Chapter 839: Blood And Iron Brigade
The Blood and Iron Brigade was an army that comprised exclusively of the most battle-hardened veterans and stone-faced warriors.
They underwent a uncompromising training regime that stripped away all mortal weakness, molding them into cold, perfectly disciplined killing machines.
The moment the Brigade was stationed at the mines, the losses stopped completely.
It was as if an impenetrable, blood-soaked iron wall had been erected around the mountain range.
Bandits who attempted to sneak into the valley were captured, tortured for information, and impaled along the mountain passes as warning markers.
Mercenary strike teams sent by foreign nobles vanished into the mist.
Internal corruption was purged with merciless efficiency with corrupt overseers executed on the spot.
The once-treacherous mountain range had been transformed into an absolute dead-man’s zone.
To step onto the Holyfield mining grounds without explicit authorization was not a crime; it was an act of suicide.
Of course along with those achievements, profits skyrocketed.
With no more losses to bandits, corruption, or sabotage, the mines operated at full capacity. The Holyfield family grew richer beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
And the entire continent took notice.
Strategists openly admitted that if the Brigade were ever converted from a defensive garrison into an offensive war-host, they could easily conquer kingdoms in a matter of months.
Yet, despite endless bribes and political pressure, their loyalty to the Holyfield estate was unshakeable.
Cassius had read some reports about them. He couldn’t help but respect their dedication.
Most people wanted a peaceful life. They wanted comfort, safety, and ease.
But these warriors had chosen to remain in a place they knew would always be under threat.
Every day, they faced raids, cave-monsters, looters, and dangers that would make ordinary soldiers flee in terror.
And yet, they stood firm.
He leaned back in his chair, a subtle frown forming on his face.
"If the Blood and Iron Brigade is requesting help...then whatever is happening at the mines must be catastrophic." Cassius muttered.
He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"Who is the current High Commander leading the Brigade again? I recall reading her file...a woman of extraordinary martial power. Several of the ladies in the household speak of her with absolute adoration."
The moment the question left his lips, the atmosphere in the room changed.
Julie sat up straighter.
Aisha ears perked up.
Skadi’s tail bristled.
"Her name is...Nora, I believe?" Cassius said, trying to recall. "No, that’s not quite right. It’s—"
He snapped his fingers.
"Right! Ragnora! That’s her name, isn’t it?"
The effect was instantaneous.
Julie and Aisha went rigid, their backs straightening as if they had been electrocuted.
And Skadi—Skadi literally jumped off Cassius’s lap like she had been shocked.
She landed on her feet and stood at attention, her back ramrod straight, her hands pressed against her thighs like a soldier who had just seen her commanding officer walk through the door.
"Skadi?" Cassius was confused by her reaction. "What’s wrong? Don’t you want to sit with your master anymore?"
Skadi’s ears twitched, and she looked at him with a mixture of adoration and panic.
"O-Of course I do, Master! Your lap is the best seat in the world! But..." She swallowed hard, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I can’t do dirty things when Big Sis’s name comes up."
Cassius raised an eyebrow. "Big Sis?"
"Yes, Big Sis. Commander Ragnora!" Skadi nodded frantically.
"There’s no way I can do lewd things when your talking about her. That would be like dirtying her very name! And Puppy is a good puppy! Puppy will not disgrace Commander Ragnora’s name!"
She said it with such righteous conviction that Cassius was momentarily stunned.
He turned to look at Julie and Aisha, a bewildered smile on his face.
"Is she overreacting a little too much?" He asked.
But To Cassius’s surprise, neither Julie nor Aisha laughed.
Instead, both women stared at him with dark, deeply disappointed expressions.
"She isn’t overreacting at all, Cassius." Aisha said sharply, rising from her chair and planting a hand firmly on his desk.
"If Skadi hadn’t gotten off your lap herself, I would’ve pulled her away. The Commander’s name is not something you casually bring up in a situation while playing around with that mutt’s hairy pussy"
"Hey—! It’s not that hairy—!" Despite saying that, Skadi looked down to check if she needed to shave.
"I am honestly disappointed, Cassius." Julie nodded in complete agreement, as she fixed him with a stern glare.
"You just can’t speak of the High Commander as though she were just another person. She is the pillar that protects this estate’s prosperity. She deserves your respect."
Leaning forward slightly, Julie continued,
"And if you’re going to say her name, then say it properly. With conviction. With respect."
She folded her arms.
"Ragnora Vindictus Titanborn."
"Do not shorten her name or speak of her so casually again."
Cassius leaned back in his chair, completely caught off guard.
’What in the world...?’
The three women before him were all strong-willed and independent knights.
Yet the moment the Commander’s name entered the conversation, they had all become fiercely protective of her reputation.
She wasn’t even anywhere nearby. Yet her mere name had brought the room to complete silence.
After clearing his throat, Cassius leaned forward, genuine curiosity replacing his confusion.
"Is the Commander of the Blood and Iron Brigade really that remarkable? You all reacted the instant her name came up."
"YES, MASTER! YES!" Skadi shouted from the floor, nodding her head so fast her ears blurred.
"Big Sis is the coolest, strongest, most amazingly perfect warrior in the entire universe!"
"She is the absolute embodiment of martial perfection!" Aisha declared furiously, her eyes shining with intense reverence as she gripped the edge of the desk.
"She is a living legend! An invincible war-goddess!"
She looked Cassius straight in the eyes.
"Do you really know that little about our Commander?"
Cassius cowered back just an inch, raising his hands defensively.
