My Villains, Chapter 309
, 56. Change (2)
“As scheduled, we leave tomorrow.”
Taking off his luck, he looked back at the six mercenaries. Even though he hasn’t said anything yet, I’m very satisfied with the way he focuses on me.
“When we arrive at Lianwell, after preparing our posture for a few days, we will head west to High Castle with the army that Marquis Eavon gave us. I am joining my lord, Prince Ulkar.”
Exactly what ulterior motives the Marquis of Eavon was harboring was unknown.
As Heyla said, it seems like they are trying to bridge the bridge between the king and Ulkar. The reinforcements he promised to send would not be entirely out of a sense of responsibility or good will as a great lord.
“I heard that the combined forces of Prince Ulkar and Marquis Landri stationed in the Western Highlands total a little over three thousand. Adding to that the army that His Excellency the Marquis will give you, it would be about five thousand.”
However, I couldn’t give up the Marquis’s army because of that awkward feeling. In the position of preventing Ulkar’s death or corruption, 1,500 soldiers would be a variable in a good sense.
“Your opponents will be the two Elector Counts of Mittergerland, who are gathering troops on the western border. The troops are…probably twice as many as ours.”
The two Elector Counts meant Avilam Versstrom, duke of Topal, and Burcard Altenberg, viceroy of Alzenberg.
Abillambus, who was also Princess Theodora’s uncle, had a territory as vast as five or six counties put together. As befits a person aiming for the throne, he had a force that would not make it awkward to be called a king.
Burcard’s territory is less than half that of Avillambus.
However, his family has been rooted in the Altenberg region since the time of the ancient empire, at least eight hundred years ago. In terms of the solidity of the foundation, it was incomparable to any great lord on the continent.
“Also, the death knight who jumped out with Luke’s corpse might do some tricks. The fish-men who retreated for a while may come up along the river again and harass the rear.”
The undead army attacked the Seteniora Monastery and virtually disappeared. On the other hand, the fishmen robbed the ports and were counterattacked, so they only retreated for a while.
In the end, Prince Ulkar had a new enemy in front of him and an old enemy he couldn’t deal with behind him.
“Maybe even this is just the beginning.”
“…that word.”
“I will talk about it thoroughly, but it means that my journey will be a thorny road.”
He let out a bitter smile and took a short breath.
“And I intend to redefine my relationship with you before that thorny road.”
Since the road ahead is tens of thousands of miles, there is no reason or reason to say that you should go in search of a four-year-old path. The six mercenaries in front of me now wanted to follow me completely.
For that persuasion, I prepared three cards.
“I have to start with the introduction again. My name is Phoenix of Zaharkar.”
The six mercenaries drew in their breath at the unexpected words. It was the same that everyone looked surprised, but when I took a quick look, the surprise was slightly different.
The chubby Esson and the heavy swordsman Umberta’s eyes widened a little, and they said, ‘Why are you talking about this all of a sudden?’ It wasn’t that he was surprised to hear Ja Hakar, but that the timing of the story was unexpected. He must have known my identity.
The veteran conjurer and the crossbowman Gidon half-opened their mouths, then shook their heads, saying, ‘I see.’ He must have guessed my identity.
Lastly, the ponytail Fritz and the heavy soldier Dervish
had their arms crossed with expressionless faces.
Then I looked at my colleagues and said, ‘Why? What is it?’
“…don’t you all know Zaharkar?”
“…what is that?”
“Zakhar and Baluin. The ducal family of Ireland.”
“I know that. I’ve heard of it before,”
Fritz asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Are you saying that the ruler now belongs to that ducal family?”
“uh.”
“What kind of distant relative are you?”
“no. The former duke is my uncle, and now the duke is my cousin.”
“……Yes?”
Only then did Fritz and Dervish widen their eyes. It was clear that I had no idea of who I was or what I was, or that I had no interest in it from the start.
It’s just that the rest of the mercenaries were shocked and didn’t think that I was a direct descendant of Zaharkar.
“…then go to Lady Heila.”
“Balouin. He’s the duke’s younger brother, but he’s also my cousin.”
“Huh.”
Confair, who asked the question, sighed and swallowed dry saliva.
Yes, this is my first card, ‘Status’.
This is a world where the status system is as natural as water and air. Having noble blood is itself a considerable power.
Of course, a knight with the blood of a legendary ducal family was better than a mercenary who had made a fortune in persuasion.
The mercenaries’ gaze towards me changed slightly, perhaps thanks to the clear identity. It seemed that a bit of a sense of distance was also mixed in, so I quickly took out the next words.
“I left Ireland for some pretty immature reasons. It is a story in the context of a young man who is angry at not being able to achieve love and leaves his hometown.”
A few showed curiosity, but I had no intention of selling Phoenix’s memories here.
“While wandering the continent like that, I came to be with the saint on his deathbed.”
Eson and Gidon quietly crossed themselves.
