10th Company (3)
After issuing orders to the soldiers and ministers, Cloud personally ventured to the Kings' Valley, the resting place of the ancient rulers. Upon entering the entrance, his servants who had gone ahead earlier burst out in a frenzy. “W-wait! There’s nothing here! The legendary sword Gesaengquiya is nowhere to be found, Your Majesty!” “So Gesaengquiya has vanished?” Quianas’s eyes widened in disbelief. The place where the sword was kept had been secured with ironclad defenses that no one of royal blood could touch, let alone steal its master’s energy. Yet someone had breached that perfect security…! Cloud immediately summoned every guard stationed at the Kings’ Valley for interrogation. Most of them confessed that Elena had visited just a few weeks ago. Quianas swiftly called two elite soldiers renowned for their martial prowess and tracking skills. “Sruin! Illusia!” “Yes, Your Majesty!” “Aye!” Sruin was a tall elf with long silver hair, while Illusia was a beautiful orange-haired female elf whose locks gleamed like rubies. Quianas gave her orders: “Find Elena, who has gone to the human city of Valua. Discover the whereabouts of the legendary sword and bring its owner back here!” “Yes!” “Aye!” Just as the two elves slung their bows onto their backs and prepared to mount their horses, Quianas grabbed them and halted their departure. She hesitated for a moment before speaking. “The current owner of Gesaengquiya is the King of all High Elves, so it must be treated with utmost reverence.” A murmur of shock rippled through the gathered ministers. “M-My lady! The queen who swore to live alone for the rest of her life has suddenly taken a new husband!” “Th-this is wonderful!” “Wonderful indeed! For centuries the queen who lived alone has finally found someone to rely on!” “All this time I only gave birth to Princess Elena, so I was so worried the royal line might end. But now hope has been restored! The bloodline of the monarchy will not be severed!” Watching the joyous ministers, Quianas could not hide her worried expression. “I only hope the person who took her is not evil… What on earth is Elena thinking?”
To be a husband worthy of respect, to buy a house for Elena’s sake, Cloud worked honestly every single day. He rose at dawn every morning, prepared for work, shared a warm breakfast with Elena, Cecil, and Sophia, and then headed to the military district by eight. After the nine o’clock staff meeting ended, he visited Torres’s office where Lord Aaron’s orders were waiting as always. He would then head to the company headquarters, equip the men, and repeat the cycle of heading to the mission site. Upon arrival at the mission location, he always had the troops wait in the distance. They were simply not strong enough for frontline duty. Half of them had some sort of injury, below-average intelligence, or outright mental instability, making them useless for combat. The other half were either young boys like Toma or men who had never even learned basic swordsmanship. When dealing with goblin bands, he and Lucy handled them alone. At night, while the troops slept in the caves, he set fire to the entrance, then picked off the panicked enemies one by one as they rushed out. When ordered to reduce the number of orcs in the village, he secretly slipped Lucy into the village at night, poisoned the well, and killed dozens of orcs who drank from it before collapsing. To prove the numbers had decreased, he secretly cut off the ears of the corpses stacked near the well and delivered them to Torres. When Lord Aaron suddenly demanded wyvern egg stew, Cloud acted as bait to lure the wyvern pair away while Lucy climbed the cliff to steal one egg from the massive nest at the top. Luckily, Latinus had returned to his senses that day, allowing the wyvern egg to be safely transported without shattering it using float magic. When tasked with purging a specific criminal syndicate within the city, Cloud and Lucy posed as fake lovers to identify the hideout, then attacked with the ten companies he had been keeping on standby. Most of the criminals were terrified by the sight of “soldiers” and fled even before the 10th Company could engage. After three weeks, Cloud had obtained a set of Valua-emblazoned plate armor from the blacksmith he had previously hired. He equipped every single soldier with it, returned the old wooden helmets and armor to the quartermaster, and had new swords forged using the looted treasure he had hidden. With proper gear now available, he began deploying the entire 10th Company on missions. For those too weak for frontline duty, he assigned them even menial tasks like polishing boots or carrying rations. From that day onward, the 10th Company took on dangerous missions with bold daring and earned recognition from General Vurmir, allowing them to participate in the entire regiment’s joint training exercises. And then… “Whoa, the 10th Company?” “Weren’t they supposed to be the useless squad? Look at them now, strutting around like that!” “I heard Cloud the 100-Man Commander gave them all weapons and armor out of the kindness of his heart.” “Is Cloud a rich man?” “Sure, the equipment is nice, but look at their faces. They used to have dead eyes; now they’re all pumped up with spirit.” In the Valua army, the 10th Company became the daily topic of conversation. Soldiers who had once dismissed them as the “useless squad” now stared with awe and began to admire them. The envious gazes flowing toward the 10th Company soldiers made them aware of their surroundings, so no matter who was watching, they stood tall, squared their shoulders, and exuded pride. Some even spent hours carefully ironing their uniforms and sharpening their sword edges to perfection. These efforts made them appear even more spirited to onlookers, adding fuel to the admiration. On top of that, what truly shocked everyone was the reward Lord Aaron granted Cloud after his promotion. “Cloud told me that once we complete the campaign, we’ll be traveling across the nation, but he must be protected. So he advised me to start training with swords. When I thought about it, I realized it was wise advice.” Delighted by Cloud’s influence, Lord Aaron began to show genuine interest in swordsmanship, even going so far as to take on a master. Overjoyed, he rewarded Cloud with the 300-Man Commander position. The title had never existed in the Valua army before, but Lord Aaron had created it specially for Cloud. Why not 500-Man Commander? Because he would have clashed with Torres, and Cloud lacked both noble lineage and major achievements. This compromise rank of 300-Man Commander was the perfect solution. In truth, it carried almost the same authority as a 500-Man Commander. Cloud could now attend meetings held by Lord Aaron himself and command up to three companies, including 100-Man Commanders under him. “Cloud is so cool!” “I should have made friends with him during training!” “The guy who used to cry every day because he couldn’t throw a tantrum is now this big and strong?” After becoming 300-Man Commander, Cloud became the envy of his training-school classmates. The most accomplished among them now looked up to him with respect and admiration. “Cloud!” “Ah, Archbishop Vivian.” The eyes of Vivian, who had accidentally crossed paths with him in the corridor, were filled with something far from ordinary. The gaze of adoration made him feel a strange pressure. “Do you have time today?” “Time?” “Yes! The Priest Training School classmates are gathering for drinks tonight, and I wanted to brag about you! They won’t believe me when I say we’re close friends!” Cloud flashed a bright smile. “Hmm… Unfortunately, I have a prior engagement tonight.” “You have plans? Oh no!” “Let’s meet on another day when you have time. I’ll contact you first.” “Really? I’m so happy! I’ll count the days until then!” With his new rank and rising fame came more people eager to talk to him. The training-school classmates were nothing compared to the piles of letters that piled up on his desk every morning when he arrived at the office. Among them were love letters, invitations to join 100-Man Commander gatherings, merchants asking to meet him once, party invitations from vassals, and even secret notes from wealthy widows. The newly minted 500-Man Commander at such a young age appeared to these lonely ladies like fresh sashimi, so they would pinch their thighs every night and sigh, dreaming of tasting him just once. “The idiots who used to ignore the useless 10th Company and never sent a single letter now…” Cloud never read the letters sent from the 100-Man Commander gatherings; he tore them apart without a second glance. Love letters and widow notes were distributed one by one to the 10th Company soldiers. Vassal letters were carefully filtered to only those who could help his future promotion, replied to, and meetings arranged whenever possible.