Chapter 52: The Situation Changed (1)
Ghislaine took a couple more days to rest and gather himself before summoning the mercenaries.
Although he wasn’t in peak condition, moving around like this had already saved him a significant amount of time.
Gillian was organizing the mercenaries when he suddenly paused and glanced back at Ghislaine.
Ghislaine, who was puzzled by this, soon realized the reason. Belinda was slowly walking towards them from the mansion.
“What’s this, did you come to see me off?”
Ghislaine joked. Belinda snorted and shook her head.
“See you off? I’m going with you.”
Ghislaine frowned slightly.
He had stabilized the chaotic mana to some extent, but he probably hadn’t fully recovered yet.
“How about you rest a bit longer, Belinda? You don’t really need to come along.”
“No way! What if we run into bandits along the way? Anyone who sees a Runestone of my size won’t be able to resist attacking. If I don’t come along, I’ll be too worried to rest properly.”
She said decisively as she threw on her robe.
Ghislaine shook his head. With Belinda being so resolute, he didn’t feel inclined to back down.
After all, she had taken care of him since he was a child. It was hard not to soften up.
With a sigh, Ghislaine made a promise.
“If it gets tough at any point, make sure to tell me.”
“Got it. Are we heading out of the territory right now?”
“No, first we’re going back to get what we left behind.”
Ghislaine led the mercenaries back into the Forest of Monsters. They were looking to collect the hide of the Dirus Ent and the remaining corpse of the Blood Python.
Unlike their first entry, this time they moved swiftly on horseback.
“Are we going to add any more Runestones to our collection?”
Gillian asked, but Ghislaine shook his head.
“No, we don’t have time for that. We’ll just collect the corpses and head straight to sell the Runestones.”
Upon hearing they were going to sell the Runestones, the mercenaries’ faces lit up.
They knew that selling the Runestones meant they would receive a hefty reward.
“Alright, let’s move quickly.”
Having rested well, the mercenaries were bursting with energy. In just half a day, they collected all the monster corpses and returned to the territory.
“Keep the hide as is since it doesn’t rot, and separate the Python’s corpse into poison, blood, flesh, and leather, so it doesn’t spoil.”
“Don’t let anything rot, and separate Phyton’s corpse into poison, blood, flesh, and leather to keep them preserved.”
Ghislaine handed the task of handling and preserving the corpses to the waiting laborers and led the mercenaries outside the territory.
Following Ghislaine, who moved as if chased by something, the mercenaries shouted with excitement.
“Wow, looks like the captain’s just itching to go!”
“Heh heh, if we sell this many runestones, we’re going to rake in the cash. Just thinking about it makes my heart race!”
Despite the mercenaries’ chatter, Gillian looked a bit worried.
“My lord, is it really necessary to move so hastily? You’re not fully recovered yet, so please don’t overdo it.”
Gillian knew the situation was urgent due to what he heard from Ghislaine, but he didn’t expect him to be this desperate.
The pace was so fast that the wagons carrying the runestones couldn’t keep up.
“It might be possible. But always remember that time is not on our side.”
While saying this, Ghislaine didn’t slow down. If the horses pulling the wagons fell behind, he reluctantly slowed down just a little.
“Maintain this speed. Let’s move as quickly as we can.”
The mercenaries had no reason to complain about getting their money quickly, so they eagerly followed Ghislaine.
“Wow, but our captain rides really well. Is he a centaur?”
“He’s got more skills than most knights!”
“He’s young, but there’s nothing he can’t do.”
Although horsemanship was a necessary skill for nobility, Ghislaine’s riding was far beyond that level.
Even the seasoned mercenaries, who had seen many battlefields, had never met anyone who handled a horse as well as him.
Every time they looked at him, his expertise and maturity were astonishingly out of sync with his age.
Whether he knew the mercenaries were admiring him or not, Ghislaine silently rode south.
Lost in thought, the mercenaries only realized something odd after a while.
“But why are we going this way?”
“Right? If we’re heading to a big merchant group, Raybold would be the fastest route.”
“Are we just riding aimlessly?”
Raybold was the wealthiest territory in the North. With a wealth of merchant groups, it would be the easiest and quickest place to sell something.
But Ghislaine was veering south, bypassing the Zimbart territory.
As the days passed, the murmurs among the mercenaries increased.
Kaor represented the mercenaries and asked Ghislaine, “My lord, where are we headed? We’ve already passed all the territories with major merchant groups.”
Ghislaine smiled faintly and replied, “We’re going to the Brivant territory.”
It was an unexpected destination for everyone. Kaor and the other mercenaries were taken aback and asked in confusion.
“Why would we go there?”
“Is there a big merchant group there?”
Brivant was a small territory in the North, but it was famous enough that no one in the kingdom was unaware of it.
The murmuring mercenaries quickly recalled why Brivant was so renowned and soon gasped in admiration.
“Brivante… oh, no way!”
“Are we really going there?”
Ghislaine nodded.
“Yeah, we’re going to the Mage Tower.”
The mercenaries immediately understood what Ghislaine was thinking just by hearing the word “Mage Tower.”
“I see! So you’re planning to sell directly to the Mage Tower instead of the Merchant Group? That means we’ll get more money!”
