Chapter 60: 32

Chapter 32: Setting Off

By the time Erwin rode his horse back to the city the following day, the sky had only just begun to brighten. He knew that the king was going to emerge from the royal palace soon to prepare the troops for march. At that time, the entirety of Phoenix Street would undoubtedly be packed with common folk bidding farewell to the king, so it would take far longer to travel through the city.

It was only 6:30 AM as he arrived at Count Friar's Manor, and the servants in the manor were very surprised to see him as they very rarely saw him return to the manor at such an early hour. Erwin was in quite a good mood. For him, there was a sense of novelty from returning to the manor in the early morning, and the thought of being able to enjoy the manor's breakfast one last time before setting off was also quite a joyful one for him as well. Prior to having breakfast, he went to take a look in his father's bedroom, and sure enough, just as the butler had said, Count Friar was living in the barracks outside the city.

Before the clock in the manor had even struck 8 AM, Erwin was already waiting outside. He looked at the horse-drawn carriages and people traveling along the streets, and he couldn't help but notice that there were far fewer carriages and passersby than normal. A short while later, a rather "interesting" horse-drawn carriage slowly drew to a halt outside the entrance of Count Friar's manor. The carriage looked as if it could fall apart at any moment, so Erwin assumed that this most likely wasn't the princess's carriage.

The guards at the entrance of the manor stepped forward to chase the carriage away, but they were stopped by Erwin. Thankfully, with his keen eye, he was able to notice that the coach driver gave off an aura that was a complete mismatch with the dilapidated carriage. With that in mind, Erwin quickly understood what was happening, which was why he stepped in to prevent the guards from chasing the carriage away.

Erwin made his way over to the carriage before gently tapping on the window, and the person inside the carriage pulled back the curtain slightly to take a glance at him, following which the door was opened. Erwin couldn't help but be amused as he heard the creaking of rusty hinges as the door was opened.

However, as soon as he entered the carriage, he was stunned by its interior.

The space inside the carriage wasn't very large, but the decor was extremely lavish. On one side was an elegant walnut bed, while on the other side was a wardrobe and a bookshelf, between the two of which sat an intricately crafted desk. There was also a Nightglow Stone lamp hanging down from the top of the carriage.

Atop the bed sat a woman with a head of long chestnut hair, which was arranged into a bun, leaving only a thin lock of hair trailing down on either side of her head. There was a seductive and lazy look of weariness on her alluring face, and her body below her swan-like neck was wrapped in a thick quilt, but her slender feet were left exposed and were crossed in a leisurely fashion.

Erwin couldn't help but gulp slightly as he stared at her delicate toes, which were wiggling from time to time in a playful manner.

"So? You can't recognize me now, can you?" Onean asked with a cheeky smile on her face.

"Your Highness, may I suggest wearing a mask? That way, no one will be able to recognize you," Erwin said as he shook his head with a wry smile.

Given her stunning appearance, it was going to take more than just a change in hair color for her to be unrecognizable.

"Hmph, I'm not going to do that. I'll be staying in this carriage all the time anyway, so no one will be able to discover who I am," Onean said, seemingly more so to convince herself than to convince Erwin.

"Fine. I agreed to take you with me, so we'll do whatever you say," Erwin said in a resigned voice while continuing to stare at Onean's delicate feet.

Onean glared at him with a displeased expression, then tucked her feet away under the quilt.

"There you go," Erwin said with a smile. "You should make sure to keep as warm as possible as you're recovering from your injuries."

"Mind your own business!" Onean turned her gaze away from him and began to flip through the pages of the book in her hand.

"Are you reading about magic potions again?" Erwin identified the book in her hand to be the same one as the magic potion book that she had been reading before. It was also this book that contained the magic potion recipe that had left him completely paralyzed before knocking him out cold.

"What else am I supposed to do with my time? I don't want to be uneducated like you." Onean gave a barbed response without even looking up from her book.

"Why is it that all of you think that I'm uneducated?" Erwin asked with a perplexed expression.

