Chapter 137: Coastal City Alliance
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 137: Coastal City Alliance
“The Saifran army is leaving the city!”
The scout perched in the sailing ship’s crow’s nest shouted down.
Truthfully, I knew even before he spoke. My superhuman eyes were tracking the army’s movements in detail, even from far out at sea.
But what truly caught my attention was Saifran’s port. It bustled with sailors and merchants, as if the fierce battle raging at the city gates was someone else’s problem.
It seemed they hadn’t anticipated our arrival by sea at all. The complete absence of guardsmen turned that assumption into a certainty.
“Unfurl the sails! Full speed ahead!”
In that moment, I changed my objective and my method.
My original plan was to threaten Saifran to make up for our army’s losses. Now, I would do the opposite: use our army as bait and devour Saifran for myself.
“What? There are only a hundred of us!”
No matter how lax their defenses, attacking a metropolis with only a hundred men was suicide.
“A whole hundred men. Aren’t we in a better position than when I captured Bokum all by myself?”
I defied the mercenaries’ common sense.
“Still…”
This hastily assembled force was far from satisfactory. My experienced soldiers back on the Western Continent would have acted first and asked questions later.
But what could I do? Right now, beggars couldn’t be choosers. They would improve after fighting a war with me. Believing this, I made my declaration.
“I’ll give you three times the promised pay.”
“We’re on our way!”
The mercenaries’ expressions changed in an instant, as if they’d never protested. A few even pretended they were about to dive into the sea.
I had set their pay quite high due to the rushed recruitment, so the promise of triple that amount had made their eyes glaze over with greed.
Compared to the gains from taking Saifran, it’s a drop in the bucket.
The revenue from a single metropolis was equivalent to the income of my entire domain. I knew this thanks to the archbishop and priests who handled the city’s administration.
The sails billowed open. As if on cue, the wind itself turned to aid us.
As our ship cut through the water, kicking up spray, and drew near, the people in the port finally noticed.
Clang, clang, clang!
An alarm bell rang out frantically. It was then that the scout in the crow’s nest shouted again.
“Ballistas! They have ballistas!”
On a hill overlooking the port, two large ballistas had been installed. Their tips slowly swiveled until they were aimed right at us.
“You think it’s easy to hit a target in the open sea? Ignore them and keep advancing!”
Soon, an arrow the size of a mast flew past, crashing into the sea not far from our ship and sending up a huge splash.
Their accuracy was better than I expected. If not for the timely gust of wind, we might have been in danger.
“Fucking hell! Can’t this thing go any faster?”
“We’re going to be fish food at this rate!”
The terrified mercenaries began to harass the sailors.
“Damn it! We want to go faster more than you do, so shut your traps! You lot joined willingly for money, but we were forcibly conscripted!”
Of course, the sailors, notorious for their ferocity, weren’t about to take it lying down. After roughly shutting down the mercenaries, they gritted their teeth and steered the ship.
Thanks to them, we managed to dock at the pier without taking a single hit.
“Secure the pier, quickly!”
From now on, it was a race against time. We had to lock the city gates before the Saifran army, which had just left to pursue Aron’s forces, could turn back.
The biggest hurdle, the landing, had been solved by the enemy’s unpreparedness, but the fact remained that their forces outnumbered ours by more than ten to one.
If we allowed the enemy to return to the city, we would be surrounded and certainly killed.
Even before a gangplank could be set up, I spurred my horse. The warhorse that had been with me all the way to the Northern Continent leaped fearlessly over the ship’s railing.
Awaiting us on the pier were sailors armed with daggers and clubs, along with a handful of guards.
But the face of the man leading them seemed strangely familiar. His eyes widened as he recognized me, his face a mask of horror.
“The—the devil! The devil has returned!”
I finally remembered where I’d seen him. He was one of the men from the church in Bokum, someone who seemed connected to the mayor and the city councilors. It appeared he had fled to Saifran.
He dropped his weapon and bolted. With their commander suddenly gone, the defending forces looked at each other, utterly bewildered.
“Who dares stand in my way?!”
I seized the opening and charged.
The man at the very front reflexively swung his club at me. Before it could connect, my upward swing with a war hammer struck his jaw.
“Guh—”
I had put my full power into it for show. The man’s face shattered as if a bomb had gone off in front of him. The remaining force sent his body flying into the air.
“I-It’s the devil!”
The sight of the faceless corpse soaring through the air brought to mind the words of the commander who had just fled.
