Chapter 62
Chapter 62: Bite Down Hard and Endure
“Chief Officer!”
The knight beside him quickly caught the staggering Baron Homern.
He barely managed to regain his balance, but his legs still wobbled. He looked as though he might collapse again at any moment.
“There are countless ways for money to leak out of the territory… and you say you’ve spent it all? On nothing but worthless mercenaries in such numbers…”
Even if a war were to break out, what difference would it make to add just three hundred men to the count?
It would be faster to offer Runestones to other lords and request reinforcements.
Or they could pledge a part of the Runestones and surrender. Surely, they wouldn’t annihilate the lord and his retainers just because they won a territorial war.
“You should have spent that money on the knights and soldiers instead!”
It seemed that money had been carelessly spent on hiring and equipping mercenaries.
This foolish man had squandered funds intended to build his own forces.
Disappointment showed on Homern’s pale face. Ghislaine smiled and said,
“I’ve kept five thousand gold for Father. I’ll retrieve more Runestones soon, so don’t worry too much.”
Still, Homern’s expression remained dark.
Even if they managed to retrieve more Runestones, many places urgently needed funds right now.
That’s why he had been hoping for the money Ghislaine would bring… so disappointment weighed heavier in his heart.
‘Ugh, I shouldn’t have entrusted money to such a fool. Somehow, the Runestones must be managed in the territory.’
Homern was left speechless, wearing a sorrowful expression.
At that moment, a wagon approached from afar.
The grand carriage, pulled by eight white horses, was fit for a wealthy noble to ride.
After a while, the wagon stopped in front of Ghislaine. The door swung open, and people dressed in black robes got out one by one.
The last man to disembark greeted Ghislaine with a look of amusement.
“Oh, has the young lord personally come to greet us? It seems you’re finally showing some noble dignity. Hahaha.”
The cocky speaker was Alfoy from the Tower of the Bloody Flame.
He had been instructed to set off promptly so that he’d arrive in Perdium about a month later, and he had adhered to that schedule, arriving simultaneously with Ghislaine.
Seeing the arrogant expression on the magician’s face, Ghislaine let out a sigh.
“Some people just don’t know how to follow orders.”
He had clearly instructed them to come quietly and unobtrusively, yet the commotion from the wagon was anything but subtle. Many people must have remembered seeing it pass by.
At least everyone was wearing black robes, which was a small consolation.
Homern, glancing back and forth between Ghislaine and Alfoy, asked blankly,
“Who are these people?”
“They’re the mercenaries I hired.”
“What kind of mercenaries are dressed like that and riding in such a wagon…?”
After looking Ghislaine and the mercenaries over again, he shook his head and said,
“Fine, you all have fun playing your little war games. Sounds exciting.”
With that, Homern stumbled off into the castle. He felt that if he stayed there any longer, he might explode from frustration.
After shrugging off his shoulders, Ghislaine called to Vanessa, who was hesitantly standing behind the magicians.
“You made it safely. Nothing unusual happened?”
“I-It’s an honor to see you, young lord. N-no, nothing special happened…”
“Did anyone bother you?”
“N-nope, nobody.”
“Good, that’s a relief. Now, let’s head inside.”
The magicians climbed back into the wagon.
The mercenaries followed Ghislaine into the castle.
As they passed the outer castle and stopped in front of the lord’s castle, Ghislaine assigned Belinda to guide the magicians to their quarters.
“Belinda, prepare rooms for the magicians. I’ll take the mercenaries to the fortress.”
“Understood. I should tidy things up a bit since it’s been a while.”
Just as Ghislaine was about to move with the mercenaries, an irritating sight caught his eye.
“Hah, these idiots…”
The magicians were leisurely exploring the lord’s castle with their arms crossed, critiquing it among themselves.
“Hmm, this castle has quite an interesting style. This is fitting for the region’s climate…”
“It may not be extravagant, but it has a practical, classical feel…”
“They are arranging spaces based on harmony and proportion…”
While Ghislaine could ignore the magicians’ pretentious discussions, the problem lay in the fact that while they elegantly debated, Vanessa struggled alone to unload heavy luggage from the wagon.
She couldn’t hide her exhausted expression as she took down a few items.
After unloading some, she had to dive back into the wagon’s storage again. Since there were quite a few things she brought, she had to do it multiple times.
Ghislaine approached the magicians coldly.
“What the hell is this? Didn’t I tell you not to treat Vanessa carelessly?”
“That girl is naturally good at such tasks. You should leave the work to those who can handle it.”
Seeing them speak so nonchalantly, it was clear that the tower had forgotten their place during the past month.
After Ghislaine left, they must have continued to treat Vanessa like a maid as usual.
Ghislaine called out to her as she was unloading the bags.
“Vanessa, stop that and come here.”
“N-no, I just need to move the luggage…”
Ghislaine’s voice turned icy.
“Who do you think you are? Just follow my orders.”
However, Vanessa hesitated, glancing at Alfoy, caught in a dilemma.
With a slight raise of his hand, Ghislaine motioned for her to approach him.
“Listen well. From now on, don’t listen to anyone’s orders except mine. Got it?”
“Y-yes, understood.”
After firmly warning Vanessa, Ghislaine spoke sternly to Alfoy.
“Vanessa is no longer your maid. She’s in my service now, so treat her accordingly. I’ll forgive this once since it’s your first offense, but if it happens again, it’ll cost you dearly.”
“How dare you treat such a lowly girl…”
Alfoy gritted his teeth in humiliation.
He couldn’t understand why he would pay heed to a mere maid over the heir of the tower.
