Chapter 139 - A Fish in Water, or a Foal off its Reins (2)

The king had clearly stated that he would send reinforcements. He had added that although it was a mere mercenary group, they would be far better than one or two average knighthoods. However, the old commander had long since given up hope on reinforcements.

Firstly, the war situation had deteriorated to an extent incomparable to back then, and secondly, he judged that even if reinforcements came, it would not be easy for them to break through the enemy forces surrounding them on all sides and reach the citadel.

Yet the reinforcements he had so thoroughly given up on had arrived right before his eyes.

Although it was not an army, but merely a single mercenary.

The old commander sighed.

'He should have just gone back. Why come looking for a place to die?'

He was grateful that the man had rushed over even after seeing a citadel on the verge of falling, but the current situation of the citadel was far too dire to change just because a single Sword Master had joined them.

Therefore, the old commander urged the man.

"Help our allies retreat."

He requested the man's assistance so that even one more ally could survive, saying it was enough for the old men to die a dog's death here.

The man remained completely unyielding even at those words.

The old commander tried to persuade him again.

He told him to value his life since he could do nothing alone, adding that a mercenary of his caliber could be of greater use to the kingdom.

The man did not listen this time either.

Had they met at a different time and in a different situation, he would have praised the man for his loyalty. But to the old commander right now, the mercenary's stubbornness was only suffocating.

Just then, the Paladin, who had briefly stepped back after his wrist was cut off, fixed his grip on his sword and stepped forward.

He looked brimming with murderous intent.

The man adjusted his grip on his swords and looked at the Paladin.

The old commander roared.

"If you intended to fight, you should have aimed for the neck from the start!"

To the roar let out out of pity rather than anger, the man calmly replied.

"I cut off only the wrist on purpose."

"What?"

"I left him alive on purpose."

The conversation did not continue.

The Paladin, surging with killing intent, rushed at the man, and he responded holding his twin swords.

Dozens of exchanges occurred in an instant.

At a glance, it looked evenly matched. However, no one believed that the situation would last long.

Even if they were both Masters, the level of a mercenary and a knight were not the same, so a Master of the ring could never defeat a Sword Master who had reached completion by accumulating mana in their heart.

That was common sense.

But that common sense crumbled right before their eyes.

The mercenary's swords, which they expected to soon show signs of collapse, only grew in momentum as time passed, while the Paladin's sword instead began to falter.

A few more exchanges went back and forth.

The Paladin was now completely pushed on the defensive, busy merely trying to block.

Riding that momentum, the man swung his twin swords even more fiercely.

THWACK.

At last, the mercenary's sword stabbed deeply into the Paladin's thigh.

The Paladin swung his sword widely, trying to shake off his opponent. But the man deflected that strike all too easily and drove his remaining sword into the Paladin's other leg.

"Aaargh!"

Unable to endure it any longer, the Paladin, with swords embedded in both thighs, collapsed with a scream.

The mercenary snatched the kneeling Paladin's sword from his grasp and kicked him in the chest.

The Paladin fell flat on his back in an unsightly manner.

The old commander's eyes went wide.

Even while seeing it with his own eyes, he could not believe it.

To think a mere mercenary had struck down a Quad Chain knight.

*Step. * The man trampled on the Paladin's chest. And then he looked back.

Meeting his gaze, the commander swallowed dryly.

Looking at him now, the man's aura was far from ordinary.

The worldly atmosphere typical of a mercenary could not be felt. The man seemed like a knight who had trained and trained until he finally reached perfection.

That aura was more magnificent and grandiose than any knight he had ever seen.

Then again, he was someone who had rushed over like this even after seeing a citadel on the verge of falling—a sight that would have made any ordinary mercenary instantly abandon their commission or whatever else.

There was no way a man with such high spirits could be an ordinary mercenary.

That was certainly what he had thought.

"This guy."

Right until the man opened his mouth.

"How much are you going to give me for him?"

