Chapter 13: Ending the War
Nunemund, 5th day, 217th known year.
Oblivious to his new nickname, he immediately approached Luke and asked him for a few mages. Then, with Luke and the other close combat mages keeping him company, he headed towards the western enemy camp. He had already seen the soldiers he had left alive during the ambush and knew the other camps were probably not yet aware of what had happened.
Although there were two platoons to the west, they were still several kilometers apart and shouldn’t be able to deal with Draego’s assault. The team of seven moved through the forest around Gerud and found the west camp at the same spot as before. They’re really careless. Draego thought to himself, as his mana threads dealt with the lookouts.
With a nod, Luke and the others dispersed into the forest. Draego would give the signal for the attack, at which point the mages would charge in from all directions to eliminate the platoon. Draego didn’t bother to even wait for the others to get into position. He rushed into the camp, easily cutting down the soldiers gathered and made his way to the center of the camp.
A couple of soldiers raised cries of alarms, alerting the other soldiers and rousing them from their rest. In response, Draego took his time collecting mana in his blade. He collected for a long while before letting loose a massive spinning slash, slashing every direction around him. A pale blue ring of mana shot out with him as the center.
Luke and the other mages noticed the massive wave of mana and ducked or leapt to just barely avoid its edge. The around sixty soldiers within the camp were not as lucky. Most were split into two halves, almost all died and the lightest wound was a soldier left legless. The enemy mages, noticing the wave, immediately hugged the floor, saving their lives.
Draego cracked his neck and massaged his shoulder impassively. His gaze was locked onto the Amateur mage. To be fair, he had used over ten spells worth of mana in that one attack. However, the enhancement of his combat skills and his overwhelming control over mana were still there. The Amateur mage trembled as he met Draego’s eyes.
The impassive crimson eyes seemed to look right through him. Draego started stepping towards the Amateur mage, and the Amateur mage shuddered before charging at Draego with his halberd. He let out a loud battlecry as he charged, however any motivating power it had was stifled by his broken and trembling voice.
The mage channeled mana through his body, casting the Body Reinforcement spell. His speed immediately increased, however, Draego simply dismissed him, moving his gaze to his next target. While the Amateur continued for a couple of steps, in half confusion and half relief, several wire-thin mana threads moved into his body.
Draego casually, almost dismissively, ripped off most of the magic within the Amateur mage’s body in a single swipe. The Amateur mage tripped and fell to the floor, where yet another mana thread wrapped itself around his neck and slit it. By the time Luke and the others made their way into the clear, the only remaining survivors had collapsed to their bottoms, shaking and moaning in fear.
They witnessed the miserable end of the enemy Amateur mage, and had exactly the same thought. Thank the Devil he’s on our side! At the same time, Luke remembered the night he was about to confront this young lad and trembled in fear. I must thank her ladyship afterwards. He made a mental note.
On the other hand, Draego couldn’t be in higher spirits. He already found his mana pool having expanded to his nineteenth spell. Expanding one’s mana pool was not as linear as it seemed. The first spell amount took a comparatively small amount of mana, but every spell thereafter would take a lot more mana.
This was because an increase in the spell capacity was not only an increase in the number of spells, but also in their strength. Furthermore, every amount of mana gained would also circulate through one’s body, making its muscles and bones stronger. As such, a mage a class above was generally much stronger than one below.
The fact that Draego matched an Amateur mage despite being a Class 4 Novice, was practically unprecedented. He started walking towards one of the two Novice mages. The mage trembled and started muttering in terror as she clawed the ground, trying to drag herself away. Draego was about to give up on her when she suddenly started channeling mana through her body.
Draego’s crimson eyes brightened ever so slightly with joy. However, his impassive expression made even this glint seem more like a sign of him noticing something he didn’t like. Immediately, the other mage froze. At the same time, Draego’s mana threads penetrated the Novice mage’s body and latched onto the channels of mana, siphoning vast amounts of mana.
