Chapter 54: CH 48

Every single commander here (It’s kind of strange to be called a commander at my age but whatever) is bewildered.

Some show a sour expression, some show surprise, but I’m pretty sure inside they all thought ‘What the hell is he thinking!?’

This situation happened because of an urgent message from the capital. According to that message, Mangold, the eldest son of the deceased Marquis Knop created a huge mess. I’d met him for a second so I don’t have any good or bad impression of him but now my impression of him has gone toward the very bottom.

Because the mess he created is just too much.

“Leading mercenaries to attack Veritza Fortress?? Is he an idiot!?”

“I agree with the Viscount.”

I lashed out and Baron Kretschmer responded without missing a beat. I know that guy must be upset because his uncle took the title of the Marquis but isn’t at least half of that his own fault!? It seems like even in this world you can’t communicate with idiots.

Count Engelbert, Viscount Kauffeldt, and Count Vogler remained silent but they nodded in agreement. I’m sure that everyone else also agreed with me.

“Even when his father was fighting with the Marquis’s knight, he still got defeated, but now he wants to try to attack the Veritza Fortress only with mercenaries and his close aides? That is nothing but recklessness, “said Count Vogler while shaking his head.

“But does the royal family not notice his plan?”

“It seems like he just ran amok without a proper plan. The royal family knows that he exhorted the noble of his faction for money, but they must have thought that he wanted to use that money to negotiate with the royal family regarding the Marquis title,” Count Engelbert answered Viscount Kauffeldt’s question.

Then he used that money to hire an army of mercenaries? Creating an army without the kingdom’s permission is treason! The nobles that gave him money must be panicking right now.

The Duke actually crossed his hand and stayed silent while observing us. That’s scarier!

“Not to mention, the royal family has many things on their plate.”

“I guess that is true.”

Currently, the royal family is handling 3 projects, guarding the capital against a possible attack from Veritza Fortress, building an aqueduct, and taking care of the refugees. The aqueduct project was squeezed in at the last minute though. The royal family split their manpower to guard the aqueduct construction site, so the number of knights that remained at the capital was unable to stop Mangold. That’s… not my fault, right? Or maybe this is the work of the game’s correction?

Rather than that…

“Will this incident stimulate the demons in Veritza Fortress to attack the capital?”

“It might do,” Once again, it was Baron Kretschmer that responded to me.

Count Engelbert also nodded with a bitter expression, so I think everyone here is also anxious about that.

While I was thinking like that, the Duke unfolded his hand and gazed at us.

“We currently still lack information. But as there is an army of more than 1000 people here, we might be called back to the capital.”

Everyone including me nodded.

The Duke then continued, “ Still, we cannot abandon the refugees, as such we might have to split the army into 2. One will hurry and return to the capital, while one will continue to escort the refugees.” 

“That should be the best.”

“After all, if we left the refugees here without any soldiers to maintain them, they might cause trouble.”

It’s a hard decision. If the capital sends us a message to return, we need to send soldiers to hurriedly return to the capital, while also letting some soldiers continue escorting the refugees. Even the duke looked troubled.

In the end, it was decided that my army which is handling scouting and exterminating the demons and demonic beasts will continue to escort the refugees along with Count Vogler’s army. I don’t have any complaints about this decision. Still, isn’t there a bit too much twist in the event!?

♦

“Well, that’s what happened so I want to hear everyone’s opinions.”

After I returned to my tent, I silently gathered the leaders of the adventurers’ parties and the chief of mercenaries’ parties to ask for their opinion. Of course, I told them to keep this incident a secret. At first, everyone was shocked by my story but not long after, several people finally reacted. 

“Even if there are some idiots among mercenaries, I don’t think anyone will accept that kind of stupid commission.”

“As an adventurer, my thoughts are the same as yours. Sane adventurers won’t accept this kind of reckless commission.”

“A sane noble also won’t give out this kind of reckless commission.”

I blurted out, and everyone let out a wry smile. They must feel this incident was so ridiculous that they can’t even laugh. Originally, it’s not a reaction that they will show to a noble like me, but I guess I also never acted like a noble around them.

