The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

270 – It’s going to get faster soon. (3)

“Uwaaaah!”

“It’s the Plunder King! The Plunder King has appeared!”

“Run away quickly!”

The villagers screamed and fled. The infamous reputation of the Plunder King made everyone ready to escape at a moment’s notice, having packed their things quickly.

Since they were already preparing for migration, they ran without looking back.

The Vigilante Group was no different. They had also received the Lord’s orders to run instead of fighting when the Plunder King’s army appeared.

Ghislaine raised his club and shouted loudly.

“Smash everything and steal it all!”

“Waaaah! Let’s raid everything!”

The knights didn’t quite understand why Ghislaine was acting like this. They brushed it off as him being in a bad mood or just bored again.

They had no interest whatsoever in how the territory was being managed; they were only focused on their training.

So, once again, they were just busy following Ghislaine in a daze.

However, during the recent raids with Ghislaine, a thought crossed their minds.

‘This is… strangely fun.’

‘Am I actually cut out to be a thief?’

‘For some reason, I just want to keep doing this!’

Most of them were mercenaries or of lowly birth, so even after becoming knights, they couldn’t live as rigidly as knights from other territories.

Penris was much freer than other territories, but there were still rules. Especially Gillian, being a former mercenary, was stricter than anyone else.

He never allowed Ghislaine to smear his reputation.

Having lived bound by that title of knight for so long, doing something this “bad” felt liberating and made him feel good.

“Waaaah! Smash everything!”

“All the food in this village is mine!”

“We are the raiders of the North!”

So they all threw themselves into their roles with all their might. No, they became completely immersed in their parts.

“Hehehe! Catch them!”

“Uwaaaah! Mommy!”

The masked knight let out a crude laugh as he chased down a fleeing child.

“Get away! Leave my child alone!”

The mother of the child shouted, shocked. Feeling that the distance had closed in too much, the knight stumbled as if his foot had caught on a stone curb.

“Oh. My. Goodness! There was a stone here?”

“Ah, oh Goddess! Thank you!”

The mother, holding her child, hurriedly fled, thanking the goddess. The surrounding people, terrified, didn’t notice the knight’s awkward acting.

Thus, the Plunder King and his 40 raiders terrorized the villagers with just the right amount of tension.

Bang! Bang! Kwaang!

Claude, donning a mask, urged the knights on.

“Quickly, hurry up and smash! Who cares if someone sees us? It’s embarrassing!”

No matter how reckless Claude was, he was still a scholar who had ranked first at the Academy. He really didn’t want to be involved in such disgraceful antics.

“Ah, why not! This is fun!”

The knights giggled as they enthusiastically smashed the village apart.

After destroying all the houses, they returned to the castle, swaggering back with the food and materials they looted from the village.

Of course, they changed into the clothes they had hidden nearby to deceive the eyes of the people as they returned.

And the people, looking at Ghislaine and the knights, wore faces full of admiration.

“Our Lord chased away the bandits!”

“It started with over 500, but now there are only about 40 left.”

“Ah, I wonder how hard it must be for him to go out every day like that.”

Ghislaine waved at them with a tired expression.

Seeing that, the people felt emotional and shouted loudly.

“Lord, hang in there!”

“We will support you!”

“I want to enlist too!”

How could they sit idly by while their Lord struggles? The peaceful life they enjoyed was all thanks to him.

Ghislaine also opened his mouth with an emotional expression.

“Just hearing that makes me feel reassured. You all are the true hope of this territory. Let’s join forces and drive away the enemies targeting our land!”
“It’s our hope. Let’s unite and drive out the enemies targeting our territory!”

“Woooooah!”

Everyone cheered so loudly that the castle seemed to shake. With this happening every day, the enlistment rate was skyrocketing.

As soon as Ghislaine entered the castle, he asked Claude, “Hey, how much did we grab today?”

“…Not much since it was a small village.”

When Claude reported the amount of the spoils (?), Ghislaine frowned.

“What? That’s all? Come on, let’s hurry. They didn’t take everything and run, did they?”

“…”

Claude thought to himself as he looked at Ghislaine.

‘This guy is completely hooked on thievery.’

The lord had always been a reckless person, so it suited him well. But he himself wasn’t someone who should be doing this.

He was dragged into it unwillingly, feeling guilty for every little thing, questioning if this was really why he became the Chief Officer.

Anyway, thanks to the Plunder King’s activities, the perception that the territory was in danger spread widely.

No one doubted it. In fact, cities and fortresses were bustling with soldiers constantly on the move.

“Move quickly! We have news that the enemy is approaching!”

Dududududu!

