Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63. The Roar of Evil Echoing in the Forest (2)
Werewolves possessed peculiar characteristics.
They were definitely beings born from Evil, yet they possessed distinct and clear reason, and above all, they had the characteristic of maximizing their abilities through the pure energy of the moon.
Even though ordinary Evil would rather shun the energy of the moon.
And these characteristics of Werewolves gave great fear to people.
Because it was difficult to identify them as they mingled among people usually, and when receiving the moon’s energy, exorcism using divine energy became impossible.
So Blanc decided to use these characteristics of Werewolves.
“How is it now? Can you endure it?”
Rakshar was holding the Phoenix feather with his fingertips and lifting it high with frightened eyes.
As if trying to keep it as far away from his body as possible.
“N-now it seems okay?”
Although answering with unsure eyes and voice, Blanc could observe that the Phoenix feather was no longer harming him.
‘Good. I can use this.’
On the first day when the Phoenix feather heated up white, Rakshar had complained to Blanc that he felt vague discomfort and fear toward it.
However, after drinking the Moonlit Grass potion Ciella gave and activating the Werewolf blood, Rakshar didn’t show such a rejection reaction.
“Good. Move alone this time.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean you carry it and drive the monsters.”
Rakshar asked back soundlessly with widened eyes to Blanc, but.
“Hurry up and do it.”
Blanc urged Rakshar’s action with a firm nod.
“Understood……”
Rakshar stood up following Blanc’s order, though reluctant.
The Phoenix feather seemed to react more against the surrounding energy of Evil the more abundant or powerful it was.
He didn’t know well because Ciella had kept it deep in the mansion all this time, and it seemed not to react to the energy level of Rakshar, a Half-Werewolf, but in the forest teeming with monsters like now, it was revealing its presence brilliantly.
“My hand feels like it’s burning! Young Master!”
“It’s not burning!”
Blanc was testing driving out monsters using only the Phoenix feather rather than shouting roars mixed with Evil himself.
‘It’s effective.’
As expected of a fragment of a divine existence, the Phoenix feather caused an immediate reaction from monsters belonging to Evil.
Although not as much as the roar Blanc shouted, monsters were definitely moving to avoid the direction the Phoenix feather moved.
The effect of the feather itself was lower than Blanc’s roar, but the speed of driving out monsters was much faster than Blanc.
It was a result created by the nimble movements unique to Werewolves and Rakshar’s characteristic of understanding the forest well.
‘The Phoenix feather and Rakshar’s mobility……’
Watching Rakshar moving here and there with the Phoenix feather and driving monsters, Blanc’s mind was moving busily.
***
Tolome’s support troops stayed in the grasslands for nearly a month, drawing out and subjugating monsters hiding in the forest.
The operation Blanc proposed produced excellent results beyond being appropriate.
Because thanks to Blanc, not only were troop losses and fatigue lowered, but the period to perform the mission was also definitely reduced.
Noel was certain that they could achieve the assigned mission before this winter ended.
“In the first place, beast-type monsters are beings that don’t strictly need to be subjugated. Since they maintain their ecosystem by controlling population numbers on their own.”
As Noel said, beast-type monsters were not a big cause for worry.
Rather, since there were some individuals among them that helped humans, there seemed no need to stir them up and drag them out.
Ultimately, since Goblins and Orcs, which were the biggest problems, were almost subjugated by Blanc’s stratagem, now it was a situation where they just had to wrap up and wait for the approaching spring.
As the situation unfolded well, the twin knights went around telling soldiers to take care of themselves and fight hard until the end, but Blanc was watching one special person among the mercenaries.
He was a Dwarf with a short stature and a long dark brown beard similar to the color of beer.
The Dwarf, who was mixed among the mercenaries Adams Family hurriedly convened, couldn’t mingle among the mercenaries and moved alone.
Blanc began to watch him from the moment Orcs started popping out of the forest.
The 50 mercenaries under Noel’s command had to focus on blocking their retreat rather than directly subjugating monsters, but the Dwarf Blanc watched stepped forward alone and thrust strange weapons.
