"When are you going to get the Elemental Artifact?"
The form of the high elves does not have the grace that is unique to this race, and the surrounding storms show his anxiety.
"When will you go to the Dragon Realm? The elders are all waiting, you should read the information."
This time, it wasn't the smiling brass dragon who always came to urge me, but the indifferent blue dragon Yi Wenli surprised others.
"...Your Highness, when will the Earth Elemental Throne be restored?"
The Great Stoneshaper was also a little anxious. In a sense, when she learned that she was the most preferred candidate for the Earth Elemental Throne, her emotions were always in a state of excitement.
"Wait, how can I open the boss if there are different people."
Yes, I'm not a trio of Lady Snakes who paid for themselves. Since they have learned from the surrounding intelligence how outrageous the opponent they are going to face, how can they start an expedition to another world when their combat strength is insufficient.
"Perhaps, this is the real jihad-level test."
This time, I have also made a lot of money. Judging from the strength of the battle, I have come out of the nest, and there are many people who come, but through the reorganization, they are divided into three categories.
First of all, the royal knights of the Land of Lan in the past, the immortal undead warriors, with a total number of nearly 25,000, are the knights I trust most, and their combat power is also the strongest. Among them, there is no one who has reached the level of heroic spirit. Few, always my strongest trump card.
Due to the trouble caused by the identity of the undead, only about 2,000 of them were active on the surface. They participated in the organization and construction of the Lan Alliance. Some served as instructors and head of the various battle groups in Donglan, and some were in the West of the Undead Kingdom. During the Lan Empire activities, they are trying to rebuild the Eternal Night Legion. Of course, unlike the chaotic undead lord alliance, this time, it is my own legion.
Their battle flag is the traditional battle flag of Lan, which is not only a trace of the past, but also represents the glory of inheritance. The immortals will warn with blood and fire what is called the glory of warriors and the knights of immortality.
Although this power is the strongest trump card in my hand, it is also the most inconvenient to use. Just summoning it can arouse the high vigilance of countless countries.
Therefore, most of the members can only sharpen their combat skills in the underground world, but recently they have added another responsibility, that is, to sharpen and train newcomers, and inherit not only combat skills and abilities, but even honor and inherited.
And this time, through the giant gate and the newly completed Greedy Wolf No. 1, I gathered 6,000 undead knights, and along the way, let the two magic bone warships surrounded by black mist pass through various countries, relying on Bayer. face and guarantee.
And if the "Crimson Hound" is the most inconvenient but most trustworthy power in my hands, the following combat power is probably the most convenient to use but the least trustworthy power.
"Oh, why did you add two eggs and a chicken leg to lunch today?"
"Don't you know? To celebrate the official establishment of the Beidi Lan family, we will add a meal for lunch today, and each person will add a bottle of ale for dinner."
"... Has His Royal Highness Roland finally made up his mind? Wait, isn't this a super happy event? The celebration banquet and revival ceremony? Our boss is a living legend. As long as he speaks, the superpowers should also send people, right? Is it a formal ceremony? Delayed?"
Generally speaking, the revival and establishment of a family is the number one event. It is easy to invite guests all over the place. It is not uncommon to celebrate one year in a row and spend three years of territorial taxes.
This is not only for face, but also to show the family's connections and heritage.
"No, lunch and dinner is just a celebration. His Royal Highness Roland said that he has been busy with business recently, and his career is the most important thing. If you can save virtual gifts, is that enough?"
"...Why do I think he is troublesome."
"... I think so too. After all, he is the eldest of our family, so he is different. However, some things have not been omitted. You know the fifth eldest in the Eston family."
"That lame fifth? Didn't he quit the second line when he lost his foot in the Northern Orc War? His second child also died in the meat grinder battle, which is really tragic."
"...His Royal Highness Roland made him a knight, at least he won't have to worry about starving to death in this life."
"I'm so lucky, His Royal Highness Roland has begun to confer knights? Great, do we have any hope? Forget it, we are only bronze-ranked warriors, and it's not our turn. I didn't say it."
According to the practice on the mainland, it is generally possible to confer the lowest knight rank, and at least the silver rank, which is often impossible for ordinary people to work hard for a lifetime.
"His Royal Highness Roland is different from others. He doesn't care about strength, but his achievements. The first batch consisted of thirty people, and there were sixteen in our mercenary group! All of them were first-class military exploits, and they played in the Titan mecha that day. It's all about self-destruction. We only have a third-class military exploit, so don't count on it this time."
"But at least there is hope! Ah, the fifth is really good, even if you can't go to the battlefield in the future, you can eat this title for a lifetime in the future."
"Hmph, don't underestimate the lame fifth. If he is as ruthless as you, how can he win the Bloody Night Medal. The old guy is now urging the goblins from the Mechanical Branch of the Demon Research Institute every day, forcing them to take out Come with a prosthesis with a barrel, the old guy didn't plan to be a knight to the end, he still wanted his son to be a knight master."
