Wyvern Auction (1)
Wyvern Auction (1)
No end in sight, no matter how far we go.
I thought there'd be something like a World Tree soaring high into the sky. Maybe I had preconceived notions about elves?
'This seems far bigger than Siberia. Just how far does this forest stretch?'
This makes it difficult to pinpoint where the elves' main base is.
We probably passed it a long time ago, I suspect.
The elves, if they wanted to invade easily, would also need their main base situated as far south in the forest as possible.
"Ugh, it's too cold. Luna, let's head back now."
"Okay."
Come to think of it, Luna isn't a Master, yet she doesn't seem affected by the cold at all.
I was curious, so I asked her.
"I'm blocking the headwinds and cold drafts with a Wind Shield."
"Aha."
A Wind Mage, isn't that just awesome?
"Luna, then could you help me when I'm traveling inland in the future?"
"Of course! Call on me anytime!"
My body was shivering violently, so I tightly hugged Hildea and Rebecca inside the blankets.
The further south we headed, the more the cold gradually receded.
"Piel, how about taking the Wyvern Lord we hunted earlier?"
"Is there a use for it?"
"If we stuff it and put it up for auction, it'll fetch an enormous sum. A Wyvern Lord isn't something you can catch just because you want to."
"Even with its chest and neck torn to shreds?"
"That's even better. It's a mark of the hunt."
"Then let's retrieve it. Transport is the issue though.... Luna, could air transport be possible?"
"It's too big and heavy, I don't think so."
"Then we can just call the knights. The engagement site is the southern edge of the Elf Forest."
I radioed the barracks to inform them of the operation to retrieve the Wyvern Lord's carcass.
Vice-commander Basel radioed me back for confirmation, sounding like he couldn't believe it.
- Colonel Marshall, is it true? You hunted a Wyvern Lord?
"Yes. We succeeded in taking it down with combined attacks from a Master and a Mage."
- Without any casualties? That's truly astonishing. If you stuff it and put it up for auction, the nobles will be fighting over each other to buy it!
Brigadier General Bazel was saying exactly the same thing as Rebecca.
A stuffed Wyvern Lord seems to be a very special epic item around here.
'Now that I think about it, Father once lamented his failure to win the bid for a stuffed wyvern auction in the past.'
"Anyway, please send troops for retrieval. In full combat readiness."
- Understood. They will depart immediately.
We arrived at the point where the Wyvern Lord's carcass had crashed.
Besides the Lord, the carcasses of regular wyverns were also scattered all over the place.
【M183 Demolition Bag】
【Power: 13kg of TNT】
【Budget: 1,000 / 1 unit】
'Let's just detonate about 10 of them around the perimeter.'
【Requesting supply of 10 units of M183 Demolition Bags.】
Luna's eyes glittered as she looked at the demolition bags.
"Colonel-nim, are we finally going to detonate an incendiary package?"
"No, I'm going to detonate them as a threat to chase away any monsters that are hiding."
"Wouldn't they all have run away long ago?"
"Still, it's better to ensure safety."
Come to think of it, Luna was pardoned and regained her rank of Brigadier General, but since she's the commander of my direct unit, she keeps calling me Colonel-nim.
'Just how tangled is the chain of command in the Ainshuvan Army going to get?'
"Luna, drop these appropriately around the area. Make sure the carcasses we need to retrieve aren't damaged."
"Understood."
After Luna dropped all 10 demolition bags, I pressed the detonation button.
Kwang! Kwaang! Kwakwagwang!
The refreshing thunder of explosions spread our presence far and wide with an echoing boom.
"I don't sense any presences fleeing. As expected, they must have already run away."
"There's no way they wouldn't have fled after all that racket we made."
The vast plains stretching between the Elf Forest and the Ainshuvan barracks.
Far off in the distance, knights and soldiers could be seen rapidly advancing north.
I fired a flare into the air.
'Hold on, why are they bringing the Palanquin Official Residence?'
***
The carcass retrieval operation took place over a long period.
First, the knights and soldiers took the lead, machetes in hand, to clear the trees.
"Brigadier General Basel-nim, how many combat soldiers are without a machete?"