Unfortunately, the mage dispersed most of her mana into the air in fear. What a waste. Draego thought to himself, as the light in his eyes died, making him seem angry. He waved his hands and the threads left painful cuts around the mage’s legs, keeping her from walking or running away. He started walking towards the last survivor, the maimed soldier having died from blood loss.
The mage started trembling again and started looking around frantically before finding his dagger. Draego stopped for a moment, wondering if the mage planned on fighting. However, much to his chagrin, the mage immediately plunged his dagger into his own chest. Blood started surging out and the mage let out several screams of pain.
Draego walked over impassively and lopped his head off, ending his suffering. Choosing death over a pathetic end is somewhat commendable, I guess? Draego thought to himself before turning towards Luke and his group of mages. He gestured generally at the fallen bodies around him.
“Loot them,” He said impassively. “Take the loot back to the village, then come to the bridge.”
“Yes sir!” The six mages gave Draego a perfect salute, completely forgetting that two of them were actually higher ranked than him as mages. No one even thought about raising the complaint that mages shouldn’t be made to do something as lowly as looting corpses. After all, what use was social standing for a corpse?
Draego left them to do the work he had ‘assigned’ them, and headed for the bridge. Once again, he saw well over fifty soldiers, along with two mages. However, they were both Novices and Draego had already replenished the magic he had used up in his fight earlier by absorbing the Amateur mage’s mana.
Without wasting any time, Draego rushed directly to the two mages. By the time his approach was sounded and the mages got up, Draego’s sword was already glowing pale blue. As soon as he reached the two mages, he slashed at them. The mages tried, belatedly, to channel their mana as they moved backwards to avoid the sword.
Unfortunately, that sent them off balance, and Draego used the same move he had used back at the western camp. A pale blue ring spread out from him, dispersing some ten or so meters out. All the soldiers within that radius were sliced into halves, top and bottom. That radius also happened to be a meter beyond the furthest soldier’s position.
Draego corrected his stance, flicked his sword to drain any blood from it, and sheathed it again to the sheathe on his waist. As he did, the soldiers fell in an outward ring around him. Without a word or a change in expression, Draego turned around and started walking down the road towards Gerud.
There was only one platoon remaining. The defenders could win this without any further help from him. In fact, if they couldn’t, they should stop calling themselves soldiers. When he made his appearance at the west gate, the lookouts were left bewildered. Surprisingly, he had arrived at roughly the same time as Luke and his mages.
Luke and the others had lugged in a platoon’s worth of loot from the gate just moments ago, and the guards were busy scuttling about, taking inventory. Once again, Trisha, who was supposed to be on break, was the one running about sorting things out. Hasn’t she been working since last night? Draego thought to himself as he saw her.
Oh, him too. He added another thought as he saw the man always with Trisha rush about carrying heavy objects. A suspicion floated in Draego’s mind, and he sent a few mana threads at the man. Almost immediately, the man dropped the things he was carrying and placed his hand on the sword, looking about nervously.
“Oi!” Trisha shouted from the other end of the plaza. “Don’t drop those, you slacker!”
Draego felt apologetic towards the man who stopped because of him, but with this, he confirmed his suspicions. The man was a mage pretending to be a regular soldier. Draego didn’t even need to think to figure out why he was hiding his strength. He let out several threads of mana, picking the fallen things and placed them back in the box.
“Sorry for startling you,” Draego said impassively, interrupting Trisha’s rebuke. “I lost control for a bit there.”
“I-it’s not a problem, sir!” The man responded immediately, scratching his cheeks. Although Trisha was nervous too, seeing Draego step in, she was evidently nervous for a different reason. Turning around, and not saying a word, Draego drew an ‘I know’ on the man’s back with mana before giving him a glance as he headed towards the inn.
The man made a wry smile as he saw Draego’s figure walk into the distance. Today was probably the second time he had seen the almost legendary figure in person, and just had his secret unveiled casually. Furthermore, it was obvious that even his reasons and the like had been revealed just as easily.
