Chapter 264: Act 31 – Expansion (12) (Second Update)
After finally resolving the unexpected incidents on his side, Sir Minate naturally had to return to the military to command his subordinates.
At that moment, he couldn’t help but feel relieved: Thank goodness he was fighting a rabble; if it had been two armies clashing, he truly wouldn’t have found time to rein in his unruly son from the larger troop.
However, different people had different thoughts. Just as Sir Minate turned around, the young man’s servants and confidants gathered around him. They felt a wave of relief wash over them when they sensed that their lord’s thunderous wrath had not fallen upon them, but they couldn’t help but ask in low voices, driven by a curiosity typical of their youth: “Young Master, are we going to war?”
The young man nodded and smiled nonchalantly, “Of course we’re going to fight, but it’s just a bunch of rabble. Can they be tougher than the mountain tribesmen? Remember, our future enemies will be the true elites of this kingdom. As for these mobs, let them serve as the first stepping stones on our path forward—”
“But judging by what the lord said, they seem pretty formidable!”
“Rest assured, even the most outstanding commoners have limited experience,” the young man scoffed, “Besides, I still don’t know my father’s intentions. He’s just trying to stall for time; does he think I can’t see that? Just because he talks big doesn’t mean it’s true. But it doesn’t matter, once I cut off his further comments, let’s see what he has left to say!”
He looked at the fading figure of Sir Minate disappearing into the forest, unable to suppress a cunning smile.
…
The light inside the room brightened somewhat.
But the arguing outside grew louder. Brendel frowned, finally getting up to walk around the walnut desk and to the window to see what was happening in the courtyard below.
Through the white window openings, he quickly saw the master craftsman Berun, Antinna, and three of his own captains arguing together, while the Silver Elf Princess stood aside seemingly trying to mediate. A bit further away, Xi leaned against her war spear under a black pine tree, chewing on a blade of grass, appearing uninterested in the commotion.
“What’s going on?”
Brendel didn’t understand why these few were quarreling, but after hesitating for a moment, he decided to go down to take a look himself. After all, it was not a good thing for his core members to be arguing.
But as soon as he opened the door, a shadow rushed at him, and if it weren’t for Brendel’s quick reflexes, the two would have collided head-on. Stepping back, he realized it was Flourfa, who also took a step back. “Lord!” she exclaimed, composing herself before handing him a note—
“What’s the matter?” Brendel was taken aback, wondering what today was, as incidents kept piling up. He took the note while walking out and closed the door, glancing down at the note in his hand, exclaiming, “Samuel has mobilized his troops? He’s already crossed the Gels River?”
The Samuel he referred to was, of course, Sir Minate.
Long before the battle against the troglodytes, mercenary scouts had already spread along the banks of the Gels River. After reclaiming the lumberyard and retreating, Brendel had intensified his surveillance between Firburh and the Gels River crossing, so as soon as Sir Minate crossed the Gels River, the news reached him.
Flourfa followed him a step behind, nodding, “Yes, my lord.”
“Wasn’t he supposed to have mobilized since yesterday? This is much earlier than Charles anticipated. This fellow is no simple character—” Brendel couldn’t help but express his admiration.
Among all his reliable personnel, there was no one more familiar with the current Erluin aristocracy and warfare than Charles; according to the young wizard’s judgment, Sir Minate would definitely not make an early move, as the rules of the game among Erluin nobles were set that way, and ordinary people wouldn’t easily transgress them.
Of course, excluding outsiders like Brendel who knew nothing—
If he couldn’t move early, he would have to move late. Given that most Erluin nobles were indecisive and cowardly, Charles anticipated Sir Minate would mobilize in two days; but it seemed now that the capability of this nobleman was likely above the average standard of Erluin’s lower-tier aristocrats.
“How many troops does he have?” Brendel asked again.
“A few hundred, no more than a thousand,” Flourfa answered expressionlessly, “But across the Gels River, it is said that Crenshia’s scouts didn’t dare to venture deep. We don’t know if there will be further reinforcements—”
“Don’t worry, there aren’t any,” Brendel shook his head, “Samuel is just a vassal; how many people can he spare? Just a few hundred,” he couldn’t help but chuckle wryly, “The enemy looks down on us…”
“Compared to the Young Lord’s peculiar ideas, I would prefer if everyone underestimated us,” the Wild Elf girl glanced at him and, surprisingly, spoke up.