“I realized then. That my departure from home, my travels across the continent, and my arrival at the Monastery of Seteniora were all planned.”
The pastor said something similar to this when I went to church led by Moncher during my training days. It was a story like that that all life is in God’s plan.
To be honest, it was difficult to understand and sympathize with, but I was able to use it quite usefully here.
“This revelation that the Holy Son left me is proof of that.” He rolled up his sleeves and raised his mana. The dimensional seal wrapped around his wrist emitted white light.
While the mercenaries were dazzled by the sudden performance, I calmly continued the conversation.
“The Holy Son’s revelation contained the thorny path I had to go through. A journey full of hardships that ordinary people can never overcome. But”
As he raised his mana again, the light emitted by the dimensional seal became more dazzling. Then, as if a prism was applied, the white light scattered and produced various colors.
“What is it?”
“…Oh Lord.”
A dream left behind by saint Abel emerged like a hologram in the middle of a dark warehouse.
The second card I prepared was ‘religion’.
“But there was a light beside me on my journey. The light from the Lord.”
Instead of the walls of the monastery entwined by giant snakes, it showed the black night sky above the spire of the cathedral. Soon after, the darkness covering the sky was pushed back by an intense light. The small sun that symbolized Princess Theodora in her dream rose up.
I quickly turned off the dimensional seal at the rapid consumption of magic power. As the warehouse turned dark again, the mercenaries breathed out.
“…All I want is a comrade to accompany me on this journey. Not a mercenary chasing money, but a comrade who agrees with me.”
The eyes of the mercenaries shimmered along with the candles lit everywhere.
“The group of ogres encountered at the entrance of Gistol, the group of vampires at Raven’s Cliff, the bounty hunters of Modos, the berserkers and demons of the flame world, the wyvern and ratman we met at the corner of the road, and the king of death and the undead we met at the holy ground here. Enemies so powerful that all of this looks ridiculous will block my journey.” “And at the end of that journey I will save the kingdom and maybe more.”
The third card is ‘Vision’.
It is natural. A leader without a vision is worthless.
“I want you to join me on that journey. Not as a mercenary, but as my comrade-in-arms
.” Those who stay by my side until the end of the journey will probably gain a lot. A lot of things.
I didn’t bother to mention this fact. As long as the six mercenaries in front of you are not fools, you can imagine your last appearance.
I had no intention of dissuading that imagination. Most of it is probably achievable anyway.
The mercenaries made blank faces and then met each other’s eyes.
That day I got six warriors.
Except for Eson and Umberta, the four swore allegiance as soon as I finished my words. The other two also knelt after a moment of thought.
Six are no longer mercenaries. Like Dylan, the Night Watchman, who brought me a letter from Lavalton a while ago, he’s my private.
Strictly speaking, it is of a higher rank than that… Yes, it must be similar to Prince Ulkar’s personal soldiers.
Of course, I had no intention of serving it for free just because I became an enlisted soldier. Rather, they doubled their weekly wages, and someday they plan to pay better than this.
Equipment was also distributed on the spot where the oath was received. As much as I had been thinking about it before, the distribution was unstoppable.
He gave Fritz a set of golden armor, ‘Emperor’s Gift’. Since he was a guy who recklessly rushes through enemy lines, he decided that having strong armor was more important than anything else.
“…but sir.”
“huh?” “Isn’t this color too fucking-like?”
“…what?”
The guy didn’t like the bright golden color, so he kicked the burnt Donnel who was taking a nap and had him run errands.
So he called in a few artisans and painted the armor dark red.
“What if you get lacquer?”
“Wouldn’t that be better than looking like X Bob?”
Are you really a crazy bitch
It was painted in a hurry, so the finish wasn’t good, but Fritz hung the armor in the backyard with a face that he liked very much.
It’s winter, so it’s windy and dry, so I think I’ll dry up before setting off. I can’t help but smell it.
I gave Dervish the ax that held electricity, the ‘Blue Thunder’, and the plate armor I was wearing.
The plate armor worn by Dervish after Renka and me had many scratches here and there, but it was still fresh as expected from Dormena Armor Workshop.
In the future, you will have to leave it to a skilled craftsman to fill in some parts, including the side copper, and adjust the size.
Blue lightning was not an easy weapon to use. Normally, it just looked like a fancy war ax with a blue blade, but when you gripped the handle, electricity boiled with sparks.
Of course, this electricity did not come for free.
The small hatchet that Fritz had previously possessed with a lightning spell was a way to charge mana. I could slowly suck in the mana around me, and if I was good at mana, I could recharge it at will.
On the other hand, Qing-lei arbitrarily sucked mana from its master and turned it into electricity. Thanks to this, if an ordinary person handled it, all of its mana would be sucked in and it would pass out.
“About three minutes at most.”
“Hmm, that’s enough.”
Dervish, who passed out while testing how much he could handle blue lightning, had a very bright expression despite his pale face.
“It feels so good to be hanging up a bunch of things that don’t fit the subject.”