“So cool…” He heard Trisha say next to him. “He picked up all those things in an instant without even moving his hands…”
“He is cool, isn’t he?” The man replied with a proud grin.
“Huh?” Trisha made a disgusted expression. “Why’re you being so smug, you lazy fatso! You have nothing to do with him.”
“I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time now,” The man started, patting his perfectly flat stomach with an aggrieved expression. “But that’s no way to talk to a superior, y’know! You could get reported for insubordination!”
“I’d rather die than treat you as my superior!” Trisha shot back with a glare. The man sighed despondently before picking up the box full of weapons that Draego collected and going about his own way. Trisha raised an eyebrow at the man’s actions. Usually, he’d just sulk after a fight and refuse to do any work. As was his right.
Draego reached the inn at about three in the afternoon. Almost as soon as he entered the inn, he found the Dragonhands seated on one of the tables, with playing cards in their hands. Seeing him, they rose and gave a quick salute, before immediately crashing to their chairs and returning to their game.
Draego pulled a chair and sat down at the same table, putting his legs on the opposite side of where the others were playing. He rested his back on the backrest of the chair and closed his eyes. The atmosphere had little mana and wasn’t too good for mana pool expansion, but that didn’t matter to Draego.
His incredibly thin yet strong mana threads floated through the atmospheric mana high into the sky. Able to control far thinner threads than before meant he could elongate them too. He curled them from the great height itself before retrieving them all, expanding his mana pool ever so slightly.
The entire process was quite long and inefficient, but it was still something and better than just dozing off. To top it off, Draego was in a hurry to return to Jerory and Sylphia, although he had been trying to keep his mind off of it. Expanding his mana pool gave his mind a distraction from such thoughts. Just when he had completed a couple of cycles, Luke entered the inn.
“Sir Commander Draego?” He called out politely. Draego opened his eyes and nodded, taking his legs off of the table. Stephanie and the others, in the meantime, looked at Luke quizzically.
“He just said ‘Sir Commander’, didn’t he?” A girl murmured to the one next to her. The other nodded.
“It seems he has finally realized how amazing Commander is.” She said proudly.
“You’re one to talk.” A boy retorted with a wry smile. The girl’s face flushed with embarrassment at those words and she reached out to pinch the boy’s side. Draego ignored the words and flirting and made his way over to Luke.
“Her ladyship requests your honorable presence.” Luke said, with a polite bow. Draego looked at him impassively. Stephanie stifled a bark of laughter. The other soldiers just looked at their second-in-command with surprised and quizzical expressions.
“Lead on.” He said. Luke nodded, raised his head, turned and started walking towards the administrative building, which had become a makeshift command center. Oh, she’s back? Draego thought to himself as he reached the room where he first truly conversed with Cessa.
“Milady,” Luke said after knocking politely on the door. “I’ve brought Sir Commander Draego.”
“… Yeah, enter.” Cessa said casually, her voice tinged with confusion. Luke opened the door and politely ushered Draego before him, treating him completely like a noble. Cessa’s eyebrows shot up seeing this, and an amused smile planted itself on her lips. Draego walked into the room casually, followed by Luke.
“You may leave, Luke.” Cessa said after a brief moment.
“Inquire about that soldier who’s always with Trisha,” Draego started before Luke could give an acknowledgement. “And ask both of them to wait for me at the inn, by the way.”
Luke gave a fluid salute and left the room. The two inside the room heard hurried footsteps immediately afterwards. Apparently Luke was in a hurry to leave. Cessa broke into laughter and shook her head.
“What’s gotten into him?” She asked. “He’s treating you like you’ll rip his head off if he makes the slightest mistake.”
“I don’t know why he’s like that,” Draego shrugged. “But I like it, so I’m planning on continuing this way.”
Cessa let out another bark of laughter. Draego looked at her briefly before taking his place on a chair in front of her.