Watching the busy soldiers, the people became worried.

“Is the enemy coming again?”

“Our territory has a lot of food, so everyone must want to take it. We didn’t think about that until now.”

“Is it raiders again? Or a reconnaissance team from another lord?”

An old man approached the bustling soldiers and asked, “What’s going on? Has the enemy appeared again?”

“It seems so. We’ve received orders to move to the territory’s defense quickly,” the soldier replied seriously. They couldn’t help it; they were just following the orders handed down without knowing the actual circumstances.

That’s how an army operates. Without knowing anything, they just do as they’re told.

So, the soldiers had no choice but to move quickly, which only worried the people more.

They felt vaguely that the territory’s army was in great trouble. If they lost their territory to others, they would have to return to a life of poverty like before.

For them, it seemed like the territory had already fallen into a state of war. Hence, the enlistment rate continued to rise.

Of course, when the soldiers moved, orders would soon come from above again.

– The lord intercepted the enemy at the border. Return to the formation.

Then the soldiers would sigh in relief and hastily praise the lord.

“That’s our lord!”

“We should be the ones supporting him.”

“I heard other squads already fought alongside the lord.”

While they didn’t fight, other squads did. Rumors circulated in all the squads. With the upper ranks blocking the exchange of information between the squads, there was no way to confirm details.

Seeing the ever-increasing number of volunteers to enlist, Ghislaine happily said, “Alright, we’re almost there. Then, should we do our best for the final act?”

The forced relocation operations of all the villages were already completed. Now, there wasn’t even a small village left for spies to hide in the Penris Territory.

All areas inhabited were limited to cities and fortresses.

This made it much faster and easier to gather people when war broke out. The same goes for logistics.

True to Ghislaine’s nature, it was a ruthless plan focused solely on increasing the efficiency of war.

Not only did it boost enlistment, but it also wrapped up the sluggish relocation plan.

“Alright, let’s go! Everyone, don’t make any mistakes!”

Ghislaine and the knights, who had just returned from their last expedition, came back wrapped in red bandages.

The bandages, specially dyed bright red with spicy seasoning by Belinda, looked like they were soaked in blood. The pungent spicy scent rising from the bandages made all the knights’ noses turn red and their eyes misty.

The people looked at this scene with expressions of disbelief.
He put on a face as if he had nothing to say.

“Y-Your Lordship has been injured.”

“Isn’t our Lord a Swordmaster?”

“There were just too many enemies. There must have been some strong knights.”

People anxiously looked at the knights with worried expressions, their feet shifting restlessly. Ghislaine and the knights looked utterly exhausted, with their arms and legs drooping and their heads drooping low.

As the crowd gathered, Ghislaine concentrated mana in his feet and delivered a sharp kick to the Black King’s side.

Hiiiiiiiiiiing!

The Black King startled and shook his body in rage as a gut-wrenching pain struck him. At that precise moment, Ghislaine fell off his horse.

Thud.

“Ugh!”

“My Lord!”

As the people gasped and moved to approach, Ghislaine raised his hand and said.

“I-I’m fine….”

Just then, the angry Black King snorted and kicked Ghislaine, who was lying on the ground.

Thwack!

‘This little punk?’

Ghislaine, rolling away, glared at the Black King for a moment, but he was in character and couldn’t scold him. He transformed his rage and irritation into a painful expression and once again lowered his head.

“My Lord!!!”

People screamed.

Their Lord, who cared for them with love (?), fed them, and sheltered them… Seeing him in such pain was unbearable.

Some even collapsed and wept. Especially the older folks who had lived here a long time.

To them, the Lord was their lifelong benefactor and savior.

At that moment, Ghislaine mumbled haltingly. His voice unusually resonated in everyone’s ears, almost suspiciously clear.

“Ugh… If only we had a few more soldiers… The territory’s troop numbers are just too low…”

Ghislaine closed his eyes and pretended to faint after finishing his words. The knights, witnessing this, bit their lips in frustration.

‘If I laugh now, I’ll seriously die.’

‘Just hold it in, hold it in… Ah, please, please.’

‘Mom, Dad. I miss you.’

Claude also tightly shut his eyes and turned his head. Anyone would think he was just trying to hold back tears.

‘This is so embarrassing, I can’t stand it.’

Wendy beside him bit her upper lip and gazed up at the sky.

Soon, Belinda and the servants hurried out of the castle.

“Ahhh! My Lord! What do we do?!”

As Belinda screamed, Gillian quickly scooped up Ghislaine and marched into the castle. His face was flushed red.

Gillian felt that this kind of act didn’t suit his personality at all. But since it was Ghislaine’s performance, he couldn’t mess it up.