“Run!”
“The devil is here!”
As if by silent agreement, they all dropped their weapons and fled. A force of nearly twenty men had crumbled without putting up the slightest resistance.
“The rumors… they were true?!”
My own men, disembarking from the ship behind me, were just as shocked. I roared at them.
“Snap out of it! There’s no time to gawk! I’ll open a path, you just follow my back!”
“Yes, sir!”
Leading the now much quicker mercenaries, I rode for the city gate. I encountered the commander who had fled when we reached the city’s main street.
“He’s here! He’s here!”
It seemed he hadn’t just run blindly. I found myself facing a contingent of soldiers blocking the road.
Ten knights and thirty soldiers. I hadn’t expected so many knights to have remained.
“Rest easy, everyone! I, Botahn, the Knight of Steel, will protect you with my life!”
“Hass of the Flash shall assist him!”
“And Uragaan the Slaughterer is here too!”
The voices of the knights stepping forward with confidence echoed through the city. Judging by the cheers from the soldiers and the richly dressed men, they were quite famous.
It is said that the more a person has, the more sensitive they are about their own safety. Having heard about me from their colleague who fled Bokum, they must have spent a fortune on bodyguards.
“Hmm. He’s just a bit tall. He doesn’t look like a monster to me.”
The one who introduced himself as Botahn was acting as the knights’ unspoken leader. Since there were no objections, he was likely the most famous or skilled among them.
“How could a merchant who’s never trained properly judge a knight’s skill? You’d probably call a novice who just started a master if he was holding a famous sword.”
“In any case, thanks to him, we’re about to make a fortune.”
“More importantly, may I go first? It’s been so long since I’ve drawn blood, I feel like my body’s gone stiff.”
“Hold on. There’s a pecking order to things.”
Perhaps they trusted in their numerical superiority. The knights didn’t doubt their victory for a second.
They were far too relaxed. And here I was, in a hurry.
“Give me a spear.”
I snatched a spear from a mercenary who had followed me and immediately threw it. By the time the knights registered the full-powered throw, it was already upon them.
Swoosh—thud—CRACK!
“Keuk—”
The spear, thrown with all my might, not only pierced the body of the lead knight, Botahn, but also sent him flying into the building wall behind him.
Pinned to the building with the spear in his chest, Botahn struggled, grabbing the shaft with both hands before his head finally slumped.
For all his confidence, it was a pathetic end.
The knights stared blankly up at the corpse of their comrade. A heavy silence fell over them.
In that time, I gestured to another mercenary.
“One more.”
“Huh? Yes! Here! Bring more spears!”
Having witnessed me kill a knight with a single spear, the mercenaries willingly offered up their weapons. As soon as I received a new spear, I threw it.
“Block it!”
A knight, finally snapping to his senses, raised his shield. But how could a mere human withstand the monstrous strength that even a troll couldn’t handle?
CRASH!
The spear tore through the shield with ease, impaled the knight’s body, and pinned him to the wall right next to his comrade.
“Uragaan the Slaughterer…!”
“Kill him! Don’t give him a chance to throw another spear!”
Only after losing two of their own did the knights realize the gravity of the situation and charge at me.
I threw another spear before they could reach me. It seemed they weren’t all idiots. The knight I had targeted pressed his torso flat against his horse and dodged it.
“Don’t treat me like one of them!”
Righting himself, the knight spurred his horse and charged, his sword aimed at me.
I dismounted and faced the diamond-shaped head of the horse that was charging with enough force to trample me.
They say the power of a single horse is one horsepower, don’t they? But could a horse demolish a gatehouse like I did and walk away unscathed?
I drew Trollsblade.
“Ha! Fool!”
Seeing me aim my sword from a head-on position, the knight scoffed at my recklessness. He spurred his horse even harder, intending to run me down.
“Haaap—!”
Just as we were about to collide, I brought the sword I held above my head straight down. It was a clean strike, executed with all my might, like something out of a swordsmanship manual.
In my slowed perception, I clearly saw the blade split the horse’s head vertically in two.
A massive recoil traveled up the sword. But the body that had withstood the impact of a gatehouse was in no danger of being harmed.
Trollsblade, imbued with my monstrous strength, split the horse and rider in half at the same time. The bisected corpses of man and beast slid past me on either side.
Hee-hee-hing!
The knights following behind him frantically pulled on their reins. They all wore expressions of disbelief.
“Whoa, whoa, how can a human—?!”
“Crazy! Is he really a devil?!”
