Unscrupulous
At the sight of Cassley stealing his credit right in front of him, Leylin subtly lowered his eyes and concealed the strange expression within them.
“Then I have to express my thanks towards you, sir! I have already prepared a banquet to welcome everyone as well as rooms. Please come back to the castle with me and rest.” Baron Andrew naturally would not be able to tell what had happened in a single glance, and attentively received the guests.
After following the Baron into his castle, Leylin saw many refugees within with panicked expressions on their faces.
“These damned werecreatures, our harvest this year is ruined…” Baron Andrew grumbled as he walked in front of them. Afterwards, he instructed his housekeeper and his wife to make preparations for the feast.
A magnificent feast was held within the castle’s enormous great hall. Roast chicken which looked a little scorched, wine as red as liquid ruby, and mountains of white bread were brought out. It could be said that to host Leylin and the men, this Baron Andrew had taken out what remained of his store of quality items.
Naturally, no matter how the world changed, the lifestyle of those in the upper classes would always be much better than those below them. Leylin swayed his wine glass and watched the dark red wine swirling within it, a strange smile on his face.
“Please be assured, Baron Andrew. Silverymoon City will not sit idly by and watch these werecreatures attack. The tax exemption is an entirely different matter, and you will need to contact the city hall…” In the position of the guest of honour, Cassley was cheerfully chatting with the baron. His manner of speaking made Baron Andrew nod slightly, looking completely convinced.
Even those young ladies near him who were clearly his daughters had peculiar looks in his eyes.
“Wizard Leylin!” Just at this moment, Cassley called out Leylin’s name.
“Lord Cassley, how can I help you?” Leylin did not move from his seat and nodded slightly to indicate he had heard. His action filled Cassley’s eyes with dissatisfaction.
‘This fellow, he should have died long ago!’ Cassley raged within his heart. On the surface however, he still wore the smile he had on earlier, “According to military command, I will organise the nobles’ defences in the rear. I’ll leave the fighting on the frontlines to you!”
Baron Andrew looked at Cassley then at Leylin, his eyes filled with astonishment. He wasn’t a slow-witted person, and now he seemed to see something different..
‘This wizard Leylin, he seems to have rather good standing. However, he seems to have some conflict with high-ranked wizard Cassley,’ Baron Andrew would normally exploit this relationship for his own gain, however he was now worried.
‘In these times, infighting will just exacerbate the wear and tear on one’s own troops. What are those fellows in Silverymoon City thinking?’ Baron Andrew grumbled, and at the same time thought of his previous actions. Only until he had confirmed that he had not neglected Leylin and his faction did he secretly let out of a sigh of relief.
At the same time he also decided to disregard the situation between Leylin and Cassley.
“Of course, that is my original mission after all,” Leylin very readily agreed to Cassley’s demand, which went completely against his expectations and left him feeling rather astonished.
“Then, I’ll ask you to go towards Vaughan Village and station the men there,” Cassley replied, as if this was all as a matter of course.
“Please forgive me for this, but you have no right to interfere. The front line is under my command,” Leylin smiled as he rejected him, which made Cassley flush bright red.
“Very well…” After rudely huffing a few times, Cassley began to forcefully pressure him, “However, to maintain our line of communication, I need to send a contact member out with you. Your troops also need support in terms of rations from my group.”
This was a restriction and also an unspoken threat.
“I can agree to this,” Leylin expressed his approval after thinking for a bit.
Cassley watched Leylin’s troops slowly depart from the top of the castle, his expression immediately becoming malevolent.
……
Two days later, amongst Leylin’s troops.
“Lord Leylin, I feel that we should not continue towards Cade village,” A gorgeously dressed fellow broke formation and came to Leylin, a highly arrogant look on his face. Rafiniya watched him walk over with a look of loathing, and urged her horse ahead to leave them behind.
This fellow was named Malfoy, and he was the communication liaison that Cassley had forced on him. He reportedly was the heir of a Marquis and was well-placed in Silverymoon City. Unfortunately, he had Cassley backing him so he was rather unscrupulous. He did not even address Leylin with the minimum amount of respect.
“Oh? What do you propose?” Leylin calmly looked at this impertinent fellow.
“I believe we should follow Lord Cassley’s previous proposal, going to Vaughan village is the correct decision,” Malfoy replied fearlessly. He had the backing of a formidable faction and was a knight of Silverymoon. How would a bumpkin like Leylin dare to do anything to him?