“That’s right, that’s right. The prince is more thrifty than I thought.”
There were only a few Merchant Groups in the North that could buy Runestones in bulk. Even then, they would offer a price after taking their profit.
But selling directly to the Mage Tower changes everything.
Runestones were the most commonly used material for magical research.
If there were greedy mages craving Runestones, they would definitely buy up everything, no matter how much there was. And the price would surely be higher from the Mage Tower than from the Merchant Group.
The mercenaries, who were like village folks at the edge of the North, looked excited at the thought of seeing the famous Mage Tower.
They chattered among themselves, feeling lucky to follow Ghislaine since they would not only make money but also be able to do some sightseeing.
However, Kaor paused for a moment and asked Ghislaine.
“Prince, the Mage Tower in Brivante is the Tower of the Bloody Flame. Wouldn’t it be much better to go to the Crimson Tower instead for a better price?”
“Oh, right? So we really don’t need to go all the way to the Brivante territory?”
“Exactly. The fortress is the best in the North, and they’ll pay top dollar for it!”
Upon hearing Kaor’s words, the mercenaries began to chatter.
If they were going to sell to a Mage Tower, it only made sense to sell to the place that would give the highest price for the Runestones.
The smaller Mage Towers wouldn’t be able to handle the volume of Runestones they currently had, so they needed to head to a larger power.
The largest Mage Tower in the North is the Crimson Tower. It would give a generous price and buy the most.
That’s why most Merchant Groups primarily dealt with the Crimson Tower.
But Ghislaine shook her head.
“No, we’re going to the Tower of the Bloody Flame.”
“Huh? Why’s that?”
Kaor and the other mercenaries were taken aback and asked again.
The Tower of the Bloody Flame was once the richest and most powerful in the North.
But after the rival Crimson Tower’s Master Delmud became a 7th Circle Grand Mage and gained renown, the tables had completely turned.
They were still trying to claw their way back to former glory, but catching up to the already massive Crimson Tower wasn’t easy.
“Um, are you sure you’re not mistaken?”
“What’s in Brivante is the Tower of the Bloody Flame, not the Crimson Tower.”
“With this amount, we should go to the most profitable place.”
The mercenaries couldn’t help but think that Ghislaine was mistaken. Why lose out on money when there’s a chance to get more?
Seeing the mercenaries chatter away, Belinda furrowed her brow.
She didn’t like seeing these ignorant, rude guys crawling over to Ghislaine.
She secretly jabbed Gillian in the side. When he turned, Belinda mouthed that he should teach them some manners while raising her eyebrows.
But it seemed Ghislaine didn’t care at all about their rude behavior.
It seemed he wasn’t using it.
“I’m not mistaken; going to the Tower of the Bloody Flame is the right move. I have my reasons, so just follow me.”
The mercenaries didn’t understand his intentions, but half of them believed in Ghislaine thinking he must have a plan, while the other half didn’t care about their own losses.
After passing a few more territories, they finally saw the tall tower.
The mercenaries started to whisper among themselves as they looked at the Mage Tower.
Ghislaine smiled to himself and urged his horse forward.
*
When Ghislaine arrived at the Brivant Territory, Count Desmond Harold was clutching a document tightly and reading it with trembling eyes.
It was a report delivered by the spies infiltrated in the Perdium Territory.
Harold threw the report onto his desk and sighed in frustration.
“Runestone… What do you mean, runestone? And in such bulk?”
As Ghislaine had predicted, the fact that he had acquired the runestone reached Harold’s ears just a few days later.
With a serious expression, Harold closed his eyes, stroked his mustache, and fell into deep thought.
“My plan is completely falling apart.”
He had intended to slowly weaken the Perdium Territory, but now that they had obtained the runestone, that would be a tough challenge.
“Tsk, should I have just forced them into a fight?”
Even though the corpse of Gilmore Digald had vanished, he could have staged a fight if he wanted to.
But he couldn’t understand who had gotten rid of that corpse, so he planned to observe a little longer… He never expected it would lead to this outcome.
“I thought it was crazy to take mercenaries into the Forest of Monsters.”
It felt suspicious that Ghislaine’s name came up when he lost contact with Frank.
Since then, Harold had been receiving reports on Ghislaine’s every move.
His personality seemed to have changed a bit, but there were no reports that he had become strong enough to defeat Frank.
However, after receiving reports that Ghislaine had entered the Forest of Monsters with mercenaries, he completely disregarded him.
He thought he would die there anyway.
But when he heard that Ghislaine had indeed brought back the runestone, his unease turned into outright fear.
“He shouldn’t be capable of that much.”
He had spent a long time gathering intelligence to swallow the northern territory.
Naturally, he had also investigated the key figures, but based on the information at the time, Ghislaine was someone not even worth paying attention to.
Yet recently, he had heard that name twice. This indicated a problem with the information.
Harold issued a new order to the deputy waiting beside him.
“Rescue the information on the key figures in the North again. Don’t worry about the previous investigation results; start over from square one.”
“Understood.”
The newly appointed deputy was better at gathering information than at scheming, so he would handle the task well.
Harold gazed out of the window, feeling a peculiar anxiety wash over him.
The red sunset was gradually tinting his room.
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