Chapter 174: Not Much Time Left. (1)
Clang!
The iron bar on the platform broke in half and fell to the ground.
“Whoa!”
“He cut it! Gordon really sliced the iron bar!”
Cheers erupted from the spectators in the demonstration hall upon witnessing the result.
Although the surface of the iron bar was ragged, as if it had been roughly sawed, it was undeniable that he had indeed cut through the iron.
Claude stood there, mouth agape in shock.
‘Did he really cut the iron bar with a sword? He can use mana in such a short time?’
Worried about any foul play involving the weapon’s weight, Claude had prepared the sword himself.
That Gordon had used a standard longsword to slice through that thick iron bar was proof that he had truly used mana.
A fresh hope began to surge in Claude’s mind.
Although he had opposed the expedition for safety’s sake, things were different now.
‘Even at a beginner knight level, hundreds of them would be an immense force!’
This time, Ghislaine had taught a whopping four hundred knights.
With the Duke Delphine’s family excluded, no other territory had such a large number of knights.
Though they may be inferior in quality compared to others, in quantity, they were absolutely not lacking.
‘I need to establish a new strategy. With that many knights! We can do this!’
Just as Claude raised his flushed face, ready to say something to Ghislaine.
“Uwaaaaah!”
Gordon collapsed, spewing blood.
The servants quickly rushed to carry the trembling Gordon on a stretcher, his mouth frothing with blood.
“…”
The atmosphere turned icy in an instant. The retainers who were once cheering fell silent, and Claude felt a chill run down his spine.
Breaking the awkward silence, Ghislaine’s voice rang out.
“What? What’s the problem? Is it your first time seeing someone bleed and collapse?”
“…”
Everyone fumbled for words, casting glances at each other. There was a problem from start to finish, but they didn’t know how to address it.
The retainers looked to Claude. In dealing with a sophistical argument, it was better to let an expert handle things.
Claude organized his thoughts quickly, speaking like a pro.
“That’s not a knight! It would be more accurate to say it’s a scam. No, it’s 100% a scam.”
“What’s a scam?”
“What kind of war can you wage in that state? One swing of the sword and they collapse!”
“But he used mana, right? You promised to go on the expedition if he could use mana? There weren’t any other conditions!”
“Didn’t we agree on it? There was no condition about anything else!”
Claude was left speechless by Ghislaine’s brazen reply.
It wasn’t wrong. The betting condition was “being able to use mana,” not “not collapsing after using mana.”
Still, the feeling of having been cheated didn’t go away.
Frustrated, Claude turned to Wendy beside him.
“Hey, can you say something? Is that normal? Huh? Is it normal?!”
“…Uh, why are you suddenly asking me?”
Wendy, who was always calm and expressionless, stepped back in surprise at Claude’s floundering tactics.
She understood the situation was bad, but why was she being dragged into it?
But Claude was desperate.
“Just talk! Honestly, you can defeat all those kids over there by yourself, right? Right? Just be honest!”
“No, how can I say something like that…”
“Is war a joke? At this rate, they’ll all get dragged into the war and die! For the sake of saving lives, please, say something! Even those weirdos deserve to live!”
Claude’s words weren’t wrong. There was no way they could fight normally as it stood.
Eventually, Wendy sighed and quietly said, “I think I can defeat them all by myself…”
Her words drew gasps from the retainers.
Although those lying in the sickroom didn’t come out to the demonstration ground, there were still over two hundred knights present.
If Wendy were strong enough to defeat that many by herself, it was hard to even call those knights knights.
The knights frowned at such a dismissive statement about themselves.
Even if she was the chief officer’s retainer, how could a mere maid overlook knights just like that!
Lucas, who loved to posture, couldn’t hold back any longer.
“You! How dare you say such thing to us! Step up and duel me… cough! Cough, this is infuriating!”
Lucas started to speak but choked on his words, dropping to one knee as he coughed up blood.
His condition was so poor that even a little excitement sent blood rushing to his head and caused him to have a nosebleed.
The knights beside him helped Lucas up, offering their own advice.
“Don’t get too excited, your blood pressure will spike. Take a deep breath.”
“Hey, just hold back. You can’t win against her.”
“Yeah, she’s really strong. If you challenge her, you’ll just die.”
Seeing the knights’ pathetic state, Claude glared at Ghislaine, almost on the verge of tears.
“Are there no other troops?”
“You know best that there aren’t.”
“During the last meeting, you said you’d fill the lacking troops yourself!”
“Oh, everything has its time. I’ll bring in troops when the time is right, so don’t worry too much.”
Claude rubbed his forehead.
To be honest, the troops available in Penris Territory were limited. He could either ask Marquis Branford for help or borrow troops from Perdium.
But there’s no way the marquis would lend troops when they’re the ones planning to strike against the Duke Faction.
Perdium had limitations on how many troops they could lend, as they needed to defend the north.
No matter how Claude thought about it, the idea of gathering troops felt like a lie to appease the dissenting opinions. He could tell they were planning to go to war with just those half-baked knights.
“Are they really planning to go to war with such folks? Is that what they call knights? What use is there for such knights?”
But Ghislaine seemed to have not a single worry about it.
It seemed that Ghislaine wasn’t worried in the slightest.
“It’s fine. I’m just pushing myself to quickly learn the Mana Circulation Method through intensive training. I’ll take a break for a while to recover my stamina.”
Unlike the knights at the northern fortress, these guys were constantly drawing out mana as soon as they accumulated it.
Since they had never used mana before, they needed to get accustomed to the very sensation of using it.
