Chapter 9

“Marquis Charles?”

“Marquis Charles is the eldest son of the Duke of St. Hilde, the first-in-line heir…”

“Nonsense! Of course I know who Marquis Charles is, but why would his knights appear here? And why is he recruiting us so urgently?”

“Isn’t Marquis Charles fighting with the trolls at the border? Are we going to the border?”

“How is that possible? This place is so far from the border. Even if it’s an emergency call-up, he wouldn’t come here to recruit soldiers. And look, the call-up order clearly states that we are to gather at Mirror Lake in two days.”

“Where is Mirror Lake?”

“It’s not far from here. Follow this small river to the north for more than 50 kilometers, and we will probably reach it.”

“Then should we go?”

“I don’t want to go to the battlefield!”

“But… but this is the emergency conscription order of the St. Hilde Family!”

“But it’s not personally signed by the duke.”

“Isn’t Marquis Charles going to be the duke of the Northern Territory in the future?”

“That will have to wait until he actually inherits the title of Duke… Besides, I don’t want to die!”

“It’s not necessarily going to be death. Maybe this is a good opportunity to make a contribution.”

“Ha, idiot!”

“Who are you scolding?”

“What if I scold you?!”

…

When Saru brought the emergency conscription order of Marquis Charles back to the camp, everyone immediately went into an uproar.

Some agreed, some opposed, and there was a big argument.

This situation arose because the emergency conscription order came from Marquis Charles, not his father, the lord of the northern territory, the Duke of Saint Hilde.

The title of Marquis Charles of St. Hilde was an empty title. There was no actual weight to it. It was just a confirmation of the first line of succession. It was somewhat similar to the position of the crown prince in ancient China.

However, although the crown prince’s identity was noble, he was not the emperor after all.

Therefore, if it was the Duke of St. Hilde who issued the emergency conscription order, no northerner who received the order would dare to resist.

However, if it was Marquis Charles who issued the emergency conscription order…

One could see the instability of the Firefox mercenary group, which was now in a heated argument.

“Enough! All of you, shut up!” Saru shouted irritably, stopping his subordinates from arguing.

Then, he turned to Oliver and asked, “Does Marquis Charles have the power to issue an emergency conscription order?”

“I remember that Marquis Charles doesn’t have the power to…” Oliver was a little uncertain. He turned to Colin and asked for help, “Knight Kahn, am I right?”

“According to the law, Marquis Charles indeed doesn’t have the power.” Colin searched the memories in his mind. “However, there has been a similar precedent in the history of the Northern Territory.”

Oliver’s face, which had just recovered, instantly darkened again.

He absolutely did not want the Firefox mercenary group to be urgently recruited at this time.

Without the escort of the mercenary group, his caravan would be like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. It was impossible to safely arrive at Fallen Eagle City.

“Then, leader Saru…” Oliver’s tone was a little conflicted. “Are you ready to accept this recruitment order?”

Saru’s brows were tightly knitted together. Obviously, he was also very dissatisfied with this emergency conscription order. After thinking for a while, he slowly shook his head and said, “No.”

As soon as he said this, Oliver’s face immediately showed joy, but the mercenary leaders behind Saru immediately exploded.

“Captain, you can’t outright refuse Marquis Charles’ conscription order like this!”

“Yeah! The Saint Hilde family won’t let this go!”

“And that group of cavalry… I doubt they have a problem killing people!”

Saru suddenly turned around and fiercely glanced at the noisy mercenaries behind him.

The scene instantly became quiet again.

“Do you know what we will face if we accept this conscription order and head to Mirror Lake?”

Hearing Captain Saru’s question, the mercenary leaders looked at each other and replied, “We should be preparing for war. Although it is dangerous, it is better than disobeying the order of the Saint Hilde family.”

“War?” Saru sneered, “We are going to die!”

“What?”

“Captain, why?”

“War doesn’t necessarily mean death. Besides, if we win, we might get some military merits…”

“You’re dreaming!” Saru mercilessly interrupted his subordinates’ delusions. “Think carefully! Why did Marquis Charles’ army appear at Mirror Lake?”

