LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 95
Chapter 95
A few days later, at the mining village.
Heeheeheeheeing─! Heeheeheeheeing─!
With the horses’ neighing, a knightly order of a certain house made its appearance at the entrance of the village.
They swiftly took over the entrance and proclaimed loudly,
“Make way for the Earl of Eir! Come out and pay your respects!”
It was the Earl of Eir himself, the lord of the closest domain to the mining village, who had arrived.
Mounted on his horse, the Earl of Eir waved his hand greedily towards his knights.
Following his gesture, the knights, lined up in the rear, began to march into the village with disciplined steps.
Their intent was clear: to bring out the village chief and use him as a guide.
But at that moment, others blocked the path of the knightly order.
“Where do you think you’re going so carelessly?”
“Were we not here first?”
“Mind your manners and wait your turn.”
The men confronting the knights were clad in black leather armor, contrasting with the knights’ gleaming metal.
At the forefront stood a man, unlike the others, his torso covered in scars, exposed for all to see.
The Earl of Eir frowned and shouted at the man,
“Who are you! This land belongs to the Eir domain. By divine decree, the rights to this mine are mine!”
“Oh, this is why I detest talking with nobles.”
The man, clearly annoyed, retorted to the Earl’s claim,
“Even if your brain is muddled with greed, do you now claim neutral territories as your own? Is that your so-called divine decree?”
Indeed, the mining village was closely linked to the Eir domain, but it was not officially part of it.
This was a fact known only to the nobles around the mining village.
Territories were often vaguely marked.
Hence, maps were frequently mislabeled, and unless the nobles had a clear stake, they usually overlooked such errors.
“…How, how could you know this? What is your identity?”
“Me? I’m just a humble villager known as Baiken, the second commander of the Silvers Mercenary Band.”
Hearing the man’s identity, the Earl’s face contorted with anger.
The Silvers Mercenary Band was influential not just in the empire, but across the entire continent.
Their main contracts were to support wars between kingdoms.
Such tasks were reserved for mercenary bands of colossal size.
Moreover,
“…My lord, this man possesses the skills of a fourth-class knight.”
According to the captain of the knights, he was a superhuman.
‘Damn it! I thought it would be easy to absorb this place right next to my domain.’
The Silvers Mercenary Band had already caught wind of it.
A look of defeat spread across the Earl’s face.
In contrast, Baiken wore a confident expression.
“No matter how high and mighty you nobles are, you’ve got to get your hands dirty if you want to pick meat off these muddy grounds, right boys?”
“Uhahahaha, you’re right, Captain!”
“They say nobles bleed more easily, hahaha.”
The crowd behind him laughed at the Earl, outnumbering his knights by at least five times.
“You, you dare speak to me with such irreverence…!”
“Look here, noble sir. Is there such a thing as a crime of irreverence in your sacred laws?”
Baiken’s provocation was deliberate and intense.
He glanced around.
Not just their group and the Earl’s forces, but many others were revealing themselves.
Wandering knights and low-ranking mercenaries alike.
“Wow, everyone really covets the Magic Stone Mine. Or perhaps they want to capture those ‘revolutionaries’ and earn a noble title?”
Baiken’s eyes, once brimming with confidence, dimmed.
‘Whoever started this mess, the Magic Stone Mine will belong to the Silvers Mercenary Band.’
* * *
When the Two Forces Clashed
Yan and Tom were seated in a tavern, observing the tense atmosphere outside. The two had become quite friendly over the past few days working together as miners.
Tom was visibly restless amidst the chilly air of tension. He asked Yan, who was fervently sketching something across from him, “What are you so busily drawing in such a situation?”
“Oh, this? It’s nothing much. Just drawing a map based on my experience working in the mines.”
“A map? Why?”
“I fear getting lost in the tunnels. It’s so dark and hard to see anything in there.”
Tom clicked his tongue at Yan’s obsession with work, even in such dire circumstances. Initially, he thought Yan’s frail body wouldn’t last a day, but here he was, diligently showing up for days on end.
Tom’s expression darkened as he quietly observed Yan. “…Anyway, it feels like something big is about to happen. Are you planning to stay here?”
“What about you, Tom?”
“I have a family to take care of…”
“The mood suggests it’s going to be deadly, even for the miners.”
As Yan feigned concern, Tom let out a bitter laugh. “I’ve been a wandering miner for 20 years. Just a bit more, and I could open a small shop.”
Yan scratched his cheek at Tom’s murmured words. “Then be careful. If anything happens, hide immediately.”
“Do I look like someone who lacks that much awareness? If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t have survived 20 years in the mines.”
The struggle for the mine was not unique to this place.
“That’s true.”
“I may not look it, but I’ve got a strong lifeline!”
Yan and Tom shared a laugh, but the worry and fear in Tom’s eyes remained.
“I better leave before I get any more troublesome thoughts. I’ll be off.”
With a troubled heart, Tom quickly rose from his seat and returned to the inn.
