Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Homeward Bound (2)
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The Rzhev contingent of the White Mercenary Corps stood in formation as the doors opened, and Mike Hoare walked in.
“Mike Hoare is back?!”
“Wasn’t he dead?”
“My god. That bastard Iscario is in big trouble now.”
And the other mercenaries watching it all could only stare in shock.
Given the White Mercenary Corps' dire situation and Mike Hoare's absence, most had come to the same conclusion.
That something had happened to Mike Hoare on his mission.
Of course, it was Iscario who had fanned the flames of that rumor.
He'd heard that Mike Hoare had gone to the southern mountains and that the Empire was going to kill him.
“But…”
As Mike Hoare entered and reunited with the original members of the White Mercenary Corps, one of the more skilled mercenaries spoke up cautiously.
“…Doesn't Mike Hoare seem stronger? His presence is something else.”
Very cautiously.
“Isn't he just menacing, not stronger? To be honest, the situation warrants it.”
“True. The mercenary corps he cherished so much was shattered…”
A few other mercenaries reacted skeptically, wondering if he was mistaken, but one who was on the verge of becoming a Sword Master sighed and shook his head.
“No. He's definitely gotten stronger. His presence has changed, to be precise.”
“Damn, he got even stronger from there? Is he trying to become a real monster?”
After all, it was common knowledge among the mercenaries that Mike Hoare was already a Sword Master of the highest caliber.
“Well, I'm glad I sided with them.”
Someone muttered cautiously to himself. Unconsciously.
“Definitely. The other side has lost its justification.”
Someone else nodded in agreement. As he said, choosing this side had been the right decision.
Since the coup, not a single thing had gone Iscario's way. Peri Batoni had awakened, and Mike Hoare had returned alive from his mission.
No matter how much Iscario was backed by the Empire, the evidence that the Imperial nobles were tainted by demonic energy had been revealed to all the mercenaries.
The White Mercenary Corps had designated the Demonic Realm as their new headquarters and was now aligned with the Holy Kingdom and Rzhev.
Everyone was thinking the same thing about where their blades would be pointed next.
For a wounded beast that hadn't been killed was bound to dream of revenge.
***
“Everyone…”
Gathered once more in the great hall where the mercenaries had met before, the White Mercenary Corps looked up at Mike Hoare on the stage.
The mercenaries who had been on previous missions, only now confirming the survivors, felt their eyes well up as their hands trembled.
So many of their comrades had been sacrificed. The thought of their fallen friends, not present in this hall, made them want to unleash their grief and rage at once.
“Everyone, you've endured much.”
No long speech was necessary. Everyone felt the same.
“This… we will repay them in full. No matter what it takes.”
This was a sentiment and a vow shared by everyone in the room.
The regular mercenaries left, leaving only Peri Batoni and the captains.
“What of the Demonic Realm?”
“We're making good progress setting up in the Demonic Realm. There's a lot to fix, but we plan to make do for now. It will likely take a considerable amount of time.”
“It will take quite some time.”
“Yes, with the continent's situation being so unstable, it won't be easy.”
An unstable continent meant that the prices of necessary goods would rise.
Whether it was building materials or manpower. The merchants weren't fools; they could surely sense that war was imminent.
“Still, we're managing to get the basics in place. The Holy Kingdom and Rzhev have been a great help.”
You couldn't expect to be full from the first spoonful when everything was in short supply, but it was disappointing nonetheless.
This wasn't just about building a base for the mercenaries to live in. They were making a former royal castle their new stronghold.
The thought of the manpower and materials required to simply repair those old royal castle walls was enough to make one sigh.
Even if the Empire had already done some repairs for their own use.
“The problem is money. Perhaps because we're on the brink of war…”
“Ah, money.”
The word 'money' made him burst out laughing.
“Ah, that reminds me.”
Mike Hoare, who had already heard about it, raised one corner of his mouth.
“Did you foresee this as well?”
“About half?”
Of course, it was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Screw over the Empire and rebuild the mercenary corps they had destroyed.
What a wholesome endeavor.
“What is it?”
As those who were out of the loop looked on in confusion, Mike Hoare nodded, as if to say, 'Go on.'
“Heave-ho—”
There's quite a lot of money. A very significant amount. Of course, I won't put it all out at once since it needs to be spent in various places.
“Uh… uhhh…!”
Money poured out of the inventory endlessly. Truly, without end.
“My god, all this money!”
On and on it came. Everyone present, except for Mike Hoare, stood with their jaws agape.
Even Peri Batoni.
The gold coins piled up to their thighs, forming a small mountain.
“Where in the world did this money…”
“With this money… with this money!”
And the one who reacted most dramatically was Peri Batoni.
“We can immediately make the Demonic Realm livable for the corps and have mercenaries coming and going.”
It seems his mental anguish had been quite severe. The corps was shattered, it needed to be rebuilt, but there was no money.
Even if they tried to secure rebuilding funds by taking on missions, there weren't any missions they could take on right away.
It would be nice to use the corps' emergency funds, but that bastard Iscario was sitting right on top of the headquarters.
Asking Rzhev or the Holy Kingdom for help would be a loss of face. Besides, they were busy preparing for war and had endless expenses of their own.
Of course, I know that feeling all too well. I experienced it myself. Back in my Prometheus days.
“With this money!”
“Ahem. You seem a bit excited.”
“Commander! How can I not be excited!”
Mike Hoare, seeming to understand his feelings well, just cleared his throat and said nothing more.
“Where did all this…?”
