Chapter 69 : Chapter 69
Chapter 69. Under the Banner of Cadmus (1)
Ulvent signed quickly on the contract Blanc held out, whether because he was moved by Blanc evaluating him highly or because he was suppressed by the momentum of mercenary captains hiding uncomfortable signs behind Blanc.
‘Done.’
The first piece of the Cadmus Baron Army drawn in Blanc’s head came into his hand.
Blanc finished the contract by shaking hands with Ulvent, hiding his happy expression.
Outwardly, it was a contract where both Blanc needing soldiers and Ulvent needing a battlefield to prove skills benefited.
But from Blanc’s perspective, it was no different from picking up a mercenary corps that would make a big name in the future at a bargain price while they were still undervalued.
And from now on, Blanc intended to win over Ulvent and make him the core of the Cadmus Baron Army to be created.
Like this, the Brass Helmet Mercenary Corps contracted easily considering Blanc’s active attitude, definite support, and their standing not yet established, but the circumstances were different for the mercenary corps sitting in front of Blanc now.
They were mercenary corps spreading fame and employers were already lining up.
“Thank you for making time in the midst of being busy.”
Blanc started the conversation with a short and heavy greeting.
“Since everyone probably knows the circumstances, I will cut to the chase and speak about the main point.”
Blanc mumbled his mouth for a moment and couldn’t spit out words easily.
Because time was needed.
Moirai was a city where many things gathered and that many things were sent out.
Therefore, the words Blanc said to mercenary captains from now on would also spread like that and eventually enter the ears of the 3 families of Gartaria.
In other words, Blanc was making an indirect declaration of war through the influential mercenary captains of Moirai at this spot now.
Blanc pulled out the fireballs buried deep in his chest in this life including the last life.
“Langketa, Vicious, Kamora…… I have never forgotten for a single moment those who burned Cadmus' white mansion.”
Veins bulged on Blanc’s hands automatically.
“I am the legitimate successor of Norington and the legitimate avenger against the 3 families.”
White lightning circled automatically in Blanc’s eyes.
“So I intend to turn them into ashes through you all.”
Blanc clasped two hands and put them down quietly on the table.
“I will pour oil called gold coins. And I will burn them ceaselessly.”
Then he looked coldly at the mercenary captains in front of his eyes.
Even mercenary captains who experienced all sorts of hardships found it difficult to make eye contact with Blanc’s eyes burning right now.
“Who will become my firewood?”
Blanc’s gaze pierced the mercenary captains sharply.
***
“I understand well what Baron says, but……”
The captain of the Ironclad Shield Mercenary Corps, who was full of scars all over his body as much as Blanc in his past life, spoke.
“Actually, including me, the mercenary captains here came not to accept the request but to refuse.”
It meant they didn’t want to participate in a war that was obvious to lose even if it was Ronbrando’s introduction.
“Is that so.”
Blanc was listening to their words hardening his expression.
Those sitting in front of his eyes were masters of combat and war.
And in their view, they judged that chances of winning in the decisive battle with the 3 families of Gartaria were not high even if Blanc received support from Tolome and Neudorf.
“It means things won’t work even if a greenhorn Baron borrows the power of maternal and in-law families.”
The captain of the Black Wild Dog Mercenary Corps, dangling earrings, smirked and said.
“I don’t know why you thrust your head into a fight without chance of winning. Isn’t life peaceful if you live holding your breath under a sturdy maternal grandfather? Besides, if you obtained a wife with big breasts, haven’t you obtained everything to obtain in life.”
Seeing him hitting the desk making frivolous laughter, Blanc’s knights revealed their teeth.
“Whoa whoa. Don’t do this. This isn’t the Kingdom of Felix but Moirai.”
As the captain of Black Wild Dog said, this was Moirai.
In Moirai, the privileges as a noble of the Kingdom of Felix Blanc possessed didn’t work.
“Plus, seeing you taking care of guys I’ve never heard of first, I can guess the young Baron’s discernment.”
“Jorbi, show manners.”
Hopkins, the leader of the Ironclad Shield Mercenary Corps with the most experience among them, restrained his behavior.
“Well, anyway, I am a body that has already finished a contract with Lanketa.”
Jorbi raised one corner of his mouth vigorously and requested a handshake from Blanc.
