Chapter 469: Continental Joint Training (4) |
I honestly couldn’t even remember what the meeting was all about. All I could remember was people thanking the leaders for coming together, the objective of the joint training, and how the mock battles would come first before the joint training.
The training schedule was also explained, and there were many different useless topics.
However, the lavish dinner that happened afterward was what stupefied me.
‘It was fun.’
It felt like the stress I had accumulated over the past few days had completely disappeared.
‘South Americans sure know how to have fun.’
They were intense, and they were skilled at playing on our level and the women—Anyway, they apparently got summoned to a place where the locals praised the god of drinking, singing, and dancing.
I felt kind of bad for the common soldiers who had to survive on rations, but there was obviously corruption here. The rotten figures among us didn’t seem to care about that. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have decided to go out and drink.
Of course, the meeting was beneficial for those rotten figures, and I was sure that they thought that last night was worth it.
Those who had no idea how beneficial it was to bootlick me and establish a relationship with the figure who was basically the leader of the continent’s potion-making industry weren’t here.
Those brainless people had gotten a taste of authority elsewhere, which made them even more corrupted. Actually, some of them were the absolute worst type of people.
The majority of them only managed to climb up to their current positions by destroying the smaller guilds, and it was funny because I didn’t find that strange at all. It would actually be ridiculous if the guilds and clans here were impeccably clean.
On Earth, large companies were constantly involved in various issues, so the groups here would obviously not be squeaky clean.
When I recalled how the Black Swan Guild and the Blue Guild often walked down the gray area between legal and illegal actions, I couldn’t really criticize these guilds for what they had done to achieve their current status.
‘They’re a bit too much, though… At least, we’re conscious of our own actions. The Blue Guild is better.’
Of course, ordinary guilds and clans existed as well. There were guilds like the Red Mercenary Guild, which provided a sense of belonging to the people and represented the entire city where its headquarters was located.
The guild masters of those guilds were different. Unlike the guild masters of the corrupt guilds, the guild masters of guilds like the Red Mercenary Guild were busy training and were proud of their own process.
Unfortunately, many of them were too weak to be considered in the big picture.
I could remember laughing at the guild members of the Friendship Clan. I honestly couldn’t remember their names anymore, but a strong guild from a foreign city where the overall standards for a strong guild were low would still be a bit stronger than the Friendship Clan.
Those guilds only had a few talented members, and only around twenty of them could compare to the Eight Seats.
To be honest, the fact that they had around twenty people on that level was a miracle, but if I had to average out the overall level, the highest rank would be C.
It would be nice if the average were S, but the average rankings of the members had to be at least A for them to fight the upcoming threat.
I was sure that Kim Hyun-Sung was agonizing over this more than me.
Kim Hyun-Sung already knew the importance of resting, so the fact that he didn’t drink even a sip of alcohol during the previous dinner made it clear that he was really anxious.
It was also possible that aside from thinking about how something had to have gone wrong, I was sure that he was also thinking about what went wrong and where things went wrong.
It was clear that he was nervously reviewing the result that he had obtained after working hard in his current life. If the result were a bag of chips, then he had to have realized upon opening it that ninety percent of the bag of chips was air.
The result had to have shocked Kim Hyun-Sung so much that he felt like going insane.
‘I’m sure he’s thinking about where he should start fixing things...’
It was something I was thinking about as well, but I couldn’t find the answer to it.
I looked up and saw soldiers collecting their breath on one side of the room.
A mock battle had just ended.
“Hahaha. Looks like the power of the Iron Blood Knights wasn’t just a rumor. It was just a mock battle, but I didn’t think that they would break through us so easily.”
“If this were an actual war, we wouldn’t have been able to attack like that. The Kingdom didn’t even use half of its mana in the mock battle just now… and the formation was a problem as well. It’s embarrassing that we lost this many soldiers. If you were able to use your magic properly, we would have lost this battle. As expected from the mage soldiers led by Gellahan of Hellfire.”
“Looks like the skills of the Men of Iron Blood weren’t exaggerated.”
‘...’
“We’re not as strong as you, Sir Gellahan. Hahaha.”
‘They’re so full of themselves. Seriously...’
It was ridiculous to see the leaders of the two groups complimenting each other, and it was also ridiculous, but Kim Hyun-Sung was staring at them with a frown.
‘Yeah, I understand how you’re feeling…’
Even I thought that their behavior was ridiculous because they didn’t really have to pamper each other after the mock battle. I wonder what Kim Hyun-Sung was thinking as he watched the two pamper each other.
I got so curious that I really wanted to read his mind.
Meanwhile, the two leaders approached me.
“What did you think, Father Lee Ki-Young?”
“It was amazing. I was especially impressed by the mage soldiers led by Sir Gellahan of Hellfire,” I replied.
