Chapter 87: Chapter 87

Shan, having climbed atop the city walls, was not stopped by the soldiers.

It was because the soldiers had lost their will to fight at his utterly unfathomable ability, crawling up a wall over twenty meters high in full plate armor in a matter of mere seconds.

“Uh, ugh……”

“Ge-Get out of the way!”

Every time Shan took heavy steps forward, the soldiers standing opposite him shrank back.

A few among them even stumbled backward over the railing and fell.

From far below, the crunch of snapping bones and short screams echoed out.

The only one who attempted to resist was the defense commander of the south wall, who had spouted insults at him about frog eyes and the like earlier.

“Y-You dare, you bastard!”

Judging by his attire, he was no ordinary soldier, perhaps a branch member of some noble family.

Surprisingly, unlike the others, he had his hand on his sword as if ready to fight.

Though judging by his terrified face, rather than summoning true courage, he seemed to be making a desperate last stand out of the thought that his opponent would never spare him.

“Haaaa-!”

As the young noble drew his sword while letting out a sound that was hard to tell if it was a battle cry or a scream, his head flew into the air with a spurt of blood.

He was at a level just similar to the mercenary of the Steel Lion Corps whom Shan had fought for the first time when he was around twelve or thirteen years old.

Having crushed the sole resistance like that, Shan descended the stairs inside the wall and gestured with his chin toward the soldiers standing helplessly by the pulley.

“Open it.”

Moments later, as Hasra’s gate opened, over a hundred cavalrymen poured inside.

Watching them, Shan removed his helmet and lightly tapped his head.

“Ah, it’s ringing……”

Even though he had only been hit a few times by stones slightly smaller than his head, his head throbbed and his shoulders and arms were sore.

Had it not been for the defensive magic cast on his armor, or if he had been struck by a stone large enough to be called a boulder, he would likely not have endured it.

‘In the future, it’ll be better to just climb up where there are no people instead of showing off for nothing.’

As he was thinking that, the Altoan squire Vico brought over Arwin, who had been left near the gate, and handed the reins to Shan.

The boy’s face, covered in places with scales, was flushed red with excitement.

“As expected of My Lord! I never imagined you would capture Hasra so easily……”

“It was only possible because there were hardly any people guarding it. It’d be hard to try this in a proper siege.”

After replying nonchalantly, Shan mounted Arwin and gave instructions to the cavalrymen looking at him.

“First, we advance toward the central district! Move!”

“Yes!”

Hasra’s citizens, who had been hoping for a swift conclusion regardless of whether the soldiers sent out won or lost, were startled by the suddenly invading cavalry and hid inside their homes.

In the process, mere guards did not dare step forward.

Conrad had originally drafted most of the troops for a battle into which he staked everything.

The troops remaining in the capital numbered a hundred at most, and even those were mostly unskilled conscripts.

Demanding that they stand and fight against a hundred and fifty suddenly invading cavalrymen was unreasonable to begin with.

Shan and the cavalrymen felt a strange thrill as they committed the outrage of galloping on horseback through the middle of a large city, an act strictly prohibited by law in any kingdom.

It was, so to speak, a mixture of guilt and liberation felt when committing an act that ought not to be done.

After swiftly advancing to the central square inside the city, Shan issued orders to the two knights under his command.

The recipients were Yurk, who was of relatively high status and outstanding skill, and the oldest among the knights accompanying them this time.

“Baron Rugen, please take charge of the nobles’ mansions. Sir Baska, please handle the merchant street.”

“Understood!”

“I shall obey your command.”

*

After assigning about fifty cavalrymen to each of the two knights, Shan headed to the royal palace with the remaining fifty.

Since even the royal knights had all marched out following Conrad, the ones guarding the palace were a mere dozen or so royal guards.

Two royal guards guarding the main gate shouted in panic at the sight of Shan and the cavalrymen galloping toward them.

“How dare you act so recklessly in front of the sacred royal palace……!”

“If you are not loyal to Conrad, I have no intention to fight. Step back.”

As Shan drew Guardian of the East and aimed it along with the command, blood of the south gate defense commander stained on it earlier dripped down.

Setting aside if it were Shan alone, behind him stood Horais’s semi-horse archers with fiercely glinting eyes.

It was a situation where hardly anyone could blame them even if they retreated here.

Yet the royal guards swallowed hard, leveled the spears they held, and spoke.

“Back away; we shall perform our duty.”

“Shoot.”

Since everything had to proceed as quickly as possible, Shan gave up on persuasion and issued the command to attack.

Immediately, a dozen or so arrows fired from behind pierced the guards.

“Keugh……”

Wearing high-quality chain mail rather than knights’ plate armor, it was difficult to withstand the volley of arrows pouring in from right before their eyes.

As Shan entered through the main gate, he stabbed the neck of a royal guard who had not yet died, ending his suffering.

