Merchant Noble is out (2/3 chapters for today)
Departure for the Campaign
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“First the Habarov Summons, and now a royal campaign? It’s only been six months since the last summons, and here we are back in the capital again.” (Arc)
The summons came shortly after the suppression of the Tyr Rebellion. It was because of this, Arc paled, thinking that the incident with Tyr and Randall had already been exposed. However, when he used members of the Sheeb Order in the capital to gather information, he was relieved to find out that it seemed all the nobles were being summoned for a campaign to subdue Leo.
He requested to be excused on the grounds that his territory was still recovering from the rebellion suppression, but because participation was mandatory for all nobles, his request was denied. Reluctantly, he gathered 1000 adventurers (since in the Mikanda territory, there were only a few dozen soldiers, and only “outsiders” like Tyr and Hal), and by the time they arrived in the capital, more than two months had passed since the summons.
Arc, who arrived nervously after this great delay, was relieved and, at the same time, worried when he heard that he was actually one of the earlier arrivals among the nobles. It seemed that other nobles were also taking time to gather their troops. The great nobles might be assembling tens of thousands of men, so perhaps it couldn’t be helped, but could things really proceed smoothly with such a start?
In the end, it was four months after the summons before all the nobles, said to number nearly a hundred in the kingdom, were gathered. Until then, Arc had been conducting military training for the 1000 adventurers he had brought along, but it was quite costly to sustain a thousand men for two months. Well, the Warden Company Horimas Branch was making a fortune doing business with the large armies of other nobles flooding into the capital, so it was fine.
The allied army totaled 500,000 men. It seemed the great nobles had each brought tens of thousands of troops. Hence, they couldn’t all fit inside the capital, and the departure ceremony had to be held outside the city.
“Everyone! It has been a while. This is Zerold, the former king.” (Zerold)
Coming out from the city walls was Zerold I. The nobles and soldiers cheered at his reappearance after a long time. However, as the House of Baron Warden was at nearly the far rear of the 500,000-strong army, he looked like no more than a speck to them.
“For the peace and stability of the kingdom, I have decided to borrow your strength to defeat my son. I expect you all to do your best. That is all!” (Zerold)
As soon as the speech ended, cheers erupted from the soldiers who understood it was over. The cheers spread like wildfire to soldiers who hadn’t heard it, quickly reaching the entire army. The sound didn’t reach Arc’s group, so he was thankful it ended quickly. Although Arc and his group didn’t hear the speech at all, they joined in the cheering for now.
“All troops, move out!”
“Move out!”
“Move out!”
The nobles moved their armies simultaneously. A vast army of 500,000 men. It was said that the maximum mobilizable force of the kingdom and the nobles was around 1 million, so half of that force had been mobilized. And all just to defeat one person.
The wave of people began to move like a swell. Suddenly, it became so noisy that even the nearby voices couldn’t be heard. Arc gestured with his hands and somehow managed to give the order for the 1,000-strong Warden army to depart.
—
Meanwhile, information reached Leo’s territory that an army was marching toward him, the kingdom’s enemy.
“So slow! How long does it take for them to make a move after deciding? At this rate, it might take them about a year just to get here!” (Leo)
Leo sat in a throne-like chair in his palace-like mansion on his estate, laughing mockingly as he listened to the report.
“Hehehehe. Well then, let’s prepare on our side too. Hey, General! What’s your name again?” (Leo)
Leo asked the burly man standing beside him, a subordinate who resembled a bear.
“It’s Kureo. Leo-sama gave me that name.” (Kureo)
“Oh, that’s right. Well then, Ureo.” (Leo)
“It’s Kureo.” (Kureo)
“Kureo. Hurry up and gather the troops. We need to welcome my old man and the others, after all.” (Leo)
“Understood.” (Kureo)
Kureo left the room with a practiced ease. Having his name mispronounced was an everyday occurrence. In the first place, Leo never bothered to remember people’s names because he wasn’t interested in others. So, despite serving him for ten years, Kureo had long since stopped caring that Leo still hadn’t remembered his name.
Finally, Leo’s side began mobilizing their troops and preparing for battle. However, unlike the royal forces, Leo’s forces consisted solely of soldiers from his own domain, so the mobilization was completed quickly.
“If I win, I guess I’ll end up becoming king myself. Hah, hah!” (Leo)
Leo grinned lewdly, wearing a vulgar smile as he searched for his armor.
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