Furthermore, Ghislaine continued to behave rudely towards him. Rage bubbled up within him, nearly overwhelming him.
‘Should I just kill him?’
He wanted to use magic right away and smash that arrogant face in.
With no elders from the tower around, his emotions were difficult to control.
‘Right, I could always claim it was an accident at the tower, couldn’t I?’
Blinded by anger, Alfoy began to emanate a ferocious energy.
The mercenaries nearby exchanged uncomfortable glances and instinctively reached for their weapons.
Alfoy was radiating a raw, unfiltered hostility.
Clearly, having grown privileged in the tower, he had no grasp of the situation.
Ghislaine couldn’t help but smirk.
“Indeed, these types just won’t listen until you hit them.”
“What?”
As Alfoy frowned, Ghislaine approached a soldier guarding the castle gate.
“Give me your spear.”
“Excuse me?”
Without needing to ask twice, Ghislaine snatched it from the soldier’s hand and broke it right there.
Crunch!
Since Perdium was so impoverished, even the soldiers used cheap spears made of wood.
Removing the spearhead made it perfectly fit as a club in his hand.
Ghislaine casually struck his palm with the blunt end of the makeshift weapon, approaching Alfoy.
“Filled to the brim with dung, is it?”
“What?”
“Historically speaking, this is medicine.”
“You bastard!”
Alfoy exploded with rage and summoned his magic.
Voom!
The magical circle of his heart spun vigorously, channeling the wizard’s will to cast a spell.
Boom!
He reached out his hand, attempting to showcase the overwhelming power of magic.
Thwack!
“Ugh!”
But instead of a spell being cast, his vision flared, and pain surged through him.
“What, what just happened?”
He had no idea how he’d been struck.
The attack was invisible, and he couldn’t even determine why his magic had faltered.
“Ahhh!”
Alfoy attempted to channel his magic again, but Ghislaine was faster.
Smack!
“Ughhh!”
This time, the sound echoed louder. Alfoy instinctively covered his head with his hands.
Soon, not just his head but his whole body was inundated with pain.
Thwack! Thwack!
“Gaaah!”
Ghislaine leisurely stood back, hands clasped behind his back, and began to beat Alfoy with just one hand.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Ugh! Wait, wait a minute!”
Alfoy felt he was on the brink of madness.
As soon as he tried to summon his magic, it was perfectly cut off at the last moment.
It felt as if something was blocking his flow from inside his body.
Thwack! Thwack!
“Ughhh!”
What was even more maddening was that he couldn’t even collapse.
Every time he tried to fall, another smack would push him back up.
“Ughhh!”
“Stop it!”
Desperate, the magicians tried to muster their magic to intervene.
But just as they made a move, the nearby mercenaries swiftly brought their weapons to their necks.
The magicians couldn’t even twitch a finger.
“Urrgh…”
Other magicians wore expressions of shock. Alfoy was genuinely being mercilessly beaten.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
“Ugh, stop! I was wrong!”
This was the first time he had ever experienced such pain.
Having been treated like royalty in the tower, he had always acted as he wished.
He never imagined he would face such nonsensical treatment.
“Hmm, should I stop here?”
As Ghislaine paused, Alfoy collapsed to his knees on the ground.
“Gah, ugh…”
Ghislaine crouched down in front of the suffering Alfoy.
“You really are a short-sighted fool. Are you even a magician? This is our territory. If you cause a ruckus here, do you think you can handle the consequences? Can you even escape?”
Had Ghislaine been injured or killed due to Alfoy’s magic, he would have faced immediate execution in this place.
Alfoy had been too agitated to even consider that.
As he regained his senses, Alfoy looked around.
The other magicians had also submitted their necks to the mercenaries.
“Urrgh…”
Alfoy gritted his teeth but found he could do nothing.
With over three hundred mercenaries in close proximity, engaging in full combat would result in the wizard’s numbers being slaughtered in an instant.
“Grr, you…!”
Alfoy staggered to his feet.
His whole body screamed in pain, but the wound to his pride was even greater.
“How dare you do this to us! I will ensure that you pay for this!”
Ghislaine chuckled in response to Alfoy’s frenzied cries.
“Go ahead and report it. Who do you think your master will side with? Have you already forgotten what your contract entails? You want to go back now?”
“Ugh, ugh…”
Hubert had emphasized not to rile Ghislaine too many times.
— That guy isn’t sane, so don’t engage with him and just follow his lead. Such discussions only bring you harm.
Clenching his teeth in a reality he could not refute, mocking voices echoed again.
“If anything happens to me, do you think you’ll be safe? If we lose the war, you’ll also face the brunt of the fallout from your master.”
With those words, Alfoy and the other magicians felt as though cold water had been thrown over them.
Ghislaine’s words weren’t incorrect.
If things went awry, the tower would surely argue that the actions were solely the work of a few magicians, attempting to dissociate from Ghislaine’s side.
Even without that, if the Runestone supply got cut off, the blame would rest squarely on them.
Only then did Alfoy and the magicians grasp the situation and fall silent.
“If you want to leave here unscathed, do your best to help. Otherwise, be on your best behavior at all times. Hehe.”
However, Alfoy, who had been pampered as the heir of the tower, couldn’t simply endure Ghislaine’s tyranny.
“No noble has ever treated us so carelessly! We demand the treatment befitting us!”
Alfoy yelled, veins bulging in his neck.
But Ghislaine simply sneered and replied lazily.
“You’re just a backup. More specifically, like auxiliary magic. That’s why it’s ending here. If you want to be treated that way, then just stay quiet.”