“Since you run wild saying you will find Norington like that, wouldn’t they have obtained one dog in advance from their perspective too?”
‘This is…….’
Hopkins sighed inwardly.
No wonder he ran wild crossing the line; Jorbi had already finished a contract with the Lanketa family, who was on the opposite side of Blanc.
Therefore, there was no need to show courtesy to Blanc who could be called an enemy anyway.
“See you on the battlefield. Young Baron.”
Jorbi extended his hand to Blanc with a cocky attitude.
“…….”
Blanc stared blankly at the hand Jorbi extended.
Then he grasped that hand with a dry expression.
“Haha! Still, you are a Baron who knows the basics……”
Jorbi couldn’t continue the next words.
“Do I look funny?”
Someone’s scream was mixed coming out in Blanc’s voice.
That voice was full of terror and despair.
At Blanc’s atmosphere that changed suddenly, Jorbi’s face became increasingly pale.
“You should consider it fortunate that this place is Moirai.”
Jorbi saw the shadow of someone screaming in pain within Blanc’s eyes burning black.
“If not, the Evil heating my soul would have burned you.”
“Eek! Eek!”
Jorbi, noticing the sign of something trying to crawl into his soul, began to struggle to separate from Blanc somehow.
He was also a mercenary captain with skill and experience, but Blanc’s momentum now was eerie enough that all mercenary captains here had to bring their hands to the swords on their waists unknowingly.
“Handling Evil in Moirai! Are you crazy!”
At Jorbi’s astonishment, Hopkins spoke quietly.
“Demon-breaking Knight…… It shouldn’t have been long since he arrived in Moirai……”
Hopkins, grasping the situation, grabbed the trembling hand and detached it from his sword.
Blanc looked at Jorbi gasping for breath and said coldly.
“Rude and inhuman one. There will be no mercy bestowed upon you on the battlefield.”
Blanc raised the black Ghost Fire burning in his eyes largely.
“You will be burned alongside my enemies at the side of Lanketa.”
At Blanc’s declaration, Jorbi widened the distance hurriedly and shouted.
“Even so, no one here thinks you will win! Look at the sight of a young guy without experience handling an army swaggering carrying maternal and in-law families on his back!”
Jorbi pointed at the sitting mercenary captains and said.
“Seniors should also think well! You aren’t thinking of entering a coffin following that guy, right!”
Jorbi spat out nonsense like a seizure and exited the inn hurriedly as if running away.
The sitting mercenary captains lost words and sat blankly.
Because although Jorbi was a light person, he wasn’t a figure to run away curling his tail like now.
“I apologize. Baron.”
Breaking everyone’s silence, Hopkins bowed his head and apologized to Blanc.
Although Jorbi wasn’t his subordinate or someone sharing interests, it was an apology to refresh the current atmosphere.
“No.”
Blanc, having chased out the uninvited guest named Jorbi, looked at the sitting mercenary captains again.
Mercenary captains couldn’t easily speak to Blanc whose momentum changed instantly.
“I apologize for Jorbi’s matter, but first, I think our Ironclad Shield Mercenary Corps cannot help Baron.”
Hopkins, who was the oldest at this spot, stepped forward first and refused Blanc’s proposal.
As he opened the floodgates, other captains beside him also expressed intention of refusal as if waiting.
Some mercenary captains made excuses that they were already contracted and others that their subordinates needed maintenance, but ultimately it was a refusal.
Instead, they promised Blanc that they wouldn’t contract with Lanketa, Vicious, or Kamora.
“……Thank you for the consideration.”
Maybe this was the consideration Ronbrando tried to give.
Mercenaries weren’t only them in the world, but the mercenary corps sitting in front of eyes now were those with skills entering within ten fingers among mercenary corps in the whole world.
Just those people not opposing Blanc was a big help to Blanc.
“Hmm……”
While all mercenary captains expressed intention of refusal, only one person crossed his arms and was lost in deep thought.
“We can contract if it is only archers.”
It was Wiseman, the captain of the Thornbush Mercenary Corps.
In the first place, the troop type called archers was a type producing greater effect against humans than monsters.