Gellahan of Hellfire, my ass!
Compared to Jung Ha-Yan, he was nothing more than a campfire.
“It is my honor. I could have never imagined that you’d give us such an amazing evaluation, even though we lost the mock battle.”
“It’s because the formation itself didn’t match the theme of the mock battle, which is castle siege. The formation puts the soldiers at a disadvantage in the first place. I know better than anyone just how difficult it is to stop the enemy vanguard when your own vanguard is weaker than the enemy vanguard,” I commented.
‘To be honest, I just wanted to see how a group of mage soldiers with a weak vanguard will deal with their opponent.’
Unfortunately, I didn’t learn that much from them.
“The Iron Blood Knights’ ability to break through obstacles was simply too strong, so there wasn’t much that you could have done… It was a chaotic battle, but I can see how you’ve developed your soldiers from scratch,” I added.
“Haha. You’re embarrassing us. You’re spoiling me too much, Father Lee Ki-Young.”
“I’m just expressing how I felt, Sir Gellahan,” I said.
“Thank you. Ah… by the way, the next mock battle is a battle between the North and the West. The adventurers of the north are famous for their pride, and I can’t help but think that the battle might become a bit rough. Hopefully, no major accident will happen.”
The North was a prideful bunch, but they didn’t seem to be that skillful. The excited northern adventurers walked into a trap, basically committing suicide, which ended the battle.
The northern adventurers were frustrated, and I thought those emotions would actually help them because it would motivate them to work even harder so that they would eventually defeat the adversaries who previously defeated them.
The Men of Iron Blood and Gellahan’s childish trick were really pathetic in my eyes.
‘They’re going to make a mess. Shit.’
Their skills were limited, but that wasn’t related to how much mess they could create.
They were worried about their soldiers’ condition, so they obviously wouldn’t train them too hard. A few soldiers had administrative work to do after training, so I was sure that the leaders were worried that the training method was a bit too harsh.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand the leaders’ concerns. On this continent, people were assets. There were potions and holy magic to assuage fatigue, but the soldiers would eventually get burnout, which would affect their training.
If I were a manager of an athlete team, then I wouldn’t want to exhaust my athletes as well because they were related to how much money I could potentially make. Of course, it wasn’t the only reason why I thought that these leaders were trolling.
‘Why are they hiding their forces? Those guys… Those who have nothing to show are the worst.’
There were some leaders who decided to hide their forces and conceal their true abilities during the mock battle. Unfortunately, I was sure that Kim Hyun-Sung still wouldn’t be satisfied with them, even if they revealed all they had.
Of course, it would have undeniably become a great battle if they had gone all out.
They were low-ranking adventurers, yes, but they had plenty of experience. In addition, their livelihood was to fight, so I was sure that they had something up their sleeves. I actually saw a few things through Mind’s Eye.
However, it was obvious why they didn’t want to go all out.
They simply didn’t want to show everyone their true powers.
‘What, do you really think that they’re the main character of a story? Why are they hiding their powers as if they were the main character?’
It was already difficult to enjoy a mock battle, and these people were making it even harder to watch. It was exhausting just to match their mood. To be honest, I wanted to wear a mask and ruin this joint training, and even if I couldn’t do that punch, I would still do my best just to punch those bastards who weren’t taking all this seriously.
‘Be patient. I just have to be patient.’
If I had other ideas, then I would have made a move by now. However, the main reason I decided to let things run their course was that I was sure that Kim Hyun-Sung would eventually address the situation.
Of course, it wasn’t my original plan, but it wasn’t a bad idea.
I was Light Ki-Young, Benigoa’s proxy, but it would be ridiculous for me to stand up and start yelling at them to prepare for the upcoming threat. I was sure that Kim Hyun-Sung wanted me to create a beautiful scene, which involved me working hard with everyone else, but I thought that showing my usual self was more effective than that.
The usual Lee Ki-Young took a lot of care of his connections, and he knew how to take advantage of the situation as well. In addition, he also knew how to play along with other people while smiling.
I wasn’t sure if this was actually going to work, but it could work.
In a few days, I was expecting Kim Hyun-Sung to have this kind of thought…
‘Mr. Ki-Young is aware of the approaching threat, but he has no idea how serious the threat is…’
Making him think that way was my final goal because I wanted Kim Hyun-Sung to start talking to me. I wanted to hear just what exactly was the threats, how dangerous it was, and I also wanted him to confess to me that he was a regressor.
‘I need to know just what exactly the threat is so that I can prepare for it, Hyun-Sung.’
Like everyone else, I was also in the dark, but I had to remain quiet.
‘I’m sure he’ll come to find me if things don’t work out...’
After all, the Kim Hyun-Sung that I knew had never been a patient person.
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