activa-t Chapter 170 : Chapter 170
Chapter 170 : Chapter 170
Chapter 170
Before the battle in the south began, the Eastern Front.
The Northern Noble Alliance, headed by Viscount Dotran, could not hide their anxiety.
Although they had experienced big and small battles helping Moner over the past few weeks, the Forest of Demonic Beasts was still an object of fear.
“Baron Diez, it seems Moner intends to use us as disposable pawns.”
One of the northern nobles spoke with a gloomy expression.
“If not, how could they send us to our deaths like this?”
It is a conjecture.
They didn’t have soldiers to spare, nor was it a situation requiring sacrificial pawns.
Unless the goal was to eliminate the northern nobles and cause chaos in the Kingdom, there was no reason to use the Northern Noble Alliance as discardable pawns now.
Rationally, he thought so, but Diez couldn't speak firmly.
“…Is that even possible?”
“Are you saying you still don't get it! Neither of the two Counts are here, nor are the Moner forces or the Young Lord's troops! To make only us responsible for one defensive line, what else could it mean but to die!”
As he said, unless they were disposable pawns, this situation was incomprehensible.
Even if they had undergone practical training meanwhile, the Noble Alliance is weak.
They don't have Masters like the two Counts, nor do they command exceptional units like the Young Lord.
Soldiers with rigorous experience could easily cut down one or two Orcs, but that’s it.
Even if knights from each domain fight risking their lives, they wouldn't be able to withstand more than three hundred Orcs.
Considering they struggled against dozens of Orcs just a few weeks ago, it was remarkable growth, but if asked whether they can block over a thousand Orcs, the answer is fixed.
They will all become Orc food here.
‘No, that can't be.’
Diez glanced at those standing on one side of the Northern Noble Alliance.
Those covering their faces with black robes and wearing black-painted leather armor.
Pointing subtly at those the Young Lord introduced as the ‘Black Noble Troop’, he continued.
“Only us, you say. Isn’t the Young Lord’s Knight Order with us?”
“Ahem!”
“Well, really!”
“Are you mocking us……!”
As if they were waiting, grumbling voices erupted from among the nobles.
“What help would wenches be on the battlefield…….”
They approached favorably at first hearing it was a unit created directly by the Young Lord, but after it became known that most of the Black Noble Troop were women, the nobles’ gaze toward the Black Noble Troop turned cold.
‘They think that no matter how hard they try with women's bodies, they cannot be stronger than men.’
The sharp-looking woman leading the Black Noble Troop said in a chilly voice, ‘Only the best of the Black Noble Troop have stepped forward.’, but no one could be reassured by hearing that.
Unless all of the Black Noble Troop could use Sword Qi, that is. Ultimately, the fact that they are women doesn't change.
‘Even I cannot be sure of the Young Lord’s intentions right now…….’
It wasn't that the nobles were looking with biased eyes. Looking at the troops they led, there were no women.
No, one could tell just by the fact that there were few enough women in the outstanding Moner army to count on one hand.
Having martial prowess with a woman's body is dozens of times harder than for a man; is it really possible to create a unit with women possessing such will and talent?
‘Not Clerics, not Shamans, but Knights……. I do not know the Young Lord’s intentions.’
Nevertheless, Diez gritted his teeth and said.
“Let's trust them just this once. Moner has never disappointed us so far, has he?”
“Even risking our lives? Perhaps retreating to the fortress even now…….”
“Then we would be punished for disobeying orders.”
As Diez shook his head, a few nobles shouted argumentatively.
“Eit, let's rather return to our domains!”
“Honor or whatever, shouldn’t we survive first!”
If they were truly disposable pawns, returning to their domains and locking the gates would be the right choice.
“Viscount Dotran, please say something!”
“We can't just die like this, can we?”
Viscount Dotran, who had been agonizing for a long time, fell into deep thought with a serious face.
* * *
“Aren't you going to step in?”
At Reina’s subtle question, Lina shook her head silently.
“Why? If you just show your skills, everyone would shut up.”
Seeing her rummaging inside her bosom while saying that, it was clear she was grasping the flail hidden there.
Does she mean she’ll step in if I don’t want to do it myself?
‘I don’t think her personality was like this…….’
She seemed like a gentle and somewhat ditzy person originally, but her personality seems to have changed a bit while I didn't see her.
Thinking she should stop this young lady, who had finally taken off her maid uniform, before she swung the flail, Lina opened her mouth.
