Anyway, Daniel quickly left the stage and there was silence for a while.
Apparently, everyone was quite shocked.
Grine then returned to the Chasers to take care of business first.
I wondered what the hell was wrong with him as he gave me a thumbs up and said something along the lines of "Good for my brother!", but that's not something I need to think about right now....
After that, my testing continued.
Most of them were a bunch of weaklings.
I'm sure they thought I was hiring privateers because I was afraid to go all the way to the Chasers, but that wasn't the case at all.
In any case, I was in a bind.
I realized that it would be beneficial to take a few useful units with me, but I couldn't do it this way.
So I decided.
"You, and you. Get up on the stage."
I'm going to designate a guy I see and think is talented and bring him up here.
...Of course.
"That's… so, sorry! I didn't realize you were such a great man, and I didn't know my place, and I signed up to be a soldier. I'll go back to farming...."
"Stop right there."
I sneered, watching the man quickly turn around and run away.
"Who said you could go?"
I instructed Zitri in an eerie voice as I approached him.
"Close all the doors leading out of the training grounds. Listen to me, you have already volunteered to be my soldiers. If you abandon them and turn back, I will make you live in a hell worse than hell, in the name Nox von Reinhafer."
"...."
The declaration was effective.
No one was dodging anymore.
However, there were a few who took the punch without hurting, but....
"You pass."
"…What?! Didn't you just beat me so badly?"
"It's in your heart."
I let the talented ones pass as they pleased. After all, I have experience in raising soldiers.
I've played the game and memorized how to train soldiers.
So don't worry.
"I'll push you to the brink of death."
-Uh-oh!
-Oops, I think we made a mistake!
Oops, we let our guard down....
But what can you do, you're the ones who applied to be a private soldier for the asshole Nox, and you're the ones who passed.
So everything is... your responsibility.
With that, and a few other ideas, I'm done recruiting.
* * *
Anyway, back to the present.
The recruitment went well, in its own way.
With Carl and I at the head of the line, we're followed by a myriad of soldiers in the rear.
Theo, apparently worried about the youngest, has given me a vassal who is quite useful.
His name was Christopher.
He was a giant of a man, well over two meters tall, but quite gentle in appearance, middle-aged and well known among the vassals.
There was one non-trivial problem, however.
"That is to say, when you originally transferred to the Chasers Region, I honestly didn't understand your intentions at all, but with the recent publication of Professor Lars' thesis, I finally realized that you also possess a wisdom similar to that of the patriarch. You are indeed amazing...."
"... Let's talk about this one by one."
It was a lot of words.
I don't mean to demean the big guy or anything.
It's just that I'm not a big person and I don't have a big mouth....
I know he's a good writer, but I had my doubts. There was one more problem, and that was his fondness for alcohol.
This is a really, really, unspeakably big problem.
Because when it came time to take a break in the procession, bam.
"Of course, no camping trip is complete without alcohol, and this is a specialty rum from Tahalin distributed by the Rivalin family...."
"Wow...!! You're a friend of the West after all!!!"
He takes out a bottle and continues to sip with Elena.
Is this a party....
I barely make it to the Chasers area, barely able to keep from getting lightheaded. What the hell is this combination?
Even the characters that aren't in the game are full of personality.
I swear, the game's creators are perverts. Why is there not a single one-dimensional human being, even these characters. Why? Why? Why?
"You've come a long way since then...."
And with that, Mei turned to look at the Chasers on the distant horizon. The past was nowhere to be seen.
It occurred to Mei that perhaps their pasts overlapped. This place used to be hell for them.
So their reactions are quite natural....
"Wow, it's changed so much!!!"
"...You don't mind, do you?"
I asked Elena because she was so nonchalant.
No, that's usually a traumatizing point, this.
"Not at all~ If anything happens, Seobang will protect me again…!"
Elena said and hastily added.
"Muh, of course I'm not saying I won't take your help, I'll be up all night making potions and doing my best to make sure you don't get hurt!"
I sighed inwardly as I watched her clench her fists together.
Yeah. We should have a character like that.
We have a lot of them at our parties.
It's a problem that we can't do business as usual, but what can I do?
I've collected them.
Whether I want them to or not. They're the ones I can count on now.
There's no reason to not hold on to them.
I decided to start by checking the building where Grine is.
It was important to see how well he'd done once he returned.
Plus.
I had heard that this asshole had won a lot of money gambling thanks to me.
I do all the hard work and he pockets the money?
That was enough reason for punishment.
At least according to the asshole law.
