Chapter 142: Act 75 – Night Raid (Part 1)
“Familiar faces, Kars—”
The man in a black knight’s uniform looked far away at the rolling mountains, where flickering campfires dotted the dark forest. The Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps seemed to be sleeping in a wide cradle, their camp silent and still; only the wind from the western sea crept into the night, prompting the forest to respond with a rustling sound.
It sounded like the sea waves.
But it also resembled some kind of monster shrieking distantly in the mountains and woods.
A tall monster emerged from the trees, dragging a bloodied corpse of a female sentinel with its gigantic bone claws—if Brendel were here, he would certainly recognize her as a huntress from the mountain folk whom he had seen that afternoon. But now she was just a lifeless corpse, and the hollow chest of the monster emitted a clack-clack sound. The flickering orange flame in its eye sockets expressed some dissatisfaction towards the nonchalant attitude of the black-clad knight. “You’re not in a position to lecture me, kid.”
The monster’s voice screeched dryly, reminiscent of long-neglected clockwork.
It straightened up and carelessly tossed the corpse aside. The dead mercenary fell like a rag doll into a patch of brush, and the sound of breaking branches extended up to thirty-four feet away. However, this was too far from the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps’s camp for such noise to reach them—especially on a windy night.
The black-clad knight frowned and glanced at his companion—
He saw a group of translucent, ghostly, pale blue spiders ‘chirping’ as they dropped from the treetops…
…
With a light ‘patta’ sound.
Brendel froze for a moment, looking at a card that had fallen from his pocket and was now lying on the ground. The card’s surface had turned gray—it was a Wind Spirit Spider, now gone to the grave. Yet, he didn’t feel heartbroken at first; instead, he picked up the card, paused, and immediately looked up to extinguish the oil lamp. The surroundings plunged into darkness, with the furthest lights outside the tent appearing only a hundred feet away.
So fast.
He felt somewhat caught off guard.
In the evening, the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps had chosen this camp in a wind-sheltered hollow. Brendel had suggested to ‘Maned Wolf Makarolo’ that it would be best for their two groups to keep a slight distance from each other to avoid mutual suspicion. Makarolo and Bud, though slightly taken aback, agreed readily. Brendel didn’t trust them, and neither did they completely trust the young man’s subordinates, leading both parties to a consistent understanding of their own suspicions.
However, Makarolo never expected that Brendel wanted to use this reason to escape in the dead of night.
The young man crawled out of the tent, slightly shivering as his skin brushed against the cold air. Though the Shubli mountain range had been engulfed in heat and high temperatures throughout the long day, the temperature in the valley dropped sharply at night. Any traveler without a tent or sleeping bag would suffer from the chill. He glanced around, and the indistinct shadows in the distance were quickly discernible to him—though Brendel had no formal training, a perception level of 3.7 was equivalent to those with extraordinary talent who could hear the sound of a needle dropping a hundred meters away in absolute silence.
He thought it seemed that Makarolo was merely suspicious of them, without harboring any ill intentions towards their group.
Confirming that there were no closer individuals, he cautiously crawled out. At this moment, the young man was fully armed, dressed in studded armor and equipped with all necessary weapons and tools. One hand held a backpack filled with essential water and food. He approached a nearby tent and tapped on its fabric. After a few seconds, a curious voice came from inside:
“Brendel?”
“Romaine, what are you doing here!” Brendel exclaimed, his head throbbing as he confirmed that this was indeed Antinna’s tent.
“A surprise!” the Merchant Miss laughed softly inside the tent, sounding a bit pleased.
“Surprise my foot.”
Brendel grumbled as he turned around to see Antinna emerging from Romaine’s tent, curling her hair with an apologetic expression. However, Brendel knew that if Romaine had some ulterior motive, she would definitely not care about what others thought. He sighed and apologized to the noble lady: “I’m sorry for the trouble…”
Antinna was taken aback.
A faint smile quickly appeared on the face of this noble young lady as she glanced at the tent behind Brendel. She said, “It’s clear, Lord, that you really like Miss Romaine.” She formed the words with her lips.
Brendel nodded.
He tolerated the Merchant Miss’s personality, not only because he felt a sense of familiarity towards such an unrestrained girl—possibly stemming from Brendel’s soul—but also because Miss Romaine was the first person he got close to upon arriving in this world, and he felt a special attachment towards her.
