Chapter 553
Chapter 553: Quite a Haul You’ve Gotten. (2)
“Who is this guy?”
As Ghislaine asked with a sour expression, the knights scratched their heads and laughed.
“I heard from Tarim that he’s one of the deputy leaders of the revolutionary group.”
“Oh, really?”
Turning my head, I found Tarim had already come up beside me. This guy was too fast in his movements.
“His name is Jaren. He’s one of the four deputy leaders.”
“There was no word that a deputy leader would come, was there?”
“W-well… it’s not like I know who’s leading every battalion.”
It was certainly a secretive organization. Until they gathered here, no one knew who was leading the troops.
Tarim hastily continued, as if to excuse himself.
“It’s not necessarily that he came here just because of the war. Deputy leaders usually prefer to stay put. They do more administrative work instead.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Tarim earnestly explained the structure of the revolutionary group as he understood it.
“Yes, yes. The deputy leaders are at least somewhat educated.”
The revolutionary group was quite a massive organization in its own right. Naturally, people were needed to manage funds, food, and troops.
You couldn’t assign such tasks to uneducated raiders, so the deputy leaders took care of it.
Especially after the rebellion, Leonard used the deputies primarily as administrative managers.
The deputy leader named Jaren glared at Tarim, who was explaining with great energy.
“Ugh… you traitorous bastard… you sold us out, didn’t you?”
The sudden raid and pillaging of this village was a thunderclap of shock for the revolutionary group.
It was only natural for them to think Tarim had betrayed them and leaked information.
However, that assumption was half right and half wrong. Ghislaine already knew about the ambush before meeting Tarim.
Without hesitation, Tarim kicked out at Jaren while shouting.
“How dare you try to deceive the Saint! The Saint already received a revelation and knows everything! I merely followed the Will of the Goddess!”
Puh-ack! Puh-ack! Puh-ack!
Tarim kicked out furiously. Somehow, it felt like he had to do so.
“Hey.”
Ghislaine grabbed his shoulder and said.
“Don’t keep assuming you understand my feelings. This guy is remarkable. What’s this empathy thing? Are you the King of Empathy?”
“…Yes.”
Tarim stepped back. Ghislaine turned in circles holding a hand axe.
Hitting people was her role after all.
Kwah-chack!
“Gahhhk!”
“Seems like I’m using this a lot lately. I wish you would empathize with me too. Why are you here?”
“Cough, cough… you know! That guy must have told you everything! We were planning to ambush the Allied Forces!”
“But a guy doing administrative tasks from within had no real reason to come all the way here.”
“Because it’s important! I fight too!”
“That sounds like a lie. My heart doesn’t empathize.”
“What lie…”
Kwah-chack!
“Grahhh!”
“Speak honestly. Why are you here?”
“I, I am…”
Kwah-chack!
“Graahhh! I-I will tell you! I came for money! Money and supplies!”
“Where are you going to get that? You guys aren’t tax collectors, are you?”
This area is all managed by the Allied Forces, and during a war at that. Why would raiders come looking for money and supplies?
Jaren continued, panting heavily.
“I’m talking about the stuff we’ve gathered in our hideout.”
“Oh? So you still have a lot of that?”
“If this operation succeeds, won’t the vigilance increase for a while…? If we keep searching around, this village might be discovered too…”
“So you wanted to grab it before that? That’s why you came personally?”
Jaren nodded obediently and continued speaking.
“Yes… I came at that order. Supplies in this area will be hard to use until the war ends, so we intended to use them as military funds.”
It was clear that the Allied Forces wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice. And there would definitely be intense searches in the surrounding areas.
So he was trying to move the wealth hidden in the local hideouts.
When Ghislaine glanced back at Tarim, he was shaking his head vigorously, exclaiming.
“I really don’t know anything! Even the hideouts I don’t know all of! I only know about the one hideout that was told to me!”
No matter the ambush, supply was essential. Their supply method was to stockpile dried food in their respective hideouts and take that.
But even those hideouts only told them just enough for when it was needed. Tarim had come this far only through the one hideout he knew about.