The Thornbush Mercenary Corps was in the middle of reinforcing a large number of archers to prepare for a territory war they were requested for, but due to sudden circumstances, the territory war was canceled and simultaneously the contract was broken.
Although they received the penalty fee, Blanc’s proposal came in just when the disposal of archers trained already was troublesome.
“How many personnel are there?”
“If you hire the maximum, we can give out nearly 100.”
At Wiseman’s proposal, Blanc fell into thought intently.
If they were archers of the Thornbush Mercenary Corps, at least they wouldn’t be those with shoddy skills.
Moreover, at Wiseman’s explanation that they could act as infantry using secondary weapons in urgent moments rather than simply shooting arrows, Blanc made up his mind.
‘It couldn’t be better.’
Tolome and Neudorf’s private soldier groups were mostly centered on infantry and knights, and Ulvent’s mercenary corps were long spearmen, so it was a proposal suitable for troop composition too.
“Thank you, Wiseman. It must have been a difficult decision.”
“Since we could hold hands in mutually coincidental situations, isn’t this also the guidance of Goddesses?”
Blanc thanked Wiseman’s decision and showed an unconventional move of paying half of the contract money as advance payment on the spot.
Mercenary captains who came to watch the contract with the Thornbush Mercenary Corps thanks to Blanc’s swift decision ended up widening their eyes at Blanc’s generous decision.
“Thank you! Baron!”
Wiseman, who arranged seats for troublesome archers and simultaneously solved the fund flow of the mercenary corps that had been rigid, was holding and shaking Blanc’s hand tightly unknowingly.
“However, the commander to command the archers must satisfy my standards.”
“I will send a subordinate I cherish along! If you don’t like him, I will command you personally.”
Blanc, who successfully finished the contract with the Thornbush Mercenary Corps, expressed gratitude to the mercenary captains who came to meet him by Ronbrando’s introduction and saw them off.
Mercenary captains who met Blanc fell into deep worry seeing his decisiveness and charisma unlike a fifteen-year-old and returned to their mercenary corps.
“Captain Ulvent.”
“Yes!”
Ulvent, who was admiring looking at Blanc handling mercenary captains representing Moirai at his will, answered quickly at Blanc’s call.
“How many personnel does the Brass Helmet Mercenary Corps have now?”
“It is about 70.”
“I will support funds, so fill 30 more with skilled and sincere ones. Please fill 100 and submit the list to me.”
“Yes!”
Blanc, who succeeded in hiring pikemen to take charge of the unit’s front line and archers to shoot from behind.
“Baron, even so, it is still about 200.”
It seemed Hansen was worried that mercenary recruitment was not as good as thought in Moirai.
“I have a place in mind.”
“Where is it again?”
Hansen, who didn’t want to encounter mercenary corps suddenly like just now, tried to obtain information from Blanc in advance this time.
Blanc smiled at him as if he guessed such inner thoughts of Hansen.
“Simon, you were curious about the refugees in Moirai, right?”
“Yes. That is true, but.”
Simon made a puzzled expression at Blanc mentioning refugees calling him suddenly, but Hansen grasped Blanc’s intention and made an appalled expression.
“Baron! Could it be the ones I am thinking of?”
Hansen asked Blanc with an astonished expression.
“As expected, Sir Hansen. It seems only Sir understands my heart.”
Blanc smiled and nodded as if Hansen’s words were correct.
“But if you embrace them, you will receive much political pressure from Gartaria.”
At Hansen’s point, Blanc snorted and answered.
“I am declaring war on three Baron families of Gartaria simultaneously. It is a situation where I have to become enemies with Gartaria already; how foolish it is if I cannot do what I have to do because I fear what has already happened.”
As Blanc said, Cadmus had already crossed the river of no return with Gartaria.
And that was already decided when the Cadmus family’s mansion was burned.
Blanc said firmly.
“We will go to meet the Princess of a ruined nation tomorrow. Let’s obtain troops from them.”
Knights and mages of Tolome and Neudorf, and infantry.
Long spearmen of Brass Helmet Mercenary Corps.
Archers of Thornbush Mercenary Corps.
And what could be called the last piece of Cadmus Baron Army now.
“We must hire the Cavalry of Quiesco.”
A city-state destroyed ruthlessly by Gartaria.
It was the Quiesco Cavalry of the broken banner.