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“What?”
The Wilago Mercenary Group was stunned by Johan’s sudden proposal.
“Bas━. . .Sir Knight, you are being too generous?”
“. . . . . .”
The mercenary who was about to say “b*stard” quickly changed his words. Johan’s proposal was that unexpected.
So you’re going to attack the castle because you received a proposal for internal cooperation, and you’re going to include us in it?
No matter how you looked at it, it was too generous. The Wilago Mercenary Group had no connection with Johan, and there was no reason for him to share this with them.
“Is it a trap?”
“. . .A duke’s knight and a mercenary group working together with the other city to set a trap? Why would they do that?”
“. . .Y-Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m sorry.”
The sub-captain, who felt that Gurelic’s words made no sense, also kept his mouth shut.
He had suspected that the knight would push the mercenaries into a dangerous position first, like a knight would do, but that was not the case. Johan had already declared that he would lead from the front.
It was a proposal that had no downsides!
Of course, sneaking into the city while deceiving the enemy’s eyes was a dangerous act in itself, but where was there anything safe in the mercenary business?
The most important thing was not the danger of the task, but the reward.
Stephen yawned. The mercenaries had kept him waiting too long.
“What are you doing? If you don’t want to accept the proposal, just say so!”
“I’m sorry. Please wait a little longer.”
Stephen, who came as a messenger, looked like a nobleman from head to toe. The disappointed mercenaries were so intimidated that they groveled.
In the end, Gurelic made a decision. He would choose the mercenaries who were agile and good at fighting to help out.
The offer was too good to refuse, even if he didn’t understand it.
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“Gong, there are rumors that reinforcements are coming from the kingdom.”
Soldiers who were marching with the main force were spreading rumors.
Reinforcements are coming from the Slovak Kingdom!
As rumors spread, from the ones who would sneak in and then disappear in groups of dozens to the ominous rumors, the soldiers’ vigilance increased even more.
Brünhilde shook her head at Repiata’s words. After gathering his strength for a long time to speak, Repiata opened his mouth.
“If they were coming, they would have come sooner. The fact that they are sending so few means that they don’t have the ability to send reinforcements. . .”
“Does that mean they are abandoning the city?”
Repiata nodded. The kingdom had little ability to help Umdim. So they would be sending small units of soldiers like misers to just poke around.
“Then I will issue an order to spread the rumors.”
It was better not to make the soldiers anxious. Repiata nodded again. He had already said all he had to say for the day.
Brünhilde, who was faithfully serving as a subordinate and giving orders, was surprised to hear that Johan had already arrived in front of the city.
“Really? With that much force?”
Count Ganolwood was also surprised in a similar way.
“W-Were they not attacked?”
“First of all, the sir himself is bringing tribal warriors, and the villages along the advance route did not snitch.”
“T-They didn’t plunder? T-That’s amazing.”
Count Ganolwood was amazed in a different way. It would not be strange if a young knight, hot blooded, advanced while destroying towns because of his blood.
He advanced quickly by skillfully capturing the towns.
Unlike the image of being brave and daring, Johan had a strangely similar smell to the Count . It was something unique that only people of the same class could recognize.
Count Ganolwood wondered if he was making a useless mistake. It looked like he was far from him no matter how you looked at it.
“count. But the reinforcements of the Slovak b*stards. . .”
“Don’t worry. They won’t come.”
Count Ganolwood also had similar thoughts to Repiata. If they were the b*stards who would send reinforcements, they wouldn’t have been messing around like this in the first place.
And even if they faced each other in front of the city, it didn’t matter. He had already confirmed that the city’s forces were not many.
“But. . .”
“I already confirmed it by sending a spy to Slovek. There is no reinforcement.”
“. . .!”
The knight was surprised. Even though the Count could not withstand a single blow if he fought with a weapon, he felt scared at this moment.
“Increase the marching speed.”
“Yes!”
Even though he gave such an order, it took three more days to arrive.
The vanguard, which was in front, first confirmed the surroundings. It was to confirm Johan or other mercenaries.
However, there was no other visible encampment.
“. . .?”
“What is it?”
After confirming for a long time, the vanguard realized that something was strange about the flag that was raised on the city wall.
It was not the flag of the city, but the flag of the duke’s family.
“The b*stards of the city surrendered!”
“Go and report it quickly!”
The vanguard was shocked and turned around. They thought the city could surrender, but they never thought it would surrender so quickly!
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Considering it was the occupation of a city, the mood among the occupying forces was not very good. More precisely, it was not good only where the commanders were gathered.
While the soldiers were inflated with expectations of immense rewards. . .
A few sub-captains of the Wilago Mercenary Group and their leader Gurelic looked at Caenerna with eyes filled with fear and disgust. If it wasn’t for Johan, they would have left the place immediately.
Caenerna had a headache. Not because of their attitude, but due to the aftereffects of magic. She spoke, massaging her face.
“Didn’t I say it was a mistake?”
“That mistake, if it had happened a few more times, would have burned us all to death, wouldn’t it!”
“So what do you want me to do? Are you saying I should have refrained from using fire there?”
The mercenaries were understandably terrified. Caenerna almost burned them all.
The plan was simple.
Enter the city via the river, set fires in various places to create chaos, and use the opportunity to secure the magistrate and the defense captain, forcing the soldiers to surrender.
During this, Johan displayed fierce combat skills. He alone entered a place guarded by more than a dozen soldiers and slaughtered them, which even made the Wilago Mercenary Group gulp.
‘𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯!’
They might have disparaged the knight in his absence, but after witnessing this, their hearts raced and their legs trembled.
The problem was Caenerna.
━𝐈𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐠-𝐧𝐢𝐦.
━𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭.
━𝐈𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮.
Caenerna agreed readily, and joined them under the condition that Johan would protect her.
But there were far more places to set fire to than expected.
━𝐇𝐮𝐟𝐟, 𝐡𝐮𝐟𝐟. . . 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭. . . 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤.
━𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠? 𝐂𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞?
━𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞. . . 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭. . . 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭. . . 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝.
━𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞! 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧!
It was a big deal to procure firewood and kindling in such a place. The impatient mercenaries urged Caenerna.
As a result, Caenerna’s flames went out of control, ravaging the surroundings. If the direction had been slightly off, the mercenaries would have been reduced to ashes.
The mercenaries were about to shoot Caenerna, but Johan stopped them because of his oath. Eventually, Johan dashed through the flames, knocked out the frenzied Caenerna, and carried her out.
She was somewhat protected by Gulrak’s surcoat; otherwise, she would have been engulfed in flames.
“Anyway, wasn’t it a success? You all urged her too.”
Seeing that Johan was unlikely to punish Caenerna, Gurelic immediately gave up.
After all, it’s fine as long as they didn’t die!
“True. Thanks to Sir Knight. I sincerely appreciate it.”