Chapter 74. The Spar (1)

The sky was clear.

There were few clouds.

It was a day that was neither too hot nor too cold, with the warm sun shining down on the earth without any obstruction.

If this were the southern part of the Empire, I would have to worry about heatstroke on a day with such strong sunlight.

But since we had come up to the central region of the Empire, and winter was gradually approaching, it was just a pleasantly warm day with a gentle breeze.

“They say the storm has passed in the north.”

“Storm?”

“A storm with extreme cold and snowstorms, I mean. Someone said that the Northern Archduke came down, so the storm followed him. It sounds like nonsense. All superstition.”

Our information and rumor collector, Brol, also seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

Was it because a small amount of drinking was allowed by military order recently, so he had a glass of beer every night?

Indeed, he was a man who had refrained from his beloved alcohol throughout the operation, or at least drank less than usual.

It was time he got his reward.

“…By the way, a storm.”

“Isn’t it just ridiculous superstition?”

“I suppose so. But isn't the sky so clear?”

“Uh, it is, but. Why have you suddenly become a young girl? It’s scary.”

What's with him?

Where else in this bloody world was there a man as sensitive as me?

Anyway, come to think of it, I didn't have many opportunities to see such a clear sky on Earth.

Living in the city, there was a lot of smog, rain in the summer, snow in the winter, and a lot of yellow dust in the spring and fall.

When a typhoon passed, various disaster alerts came, but I think the sky was often clear right after.

Perhaps war was also a kind of typhoon.

The road to the Imperial Capital was that peaceful.

To the point of being a little boring.

I guess it seemed that way relatively, since it had been a continuous series of bloody battles until just now.

But it was strange.

In the past, it wasn't always this peaceful even when just marching.

When I casually mentioned it to Brol, an unexpected answer came back.

“Didn't you know? Marching is originally boring.”

“Is that so?”

“Hmm, well, since you were always throwing up and falling over, maybe not for you. I don't know why you're so good at fighting but so bad at walking.”

“…….”

“Come to think of it, your stamina seems to have gotten much better lately? Did you eat something good?”

Was I that bad?

No, it was true that I had struggled with a lack of stamina traits for a while.

Karen, who had come over at some point, chimed in.

“That’s right. Your stamina has improved since some point. Is it because you ran with us during the mercenary band training?”

“No. I know because I saw the Commander back then, he was always holding onto some operation overview or training something-or-other. Didn't he just eat well lately?”

“He only took a lot of snacks….”

“Now, now, just think of it as his growing period. His stamina is improving, he’s growing taller. And eating a lot.”

“…Pardon?”

“…Huh?”

“?”

‘Master, that was nonsense that even my broad generosity cannot embrace.’

Broad generosity, my ass.

Why don't you know I made a stretch to cover for the snacks you're gobbling up?

‘Hmm. Yummy. The honey apple is sweet.’

“…….”

Anyway, my stamina had indeed improved quite a bit from the beginning.

To the point where I felt like I would get a [Good Stamina] trait soon.

I had also acquired quite a few traits good for marching, like [Sturdy Feet] and [Marathoner].

When it was a game, I thought they were trash traits, but now that it had become reality, it wasn't necessarily so.

Was it because I had more leeway?

I was able to ponder or solve tasks that needed to be handled during the march.

The first thing I did was organize the rewards.

Honestly, I had gone through a lot of trouble in this civil war.

Of course, the rewards I received in return were also substantial.

First, I became rich.

* * *

There were rest days during the march too.

Because we were returning leisurely, not during wartime.

On a day I woke up later than usual.

I opened the subspace inside my personal barracks.

[[Medium Subspace] is activated.]

“Hehe….”

It was my recent hobby.

Observing the small box placed in the middle of the considerably larger subspace.

Ah, for reference, everything inside was gold coins.

A whopping two thousand gold coins.

During the fortnight I stayed in Berenburg, with Bart’s help, I organized the income and expenses in a clear and concise manner.

The income included the payment received from the Imperial army, the supported salary, the emergency fund stashed away with the help of the beastmen in Elcanto Forest, and the gold and jewels acquired in Berenburg.

The expenses were the members' salaries, equipment purchase and repair costs, supplies, special allowances, and condolence money for the bereaved families, and so on.