“Yes, I’m glad.”
As soon as I smiled, Dervish, who wore the Blue Lightning on his waist, left the warehouse with the plate armor on his shoulder.
Umberta was given the one-handed and half-sword, ‘Saint’s Destruction’.
The Saint’s Ruin was a one-handed and half-sword, longer than most two-handed swords, but it was very light and had a
well-balanced center of gravity, so if you were skilled, you could really handle it with one hand.
“…How can you tell me?”
“what?”
“It’s a feeling.”
Holding the sword, Umberta looked up at the blade with a mysterious expression.
It’s natural to feel that way. I wonder if the name is ‘the ruin of the saint’ for nothing.
As a unique piece of equipment, that sword has the terrifying effect of nullifying divine power. There was no way that the aura that scattered the divine power would give a pleasant feeling.
“Are you feeling a bit embarrassed?”
“…no. I like it.”
Umberta looked at the blade with slightly relaxed eyes and let out a laugh.
…How dangerous it looks, but I’ll have to keep an eye on it.
Eson was given the glaive, ‘Blood Vanguard’.
“Can I use this?”
As he grasped the spearhead, red smoke and a bloody aura rose from the blade. Eson looked back at me with a slightly tired expression.
“To be honest, it is a bit risky. If you’re unlucky, even just brushing against the blade could cost you your life.”
Eson’s face became even paler as he explained the Vorpal or instant death option attached to the equipment in a vague manner.
“Why should I say this from the standpoint of dedicating my allegiance to that ruler, but I intend to return to my hometown someday.”
“Is it too much? You can return it when you return, so don’t worry about it.”
“…That’s not the case. If I use something like this, I don’t think I’ll die in my name.” When he showed hesitation, I suggested ‘Ecstatic Death’ instead of the bloody vanguard.
“Uh…
Seeing that the trident emits a bewitching purple glow, Esson made an awkward expression.
“This doesn’t look too different.”
He looked at the glaive and trident alternately, then moistened his dry lips and nodded. “If you want to walk on a thorny path
, you will need at least
one of these, yes.”
Eson held onto the hilt of the glaive with a hard face.
Of course, the distribution was not all smooth sailing.
“I cannot write this.”
“……why?”
“It’s an evil thing, isn’t it?”
Gidon frowned and stepped back from the ‘dead man’s crossbow’.
“Because it’s not like that. If it was an evil object, it would have been purified by the princess’s divine power. You still don’t feel the fraud.”
“How can I use such an ominous object as arrows that are cut from bones?”
Like the others, the ‘Crossbow of the Dead’ is also a strange thing, and if you put an ordinary crossbow on it, it will become black dust and scatter. So, in order to shoot properly, I had to put an arrow cut from bone, but this seemed to Gidon to feel unlucky. In fact, it is a very natural reaction.
In response to Gidon’s startled attitude, he offered a longbow ‘Bo Reakum’ and an enchanted catapult bow, but he refused even that. I’ll just use the original one.
Well, the thing Kidon used to use was also a heavy crossbow with a winch, so it wasn’t that it lacked power, but it was a bit disappointing that three unique equipment seemed to have lost their use.
I was going to give the shield, ‘The Rock of Corinth,’
but
the Conwhire holding the shield shook his head while sweating.
“Can’t you?”
“No, I can’t. It’s too heavy for me to use in real combat.”
The Rock of Corinth, as its name suggests, is an object that at first glance looks like a granite stone slab.
It was a very good shield that perfectly blocked fire and cold and had other special abilities, but it was so heavy that it was burdensome even for a mercenary with a lot of bones.
“It doesn’t matter. Anyway, I was just getting used to this guy.”
As he said that, he knocked on a shield with steel horns that he had obtained at an auction not long ago. It’s a low level, but it wasn’t a bad thing at all because it had spell reflection.
“Then write this as you wish.”
Saying so, what he held out was the ‘war hammer of shock’ that Utequai had returned a while ago.
“Uh”
Conwyer, who has an inexplicable attachment to his blunt decapitator, hesitated for a moment before accepting the hammer with a grin.
“I will write thanks, Nari.”
Somehow, it seems like you’ve been polite, but well, jjambab is jjambap, so you’ll know how to use it.
As a result, some of the equipment that had been left unattended found its owner.
The remaining equipment is…
‘Boreaccum’, ‘Crossbow of the Dead’, Enchanted Catapult, ‘Enchanted Death’, ‘The Rock of Corinth’, ‘Early Harvest’, a scythe that has lost its power, and metal plates obtained from battles with ratmen. Studded Belt The only thing you got from killing Starmaker Sol Reva is the ‘Majestic Robe’ and Cottonwood Staff.
No, there’s also the ‘Rainbow of Incidents’ set you got from Karamek.
…ha, that’s a lot. Can all these objects find their owners?
Another day passed while worrying about being full. Finally, it is the day to leave the Seteniora Monastery.
