Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

Chapter 48

Every single commander here (Its kind of strange to be called a commander at my age but whatever) is bewildered.

Some show a sour expression, some show surprise, but Im pretty sure inside they all thought What the hell is he thinking!?

This situation happened because of an urgent message from the capital. According to that message, Mangold, the eldest son of the deceased Marquis Knop created a huge mess. Id met him for a second so I dont have any good or bad impression of him but now my impression of him has gone toward the very bottom.

Because the mess he created is just too much.

Leading mercenaries to attack Veritza Fortress?? Is he an idiot!?

I agree with the Viscount.

I lashed out and Baron Kretschmer responded without missing a beat. I know that guy must be upset because his uncle took the title of the Marquis but isnt at least half of that his own fault!? It seems like even in this world you cant communicate with idiots.

Count Engelbert, Viscount Kauffeldt, and Count Vogler remained silent but they nodded in agreement. Im sure that everyone else also agreed with me.

Even when his father was fighting with the Marquiss knight, he still got defeated, but now he wants to try to attack the Veritza Fortress only with mercenaries and his close aides? That is nothing but recklessness, said Count Vogler while shaking his head.

But does the royal family not notice his plan?

It seems like he just ran amok without a proper plan. The royal family knows that he exhorted the noble of his faction for money, but they must have thought that he wanted to use that money to negotiate with the royal family regarding the Marquis title, Count Engelbert answered Viscount Kauffeldts question.

Then he used that money to hire an army of mercenaries? Creating an army without the kingdoms permission is treason! The nobles that gave him money must be panicking right now.

The Duke actually crossed his hand and stayed silent while observing us. Thats scarier!

Not to mention, the royal family has many things on their plate.

I guess that is true.

Currently, the royal family is handling 3 projects, guarding the capital against a possible attack from Veritza Fortress, building an aqueduct, and taking care of the refugees. The aqueduct project was squeezed in at the last minute though. The royal family split their manpower to guard the aqueduct construction site, so the number of knights that remained at the capital was unable to stop Mangold. Thats not my fault, right? Or maybe this is the work of the games correction?

Rather than that

Will this incident stimulate the demons in Veritza Fortress to attack the capital?

It might do, Once again, it was Baron Kretschmer that responded to me.

Count Engelbert also nodded with a bitter expression, so I think everyone here is also anxious about that.

While I was thinking like that, the Duke unfolded his hand and gazed at us.

We currently still lack information. But as there is an army of more than 1000 people here, we might be called back to the capital.

Everyone including me nodded.

The Duke then continued, Still, we cannot abandon the refugees, as such we might have to split the army into 2. One will hurry and return to the capital, while one will continue to escort the refugees. 

That should be the best.

After all, if we left the refugees here without any soldiers to maintain them, they might cause trouble.

Its a hard decision. If the capital sends us a message to return, we need to send soldiers to hurriedly return to the capital, while also letting some soldiers continue escorting the refugees. Even the duke looked troubled.

In the end, it was decided that my army which is handling scouting and exterminating the demons and demonic beasts will continue to escort the refugees along with Count Voglers army. I dont have any complaints about this decision. Still, isnt there a bit too much twist in the event!?

Well, thats what happened so I want to hear everyones opinions.

After I returned to my tent, I silently gathered the leaders of the adventurers parties and the chief of mercenaries parties to ask for their opinion. Of course, I told them to keep this incident a secret. At first, everyone was shocked by my story but not long after, several people finally reacted. 

Even if there are some idiots among mercenaries, I dont think anyone will accept that kind of stupid commission.

As an adventurer, my thoughts are the same as yours. Sane adventurers wont accept this kind of reckless commission.

A sane noble also wont give out this kind of reckless commission.

I blurted out, and everyone let out a wry smile. They must feel this incident was so ridiculous that they cant even laugh. Originally, its not a reaction that they will show to a noble like me, but I guess I also never acted like a noble around them.

