My Villains Episode 373
61. The Art of War (15)
After we dealt with the swamp giant, we were attacked twice more. Once it was a horde of fleshy zombies in a venomous swamp.
If it was a group of ordinary adventurers, it would have been a big disappointment dealing with these tricky enemies, but the knights responded like masters of battle. After crushing the zombies in half with a horseback charge, it was finished with close combat, and the slime melted it by swinging the prepared sulfur torch like a blunt weapon.
There were also people who fainted from being poisoned by the miasma emitted by the corpse, or whose skin melted as they were bathed in acidic bubbles, but everyone did not take it seriously.
However, the vitality of the knights was too strong for their lives to be at risk. If you don’t die, you can use a potion or take it to a priest to cure it, so you don’t have to worry too much.
“Still, if you want to use this path, you must be prepared for monsters. It would be good to bring some wizard.”
With Lord Ankir’s concise comment, Asag’s reconnaissance ended.
After returning to the cavalry camp in High Castle, they sent the wounded to Andal-Biren and headed to the temporary training ground. It was to report the reconnaissance results to Ulkar.
“Put it on your shoulders and lift the spear!”
“Don’t be a slug, run! It means risking your life to maintain the formation!”
The long training ground between the inner and outer walls was full of soldiers, dust was blooming non-stop, and ancient castles came and went.
“Voice louder! I’m going to crush the Gellans with a shout!”
“Whoaaah—!”
Could it be because of the harsh training conducted by ferocious sergeants and veterans under the command of Ulkar? The conscripts, who used to look like innocent farmhands, now look quite usable.
Well, there won’t be a big difference in physical abilities or skills. But at least ‘Who am I? There was no one with a stupid face saying ‘Where is this place?’.
The resupply operation carried out by Margrave Landry and General McNeill, while grinding their souls, played a significant role in achieving this achievement.
The supply of military equipment such as iron helmets and gambisons also played an important role, but what had a greater effect was the abundant meals provided. Most of the conscripts even declared that the last few weeks were the best eating period of their lives. There were even soldiers who secretly sold the food to merchants because they could not eat all the rations.
Most of the conscripts were serfs, but they were not stupid just because they had a low status. No, perhaps because he had lived under exploitation all his life, he was rather quick-witted. They were sensitive to the atmosphere around them, and were quick to understand the intentions of their superiors.
The conscripts noticed that the quilted armor, the original shield, and the large piece of meat that were issued according to the prince’s order had a special meaning. They realized that they were being treated as ‘real soldiers’, not just consumables or meat shields.
Such proper supply and follow-up training raised the morale of the troops beyond imagination.
And Prince Ulkar showed up at the training ground every single day. He not only supervised the training himself, but also often chatted with the soldiers among the soldiers.
He was none other than Prince Ulkar. A man who is good enough to be called a champion of all weaklings, has an invincible reputation for never losing in his life, is kind enough to be incongruous with the noble status of a prince, and is even handsome enough to not be considered the same human being. It was he who even ordered an abundant supply. It was too easy to elicit the loyalty of the soldiers.
Even from the point of view of the soldiers, it was difficult to serve a great lord whom they had never seen before, or a noble value invisible to them, but it was easy to give allegiance to the prince in front of me.
Some lords expressed concern after realizing too late that the soldiers they had led were completely fascinated by Prince Ulkar. But fortunately, there were no idiots engaged in meaningless quarrels now that a large enemy army was right in front of them.
This was also thanks to the fact that Margrave Landry and Earl Oth, who had the strongest power among the lords, held the center.
Margrave Landry. A nobleman who had been considered a follower of Prince Eun for several years, Count Goos was also very cooperative, perhaps because he had made some sort of deal with Eulkar a while ago. In a situation where the two giants followed the prince’s instructions without saying anything, the rest of the pyramids had no choice but to quietly shut up
. Nearly five thousand men from five provinces were brought into submission to one Ulkar.
“…Asag scouted the cursed land? I must have had a hard time waking up.”
This situation could have been burdensome or thrilling, but the prince seemed unconcerned. Standing on the inner wall bulwark used as a training command post, watching the soldiers, he looked slightly tired, but his face was as calm as usual.
“Could you believe in one of the robbery items and set foot there?”
“…together? Please go to that bone.”
When I turned around with a stunned face, Sir Ankir shook his head with a deliberately dignified face.
“Your Highness, it’s stolen goods. I only obtained the holy relic according to the revelation given by the Lord.”
“Are you here? I never imagined that I would hear from the Lord something like that of a cathedral knight.”
Ulkar smiled and added,
“And that revelation must have been quite inaccurate, huh? Seeing that the basement of Andal-Viren’s cathedral is all over the place.”
“…yeah. I apologize.”
“To apologize later. So I guess that half-cut shinbone was quite useful?”
In response to the prince’s question, the gigantic knight excitedly boasted about the sight of the holy relic emitting white flames.
“…Hoo. I mean, there was such an effect.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I discussed how to use this with the knights accompanying me… When
Lord Ankir’s report showed signs of lengthening, I looked away and backed away. I think it was a pretty good decision to use my duty as a swordsmanship instructor as an excuse.
Lord Ankir, the commander of the heavy cavalry, will make a good report. You don’t have to stay with me, right?
I hurried down the bulwark and headed for the castle. It was because I had just heard the good news before reporting to Ulkar
.
“Oh Sir Phoenix. Long time no see.”
