Volume 8 Chapter 1 Part 15

Through a contracted Mage, Duram inform Benedict and Kurt that he has sent a group of 3,000 mercenaries to Viscount Oras Burel, his nephew. However, he also says that the mercenary group can be placed under Klute’s command if he wished to.
「Just what is he playing at? 」

Kurt wondered what the Marquis of Dawson’s intentions were. He has indeed requested financial support from the Lords of the Fantasia Union if they wanted him to keep occupying the Factory Alliance in the north, but the Marquis of Dawson could be said to be Kurt’s mortal political enemy.

Marquis of Dawson is a powerful and influential figure in the Fantasia Union who often tried to pose as the guardian and the closest ally of Alexis Ducet, the leader of the whole Union. He is also the main advocate of trying to negotiate peace with the Factory Alliance, and was in violent opposition to Kurt and the late Earl of Artuk, Vilar Constance, who were the pillars of the faction of the Fantasia Union that was in favor of going to war with the Factory Alliance.

However, with Villar’s death as a trigger, more and more of the Lords from the Fantasia Union were beginning to believe that a war with the Factory Alliance was actually inevitable, and Kurt even heard that almost none of them were regarding the things that Marquis Dawson was saying seriously anymore.

「The fact that I’m the most suspicious about is that instead of sending funds like we asked, he send a group of mercenaries. 」

Benedict then pointed out the possibility that since Marquis Dawson had connections with the Factory Alliance, he might be trying to do something to turn the tide of the conflict in their favor by destabilizing the Fantasia Union from within.

「No way. Marquis Dawson has the second highest peerage rank after the Marquis of Halusia. Moreover, his territory is in the center of Alonne. There are many large cities in Alonne, each ruled by an Earl or a Viscount. If he ever decided to finally defect from the Fantasia Union to the Factory Alliance, he would’ve found himself in a situation where everyone around him would turn from his ally to an enemy in the blink of an eye. That’s why I’m sure that even if he wants to switch sides, he won’t be doing so right now. 」

「Nevertheless, I think it would be prudent of us to watch out for any sort of suspicious activity from his mercenaries as we move forward. That way, if anything does end up happening along the way, we should be able to swiftly counter it without suffering any loses or damages ourselves. 」

「Yes, that sounds like a strategy that I can easily get behind. 」

Kurt’s army then departed from its base in Vanberg a few days later and marched into the Ekura region where the forces of the Heavy Knights of Waldrind were supposed to be encamped.

When Kurt set out, he thought that Marine Kraische would go and take refuge in one of the nearby fortresses, but instead of doing that, Marine didn’t move an inch from her current position.

(Looks like the time has finally come…!)

Kurt was doing everything he could in order to suppress the excitement that was welling up inside of his heart.

The two armies then faced each other across a wheat field where the earth was still soft after it had the crops harvested from it.

Crouching in his shining silver scale armor and thrusting his great sword into the ground, Kurt gazed at the heavily armored Heavy Knights of Waldrind spread out to the side. Then he slowly raised his right hand, took a breath, and then swung it down. Taking this as a signal, the mercenary commanders ordered their subordinates to charge.

There was no strategy for this fight whatsoever. Kurt simply told the mercenaries that they’re free to fight however they saw fit. If they perform well on the battlefield, their reputation will improve, and they will be hired at a higher price next time. They are willing to risk their lives for money and fame, after all, and there would be no greater source of fame and glory than defeating the Heavy Knights of Waldrind in open combat.

The mercenaries’ roars echoed across the battlefield, and a cloud of dust swirled around as they advanced.

「Here they come. 」

Marine was located in the center of the group of the Heavy Knights of Waldrind, and she gazed upon Kurt and his mercenaries, who were charging towards her while screaming, with a condescending look on her face.

The Heavy Knights of Waldrind have already set up their heavy crossbows and were putting the bolts on the strings. What is going to be fired from them are not going to be regular crossbow bolts, but the ones empowered with the power of Marine Kraische’s Crest.

When the bolts are imbued with the holy light of the Crest, they can either penetrate through even the toughest of armors, or explode upon impact. It is also possible to have them seek the desired target to a certain extent, as well as have the bolt split up and target multiple enemies at once.

Of course, since there is a limit to the power of the Crest that can be imbued in a single bolt, the number of times it can be fired is limited. Once the Heavy Knights will use up all of the bolts infused with the power of the Crest, then can then switch to using regular bolts, or use a sword or a long-hilted weapon to fight their enemies at close-range.

「Fire the explosive bolts! 」

Marlne put her hand on her chest and extended it straight towards the enemies who were still charging towards them. The next moment, a roar rang out, and over 4,000 Heavy Knights released the bolts from their heavy crossbows all at once.

Trailing a tail of pure white light, the bolts containing the power of the Crest flew forward… and then, a series of explosions could be clearly heard.

The mercenaries who received a direct hit would definitely die instantly, unless they were Arts users. And even then, if they were to be hit with them at close-range, they’d definitely receive some damage and lose their will to fight. Bodies of the regular humans were blown away, fresh blood gushed out from their wounds, and screams reverberated throughout the battlefield. It was a truly hellish scene.

However, the unharmed mercenaries continued to march forward without looking back at their dead and injured comrades. Holding two-handed swords and long-handled weapons, they sang songs praising the Warrior Maiden.

After that, the heavy crossbows were fired repeatedly, and each time the ground was stained with the mercenary’s blood.
However, even at such a great cost, the mercenaries were close enough for close quarters combat to ensue

「It’s your turn now! 」

Marlene looked behind her.

A mercenary army was waiting there. They were hired specifically for this fight.

「My Waldrind is not so poor that I can’t hire mercenaries of my own. 」

Waldrind is blessed with rich forests and an abundance of mineral resources, and uses the royal title rewards to hire various engineers to further develop its industry. In the capital city of Bertha, there were many large workshops, from which the name of the Alliance was derived, where a large number of craftsmen were working day and night on their projects.

Although the quality of the tools and utensils made there is not as good as those made in Elam, they are relatively inexpensive and have been carefully designed to suit their purpose of use perfectly This is because, unlike engineers who live in big cities like Elam, the craftsmen of Waldrind know exactly what the citizens need in their daily lives and how to make it to be both long-lasting and affordable.

But that is only one of the reasons, the other being that many of the people of the countries that are allied with the Factory Alliance actually hate the big city of Elam and its way of doing things, which prompted them to only buying products that are made by Waldrind, even if it means that the quality of the items would be inferior. Of course, the fact that the members of the Factory Alliance would receive preferrable prices for the Waldrind-made goods was also one of the reasons that encouraged such behavior.

Marine Kraische’s grandfather, Iron-Blooded Earl Jurgen Kraische established not only the currency of Elam in Waldrind, but also its own circulation within the territories of the Factory Alliance through barter and certificates issued independently by each Lord. Unlike the west, where the concentration of Chaos decreased relatively quickly, civilization in the east lagged behind, and it was not important to the economic zone of Elam until relatively recently.

Right now, Marine used Waldrind’s money in order to hire approximately 1,000 mercenaries to her service.