From Mercenary to King

Chapter 4: Battle of the Rakiten Plains (1)

Shatien was left alone in the clearing after the commotion, scratching his head.

“Hm… should I rest a bit?”

As Miles said, rest was also part of training. You had to rest to recover stamina and gain another chance to grow.

Right now he had just exhausted himself in battle.

Thinking about moving to the next battlefield, resting properly when he could wasn’t bad. No, it might even be the best choice.

Opportunities to rest comfortably didn’t always come after all.

It wouldn’t be bad to go back to the barracks, have a drink with his comrades, and then collapse into sleep in a lazy haze.

But Shatien shook his head.

‘No… no. Rest my ass.’

He knew his own condition best.

He wasn’t the green rookie he once was. His body might be young, but inside was a veteran mercenary who had survived countless battles.

His condition was still fine, and there was something more important than rest.

‘I have to figure this out no matter what.’

What good was it to save stamina if he couldn’t control this damned power. If he didn’t, he could die screaming on the next battlefield.

Squeeeze.

So he clenched his grip and picked up his iron sword again.

At this point it was pride. He had to master it.

‘Alright, let’s see who dies first, you or me.’

There had to be a way to control it.

There had to.

…

…

…

And though he had made such an extreme resolution… he figured out the method more easily than he expected.

Ridiculously enough, using the power required only focus. Intense, absolute concentration.

The way he found out was very anticlimactic too.

He realized it in the middle of sword practice, trying to cool his head, when the ability suddenly activated.

Because of that, he kept fighting while the strange sense remained active.

“Khhuuak!”

As a result, he staggered, gasping for breath in the end.

It was as expected.

This power put an immense burden on his body.

The longer he used it, the faster his stamina drained. After one minute the headaches became unbearable.

But the effect was incredible.

Time seemed to slow. His senses sharpened.

He instinctively knew how to adjust his stance, how to move, how to swing his sword.

Each slash felt as though he had been doing it wrong all along, and the power was correcting him.

It was as though it was analyzing everything. Collapsed on the ground, panting, Shatien shivered at the terrifying potential of this power.

At the same time, worry came as well.

There were countless myths of heroes who abused power like this and met terrible ends.

There was no reason the same fate wouldn’t befall him.

‘Considering how much strain it puts on my body, maybe it’s draining my life force.’

If so, he had to adapt and control it so the burden would lessen.

If not, his end would be horrific.

He had solved one mystery, but he couldn’t smile happily.

It felt like he had been handed an enormous assignment.

Damn it.

* * *

By the time he returned to the barracks, night had already fallen.

The noisy atmosphere had vanished. Most of the men were staggering drunk, some sprawled on the ground asleep.

It looked chaotic, but this was mercenary life.

This lack of discipline was what defined them. Of course, if a commander saw them like this, there would have been hell to pay.

‘Hm, I’ll just slip in quietly. No need to get dragged in.’

If he got caught, he’d be lumped together with the others.

But unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side.

“You bastards! Already slacking like this!”

An officer had shown up.

The officer saw the state of the barracks and was seething.

‘Sigh… seriously?’

Think of a troll and one appears.

That was his luck.

Shatien tried to quietly slip away from the angry officer.

Or he would have, if he hadn’t been spotted.

“Huh? You! Where the hell are you sneaking off to at this hour!”

He clicked his tongue inside.

What bad luck!

Turning around, he prepared to fumble an excuse.

“Rookies these days have no discipline. You’re all dead— huh?”

“Uh…Huh?”

When the officer’s face came into view in the dark, it turned out to be Miles.

Both of them widened their eyes in surprise, then laughed awkwardly.

The situation was funny.

“Oh, it was you?”

“Ah, yes. Miles. You’re back already from the meeting?”

“Already? It’s dark, you fool. Don’t tell me you’ve been training until now?”

“Ah… I took it easy.”

“Heh.”

Miles let out a low sound of admiration.

To think a rookie this serious had joined! Considering the skill he had shown in the last battle, it wasn’t strange, but still.

“If all the new recruits were like you, it’d be great.”

“Aw, I’m sure everyone will do fine. Tonight’s their first taste of victory, after all. Shouldn’t they enjoy it?”

“Oh? You sound like an old mercenary who’s been rolling around for decades.”

‘Shoot.’

Shatien quickly changed the subject.

“Ahem. Old mercenary you say! No, I just repeated something I heard before.”

“Hmmmmm. Are you sure you’re not hiding your age? You sound like an old man, you know?”

“Please stop looking at me like that and tell me about the meeting. Judging by the mood, our next destination is the Rakiten Plains, right? Do we depart tomorrow?”

“Wha?”

Miles blinked in surprise.

“How did you know?”

How did he know?

He had already experienced it of course. For a moment he worried his actions might have changed the future, but it seemed not. He sighed with relief and quickly came up with an excuse.

“Think about our commander, Count Bellua. It’s obvious.”

“Count Bellua?”

“Yes. He’s young, ambitious. Would he let this chance slip away? The resisting forces in the area have already been crushed. And there’s a war between the Holy Empire and the Elector Alliance in the Rakiten Plains. Of course he’ll want to rush there. It’s inevitable.”

Miles’s eyes widened.