“Looks like I’ll see you in about 15 days. Thank you for your hard work.”
Among the unpacking soldiers, I was greeted by Hilter Seymour, a knight with an intelligent face and an impressive gray plate armor.
He said that he was tasked with clearing the territory behind High Castle, including Longdale and the Highlands. The task of repairing the villages that were devastated by the bloody mercenaries.
Sir Filter, who had just arrived at High Castle after finishing his mission, smiled and shook his head.
“There was no such thing as suffering. All I had to do was to look around and come back with the troopers.”
“You’ve gathered quite a few soldiers for just coming back once.”
He was both a brilliant knight and a meticulous administrator. In that short amount of time, he managed to rectify the territories that were swept away by the chaos and recruited more than a hundred soldiers from among the refugees.
“Still, it won’t compare to the hardships that Lord Phoenix went through. Didn’t His Highness entrust you with many missions?”
“What can I do? Wouldn’t it be the instinct of a farmer—no, a superior—to want to take advantage of a subordinate with original ability?”
Sir Filter nodded with a smile, then opened his mouth with a look of regret.
“A lot of knights learned a lesson from you?”
“…Ah Dalian?”
“yes. It’s just a pity that I didn’t get that opportunity because I arrived late.”
The third position that Ulkar gave me was swordsmanship instructor.
Originally, the duties of this position were to teach noncommissioned officers. Contrary to the name of the Swordsmanship Instructor, he did not teach only swordsmanship, but covered all kinds of skills useful on the battlefield.
But the problem was that on the first day I came to High Castle, I became a rock star among the knights by throwing a spear and catching several dragon knights.
The knights said they would fulfill their duties as swordsmanship instructors and fervently courted me while carrying out missions together in the heavy cavalry. The courtship of the knights was, of course, to stick together.
“I heard the story. I heard that there were few people who could stand up properly…
I couldn’t find an appropriate answer, so I just laughed with a puzzled face. It was because Lord Hilter’s words were close to the truth.
I had passed level 30 in my previous adventures, and because I had completely absorbed Phoenix’s memory, my skills had risen tremendously. Thanks to this, there weren’t many knights who could deal with me in one-on-one sparring.
After arriving at High Castle, there are about forty knights who sparred with me. Even though they fought with their own strength, half of them could not withstand the heat. Of the other half, only four or five survived more than twenty sums.
Sir Daylesse, who was said to be the best knight in Odenrock, or Sir Ecbert, who was called ‘Bronze with an axe’, was at least worth fighting for.
If you are determined and do your best, you are confident that you can defeat him within six or seven points, but it seems that it was a pretty thrilling match because you couldn’t use blood magic or magic tools during sparring. I haven’t seen it myself, but I think the ‘arrogant’ Sir Lyam or the ‘Bird Mag 人F Gisella’ are at this level.
In this High Castle, Lord Ankir was the only person with skills equal to me, who calmly evaluated and sealed blood divination and magic tools. Well, Lord Langboldt, who was the first knight of Ulkar and was away for a while to borrow the Steel Fleet, would be a good opponent as well.
I laughed awkwardly, then scratched my eyebrows and said to Sir Hilter.
“Don’t be too sad. When the time is right, there will be a chance to compete.”
“I hope so. It’s rare to have a chance to share a sword with a knight as high as you.”
Although he showed a bit of a psychopathic temperament, Sir Filter was also a knight with a reputation.
I have already seen someone handle a spear with a half-moon blade freely, but I have
never seen the sword skill that earned him the nickname ‘painter’. So, fighting with him was something I was quite looking forward to.
After finishing the conversation moderately, I brought out the main topic that came to him.
“And I heard that you brought my men too…
“Oh, that’s right. I stopped by K-Bor on the way back. He will be waiting for you over there.”
In the direction he pointed, my own soldiers and newly recruited recruits were waiting.
Veteran Confidant, Heavy Dervish Night Watchman Dylan Spearman McCaig, and Poacher Cavas. After a rough exchange of greetings with the men he had left behind in Keibor, he looked back and saw that the newcomers had a very peculiar appearance.
“…You created an army, not mercenaries?”
“I thought it would be more efficient to do this since we recruited a lot in the past.”
I silently nodded my head at the words of the conjurer.
A total of 5 new recruits from Keibor were recruited, but as I said, they looked like an army rather than a bunch of mercenaries. It was because, like the soldiers being trained by Ulkar, they were equipped with unified armaments such as iron helmets, quilted armor, and single spears.
Not only was the armament reasonable, but the formation of five columns and the appearance of the military discipline were quite impressive.
“…Did you at least train on the way?”
“It’s not a big deal, it’s like walking in a line or barely getting in line. The full-scale training hasn’t even started yet.”
Confair was a veteran soldier with more than 15 years of service, and since becoming my subordinate, he has been acting as an acting commander and managing other mercenaries. It was clear that he was planning on raising 50 new recruits at once, like a conspirator.
“…Well, you know what to do. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Yes Nari.”
For me, it was better to get soldiers with strong discipline and loyalty rather than a band of thugs and mercenaries, so I had no intention of stopping his plan. The sun was setting soon as he was looking around at his friends and newly recruited men who had just finished their mission.
Around that time, Sir Filter and the soldiers returned to the High Castle. Sir Ariad, who had left for the east with Sir Langbolt, had returned.
He was with completely unexpected guests. They brought Count Akele’s blood knights called the Bloody Baek (鮮血伯).