Brendel smiled, dropping the topic, but then recalled something. “By the way,” he asked, “I remember mentioning that from the Gels River crossing east to Graham’s Mountain, there are several shallows along the river on the forest side? Crossing with an army might be a bit troublesome, but Crenshia’s scouts should have no issue wading across, right?”
“Right, but who wants to go die?”
“So mercenaries are still not as good as professional soldiers,” Brendel shook his head, “Of course, I’m not talking about you guys.”
“Lubis mercenaries are pretty much the same,” Flourfa replied. Although mercenaries claimed to make a living from war, they didn’t possess the discipline true soldiers had. In fact, they viewed war as a business—whatever price the client paid, that’s the service they provided.
Most mercenaries often performed singular tasks in wartime, and the employers were well aware of this; most people would use mercenaries to fill a temporary manpower gap. Besides local tyrants like Grudin, few people would actually use them as main forces, even if most mercenaries had outstanding personal qualities and experience.
In a real war, discipline was often paramount. This was also why Brendel hadn’t reorganized these mercenaries; the chaotic nature of old soldiers was hard to change, so he intended to incorporate all these mercenaries into the Amber Sword mercenary group to let them serve their roles in future wars.
In this era, it was very common to use mercenaries.
As for the army in Brendel’s plans, it would naturally be recruited from the locals first, and then a few outstanding talents would be absorbed from the mercenaries; in short, he didn’t intend to heavily rely on mercenaries, but in his mind, his own army only had a rudimentary outline, and he had just begun to expand on that blueprint.
He felt as if the situation was now tangled with a multitude of strands—
The pressure they would soon face was not small. Now that Sir Minate had mobilized, he was still just a scout. Not to mention Count Rendener’s influence looming like a dark cloud over everyone, even Pallas and the knights in his grasp would be sufficient to cause enough trouble for this newly formed territory—
Brendel couldn’t gather the news from the north, but he imagined that the easygoing knight lord had received the news and was beginning to gather his troops. With this knight’s loyalty to Grudin, he would undoubtedly mobilize his army before long.
However, thinking of the elite knights that Pallas had, Brendel was not worried but rather felt regretful. Those were the most professional soldiers in the Toniger region, trained in the arts of war since childhood; how great it would be if they could be used for his cause.
Of course, he also knew this was just a wish. Brendel crumpled the note and tucked it into his pocket, already letting this matter go. He understood that military affairs could only be dealt with step by step, just as one can only eat a meal one bite at a time.
But the news of Sir Minate’s mobilization did not surprise him much; the battle with the troglodytes was not without purpose. At this moment, from the banks of the Gels River to the forests around Firburh, Tagib and his people had already sealed off the region.
As for Sir Minate’s fate, Brendel didn’t need to expend too much thought on it. A few hundred private soldiers and a handful of knights, possibly some mercenaries, facing thousands of troglodytes—it was easy to imagine the outcome.
Setting that aside, he asked, “What’s going on down below?”
This time, Flourfa shook her head, “I don’t know—” She had also seen the arguing people as she passed through the courtyard, but due to her characteristic indifference, she had not been particularly concerned about matters that had nothing to do with her.
Brendel nodded and didn’t ask further; the two descended the dim spiral staircase to the first-floor hall. As soon as they entered the hall—though it had been tidied up quite a bit since Brendel had thrown a fit here days ago, even the long table had been replaced—the sounds of the heated argument outside became clearly audible.
But the first thing Brendel saw was a person sitting at the other end of the long table, almost lying across it—Romaine; the Merchant Miss was wearing a pair of strange glasses, with her little arms pressing down on a stack of parchment, seemingly transcribing something—
As for the quarrel coming from the courtyard, she was completely oblivious.
Of course, upon hearing the noise behind her, Romaine suddenly turned her head, and when she saw the young man, her small face immediately broke into a radiant smile, and she chirped brightly, “Brendel!”
Brendel shook his head, walking over to take the glasses off the bridge of the girl’s small nose, and unhappily asked, “What are you doing looking like this?”
“Accounting,” the Merchant Miss lifted her pointed chin and replied nonchalantly.
Brendel realized, nodding; ever since taking control of Firburh, all private property within Grudin as spoils of war had certainly been accepted by him as the ‘Lord.’ Besides the rewards and incentives given to mercenaries after the war, in fact, a significant sum was left over.
(PS. Spitting blood, just uploading this one time and lost a collection. I’m already too scared to look at the subscriptions.) (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