“So,” Draego started. “You called for me?”
“Yeah,” Cessa said, still smiling. “The last platoon surrendered. Their leader came to the village himself, along with the other soldiers, hands high in the air. Then, they dropped all weapons and dropped to the floor. Their leader said something about demons, farmers and harvesting soldiers like wheat. Any idea what that’s about?”
“Well,” Draego shrugged and said impassively. “I might have dealt with the remaining platoons in a bit of a rush after the ambush at the fort.”
Cessa broke into yet another fit of laughter, evidently in a good mood.
“You’re a riot.” She said between laughs. “With a platoon having surrendered and nearly five hundred dead enemies, we’ve won the war. Overwhelmingly. And I made a few quick calculations with Luke’s help to figure out the part you and your Dragonhands played in it.”
“… And how much is it?” Draego asked after a while.
“I can’t tell exactly,” Cessa started as she picked up a sheet of paper. “But, over three hundred and fifty soldiers killed directly, assisted in killing about a hundred more, twenty one Novice mages killed directly, assistance for another twelve, and six Amateur mages killed directly with another four assists.”
Draego reminisced on the numbers for a while.
“That’s pretty accurate for ‘I can’t tell exactly’.” Draego replied. Cessa smiled wryly and shook her head.
“I’m talking about the number of regular soldiers.” She said, “Your Dragonhands were quite good with their bow, but I couldn’t add their numbers in here.”
“… That small number doesn’t matter.” Draego shrugged. “Put them as contributions of Chase household’s soldiers, my mercenaries are paid based on salary anyway.”
Cessa nodded with a smile, which turned wry very quickly.
“Finally, it’s about your rewards.” Cessa said, her voice somewhat hesitant. “What rate do you plan on charging?”
“I planned on simply charging fifty Iridis per soldier slain,” Draego started. “four times as much for a Novice mage, and four times that for an Amateur mage. Half the values for any assists.”
Cessa swallowed. To be honest, his price was actually less than expected, yet the charge was still immense. 22,500 for the soldiers, 5,400 for the Novices and 6,400 for the Amateurs. The total is 34,300 Iridis. Cessa sighed. With the armor and weapons they looted, they barely managed to earn a bit below 50,000.
Add to the expenditure the bonuses and promotions for the soldiers who did well, and their costs would sky-rocket. Add on top of that the high-priced supplies they had to buy, and the costs for repair, and their profits were negligible. In fact, Cessa doubted she had the cash in hand to pay Draego for his services.
“However,” Draego started. “I had a better idea.”
Cessa arched an eyebrow. To be fair, Draego’s price of asking for fifty Iridis per kill was not actually overt in any sense. In fact, most mercenaries would charge around eighty, with some of the elites charging over a hundred per kill. Taking that into account, Draego’s charge was already rather generous.
“Your idea is?” She asked.
“You have a slightly understaffed fort,” Draego replied. “I’m planning on recruiting a few more soldiers from the capital. Once I do, I’ll need a base of operations.”
“You’d like to have the fort to yourself?” Cessa asked. Draego nodded.
“The Chase household will provide for a portion of the fort’s staff.” He replied. “Which will eventually withdraw back to Gerud as the corps expands.”
“Oh…” Cessa smiled. Although he called it a talk regarding rewards, this was more of a friend lending a hand in a time of need, rather than a mercenary group being hired in a crisis. “And how much would you deduct for this exclusive rental contract?”
“Ten thousand.” Draego replied. Cessa nodded.
“Deal.” She replied almost immediately. In fact, even if Draego had said a thousand Iridis, she’d have agreed. The Dragonhand mercenary group, or rather, Draego, was worth every Iridis of it. Especially if they were allowed to fester a long-term relationship with each other, she believed that this deal would pay a lot more than thirty thousand Iridis.
The two shook hands before Draego took his prompt leave. Cessa went back to collating and sorting through reports to double check contributions, while Draego headed back towards the inn.