Similar situations occurred several more times during the process of advancing further inside.

Most quietly yielded the way, but a few royal guards refused to give up and tried to stop the intruders.

Each time, the gardens and hallways of the royal palace were stained with blood.

After several clashes, upon reaching the front of the central palace where the king resided, the semi-horse archers looked around and bantered among themselves.

“Is this the palace where the King of Pendia lives?”

“I never thought we’d enter like this. I haven’t even been to the King of Ruman’s palace……”

“There’s no time to chatter. Scatter immediately and collect the spoils! As I already warned, any act of attacking unresisting civilians will be strictly punished!”

“Understood!”

At Shan’s stern scolding, the semi-horse archers, who had relaxed for a moment, moved quickly with tense expressions.

They, too, were rough men who roamed the barren steppes and slept alongside wolves, but in the presence of that transcendent warrior who hardly seemed human, they did not dare act defiant.

Thanks to that, even while watching maidservants fleeing with shrieks, they could only smack their lips.

After placing Vico and Tavera in front of the central palace to manage the gathering spoils, Shan personally led a dozen men down to the royal vault located beneath the central palace.

The vault door, from which the warehouse keeper had long since fled, was made of magical metal and had high-grade mana stones embedded inside to cast powerful defensive magic.

Even Shan would likely have to exhaust himself and recover hundreds of times over to pierce it with a sword loaded with Fighting Spirit.

“How on earth…… do we open this?”

“Like this.”

Answering briefly to a squire’s muttering question, Shan drew out a well-sealed glass vial from his breast pocket.

When he poured the contents inside onto a small dish next to the door, the door rattled open by itself.

Cheryn, who knew both the location of the royal vault and how to open it, had treated her own blood chemically beforehand so it would not coagulate and handed it over to him.

A vault that could only be opened by the blood of the royal family was a classic yet sure method.

“Ohhh!”

After briefly holding high expectations at the mysterious entrance method, those who stepped inside showed disappointed expressions.

“Uh……”

“Is this the royal vault?”

Contrary to expectations that it would be packed with all sorts of luxurious treasures, the royal vault was filled with what presumed to be empty storage chests everywhere.

Though there were a large quantity of gold coins, a few usable ornaments, and rare magical metals, it fell below expectations in many ways.

Shan relayed the story he had heard from Cheryn as he looked at the puzzled men.

“Originally, there were also many powerful combat magic devices, but she said Conrad had likely given them all to his own knights.”

“Ah……”

“And the gold coins inside were largely spent due to the war.”

There was no way Conrad, who could have opened this door long ago, would have left the items inside untouched.

Though it was said that the most important crown and scepter of the King of Pendia were stolen by Elvin when he fled taking the King along.

After a brief disappointment, Shan and the squires packed the bundles they had brought full of treasures and stepped outside.

Shan in particular hoisted a quantity of treasure far heavier than his own body weight, drawing astonished glanced.

Coming out of the royal palace, a mountain of spoils scraped from the upper floors of the central palace and nearby detached palaces was piled high.

Because he had commanded them to collect only items that were easy to carry and valuable, most were precious metals and magic devices.

Among them, the most abundant were the light source magic devices decorating hallways and banquet halls, which were practically symbols of the Hasra royal palace.

Of course, since Palles had already mass-produced items of similar performance, their value was not enormous, but they were still valuable in that they could save the mana stones consumed in crafting them.

Aside from those, semi-permanently usable censers, plates that warmed food, and trumpets that transmitted sound were gathered, most of which were items already used in Palles as well.

Naturally, this was because Cheryn had referenced items used in the royal palace when crafting magic devices there.

Sorting through the items, Vico and Tavera widened their eyes as they looked at the treasures brought out from the royal vault.

“There’s so much…… Ah, Sir Shan. Give it to me. I will carry it.”

“I wonder if we can take all of this.”

After entrusting the baggage organization to Vico and briefly straightening his back, Shan called over and stopped a semi-horse archer walking past him.

“Hey, you.”

“Yes!”

“What did you put between your legs?”

At Shan’s question, he spoke with an awkward grin.

“Heh, my stuff is a bit big, so…… Whoa.”

Before his excuse even finished, Shan’s sword drew as fast as lightning and slashed through his lower body’s garments.

Thanks to cutting precisely through only his leather trousers, a pointed ornament-like item tucked inside his underwear was revealed.

“I will let it pass with a warning once. If you are caught stealing spoils, I will sever the part you hid it in. Pass this on to the others.”

“U-Understood!”

Those nearby who witnessed the scene fumbled around, pulled items out from various parts of their bodies, and stacked them onto the pile of spoils.

Every single one wafted a strangely musty stench.

While watching the spoils pile up like that, several men walked over waving their hands from a distant detached palace.

Beside them, the beloved horses they rode were pulling baggage wagons.

