Chapter 9: Siege of Buinyu Fortress (1)

Although the battle followed a forced night march, fortunately Mordo’s mercenary company did not suffer heavy losses.

If anything, the real losses belonged to the Garten Mercenary Company.

Nearly half of their total strength died, which by organization standards meant the unit was practically annihilated.

There was a brief tussle over it, but the Garten Company agreed to come temporarily under Count Bellua’s command, and they were provisionally organized together with Mordo’s group into a mixed force.

They gathered the routed men scattered in all directions and began restoring their numbers as quickly as possible.

Once the situation was in hand, only the offensive remained.

Count Bellua wanted to take Baron Buinyu’s pro imperial castle instead of hunting down the remnants of the Emperor’s army that had broken and scattered.

“Advance-! We will sweep the Emperor’s power from the Rakiten Plain!”

“Form the lines!”

“Move quickly!”

Yes.

It was the siege Shatien knew.

It had begun.

* * *

Screeeech.

Thud.

Heavy vibrations and noise rolled across the quiet plain.

Startled birds and wild beasts bolted in every direction to escape the racket.

Creak creak!

“Hey, easy! Move it carefully. If you slip up, it will be a disaster!”

The culprits were the siege engines.

To fulfill Count Bellua’s ambition, countless engines of siege were gathering on the plain.

Battering rams, siege towers, trebuchets, and siege ladders.

The cost of building them was by no means small, yet the will to capture this castle at all costs was plain to see.

This was not limited to siege weapons alone.

Troops who were refitting before the siege were also supplied generously.

“Huff huff, slurp.”

“Hey! Quit stuffing your face while you cook. You said you were tasting the seasoning and now you are filling your belly.”

Thanks to that, everyone was busy with a long overdue feast and their own kit maintenance.

And among them.

Swish swish.

Shatien was breaking in a newly bought longsword.

Just as our exacting Centurion Jacri had said, his pay was docked for a week, but his merit stood as well, and he received a hefty reward.

It felt like he was getting healed by the same person who hurt him, but what can be done?

It still gave him the chance to buy a new blade and firm up his gear.

‘Hm, the oil took well.’

After rubbing the longsword with a dry cloth for quite some time, Shatien looked at the blade glittering in the sunlight and thought so.

The effort had been worth it.

A blade was something you rubbed again and again and used again and again to make it yours.

A sword without oil rusted fast, and a sword you did not tend lost its teeth.

In that sense, Shatien looked at the longsword resting on his knees with a very satisfied face.

“Jeez. Look at you, you are about to marry that sword, you know? You are staring creepily at it like a lover.”

“Ah, Miles? You came?”

“Yeah, I did. Now put that thing away. What are you fussing over so much.”

Grumbling, Miles flopped down and hitched his axe on his shoulder as he spoke.

“You have to maintain it so you can use it in the next fight. I splurged and bought a good blade from a merchant this time.”

“Jeez… Are you really that happy about it?”

“You know it is not easy to find a sword like this, right?”

At Miles’s tone that said it was pathetic, Shatien shrugged.

Was the longsword a bit pricey?

He had shaken out his whole reward to buy it.

Besides, a good longsword was hard to obtain in the first place, since most went first to knights or nobles.

Miles clicked his tongue.

“Tsk tsk, a guy like you beat that Imperial soldier last time and didn’t take his sword?”

“Ah?”

“The one you barely brought down. His sword looked amazing, didn’t it?”

“A-Ahem… I was a bit out of it then…”

Only then did Shatien recall the loot he had failed to collect.

The weapon the Imperial veteran had used. A soldier of that grade would surely have carried a fine weapon, which was a shame.

“Heh heh, what, you regret it now? If you had taken it and sold it to a merchant you would have made a tidy sum.”

“Come on, it would have still been less than the reward. Ahem, I am satisfied with this.”

“That’s different from this.”

‘Good grief, I said it was fine, why was the man acting like this? Maybe he had gotten a taste for teasing me because the schedule was so dull?’

But it did not seem like what Shatien imagined.

“Truth is, I came because I heard something.”

Miles screwed up his face as if annoyed as he spoke.

“You heard something? What, are bad rumors about me spreading or something?”

“No, why would they? Everyone only praises you.”

“Then what is it?”

“I was passing the centuria near us, and their centurion said he had scored a killer sword.”

“Well, the last battle was fierce, so it is natural to get such a prize. What does that have to do with me?”

Had he baked his brains in the sun?

‘Why tell me about another centurion’s loot?’

Shatien tilted his head.

Miles snorted hot air and snapped.

“How could it not have anything to do with you!”

“Huh?”

“That centurion’s prize sword is the blade dropped by the man you fought.”

“?”

What kind of nonsense was that? How could another centurion’s prize be a sword that should have been mine?

“I asked a prisoner, and he said the man you fought was fairly famous among the Imperial troops. He had trained under a knight and had been awarded a sword worthy of a knight.”

“...So that's proof the centurion’s prize is mine?”

“Of course! As soon as I saw it, I thought right away, that that is your sword.”

Good grief.

Shatien’s head throbbed.

What was Miles thinking, making claims like that? If that got into other people’s ears, it would be trouble.

Shatien clicked his tongue.

“Miles, think about it. We fought on a very dark night.”

“Uh… that is right.”