Ghislaine pulled out a map and handed it to Jaren.
“Mark it.”
“If I mark it, will you spare me?”
Kwah-chack!
“Graahhh! I-I’ll mark it!”
Under duress, Jaren hurriedly marked the map.
Loyalty or duty meant nothing to them here. The revolutionary group was simply a collection of fear under Leonard.
And naturally, that would crumble when they encountered greater terror.
Ghislaine stood up and told the knights.
“I’ll have to keep this guy with us for a bit to confirm things. The rest, tidy up the village.”
The mobile army began searching through the ruined village. Many revolutionaries lay dead beneath the rubble, but there were also a great number injured and lying around.
Puh-woof!
“Gack!”
The mobile army killed those lying there without hesitation and continued sifting through the village.
After all, keeping prisoners would only waste food and cause fatigue.
Jaren trembled at the sight. He had heard the rumors about how merciless they were, but seeing it firsthand struck him with reality.
‘What more can I say? Is there nothing else I can tell?’
He racked his brain vigorously. To survive, he felt he had to spill everything he knew.
The mobile army, while clearing the debris, discovered entrances leading to underground passages.
Going in, they found an astounding amount of dry food and wealth piled up.
Ghislaine chuckled upon seeing it.
“You’ve really gathered a lot.”
This was the result of years of plundering. It also meant there were treasure troves like this scattered across the continent.
Jaren knew of quite a few hideouts. There were places that were currently inconvenient to retrieve from as well.
Of course, Jaren didn’t know all of them. Each deputy leader was in charge of different regions.
Only Leonard knew all the hideouts.
“What a cunning bastard.”
Ghislaine sent Dark to inform Claude and the other mobile army commanders of the hideout locations.
When they would smash these hideouts, Claude would send troops to collect the spoils.
“Shall we check out the rest too?”
Ghislaine wasn’t going to miss out on such an unexpected haul. Though it would be tough to go far, she intended to loot all the nearby hideouts.
It always felt like more money was better.
*
“Phew… the operation was a complete failure.”
Leonard gritted his teeth as he fled. His ambush operation, which had never failed until now, had gone belly-up.
Around ten thousand revolutionaries had vanished. Although he hadn’t seen everything, it was a predictably grim outcome.
Of course, such a loss wouldn’t topple the revolutionary group. If they crumbled that easily, they wouldn’t have been able to sweep through the continent.
There were still plenty of revolutionaries left. Most were currently aiding the Third Legion of the Kingdom of Atrode.
The problem was that Leonard’s pride had taken a significant hit.
“What a disgrace.”
He confidently set up the operation and deployed, only to be met with a one-sided loss. The Salvation Society and the Kingdom of Atrode would look down on him in scorn.
His teeth ground together involuntarily. How on earth did the Duke of Penris find out?
And then there was that brief sensation of power he felt.
“Even one-on-one, it won’t be easy.”
He had rarely encountered anyone radiating such strong momentum. Even if he used all his might, he felt no certainty of victory.
As he had always kept his strength hidden, Leonard had maintained a relaxed demeanor. But indeed, there were many strong individuals in the world.
“For now, I need to quickly move the goods.”
In Stonebrook Village was Jaren, one of the deputy leaders. If he died during the fight, that would have been one thing, but if he was captured, the hideouts would surely be blown.
Leonard hurriedly moved to another hideout. There were five in total in this area. Even if Jaren blew the cover, he should be able to save at least four of them since he was moving faster than the mobile army.
Bang!
Leonard exploded with mana as he dashed forward. Only the village chief knew his face.
He planned to meet with him secretly and send all the goods to the Kingdom of Grimwell. He had to save face somehow.
Afterward, he intended to send a messenger to sort out the nearby hideouts.
But…
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“What’s going on?”
Leonard gaped in disbelief. The army had already arrived and was sweeping through the village!
Peeking from his hiding spot, he realized that it wasn’t the army led by Duke Penris, but a different force entirely.
A woman was slaughtering the villagers, shooting dozens of daggers in all directions.
“What’s going on…?”
