Let's Celebrate Today's Victory (2)
No matter how elite a knight was, they could not withstand the coordinated attack of three warriors of similar caliber.
Especially when they were caught off guard in a moment of urgency, their stance breaking under the sudden onslaught.
Simon, coughing up blood and foam, glared at Yulian and muttered,
"You cowards... Three against one..."
It was quite ironic coming from him, considering he had tried to launch a sneak attack himself. Yet, he still looked aggrieved as he collapsed, blood spilling from his mouth.
Thud!
The mercenaries knew exactly who Simon was. Was he not regarded as the strongest knight in this region?
Yet, despite the ambush, the fact that three of them had managed to bring him down so swiftly was all that mattered to them.
What mattered most was that their mercenary group had defeated a top-tier knight.
"Yeah! Simon's dead! Serves him right!"
"That bastard was always so arrogant! A knight resorting to sneak attacks? What a disgrace!"
"Anyway, our captain and vice-captain are insanely strong!"
The mercenaries roared in celebration, and the allied forces joined in with triumphant cheers. The surrendered Crest soldiers bowed their heads, while the Count's escort knights stood frozen, at a loss for what to do.
The strongest knight of the territory had fallen. While the remaining escorts were skilled, they could not hope to stand against the overwhelming numbers before them.
Of course, if they fought with the resolve to die, they could still inflict considerable damage on the enemy.
But that was all.
And none of them could find a reason to throw their lives away.
Sensing the growing unrest, Yulian turned to the escort knights and spoke again.
"Drop your swords and surrender. Count Crest is not a man worthy of your loyalty. If you throw your lives away here, you will only be mocked for it."
The knights hesitated for a moment, exchanging glances, before finally discarding their weapons and bowing their heads.
Yulian's words were true.
Count Crest's infamy was well known—dying alongside him would not grant them any honor.
As even the elite Royal Guards surrendered, Count Crest let out a furious shriek.
"You worthless traitors! You dare betray me now?! After everything I've given you?!"
The Royal Guards had not even fought in the battle. That was how much Count Crest had treasured them.
And yet, the very people who were supposed to be his final line of defense had surrendered without a fight.
The overwhelming sense of betrayal and rage clouded the Count's mind.
"Fight, damn you! Earn the food you've been fed! You mangy dogs, obey your master's command!"
The knights' faces flushed red at the insult.
Even so, having already betrayed their liege, they did not argue back. They simply lowered their heads in silence.
Yulian approached the frantic Count Crest and asked,
"Any last words?"
"You, you... lowly mercenary... how dare you..."
Count Crest trembled, foaming at the mouth.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined suffering such humiliation.
All he had planned was to subjugate those insolent fools before attacking Count Swipel, claiming the lands of Nordhill in the process.
But instead, he had suffered a crushing defeat.
More than half of his soldiers lay dead, and the rest had surrendered.
He was completely and utterly ruined.
And yet, Count Crest still had one thing to cling to.
"You wretched mongrels! If you kill me, Marquis Falkenheim will not let you go unpunished!"
"......"
No one could refute his words.
After all, Count Crest was indeed a favored vassal of Marquis Falkenheim.
A heavy silence descended upon the battlefield.
For the first time, the thought of Falkenheim's looming presence struck everyone.
They had won this battle, but soon, a far greater threat would come for them. And the chances of survival were slim.
Most of the mercenaries had not thought that far ahead.
Until now, they had been caught up in the thrill of victory. But as reality set in, a shiver ran down their spines.
'Oh, right… Falkenheim is still out there.'
'We're doomed. The Marquis will slaughter us all.'
'What do we do? Should we run to another kingdom?'
Killing a powerful Marquis's vassal would demand a heavy price.
But sparing him would be just as disastrous.
If allowed to live, Count Crest would only rally troops and return for vengeance.
The weight of his threat pressed heavily on the minds of everyone present—mercenaries, allied soldiers, and even Swipel's officers.
They had fought merely to survive, but now they had to fear the retaliation of one of the kingdom's most powerful figures.
Seeing the shift in atmosphere, Count Crest twisted his lips into a smirk.
"I shall take my leave now. If you do not wish to suffer my wrath, you may come to me. Serve in place of the men lost today, and I will grant you a new purpose."
Despite his defeat, his arrogance remained intact.
That was how much he trusted the power behind him.