"Well...I know quite a bit from the files. I read her combat reports, her tactical records—"
"NO!" Julie interrupted loudly, shaking her head in utter defiance as she stepped around the desk. "Files?! Paperwork?! Paperwork cannot begin to capture the majesty of our Big Sis!"
Julie clasped her hands over her chest, a look of religious awe washing over her face.
"Let us enlighten you, Cassius." She whispered, her voice filled with deep, trembling reverence.
"Let us tell you the true story of Commander Ragnora..."
Cassius rested his chin on his hands, his previous amusement entirely replaced by intense, burning intrigue as he prepared to listen.
Julie on the other didn’t began and instead started pacing around the room, as she wrestled with her thoughts.
"What should I say? What should I say?" She muttered, scratching her head in frustration. "There’s so much about Big Sis Ragnora that I could tell you...I don’t even know where to start."
Aisha nodded vigorously. "I could talk about her the entire night and never stop talking. She has more achievements than most people have years of life!"
Skadi, who had been bouncing with barely contained excitement, suddenly jumped up and raised her hand like an eager schoolchild.
"Ooh! Ooh! I know! We should start with how she formed the Blood and Iron Brigade!" She exclaimed, her tail wagging furiously behind her.
"That’s what every parent tells their children whenever they want bedtime stories! My Mama used to tell it to my siblings all the time!"
Cassius leaned forward, one eyebrow rising with genuine intrigue.
"Is Ragnora so renowned that she’s become bedtime story material? Even while still alive?"
"Yes, Master!" Skadi nodded so vigorously her wolf ears flopped. "She’s one of the most powerful figures on the entire continent! There isn’t a soul who hasn’t heard her name!"
"And even though she hasn’t passed on yet—"
"As if she could." Aisha muttered under her breath, shaking her head. "Death itself would take one look at her and find somewhere else to be."
"—her name is already spoken as a living legend." Skadi finished. "Everywhere. In every corner of the realm."
Julie nodded sharply, her pacing finally halting.
"Yes. That’s where we begin." She turned to face Cassius, and her gaze sharpened to something almost predatory. "Cassius—do you know what the Holyfield mines were like before she came? Do you understand how treacherous that territory used to be? The wars fought over it? The blood that soaked into that soil generation after generation?"
Cassius leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"I’ve read the records. The area was a constant warzone for centuries. Bandits, rival nobles, foreign races—everyone wanted a piece of the Aether Ore."
"It was chaos."
"Exactly." Julie said, nodding. "And then, twenty years ago, everything changed."
"The attacks stopped. The bandits were crushed. The raids ceased entirely. The entire mining region became a fortress that could not be penetrated."
"...Do you know why?"
Cassius hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Because the Blood and Iron Brigade was formed?"
Julie snapped her fingers.
"Precisely! The Blood and Iron Brigade was formed. And do you know who formed them?"
All three of them were now looking at him with fire in their eyes.
The sheer pressure of their combined gazes made Cassius sweat.
"Is it...Commander Ragnora?"
"That’s right! Big Sis is the one who formed the almighty Blood and Iron Brigade!"
Aisha’s face lit up like a child on festival day.
"Without her, the peace that we’ve felt for the past twenty years would never have come at all!"
Cassius stroked his chin thoughtfully, piecing together the timeline in his head.
"So she brought her own army over and used them to reset everything? That’s impressive, but I imagine the existing defenders wouldn’t have taken kindly to being replaced by outsiders."
But Julie shook her head, a knowing smile playing on her lips.
"No, she didn’t bring any army at all. Instead, she brought herself to the army and completely took over."
"Huh? What does that even mean?"
Julie exhaled slowly, and when she spoke again, her voice carried the weight of someone recounting myth made flesh.
"It started one day, twenty years ago. Your father brought young Big Sis Ragnora to the Holyfield mines. She couldn’t have been much older than we are now."
"He thrust her forward before the assembled warriors and announced, right there in front of everyone, that she was to be their new commander."
Aisha nodded along, her tone filled with deep respect.
"You have to understand the context, Cassius. The core army guarding those mines wasn’t just some group of random mercenaries hired off the street for quick coin."
"They were descendants of warrior bloodlines who had been protecting the Holyfield estate for generations—200 years, 300 years, passing the duty down from father to son."
Skadi’s ears drooped slightly. "Some bloodlines were wiped out along the way. The mines were so chaotic back then that entire families were erased from history. Entire lineages, gone."
"But the ones that survived." Julie said, her eyes gleaming with iron resolve. "The remaining bloodlines are the strongest."
"They survived the most horrible brutities. They endured the worst that the world could throw at them, and they came out the other side harder, sharper, more deadly than ever."
Cassius nodded slowly, understanding dawning on him.
"So these weren’t just normal warriors who were bought for money to safeguard a place. They were warriors who carried a legacy passed down through generations."
"Exactly." Julie confirmed. "They didn’t technically own the Aether mines, but those mines were their home. Their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents—their entire family lines had spent their lives protecting that place."
"It wasn’t a duty. It was a birthright."
She let out a proud smile. "That’s why they were never willing to get poached by anyone else. They weren’t mercenaries fighting for coin. They were warriors defending their homeland."
"But." Aisha interjected, her voice taking on a dramatic tone. "Even though the warriors who had been forged in fire for so many years were extremely strong, there was one thing that no one could figure out."
"One big stepping stone that stood in front of the army, preventing them from reaching the next level of strength."
She held her breath until finally saying,
"The entire army had no leader."
Cassius leaned back and forth in his chair, furrowing his brow.
"Why is that? Was there no capable leader available?"
"No, Master." Skadi said, shaking her head with a wry smile. "It was the exact opposite. There were too many capable warriors, and that caused chaos when it came to choosing a leader."