The lowest ranks of knights have no right of inheritance, and they can inherit when they reach the baron, but if they do not make military exploits, they will be demoted, so generally speaking, the baron is the real noble class recognized by the public.
A small knighthood, even if you get lucky, there will be at most 30 or 50 households in a village. Maybe this is not worth mentioning for the strong, but for the mercenaries who are bloody, it is a lifetime expectation.
Yes, it is a mercenary, a mercenary from the Absolute Gentlemen Alliance of the super mercenary group.
Although I wanted to talk to them about the common ideal and the beautiful dream of saving the world, and the long dark night to come, but for them, the ideal is the extravagant hope of a nobleman who does not have to worry about his stomach, a stable income and The opportunity to become a noble will be a lifelong dream pursuit.
As for the end? If you don’t have enough food or suffer fatal injuries, and you don’t have enough money for retirement after being disabled, every day is the end of the day.
"Mercenaries are untrustworthy."
This is the general view of countries about these guys who do things with money, and in most cases, they are not wrong.
As mercenaries who fight with money, they must think about their future. If they fight to the death or become disabled, their past savings will not be enough to support them in the second half of their lives. As a warrior on the battlefield, lack of will to fight is absolute. The Knights can achieve a 70% battle loss rate and still stick to it. These guys who take money to do things will collapse at 10% battle loss. If they rely too much, they will become the weakness of the army.
"Even if the fighting strength is strong, it cannot be returned with trust and expectations."
And since you take money to do things, if there is a higher price on the opposite side, there are many examples of betrayal by the whole group. As for the betrayal and bribe of individual characters, it is even easier. Therefore, for large-scale wars, those war mercenary groups even get With permission to participate in the war, they often only act as cannon fodder.
This is the mercenary, the battlefield vultures who fight for profit. They are not bound by the knight's creed. They are more realistic than anything else, but as long as they are given enough bait, they will become fierce poodles again.
And general mercenary groups will not take on battlefield missions with a high mortality rate, but some battlefield mercenary groups still choose to cruise on the cliff border even if they act as battlefield cannon fodder, except because this kind of battlefield mission is not only highly rewarding In addition, it is more that if it is appreciated by a big noble, it will be acquired as a whole.
If you become a private soldier of a big noble, the high-level mercenary group will have the opportunity to become a noble, and ordinary soldiers will also become regular soldiers, at least there are military salaries and pensions in case of disability or death in battle.
But this absolute gentleman mercenary alliance is slightly different from the ordinary mercenary group.
Intentionally planting trees and not living, inadvertently planting willows and willows for shade, this mercenary group established as a joke has become stronger and stronger in recent years.
The head of the mercenary group is me, and it can be called my disciple. The fighting will and loyalty are far superior to ordinary private soldiers.
With the expansion of the scope of activities of the Absolute Gentlemen's Alliance of the Mercenary Group, with the strong support of the northern countries, the mercenary group with the northern land as the core of its activities has offices in more than 30 countries, and even has offices in various countries. Seventeen large sub-groups, and the total number of registered mercenaries has exceeded 300,000.
More than 70% of the mercenaries are from Donglan and Siluwei. It can be said that more than 80% of the members are from the Lan tribe. They are willing to join this mercenary group, not only because of the good treatment and reputation of this mercenary group, but also More, I still trust me as the head of the mercenary team, thinking that I will give them a bright future.
And in the past wars, they have performed really well. Whether it is the flesh and blood battlefield of the northern orc battle, or the successive battles in the south, they have shown enough loyalty and ability.
But as mercenaries, they naturally have their own expectations, hoping that they can get a bright future, get rich rewards, and get the opportunity to return to their hometown.
Of course, this super-large mercenary group is also hierarchical, and the outsiders only ask for ability and a clean reputation, but to a certain extent, the backbone battle group is always the core.
For soldiers who have shown sufficient ability and loyalty in the past, the mercenary group will sign a long contract of 20, 30, and 50 years with them. Thinking about the future sucks, and while getting paid and guaranteed, they also reciprocate the responsibilities and demands of the long-term contract.
In fact, these mercenaries who got a long-term contract called a "lifetime contract" did not regard themselves as mercenaries in their words and deeds.
"We are all soldiers of His Royal Highness Roland, it's just that it is not convenient to form a battle group now."
"In any case, they are all soldiers of His Royal Highness. There are some things that should be paid attention to, at least not to stain that battle flag."
Now the canonization of knights and the erection of the Lan family flag seem to have verified this statement, so there are already countless mercenaries who have applied for long-term contracts within the mercenary group.
And now, when the news of my decision to rebuild the Lan family in the North came out, in just three days, nearly 20,000 more applications were added to join the group, and when I was canonized from the mercenary group After the news of the sixteen knights came out, there were more than 50,000 new applications for joining the group.