Yan, left alone, watched the conflict between the two forces and smiled contentedly.
“Perfect.”
Just then, someone naturally took the seat Tom had vacated. It was Bella, who had come to report the results after completing the task Yan had assigned her.
She looked at the near-chaotic scene and asked, “…Is it really okay to stir up such trouble?”
“Of course.”
Bella rubbed her eyes at Yan’s confident assertion. Not long ago, when she was enjoying a leisurely life in the imperial capital, she received a letter from Yan, who had left for the mining village. The letter instructed her to spread the information he provided throughout the empire.
The first piece of information was that a supposedly abandoned mine near the Eir domain was actually a Magic Stone mine with guaranteed vast reserves.
The second was that a rebel force called the ‘Revolutionaries’ had nested there, and capturing them could lead to immense merit and a meteoric rise.
Before spreading the information, Bella racked her brains to figure out Yan’s intentions, but it only gave her a headache.
So, without understanding his motives, she disseminated the information far and wide.
“What’s the goal that you’ve even drawn in such a big fish?”
The Silvers Mercenary Band was a famous military organization across the continent, needless to say.
And the Earl of Eir was the most powerful noble in the vicinity.
Moreover, the number of wandering knights and mid to low-level mercenaries was growing exponentially.
It seemed like there would soon be no room to step into the mining village.
Yan simply smiled in response to Bella’s question, offering no answer.
He hadn’t yet confirmed her as one of his people.
His reason for gathering them?
Simple.
A smokescreen.
He had drawn in the big fish to divert attention away from himself while he searched for information about the Revolutionaries and the sigil.
Even the Revolutionaries had their limits in terms of available personnel, and they would likely focus on monitoring these big fish.
“One of the captains of the Silvers Mercenary Band and a noble of the Earl’s rank. This is beyond my expectations.”
Yan was visibly impressed with the outcome.
Bella shouted irritably from the side, “Aren’t you going to answer me?”
“It’s a test. Guess why I called them here. If you’re right, I’ll give you a reward.”
“Y-you!”
Bella bit her lower lip.
After a while, she hesitantly asked, “…Is it money?”
Yan chuckled and turned his head to check if any other big fish had arrived.
His gaze settled on a group of low-ranking mercenaries in shabby leather armor.
They weren’t particularly noteworthy, but Yan snickered at the sight of them.
“Ha!”
Their disguise might fool others, but not Yan’s eyes.
The very familiar disguise technique, the orderly gait, the eyes meticulously scanning the surroundings while pretending to be surprised by the spectacle.
“They’ve even involved the Special Task Force.”
These were not the clumsy ones he had seen when rescuing Lia.
Judging by their disguise skills and the habits that occasionally showed, their abilities seemed certain.
And among them, the most unremarkable-looking man.
‘Special Task Force Officer Jin.’
Yan knew him from his previous life, a real deal unlike the parachuted secretary he had recently faced.
Yan’s lips curled into a smile.
‘This is getting interesting.’
The game had become more thrilling than he had orchestrated.
* * *
Officer Jin’s Dilemma
Officer Jin of the Special Task Force found the current situation utterly distasteful.
Having investigated the revolutionaries for a long time, he had finally traced their funding source to this location.
An abandoned mine that was actually a Magic Stone mine?
The revolutionaries hiding within?
He had known these facts for months.
Now, all he had to do was wait for the key figures to show up in the mining village and then capture them all in one fell swoop.
But as he waited.
An unknown person scattered their information everywhere.
When he realized this, he immediately captured those spreading the information.
However, aside from the fact that they were promised a few coins to loudly share the written content, no further information could be extracted.
‘Who exactly is behind this?’
He wondered if it was a ploy to flush out the revolutionaries, but the scale of the operation seemed too large for that.
Nor did it seem like a greedy grab for the Magic Stone mine.
There was no need to spread the information so widely.
‘If only I had a bit more time, I could have figured out who was behind this and planned accordingly.’
Any delay would give the revolutionaries just enough time to cut their losses and flee.
And then.
“Your newfound fame has made you arrogant. A lowlife who trades lives for money!”
“Consider yourself lucky that your head hasn’t been requested by us. Who knows, maybe next time I’ll be visiting your very own home.”
The Earl of Eir and the Silvers Mercenary Band.
The likelihood of these two forces causing chaos over the Magic Stone mine was very high.
If a conflict between the two escalated into a fight.
Instead of monitoring the revolutionaries’ movements, he would have to struggle not to get caught up in the fray.
Thus, due to several overlapping situations, he had no choice but to step in directly.
Jin issued orders to his subordinates in the Special Task Force.
“Collect information without causing any disturbances or revealing your identities.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
With their responses, his subordinates naturally dispersed.
They blended seamlessly into the crowd of other mercenaries.
Jin closed his eyes.
“Whoever set this stage, it doesn’t change our mission. We only capture terrorists.”
With that.
Each force, reminded of their ambitions and goals, entered the tunnels.