The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Chapter 174: Race Against Time(1)

Clang!

The iron bar placed on the stage split in half and fell to the floor with a resounding thud.

“Wow!”

“He did it! Gordon actually cut through the iron bar!”

Cheers erupted in the demonstration hall as the onlookers marveled at the results.

Though the cut was rough and jagged, as if he had forced it through with a saw, there was no denying the truth: Gordon had sliced through iron.

Claude stood there, mouth agape, utterly stunned.

‘Did he really just cut through an iron bar with a sword? And in such a short time, he’s already able to use mana?’

To ensure no foul play, Claude himself had provided the weapon, worried that Gordon might try to rely on the weight of a heavy blade to accomplish the feat. Yet, using the ordinary longsword he had prepared, Gordon managed to cut clean through the thick iron bar.

This was undeniable proof that he had indeed used mana.

A spark of new hope flared in Claude’s mind.

Though he had opposed this campaign to prioritize safety, the situation had changed entirely.

‘Even at the level of a novice knight, if there are hundreds of them, it would be an incredible force!’

The knights Ghislain trained this time numbered a staggering four hundred.

Aside from the Delfine Duchy, no territory boasted such a large number of knights.

Though their individual quality might be inferior to those elsewhere, their sheer numbers were unmatched.

‘I need to devise a new strategy. With this many knights, it’s possible!’

Just as Claude raised his flushed face, brimming with excitement, intending to say something to Ghislain—

“Uuurgh!”

Gordon collapsed, coughing up blood.

Foaming at the mouth, his body convulsed as servants rushed over to carry him off on a stretcher.

“…….”

The jubilant atmosphere chilled instantly. The cheering vassals fell silent, and Claude felt his enthusiasm freeze over.

Breaking the awkward silence, Ghislain’s voice rang out.

“What? What’s the problem? Never seen someone cough up blood and collapse before?”

“…….”

Everyone was at a loss for words, stealing glances at one another. There were so many issues to address that no one knew where to start.

The vassals looked toward Claude. Dealing with sophists was best left to another sophist, and Claude was their man.

After organizing his thoughts like a true expert, Claude opened his mouth.

“That’s no knight. It’s a fraud—outright fraud! No, 100% fraud!”

“Fraud? What’s fraudulent about it?”

“How are we supposed to wage war like this? The man swings his sword once and collapses!”

“But he used mana, didn’t he? We agreed that if he could use mana, he’d go to war. There were no other conditions, were there?”

Ghislain’s shameless reply left Claude at a loss for words.

She wasn’t wrong. The wager had been about using mana, not using mana and remaining standing afterward.

Still, the frustration of being swindled refused to leave Claude.

He stomped his feet in vexation, then turned to Wendy, standing nearby.

“Hey, say something! Is this normal? Huh? Is this normal?!”

“…Why are you asking me all of a sudden?”

Wendy, typically calm and expressionless, was taken aback by Claude’s desperate attempt to drag her into the mess and stepped back.

She understood the dire situation, but why was she being pulled into it?

But Claude was desperate.

“Come on, just say something! Honestly, you could take out all of those guys by yourself, couldn’t you? Right? Be honest!”

“How could I possibly say something like that…?”

“Do you think war is a joke? At this rate, they’ll all end up being dragged into battle and killed! Come on, say something! Even if they’re this useless, they still deserve a chance to live!”

There was no flaw in Claude’s reasoning. No matter how one looked at it, the knights didn’t seem capable of fighting properly.

Eventually, Wendy sighed and muttered quietly.

“I think… I could beat them all by myself.”

Her statement elicited groans from the gathered vassals.

Even though the bedridden knights were absent, the demonstration hall still held two hundred knights.

If they were so weak that Wendy could single-handedly defeat them all, it was difficult to call them knights at all.

Hearing her words, the knights furrowed their brows in indignation.

Despite being the Supreme Commander’s bodyguard, Wendy was still just a maid, and she had blatantly disrespected them!

