My Villains Chapter 525
67. The Lord of Icebobalt (18)
First of all, the conductor checked the number of people.
More than half of the journey to Proshafen was in my territory, and the rest of the Angst region was also a friendly land, so there was little need to worry about the eyes.
On the other hand, after moving to the Milanol Kingdom, things were different. If the size and manners of the party are too conspicuous, news of us will reach the royal family nobles and Zachary’s before reaching the capital.
“First of all, the size of all units is about ten people. It would be better not to exceed twenty at most. Separately, I have to prepare a disguised identity.”
“Maximum twenty…. Does that policy apply to the main unit as well?”
“of course.”
Since martial law was not declared, the local lords of the kingdom would not conduct inspections on all passers-by. Still, in case of any unforeseen circumstances, they would need an undercover identity whether they were serving as a group of peddlers starting a new business or a band of wandering mercenaries in search of an employer.
“…Then, it would be better to form the main bodyguard unit first.”
“uh. Since they were raised for this kind of work in the first place, they have to pay for their meals after a long time.”
The bodyguard, as the name suggests, is a unit in charge of my close escort.
However, contrary to that pretext, I rarely perform day-to-day security, and at least this is because no one with the intention or ability to pose a threat to my personal life could exist in this Eisbobalt.
What I expected from them was to exert meaningful force in ‘special situations’. It is a force that can do its part based on its outstanding personal skills in a battle where thousands of ordinary soldiers cannot use their strength.
In short, it was a small elite prepared for the campaign.
After reviewing the upcoming campaigns, it was my judgment that mobilizing a large army would not be of much use.
Considering the means of access to the ancient city of Heaven, it would be difficult to send even a hundred troops. The ground is no different, so if you lead a large army through that long and rugged expedition, the supply requirements will be enormous. Perhaps, before the ‘barrier’ was reached, the estate’s life would be ruined.
Needless to say, the underworld or the dark world… No, even the royal capital is the same.
Even if there were thousands of troops belonging to the combat brigade, it was a completely different matter to project all the power to the far away royal capital. Even an arrow shot with a heavy crossbow cannot pierce a single layer of silk at the end.
Even because of this situation, that is, because of the situation where I had to maximize the end point of the offensive, I had no choice but to nurture a small number of elites with great care. The result was 18 members of the bodyguard.
“Are you taking Fritz too? Then there is no one who can imitate the lord.”
“Oh Fritz?”
During the Blade Bay War, I was entrusted with the task of crossing the Blade Bay by leading a detached unit. At that time, the troops of the two Elector Counts, who were attacking High Castle, acted shallowly so that they would not notice my absence. I had Fritz, whose body type was the most similar to mine, pretend to be a red knight.
As I later learned from the captives taken, the trick had been broken for only five days. Since it is said to be five days, it seems that they were caught immediately, but if you think about it differently, it means that the deception worked for four days, so it was not a waste of time.
“It’s okay. After all, it’s been a long absence for half a year. By the time rumors start to circulate, it must be after all the affairs of the royal capital have been completed, right?
“Still, lord. Wouldn’t it be better to hide as much as possible the situation that the opponent would be suspicious of? Sneaking into the royal capital is like sticking your head in the mouth of a dragon. Even if you are careful a hundred times, it will not be enough.”
As Confair’s nagging showed signs of lengthening, I quickly waved my hand.
“Oh stop. it’s okay. As for that, I told Heila that she has an idea, so she’ll take care of it.”
The main members of the bodyguard were my own soldiers who had followed me since before the Blade Man War, such as ‘Prickly’ Fritz, ‘Giant Hunter’ Cole, ‘Tight Tooth’ Steedman, ‘Leopard’, Mira ‘Monster Seed’, and Gollman.
They are comrades who have shared my joys and sorrows with me, and at the same time, my confidants who have experienced great success in return. Among my many subordinates, they are especially reliable.
In addition to them, ‘Valkyrie’, a representative of the cell-seed type, ‘Gelliamon’, who was a swordsman who wandered around the Tiloria Empire, but only the blade came under me during the war There was also the ‘singing mage’ Epos that settled down.
They were more like diners than subordinates, but they were reliable beings because they had their own safety device – the family living in Eisbowart.