The result of tapping the calculator was two thousand florins.

An amount I couldn't even have imagined during the mercenary company days.

What was surprising was the fact that I hadn't received all the payment yet.

What I had received now was only the contracted employment fee and additional rewards for special missions.

If I added the reward I would receive with my title when I went to the Imperial Capital, I might become a rich man with three thousand, or even four thousand florins.

A whopping four thousand gold coins.

‘It’s money that will melt away in an instant once I start developing the fief in earnest, though.’

Well, I could think about that when the time came.

For now, let’s enjoy this feeling.

For reference, the gold coins were safely stored in the subspace.

The subspace had also expanded this time.

[Medium Subspace]

[An independent dimensional space that can only be opened by the owner. Items placed inside are preserved, removed from the real world's timeline.]

A one-step upgraded version from [Small Subspace].

I got it randomly from one of the achievements that popped up after defeating the Marquis.

Thanks to it, I was able to pack plenty of phosphorescent stones from the Berenburg underground ruins.

Besides that, the traits I obtained after defeating the Marquis were generally useful.

[Battlefield-Overlooking Gaze]

[You see in 3D. You can look down on the battlefield in a top-view format. However, you can only see where the line of sight of your troops reaches.]

This was a fixed trait given for clearing the ‘Imperial Civil War’ crisis scenario.

As a reward for clearing a high-difficulty crisis, its performance was insane.

[Noble Slayer]

[Increases critical hit rate against nobles. Also applies to the nobles’ guards.]

This was a fixed trait given for killing a high-ranking noble for the first time.

It would be helpful for so-called decapitation strikes, which prioritized hitting the enemy's leadership.

[Oh My, A Bountiful Harvest!]

[Increases the chance of a bountiful harvest for the land you own.]

[Smuggling Expert]

[Forbidden things are always more tempting. Increases the success rate of smuggling and the quality of smuggled goods for your merchant group or fief. However, security decreases.]

The other two were random traits.

Coincidentally, both were fief-related traits.

Especially the second one.

[Smuggling Expert] was also a trait that Baron Berenbold, who was killed by his subordinate in Elcanto Forest, had.

It was a double-edged sword of a trait with as many disadvantages as advantages, but since I couldn't undo what I had obtained, it was better to use it well.

Still, it would be useful since it was a border region.

Like operating a smuggling merchant group myself.

Besides that, I acquired minor traits through achievements or skill improvement.

[Marathoner] and [Messenger’s Stamina] made it so I didn't have to throw up during the march.

[Mage’s Mana], along with [Unblocked Acupoints], made it possible to use up to level 6 magic relatively freely if I pushed myself.

[Selective Loss of Taste] was….

Well, you can’t win them all.

I also gained an abundance of skills.

[Barrier], [Rockfall], [Devouring Purgatory], and so on….

One common formula and two School of Earth formulas.

Seven fire magic formulas, including a level 7 one.

Necromancy and curse magic.

Stealth skills and four types of martial arts.

“…….”

At this rate, if not a one-man army, wouldn't I be a one-man battalion?

If I could comfortably project firepower while being protected from the rear, it wouldn't be difficult to produce the firepower of two or three artillery battalions.

When I first fell into this world, thinking back to when I only had the [Shield] and [Infernal Meteor] spells, it felt truly new.

And yet.

[[Medium Subspace] is activated.]

‘Hmm? Master?’

The fact that my anxiety didn't disappear probably wasn't just a feeling.

I opened the subspace and took out the statue.

The sacred relic of the ‘Nameless Tentacle’ and the sacred relic of ‘The Maiden Who Heralds the Time’.

I picked up the second sacred relic, which I had nicknamed ‘Tick-Tock’.

On the abdomen of the woman holding two spears was a crystal the size of a thumb joint.

This fellow had been quiet since the Emperor's call.

But it only predicted short-term misfortune.

‘…What’s wrong? You don’t look well.’

I had gained many rewards, but I was not at ease.

As expected of the Inferno difficulty, I could feel the crisis scenarios chasing right behind me.

There were a few scheduled crises.

One of them was the Ratmen.

The demons of the underground who crawled through the sewers and the tunnels beneath them.

A contradictory race that had built several metropolises housing tens of millions of their kind while still retaining their barbaric customs.