They had only exhausted themselves from overexertion; with enough rest, they would recover quickly.
Of course, if they rested too long, problems would arise, but everyone knew they’d have to work hard if they wanted to extend their lifespan anyway.
Claude and the retainers, who did not understand the detailed principles of the infinite loop training method that Ghislaine had perfected, kept opposing it, but Ghislaine was stubborn.
“Enough. As promised, since the knights have used mana, the battle plan is finalized. I won’t accept any further objections. If you retort, you’re mistaken, so just focus on preparing for the expedition properly.”
As a result of their bet, Claude and Alfoy’s lives as slaves were extended by ten years, on top of that.
After a few rounds of bickering, Claude, who had given up both persuading Ghislaine and his own life, asked, “Are you planning to set out immediately?”
“No, I need to confirm that the items made by the dwarves are properly completed, and the knights need more tactical training. Plus, the right timing hasn’t come yet.”
“What timing?”
“A good time to fight. Such a thing exists. It will come soon, just a little longer to wait.”
“…Understood.”
Seeing Ghislaine slightly hesitate when the decision to set out was finally made gave Claude a glimmer of hope.
He had been so rushed as if they were about to storm Count Cabaldy’s Territory the very next day, yet now he might be feeling scared about actually fighting.
If he were to cancel the expedition while pondering like that, nothing could be better than that.
Observing the constantly changing expression on Claude’s face, Ghislaine asked, “By the way, are we still purchasing food supplies?”
Claude, seizing the moment, complained to Ghislaine with a relieved expression, “Um, Lord. How about we stop buying more? We already have an excess even after distributing it to Perdium. Plus, that monster wheat is about to be harvested. This time, the yield will be enormous.”
It’s not bad to have plenty of food, but there is a limit to everything. Since the supplies were exceeding consumption, it was becoming difficult to store them.
However, Ghislaine shook her head resolutely.
“No. The northern people scrape everything to the point of starving. Purchase as much as possible, even at a premium. Got it?”
“Why on earth! With what we’ve already stacked, we could feed both Penris and Perdium for over ten years. It’ll start to spoil before we can consume it!”
Ghislaine was oddly obsessed with food storage.
Even when the retainers suggested selling some to raise money, she remained unwavering.
Surely selling all that food would bring in a fortune, yet she was intent on hoarding even more, going out of her way to secure additional funding.
The retainers found it impossible to guess her reasoning.
‘Did a starving ghost cling to her or something?’
To Claude, who was feeling exasperated, Ghislaine replied nonchalantly, “I have my reasons and plans. Besides, you won’t believe anything I say anyway, right?”
“Well… that’s true.”
“Exactly, so just keep buying. Until I tell you to stop, it’s a full buyout.”
“Absolutely a full bribe!”
“Sigh, understood.”
Claude gave up on arguing. He was just going to let things unfold as they would.
‘Do whatever you want.’
In the worst-case scenario, he could take charge of the defense himself. He might not have much for an offense, but he could definitely pull together a decent defense force from Perdium.
Claude had even meticulously planned escape routes in case the Lord died in war and Perdium fell apart.
Now that even Claude, who he trusted the most, had failed to persuade them, the retainers let out sighs with gloomy faces.
Ghislaine smiled at them with a grin.
“Good, everyone is doing very well.”
To a third party, it might seem like he was giving out impossible orders for them to accomplish.
But the territory’s retainers, mages, dwarves, territory residents, knights, and soldiers were all grumbling and opposing everything but, when it came down to it, they were executing tasks quite well.
It seemed chaotic on the surface, but, remarkably, the foundation was being built solidly.
This was proof of their exceptional skills.
Things that Ghislaine could never achieve alone were coming to fruition thanks to them.
“How wonderful. However, let’s get a bit busier.”
Ghislaine’s waiting time was running short.
Everything had to be ready before then.
*
The knights were resting to recuperate, but others could not afford to do the same.
Everyone was bustling about, developing the territory and gathering war supplies.
While everyone was working without a break, additional joyful news arrived.
“Lord! Lord! We’ve succeeded! It’s finally success!”
Galbarik and the dwarves came to find Ghislaine, tears streaming down their faces.
Seeing them, Ghislaine gasped in surprise and asked, “Who… are you?”
“It’s me! Me! Galbarik! You’ve piled on so much work that you can’t even recognize me!”
The one at the front shouted in anger.
Had the grueling schedule taken a toll on him?
Galbarik and the dwarves looked so different that Ghislaine couldn’t even recognize them.
They were skinny, with sunken eyes and short stature, resembling bearded goblins.
Ghislaine chuckled as he awkwardly smiled.
“Ahaha, it’s you, Galbarik. Wow, I didn’t recognize you since you’ve lost so much weight in just a few days! I heard dwarves have long lifespans, but I guess all that was a lie.”
Galbarik glared at the joking Ghislaine, gritting his teeth. His beard trembled.
“Damn it! Working without sleep, of course, I’d look like this! At this rate, we’re all going to die!”
Though he grumbled about not wanting to join the assault squad, he genuinely wanted to escape.
There were even dwarves who tried to flee and got caught, but surprisingly, the most actively involved in the escape attempts was Alfoy.
He couldn’t stand to see other slaves escape due to his nasty nature.
“Especially that Alfoy! He’s not even human! That guy is the worst! Like a lord’s lackey!”
Ghislaine let Galbarik’s rage flow through one ear and asked in return, “So, what is this thing about achieving success?”
Then Galbarik suddenly looked as if he hadn’t been angry at all and said with a bright smile, “We finally finished that hot air balloon!”
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