Chapter 160

Chapter 160: Isn’t It Better to Strike First? (2)

“Look at this, would you? People these days have no faith, none at all.”

Seeing the lukewarm reaction around him, Ghislain clicked his tongue and continued.

“In all the wars I commanded, I have not once... been defeated.”

It was an exceedingly arrogant statement. No renowned commander would dare to say such a thing.

But Ghislain showed not a hint of shame. Since earning the title of the King of Mercenaries, he really hadn’t lost a single war.

He may have lost his life in the last war, but that didn’t count now that he’d returned to the past.

Belinda chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand at Ghislain’s confident words.

‘Oh my, how adorable, my young lord. He’s only fought one war... Well, he did win, so technically he’s not wrong.’

The others seemed to have similar thoughts. One battle, one victory, zero defeats—so it wasn’t a lie.

As irritating as it was, Ghislain’s official war record was still 100%.

Sensing what everyone was thinking, Ghislain smacked his lips.

‘Ah, but it’s true. I’m undefeated in a hundred battles, yet they don’t believe me.’

Claude looked at Ghislain with a hint of pity before speaking.

“I’ve heard a few times that the Lord is quite capable in combat. But you don’t plan to charge in alone, do you? Even if we gathered every capable fighter among the immigrants, there wouldn’t be more than a thousand.”

They might have brought in thousands of people, but if you excluded the elderly and infirm, the actual number who could fight wasn’t that high.

The thousand Claude mentioned was only the maximum estimate.

“Even if we turned all of them into soldiers, without proper training, they’d just be a ragtag bunch. How do you intend to wage a war with troops like that?”

“True, no matter how strong I am, fighting with such a force would be a bit challenging. It’s not that I can’t win, but... there’s no need to suffer unnecessary sacrifices.”

“Yes, that’s exactly my point. So let’s postpone the war until—”

“No, that’s not it. I’ll find the extra troops myself. And we can train our current forces to be strong enough to match thousands, right?”

Claude’s heart sank at the absurdity of the suggestion. If that were possible, why would other lords be so desperate to increase their forces?

Especially in a situation where time was tight, no matter how hard they trained, there was a limit to how much they could strengthen their troops.

Just as he was about to voice his objections, Ghislain’s indifferent voice cut through the air first.

“I’ll establish the Fenris Knights.”

The gathered retainers blinked, momentarily doubting whether they had heard correctly.

Creating a knight order without a single knight? It was the most absurd idea they had ever heard.

What was a knight, after all?

A knight was a kind of combat weapon that could change the tide of war.

The outcome of battles often hinged on how many knights each faction had and the quality of those knights.

It took at least dozens of knights to form a knight order that could bear the name.

Thus, a knight order was not only a way to showcase the might of a territory but also a symbol of military strength.

So when Ghislain, who had been talking about preparing for war, suddenly mentioned a knight order, it was natural for everyone to be left speechless.

‘What, does he think gathering any random people and giving them a name makes a knight order?’

‘At the very least, one must be able to handle mana to be acknowledged as a knight. How many people in our territory can do that? The Lord surely knows this, doesn’t he?’

Knight orders were usually managed by large territories, such as counties or larger domains, and most territories did not have one.

Typically, only a small number of knights served directly under a lord. This was even more so for baronies.

Knights were highly valuable assets, not something one could easily recruit just because they had the money. Maintaining such forces was also no small expense.

Naturally, there was not a single individual in Fenris who had been officially knighted.

Claude, unable to hide his disbelief, spoke up.

“How are we supposed to create a knight order without knights?”

“That’s why we need to create them now. We’ll turn all the existing mercenaries and those who recently joined us into knights. Of course, we’ll make new contracts only with the mercenaries who wish to become knights, and they’ll need to be officially knighted.”

“Create... knights?”

“Yes, two months will be enough.”

‘Knights aren’t like bread that can just be baked in a bakery....’

How was he supposed to turn people who couldn’t even properly use mana into knights within two months?

“No, even the lowest-ranked knights have to be able to handle mana to be acknowledged as knights... Wait, could it be?”

Claude suddenly recalled the mana condensation formation they had invested a massive amount of money into creating some time ago.

Back then, it was used to produce monstrous grains, but originally, it was a tool for training knights.

Ghislain nodded, as if to say, “Finally, you understand.”

“Forcing them to learn mana is possible. Reaching a high level is difficult, but it’s easy enough to raise them to the level of the lowest-ranked knights. I’m even planning to teach them mana training techniques myself.”

“No way!”