The whole time we’ve been traveling, I’ve acted carefreely around the adventurers and mercenaries, so the number of people that kept acting respectfully because I’m a noble has considerably decreased. Max is still pretty respectful though, probably because that’s just his character. I just hope their relaxed attitude toward me is not because they underestimate me.

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Anyway…

“If that’s what you both think, I become curious about what kind of people accepted that guy’s commission. Do any of you guys have an idea?”

“The first thing that I can think of is people who are willing to do anything for money. Maybe the people from the backstreet.”

Backstreet. That’s a softer way to call the slum. No matter which world it is, a slum that many criminals might come from exists. Still…

“But won’t the people of backstreet avoid fighting with demons even more?”

That’s what I don’t understand. If they are strong enough to accept a commission like this, won’t they become adventurers, rather than remain in the slum? While it might be true that becoming a criminal in the slum is easier and will bring more money, becoming an adventurer will make you have more standing in society.

But that’s as far as I can speculate with just this. I mean, it’s not like all people that live in the slums are criminals.

“They might not be accompanying him until he reached the fortress.”

“?”

I don’t understand what one of the mercenaries’ chiefs means.

“He meant that they might be accompanying him halfway, then abandon him.”

“Whoa, that’s dirty.”

I see. Stuff like escorts leaving their clients after they got the money is common, so him being abandoned by the mercenaries halfway is plausible. That won’t happen if he properly commissions the mercenaries via guild but he didn’t. The people he recruited come from who knows where, so for their character to also be rotten is quite possible. 

But if he really gets abandoned, won’t he die? This scenario is still just a possibility though.

“I understand. Are there any other possibilities?”

“Is there any possibility that it was not the mercenaries, but rather the soldiers from other noble houses that followed him?” Ask one of the adventurers’ leaders.

I thought about it a bit, then shook my head.

“That’s probably impossible.”

Because of the aqueduct construction project and escorting the refugees project, the nobles’ military forces are currently divided. That’s why I don’t think the nobles will lend their already thin military force to Mangold. Plus, the nobles also knew about what happened when I went to the Veritza Fortress before, so they must know that sending their men to the fortress is no different than sending them to death.

“They already suffered loss from the demon outbreak incident, so I don’t think they take the risk of losing more men.”

Though this world used to be a game, it’s now a reality. In reality, it will take several years to raise even 1 soldier.

Covering the loss of skillful manpower isn’t an easy thing. I know exactly how hard it is to work with unqualified personnel. In my past life, I have had the experience of a boss who just hired random people to fill in the spot after a qualified employer quit because he was dissatisfied with the salary… Now is not the time to think about that!

By the way, the first training done by soldiers isn’t about how to use weapons, but about how to walk. After all, soldiers that can’t even arrive at the battlefield are useless. That’s why new recruits will train until they can walk 30 kilometers in 5 hours fully armed. That’s the minimum. Only after that will they train to use weapons. Well, that’s not important now. 

Anyway, there are probably no nobles that will lend their men to do a reckless mission like that. Probably. Most certainly. No one will, right? I hope I’m right.

After that, I continued to listen to various other opinions, but in the end, we failed to reach the proper conclusion. I guess we don’t have enough information.

“The problem now is we don’t have enough information.”

“I now realized that there are many different kinds of nobles.”

I smiled bitterly at one of the mercenaries’ words. A noble like me that will merrily drink with the adventurers and mercenaries while sitting around a bonfire is an exception among nobles, but I need to emphasize that a stupid noble like Mangold is also an exception.

I guess there’s nothing I can do about mercenaries’ dislike toward nobles because the nobles constantly look down on them. I need to be careful so that the mercenaries don’t dislike me too.

“I more or less understand the situation. So what we need to do hasn’t changed, right?”

“That’s right, but be more careful when the army split up.”

If the army split up, the defense line against the demons and demonic beasts will get thinner and the pressure we give to control the refugees will also weaken. Because of that, anyone might get nervous. Though all of this still depends on the future situation in the capital. I just hope nothing bad will happen to the capital. It will be good if we can increase the pace of our journey, but that’s impossible.

In the worst-case scenario, I might also consider splitting the adventurers and the mercenaries.

♦

T/N: I made a mistranslation about camp, the word I thought to mean ‘the defense formation of the camp’ actually means ‘encampment’ so I’m going to edit a few chapters.

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