"Combining the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Armies, that would be 89,971 men."
I asked lightly, but I was slightly taken aback by the razor-sharp answer that came back.
"Do you always keep track of that figure?"
"Of course. Every soldier is craving a machete."
Currently, excluding the airborne troops, only about 200 machetes have been issued.
【Remaining Budget: 40,485,000】
【Ontario Machete 56cm (New Model)】
【Budget: 100】
'Issuing machetes to everyone would cost 8,997,100.'
The trees composing the Elf Forest were incredibly hard, so only the machete knights were doing the lumbering work.
Ordinary steel swords and axes couldn't even bite into the wood.
Since machetes don't suffer edge damage even when coated with Aura, the knights chopped trees to their hearts' content.
'Right, simply issuing machetes will dramatically increase the overall combat power of the mana soldiers.'
【Requesting supply of 89,971 units of Ontario Machete 56cm (New Model).】
【Remaining Budget: 31,487,900】
When I pressed the bulk receipt button, 89,971 machetes fell down with a thud-thud-thud.
Commander Bazel's jaw dropped in shock.
The knights and soldiers who had been working froze up in surprise as well.
"Commander Bazel-nim, please distribute them to everyone without exception."
"Ah, understood! General Marshall!"
"Excuse me? What did you say?"
"Ah, understood. Seeing this many machetes, I unconsciously felt I should become more respectful, so I just...."
All combat soldiers know how to use mana.
It wasn't quite Aura manifestation, but with tens of thousands of mana-injected machetes joining the effort, the speed of lumbering became incredibly fast.
"The twigs of the World Tree are large and tough, making them excellent for high-class housing, especially warships. This will also sell for a high price."
Brigadier General Bazel seemed quite excited about something.
For reference, the non-monster ordinary trees that make up the Elf Forest are called 'Twigs of the World Tree.'
"We'll have to spread the news of the auction widely to the capital."
"Colonel-nim, I've already informed the Standing Inspectorate night duty officers by radio!"
"Oh, well done. I'll give you this Mint Choco Cake."
"Kyaaak! Thank you!"
The sight of tens of thousands of machete soldiers felling Twigs of the World Tree over 50 meters high.
It was truly a spectacle.
After securing space by felling the trees in rows, they began hauling in the wyvern carcasses in lines.
Especially the largest carcass, the Wyvern Lord, was carried by the knights themselves.
'Wow, the monster is the size of an Airbus A380.'
Looking at it up close, it had the overwhelming presence of a superjumbo passenger airliner passing by.
They're going to turn this thing into a stuffed specimen?
Most ordinary nobles probably wouldn't even have the space to display it, so they wouldn't dare think of buying it.
"Reporting. Retrieval of 153 regular wyverns, 1 Wyvern Lord, and 1,751 Twigs of the World Tree is complete."
"...Brigadier General Bazel-nim, but why are you reporting this to me?"
"Hmm? Ah, whoops, I was reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, but since General Marshall was right beside me...."
"I'm not a general. I'm a colonel."
"Even so, hasn't His Majesty the King promised you the post of a Brigadier General?"
***
The knights felt their hearts burn with passion.
The magnificent spectacle of the felled trees and wyvern carcasses being moved in long rows.
If this was not the true evidence of victory, what else could it be?
"We have defeated the elves. No, we are overwhelming the elves."
Originally, just approaching the Elf Forest would cause monsters to attack instantly.
But what about now?
They were openly cutting down Twigs of the World Tree and hauling away over a hundred wyvern carcasses without any interference whatsoever.
"Lately, there haven't been any attacks from the elf bastards at all."
"The elf bastards must have finally learned. That Ainshuvan, where Colonel Marshall is stationed, is invincible."
"That's why they're only aiming for rear-area infiltration by riding Ivory Whales."
"Now that even the lowliest combat soldiers are all armed with machetes, the North's military power has grown even stronger."
The knights' gazes turned toward the watchtower of the Palanquin Official Residence.
Piel, flanked by the two commanders on his left and right, was leisurely making a Marshall Burger.
Beside them, Luna, floating mid-air, was eating Mint Choco Cake with a happy face.
