Kevin and Butler ordered their men to form a defense line to guard the south entrance of the valley, while waiting for reinforcements. Not soon after, they heard reports from their men, saying that some people were running out of the valley. Kevin rushed to the front, and could see the trio fleeing in panic from far away. They ran all the way from the valley with the Odin in pursuit.
Without hesitation, Kevin turned around and mounted his horse to greet them. Fortunately, the Odin stopped their chase and only roared for a while when they arrived at the valley’s entrance before pulling back.
Once Shaar and the other two were rescued, their bodies were so weak that they immediately collapsed to the ground, and needed to be carried back by the Byzantine cavalry.
Shaar burst out laughing like a madman the moment he was carried into camp. All of the fear, tension, and pressure in his heart for trying to survive with his brothers were unleashed all at once. He continued to laugh louder and louder, and although the wounds on his body were starting to open, he didn’t seem to care at all. The only exception to his manic merriment were the pitiful yelps of pain in between his laughing, turning it into a somewhat strange scene.
“Hahahaha! I actually didn’t die! I made it out alive! Hahahaha!!!”
Although both Kato and Sarbar were getting bandaged, Kato’s wounds weren’t very life threatening, while Sarbar was in a worse position. When Kekkan’s last arrow hit Shaar, Sarbar took the brunt of the force when they fell, and several of his bones were instantly broken from the impact. Luckily, his broken bones didn’t pierce any of his internal organs, where nobody save for a priest would be able to save him.
Kevin and Butler surrounded the trio, asking about all the details of their chase. The moment they heard that Shaar had actually managed to escape by himself, and that he had met an Odin gothi by bad fortune in the forest of the valley……
“What?!”
Butler suddenly shouted, “Y-You said! You killed an Odin gothi!! An Odin gothi?!!”
The gloominess Butler’s face was instantly swept away, and was instead filled with thrill and excitement. Kevin’s eyes were also wide, speechlessly staring at him with his mouth agape.
“Uh……to be accurate, I didn’t kill him since he was shot dead by his own people. Since they knew that they probably couldn’t save him, they simply ……” Shaar’s tone was uncertain.
“No matter what, the gothi was captured by you, and that’s all that matters.” Kevin suddenly over-excitedly pounded Shaar’s chest and Shaar instantly screamed in pain. As he coughed, he once again spat a few mouthful blood.
Quickly withdrawing his hand, Kevin looked at Shaar nervously.
“Bald man, do you want to kill me?!” As Shaar moaned, as he could feel that the wounds he received this time were the most serious so far.
Kevin touched his bald head, somewhat embarrassed, while Sarbar and Kato remarked feebly, “It was Shaar who captured the gothi, we were only rescued by him. This merit, there’s no way we’ll claim it for ourselves. Haha ……”
Kevin became emotional and stared at Shaar, “You fool, don’t you know that in the Odin military, each army has its own High Gothi? Their status equals that of an army commander!! From the description you gave me of his attire, he was certainly not an ordinary gothi, but this army’s High Gothi!! Shaar, don’t you know how big the merit is for killing an Odin high gothi?!”
“How big is the merit?” Shaar’s eyes widened and was somewhat at a loss – he wasn’t a Byzantine, so how could he know the law of Byzantine?
Kevin swallowed and his face turned red, “This merit is enough to grant you a title of nobility, as well as a manor! In the future, you will be a lord! As for the title, you will at least be a knight! If you catch his majesty on a good day maybe you might get a baron title as an exception – alas, if you want a hereditary title, it might not be possible and will most likely be a lifelong title.”
“Knight? Baron? I can get a big manor?” Shaar asked stupidly, in a daze.
“Under normal circumstances, a knight will be assigned a small piece of land which is big enough to build your own manor. As a baron, you can obtain a small town as your territory, where you have to govern and collect taxes. You can even have your own personal guards! As long as you can afford the cost, of course.”
”A small town…… can it be as big as Primal Wildfire Town?” Shaar’s eyes were shining a bit.
“Primal Wildfire Town is too big ……it’s unlikely.” Kevin shook his head, “Primal Wildfire Town could be considered a small city. A common small town is about the size of a quarter of Primal Wildfire Town.”
“Damn……” Shaar was so excited that he immediately sat up, and although his face was twisted in pain, he couldn’t bear but yell out, “One fourth the size of Black Alley! Hahaha! Wouldn’t it be the same as me becoming the mayor? Wouldn’t I be able to call the shots there? Hahaha! Wouldn’t you be able to do what you want? If I see something I like, I will grab it and take it home! If I see a pretty babe on the street that I like, I will snatch her and take her home! haha ……”
Kevin, Sarbar and Kato who were standing next to him suddenly froze.
This rookie…. This hillbilly!! I thought he was a good person! If he became a noble, he will certainly be a tyrannical ruler who exploits his subjects!!