Although the Dwarf almost died due to such sudden behavior, he didn’t stop his sudden actions in the next subjugation or the one after that, and every time, he put the weapons he carried at the forefront.
Naturally, the surrounding mercenaries began to reject the Dwarf who didn’t follow instructions.
Since such sudden behaviors shown in actual combat were one of the taboos for mercenaries.
Judging by the deep blue bruise on the Dwarf’s eye, it seemed he had even been beaten last night.
“He’s a troublesome guy, right?”
Perhaps noticing Blanc staring blankly at the Dwarf, Noel approached him and spoke.
“I heard the Adams Family gathered mercenaries urgently. As you know, mercenaries who haven’t been contracted until late winter usually have reasons for that.”
As Hansen said, the mercenaries remaining until now were only husks with poor skills or those with some problems.
“It seems he applied not for money but just to test the devices he made. Keeping such a person in the group is bound to cause big trouble.”
Noel said he would exclude the Dwarf from this operation.
That meant he would terminate the contract with him.
“Before terminating the contract with that Dwarf, may I have a conversation with him once?”
Although he was a mercenary hired by the Adams Family, the person currently holding command was Noel.
In terms of rank alone, Blanc with the title of Baron was highest, but since the commander moving the main force of Tolome was Noel, practically the highest decision-maker of the subjugation unit was Noel.
Moreover, since Blanc and the twin brothers prioritized the strong bond between brothers over rank between nobles, ignoring Noel’s face was not a desirable action.
“Do so.”
While permitting, Noel added words as if worried.
“You shouldn’t be too hasty in finding talent to bring into the knight order. Even if it takes time, it would be better to recruit definite talent.”
The title of knight was one that only honorable warriors could possess.
If one appointed those not honorable or not warrior-like as knights, the honor of the person who knighted them would be tarnished, so Noel was worried about that.
“I also don’t intend to appoint that Dwarf over there as a knight. I just got interested in the weapons he handles.”
“Certainly, there were many interesting things. It seemed he had a craftsman spirit for mechanical devices rather than gem polishing or architectural methods.”
Like Noel’s words, the Dwarf was using weapons that looked interesting.
However, they stopped at just being interesting because they didn’t show particularly great power even when dealing with Goblins or Orcs.
If the weapons the Dwarf possessed looked even slightly useful, Noel wouldn’t have treated him so coldly.
However, Blanc felt a familiar feeling from the Dwarf’s weapons that Noel scanned with cold eyes.
‘I’ve definitely seen them before.’
Feeling déjà vu among clumsy weapons, Blanc felt interest in the Dwarf handling them.
“Then I will try talking to him.”
“Do that.”
Obtaining Noel’s agreement, Blanc searched for the Dwarf’s location by asking mercenaries his whereabouts.
Indeed, perhaps because he was being ostracized even among mercenaries, the tent where he lived was also set apart alone.
“Are you in?”
Blanc lifted the worn-out tent and looked for the owner, the Dwarf, but he was not seen.
He thought about waiting outside, but thinking it wouldn’t look good for a commander-level Blanc to loiter in front of a mere mercenary’s tent, he decided to go inside.
“Carrying all these around must be work too.”
Junk that looked too much for an individual to carry around was scattered in the small tent.
Among them, there were a few weapons used against Orcs and Goblins.
Blanc looked at a bow placed neatly on a hammock, unlike other junk.
‘No matter how I look at it, I think I’ve seen it.’
It was an object he remembered seeing not in this life, but in his past life.
Blanc unknowingly picked up the bow on the hammock.
It was a crossbow.
A crossbow, which produces stronger force than a bow, was a weapon powerful enough to pierce even armor worn by knights.
However, the crossbow Blanc was holding had strange devices attached to it, unlike ordinary ones.
Feeling that was strange, Blanc observed the crossbow he was holding by turning it this way and that.
“As expected……!”
It was a discovery that made him mutter to himself automatically.
Blanc remembered using this in the Liberation Front in his past life.