At that moment, Belinda’s sharp voice cut off Ghislain’s words.

Belinda couldn’t help but hold her forehead.

‘Oh, this is driving me insane. How can he say that?’

She understood Ghislain’s intentions. It wasn’t wrong to say that laws and honor meant nothing if everyone was dead.

But this was about feasibility. Raising hundreds of people to the level of knights capable of wielding mana in just two months?

That had never been done, in any era.

On top of that, he wasn’t just belittling the mana training technique that had protected the northern frontier for so long; he was even talking about improving it.

He wasn’t just planning to improve it—he intended to create a knockoff and then get rid of the original!

“Young master, are you saying you’ll completely overhaul the mana training method? If something goes wrong, it could be disastrous. That’s something only an incredible genius could pull off!”

Why do you think all the famous founders of mana training methods were extraordinary geniuses or heroes?

Mana training methods were practices perfected over at least dozens, if not hundreds, of years, which meant only someone of that caliber could dare to tamper with them.

If someone learned a flawed training method, they could end up crippled or dead.

“Why? When I was a kid, didn’t you keep praising me, calling me a genius?”

“That was because you, young master...!”

Belinda started to speak but abruptly stopped. This wasn’t a topic she could discuss in front of others.

‘That was because when you first stopped wetting your pants, we exaggerated it to boost your confidence!’

Ghislain shrugged, looking at the worried Belinda.

‘She has absolutely no reason to be concerned.’

In his past life, he had been one of the seven strongest people on the continent.

He had reached a realm beyond that of humans, and he had overhauled mana training methods countless times, throwing them to his subordinates.

“Don’t worry. You know I helped Vanessa when she was trying to sense mana, right? I’m telling you, I can improve this. Don’t you trust me?”

His confident tone almost managed to convince Belinda for a moment.

‘Well, the young master’s mana training method... it did have similarities, but it was clearly different from that of the Ferdium family.’

Belinda, torn over whether she should believe him, snapped back to her senses and shook her head vigorously.

After all, the most common thing bad men said was, “Don’t you trust me?”

“This is completely different from that, you know?”

Vanessa was a genius who, though she lacked mana, had trained for years at the Magic Tower.

Teaching mercenaries who didn’t know the first thing about mana was a completely different situation.

‘I know the young master is exceptional at handling mana and has some unique talents... but this just doesn’t make sense. Right now, he’s drunk on his own abilities. Everything he’s tried so far has gone well, so he’s gone mad with confidence!’

What kind of knight gets produced like bread in just two months? That’s absurd!

If that had been possible, the Ferdium family would have already taken over the kingdom long before Ghislain was even born.

Claude, who had been listening to the conversation between the two, quickly jumped in.

“Lord, think about it. We’re in an extremely urgent situation right now, and there’s a lot we need to do. You were the one who first brought up the idea of going to war with Count Desmond, weren’t you?”

“And?”

“To prepare for war and to develop the estate, it’s going to cost a huge amount of money, right?”

“It’ll cost a fortune. Even if we spend all the money we’ve earned and all the money we’re going to earn, it still won’t be enough.”

“So how does it make sense not to sell those expensive runestones and instead use them for a mana compression array? If we can’t churn out knights within two months, we’ll just be wasting both money and time!”

Claude raised his voice desperately.

He acknowledged the lord’s accomplishments so far and even the mysterious, unknown knowledge he seemed to possess.

But was he supposed to trust him just one more time?

‘Ridiculous! One mistake and we’re all dead!’

This was a matter of life and death—who would easily agree to such an irrational proposal?

Even if they prepared well without wasting a single penny, it would still be uncertain if they could hold out in the war.

After all, their opponent was Count Desmond, one of the contenders for the strongest in the North.

Claude couldn’t possibly agree to Ghislain’s plan, which risked wasting two months of time and an enormous amount of funds.

“If it fails, we’ll be in even more danger! Can’t we just prepare sensibly, for once?”

The others looked at Ghislain with earnest eyes, as if echoing Claude’s plea.

But Ghislain merely responded with a nonchalant insistence.

“I’m telling you, it’ll work. This is common sense to me. Have you ever seen me talk nonsense? I’m not that kind of person.”

For a moment, everyone’s eyes focused on Ghislain, and a silence fell over the area.

If they had to pick the person who talked the most nonsense in this estate, it would undoubtedly be the lord.

Although things had fortunately turned out well so far, that didn’t change the fact that it was still nonsense.

Sensing the gazes on him, Ghislain muttered once more.

“This is ridiculous.”