“I refuse,” Leylin looked at this fellow with a trace of ridicule. Perhaps the strength of a faction would be useful in times of peace. Since they were in an era of war, however, the man who held greater military might would be the stronger power. This fellow who couldn’t even understand that would just die.
“What?” Sir Malfoy’s anger was out of this world, “You actually dare…”
His fingers trembled as he looked at Leylin, as if he was seeing his greatest enemy. Malfoy never thought that he would meet such a rude person, and thoughts of Cassley flew out of his head. Perhaps he did not realise that his life lay in Leylin’s hands. In this situation, how could Leylin dare to rebel against him?
*Thump thump!* Right at this moment, an enormous dust cloud swept over them. The dust had been kicked up by a great number of troops and their horses.
“Stay alert!” The alarm rang. Malfoy almost fell to the ground in fright, his face paling rapidly. His behaviour made those knights around him smile disdainfully.
The deafening sound of hooves clopping against the ground was followed by a huge squadron of troops appearing in their field of view. The purple flag of the Violet family was dazzling as it hung on the carriages.
“It’s the Violet flag! The insignia of the commander’s family!” The soldiers all cheered.
“This… This is…” Malfoy trembled as he saw the massive squadron ahead slowly integrating together with their own troops. An old man who looked like a housekeeper even personally came to pay his respects to Leylin.
‘Almost 500 personal troops, as well as so many carriages full of grain…’
Leylin’s carriages were full of elite soldiers, and there was even an enormous cart in the fleet with sacks filled to the brim with grain.
‘At this point, his power is really…’ Malfoy’s face grew pale. With this assistance as well as Leylin’s original 200 Professionals and 300 auxiliary troops, he commanded over 1000 soldiers. He could even provide rations for his troops by himself, and he did not need to Cassley’s support at all.
‘The most frightening part is that if these men only answer to Leylin, and if they decide to rebel with him, then perhaps it’s enough for them to…’ Malfoy grew even more frightened, and his voice grew shrill, “No, that’s impossible! How do you have so many men?”
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten that my Violet territory is here?” Leylin taunted him with a smile.
“Violet territory?” Malfoy stared at him blankly, and immediately thought of Leylin’s fiefdom which was only a huge wasteland. Even savages did not live there.
Looking at Malfoy’s stunned expression, Leylin laughed inwardly to himself. Although his Violet territory indeed possessed nothing, it served well to boost his position and aid his pretense.
After receiving this title, Tiff and the others in the organisation all became Leylin’s vassals. They could even transport their previously hoarded resources and rations, as well as weapons and other military materiel to this place.
Everything had happened in one go, resulting in this.
“Young master, we’ve received the news,” Tiff’s expression grew sombre as he murmured into Leylin’s ear.
“Oh, that? I understand…” Leylin looked at Tiff, who had broken through his limits to become a Legend.
“Spread word of my command, we will go west. Our target is the Nether Mountains!”
“What? What?” Malfoy was the first to blurt out, “Lord Leylin, please take note of the orders you are under! Don’t tell me that you’re thinking of disobeying Silverymoon’s army?”
“Even if I disobey, what can you do?” Leylin smiled as he ridiculed the man, watching as blood drained from Malfoy’s face.
“Did you really think that martial law and Silverymoon’s noble title would tie me down?” Originally, Leylin’s subordinates were all Silverymoon’s men. Whatever plans he had could not be realised unless he left by himself, and he would become a wanted criminal.
Now, everything was different. The private vassals of a noble would be absolutely loyal to him alone. With this power in hand, Leylin could now completely coerce all his subordinates.
In the beginning, he secretly controlled over half of this unit. After a year of leading them, he now no longer had any problems.
“What? You dare to disobey orders?”
“Mm, I’ve always found you an eyesore. Drag him down and behead him!” Leylin waved his hand as if he was swatting a fly.
Two bulky and muscular vassals immediately hoisted Malfoy up from under his arms, wringing him like a chick.
“Since you’re about to meet the god of death, I’ll tell you some news,” Leylin drew closer to Malfoy, a malicious smile on his face, “The orc hordes have already launched a surprise attack on Silverymoon City, and have completely surrounded it. In other words, that privileged noble status which you have been so intensely proud of is about to disappear…”