Chapter 71

Chapter 71 - Northern Debut (3)

"Support Sir Eugene!"

The heavy cavalry fiercely charged along with Hind, who had brought the main force.

In the chaos, half of the pirates showed their backs, and the other half hesitated over whether to throw away their weapons or swing them.

At this rate, both fighting and running away only hindered each other. All of them were trampled like rotten bundles of straw together.

"Forward charge!"

"Cut them all down!"

The mercenaries fought fiercely as if possessed even by a knight.

Since being stationed in Northfork, there hadn't been an occasion to fight properly other than going hunting with Eugene or subjugating a small monster lair. Even during the Golem rampage, they arrived only after everything was over.

If they were ordinary mercenaries, they would have liked earning money comfortably. However, they are ones who follow Eugene with respect and ambition.

Everyone was suffering from the anxiety welling up in their hearts.

- Are we going to fail to renew our contract at this rate?

- N-No way. How full of loyalty our Knight is.

- We aren't even the same knights. What loyalty for lowly ones like us? Since he properly became friends with the Blackhand bastards, he might not even spare a glance at us.

- Those pointy-eared bastards only pull their bows. The ones who will charge standing shoulder to shoulder with the Knight are us!

- So when was the last time we charged together?

- T-That is...

Because of these internal circumstances, even Hind, who charged together with them, fought so bravely that it made one wonder, 'What is wrong with these guys?'

The tribe warriors, who saw Eugene's divine might for the first time in actual combat, also couldn't help but admire.

Because it looked as if he was holding and swinging a black storm to crush the enemy camp.

'So he smashed the Golem like this?'

'The mercenary bastards said he dyed a Bugbear, so I thought it was a joke, but it's a shame I couldn't see it!'

The presence Eugene shows on the battlefield entirely transcends a single knight.

It was an appearance that looked as if the legends the tribe elders used to tell them when they were young had taken form in human shape with flesh and bone.

"As expected, the Little Tribal Chief's discerning eye is different."

The warriors sent gazes full of respect to their military leader.

Nomadism, assassination, mercenary work. They are those who have lived lives compressing only the rough and dangerous jobs of the world.

The ability to choose a powerful alliance and a battlefield where they can win was the most important virtue above all else.

* * *

"Damn it! To think the result is in this state because I joined hands with mere pirates!"

The Emperor's Knight, Bruce, spat out a curse at his bleak situation.

The secret to how the pirates could act shrewdly on land was because the Emperor's Faction vassals proficient in inland affairs cooperated.

A situation where the Emperor is lacking in both money and troops. The inland sea warriors are a military force he cannot give up. They were strategically important especially in that a rearward disturbance is possible.

"Just where the hell did those damn bastards pop out from?"

If he had pushed a little more, he could have caught the Nobles' Faction lord and offered him to the capital. To think the operation he poured his heart into would turn into bubbles in an instant.

However, regarding bursting into anger, the pirate boss who lost all his subordinates was twice as severe.

"To hell with the prey we were going to eat for free! Believing a Roman noble made me a retard in the first place!"

The pirate boss cursed his past self who fell for the sweet talk. However, it was already spilled water, and right now he had to run away.

"We will leave first."

"You received gold and even a title of nobility from His Majesty, yet you say you will run away?"

"Isn't it too much condescension for a mere knight title and not even a lord seat?"

"What? A mere knight title?!"

Killing intent surged in Bruce when his honor gained by shedding blood and sweat was disregarded.

"Boss! There's no time for this!"

"If it were up to me, I'd want to tear you apart, kill you, and grind you up to drink, but consider yourself lucky."

The pirate boss gave the middle finger to the crazy Bruce, then spurred his horse and fled.

A gold pouch received in advance as payment hung on the horse saddle and shook crazily.

'If I somehow just make it to the inland sea and hide on an island, I can play and eat for the rest of my life!'

The pirates spurred their horses conveying their last hope.

The problem is that Eugene was closely watching them from the beginning.

"The commander is running away. Catch those guys."

"Please leave it to us. We cannot follow the Knight in bravery, but we are confident in capturing guys that are worth money."

Rex, grinning, went into pursuit leading the horse archers.

In their hands were arrows coated with paralyzing poison. It's a business tool that contributed vastly to their tribe's finances since long ago.

"Such idiots. Did they think escape would be possible against the Blackhand Mercenaries?"

Bruce sneered and spat at the pirate boss being chased while screaming.

It wasn't that he remained because he didn't want to run away. Because being caught while doing this kind of dishonorable trickery is the greatest humiliation.

However, trying to escape against the continent's strongest horse archers would obviously lead to being hunted completely miserably.