“Sir Shan! We found the mana stones!”

Five wagons loaded with mana stones, which had originally been Cheryn’s due share.

It seemed that having prepared them, there had been an intention to hand them over if the contract was fulfilled.

Though there had likely been a calculation that they could take them back after the Kingdom of Ajun’s army arrived anyway.

Fortunately, a way to transport the spoils gathered like this was found before long.

It was because several horses and empty baggage wagons were at the stables on the outskirts of the royal palace.

Indulging in the immense luxury of pulling baggage wagons with fine-blooded warhorses raised directly by the royal family, Shan led a dozen-odd wagons toward Hasra’s central main square.

As several hours had already passed, the two groups that had scattered earlier were gathered as well.

“Are things finished on your end as well?”

“Yes. As expected, the capital nobles possessed a great deal. It is to the point of regret that we couldn’t take all weapons and armor due to the sheer weight and had to abandon them!”

Yurk spoke with an excited expression.

True to his words, the cavalrymen following him had loaded their horses’ packs full of all sorts of precious metals.

All of them were spoils obtained by looting the mansions of nobles residing in the capital, specifically those belonging to Conrad’s faction.

Blood stained on the armor of a few among them suggested they had given those who resisted a taste of bitterness.

Though there was also the possibility that they had merely exerted violence on those unable to resist.

“There’s no need to be overly greedy. Conrad’s army will return here soon.”

“Understood. Hey! Everyone, load the spoils onto the baggage wagons!”

While the cavalrymen busily organized the baggage, Shan checked on the other knight’s side.

Beside him stood over a hundred people showing evident signs of fear.

“As instructed, I have brought all the craftsmen, officials, and their direct family members who were on the list!”

The elderly knight shouted in a proud tone.

*

Having finished the plundering, Shan and the cavalry unit departed through Hasra’s north gate, dragging a dozen-odd baggage wagons loaded with vast quantities of mana stones, precious metals, magic devices, and people.

The people who could not fit into the wagons were taken onto the cavalrymen’s own horses.

Of course, heading north was merely to confuse the enemy.

In reality, from the moment the city walls faded from view, they turned right and advanced toward the east.

Though the speed was somewhat slower than when there were only cavalrymen, they would still be able to join Cheryn’s main force in about two days.

“Our new employer sure is fiery.”

“Indeed, looting the royal palace right from the start. It’ll be something worth boasting to the kids about when I return later.”

“Strictly speaking, isn’t it the same as raiding the Grand Chieftain’s tent?”

“Even greater.”

Horais’s semi-horse archers chattered merrily over these results.

People of the steppe, for whom goods were always scarce and stealing from others to feed one’s family was considered a virtue.

To them, an outstanding plunderer meant an outstanding warrior and ruler.

In truth, they inwardly wanted to play with fire excitedly across Hasra as well, but their employers, Cheryn and Shan, did not allow it.

In the long run, Hasra was also property they would have to rule, and there was no need to accumulate unnecessary ill repute.

In contrast, the knights and squires of Palles revealed somewhat complicated emotions on their faces.

Although they had neither a great sense of belonging to the Kingdom of Pendia nor strong loyalty to the royal family, they felt a strange reluctance from the act of looting the royal palace itself.

“Well, anyway, thanks to this, the traitor Conrad’s assets were drained, right?”

“That’s right. Only when those bastards become poor will we be safe!”

They rationalized it awkwardly in that manner, saying that what they looted was not the royal palace, but Conrad’s palace.

At any rate, since a portion of the spoils extorted this time would become their share, it was not as though they were completely displeased.

Meanwhile, the craftsmen, officials, and their families, who had been dragged along as if kidnapped, huddled on the baggage wagons and conversed with anxious faces.

“······To think we would leave our homeland like this.”

“Will a large-scale looting really take place in the capital?”

“Hasn’t it already happened once?”

“Did you seriously think this was a large-scale loot? If it were a real raid, probably half of us here wouldn’t even be alive.”

“We couldn’t hold out and refuse to go anyway. They definitely would have killed us. Those people even looted the royal palace.”

Shan and the cavalrymen had not merely threatened and dragged the craftsmen and officials by force alone.

They had informed them that Conrad, having lost his reinforcements, would soon lose Hasra, and that Elvin’s army taking that place was filled with Ruman soldiers from vicious pirate backgrounds.

One could say they brought them along half by persuasion and half by intimidation, telling them that rather than continuing to suffer in the capital where public order and supplies had been shattered from being tossed around during the civil war, going to Palles, called a paradise, was not bad.

“Let’s set our minds at ease. It’s not like we can run away now anyway. In times like these, if we move without an escort, we’d just become a meal for monsters.”

At the middle-aged blacksmith’s words, everyone nodded with somber expressions.

Though it had originally been a country swarming with monsters, there was no era where the rampage of monsters was as terrifying as nowadays, when villages collapsed from civil war and patrol forces dropped drastically.