Moreover, this Merchant Miss was both intelligent and carefree; hardly anyone would dislike her.
Despite being only nineteen in this lifetime, his dual-soul identity meant he was no longer that shy young man. He understood what he ought to pursue and what kind of responsibility he needed to shoulder. He lifted one corner of the tent, and indeed saw the Merchant Miss watching him with a charming smile.
“Ready?” he asked.
Romaine and Antinna both nodded.
Brendel lifted his head, and as if in response to his action, over a dozen figures emerged simultaneously from the surrounding tents. They didn’t need to speak; they began silently packing up their respective tents. Though these mercenaries were fully armed, their belts laden with various metallic weapons, they made no noise whatsoever.
It was Antinna’s first time witnessing Brendel’s subs summoned from cards, but a gleam of astonishment quickly flashed in her bright eyes: what a well-trained group of mercenaries—where did he find these people?
The reputation of the Lubis mercenaries was not for nothing throughout history. The beings summoned from Destiny Cards represented a conceptual collective, meaning that these twelve mercenaries were the embodiment of the Lubis mercenaries’ strengths—loyalty, honor, high morale, and strict discipline. They did not fear death or pain like real beings; they were perhaps the finest soldiers to have ever existed in this world.
Unfortunately, Brendel felt their numbers were still a bit too few.
Even so, it left Antinna speechless. She quickly couldn’t help but touch her cheek and then look back at Brendel, suspecting she might be dreaming.
—This noble young lady was not unfamiliar with mercenaries; nobles would interact with these fellows to some extent due to their enterprises, excluding the scoundrels and the rogues. Most mercenaries had varying degrees of military connections.
But that was all there was to it.
The best mercenaries Antinna had seen were the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps she had been with these past few days; ‘Maned Wolf’ Makarolo commanded a capable group, but compared to the twelve that Brendel had, it was simply worlds apart. The typical slackness seen among mercenaries was absent in these individuals; they seemed to possess something rarely seen among mercenaries—
The young lady frowned, unable to immediately identify what it was.
But then, inspiration struck her, and she recalled the distinguishing factor—their pride and sense of honor. She took a breath; very few mercenaries who relied on fighting for a living maintained a sacred sense of honor within their profession, resembling more that of a knight’s honor. Unable to resist, she looked at Brendel again, instantly determining that these people were not mercenaries at all, but rather retainers that this young man had brought out from his family.
The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became.
A young noble venturing out on his own to carve out a territory for himself was straight out of a legendary tale. Hence, when she first heard Brendel say so, she felt a bit of longing—after all, everyone harbored a spirit yearning for romance and adventure, and Antinna was no exception despite having received the most orthodox education from a young age.
Assisting a young knight rising from nothing to achieve great feats was an irresistible temptation for a girl of her age who had been exposed to such a level of education.
However, it seemed now that this lord was not entirely without resources—
She felt a sense of surprise as if she had discovered a small secret, but it didn’t deflate her spirits. On the contrary, this noble young lady felt relieved—she convinced herself that at least this showed Brendel was prepared, not a reckless youth blindly emulating ancient heroes, fueled only by hot blood.
However, Brendel clearly had no idea that his subordinate would generate so many assumptions from merely seeing his group of ‘card soldiers.’ Of course, if he knew what Antinna was thinking, he would certainly find ways to summon even more, so as to effortlessly gather a bunch of unwavering loyal retainers under his banner.
But right now, he wasn’t in the mood to care about such things.
He soon found himself facing a little trouble. The twelve Lubis mercenaries quickly finished packing this side of the camp, but as they gathered together, preparing to await the next order, Brendel suddenly noticed two figures walking from the direction of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps’s camp. He furrowed his brows; he had already discerned one of the figures—
It was a white-haired young man, Leidi.
Brendel immediately thought if the other party had detected movements on their side, but then he suppressed that suspicion because the two were clearly not heading towards them. He considered their trajectory; they were supposed to be passing between their camp and the Gray Wolf Mercenary Corps’s camp. He was momentarily stunned—were these two trying to exit the camp?
A spy?
Brendel quickly arrived at a possible conclusion.
…
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