“Now, when you fight on a dark night, do you see the shape of a sword or not?”

“Uh… you… don’t?”

Even as he spoke, he realized what he had said. Miles looked pretty sheepish.

“Exactly… Miles. So how did you know the shape of the sword and decide on the spot that it was mine? I know you want to look out for me, but this can turn into big trouble. Big trouble.”

“But a sword fit for a knight, he is the only one who would have had it…”

“It’s fine, that is just a vague guess. Besides, I already have this new blade. Do not scratch at it and make trouble. Alright?”

If he went around making that claim and ended up fighting the centurion involved, nothing good would come of it.

People often misunderstood that mercenaries were free and had no hierarchy.

But think about it.

This was not a tiny gang of a few men, it was a mercenary company moving hundreds.

If such a company passed through a town and needed to recruit, what did they have to do?

Of course, when a group this large moved, they would notify the lord in advance, and they would get permission to recruit and be supplied in the region.

If not, it would be no different from stealing the lord’s subjects.

And to communicate with a lord who was a noble, the mercenary captain’s status was often guaranteed to some degree.

A third son of a noble, a noble’s bastard, or the child of a rich city noble.

There were cases that rose from the bottom by their own merit, but those were rare, and they too had reputations they had built.

In short, a large mercenary company was a very stratified and vertical organization.

In such a place, a brand new rookie picking a fight with a centurion over loot?

And over a false charge at that?

‘That is how you get thrown out.’

It was close to insubordination, and if things went wrong it meant flogging, if not outright expulsion from the company.

For me, who planned to plant roots and start in the Black Raven Mercenary Company led by Mordo, it was absolutely not a good idea.

Only then did Miles grasp the situation and nod.

“Y-Yeah, you are right, you are right. Ahem… I was wrong, my bad.”

“Good. Then I will take my leave now. Please make sure no useless misunderstanding spreads.”

“Right! You can count on me.”

He thumped his chest as he spoke, which somehow made Shatien more uneasy. Worry crept up without reason.

Still, would anything really happen?

He was not that much of a fool.

Or so he thought…

“Hey! Shatien? Where is that arrogant brat!”

Trouble hit.

* * *

Here was the cause.

That centurion in question.

Centurion Jenga, who in his past life had been so greedy they called him Jenga of Greed, had caught a drifting bit of talk.

Of course, Jenga felt something to hide, so he blew his top and stormed in making a scene.

Naturally, for Shatien, who had been drilling sword work with his blade broken during personal maintenance time, it was a bolt from the blue.

‘Good grief… What kind of bullshit is this?’

Shatien frowned at the sudden arrival of an unwelcome guest.

He had been consolidating the lessons of the last fight, refining his swordplay, and also training to parcel out his ability.

And now he was interrupted like this.

“I am Shatien. What is the reason you called me?”

“Oh, you are Shatien? The arrogant one?”

“I’m not sure about being arrogant, but I am Shatien, Centurion.”

He had not liked this centurion in his previous life either, and to have the man come and pick at him again here soured his mood.

That attitude seemed to provoke Centurion Jenga.

“Oh ho? You dare make that face at me while you spread lies about me?”

“Lies, you say?”

“You have been saying the loot I hold is yours!”

Only then did Shatien see how things were rolling.

‘Ugh…’

The kind big brother Miles had said he understood, but apparently he had started the mess.

He needed to get that man in a wrist lock one day.

“This is a misunderstanding. I never said such a thing, Centurion Jenga.”

Shatien clicked his tongue inside as he spoke, but it did not seem to land.

“What? A misunderstanding? Now you are denying it? My man said he heard the rumor clearly!”

Jenga was raising his voice.

There was a reason for his sudden burst.

Rumors were going around.

It was that Captain Mordo had marked that hatchling as a candidate for the next centurion, an absurd story.

‘What’s so great about that bastard?’

Jenga could not allow another rival to rise in the company.

He wanted to shame him badly and punish him, or drive him out of the company.

If he pressed and raged, the rookie would lose his head.

Of course, Shatien was not one to dance to Jenga’s tune.

“I am not denying anything. I truly never said that, Centurion Jenga.”

“What? So now you are calling my man a liar? Is that it?”

“You heard a rumor, did you not? He must have misheard a distorted story in passing. Those kinds of rumors go around all the time, you know.”

At Shatien’s calm words, Jenga faltered.

He thought he could cow him with a little shouting, but this one’s backbone was no joke.

And there was logic to it, which left him little to say.

Still, retreating like this did not sit with his pride.

Jenga barked.

“What is this? Now you are making my man not just a liar but an idiot?”

“Why would I do that? I am only saying he misunderstood.”

“Silence. You dare call that an excuse! In the end it is the same. A rookie flapping his mouth at will!”

At this point, Shatien was the one who found it ridiculous.

‘This bastard?’

He had wanted to de-escalate, and now the man was trying to pin on him a crime that did not exist, and calling him a rookie to boot.

He must have been looking down on him. Shatien let out a short snort.

“You are stating falsehoods and insulting me.”

If you were insulted and backed down, you were no man.

Shatien slowly brought his hand to the hilt. If he was insulted once more, he would challenge to a duel and teach him a lesson.

At that hair trigger moment.

“What do you think you are doing?”

A familiar voice sounded from behind.

It was Centurion Jacri, wearing the same strict expression as always.

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