Lucas, ever the one to save face, couldn’t hold back and stepped forward.

“You there! How dare you insult us like that! Face me in a duel this instant—cough, cough! Urgh, this is humiliating!”

But before Lucas could finish his sentence, he doubled over, coughing up blood and dropping to one knee.

Lately, his health had been so poor that even slight excitement caused blood to rush to his head, resulting in heavy nosebleeds.

The knights standing nearby rushed to his side, offering words of advice.

“Don’t get worked up, your blood pressure is spiking. Breathe deeply.”

“Hey, just let it go. You can’t beat her.”

“Yeah, she’s crazy strong. If you challenge her, you’re done for.”

Watching the pitiful state of the knights, Claude grimaced and turned to Ghislain.

“Is there no other force we can rely on?”

“You know better than anyone that there isn’t,” Ghislain replied.

“But in the meeting before, you said you’d handle the lack of troops!”

“Oh, everything has its time. The forces will be ready when the time comes, so don’t worry too much.”

Claude held his head in his hands.

Honestly, the available forces from the Fenris Estate were a predictable lot. They would have to either seek reinforcements from the Marquis of Branford or borrow troops from Ferdium.

But it was clear that the Marquis of Branford wouldn’t lend his troops if the proposal was to strike the Duke’s faction first.

The troops Ferdium could spare, given their obligation to defend the northern regions, were also limited.

No matter how one thought about it, the promise to secure additional forces sounded like a lie meant to appease opposition. Clearly, the plan was to go to war with those half-trained, ragtag knights.

“With people like them, you want to fight a war? Are those supposed to be knights? What can those knights even accomplish?”

Yet Ghislain didn’t seem even the slightest bit concerned.

“It’s fine. They’ve been overexerting themselves to quickly master the family’s mana cultivation technique. They’ll recover their stamina if they take some time off to rest.”

Unlike the knights stationed at the Northern Fortress, these knights had been draining mana the moment they accumulated it, leaving them no time to rest.

Having never used mana before, they still needed to familiarize themselves with the sensation of wielding it.

Their bodies were merely strained from the overwork; with sufficient rest, they would recover in no time.

Of course, resting too long would cause problems, but since they all sought to extend their lifespans, they would naturally push themselves diligently.

Although Claude and the retainers continued to oppose Ghislain’s Infinite Cycle Training Method due to their lack of understanding of its detailed mechanics, Ghislain remained adamant.

“Enough. As promised, the knights have begun using mana, so the expedition plans are confirmed. I won’t entertain any more objections. Any rebuttals you have are wrong, so just focus on preparing for departure.”

As a side note, the result of the wager meant an additional ten years of servitude for both Claude and Alfoi.

After several bouts of arguments, Claude, having resigned himself to both convincing Ghislain and accepting his fate, asked cautiously.

“Are you planning to depart immediately?”

“No. I still need to confirm whether the items I commissioned from the dwarves are properly completed, and the knights need more tactical training. Besides, the timing isn’t quite right yet.”

“What timing?”

“The right time to fight. There’s such a thing. It’ll come soon if we wait just a bit longer.”

“…Understood.”

Claude found himself slightly hopeful upon seeing Ghislain hesitate about the expedition after deciding on it so confidently.

He had been so urgent, acting as though they would invade Count Cabaldi’s domain as soon as tomorrow. Now that the moment to fight had come, perhaps he was getting cold feet.

If he hesitated long enough to cancel the expedition, nothing could be better.

As Claude’s expressions shifted moment by moment, Ghislain asked him.

“By the way, you’re still securing provisions, right?”

Claude took the opportunity to air his grievances, his face lighting up as if this was his chance.

“Lord, don’t you think it’s about time we stop? Even after sharing with Ferdium, we have an overwhelming surplus. And that monstrous wheat is nearing harvest season again. The yield this time will be enormous too.”

Having plenty of food isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there’s a limit to everything. The stockpiles had grown so large they were becoming difficult to store properly.

