Just after dawn, our main force arrived at a forest near the Labyrinth City Purgatory from our base in the forest.
Their numbers approached 400. It's a good number, but most of the members appear to be Goblins and Hobgoblins. The Tomboy Princess, who had been looking forward to the arrival of our main force, could not hide her disappointment.
Her behavior, as she sat on my shoulder, seemed to say, "Yes? Is he serious? No, I hope the goblins are a joke." She didn't say it out loud, but I felt that her eyes were voicing her complaints, anyway.
The Boy Knight and the other guards had a very similar reaction. They didn't say it clearly, but I could tell this was the case because I saw their shoulders drop as they hung their heads.
There are some strong races such as the Dullahan, Ogre, and Dragonewt, but compared to the whole force they are too few in number for the time being. Since the hobgoblins and goblins, who made up more than half of the military force, were generally recognized as being weak, they didn't think it was acceptable. It's natural that they would think that they're unreliable.
The Tomboy Princess wants as much war potential as possible to meet the Strong Grandson and the rest of the Nobles Faction in the rebellion that will happen soon. According to her, the Minister's death sabotaged this desire and caused them to have fewer allies than expected, so they urgently needed to reinforce their war potential.
It seems like the Strong Grandson and the others will make their move soon for some of them are starting to get impatient. That's why her reaction can't be helped considering she was anticipating the force that I had prepared.
"I have no other choice, so I might as well," is how humans think. Well, since I hadn't said anything on purpose, she was imagining and expecting something better, which caused her to have a pretty bad reaction. If I didn't know any better, I'd have likely reacted the same way, if I were in her shoes.
As the morning training that had already sublimated their nature began, the Tomboy Princess unintentionally smiled bitterly as she started to adjust her plans after calculating the current war potential. Her serious expression was different than what it usually is when she's on my shoulder.
Today, the cold winds were blowing as snow sporadically fell from the sky. Ignoring that, the group members' breath was visible as they put on the general uniform of our mercenary group, which was an overcoat that had been designed with all sorts of enchantments applied to it. They began training after they did their warm-up exercises.
As usual, the training method was actual combat. Since some injuries were healed by the effects of the ear cuffs, their movements were intense. I guess it's too extreme to be called training.
Someone wasn't able to completely dodge the tip of an approaching sword, which ended up cutting their neck. Although they were bleeding quite a bit, their daring movements prevented their vital veins from being cut. Despite the fact that they were one step away from death, they counter-attacked using the weapon they were holding without faltering.
Their arm was also broken with the impact of a war hammer. Despite being tormented by the pain, they shut it out with willpower as they beat their opponent's body in revenge. A little distance away, another training pair let two magic of the same rank collide, which spread destruction with a flash of light and a thunderous roar.
The magic attack was stopped with a magic shield. Although the owner of the shield's limbs were damaged in the aftermath of the attack, they advanced towards their opponent without stopping.
There was many-versus-many combination training that was led by someone with a high position as well, with people roaring as they fought each other. People were hit and blood was shed as they handled arts used by the human members using techniques that they'd forged themselves.
whilst being a training, the situation could be called nothing short of real combat. The Tomboy Princess and the others were mesmerized for a short while as they stared at the figures that weren't at all afraid of death.
Humans with a normal state of mind would not be able to make this bloody training scene. Basically, what I'm saying is that I restructured and trained them so they could do so, however, someone seeing it for the first time might be left speechless.
A lot of members might have died from injuries during training if we didn't have superior ways to heal them. I don't think this kind of training can normally be done.
Still, their reaction was amusing. Kanami and I laughed at the obvious state of the Tomboy Princess and the rest of her group. When she noticed this, she started blushing as she shyly twisted her body.
My mercenary group's goblins are very different from normal goblins. Of course, the entirety of the group is so, as well. After boasting about it, I saw the Tomboy Princess make a face that seemed to say, "That's a saucy attitude for someone like you, Aporou."
Her cheeks were blushing and she was embarrassed, but she had a happy expression on her face. For now, we watched training for an hour and then had the main force wait for orders inside the forest as we returned to the Labyrinth City Purgatory.
After shooting a spy, I had my clones manipulate the atmosphere and other aspects of the area in order to prevent the light, noise and other such things from reaching the city. Since we came outside of the city under the pretense of a walk, it's necessary for us to return soon.
If someone's spy survives, they might think it's suspicious, but since I eliminated them beforehand I don't think that's the case.
Well, I doubt I need to worry, but we'll return to the Royal Capital tomorrow just in case. We spent our last day in the Labyrinth City Purgatory shopping and training. I allowed the others to enter a dungeon on the condition that they stayed on the upper levels, as well.
I tucked myself into my warm bed as I thought that the next chapter in my Book of Psalms might start soon...
[All starting conditions for World Psalms,[Legend of the Black Eclipse Demon], Chapter 4:[Encouragement of a Kingdom's Revolution]have been cleared.
[Releasing clear conditions for:]
First Verse[Hour of Obscurity (Revina Mass)]
Second Verse[Positive Omen (Rulan Vera)]
Third Verse[Song of the Beginning (Tiran Vich)]
Fourth Verse[Rending Fang of the Eater (Berhan Gourd)]
Fifth Verse[Old Man's Poisoning (Gilbert July)]
Sixth Verse[Final Castle Crawl (Lulu Iera)]
Seventh Verse[War Flames' Bullets (Evil Ballad)]
Eighth Verse[Horse's Retreat (Totol Tyrol)]
Ninth Verse[Hooves of the Destructive Axe (Aste Ruos)]
Tenth Verse[Events of a Heroic Battle (Quatre Gatol)]
Eleventh Verse[Demon's Perishing Wail (Seperia Apotol)]
Final Verse[Princess' Command (Rubiria Maüks)]
[Book of Psalms has already progressed from the First Verse[Hour of Obscurity (Revina Mass)] through the Fifth Verse[Old Man's Poisoning (Gilbert July)]. All completion rewards cannot yet be obtained.]
[Provided that each of the remaining Verse's hidden conditions is cleared, it is still possible to obtain everything.]
[World Psalms[Legend of the Black Eclipse Demon], Chapter 4[Encouragement of a Kingdom's Revolution]Sixth Verse[Final Castle Crawl (Lulu Iera)]has already begun.]
[Good luck!]
There were no ≪ＹＥＳ≫ or ≪ＮＯ≫ options like there was before. Although it's slightly unexpected that it was forced this time, it shouldn't be much of a problem since the general preparations are complete. Even so, have the announcements been gradually changing?