"All of this is thanks to Lord Marshall the Supply Commander."
"Ahem, wouldn't it be proper to respectfully call him Supply Commander-nim?"
"I accidentally slipped and used honorifics right in front of him last time."
"But come to think of it, isn't he ranked higher than us as the only baron and enfeoffed vassal of Count Balckenhardt's territory? Even if military rank hierarchy is separate, I mean."
"If you saw the look of sheer disbelief on Colonel Marshall's face when I accidentally used honorifics, you wouldn't say such things. For now, let's just all be careful."
Every time I see the supply warehouse heaped full with cornmeal, snack bars, mix coffee, Pepperoni Square Pizza, and rebate beer kegs, I can't describe how proud and swelling my heart feels.
Not only that, the families of the soldiers living in the territory eat soft bread baked with white wheat flour every day.
The once poor county now sees merchant companies passing through smoothly, with construction projects and work opportunities never ending.
Piel's direct food unit is diligently tilling the fields every day, and the anticipation of how abundant the food harvested from there will be is immense.
All of this was a change brought about by a single young nobleman.
"I wish Colonel Marshall would hurry up and marry any one of the three ladies."
"Any one? If it has to be, taking all three is the right way."
"That is the Northern style, after all."
As the work concluded, the Palanquin Official Residence also moved back to the barracks.
All the knights and soldiers looked toward the Palanquin Official Residence with eyes filled with pounding excitement.
Because after any large-scale battle or task, Piel would always provide a special meal.
The soldiers who lowered the palanquin shouted loudly in unison in all directions.
"Special meal!"
"Chil-do Jumbo Lunch Box ramen! 5 per individual!"
"As it's late, everyone return to your barracks to eat! Boiling water will be distributed at the cooking stations!"
Uwaaaaah!
Ramen! Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!
Long live Colonel Marshall! Long live Colonel Marshall!
All the soldiers roared with joy.
Receiving without exception the famed sword of the war god, the machete, and on top of that a grand special meal.
Their morale couldn't help but boil over.
Though it was late, the cooking stations were busy boiling water in huge cauldrons.
The entire barracks was filled with the appetite-stimulating smell of cup ramen.
The soldiers gulped down rebate beer as they ferociously vacuumed up the noodles like a storm.
"Colonel Marshall-nim! May you stay healthy forever!"
***
The Royal Capital, the Noble Council.
Five new attendees appeared at the administrative council meeting.
Representatives sent by the five members of the Standing Inspectorate.
The Noble Council President meticulously asked the five representatives whether they wished to exercise their veto power every single time a resolution on an agenda item was confirmed.
Then the representatives would express their intention not to exercise the veto.
It was a formal procedure, but it was never once omitted.
Some nobles of lower intelligence couldn't understand why they had to waste time like this.
But today was different from usual.
As soon as the agenda discussions were all over, one of the representatives stood up and requested to speak.
"Although this is not the original function of the Standing Inspectorate, I wish to take this opportunity to inform the honorable members of something."
"Very well. Speak."
"At Ainshuvan, we have succeeded in advancing into the Forest of Life and Death. We are preparing to sell 1,751 Twigs of the World Tree, 153 regular wyverns, and 1 Wyvern Lord carcass through an open auction."
Then, the atmosphere became highly agitated.
The nobles, unable to keep their mouths shut in astonishment, began murmuring among themselves.
"153 wyverns? And even a Wyvern Lord carcass?"
"A Lord carcass! Good heavens, has there ever been a successful Lord hunt before?"
"Never mind those many wyverns, but how in the world did they catch the Lord?"
A fervent enthusiasm, utterly incomparable to when they handled state affairs, overflowed from the room.
It was then.
A middle-aged noble in a uniquely styled high-class attire rose from a corner.
As he, who had remained silent throughout the meeting, stepped forward, everyone simultaneously closed their mouths.
The representatives of the Upper House sensed at a glance that his identity was not ordinary.
"At that auction, is it possible for a citizen of the Empire to participate?"
Only then did the Upper House representatives realize that the man was a special envoy of the Imperial Emperor.