Chapter 66: 36.1

Chapter 36-1: Windmetal Fort (1)

Due to the fact that the Four Winds mercenary legion was delayed at the twin Reydnold Mountains for a day, King Cameron's army had already continued northward by the time they arrived at Windmetal Fort, and most of the mercenary legions had also already departed.

Speaking of Windmetal Fort, that was the southernmost fort of the province of Burmen, so it could also be said that this fort was the gateway to the king's province. As such, it was an important location that connected the north to the south, and all of the supplies needed for this war had to be transported through this place. Furthermore, Windmetal Fort was rich in iron ore, so it was also known for its production of armor and weapons. Most of the military equipment used by Prince Lazaar's elite soldiers was produced in this place.

With Burmen prospering under Prince Lazaar's leadership, Windmetal Fort had already been transformed into quite a sizable military fort, as opposed to the small fort that only provided military equipment.

Even King Cameron couldn't help but praise Prince Lazaar for the work he had done while passing through Windmetal Fort with the regular army. All of the important sections that had different designated purposes had all been split up, and the layout of the entire fort made it extremely compact and efficient.

The barracks in the city had already been expanded on many occasions, and at the moment, it was able to house around 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers. Seeing as King Cameron's army had already continued northward, the barracks were looking quite empty, with only several straggling mercenary legions left behind.

Most of the Four Winds mercenary legion was commanded to stay in the barracks, and Sherry and Lanyon were assigned to supervise them on a temporary basis. After that, Erwin, Larwood, Chase, Kaiba, and Onean headed to the forging site in the city with the carts full of Falcon Beak Lizard hide, accompanied by around 10 strong and burly mercenaries.

On this day, Onean was wearing a suit of light leather armor and a dark brown hat. Several locks of her short chestnut hair were trailing out from under the hat, and they were giving off a faint sheen under the light of the dying sun. No matter how one looked at them, there was simply no resemblance between Erwin and this "cousin" of his.

Due to the unfolding war between the two kingdoms, large quantities of military equipment were required on the front lines, so business was absolutely booming for the blacksmith forges in the city, so much so that they were unable to keep up with the massive demand. Thus, no one wanted to take on a small job like theirs. Furthermore, simple jobs like this, which only involved cutting and sewing together beast hides, weren't very profitable, either, and that made it even more difficult to find someone who would take on the job.

Chase finally managed to track down a forge that didn't immediately turn down the job, but they were only willing to take on the job at a far higher price than normal. Given the current labor shortages and the urgency with which the Four Winds mercenary legion needed these suits of armor, it made sense that the price had to be raised.

After issuing the deposit and deciding on a time to pick up the goods with the owner of the forge, everyone could only exchange resigned looks with one another. They had to spend quite a bit extra to get the job done, but it was a necessary expenditure. In this situation, they couldn't help but think about just how important wealth was. In contrast with money, things like status and rank were nowhere near as versatile. 

"Oh, where did you get so many Falcon Beak Lizard hides from? These things are fantastic for crafting armor." A rugged square-faced man casually picked up some pieces of lizard hides from the cart before playing with them while taking a glance at Erwin and his friends, who were just about to depart from the forge.

The square-faced man had tall cheekbones, and his cheeks were riddled with scars of different lengths. It was clear from his appearance alone that he wasn't a pleasant man.

Erwin and the others didn't want any trouble, so they simply ignored him and continued to depart. However, the square-faced man stomped a foot against the wall beside him, using his leg as a barricade to stop Erwin and his friends cold in their tracks. At the same time, several burly subordinates emerged from behind him, and all of them were clad in heavy armor and wielding sharp blades.

Erwin and his friends were used to being menaces back in Sarus, so this was a very familiar situation to them, except the roles were usually reversed.

"I haven't finished speaking yet! Why are you in such a hurry to go?" The square-faced man spat a thick globule of phlegm onto the ground, then continued, "These Falcon Beak Lizard hides look really nice. Once you get them forged into armor, would you be able to lend me a few dozen suits?"

Overall, the man was speaking in a relatively polite fashion, but it was clear that his intentions weren't to borrow as much as they were to steal.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Why should we lend you our suits of armor?" Chase asked in a hostile voice.

"Hey, did you guys hear that? He just asked me who I am?" The square-faced man turned around to look at his subordinates as he guffawed with mirth.

Sinister smiles also appeared on the faces of his subordinates, and they quickly sprang into action, surrounding Erwin's group in the blink of an eye.

As a result, the dozen or so mercenaries who were accompanying Erwin and the others were separated from their leaders. They could see that the men who had surrounded their leaders clearly had less than friendly intentions, and they immediately drew their weapons before surrounding the square-faced man and his group, preparing to strike at any moment should the conflict escalate into a physical altercation.

However, the square-faced man and his subordinates didn't even bother to turn around to look at the mercenaries, and it was clear that they weren't fazed at all by the fact that they had been surrounded.

A burly man with a pair of narrow slits for eyes stepped forward as he said, "I'm only going to tell you this once, so you better listen up carefully. This here is the commander of our Wolf Moon mercenary legion, Master Talan."