This was not supposed to happen. Only Jaren, the deputy leader, knew the location of this hideout.
It was expected that Jaren would be captured and leaked information. The problem was that it was not the Duke of Penris who received that information, but someone else entirely.
There was no way the news could travel this fast. Leonard couldn’t comprehend this phenomenon.
“I’ll have to move to another location.”
He thought he would try to fight if he could, but right now it was impossible. There were no troops in the village, and facing superhumans and elite soldiers on the other side was out of the question.
He figured it was a coincidence. He would have to attribute it to some unknown twist of fate.
But as he quickly arrived at another village…
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Uwaaaah!”
A hulking woman was smashing down buildings in the village. The soldiers seemed like they had nothing to do.
Upon closer inspection, she looked like the saint everyone talked about, Parniel.
In any case, it was another army entirely.
“…”
Leonard could only blink in disbelief.
The opposing army was moving faster than him, who knew all the hideouts.
It was impossible. No army could exchange communication with such rapidity.
Unaware of Dark’s existence, Leonard was thrown into confusion.
“I’ll have to go to another location…”
For the usually taciturn and cold Leonard, this was the first time he had ever panicked like this.
He hurriedly moved to the nearest hideout. It was the closest available.
He had to move faster than his enemies. He truly unleashed his full power.
Kwah-aaaah!
He moved like a beam of light. He thought it wouldn’t happen this time. He could only think of it as a coincidence.
But…
“Yaaaaah!”
Kwah-aaaah!
“…”
At the third hideout, a woman was wielding a hammer bigger than herself and smashing everything in sight. She seemed extremely angry for some reason.
There were even two thousand soldiers here. A superhuman with white hair was also among them.
“Is that Gillian?”
That meant the Penris mobile army was definitely present.
Leonard had no choice but to accept it.
“Indeed… they did communicate.”
He didn’t know how, but the Duke of Penris was giving orders at an astounding speed to other units.
This was an immense advantage in war. There was no way they could avoid the Ruthania Army under such circumstances.
The ten battalions that hadn’t reached Stonebrook would likely fall under the divided forces of the mobile army as well.
“Phew… this won’t do.”
Leonard abandoned his plan to go to the next hideout. Instead, he decided to head straight for the farthest hideout.
The farther away, the later the enemy would arrive.
Kwah-aaaah!
Leonard’s speed, having unleashed all his strength, was staggering. He ran without conserving mana.
And when he arrived at the final hideout in the area…
“Of course.”
Given the distance, the mobile army hadn’t arrived yet. He quickly sneaked into the village and met with the village chief.
“Gasp! Commander! What brings you here so suddenly?”
“Get all the goods here and move immediately. There’s no time to waste.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
“Hurry! The enemies already know about this place! Arm yourselves and move!”
“Understood!”
The village chief called all the villagers together. The villagers quickly armed themselves and headed to the underground storage to pull out the goods.
Thanks to their constant readiness, their actions were remarkably quick. They formed groups and managed to load a wagon in no time.
Leonard watched, unable to feel at ease. It felt like the mobile army would soon arrive.
“Pack up adequately and move. You’ll be pursued shortly, so split your forces into several groups.”
“Understood.”
There were only about two hundred villagers. But they managed a quantity of goods sufficient to sustain thousands of troops.
So they had to take as much as they could. They even had fake wagons prepared for such cases.
Now, to confuse the pursuit, the fakes would be divided into multiple groups and scattered.
As soon as they were practically finished preparing, Leonard turned his head in a hurry.
“Ugh… I didn’t think they’d arrive so soon.”
Dududududu!
A mass of soldiers was charging in with incredible momentum. That army could only be the mobile army.
Reluctantly, Leonard stepped forward.
“I’ll buy you some time, so hurry and move.”
He had no intention of engaging in a full-blown fight. He merely wanted to stall for those carrying the goods to escape.
That was the plan…
Then Leonard caught sight of a man riding a horse at the front, his expression cold.
‘Who is that?’
Just seeing him made it clear. That man was evidently very powerful.
Before Leonard could finish that thought, the man swung his sword from atop his horse.
Screech!
