Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading

Chapter 88. Operation Meatball (7)

When the Imperial Army support unit entered Velia Castle, cheers erupted.

The ones cheering were the Imperial Army's vanguard battalion and main battalion, who had been desperately waiting for supplies in Velia Castle.

“We're saved! The supplies have arrived!”

“Long live the Ingens Empire! Hooray!”

They still had some leeway.

If they continued to conserve as they had been, they could hold out for a few more months.

But it was inevitable that the army's morale would plummet as the amount of supplies dwindled.

This was especially true in a besieged situation like this.

But since the Imperial Army support unit had appeared to solve this problem, cheers naturally erupted.

And that evening.

The Imperial Army support unit, in response to these cheers, held a pre-planned event.

It was a moral-boosting event where they could enjoy various foods from the cooks and performances by bards, actors, and strongmen.

Roden's party was also a cook brought for this event, so as soon as they arrived at Velia Castle and unpacked their luggage, they prepared the food.

There was an order to prepare at least 500 servings, so the five of them had to work extremely hard.

It was fortunate that they were assigned a few soldiers; otherwise, they would have been exhausted just from preparing the food.

'If I could use aura, at least mincing the meat would have been simple, but I can't in this situation.'

Originally, mincing the meat was the most difficult part of making meatballs.

But in the case of the Special Task Force Company, mincing the meat was the easiest.

It was only natural, as there were more than a couple of knights in the Special Task Force Company.

However, now they couldn't use aura to hide their identities.

Food preparation was bound to be much more difficult.

Anyway, after much effort, the Billem meatballs prepared by Roden's party were a huge hit.

At first, dishes like duck breast steak, ragu pasta, and french fries were more popular, but people gradually flocked to where Roden's party was distributing food.

As a result, the Billem meatballs were all gone within an hour of starting to distribute them.

“Enjoy your meal.”

Terne served the last customer and spoke to the soldier standing behind him.

“Oh my. We're all out of food now. I'm sorry.”

“What? Is that true? Ah. Don't be like that, just give me a little. I'll just have a taste.”

“There's not even a little bit left. I'm really sorry.”

“Damn it. I waited here for over thirty minutes because they said this was the most delicious.”

The soldiers who couldn't get to eat the Billem meatballs were disappointed.

In fact, Roden's party was also disappointed.

The Billem meatballs made here were not ordinary food.

“By the way, I felt it in Vinchih too, but our food is incredibly popular.”

Terne whispered quietly as he watched the soldiers leave, and Roden agreed.

“I know. Your recipe is certainly special.”

“How could this be my recipe? It's the Company Commander's recipe.”

“You improved the taste, didn't you? More importantly, since it's come to this, why don't you try starting a business with this recipe after you're discharged?”

“That sounds good too. But even if I'm discharged, I'll just follow the Company Commander around.”

“……Yeah, right.”

Since when was it?

The officers and soldiers of the Special Task Force Company joked about following Roden even after being discharged.

At first, I thought it was just a joke, but these days, the nuance seemed to be quite sincere.

To think that his subordinates thought of him this much.

For Roden, it was a proud yet somehow embarrassing situation.

It was only natural, as it was his first time experiencing something like this.

For that reason, Roden also wanted to say that he would be with them, but he couldn't.

Above all, Roden had not yet properly established himself within the Allied Forces, let alone the Glockner family.

To talk about responsibility then would be an irresponsible act.

Anyway, since the Billem meatballs ran out early, Roden quickly packed up and left.

Although not as good as the Billem meatballs, there was still plenty of food made by other cooks, so there was no problem in tidying up like this.

Thus, the Imperial Army enjoyed the event until late at night.

It was only because they were still facing the Allied Forces that they didn't enjoy the event even later; otherwise, they would have brought out alcohol and played all night.

In fact, some soldiers drank the alcohol they had secretly hidden among themselves, avoiding the eyes of their superiors.

The superiors knew about this but turned a blind eye.

Still, since there were more people who didn't drink than those who did, the event could be wrapped up quickly.

And at 4 a.m., when everyone in Velia Castle except the sentries was asleep.

Roden's party quietly got up.

***

Waking up at 4 a.m., Roden's party stealthily came out so as not to wake the cooks who were sharing the barracks with them, and the first thing they did was grab their kitchen knives.

With kitchen knives, they could deal with any sentries they encountered while approaching the castle gate.

“Did you get everything?”

“Yes. We got everything.”

“Then let's move.”

Thus, Roden's party, who had finished the event early, approached the castle gate according to the route they had scouted in advance.

Velia Castle had two gates, the north and the south, and the one Roden's party was aiming for was the north gate.

This was because the Allied Forces usually stationed relatively fewer troops on the north gate side.

In other words, it meant that the number of sentries would also be relatively small.

“Gurgle.”

“Gasp.”