“No need.”
“But it's upsetting listening to such words.”
Ah, is that so?
It seems this young lady is projecting her former lord onto herself.
Back then, she must have been unable to do anything even watching her lord getting hurt and wounded by sharp tongues.
‘Is that why she reacts particularly strongly to such backbiting?’
Lina glanced at where the nobles were gathered.
“Just leave them be. It's not just a day or two.”
Showing strength isn't difficult.
Without needing to step forward herself, she could just have a suitable member knock down a few knights.
However, changing the suspicion contained within is a difficult task.
To them, women being weak would be as natural as the sun rising and setting.
If she wanted to change that thought, she had to prove the strength of the entire Black Noble Troop, and even if strength is shown, uprooting suspicion is impossible.
“If we show strength, they will doubt how long that strength will last. Then they will endlessly doubt if we have the courage to fight in the forest, if we can fight Orcs.”
It’s not because they are evil people, nor because they harbor malice.
It’s because in their heads, that is a fact as natural as breathing.
“Still, wouldn't they shut up if they get hit a few times?”
Probably.
All sorts of beggars, mercenaries, and slash-and-burn farmers were gathering at Central Hold, and among them were spies and thugs flowing in from surrounding domains.
Every human naturally has a base desire to gain confidence by insulting those beneath them, and that desire was stronger the more they lived at the bottom.
Since they were guys who really had nothing but the thing hanging on their lower body.
When she was worrying about what to do with these guys, Ian, who was at Front Hold, said.
Beat those guys up first.
And beat them hard.
Lina learned while sweating that with two hands, she could resurrect dead reason and teach manners even to the illiterate.
Similarly, if she knocks down nearby knights whenever those guys whisper, they will quiet down someday.
“Still, no.”
“…….”
Seeing Reina pout her lips as if really upset, Lina smirked.
“Because today is the day we prove it to ourselves.”
“Ah…….”
Nodding as if understanding what she meant, Reina glanced at the other members.
“Everyone seems to be worried a lot?”
“Right. Since we trained to death for over months but ended up seeing the Special Mission Unit.”
The Special Mission Unit is a much more serious problem than those guys whispering over there.
While the Black Noble Troop trained to death at Central Hold, the Special Mission Unit accompanying the Lord accumulated achievements and experience.
Even the Black Noble Troop, who remained unfazed by whatever insults others threw, couldn't help but flinch at the appearance of the Special Mission Unit.
Unlike the Black Noble Troop, the Special Mission Unit was a real army made up of real soldiers and knights.
“Everyone is bound to be anxious. Doubts like ‘Since we have a real army now, aren't we unneeded?’, ‘Wasn't the Black Noble Troop itself just the Young Lord's whim or prank?’ are unavoidable.”
The Black Noble Troop isn't a unit with a long tradition.
In other words, it means it's a unit that can be discarded anytime if unneeded.
“There is no way the Young Master would do that…….”
Reina, bowing her head deeply as if upset, was so cute that a chuckle escaped.
“Of course everyone knows that. Since he wouldn't pay such salary for just a whim or prank. That's why they are even more anxious.”
“Yes? Why?”
Even so, no member doubts the Young Lord now.
It wasn't a long time, but the Young Lord taught all of the Black Noble Troop sincerely and trained together.
The anxiety felt by the Black Noble Troop was due to a much more realistic reason.
“Thinking, what if I get caught being useless? One doesn't know what will happen once realized that the beloved sword, polished and cleaned thinking it was a masterpiece, was merely a kitchen knife used in the kitchen.”
“Ah…….”
She felt the anxiety just as well.
Not anxious about being caught useless, but afraid of failing the mission.
The order given to the Black Noble Troop was to raid the east together with the Northern Noble Alliance.
No matter how one calculates, the Northern Noble Alliance falls short of elite soldiers, and the Black Noble Troop doesn't have various weapons or tactics like the Special Mission Unit.
It’s not like cooperation between the two units goes well either.
While the fortress soldiers were careful because they were the Young Lord's direct unit, the soldiers of the Noble Alliance openly ignored the Black Noble Troop.
So when she received the order, she told the Lord the truth.
That she was afraid of failing the mission.
That she didn't think the Black Noble Troop could fend off thousands of Orcs like the Special Mission Unit.
‘Did he say fundamentally different?’
Then Ian opened his eyes roundly and said.
That the Black Noble Troop and the Special Mission Unit are fundamentally different.