At the swaggering voice, the old commander's eyes widened into circles.

It was because he failed to grasp the meaning of the question.

Looking at the old commander, the man grinned.

"Surely you wouldn't deny me a bonus when I caught a Paladin of all things."

The old commander frowned.

The knightly demeanor he had seen for a brief moment was no longer there.

There was only a merchant haggling over a Paladin's life as if haggling over goods in a marketplace.

With a sour expression, the commander promised a hefty bonus.

The man's smile deepened.

"Then one more thing."

The man asked, tapping the ground with the tip of his sword.

"How much for this?"

The old commander looked at the tip of the sword. There was nothing but blood-soaked dirt and sand.

Scowling, he looked at the man. Then, at a sudden thought that flashed through his mind, his jaw dropped wide open.

"Don't tell me..."

"Don't tell me this citadel is cheaper than a single Paladin."

Saying so, the man grabbed the scruff of the neck of the Paladin sprawled on the ground.

"Prepare a generous amount."

With those final words, the man walked toward the gate, dragging the Paladin by the scruff of his neck like a dog.

The Imperial Army, who had broken through Dotrin's heavy infantry and were pouring inside the gate, freaked out and parted to the left and right.

It was the same for the imperial soldiers who followed, and the ones who poured in after them.

The man walked straight through the Imperial Army, parted into two sides like so.

The man stopped walking when he arrived at the center of the gate, right in the middle of the sunken passage connecting the inside and outside of the fortress walls.

Roughly throwing the Paladin down, he aimed the stolen sword at the Paladin's chest.

And then he snarled fiercely at the Imperial Army.

* * *

"Everyone halt right there."

At my words, the soldiers of the Imperial Army stopped in their tracks. But pushed by the troops in the rear who had no way of grasping the situation at the front line, they were forced forward quite a bit more.

"Halt! Halt!"

"Everyone stop!"

It was only after the commanders screamed until their throats tore that they came to a complete stop.

"Hiiik."

A soldier who had stopped right in front of me pulled his shoulders back in terror.

I cast a brief glance at his pathetic display and looked around.

At a distance where a thrust spear could reach, pale-faced imperial soldiers were staring at me.

While everyone was flustered, there were some who moved stealthily.

Without even looking back, I raised the sword and struck down.

"Aaargh!"

Pierced through his perfectly fine right arm by the sword, the Paladin screamed.

Pinning down the struggling Paladin's chest, I opened my mouth.

"Whose fault is it that a wrist just flew off?"

The presence behind me that was stealthily approaching retreated with a groan.

I asked again.

"And if this bastard's head goes flying right now, whose fault will that be?"

No one answered.

But there shouldn't be anyone here who didn't understand my words.

Right now, I was threatening them with the Paladin's life on the line.

That if they moved even a single step from their spots, I would chop off the Paladin's head just like this. And if I did chop off his head, it would be because of the first bastard to move.

It was a shallow trick that wouldn't have worked in the slightest had it been used at any other time or in any other place.

But right now, it was working wonderfully.

I looked at the Paladin groaning while being crushed under my foot. The crest of a five-headed dragon engraved on his chest—this was the crest of the Bourgogne Imperial Family. Even a Paladin from an ordinary noble house possessed an indescribable nobility, so how much more so for a Paladin of the imperial family?

The Imperial Army remained frozen in place, unmoving.

It was laughable.

I was only one man. If they just closed their eyes and charged as they were, they could bring down one of Dotrin's sturdy citadels.

Yet no one stepped forward.

Because no commander and no soldier present here would want their own name written on a report as the cause of death for a Paladin.

I glanced backward.

I saw the face of the old commander watching my standoff with the Imperial Army with a stiff expression.

I gave him a look.

The commander admirably understood my look and gathered his forces, assembling them in front of the gate.

The imperial knights and soldiers who had bravely charged toward the citadel hesitated and pulled back.