The mercenaries looked at each other.

Colin’s eyes flickered as he understood Saru’s meaning.

Oliver directly shouted, “That’s right! I also suspect that Marquis Charles was defeated at Mirror Lake!”

“What?”

“How is this possible?”

“How can the Marquis lose?”

The mercenaries expressed their disbelief.

It was not their fault for trusting Marquis Charles so blindly.

In recent decades, the trolls were completely suppressed by the northern army.

Five years ago, even the trolls’ royal court was forced to move north under the threat of the northern army. A large area in the southern part of the firmament ice field had nearly become the hunting ground of the northern army.

If it were not for the harsh climate on the ice field, which was not suitable for growing crops and building manors and castles, the territory of the northern front would probably have extended further northward.

Under such circumstances, no proud northerner would have thought that the Saint Hilde family would actually lose the war.

However, when they thought about it carefully, Saru and Oliver’s guess was very reasonable.

In recent months, there had been no good news from the front line. Instead, a few towns at the border had been broken through one after another, and several families had lost their fiefdoms.

At first, everyone thought that it was just a desperate troll who sent a small force to bypass the front line and enter the Northern Territory to attack.

Although the private armies of several families had been temporarily pushed back, as long as Marquis Charles led the main northern army to return, they would be able to wipe out the invading troll army and recover the lost land.

But now it seemed that this might not be the case.

Because Marquis Charles’ army had already appeared at Mirror Lake…

That place was no longer considered a border, but a hinterland.

In the memories of this generation of northerners, trolls had never had the ability to go deep into this place.

Most of the mercenaries fell silent. It was obvious that they were afraid.

Though there were also people who did not think much of it. They encouraged him, “Even so, we can go to Mirror Lake and help Marquis Charles defeat the invading trolls…”

“Idiot!” Saru snapped, “You still want to turn the tide when the army is defeated? With just us mercenaries who were urgently recruited?”

“It’s not just us. The mercenary groups nearby must have received the urgent recruitment order…”

“They’re just a bunch of cannon fodder!” Saru knew very well what kind of people his subordinates were.

These guys could accidentally kill their own people when they were fighting with the bandits. It was a bit of a compliment to say that they were a ragtag group.

They still wanted to go to the battlefield and fight with the regular army?

They were really courting death!

Saru finally made up his mind. He ignored the objections of his subordinates and resolutely turned around, walking toward the cavalrymen of the Saint Hilde family.

The knights looked at each other after Saru left.

Colin suddenly realized that his father, Baron Angele, had not written to him for several months.

It seemed like something was wrong.

It seemed like someone was trying to block the news from the front line.

Was the situation at the front line really bad?

“How dare you reject the Marquis’ order?” The leader of the knights of the Saint Hilde family shouted angrily.

“Sir Knight, I just want to know…”

“Enough! Rejecting an emergency conscription order is treason!” The knight rudely interrupted Saru’s explanation, he said to the members of the Firefox mercenary group who were gathered in front of him, “Anyone who kills this traitor will receive the rank of centurion immediately!”

“Hua!”

The mercenaries instantly burst into an uproar.

Some were filled with righteous indignation, some sneered disdainfully, but there were also some whose eyes flickered with greed.

“Sir Knight!” Saru did not even turn his head and confidently showed his back to the people behind him, he continued, “I respect the Saint Hilde family and Marquis Charles, but we also have the right to know what kind of situation we’re heading into…”

Saru stopped halfway.

Because a long sword pierced his chest.

“Pfft!” Saru spat out blood and tried to turn his head.

When he saw the face of the young man behind him, the expression on his face suddenly became perplexed.

“Thud!”

The body fell to the ground.

“Very good!” The knight on the horse nodded with satisfaction and looked at the young man holding the blood-dripping sword. “Tell me your name.”

“Respected knight, my name is Sal.”

“Sal? What’s your relationship with this Saru?”

“He is my father, respected knight.”