“He’s not human! He’s not human!”
Drenched in the blood of man and horse, with hot steam rising from my body, I stared them down.
“Shall we… continue?”
The knights glanced at each other. As the atmosphere grew strange, the men who had hired them raised their voices.
“What are you hesitating for? Didn’t you contract to protect us with your lives?!”
“If it’s about money, we’ll give you as much as you want!”
The knights turned to them with hardened faces.
“How dare you! Do you insult a knight? Trying to buy us with money? We shouldn’t have trusted faithless merchants! The contract is void!”
Once one knight spoke out, the others rushed to condemn their employers. In the end, a knight who moves for money is nothing more than a powerful bandit.
“We’re going through!”
With the knights stepping aside, I mounted my horse again and led the mercenaries toward the city gate.
Fortunately, the Saifran army had not yet turned back. Had they not heard the frantic alarm bells? They were still preoccupied with chasing Aron’s forces.
I immediately released the locking bar and closed the gate. Then, with the mercenaries, I took control of the parapet.
“Drop your weapons! Do that, and I’ll spare your lives!”
Only after I made an example of one soldier by splitting him in half did the few remaining guards on the parapet surrender. With that, we secured the wall and raised my flag.
“Sound the retreat horn!”
Only after the horn was blown did the Saifran army halt its pursuit and return. They were stunned to see my flag hanging over their city and the gates closed.
“What, what is this…?”
I looked down on them from the top of the wall.
Thanks to their successful ambush and pursuit, they still had nearly a thousand soldiers. Aron’s forces, on the other hand, were less than half their original strength.
“Saifran has been captured by me, Allen! You will lay down your arms and surrender!”
The crucial point was that the Saifran army had no siege weapons. In other words, even with a thousand men, if we fought from behind the walls, it was a winnable fight.
“A trap. It was a trap?”
“The Count’s eldest son couldn’t possibly be bait!”
Unexpectedly, Aron was a captive. When our eyes met, he lowered his head as if too ashamed to face me, and was dragged forward by the enemy.
“Let’s negotiate! The Count’s eldest son for the city!”
“Why would I?”
The enemy was once again at a loss for words. Aron, too, looked up in surprise.
“Uh… because the Count’s eldest son is more important?”
I let out a smirk.
“I am not the Count’s subordinate. My participation in the Northern expedition was merely part of a deal. I couldn’t care less what happens to the Count’s son.”
“What did you say?”
“And another thing. The Count and his eldest son do not get along. He probably won’t say much even if I abandon his son.”
Of course, he would likely use this as a pretext to demand compensation, but there was no need to explain that part.
“Instead of doing that, just surrender.”
I made a counter-proposal to the dumbfounded men.
“Do you think that makes any sense? What kind of idiot surrenders when he outnumbers the enemy ten to one?”
“I doubt you want to conduct a siege without siege weapons. Also, who’s going to pay you?”
A city of merchants that prioritized efficiency was unlikely to maintain a standing army. This meant that most of their thousand soldiers were mercenaries.
The problem was that the city that was supposed to pay their remaining wages had been captured by me.
They were facing a siege without siege weapons, and there was no guarantee they would get paid.
The gazes of the mercenaries, who had lost their reason to fight, turned to the few commanders dispatched from the city. But what brilliant solution could they possibly have?
I turned my gaze to the mercenaries.
“Who is the contracting party?”
“What does that matter now?”
As the situation took a strange turn, one of the mercenary captains joined the conversation. Of course, the city’s commander didn’t like it, but the mercenary captain, now worried he might not get his promised pay, didn’t care.
“If the party specified in the contract is not a person, but this city, Saifran, then I will inherit the contract.”
“What nonsense is this?!”
The city commander exploded in fury. Regardless, the mercenary captain pulled a contract from his coat and checked it. Then he looked back up at me.
A grin spread across his face.
“It says Saifran.”
I grinned back. The city commander, foaming at the mouth, pointed a finger at the mercenary captain.
“What are you thinking? This is a complete stretch! Follow our orders as stipulated in the contract! Once we retake the city, we’ll give you the promised pay! No, we’ll give you double! So…!”
As the city commander said, it was a stretch. But it was also a justification to avoid a meaningless sacrifice and receive their promised payment.
The mercenary captain looked back at his comrades.
“What do you all think?”
After exchanging glances, the mercenaries grinned just like their captain. Then, they aimed the tips of their swords at the city commanders. Their faces turned deathly pale.