This rookie not only knew about the count, but also his ambition?

Mercenaries weren’t supposed to think about politics, yet here was one with insight.

“I-Impressive, huh? Rookie? You might be right about him. Either way, it’s true. We’re marching for the Rakiten Plains tomorrow. The army is gathering in front of Baron Buinyu’s castle to support the Elector Alliance.”

“As… I thought.”

Shatien nodded gravely as if he was disappointed.  

In the past, they had rushed there, but they weren’t able to fulfill their roles as they hoped.

The Arhen Mountains forced them to detour, and the delay was fatal.

‘Thanks to that, by the time they arrived, the allied forces had been crushed.’

Of course, back then, Count Bellua managed to salvage the situation with brilliant tactics and captured Buinyu’s castle. But the battles had been nightmarish.

Month-long bloodshed.

So many comrades had died. If they had taken the mountain path, things might have been very different.

“What a shame.”

“Hmm? What? What’s a shame?”

“Ah… It’s nothing. Ahaha…”

He had let his true feelings slip. He quickly scratched his head and laughed it off. He was only a recruit at this point of time, so how could he dare to state his opinion?

Even what he murmured just now was something that could be seen as very rude.

But then…

“What do you mean, nothing?”

A deep voice came from behind.

It was somewhat familiar.

Out of the shadows stepped Captain Mordo himself.

“Go on. Tell me. Why is it a shame?”

And he looked very fascinated at that.

* * *

I’m fucked.

That was the only thought in Shatien’s mind.

He had hoped to catch the captain’s eye with accomplishments.

Mordo wasn’t just the commander of four hundred mercenaries. In the future, he would become the leader of thousands, and even be granted a title.

Shatien had wanted to stand by him because of that, and bask in his glory…

‘So I didn’t want this kind of attention from him…’

Unluckily, he got his attention by stepping over the line as a recruit.

Sweat dripped down his back.

“Why so quiet? Earlier you said that it’s a shame as if you knew about something. Now you have nothing? Hmm…”

Mordo’s voice held disappointment because Shatien hesitated.

At this rate, Shatien would look like an arrogant rookie who didn’t know his place.

“No, sir.”

He had no choice.

Shatien quickly spoke.

If the situation became like this, he had to make sure he puts on a good image.

“No, you say?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So there’s a reason why you said that it’s a shame after learning the plan?”

Mordo’s eyes gleamed with interest again, and Shatien nodded.

“Yes, of course. There’s a clear reason for that.”

“Oh…? What is it?”

Shatien replied.

“The distance is too far. The reason Count Bellua wants to push into the Rakiten Plains is to quickly join the army of the Electors Alliance and stand against the Holy Empire’s emperor, isn’t it? But from here to the Rakiten Plains, we would have to circle around the end of the Arhen Mountains. And if that happens…”

“Yes. As you say, the distance grows longer. It would take at least five days to reach the Rakiten Plains. So what of it? Five days seems long, but in the end it’s short.”

“If you think of what you just said in reverse, though, it isn’t that it seems long but is short. It’s that it seems short but it is long.”

“Hmm…”

Captain Mordo frowned, showing discomfort.

It sounded like wordplay, but the greenhorn had struck at the very unease he himself had been feeling beneath the surface.

Reading Mordo’s mood, Shatien continued without pause.

“As far as I know, the mercenary companies of the Electors Alliance haven’t properly assembled yet. Since they’re departing from different corners of the empire, there will be gaps in their arrival times.”

He had set the stage, now it was time to drive the point home.

“But the Holy Empire’s emperor is different.”

“Different?”

“Yes. There’s the Barony of Buinyu, which is a pro-emperor stronghold, right?. And right behind it lies the emperor’s Free City, which means he can raise troops much faster. If that happens, there’s a high chance we’ll be crushed piecemeal. Especially if you recall the emperor’s specialty.”

The Holy Empire’s emperor’s specialty was ambush.

He was a sovereign who, despite his great skill, had thrown noble honor aside and preferred underhanded surprise attacks.

It was a point with merit, and it was something Captain Mordo himself had worried about.

‘And this newcomer knows this?’

It was astonishing.

Idle gossip and rumor about lords and rulers often trickled down to common folk, but using it to make such broad judgments was another matter entirely.

‘But that’s as far as it goes. Anyone can point out problems.’

Sometimes you had to proceed even knowing the risks. The road before Mordo’s mercenary company was exactly that.

Count Bellua wanted to risk breaking the board. If the employer’s will was so, then they had no choice but to follow.

So criticism without a solution was little better than useless.

‘Still, for him to think this far and voice it, that’s impressive in its way.’

Even this much showed potential.

With the right polish and guidance, he might become someone worthwhile.

That was why Mordo decided it was time to end the conversation.

It was already too late into the night.

“You know that much… You’re better than our bull-headed staff officers. Now, get inside and rest well. From tomorrow the march will be hell. Whatever the case, we can’t ignore the orders of our employer. Even if it means risk, we must go that way. Understood?”

From the newcomer’s lips came an unexpected reply.

“No, sir.”

“?”

“That risk. There’s a way to reduce it. Captain Mordo.”

And it was a reply that left Captain Mordo utterly at a loss.

“???”