Yet Ghislain shook his head firmly.

“No. Sweep up everything to the point where the people in the North are practically starving. Pay extra if you have to—buy as much as possible. Got it?”

“Why are you doing this! With what we’ve already accumulated, the Fenris and Ferdium territories could eat for over ten years! The food will rot before we can consume it!”

Ghislain’s obsession with hoarding food bordered on bizarre.

Even when the retainers suggested selling the surplus to raise funds, he was immovable.

Selling off a fraction of the stockpile could bring in a fortune, but Ghislain stubbornly sourced funds elsewhere to continue his relentless food acquisition.

The retainers couldn’t fathom his reasoning.

“Did he really get possessed by some ghost that starved to death?”

Seeing Claude’s frustration, Ghislain replied nonchalantly.

“I have a plan. But you wouldn’t believe me even if I explained, would you?”

“Well… no, probably not.”

“Exactly. So just keep buying. Until I say stop, buy it all. No exceptions.”

“Sigh, fine.”

Claude gave up on arguing. At this point, he just went with the flow.

Do whatever you want.

In the worst-case scenario, Claude figured he could personally oversee the defense. While he couldn’t manage an offensive campaign, Ferdium could at least provide enough forces to hold a defensive line.

He had even mapped out escape routes, just in case the Lord perished in war and Ferdium fell.

With Claude—their last hope—failing to persuade Ghislain, the retainers sighed in defeat, their faces painted with despair.

Seeing them like this, Ghislain smiled brightly.

“Good, everyone’s doing wonderfully.”

An outsider might think Ghislain was imposing impossible tasks, pushing his people beyond their limits.

But despite their constant grumbling, objections, and complaints, the retainers, mages, dwarves, serfs, knights, and soldiers all followed through on their orders.

Though everything appeared chaotic on the surface, the underlying progress was remarkable.

It was proof of their exceptional abilities.

Thanks to them, plans that would have been unattainable by Ghislain alone were steadily taking shape.

“I’m grateful. But we need to work just a little harder.”

The timing Ghislain was waiting for was fast approaching.

By then, all preparations had to be complete.

* * *

While the knights were resting to recover their strength, everyone else remained busy.

From developing the territory to gathering war supplies, everyone worked tirelessly.

In the midst of this ceaseless activity, some welcome news arrived.

“Lord! Lord! We did it! We finally succeeded!”

Galbarik and a group of dwarves came running to Ghislain, tears streaming down their faces.

Startled by their sudden appearance, Ghislain blinked and asked, “Who… are you?”

“It’s me! Galbarik! You’ve worked us to the bone, and now you don’t even recognize us?”

The figure at the front shouted angrily.

Perhaps it was due to their grueling workload, but Galbarik and the dwarves had changed so much that it was hard to recognize them.

Skinny, sunken-eyed, and short-statured, they looked like goblins with beards.

Ghislain chuckled awkwardly, scratching his head.

“Ahaha, so it’s you, Galbarik. Sorry, you’ve aged so much in just a few days that I didn’t recognize you! I thought dwarves were supposed to have long lifespans—is that a myth?”

As Ghislain feigned ignorance, Galbarik ground his teeth, his beard trembling with rage.

“Damn it! We’ve been working non-stop without any sleep! Of course, we’d end up like this! At this rate, we’re all going to die!”

Though he had been grinding his teeth daily to avoid being sent to the assault squad, he was seriously considering running away.

In fact, some dwarves had already tried to escape, but ironically, the most relentless pursuer had been Alfoi.

Apparently, he couldn’t stand seeing other slaves escaping while he stayed behind.

“Especially that bastard Alfoi! He’s not even human! He’s the worst scumbag of them all! Acting like the Lord’s lapdog!”

Ghislain ignored Galbarik’s rant and asked casually.

“So, what is it that you succeeded in?”

At that, Galbarik’s anger disappeared as quickly as it had come, replaced by a beaming smile.

“We’ve finally completed that hot air balloon of yours!”