In a sense, without a fief, I am not a king and I am not loyal to a certain lord, so I cannot be regarded as a pure fief aristocrat, nor do I have the right to be a knight. , ignoring this most basic aristocratic convention.
Of course, I won't say empty words. The knights I canonized will be recognized by the countries of the North, and after they have made enough merits to become fief nobles, I will also find a way to get their territories (as long as the barons and above have It is possible to obtain territory, but generally only the earl of military merit has it, and the success rate is extremely low).
The 5,600 long-term contract mercenaries brought by the Northern Lights this time seem not many, but being able to sign a long-term contract through numerous tests has proved their ability and loyalty, and their average strength has reached an astonishing bronze. High-ranking, in a sense, they are indeed my backbone private soldiers.
The development of the situation to this point may have proved the role of fame and orthodoxy from one side. It has filled the streets and alleys, and even the vendors on the corners can say, "How does His Royal Highness Roland use the name of the mercenary group to call on the warriors who yearn for the battle flag of Arashi.", "How do the royal families of the two countries deal with this kind of digging. I hate it, but I can do nothing." "Among those mercenaries, there are not only the Four Spirit Swordsmen and the Magic Bullet Shooters, but also the Aurora Knights. How could these ace troops be wild? It's obvious that they dare to call themselves mercenaries."
In fact, I was really just going to make a joke at the time. I didn't even manage the development of the mercenary group for a long time, and I can get to this point, except for the few guys who can't be defeated. If the guys are really strong enough , perhaps it was simply the trust of the Lan people in that dilapidated battle flag.
"He is our Highness and he will lead us to a better day."
"Well, it was he who came to let us spend the most comfortable winter in the past 50 years. No one died from freezing on the streets this year, and those who moved to other places also returned to their homeland."
It would be a joke to say that just relying on the reputation of the past and the so-called orthodoxy of the Lan family, I can attract so many people from the Lan family to fight for me, but the honor and trust accumulated by the Lan family in the north for more than two thousand years has not It is my heaviest wealth, but it is also a burden that weighs my breath.
"...Let's not talk about the mercenary group. If you open a circus in your own name and that battle flag, it will be crowded by the Lan people. If you don't believe me, ask your undead knights. They have already done it. Asking 'why', only asking 'what' is stupid."
Facing Heloise's teasing, I didn't know how to answer. I knew that she was telling the truth.
As for their trust, the only thing I can repay, the unsustainable prince of my family, seems to be to lead them through this final catastrophe.
"Maybe the days ahead will be tough, but at least...at least we'll be together."
Maybe in the eyes of outsiders they are still just mercenaries, but these young lives who have entrusted themselves to me are already part of my body.
The flag of the League of Absolute Gentlemen is a black prom mask. As for the symbolic meaning, there are already countless theories on the market, but I used this only because I wanted to remind the bastards who have become the leaders of the mercenary group. "Remember to wear a mask when doing bad things, I don't want to go to the guard station to pick up someone."
As for "looking at the light in the dark night", "the enlightened person who has lost everything", "the night ranger who doesn't need a face", etc., it is obviously just their excessive explanation.
In addition to the "Crimson Hound" and the "Gentlemen's Union", the third largest organization is the Magic Mechanics Institute and the Schindler Chamber of Commerce.
They are not only the dawn of the new era, but also the logistics department of the forces of Lan that are gradually forming a group. Among them, they are not only researchers, but the four spirit swordsmen, magic bullet shooters, great engineers, and great alchemists are all real. real combat power.
Aurora Borealis, Greed Wolf, Jumen, three super battleships, six medium-sized battleships, three-digit small gunboats, a total combat strength of 13,000 people, 67 great engineers above the golden rank, engineering and alchemy There are 427 experts and countless weapons of war, which is enough to start a small war on the scale of a small country.
Of course, after paying so much, what I expect to get is even more... even I myself feel too greedy.
"I think if those giant dragons knew your plan, they would definitely find a way to kill you. Since they have the idea of taking their most precious treasure, are they considered thieves?"
"...I think so too, but when they know, my goal should have been achieved. Besides, this level of treasure is a waste for them, so let me make the best use of it. After all... "
"… Winter is coming?"
I shook my head. In the case of cold winter, it sounds like spring is not far away, but I flipped through the schedule, but it seemed that there was no sign of spring coming, and my time was running out.
"...If you really want to describe it, it's probably only the end of the world. However, it's already so much better than in 'history'. At least, this time we still have hope, as long as my plan can be realized."
"So, how sure are you of your plans."
"I would love to say 100%, but unfortunately 10% is too many."
"But at least it's not all hopeless."
Looking at the newly sprouted trees outside the window seems to be a rare good omen.
"Yeah, at least it's not hopeless. Our goal this time is to create our own hope and make life easier in the future."
"Are you afraid of destroying other people's hopes?"
"certainly."