He kept his mouth tightly shut, afraid he might accidentally say something. Fortunately, the territory residents misinterpreted his stiff expression as him holding back his anger.

Alfoy and Cain, who were moving materials for construction, clicked their tongues at the sight of the Lord and his retainers staging a scene for the residents.

“Tsk tsk. What a show they’re putting on.”

In any case, the rumor of the Lord getting injured in battle spread throughout the territory in no time.

A large-scale volunteer enlistment movement sparked among the people.

“Our Lord must be protected! Let’s support our Lord!”

“Let’s defend our territory! If we don’t, who will? If we lose it, we’ll have to live like we did before!”

“Let everyone who’s fit enlist in the territorial army!”

The service period for the territorial army was 10 years, which was on par with other territories.

Though it seemed like a long time, people didn’t mind. Everyone applied for voluntary enlistment with furious expressions.

Soon after, Claude reported to Ghislaine.

“…The number of soldiers excluding knights is about 12,000. A result greater than our target… Ugh, what the hell! How is this even happening?!”

Claude shouted in frustration, feeling an inexplicable surge of anger.

He knew the Lord was popular, but he never expected it to be this much. It seemed like everyone living in the territory only loved, respected, and cherished their Lord.
It seemed that everyone living in the territory loved, respected, and cherished their lord.

It’s infuriating that they’re so well-loved that even this ridiculous scam works on them. Jealousy surged within me, wanting to be loved too.

“Cough, anyway, if you add the knights, elves, and Labor Assault Corps members, that’s a little over 13,000 troops.”

Currently, the only places in the North capable of gathering more troops were Raybold and Desmond.

Considering the number of knights and the new equipment, the overall strength could rival those two and the strongest in the North.

Of course, the current level of the new recruits was no different from conscripts. They would have to be trained into elite soldiers for those calculations to be valid.

Ghislaine nodded with a satisfied smile.

“See, we can do it. There are plenty of people in our territory, right?”

“Yeah… You must feel good about being so popular. Oh, that must be nice.”

“Are you jealous right now?”

“No.”

Ghislaine clicked her tongue at the puffed-up Claude and continued speaking.

“We’re starting serious training from now on. Gillian.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“You will take charge of training in the southern region centered around Stonehaven Fortress. I’ll provide 100 knights to support you, so train alongside them. I will handle the northern region.”

“Understood.”

The soldiers were scattered throughout the territory, making it tough for just Gillian to manage and train them all. They had to split the duties according to the areas.

The Stonehaven Fortress, used as the standard by Ghislaine, was the largest and most important stronghold south of the old Cabaldy region in the territory. The enemy would have to pass through there when invading.

Though the areas had to be divided, the lord, Ghislaine, couldn’t be away from the lord’s castle for too long. That’s why she entrusted Gillian with the training in the southern region, which was a bit farther away.

Of course, even just overseeing the southern region would make it challenging for Gillian to manage thousands of soldiers alone. So, she assigned knights of a higher level to assist.

Ghislaine boldly stated her training goals.

“The objective is to ensure all soldiers become proficient in horsemanship. After that, I plan to select 2,000 who are accustomed to horseback riding for concentrated archery training and organize them into archers and archer cavalry.”

For Penris soldiers, horsemanship had become a basic skill. Yet, it still fell short of the level Ghislaine desired.

“The rest will become familiar with spear skills, swordsmanship, and shield techniques like existing soldiers. They should be capable of switching combat roles whenever and wherever needed.”

“What’s the target period?”

“The target period is three months. I know it’s short, but we have to ensure they can participate in combat somehow within that time.”

“I’ll do my best to carry out your orders.”

Though the schedule was tight, it was necessary. After all, no one knew when civil war might erupt.

Ghislaine let out a quiet sigh that others wouldn’t notice. Because of her, the future was changing and moving faster than her previous life. She couldn’t afford to let her guard down for even a day.

Looking around at all her retainers, she continued speaking.

“From now on, we will put aside territory development and all policies to prioritize training the soldiers. We need to focus on supporting them so they can concentrate on training.”

With Ghislaine’s words, the war preparations for the Penris Territory began in earnest. The training of the soldiers was the first step.

The soldiers might find it a bit tough, but they would be able to withstand the intense training. After all, they were people who joined up, determined to protect the territory, and their morale was high.

Now they had to be trained to fight on the battlefield.

To contest against Harold Desmond’s army, known as the strongest in the North.

With a confident smile, Ghislaine opened her mouth.

“The day we become the strongest in the North is not far off.”

Preparations to dominate the North were gradually coming to fruition.

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