While approaching the north gate, Roden's party encountered two sentries and quickly slit their throats with their kitchen knives.

Thus, the two sentries died without being able to let out a proper scream.

It was a perfect movement reminiscent of a professional assassin.

Roden hid the bodies in the bushes and praised Nedhab and Zailo, who had brought longswords.

The two had even put on the armor worn by the sentries.

“Clean up is neat too. Your movements are good.”

“It's all thanks to the Company Commander. We received the wooden blocks again this time.” Googlᴇ search novel•fire.net

In fact, Roden had once again enchanted the wooden blocks with magic before arriving at Velia Castle.

This time, he had enchanted two kinds of magic.

One was a magic called 'Shadow's Step' that reduced the user's presence, and the other was a magic called 'Owl's Eye' that brightened the vision in dark places as if it were daytime.

Both were 3-Circle magic, but they were not very difficult for Roden to enchant.

And with the effects of Shadow's Step and Owl's Eye, Nedhab and Zailo were able to move like professional assassins.

Moreover, since everyone had a wooden block enchanted with this magic, the entire Roden's party could show the same movements.

“Good. Now that we've confirmed your skills, let's keep moving. All we have to do is climb the castle wall, and we can open the gate.”

While climbing the castle wall, Roden's party once again encountered two sentries.

Velia Castle was certainly heavily guarded.

It was hard to believe that they had been watching a performance and sharing food just a few hours ago.

But the two sentries once again died with a short groan as their last words.

This time, the ones who took care of them were Chevalier and Terne.

“Just hide the bodies behind the wooden boxes and cover them with a shield. We'll be able to open the castle wall soon anyway.”

Chevalier and Terne disposed of the bodies as Roden ordered and returned to their positions.

This time, too, the two of them held two longswords in their hands.

With this, four out of the five members of Roden's party were armed.

Chevalier looked at his own armament here and there and asked Roden.

“Are you really okay without wearing armor, Company Commander?”

“I'm fine. There will be soldiers protecting the winch.”

“Then how about at least taking a sword?”

“It's fine. You go first. I'll get a sword soon enough.”

A short while later.

When they arrived at the top of the castle wall where the winch was, there were four sentries waiting.

And one of them was a 3-star knight.

A 3-star knight.

Roden, who originally had not intended to step forward unless absolutely necessary, opened his mouth.

“Ah. A 3-star is not good. 2nd Squad Leader, give me a sword.”

“Yes. Here you go.”

Thus, Roden, who received the sword from Terne, gave an order to his party.

“Let's each take one. I'll take the 3-star knight, so the rest of you take the soldiers. Terne, you can rest for a bit.”

The rest of the party, except for Terne, nodded their heads and rushed forward at Roden's signal.

As expected, this time too, all the sentries died before they could make a sound.

The 3-star knight, who was suddenly pierced in the neck by a sword, seemed particularly shocked.

It couldn't be helped.

While the rest of the party was holding their breath and rushing at the Imperial Army, Roden had taken care of the 3-star knight in one blow by throwing a sword imbued with 4-star aura.

Roden pulled out the sword embedded in the 3-star knight's body and said.

“The secret technique of the Sesuran Swordsmanship comes in handy again at times like this. Thanks, Deputy Platoon Leader.”

“Ah. So that secret technique can be used like that. If I had known, I would have used it too. By the way, Company Commander.”

“Yes?”

“Why aren't you spreading the Sesuran Swordsmanship to the Special Task Force Company? I've been curious about that all along.”

“Because it's the Deputy Platoon Leader's swordsmanship. Acquired by legitimately defeating an enemy general. I just borrowed it for a while.”

“Ah. That's true, but I showed you this swordsmanship in the first place so that you could use it freely, Company Commander.”

“Was that it?”

“Yes. So you can feel free to spread it as well.”

It was a welcome offer for Roden.

Roden and the soldiers of the Special Task Force Company had a small number of secret techniques they knew compared to their ranks.

'By the way, it's strange. The Archery Platoon Leader and the Cavalry Platoon Leader were the same, but they seem to share the superior swordsmanship manuals, which could easily become a family heirloom, so easily.'

Of course, since it wasn't a bad thing, Roden nodded at Nedhab.

“Then I'll spread it well as the Deputy Platoon Leader wishes. Thank you. Anyway, that's for later, let's hurry up and send the signal and open the gate.”

Since there was no more time for idle talk, Roden quickly wrapped up the situation.

While Roden was putting on the armor worn by the 3-star knight.

Chevalier lit an arrow on one side of the wall and shot it up into the sky.

And next to him, Zailo and Terne began to move the winch to open the castle gate.

“Huh? Why is the gate suddenly?”

“What, what is it!”

The Imperial soldiers who were on guard duty near the gate muttered in surprise.

But the gate was already wide open, and a moment later, the Allied Forces, who had been waiting in advance, appeared through the gate.