Seeing how Shaar was laughing like a madman, Kato suddenly remembered something, “There was another important matter! When we were captured, the Odin who interrogated us described a person to us. The guy they described was using the same weapon as Shaar’s black pitchfork, and the description of the appearance and attire they gave us was exactly the same as Shaar’s……When we encountered the ambush on the road, it was said that he killed a lot of archers……I heard that he even killed the leader of an Odin caribou rider unit.”
Shaar froze for a moment and nodded, “Yes, I chopped down quite a few of them at the time……”
Kato took a deep breath, “Was someone split into two by you? And did you split him down the middle?”
“Uh……yes……”
“That’s right then.” Kato slyly smiled, “In the future, we’re probably going to be forced to call this guy Lord! He’ll definitely be made into a baron this time, and maybe even a hereditary one!”
Kevin and Sarbar looked somewhat puzzled, while Kato only smiled bitterly, “I can understand a bit of the Odin language, and I heard that the Odin say that the leader of that caribou unit that Shaar killed was called ‘your highness’!”
Your, your highness?! (ED:That’s basically someone of the immediate family of the king…)
This time, both Kevin and Sarbar were completely shocked.
After a long silence……
Butler cleared his throat and gave Shaar a firm look, “A high gothi and a member of the royal family! Damn it! You, You runt! This time, it’d be impossible not to become a noble, even if you don’t want to!”
While they were talking, Sabar suddenly grabbed Shaar and started laughing, “You’re loaded now! You better spit out all the money that you won from our bets, hahaha!!”
Shaar was getting smashed to point where he got dizzy from just the sudden rush of happiness. Noble? Baron? Hereditary? Shaar, who was once a hillbilly, began joyfully to imagine a wonderful career as a tyrant.
…………
When the afternoon had almost arrived, General Adrick finally appeared with the first legion. The moment the first legion of Heavy Infantry Riders arrived, they gave Butler’s and Kevin’s remaining men powerful and much needed support. Everybody’s energy and morale soared.
Since the first legion was an infantry unit that rode horses to get around, they set up the camp near the south entrance of the valley very quickly, which was located at the center of the flat terrain. The baggage train that had travelled with the army was fortifying into a tall wood wall……
Shaar, Kato and Sarbar were brought into the tent to rest their wounds. His injuries extremely heavy this time and the final arrow had a very powerful freezing power. It almost completely froze his wound and blood – when he was receiving treatment on his wound, he discovered that his wound unexpectedly received some frostbites. Furthermore, his lungs received some internal injuries and he was having some problem breathing from time to time, also occasionally would cough some blood – with this injury even if his body physically was extremely tough, he feared that he would need many days to recover.
While casual talking with Sarbar, Kevin came from outside with by two Praetorian Guards and said with a very serious face: “The general wants to see you!”
“Oh? Will I receive my reward now?” Shaar immediately began to get ecstatic.
“Idiot, rewards will be given after the war.”Kevin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “General has something to ask you.”
The two Praetorian Guards directly lifted Shaar’s bunk into General Adrick’s temporary headquarters. Staring at Shaar carefully for a while, this sword scar faced showed a faint smile: “Well done, boy.”
While talking, he walked next to Shaar and looked at his injury. The general stared at this hillbilly: “Scared?”
Shaar scratched his head: “At that time I was a bit scared, but as soon as fighting began, I forgot my fear.”
“……”
“……” Adrick frozen for a moment and suddenly burst out laughing: “Ha! Good kid! A lot of people pretend to be a hero in front of me and only you would tell the truth saying that you were afraid – That’s right! How could people not fear death? If it’s possible to chose, who would choose to die? However…..there are a lot of times where people are gradually forced to move forward step by step. Where there people who were not afraid of death just after birth? Hmpf, I like you, you are very honest.”
Shaar was speechless in his mind – being described as honest; he only feared that this general was greatly mistaken……
( Tatara heart was filled with grudges……)
Adrick showed a faint smile and his eyes flashed with a clean light: “Your merits, you can enjoy them after the war.” While talking, he pulled out his highly treasured dagger which he always played around with from his boots and placed in Shaar’s hand: “This, I give it to you!”
This dagger was the general’s most beloved object. Holding it in his hand, Shaar realised that the dagger’s blade radiated a cold sharpness. This really was a rare sharp weapon! Of course, that what gave this hillbilly the most joy was that the handle was made of pure gold ……
Holding this dagger, he started to grin from ear to ear, but General Adrick’s complexion suddenly turned cold: “The archers you fought on the road, tell me their appearances, equipments and how they fought!”
“?”Surprised for a moment, Shaar suddenly got an idea: “General ……you mean……”
“Hmpf.”Adrick’s eyes flashed a sudden ruthlessness: “Since when did the Odins have such excellent archers? Those archers that blocked you were absolutely not from the Odin’s army!”
“Not Odins……Well-equipped archer ……could it be those guys from the sea……” Shaar blurted out.