Onean was quite surprised to hear this, and her eyes widened as she turned toward Erwin. "Who else has said that about you?"

"Uh, a lot of other people," Erwin said as he averted his gaze, pretending to inspect the decor within the carriage.

"Oh, I see." Once again, Onean was able to read him like an open book, and a meaningful smile appeared on her face. "Looks like Miss Lana knows you quite well too."

Erwin didn't go along with this topic of conversation. Instead, an indignant look appeared on his face as he asked, "I made it into the top four of the Pillow Sword Tournament, didn't I? Why do you all think of me as someone so inept?"

Onean was rather amused by his frustrated display, and she chuckled, "Do you really need me to tell you the reason behind that? You have virtually no experience in practical combat, and if it wasn't for that strange light shield, you wouldn't have made it anywhere near as far as you did."

"You make it sound like I'm not the one using the time and space magic," Erwin grumbled with a displeased expression.

"Alright, I was wrong, you're the strongest of them all!" Onean consoled with an amused smile.

Erwin couldn't be bothered to bicker with her any longer, and he sat down beside her onto the bed as he countered, "No matter how strong I am, I can't compare with this carriage of yours. It's not going to fall apart before we even make it to the encampment, is it?"

Onean couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this. "Are you an idiot? The carriage's exterior was magically modified by me, it's not actually in as terrible a condition as it looks like from the outside."

"As I was coming in, I made sure to take extra care when closing the door. Otherwise, I thought it was going to fall off, and you'd freeze to death then," Erwin chuckled. All of a sudden, he realized that he had stopped referring to Onean as Your Highness. Thankfully, she wasn't the type to be bothered by such formalities.

Erwin's mind began to wander, and his thoughts began to turn in a lewd direction as he thought about how the princess was counting on him to look after her throughout this entire journey. As these thoughts crept into his mind, the distance between the two of them began to shrink. Of course, that was only because he was unconsciously inching closer toward her, while Onean remained still on the spot.

"What are you doing sitting here like this? Hurry up and go drive the carriage!" Onean said as she kicked him through the quilt.

"Didn't you bring a servant with you? Just get them to drive the carriage," Erwin said.

"I had to sneak out of the royal palace, and the servant has to sneak back while Father is leaving the palace," Onean explained.

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"In that case, you should tell them to return to the royal palace right away. His Majesty is about to leave the city to the barracks soon."

Onean gently knocked on the window, then gave the servant an instruction, and the servant immediately nodded to accept the order. After that, she rushed away toward Phoenix Street, occasionally looking back at the carriage as she did so.

Erwin also poked his head out the window to take a look. The royal guard was already clearing the way for the king on Phoenix Street, and many common folks had begun to gather on either side of the street.

Erwin looked on as the servant disappeared into the crowd, then said, "That servant of yours is quite loyal."

Onean knew what he wanted to ask, and she explained, "She used to serve my mother. After my mother passed away, she was transferred to my side, and she's been serving me ever since."

"So as a reward for her loyalty, you made her dress up as a man?" Erwin asked as he turned to look at Onean with an amused smile.

A guilty look appeared on Onean's face. "Well, I couldn't test it on myself first, could I?"

Erwin burst into laughter upon hearing this, while Onean glared at him with a displeased expression.

Only after the king had disappeared into the distance did the crowd slowly disperse. After that, Erwin drove the carriage toward the encampment of the Four Winds mercenary legion.

...

That same day, King Cameron of the Effer Kingdom led an army of 100,000 troops to Burmen in order to oppose the invasion of the Skycourt Kingdom. The right branch general, Count Friar, was leading the way with 20,000 elite cavaliers under his command, while the king led the middle branch behind the right branch, and the general of the left branch, Governor Jenkins, brought up the rear. In the absence of the king, Prime Minister Fuller was responsible for looking after the daily affairs in Sarus.

The army formed a long and winding line that stretched as far as the eyes could see.

All of the mercenary legions of different sizes were trailing along behind the army, waving flags of all types of different styles. The most common design to appear on the flags were skulls and beautiful women, followed by various types of weapons, such as axes, swords, and spears.