Rather than getting hit by an arrow in the leg or butt and having a noose hung around his neck like a beast, he intended to fight like a knight.

"Bruce of the Urban family is here! Enemy commander! If you are not a coward, come out and let us settle this properly like knights!"

The ones remaining around him were only a small number of squires and escorts. Bruce proudly aimed his sword at the lined-up enemies to meet an honorable end.

However, what returned were only gazes looking at him as if looking at an idiot.

"Is he an idiot?"

"It seems he couldn't see our Knight fighting because he was among the pirates."

Bruce's face turned completely red at the insult from mercenaries who wouldn't dare meet his eyes normally.

At that moment, a giant knight riding a Barcian warhorse appeared among the mercenaries.

"The commander, Eugene Meyer. Are you the boss of the pirates?"

"I am not the boss! I am an honorable knight of His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Then what are those guys who ran away just now?"

Eugene pointed his chin in the direction the pirate boss fled.

"I don't even want to put such despicable trash in my mouth!"

"That doesn't seem like something a guy who was eating from the same pot and going around plundering with that trash should say."

"Shut up! I am saying I am different from those guys!"

Eugene shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose so. How could one persuade someone who rolls around with a prostitute yet believes he is clean?"

"..."

Knights of this era had absolutely no talent for arguments.

The mercenaries giggled at their employer's eloquent talking skills. Bruce refused to become a laughingstock anymore.

"I will see if your skills are as excellent as that tongue! Do not get so cocky just because you beat up some pirate bastards to death!"

As Bruce charged holding a spear and a shield, Eugene also spurred Might's stomach and counter-charged.

'A monster-like bastard.'

Bruce shouted bravely on the outside, but a chill went down his spine seeing the weapon Eugene was holding.

A pitch-black large flail is a weapon that incites fear as soon as one sees it. It was a magic of steel that no living creature could avoid.

Crunch!

"Keuaaak!"

Sure enough? Bruce's shield and wrist were shattered by the flail that struck first before his spear even reached.

Eugene grabbed the collar of the knight struggling to resist with even just one hand and threw him to the mercenaries in the back.

"I can still figh... Uwaaak!"

"Step on him! Step on him!"

"Uuhahaha!"

The knight was forcibly laid down by the excited mercenaries, trampled dozens of times, and then tightly tied up.

"Sir Bruce!"

"Damn it."

The remaining squires and escorts had no value as prisoners. Feeling their fate, they also prepared for a final resistance.

"We will handle those guys."

Eugene stepped back partly to check the skills of the two Dark Elf knights.

"I wish the Sirs good luck in battle."

"Thank you!"

"We will not disappoint you!"

The knights charged, burning with fighting spirit at Eugene's praise.

The knight holding a spear pierced a guard's chest with a two-handed grip style from the start.

Crunch!

Next to the corpse that died instantly as the spear broke, he threw a dagger at the neck of an escort rushing in.

"Geureureuk!"

Eugene also admired the sight of him collapsing while spewing blood bubbles from his neck.

'He certainly fights uniquely.'

Perhaps if it were a javelin, but throwing daggers is a rare technique for knights.

To casually kill instantly during horseback combat, he must have undergone considerable training.

Meanwhile, the knight using a two-handed sword blew off a squire's neck in 3 exchanges, and snatched the spear of an escort trying to stab his side, unhorsing him.

Thump!

As the two-handed sword struck down vertically on top of the head of the escort struggling to get up, he was split down to the collarbone along with the helmet.

"Are you unable to do anything other than aiming for the side or back like trash!"

The tribe knight swung the two-handed sword backward while turning his body as if bouncing.

Slice!

Another escort trying to stab his back with a sword stared blankly as his own two arms were cut off and flew into the air.

Smash!

He flew up and died instantly from the lance charge of the tribe knight who took out a 2nd spear.

They, who were handled like new recruits by Eugene during the festival, were butchers themselves on an ordinary battlefield.

* * *

Bruce, who became a beggar and was forced to his knees, glared at Eugene full of malice.

"Kill me if you want to! Rather than begging for my life, I'd rather honorably... Eubeup!"

"Seeing the way he speaks, it seems he's from a decent family. We should be able to get a high price."

Rex said while personally putting a gag in his mouth.

"I, I am a noble appointed by His Majesty the Emperor. Uh, so... I have the right to have my ransom guaranteed and..."

Similarly, the captured pirate boss trembled while trying hard to recall the lines he had memorized diligently.

Seeing Bruce's expression looking at him from the side as if to say 'this is ridiculous,' Eugene also roughly understood the situation.

"You're a pirate, right? You don't even have a family to pay your ransom."

"...!"

"Is it because he lived faithful to his desires? He has absolutely no talent for facial expression management."