Then, seeing me standing my ground in the middle of the gate, they flinched and froze.

Their expressions as they looked back and forth were filled with clear dismay. One of the knights, having made up his mind, stuck closely to the edge of the passage and cautiously brushed past me.

The others quickly followed that knight and passed by my side.

Among them, a few insidious knights subtly gathered aura into their swords, attempting to sneak-attack me. I simply responded by putting strength into the sword aimed at the Paladin's chest.

"Ack!"

The Paladin screamed as if he were dying, and that served as an impeccably excellent warning.

How long had I been staging this hostage situation?

The old commander approached and informed me that all the imperial forces that had invaded the fortress had withdrawn.

"Hah, my word."

As if dumbfounded by this absurd hostage situation, he continuously let out hollow breaths.

And then he asked me what I planned to do next from here.

"I haven't thought that far ahead."

At my words, the commander gave me an incredulous look.

"Let's start by restoring the gate."

"It'll take time. I doubt they'll just stand still until then."

True to his words, the Imperial Army wouldn't hesitate their advance forever over a Paladin's life.

Soon enough, they would probably dress up the Paladin's death as a holy sacrifice or a noble death in battle, and then pound the drums of advance.

In fact, signs of that were already showing.

Messengers rushed back and forth, and the frontline commanders were alternately looking at me and the Paladin with stiff faces.

It seemed the order to advance had been given.

We had no time.

I whispered quietly to the old commander.

"Let's patch it up with magic for now."

"Do you think magic is omnipotent? A spell that restores a gate doesn't exist..."

"If we blast a big one and collapse the passage, it'll buy us some time."

The commander looked at me with a rigidly stiffened face before nodding.

However, there was a problem.

"The Mage passed out."

He said the Mage who was supposed to collapse the passage had sprawled out due to mana depletion.

I let out a sigh.

I knew things were going too easily.

"Shove a stashed elixir down his throat, or whatever you have to do—use any means necessary to get him in working order and bring him here as fast as possible."

"What are you going to do?"

"What else? I have to buy us some time."

The old commander immediately put on a resolute expression and stood by my side.

I chased away such a commander, telling him he was in the way.

Although he looked displeased, he stepped back for the moment.

Though he did deploy his troops behind me, just in case.

Meanwhile, the tension at the front line was heightening.

And finally, when the imperial commanders could no longer defy their orders and hardened their resolve, the drums of advance burst forth.

The Imperial Army, having briefly widened the distance, began to step forward once more.

In place of the terrified soldiers, imperial knights filled the front lines.

"You guys are the ones who killed this bastard."

Saying so, I drove my sword downward.

"Keugh."

With a short groan, the Paladin went completely limp and stopped moving.

The knights' momentum skyrocketed.

It seemed they rather felt unburdened now that the hostage was dead.

"You will absolutely not die a peaceful death."

At the imperial knight's words, I tossed aside the sword I was holding and pulled out the two swords embedded in the Paladin's corpse.

Watching the knights rush in, I steadied my breathing.

And in my head, I recalled the Poems of Martial Deeds.

I could not use the poems of the Royal House of Leonberk and its knights here. Because there was a chance my identity could be exposed.

However, I didn't only possess poems born from the kingdom.

As it happened, I had a poem that wouldn't leave me worrying about my identity being uncovered.

One perfectly suited for me right now, having joined another country's war as a mercenary.

"A soldier dies to become six silver coins, and a knight dies to become thirty gold coins."

He who had received the title of a king, yet was respected by no one.

He who had wandered the world aimlessly, living for only one purpose.

The song of a certain knight who, even after reaching a soaring height, was pointed at and called lowly right up until the moment of his death.

"Victory is vain honor; only my warehouse, filled with fleeting deaths, shall be the truth."

The [Heroic Poem] of the one who was called the 「Mercenary King」, or the 「Knight of Gold Coins」.

I quietly recited the song of that money-grubbing ghost.