As such, each and every one of the bodyguards is unique, but even among them, the five members who once belonged to the ‘devils of the blue flame’ are unique. Those who were specially selected from among the magic troops of Alzenberg who were freed from brainwashing with the help of Iofiya.
Altenberg’s Magic Bottles were originally half-skilled wizards, and the only spells they learned were one attack spell such as ‘Fireball’, ‘Lightning Arrow’ and ‘Storm’, and ‘Burning’, which replenishes mana by burning my life force.
However, there were some talented people among them, so high-level wizards such as Master Epos and Master Hagni each took in a few students as disciples and raised them as combat wizards.
Among those talented people, the five I picked out all belonged to the bodyguard. In other words, among the less than 300 demons of blue flames, the selected talents were the five members of the bodyguard.
Their skills as battle mages were quite satisfactory, but what was more valuable than that was their attitude.
Looking back, I said that during the Blade Man War, I used the ‘Dimensional Seal’ to kidnap the Prince of Savellard. In the process, I robbed the slaves of their binding power and changed the object of their allegiance to me engraved in their souls.
Although Iofiya had put a lot of effort into erasing the stigma from her soul, there was no doubt that there were still traces of it in her mind. Evidence of that was the tears I shed over the emotion of being informed that the 5 members had been chosen by me.
In addition, the combat instinct of the days when it was treated as a powerful siege weapon was still alive.
Perhaps it was because of the experience of burning my life to kill an enemy, but his recklessness in battle was on a different level from that of ordinary magicians. They had no fear of spears cutting right in front of their eyes, and if necessary, they could throw fireballs at their feet.
The exquisite balance of blind loyalty and recklessness, not sparing my own life, was the reason I spared no support for the Five.
“We can’t put all these people in the main unit. too many.”
Even if the number of people already organized as usual is already seven, including me, Iofia, and Hagni Simos Sights.
If you add all the bodyguards to this, it’s twenty-five, which isn’t a large number, but it’s a size that could buy vigilance from minor lords.
“After we go to the kingdom, we will have to divide it in half. The rest of the bodyguards will be formed as the nearest detachment.” I nodded and ran my hand over the organization chart.
“First of all, it will be comfortable for me to take this Fritz bastard with me.”
“You should have Gollman with you so that you feel comfortable.”
“uh. Leave out the ‘preacher’ as a detachment. I’m going to get annoyed with sneaking around, but I don’t even want to listen to sermons.”
“Shouldn’t there be at least one person with divine power? I heard that Princess Theodora cannot accompany you.”
“it’s okay. How amazing is his divine power…
“Isn’t he a cathedral knight?”
“A fake cathedral knight. And how many wizards are there in the party, so it must be a pity that they have divine power?”
“I understand. Then, since you took the money, take Mitelman instead.”
“okay. The more magicians, the better, so put in the Epos and since you can’t keep the couple apart, put in the mummy.”
“It would be better to send Tiloria to the detachment. It’s very mobile, and Ellen-nim doesn’t like it that much.”
“No, that’s not okay.”
“yes? Why……
I shrugged my shoulders and replied to Confier’s questionable expression.
“How fun it is to tease him. I can’t give up on that.”
“……Ah yes.”
“Of the 5 devils, there are two of them.”
“’Kal Ain’ and ‘Engliu’. Those two are the most useful.”
“Lastly, since we have to check the information about the princesses in between, even Shea.”
“The timing is exquisite.”
“what?”
“It’s Shea. I know you finished your training six days ago. Didn’t you know?”
“Oh yeah? Has it already been a year?”
I put on a puzzled expression when I remembered that the ‘clever’ Shea had become a disciple of Grimons Corval, the founder of ‘Corvalu’.
Thinking back on it, it couldn’t have been more surprising. The sword master, who is said to be the king of the empire , took a girl
from Paulville, a village in the kingdom, as his official apprentice.
It seems that the old master found out thanks to the ‘shadows wearing masks’, the subordinates of the mungchi, and found a great swordsmanship in Shea. I also thought Shea’s body movements and knife skills were quite talented, but I never imagined that they would appeal to even a 90-year-old master.
“What are you looking at? That petty old man who has been living in seclusion all along because he lost ‘Flight of the Bird of Prey’ to me.”
“Isn’t that a bad thing?”
“Yeah, that’s a good thing.”
“If you are in doubt, it would be okay for your lord to check it yourself.”
“Yeah what.”