Yulian quietly observed him.
'So this is it.'
Ghislain had left the final decision to him—whether to kill or spare Count Crest.
Now, Yulian understood why.
This was a lesson.
Ghislain was teaching him through this experience.
As Count Crest turned away, Yulian stepped forward, pressing his sword against the Count's neck.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"You bastard… I told you I was leaving."
"I can't let you go."
"You know who stands behind me, and yet you still dare?"
"Killing you changes nothing."
"What?"
"If we were afraid of consequences, we wouldn't have fought you in the first place."
"You… you dare…"
Count Crest's eyes trembled.
The cold, unwavering gaze of this mercenary told him everything—he was serious.
No. He could not die here.
He had to survive.
He had to return and erase this humiliation. He had to kill them all.
"If you kill me, Marquis Falkenheim will—"
Slash.
Yulian did not wait for him to finish.
There was no reason to hear any more.
Thud.
Count Crest's severed head hit the ground.
A heavy silence fell over the battlefield.
Though they had won, the Count's final threat still weighed on their hearts.
Sensing their unease, Yulian turned to face them and spoke.
"It's alright. We knew this would happen. Whether we let him live or not, we would still have to fight."
"......"
"There's nothing to fear. Just as we did today, we will win again. We'll keep winning, no matter what. So for now…"
A smile spread across Yulian's face, a smile that brought peace to all who saw it.
"Let's celebrate today's victory."
The soldiers looked at him with expressions of deep admiration.
His calm words swept away all their worries.
A few mercenaries clenched their fists and shouted first,
"Yeah! With our captain and vice-captain, we've got nothing to fear!"
"We'll just crush them like we did today!"
"Yeahhh! We won!"
Their cheers quickly spread throughout the army.
"Woohoo! Count Crest is dead!"
"This Osval shall never retreat!"
"The Yulian Mercenary Corps is the strongest!"
Even the allied forces and Swipel's troops joined in, laughing and cheering.
After all, they had won a decisive victory with minimal losses.
From the rear, Andrew and Rio clapped along, smiling.
They still had concerns, but for now, overcoming this battle was all that mattered.
"Wow… they really did it. When he said he'd handle it, he really meant it."
"Our leaders are truly strong. I never imagined we'd win this easily."
While Yulian and Kyle had crushed their enemies, it was ultimately Ghislain's overwhelming strength that had secured their victory.
Andrew and Rio still couldn't fully believe what they had witnessed.
Ghislain's power was simply beyond comprehension.
At that moment, Ghislain—who had disappeared earlier—quietly returned, looking at Yulian with a smile.
'You're doing very well.'
For someone with so little experience, Yulian was grasping control of the situation much faster than expected. It was something he was clearly born with.
Ghislain had deliberately left Count Crest's fate in Yulian's hands. He needed him to grow accustomed to making decisions on his own, in preparation for the day when Ghislain would no longer be there.
And this choice was particularly satisfying.
It was no easy feat to execute Count Crest without unwavering resolve. That was how terrifying the authority of Marquis Falkenheim was in this kingdom.
'At least he's not a born pushover.'
Yulian had decisively beheaded Count Crest.
It reminded Ghislain of the time they hunted down the bandits.
Looking back, Yulian had merely been trying to follow Deneb's ideals. If not for her influence, he would have at least risen to the title of "King of Bandits."
It seemed that, in his attempt to live righteously, he simply hadn't known how—and ended up becoming an easy target instead.
But that was no longer the case.
Now, Yulian was a man who could move toward a greater goal.
And it was all thanks to Ghislain's diligent guidance.
As Ghislain stood there, smiling with pride, the mercenaries finally noticed him and erupted into cheers.
"The Vice-captain is here! The monster vice-captain!"
"Yeah! Our vice-captain is a superhuman!"
"At this rate, he might as well be a 100-circle mage!"
The mercenaries swarmed around Ghislain, showering him with applause. Ghislain simply tilted his chin up arrogantly, basking in their praise.
Tyrann, watching the display, shook his head.
"I can't make heads or tails of that man. But his strength... is truly terrifying."
What if they had refused to acknowledge the duel's outcome and fought him head-on instead?
The Ironclad Lions would have been wiped out that very day. The mere thought sent chills down his spine.
"Still... winning feels good."