The biggest question. Where on earth did this money come from? And so suddenly. If they'd had this kind of money, they would have used it long ago.
“Ah, didn't I leave early before going to rescue the Commander?”
“Uh, don't tell me?”
Seamus broke into a cold sweat as if he'd realized something, and our eyes met. He was probably right.
“The Empire bastards put the corps in this state, I couldn't just let it be. I put my skills to use for the first time in a while. At the Lubeck Central Bank.”
“You crazy bastard!”
The captains, finally realizing the source of the money, took a step back in astonishment.
“For the record, now that I've shown you this money, we're all accomplices. You know that, right?”
“Khahahaha— Rebuilding the corps with the Empire's money.”
Peri Batoni cackled so hard he was tearing up as he scooped up the gold coins.
“But if you robbed a bank, wasn't there more than just gold coins? Like stolen goods that are hard to get rid of.”
“Ah, right. There were. But that part should be taken care of as well.”
Kratos took out the communication device linked to Hattie Shaw from his pocket and tried to make contact.
“Hattie, are you there?”
- Gramps! You're alive?!
And as soon as the connection was made, a high-pitched voice came through.
“Hattie? Hattie Shaw?”
Mike Hoare, completely caught off guard, took the communication device, startled by the voice's owner.
- Seriously, if you're going to get old, you should stay glued to a desk. What are you doing crawling around the mountains and making people worry!
“Haha, you rascal. I'm the strongest one here, who else would go? And if you were alive, you should have contacted me! I haven't heard from you in years!”
- Well, it's not like you contacted me either!
Seeing Mike Hoare's relaxed demeanor, the captains looked back and forth between the communication device and Kratos in surprise.
“Anyway, how do you know Kratos?”
- Ah? You haven't heard? That guy came to the capital and pulled off a huge job. The capital bombing. Hahaha— I'm telling you, he's a real madman. Plus, Kratos provided the funds to rebuild my intelligence organization.
“Hey, I'm right here listening, what's with the 'madman' talk? Anyway, this is Hattie Shaw, who runs an intelligence network in the capital. She's the one who will help us dispose of the stolen goods from the bank.”
- Yep, of course you should leave it to me. I can probably sell them for a high price. The mood among the nobles is no joke right now.
Just as I thought. No matter how much that Emperor bastard calls himself a god, what's it going to do? It's not like the nobles are suddenly going to be so moved that they become servants of a god.
- So you can leave the disposal of the goods to me. I'll sell them for a very high price.
Selling the nobles' goods back to the nobles. Talk about a creative economy.
The communication ended, and everyone now looked at me with a slightly different gaze.
“Just how long have you been preparing all this?”
I couldn't easily answer Mike Hoare's question and just gave an awkward laugh.
Because the answer was: since the moment I died and came back to life.
***
“You're here? I heard the news. You did something big again.”
“It was just to save a comrade.”
Dwalin spoke without taking his eyes off the roaring red flames.
From the moment they left Rzhev, Dwalin had been holed up in his smithy, engrossed in making a weapon for Kratos.
The other mercenaries were just relieved that Dwalin, who hadn't been in a good state, had found something to focus on.
“For the record, the weapon isn't ready yet. Dragon bone isn't exactly an easy material to work with.”
“The weapon will be done when it's done. I'm not here for that, but I was hoping you could take a look at this.”
Only when the fire turned blue did Dwalin turn in his chair, and I carefully took the vault door out of my inventory.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! You should've warned me before pulling out something that big!”
The broken vault door was bigger than I expected, nearly filling Dwalin's small workshop.
“I barely managed to sneak this out.”
“What the hell is this? It looks like a door.”
“Ah, I robbed a bank vault. The metal seemed unusual, so I broke off a piece of the door and brought it with me.”
“You ignorant brute! What kind of madman robs a bank and then brings the whole vault door with him!”
Despite his words, Dwalin began to examine the vault door closely.
“Hmm. It's a peculiar metal. Looks like a few things are mixed in.”
Dwalin, surprised by its hardness, looked it over before scratching his head and looking up.
“No, this doesn't make sense. Is it real? No way…”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
With a look of incomprehension. And at the same time, disbelief.
“Uh… this. You said it was a vault door?”
“Yes. It looked pretty sturdy. I thought it might be useful for making weapons, so I just ripped it off and brought it.”
“What, did you rob the Emperor's vault? What kind of lunatic uses an Adamant-Aethernel alloy for a vault door?! This expensive stuff!”
“Oh, so it's good stuff.”
“Of course it is! If I make your weapon with this, that one weapon could buy you a decent-sized fief. Hah, dragon bone and an Adamant-Aethernel alloy.”
Dwalin let out a deep sigh of disbelief at how easily Kratos acquired materials he might see only once in a lifetime.
“If possible, please make weapons for the Commander and the captains too. The Commander's sword broke in the southern mountains, as did the vice-commander's and the other captains'.”
“Well, the boys will certainly like it. An Adamant-Aethernel alloy.”
“You can do whatever you want with the rest, Dwalin.”
“Yeah, thaaanks.”
An alloy of Adamant and Aethernel. I just thought it was a slightly harder type of Aethernel.
In the first place, making an alloy with Aethernel, which is notoriously difficult to smelt, was absurdly hard.
So much so that it was said only a dragon's breath could smelt Aethernel.
But adding Adamant to that? That ridiculously expensive stuff?
My suspicions about that vault began to grow.
Just as Dwalin said, it would take an immense amount of money and power to create a vault door of that size.