The fight finally ended. The mercenaries murdered all the soldiers guarding the supply carts, and the only one they left alive was the general. The mercenaries learned how powerful they could be when they banded together. A mercenary group on its own would not have been able to achieve this.
While the mercenaries were cleaning up the battlefield, Anfey was sitting by one of the carts and staring at the fire sword. Some new ideas had come to him during the fight. He did not know whether he was right, and was conflicted because of this. His control of the elements was amateur: he did not have time to make mistakes and start over.
"Sir, Joseph wants to meet you," Ozzic walked over and said.
"Joseph?" Anfey asked, dismissing the sword.
"Those people," Ozzic said, pointing at the mercenaries.
The mercenaries did not leave when Ozzic, Orsie, and Shinbella attacked the supply carts. On one side was the army that had helped them. On the other side were mercenaries like them. They did not know who to help and chose to observe the fight instead of taking part in it. After the fight was over, the mercenaries wanted to leave, but the leader chose to talk with Ozzic instead of fleeing.
According to the plan, Ozzic was supposed to go meet Anfey. The mercenaries insisted on coming with Ozzic after hearing where he was going. Ozzic left some of his men and some of Blavi’s mages to keep an eye on the mercenaries. Ozzic told the mages to keep the Eye of the Sky up throughout the battle because he wanted to show the mercenaries how strong Anfey and Suzanna were.
Clearly, Ozzic’s plan had worked out in his favor.
Ozzic waved his hand, and a few moments later, Ye walked over with a middle-aged man. The man looked very polite and slightly fearful. Seeing a top level power fight was very rare and terrifying for someone who had never witnessed a top level power’s strength.
"Sir!" the man knelt down on one knee and said. "Forgive my imprudence. After Lord Ozzic, Lady Shinbella, Lord Orsie, Lord Blavi, Lord Riska…"
"That’s fine," Anfey said, waving his head. He understood Joseph’s concern. If he missed someone, it might make his life more difficult. "Stand up."
Joseph hesitated and glanced at Ozzic. Ozzic licked his lips and said, "You need to follow his order, Joseph. Especially if that order may lead to conflicts with others, you need to follow the order. Understand?" Anfey wasn’t the only person who could give orders in the alliance. Alice and Christian had the same authority as him. However, Ozzic respected Anfey a lot and wanted to establish that Anfey was the highest authority in the alliance.
Joseph nodded and scrambled to his feet. He knew Ozzic was telling him that he should always side with Anfey when his order conflicted with other orders. "I see a great future for the alliance, sir," Joseph said. "I respect your strength and your goals. If you will allow, I want to contribute to this nation as well. I swear…"
Suzanna, seeing Joseph and wanting to understand what was happening, walked over quietly. "You need to follow Lady Suzanna’s orders as well," Ozzic interrupted when he saw Suzanna. Even though he seemed to be contradicting himself, Anfey and Suzanna were basically the same person and would usually give the same order.
Joseph blinked. He wanted to swear his loyalty to Anfey, but Suzanna’s appearance made him confused.
Suzanna nodded at Joseph but did not say anything to him. She turned to Anfey and said, "You look tired."
"I’m fine," Anfey said. "Joseph?"
"Yes, sir."
"How many mercenaries do you have?"
"Three hundred and forty-one," Joseph said with a sigh. He knew that his men would be divided up.
Anfey pursed his lips. He knew he should probably divide those mercenaries up, but it would be better to give Joseph his own legion. "You will become the eighth legion of the alliance," Anfey said. "You are the commander of the legion. Go, talk to your men. We will take care of them."
"Yes, sir!" Joseph said. This result was better than he could possibly have expected.
"Good for you," Ozzic said with a laugh, clasping Joseph’s shoulder. "Just like me."
"Thank you, Lord Ozzic," Joseph said. "And Lord Ye, thank you."
Ye’s eyes widened and he took a step back. He was just Ozzic’s assistant and felt that he should not be talked about in the breath as Ozzic.
"He doesn’t have a backbone," Suzanna commented with a frown.
"Backbone isn’t always the best thing," Anfey said. "It’s better to recognize and adapt."
"But you have to have a backbone to be a commander," Suzanna said, shaking her head. "He will join us today. Who knows who he will join tomorrow?"
"You think he’ll join someone else?"
"Maybe not now, but who knows?"
"Lady Suzanna’s right," Ozzic said hurriedly. "We need to be careful, sir!"
"Oh stop it, Ozzic," Anfey said with a laugh. "I know who you are."
Ozzic rubbed his hands together awkwardly, but Ye smiled behind him. If Anfey ignored Ozzic, it meant that Ozzic had become an annoyance to him. But Anfey addressed it, meaning that Anfey knew Ozzic and was willing to trust him.
"I’m serious!" Suzanna said. The alliance was as important to her as it was to Anfey. She did not like people without backbones, and she wanted to warn Anfey. Thompson joined them voluntarily as well, but she liked Thompson way more than Joseph.
"We won’t give him the chance to betray us," Anfey promised her. "Plus, who says we are going to meet difficulties?"
Suzanna sighed but did not say anything else.
Anfey was used to doing things alone. He was used to being responsible for himself only and did not have experience controlling large numbers of people. Anfey trusted and relied on Ozzic because he knew he could learn things from Ozzic and could ensure stability within the alliance. Punishing Ozzic would only make the other mercenaries less trusting.
Thompson hurried over. He saw them and sighed. "I’m too late!" he complained loudly.
"Late for what?"
"The fight!" Thompson said. "I cannot believe I missed Lady Suzanna and Lord Anfey’s display of power." Thompson was better at sweet talk than Ozzic, and it felt very natural when it was coming from him.