‘At first, I thought he was just saying it…….’
Given the blatant wariness and competitiveness between the two units, she thought he was just saying it, but Ian spoke with a face more serious than ever.
- What do you mean. The Black Noble Troop is a cheat just by existing. I'm telling you it's a unit where everyone possesses a trait? Plus, you've learned the Resistance Army Mana Secret Art Verse and weapon skills? It's just that the equipment is lousy due to lack of production facilities, but it's final tech, you know?
When she tilted her head not understanding what he meant, Ian grabbed her shoulders and said with a serious face.
- Trust only me.
Recalling the expression and voice back then, Lina smirked alone.
The person least trustworthy in the world telling her to trust only him.
Isn't he the epitome of a man who ruins lives, whom the senior maids talked about so much?
Seniors said to run away covering eyes and ears if such a man appears, but since the person she decided as her Lord says so, she has no choice but to be deceived.
“Ah, life.”
“Eh? Life?”
Still, she chuckled thinking she's better off than Reina.
At least she received money, a house, secret arts, and martial arts.
This innocent child follows only the Young Master single-mindedly now as in the past, without receiving anything.
Is it even reasonable for a maid to stand on the front lines following the Young Master in the first place?
“Reina, you must always be careful of men. Guys with that thing hanging are like invisible swamps, so if you make a mistake, you’ll sink in.”
When she passed on the advice she once learned from senior maids to Reina, Reina nodded vigorously as if she already knew and said in a firm voice.
“Even without that, the Young Master told me if I see guys talking to me without reason more than three times, just blow their heads off first. That they are possessed by a Demonkin.”
Huh?
Just blow their heads off outright?
Even the reticent Inquisitor would ask questions before judgment, right?
“Come to think of it, there really were many people possessed by Demonkin in Front Hold too, right? I hope the treatment by the Clerics went well…….”
Ah, so sinless sinners were created eventually.
No wait, talking to kind and innocent Reina constitutes a felony indeed.
Thinking blowing heads off with a flail was a rational judgment unlike the Lord, nodding her head, just then.
Kwakwakwakwang!
Explosions signaling the start of the operation were heard from afar.
Simultaneously, Lina, standing on the front line with her smile erased, opened her mouth.
“Black Noble Troop, align.”
All Black Noble Troop members who were already waiting quietly took their places behind Reina and Lina.
“Draw swords .”
-Schwing.
Only one order given by Ian to Lina.
“All Black Noble Troop, from now on, slaughter the Orcs invading Moner’s territory.”
Thud!
Instead of an answer, the Black Noble Troop stomped their feet and kicked off the ground.
* * *
Watching the Black Noble Troop running out, nobles shouted over one another.
“Damn it! The wenches ran out first!”
“It wouldn't be enough even if we approached with a plan, to rush in thoughtlessly like that!”
“Like wenches indeed, aren't they foolish bitches without thoughts!”
“We must recall them immediately! If even they are lost, the damage to our forces will be severe!”
“Isn't this a problem caused by the inexperienced Young Lord sending mentally deficient bitches to the front lines!”
However, the chattering nobles had no choice but to swallow their words.
Orcs were being chopped up before they could scream at the swords swung by the Black Noble Troop.
“Sw, Sword Qi……?”
“Are you saying all those people are using Sword Qi?!”
Only knights surpassing 4-stars can use Sword Qi. However, the Black Noble Troop’s martial prowess wasn't just at the level of 4-star knights.
“5-star! Looking at that, it seems everyone is a 5-star knight!”
“Impossible! Even Moner cannot possibly raise that many 5-star knights!”
5-star.
Considering that Masters surpassing 6-stars are called beings who exceeded the limits of the species, 5-star is practically the end a human can reach.
Even in the fortress possessing three hundred knights, there are only a few 5-star knights.
Including Vergil, only about ten.
“But that is, to anyone’s eyes…….”
On the battlefield, neither the noisy explosions nor the shouts of angry Orcs could be heard.
Only the sound of Black Noble Troop’s swords slicing necks and the empty cries of deflated Orcs were faintly carried by the wind.
“Huh…….”
Viscount Dotran, watching the spectacle, murmured blankly.
“They called it Noble Darkness (Black Noble/Heukgwi . It turned out to be Black Ghosts (Heukgwi ) raised by Moner…….”
The northern nobles, forgetting they stood on a battlefield, could only stare blankly at the black ghosts slaughtering the Orcs.