large armies would face each other with the risk of severe damage.
Other than that, I had some guesses, but the situation is too complicated to judge.
“…Please organize the report in a letter and deliver it to Ogshlizo.”
“I see, Sir Phoenix.”
Antrum’s sorceress, Ogshlizo, will use esoteric magic to deliver a letter to the prince.
The esoteric is called the ‘Code of the Byway’, and it is the same spell that used the fireplace that Sir Ariad once demonstrated in Longville.
Only wizards with pocket dimensions like Master Limond can receive correspondence, and each casting requires a very precious material – the branch of an elm tree scorched by the flames of the other world. However, since it was almost the only way to send letters over distances of hundreds of kilometers, it was a secret technique that was useful in the current situation.
The pending issues brought by Milgrester’s other vassals were insignificant compared to those of the emperor’s own family.
Issues related to the vigilante group run by Deogen, the salted fish vendor, suggestions to close the permanent court, and questions about expelling the clergy of the Order of Calandari belonging to the council.
I answered appropriately, sent them back, and summoned the thugs sent by Deogen.
“It is an honor to meet you, sir. I-”
“Shut up.”
Deogen’s subordinate was a big man with long knife marks on his face. He once made a name for himself as a mercenary, but was caught up in a story and threw himself into the dark. It was not something I knew.
“Go and tell Deogen. Come back here in thirty minutes.”
“……yes’?”
I shot in anger.
“I’m not good at talking to a bully, so should I talk to a bully’s underling? go away. He told me that he would cut off one of his fingers for every five minutes he was late.”
It was only after the gangsters rushed out that they were able to grasp the situation of the war through the messengers sent by Sir Langvolt and Atalanta.
Currently, there are approximately 500 troops stationed in Eisbovald.
The Milgrester family had about 300 members of the non-guards that I had with me, about 200.
The Milgrester family’s army had also been seriously injured, so there were only about a hundred elite soldiers under direct control, and all were mercenaries except for about fifty conscripts. They were hired by Count Ines at a much higher price than the market price to make up for the lack of troops.
The ones holding the imperial army in check from the Topal area were Atalanta and Sir Langbolt’s army, totaling about 700 or so.
Some of the troops deployed on Daybal Highway were retrieved and they managed to make ends meet, but there is no doubt that they were useful resources, whether they were Nudan warriors or soldiers of the Earlshore family. Their morale is high due to continuous victories, and they are armed well because they have received enough loot.
After placing the boards one by one on the map, I glanced to the east. I left the place empty on the map, but I couldn’t do that anymore. Soon, the enemies coming from the east and the allies mixed together and had to fight a decisive battle.
I filled in the eastern part of the map by gathering the information I recently obtained and the news that had been passed on.
