Chapter 58 - Volume 2
TL: Okay. I should be less busy next Friday, should be able to clear the final 4 assignments this weekend (hopefully). But you can expect probably 1 more TAS chapter this weekend, and 2 TSTBGAM (I hope).
Chapter 2 – Mercenary
(TL: We are still at the princess timeline.)
Oberbeck took out an ordinary polished brass necklace with a crystal in the center. There was a word engraved on the crystal, ‘Freya’. He presented the necklace to the princess and spoke: “She wore this with her. Her name supposedly came from this, but the truth is, this was her mother’s necklace, my lady.”
“Her mother?” The princess examined the necklace without changing her expression.
“Indeed, she was the same Lord Everton’s wife, who died in that chaos seventeen years ago.”
“Then you mean to say that girl is the last of the Evertons?”
“Yes.”
[It’s more likely to be the latter…]
The crowd took some time to take in the information, and finally someone asked with some difficulty.
“What should we do?”
Everyone was thinking of the same thing. They did not flee immediately or yelled out in panic. Freya carefully observed their reactions, and understood that these regular guests had a particular relationship with the bar’s owner.
“We should take the fight to them and escape.”
“Everyone, let’s do that.”
“But how are we going to do that?”
If Madara attacked from the west, a normal person would think that the east would be the safest. But these mercenaries had fought in the battlefield and knew something about basic strategy. There was the option of doing a sudden raid on a single Aouine’s gate, or surrounding Aouine’s gates.
Especially when it came to the motive of Madara’s strategy. Were the undead here to merely kill people, to take this city, or to advance even further than this city?
This was a problem for the kingdoms in this continent. They did not understand what the undead wanted to do and what strategy they had in mind.
Everyone put in their input for a while, but no one could find a way to convince everyone. Freya waited anxiously, raising her sword up and down, then finally threw in a sentence carelessly into the fray: “I-I know of someone, who could bring everyone out—”
Her words silenced the entire crowd. They cast their gaze on her, and one of them who recognized her, whistled and said: “Isn’t this the lass from just now?”
Freya’s face blushed a little from their stares.
[Ahhh, what did I just do? … Will Brendel blame me for this?]
She suddenly realized she was afraid of that, but she calmed down and thought of Brendel’s point of view.
[He’s always trying to find additional help. If these people are gathered, then it is going to be a source of power that he can use. But how am I supposed to convince them? I can’t command these veteran mercenaries as a mere militia captain. These people put their lives on the line in the battlefield everyday… No, it’s worth a try no matter what.]
Freya recomposed herself. She grabbed her sword and put it horizontally across her chest. Her appearance looked like like she was a reserved person, and everyone looked at Leto.
“This lass saved my girl a while ago.”
“Well then, my lady, why should we trust you?” Someone from the back asked.
[It’s here.]
Freya took a deep breath.
“You can definitely trust me. Do you know why the guards wanted to catch me and my companions?”
“Why?”
“Because we’re Bucce’s militia and we were attacked by Madara’s undead. We escaped from Madara’s army just to inform Fortress Riedon, but the nobles’ reactions disappointed us—”
She paused for a while. “I think all of you here don’t expect these selfish nobles to save you, right?”
“Of course, they are a bunch of maggots.”
“Maggots. That is a great description, Cheers to that.”
“Cheers.” Everyone echoed that.
“Then you mean to say you have a way to avoid Madara’s detection?” Leto looked at her and asked.
Freya nodded.