They were the final boss-level faction of World Scenario 2.0, equipped with both a countless Zerg rush and high-level magitech.

Even after that, they received buffs with every update, and some of this game's developers even got the nickname ‘rat lovers’.

One fortress had already been devoured whole without anyone knowing.

The number of missing people in the Imperial Capital was increasing day by day.

By the time the Ratmen invasion broke out, other problems would also erupt.

The Orc Great Chieftain's Horde. The rising of the sunken continent. The Frostplain barbarians. The revival of the Lumer Legion….

“Fuck.”

I rubbed my face with a towel soaked in cold water.

If those were problems for which I roughly knew the answers, there were also types where I didn't even know the question paper itself.

They were mostly about the Theocracy, but one more had been added.

[Achievement unlocked! You have collected two or more sacred relics of the Theocracy.]

[[Warrior’s Insight] regains its original power.]

[You can now search for the origin of skills acquired through [Warrior’s Insight].]

Why did the sacred relics of the Theocracy affect [Warrior’s Insight]?

And what did it mean to search for the origin of skills?

No.

More importantly, who the hell was the ‘Warrior’?

“…….”

There was a lot to do.

Both when I went to the Imperial Capital, and after I received my fief.

I had to develop myself, my heroes, the mercenary band, and the fief I would soon get.

Because it felt like the damn Inferno difficulty was advancing the time of war.

I added one more item to my task list.

I urgently needed an intelligence agency.

I had to create an intelligence agency that was not inferior to the Emperor's secret knightly order.

Fortunately, there was one suitable person in the mercenary band.

“Commander, are you busy?”

Around the time my plans were roughly organized, I felt a presence outside the barracks.

It was Olif.

“What is it?”

“It’s time for sparring.”

“…Ah.”

I had forgotten.

* * *

A cool breeze was blowing.

Many onlookers had gathered in the open area of the Ash Mercenary Band's section.

About half were our members.

The other half were soldiers from other mercenary bands or the Imperial army, private soldiers of nobles, and even knights.

Shing.

Using the shining sun as a stage light, I drew my sword in front of the audience.

In front of me, the white-haired knight in light attire was swinging his sword as practice.

For reference, it was a practice sword with a blunted edge.

The feel of real combat would be a little off, but it didn't matter since it wasn't for increasing the proficiency of individual techniques in the first place.

“Are you ready?”

Olif said.

It had been a few days since we started sparring.

I had requested it first for the sake of skill proficiency.

Of course, the proficiency I was talking about here was not the proficiency displayed by the skill itself.

“Let’s begin.”

[[Imperial Knight Swordsmanship] is activated.]

I answered while assuming the middle stance of [Imperial Knight Swordsmanship].

The match was decided quickly.

Clang!

The sword, slipping from my grasp, flew high into the sky.

“Ugh!”

My body, kicked in the abdomen, flew almost ten meters.

“You have too many stray thoughts.”

Olif said, flicking his sword to the side as if shaking off blood.

From his arms and legs, a hazy, shimmering energy was flowing out in streams.

“It’s too late if you move after thinking. Your stance and technique are truly perfect, flawless, but your reaction is always a beat slow.”

No, the problem isn’t whether I have many or few stray thoughts, it's that you’re too strong.

How can you move like that with mana wrapped all over your body?

It's not like your mana is infinite.

Did you get an additional mana trait without me knowing?

“Commander, here’s a potion….”

“Again.”

I downed the potion Karen brought in one go and stood up.

I think I spilled about half of it, but well, I could just think of it as watering the ground.

“…Are you okay?”

Seeing her worried expression, I nodded.

Of course, I was okay.

If he had infinite mana, I had infinite potions.

Thanks to the blessing of two thousand florins.

“…Are you ready?”

“Let’s begin.”

I took my stance.

With a clean, unadorned movement.

[[Tuivat High Priest's Swift Sword] is activated.]

For a moment, the surrounding scenery blurred as if stretched sideways.

And then, an exchange of blows.

Clang-!

I said I started sparring to increase proficiency, but in fact, the proficiency of all the skills I possessed had already reached its maximum.

What I wanted to research was something else.

How to select and use these numerous perfected skills in each situation.

In other words, in game terms, it was the process of creating a ‘skill combo’ or ‘damage rotation’.