Even now, the horse archers escorting and monitoring them shot and killed swarming monsters several times a day.

After moving east for two days like that, they finally located Cheryn’s main force, which had been moving east ahead of them.

“Woah……”

“You’re saying all of that is treasure?”

The army marching ahead opened their eyes wide as the cavalry unit that had left for Hasra returned with a massive quantity of looted goods.

Shan, leading the group at the front, stood before Cheryn, knelt on one knee, and offered a polite salute.

“I have returned, Princess.”

“You have worked hard. What about the people you brought?”

“I have taken good care of them as much as possible.”

Cheryn showed greater interest in the human resources (the craftsmen and officials) than in gold, silver, treasures, or magic devices.

It was because the former could be obtained elsewhere, but the latter were resources that could never be cultivated without spending a long time.

“You have all suffered greatly. It must not have been an easy journey.”

“Y-Yes…… Your Majesty.”

“Thank you for your words, but I am not yet a person to be called such.”

Those who had been groaning with bone-crushing pain from the grueling wagon journey felt deeply moved and humbled by the situation where none other than the Princess herself personally comforted and encouraged them.

“Under my command is Callion, who was once the head of the capital merchant guild. Thanks to him, I know well what kind of treatment you receive in the capital. I promise you, in Palles you will receive far better treatment than now. I promise you gold coins, and peace.”

Cheryn soothed the hearts of the anxious people, demonstrating the image of a benevolent monarch.

People accustomed to Conrad’s coercive rule melted quickly before the soft and gentle demeanor of the Princess.

Furthermore, the fact that after joining Cheryn’s main force they no longer needed to make forced marches on wagons or horses put their minds at ease.

They moved only about twenty kilometers a day at most, and cooked and ate fresh food well-preserved in refrigerators loaded on carts.

A march of this degree was manageable enough even for children to keep up.

“Heh, to use such magic devices in an army……”

“There are already many restaurants in Palles City that use this. The Princess even promised that one day every household will have a refrigerator.”

“My, that really sounds like a lie.”

At the Palles residents’ boasting, the capital natives wondered if it could really be true, yet strangely opened their hearts.

If it was truly a place where such things were abundant, it would be a better place to live than even the capital.

After moving east like that for several days, as they gradually entered the eastern region, Cheryn deployed her troops in all directions in earnest.

Western soldiers spread rumors in each city.

That the traitor Conrad was bringing in plunderers from Ajun, that snow-covered realm.

And the Altoan soldiers visited the villages of their kinsmen who resided in remote and harsh places even within the eastern region.

“Woah……”

The Altoans of the secluded lands wore dazed expressions as they looked upon the army serving under the Witch Princess, of whom they had only vaguely heard rumors.

For Altoans like themselves were wearing armor that was clearly made of no ordinary material (and in a unified style at that) rather than shabby mercenary attire.

“Princess Cheryn employs our Altoan people without discrimination. Starting with Sir Shan Barendil, who is her greatest spear and shield, he himself is an Altoan!”

“How long will you remain holed up here, picking at and eating monster flesh? Gold coins and glory lie before you!”

“……I-I will become a soldier too! What do I need to do!”

Enticed by the cause of saving their kinsmen, cool and powerful armor, and plentiful wages, Altoan youths vied with one another to request becoming Cheryn’s soldiers.

Unlike their own sallow faces from malnutrition, the soldiers’ glowing skin and healthy complexions also added powerful persuasion.

However, it was impossible to accept all of them.

Since they were people living adjacent to the Demonic Realm, their combat capabilities were guaranteed to a certain degree, but a sufficient number had to remain for the villages to be maintained.

The soldiers visiting the eastern Altoan villages selected and recruited the strongest and most agile youths there.

Those who were not selected felt regret and pledged for the future.

Shan, too, did not merely stand still, but ran around here and there to show his face.

Now, even without wielding spears and swords himself, his sheer existence alone could accomplish many things.

“Ohhh, it really is Sir Shan……”

“I heard he was on the shorter side, but he’s bigger than I thought.”

“Kids grow fast, after all.”

“Sir Shan! Please look over here!”

Looking at Shan, the Altoans showed unrestrained goodwill, or even shed tears.

To that extent, Shan’s existence was something miraculous to the eastern Altoans.

Unlike themselves who lived in secluded villages, what could be better for vicarious satisfaction than the fact that a compatriot existed who enjoyed all sorts of glory as a mighty knight?

Although Ravana, who had recently become a knight, had also gained a degree of fame, it was difficult to compare to him.

For many still remembered her as merely a legendary mercenary.

Sweeping through the eastern region like that for several days, Shan arrived at a fairly familiar place.

It was the monastery of Priest Vent, who had explored the Demonic Realm with him, located beside Moniv Village.