They had utterly crushed a powerful noble like Count Crest. Even if it was thanks to Ghislain, there was no mercenary group on the entire continent that could compare.
Looking back now, Tyrann was glad he had chosen to align himself with the Yulian Mercenary Corps.
Amid the chorus of cheers, Astion grumbled upon seeing the outcome of the battle.
— Tch, must be nice. Getting praised like that. I guess being good at fighting has its perks.
— It's fine! At least my master can't get a girlfriend!
— Puhahaha! True! He may fight well, but he sucks at romance!
— So that's why he's so cranky all the time! Or is he cranky because he sucks at it?!
As Astion and Dark cackled while teasing Ghislain, they were swiftly sealed away once more.
***
Having won the war, the lands of Count Crest needed to be divided among the three lords.
Andrew and Rio planned to discuss the matter with the Yulian Mercenary Corps, but Ghislain waved them off before they could even begin.
"Do as you please. We'll have to reshape the territory again later anyway."
The two men tilted their heads in confusion but took it as permission to handle it however they wished.
So, they divided the land accordingly for the time being. The finer details would be negotiated separately with Count Swipel.
They each took regions bordering their own lands, ensuring that the division wouldn't cause major issues.
A commander from Swipel's army took their proposals and left.
Upon receiving the news of the war's conclusion, Count Swipel was stunned.
"The war is already over?"
"Yes, we achieved an overwhelming victory."
"How? How could they manage that with such a small force? Explain everything to me."
He had sent a thousand cavalrymen, fully expecting to lose them. If it could weaken Count Crest's forces, it wouldn't be a waste.
But now he was being told that their side had suffered almost no casualties.
It was unbelievable.
The commander detailed the entire battle, emphasizing Ghislain's strength multiple times.
After listening to the full report, Count Swipel asked in a daze,
"Are you saying... he's truly superhuman? That he killed over five thousand men on his own?"
"Yes. Even if he's not officially recognized as one, his skills are certainly close to superhuman."
"Why is someone that powerful working as a mercenary?"
"I have no idea. And it's not just him—both the captain and the other vice-captain are also high-level warriors."
"Hah..."
Finally, Count Swipel understood why they had been so confident.
With warriors of that caliber, Count Crest had never stood a chance.
Even if his Royal Guards had fought, the outcome wouldn't have been much different.
Only a superhuman could stop another superhuman.
Of course, if the Yulian Mercenary Corps had fought from the beginning, they would have suffered significant losses as well. No matter how strong a superhuman was, their stamina wasn't limitless.
But in the end, Count Crest had hesitated to deploy his guards—and he had paid the price.
Swipel had gotten what he wanted, yet he felt even more burdened than before.
'A superhuman-level warrior... That's even more dangerous than Count Crest.'
Having such a formidable figure right next to his own territory was deeply unsettling.
He would have to live with the constant anxiety of their presence.
And then there was the matter of the payment.
The sum they demanded was astronomical. Swipel had never intended to pay it in the first place, so he hadn't even considered whether he could afford it.
'What should I do...?'
Swipel also reviewed the documents that Andrew and Rio had sent him.
The arrogant brats had divided the land entirely on their own.
What was even more absurd was that they had actually split it "fairly."
But was he someone who should be sharing lands equally with upstarts like them?
His original plan had been to get rid of both of them once the war was over.
However, the situation had taken an unexpected turn.
'A superhuman-level warrior... I must never face him on the battlefield.'
Even Count Crest couldn't win against them—there was no chance Swipel could.
But simply leaving them be wasn't an option either.
If he did, he would be forced to part with both the money and the lands of Count Crest's former territory.
He couldn't allow such valuable assets to slip through his fingers so easily.
After a long period of contemplation, Count Swipel finally spoke to his advisors.
"Find a way to eliminate that mage. Use any means necessary. If there's even a slight chance of success, I want to know about it."
Swipel was convinced there had to be a way.
Unlike superhumans backed by powerful factions, Ghislain was merely a mercenary with no true foundation.
Which meant he had to be eliminated before he could grow into a greater threat.
[Notice: Thank you for supporting my translations! I've launched a new website to host all my novels in one place. I will continue posting chapters here until I can update the links on Novel Updates. In the meantime, visit my new website "https://revengernovel.com/" and enjoy 5 extra chapters for free! Buy and Read all available chapters of the novel: https://payhip.com/revengerscans ]