However, no matter which design was emblazoned upon these flags, all of them bore the design of a golden lion's head on the upper left corner. That was the national emblem of the Effer Kingdom.

In a certain mercenary legion encampment outside the city, all of the mercenaries were extremely calm and collected, completely unflustered by the fact that they were being left behind by the main army.

As Erwin arrived at the encampment on the rickety horse-drawn carriage, Larwood was in the process of assembling everyone before reading out the rules and regulations that had just been finalized.

"The first rule, which is also the most important one, is that you must follow orders at all times. I don't want there to be any leaders in this mercenary legion aside from myself and Erwin. I'll be responsible for commanding the martial artists, while Erwin will be responsible for leading the magicians. On the battlefield, our orders are absolute. If we tell you to advance, you advance. If we tell you to retreat, you retreat. No one is to go against our orders and act independently. If any of you feel like your abilities exceed those of Erwin or me, feel free to step forward now. If you can defeat either of us in battle, I'll issue you this month's salary right away. Is there anyone who wishes to challenge us? If so, step forward now!" Larwood said in an implacable voice.

His words were met with silence.

Larwood swept his gaze across everyone's faces, then continued, "Alright, seeing as no one's saying anything, I assume you're all agreeing to what I've just said. If I find out later that anyone is giving orders in our stead or likes to go off to do their own thing, I'll execute you on the spot!"

Everyone was feeling quite intimidated by Larwood's menacing demeanor.

"The second rule applies to spoils of war. At the end of each battle, there will be designated personnel taking the spoils of war that everyone has claimed from the enemy. Don't let me catch any of you hiding spoils of war and trying to take them for yourselves. If I catch you once, your salary for that month will be confiscated. If I catch you a second time, then you'll be kicked out of the legion."

Everyone continued to remain silent, and Larwood suddenly roared, "Do I make myself clear?"

Everyone was given a slight fright by this, and they all returned to their senses as they answered in unison, "Yes!"

"None of us are stingy people. At the end of each battle, we'll only keep the spoils of war required to maintain the daily operation of our legion, and the rest will be distributed to everyone," Chase said. "However, if anyone tries to keep spoils of war for themselves, then don't blame us for taking action to address your transgressions!"

At this point, Erwin had also made his way onto the stage, and he took a quick glance at the rules established by Lanyon, then said, "Let me add one more thing: this mercenary legion isn't a place for cowards and deserters. If I see any of you fleeing or deserting the legion on the battlefield, I'll make sure to hunt you down before our enemies can even get to you!"

After that, Larwood read out the remaining few rules, which included things like no in-fighting and no stealing, as well as the consequences that would be incurred for breaking those rules.

Only after the address was complete did everyone realize that Erwin and his friends were taking this extremely seriously. Normally, they were always fooling around and didn't seem to be all that reliable, but when it came to serious business, they weren't willing to make any compromises. Everyone had grown quite comfortable with Erwin and the others during the banquet that was held the night before, and this was the first time they were seeing such a stern side to their leaders.

After that, the Four Winds mercenary legion officially set off.

Larwood was leading the way on his steed, holding the legion's flag high above his head. The flag consisted of a starry sky background, upon which was embroidered a sky-blue rhombus. Of course, there was a golden lion's head emblazoned on the upper left corner of the flag as well. Kaiba and Chase were following along behind Larwood, leading two groups of cavaliers.

As for Erwin, he was bringing up the rear with Lanyon and the others. Having just communicated with Larwood, it was decided that he would be responsible for looking after all of the supplies, of which there were around a dozen horse-drawn carts.

Everyone thought that Erwin was simply being cautious and wanted to look after the supplies. Little did they know that one of the carriages was housing something completely different from supplies.

Erwin sat on his horse as he looked back at Sarus with a wistful expression. This was the first time he had ever set off on such a long journey, and his heart was filled with mixed emotions.

He was extremely excited at the prospect of making his mark on the battlefield, but he was also quite sad about leaving his home.

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