When Rex gave a look, the tribe warriors grabbed the pirate boss by the hair and dragged him away.

"You don't need to interrogate him yourself. Sorting out the guys who make money and those who don't is our specialty."

"Wow, these pirate bastards were carrying around a lot of things as well."

The tribe warriors smiled radiantly at the spoils of war scattered all around.

Even while running away, the pirates were holding not only the plundered goods but also the compensation Bruce received from the Emperor and delivered to them.

Right then, a messenger came running from the noble army on the opposite side.

"Sir Knight. Baron Jones is requesting an audience."

Jones is a neighboring territory adjacent to Northfork.

"Sir. Originally, it would be proper for those who were saved to come this way, but the situation is not good right now."

"I know."

As Hind said, it was such an urgent battle that not a single one amongst the Jones knights had an intact body. A situation where even the horse the Baron rode had an arrow stuck in its rump.

"Thank you for the help. I am Baron Jones."

When Eugene approached, the young man with a youthful face greeted first.

"Eugene of the Meyer family. I also came running after hearing the rescue request of the Est family."

"Sir Eugene?! The Victorious Knight!"

Baron Jones shouted looking like he might jump up.

"I believed it would be so seeing the way you fought. There could not possibly be another knight possessing such bravery!"

The Baron got off his horse and approached. Since one couldn't look down at a fellow lord from horseback, Eugene also followed and got off.

"It is an honor to meet you. I am sorry I couldn't send a gift when you were appointed. Because it was a time when the family was so much in a state of not knowing what to do."

"Wasn't it a period when you were confused due to the sudden civil war? Please do not mind it."

Baron Jones had an strangely overly friendly attitude.

"No. When such an honorable knight was appointed as a lord, I should have naturally made time even if I didn't have any."

'What is with this person?'

Eugene was bewildered. Because the attitude the Baron showed him went beyond friendliness or respect and was closer to a low posture.

However, to a young lord who barely survived his first actual combat, Eugene looked beyond a savior and to the point of a guardian angel.

"By any chance, is Sir Eugene also looking for a new liege lord?"

"A new liege lord?"

"Currently, there are many lords without a liege lord in the North. I am one of them as well."

The liege lord Baron Jones served declared for the Emperor's Faction after the civil war started, whatever he had been promised behind the scenes.

"Because our territory is a place surrounded by the Nobles' Faction, there was no choice but to break the vassal covenant."

"It's a wise judgment. If you hadn't, attacks and plundering would have come from all directions."

At Eugene's words after hearing the circumstances, the Baron also nodded with an indignant face.

Low-ranking lords have no interest in whether it's the Emperor's Faction or the Nobles' Faction. They just want to live comfortably acting as kings in their own territory.

Suffering by getting swept up in the interest relations of the higher-ups, there's no nuisance like this nuisance.

"So you were looking for a great lord to establish a new vassal covenant with."

"Yes. I have already requested Duke Ismar to accept me as a vassal."

The Duke, the hegemon of the North, was always the most popular target as the 1st priority.

"Does he say he will accept?"

"He said he would review it positively, but there was no definite answer. I suppose he is inevitably suspicious."

"If you help Baron Est, the Duke will also be pleased."

"That is right."

Baron Est is a vassal of Duke Ismar. Baron Jones seemed to want to prove his sincerity and loyalty using this opportunity.

"Let us relocate for now. This is not a place to talk at length."

The day was slowly coming to an end. It was possible that monsters drawn by the smell of blood might rush in.

* * *

Baron Jones, who lined up his horse's head side by side with Eugene, had an ecstatic face.

His gaze stopped at the strong and beautiful tribe female warriors.

"It is my first time seeing Dark Elves."

Numerous Beastkin live on the continent. Among them, the subject people hold the most fantasies about is undoubtedly the fairies of the forest.

Because in addition to their beautiful appearance, they appear as regulars in numerous epics, fairy tales, plays, and bard songs, so they are prone to being glorified.

Even if the infamy of the Blackhand Mercenaries was famous, it could not hide their martial prowess, war merits, and beauty.

Nobles being mesmerized popped up endlessly, and young men with boiling blood were especially so. Baron Jones's gaze is full of envy.

"Have you never hired them before?"

"It is not a cost our family can afford!"

The Baron waved his hands as if it made no sense.

"They are certainly expensive friends. Be it their price or their personalities."

Just as their pride and skills were both top notch, the cost was also enormous. They are a group that required one to be at least a Viscount family to somehow dare to try.

'He would fall over backward in surprise if he heard for how much I am ordering them around. I might end up buying unnecessary jealousy.'

Eugene kept his mouth shut worried that it might become an uncomfortable atmosphere when they had formed a good relationship after a long time.