The whole time weve been traveling, Ive acted carefreely around the adventurers and mercenaries, so the number of people that kept acting respectfully because Im a noble has considerably decreased. Max is still pretty respectful though, probably because thats just his character. I just hope their relaxed attitude toward me is not because they underestimate me.

Anyway

If thats what you both think, I become curious about what kind of people accepted that guys commission. Do any of you guys have an idea?

The first thing that I can think of is people who are willing to do anything for money. Maybe the people from the backstreet.

Backstreet. Thats a softer way to call the slum. No matter which world it is, a slum that many criminals might come from exists. Still

But wont the people of backstreet avoid fighting with demons even more?

Thats what I dont understand. If they are strong enough to accept a commission like this, wont they become adventurers, rather than remain in the slum? While it might be true that becoming a criminal in the slum is easier and will bring more money, becoming an adventurer will make you have more standing in society.

But thats as far as I can speculate with just this. I mean, its not like all people that live in the slums are criminals.

They might not be accompanying him until he reached the fortress.

?

I dont understand what one of the mercenaries chiefs means.

He meant that they might be accompanying him halfway, then abandon him.

Whoa, thats dirty.

I see. Stuff like escorts leaving their clients after they got the money is common, so him being abandoned by the mercenaries halfway is plausible. That wont happen if he properly commissions the mercenaries via guild but he didnt. The people he recruited come from who knows where, so for their character to also be rotten is quite possible. 

But if he really gets abandoned, wont he die? This scenario is still just a possibility though.

I understand. Are there any other possibilities?

Is there any possibility that it was not the mercenaries, but rather the soldiers from other noble houses that followed him? Ask one of the adventurers leaders.

I thought about it a bit, then shook my head.

Thats probably impossible.

Because of the aqueduct construction project and escorting the refugees project, the nobles military forces are currently divided. Thats why I dont think the nobles will lend their already thin military force to Mangold. Plus, the nobles also knew about what happened when I went to the Veritza Fortress before, so they must know that sending their men to the fortress is no different than sending them to death.

They already suffered loss from the demon outbreak incident, so I dont think they take the risk of losing more men.

Though this world used to be a game, its now a reality. In reality, it will take several years to raise even 1 soldier.

Covering the loss of skillful manpower isnt an easy thing. I know exactly how hard it is to work with unqualified personnel. In my past life, I have had the experience of a boss who just hired random people to fill in the spot after a qualified employer quit because he was dissatisfied with the salary Now is not the time to think about that!

By the way, the first training done by soldiers isnt about how to use weapons, but about how to walk. After all, soldiers that cant even arrive at the battlefield are useless. Thats why new recruits will train until they can walk 30 kilometers in 5 hours fully armed. Thats the minimum. Only after that will they train to use weapons. Well, thats not important now. 

Anyway, there are probably no nobles that will lend their men to do a reckless mission like that. Probably. Most certainly. No one will, right? I hope Im right.

After that, I continued to listen to various other opinions, but in the end, we failed to reach the proper conclusion. I guess we dont have enough information.

The problem now is we dont have enough information.

I now realized that there are many different kinds of nobles.

I smiled bitterly at one of the mercenaries words. A noble like me that will merrily drink with the adventurers and mercenaries while sitting around a bonfire is an exception among nobles, but I need to emphasize that a stupid noble like Mangold is also an exception.

I guess theres nothing I can do about mercenaries dislike toward nobles because the nobles constantly look down on them. I need to be careful so that the mercenaries dont dislike me too.

I more or less understand the situation. So what we need to do hasnt changed, right?

Thats right, but be more careful when the army split up.

If the army split up, the defense line against the demons and demonic beasts will get thinner and the pressure we give to control the refugees will also weaken. Because of that, anyone might get nervous. Though all of this still depends on the future situation in the capital. I just hope nothing bad will happen to the capital. It will be good if we can increase the pace of our journey, but thats impossible.

In the worst-case scenario, I might also consider splitting the adventurers and the mercenaries.

T/N: I made a mistranslation about camp, the word I thought to mean the defense formation of the camp actually means encampment so Im going to edit a few chapters.