* * *
"Haha, of course I've been saving up for you. It's a total of 80 gold coins. I feel like I'm ripping off the lord's people, but since they've been ignoring the youngest member of the family, I figured it was the least I could do."
Surprisingly, Grine immediately handed over the 80 gold he had won gambling.
It wasn't a lot of money for him, I suppose….
Anyway, I don't think he's overly loyal to me.
I'm worried about how and how much he'll be shocked if I tell him he can't stay.
Well, I was planning to use it in moderation from the beginning....
It's a bit of a stab in the heart to see him go this far.
Anyway, it's not something that an asshole would do, but it was a bit of a kick in the pants.
"First of all, I heard about Professor Lars' thesis. I heard you were involved. As a co-author."
"No, it just happened."
"How humble. So much for 'our youngest'."
I wonder why.
As he smiled, I could see a reflection of Lars in him.
The human who used to call me 'my chief apprentice, Nox-kun'… whenever he could. It's strange, but I realize that there are no normal people around me.
I tune it out.
I realize that I should focus on the task at hand and finish talking about the units later.
It's going to take too long.
"What's the pace of development in the Chasers?"
"Well, there aren't too many migrants... yet. Since the publication of your thesis, there have been a few young men with selfish ambitions trying to get a foothold here, but it wouldn't do to let them in too soon."
Grine hesitated for a moment, then crossed his arms.
To make matters worse, Christopher chimed in.
"It can't be helped, Young Master Grine, you're right, the development has only recently begun, and... having purchased the land from the underworld, it's hard to attract people quickly."
"Of course, which is why I brought the knights here."
He replied nonchalantly and looked at his new recruits for a moment.
Their faces were full of grumbles, as they watched me through the windows of the building, blaming me for my pitiful state of affairs, for letting my curiosity get the better of me and following the youngest of the bunch.
"You have an agenda."
"Yes. But there's something I need to do before I can utilize the Chasers."
"What is that...."
I inhale for a moment, then let it out in a sigh that isn't really a sigh.
"The number of demons in this neighborhood. We need to reduce their numbers."
Reduce the number.
It's a nice story, but it's not the truth.
To put it bluntly....
[Attention! Your player has 10 days of life left!]
[Restore your life now!]
My life is down to 10 days.
Shit. What the hell am I supposed to do in this condition?
Fucking assholes, you're supposed to be living first.
* * *
A ray of light breaks into a dark room. This is the Patriarch's room.
However, the atmosphere is quite different from the drawing room of the Reinhafer family. Why, there is no reason to explain.
This is not the House of Reinhafer, this is the House of Steiner.
The woman who would plunge a dagger into Nox's heart.
The family of Talia von Steiner, who had recently been granted an unilateral divorce by Nox.
" Nox von Reinhafer...."
Right.
The patriarch of House Steiner.
Lord Rover, a knight of white flame and a knight of the same rank, if not higher, as the swordmaster, stiffened. He was genuinely and sincerely thinking about how to raise hell against the kid who dared to reject his daughter.
First, he would tear him limb from limb and feed him to the wolves, and then....
"Daddy!"
"Oh… my lovely princess, Talia…! What are you doing here? Oh, don't worry if it's that bastard Nox. I'm sure this father somehow managed to tear him limb from limb...."
"Heehee, you can't do that…! There's a reason!"
"Reason…?"
Rover von Steiner clenched his fists at his daughter's utterly incomprehensible remark. Nox, he didn't know what this scumbag had said that had so insidiously captured his daughter's heart, but….
"You shouldn't have a reason. At the very least, I must hold House Reinhafer responsible for this. As the head of House Steiner, the Duke's family."
"Dad… can't you just look past that, I even gave Nox a tie."
The words froze Rover in his tracks.
What?
He looked at his lovely daughter, doubting his ears.
He asked in disbelief.
"Wha, a tie… you… You mean you tied it yourself?"
"…Yes."
Talia shyly says, with the look of a girl in love.
Oh, my God.
'This can't be happening.'
Rover feels himself getting lightheaded; how dare he make his daughter knot a tie!
I'm the only one who can get her to do that!
The only one who can do that is me, the father...!
"Well, this is what happens. I'll make him take responsibility somehow."
"What? Responsibility?"
"I'll make you marry that Nox boy, no matter what. He made my innocent daughter put on a tie, so he's responsible! That's justice."
Rover had no idea what he was talking about.
All he knew was that his anger at Nox was boiling over.
How dare he…!
"Emma, tell the others, tell them I'm coming to visit House Reinhafer myself!"
"Ye? Yess!"
Emma's head spun again. What kind of trouble are they going to get into this time….
The father and daughter were quite a pair.