Precisely, it must have been an improved version of this crossbow.
As those infected by the Void multiplied exponentially, the command of the Liberation Front threw away the thoughts they had been trapped in and began to think of measures solely for efficiency.
One of them was the crossbow he was holding now.
The biggest drawback of a crossbow is its rate of fire.
The improved crossbow Blanc briefly used in the Liberation Front was an excellent weapon with a device attached to resolve the drawback called rate of fire.
However, the opponents were not ordinary humans but those infected by the Void.
If it were an ordinary war, it was a weapon that might have turned the tide, but the opponent was too bad.
Since the crossbow was an object focusing on penetration rather than stopping power, it had no great utility against those who didn’t stop moving unless their heads or hearts were destroyed.
Although it didn’t exert great effect on the Void, he remembered saying with colleagues that it would have been a very outstanding weapon if used against ordinary people.
Blanc, smiling while recalling past memories, manipulated the parts next to the crossbow and began to assemble it.
Although it was an early-type object, it was possible because Blanc perfectly understood its principle and intention.
While assembling the crossbow, Blanc could see that the crossbow he was holding now hadn’t yet approached the stage he used to use.
‘It seems the concept hasn’t approached up to here yet.’
The crossbow the Dwarf made definitely solved the problem of rate of fire, but instead, it was in a form carrying all the crossbow bolts.
The crossbow loaded with all bolts became heavy and bulky, losing its advantage of portability.
Truly a state where a problem was created to solve a problem.
Around the time Blanc tilted his head and was looking at the crossbow he had assembled.
The owner of the tent roughly threw open the entrance and shouted fiercely toward Blanc.
“What are you doing!”
The Dwarf was filled with anger more than expected.
First, someone being in his tent meant there was a high possibility of it being a thief, and moreover, the Dwarf was a person who possessed much deeper affection for the objects he created than other mercenaries.
The Dwarf, who grabbed his battle axe and huffed with righteous indignation, realized that the person in front of him was not a dirty mercenary but Baron Blanc Cadmus.
“B-Baron, why in this humble place……”
The Dwarf knew that the one who shouted the terrible and fearful roar in the forest was Baron Blanc Cadmus, who killed the Fear of the Era.
That the monsters they barely blocked actually rushed out in fear of the man in front of his eyes.
To the Dwarf, Blanc was already something that transcended human limits.
For what matter did such a great person come here?
The Dwarf suspected that he might have come to find him to discipline him for insubordination.
Occasionally, there were such commanders.
Those who give harsh punishment by weeding out one or two specially to establish military discipline.
While the Dwarf was trembling, thinking he faced such a situation.
Blanc’s following words made the Dwarf’s ears perk up.
“I think highly of the attempt to increase the crossbow’s rate of fire, but can you carry it around like this?”
At Blanc’s words, the Dwarf widened his eyes.
Until now, there was no one who understood the inventions he created.
Neither the surrounding Dwarf colleagues nor the mercenaries wandering the battlefield together.
Rather, they were prone to ridicule or get angry at him.
However, Blanc in front of him was understanding his intention.
And beyond that, he was presenting a solution.
“How about making a sort of cartridge form and swapping it out instead?”
“Pardon?”
The Dwarf unknowingly made a dumbfounded sound at what Blanc said.
“I mean making an arrow magazine of about 5 to 10 shots and carrying it around. In a format of swapping it when used up. Of course, worry about the loading method would be needed though.”
The idea Blanc presented was forcibly pulling up the approach method the Dwarf had.
Imagination is something that happens within the frame of thought.
Even for a change of thinking that looks like nothing special, it could take decades to reach there.
If following the original flow, the Dwarf in front of his eyes would have wandered for 20 more years before barely creating a perfect replaceable crossbow, and even that would have been buried bitterly into history without exerting proper utility.
However, the Dwarf who gained inspiration from Blanc’s words just now earned 20 years of time.
“Seeing now, it seems you are a person with flashing ideas; do you have no thought of working under me?”
And Blanc intended to monopolize the 20 years he advanced entirely for himself.