I nodded my head coolly, and Confair presented a plan to organize a detachment.
“The contingent will be organized into 24 groups with a total of 450 people.”
“Why are you sending so many?”
“Only eight groups will enter the capital, and the rest will wait in the wilderness around the capital as a reserve.” Among the kingdoms of Milanol, Confearer placed 24 pieces on a map centered on the royal capital and explained where the detachments were waiting. I listened quietly and then suddenly let out a sigh.
“We need to maintain supplies for at least half a year… How do we maintain supplies for 450 people at this distance?”
“We plan to provide ample initial supplies and send supply units as soon as the opportunity arises. However, there is no easy way to operate a supply unit, so the main plan is to purchase them locally.”
“If this is long, I have to keep it for half a year… but I’m afraid I’ll lose a lot of money.”
“If it is necessary, the contingent disguised as mercenaries will actually carry out the request and appropriate the funds,”
I narrowed my eyebrows slightly when Confair said nonsense.
“What kind of nonsense is that when focusing only on the royal capital isn’t enough? If that’s the case, I’d rather reduce the number of detachments.”
“I’m sorry, lord. I made a mistake. This was a preliminary plan to prepare for a situation where the operation would be excessively prolonged.”
“If you think it will last longer than half a year, you have to jump out. We’re not even beggars…
I scratched my eyebrows suspiciously.
“…isn’t it beggar?”
Confair smiled and shook his head.
“We have sufficient armaments, and we have secured enough bank drafts through Mr. Rannon.”
“okay?”
“yes. The detachment will not go hungry. Unless the commander loses his wallet.”
“good.”
I nodded, and the confier’s report continued.
“Each contingent consisted of a minimum of sixteen and a maximum of twenty. All detachments were centered around skilled soldiers selected from the Silver Sword Battalion.”
The ‘Silver Sword Battalion’, one of the battalions belonging to the Combat Brigade, was composed of Prince Ulkar’s soldiers as the main axis, and Gilbert, who was also the Prince’s direct officer, was in charge.
As much as they regard me as the prince’s substitute, their loyalty is great and they are the most elite battalion among combat brigades, as they are made up of skilled soldiers.
“In addition to this, from the Free Regiment and the Shield Maiden’s mercenary corps, we recruited people from Milan or who were fluent in the Milanese language and organized them evenly.”
The Free Regiment was of diverse origins, as all its members were slaves gathered from all over the continent by his father, King Altenberg.
On the other hand, the ‘Shield Maiden’ Grania’s mercenary corps had maintained its size with its headquarters in Isbovald even after the Blade Man War ended.
Externally, he was earning money by fulfilling commissions such as escorting merchants or guarding villages, but maintaining a staff of more than 300 while doing such trivial tasks was difficult. So, in reality, he was serving as my personal mercenary and running a little messy errands, and he was scheduled to be mobilized for this job as well.
Grania’s mercenaries were rooted in the southern part of the Milanol Kingdom, so they wouldn’t have to worry much about their activities in the kingdom.
“The assault battalion didn’t pick one at all?”
“yes. Most of them are Gellans, so few people can speak Milanese. Also, since they are soldiers selected from the field in Obdorf, we may be faithful in defensive battles, but we judged that it would be difficult for us to carry out missions in a foreign country without knowing the details of the operation.”
As Confair said, the ‘Assault Battalion’ was a unit composed of standing soldiers selected from the area around the Felken Prince. Perhaps because Dervish, a woman of extraordinary strength who was once called a ‘heavy general’, took over as the commander, the soldiers also resembled Dervish.
In other words, it was a group of 500 big, strong, and bad-tempered Geellans, dressed in heavy equipment. Although Dervish was technically a subordinate of Confearer, as she had been given a knighthood, the soldiers of the assault battalion under her command had a lot of pride.
“It’s a training battalion. You can’t use conscripts for something like this. The last of the thugs… I can’t advertise that I’m gone, so I’ll have to stay here.”
“That’s right.”
“good. That should be enough.” After
checking the organization chart to the end, I
knocked on the table and looked back at the configurator.
“How much time do you need?”
“The preparations are already in the final stage, so if you finish writing, you can go to war.”
“Geulfi. Let’s do that.”
My work is done.
After sending the confier back, I looked out the window and stretched out.
My heart skipped a beat when I thought that I was leaving the city and the territory after a long time.