"Never heard of him, but he sounds like a douchebag," Chase scoffed. "And what's this about a Wolf Moon mercenary legion? Take a good look at yourselves! You look more like the Stray Dogs mercenary legion! Get the fuck out of my way before I pummel all of your faces into a pulp!"

The mercenaries of the Four Winds mercenary legion all burst into raucous laughter upon hearing this.

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"You're one to talk, you fat pig! You're going to regret talking trash to me!" the narrow-eyed man said in a furious voice.

"Fat pig? I'm just trying to help you out! If I don't make myself a bigger target, how are you going to be able to see me out of those squinty little eyes?" Chase countered in an amused voice.

The mercenaries of the Four Winds mercenary legion were laughing even louder upon hearing this, as were Erwin and his friends, and even Onean was barely able to contain her amusement.

The narrow-eyed man became even more furious upon being insulted again, but even his own fellow companions were struggling to contain their laughter.

At this point, Talan's expression had completely darkened, and a cold look surfaced in his eyes as he snapped his fingers, upon which two groups of people rushed out from a nearby street. All of them were also clad in the same suits of heavy armor as Talan and his subordinates.

There were several dozen of them in total, and they surrounded the members of the Four Winds mercenary legion. The layers of encirclements presented a rather comical sight to behold, but it was clear that the Four Winds mercenary legion was at a disadvantage here.

Erwin cast his gaze toward the square-faced man by the name of Talan, then dragged Onean behind him to shield her with his body. He had a feeling that a fight was going to be unavoidable here.

Erwin and his friends were quite accustomed to the occasional brawl or scuffle between several people, but they had never been involved in a fight with such large numbers. At the same time, they couldn't help but wonder who these people were and why they were being so aggressive.

Not only were they in a public setting, they were situated in the important military fort that was Windmetal Fort, and the Effer Kingdom was currently at war against the Skycourt Kingdom. If the department of military affairs were to learn that this Wolf Moon mercenary legion was attacking allied mercenaries, they could easily be punished as traitors to the kingdom. Thus, Erwin and his friends were struggling to understand why these people were being so reckless and overbearing.

"Hold on, I think I remember who they are now. I've heard of this Wolf Moon mercenary legion. Most of the legion consists of escaped convicts and bandits. I don't know how they managed to do it, but they somehow got approved to become an official mercenary legion. Also, I recall that their legion is quite a large one, with over 1,500 mercenaries," Kaiba said in a quiet voice.

"How could such a mercenary legion possibly exist?" Erwin exclaimed in a low voice.

"The kingdom is at war, so it's desperate for troops, even if they're convicts and bandits. Now that you mention it, I also recall hearing about this mercenary legion. I think I saw their information when I was registering our mercenary legion at the department of military affairs," Larwood said.

"How could these people be so brazen? They're trying to steal our stuff out in the open in the middle of the day!" Chase exclaimed. "Do they think that the department of military affairs will just allow this? If we take this to the department of military affairs, won't they be punished as traitors of the kingdom?"

"They're all convicts and bandits who are used to defying authority anyway, so they're no stranger to being hunted. Do they look like they're worried that we'll take this matter to the department of military affairs?" Kaiba said as he rolled his eyes at Chase. "If worse comes to worst for them, they could just return to their lives on the run as escaped convicts."

"Haven't you guys noticed that they've been following us ever since we came out of the campsite?" Onean said with a wary expression.

"I see. So they were onto us from the very beginning because they think they can beat us with their advantage in numbers," Erwin said in a cold voice.

"How long are you going to keep mumbling for? Let me ask you this again: are you going to give us the suits of armor or not?" Talan asked with a cold smile. Prior to this, he had been keeping up an amicable facade by pretending to borrow the suits of armor, but he wasn't even bothering to keep up those pretenses anymore.

"What are you going to do if we refuse? Are you going to attack us here?" Larwood asked with a disdainful expression. "I don't think you have the guts to do it!"

However, Larwood was quickly proven wrong.

With a wave of Talan's hand, all of the mercenaries of the Wolf Moon mercenary legion drew their blades in unison.

"Prepare for battle!" Larwood immediately yelled upon seeing this.

A battle quickly ensued between the two mercenary legions, and as soon as the two sides clashed, Erwin discovered that these people really weren't just ordinary thugs and hoodlums. All of them were extremely agile and vicious with their attacks, and it was clear that they were all seasoned warriors. In addition to that, they had an absolute advantage in numbers and equipment, so the dozen or so mercenaries of the Four Winds mercenary legion were quickly incapacitated.

Meanwhile, Erwin and his friends also found themselves in a very perilous situation. Larwood, Kaiba, and Chase were fighting against the narrow-eyed man and Talan's other subordinates. Due to the fact that they were at a disadvantage in numbers, they could only passively defend themselves. To compound their woes even further, their opponents were far more vicious and ruthless than the young nobles they were used to fighting. Every single one of their attacks was aimed at their opponents' vital regions, and there was no flair or panache to their martial techniques, but they were all extremely practical and dangerous. As a result, Larwood's trio had to be extra careful. In a fight, the worst opponents to come up with were ones like these, who fought with a similar style to Larwood's trio, except they had been dabbling in this style for far longer than Larwood and the others had.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Wolf Moon mercenary legion, Talan, charged directly toward Erwin, while two of the subordinates behind him set their sights on Onean.

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