Chapter 206 (1/2)
Early morning.
The lodgings near the capital gates were noisy; it was because the mercenaries who were staying there were rushing to join the army.
The guides from the mercenary guild were already waiting for them to come.
“Ahm, is everyone here?”
“Yes!”
Philip and the other Rakan knights were rubbing their eyes when they replied.
Perhaps, it was because they were witnessing the actual situation, but everyone seemed to be nervous.
However, it wasn’t that excessive, and Philip hadn’t given them any advice on handling their tension and nervousness on the battlefield.
“We will enter the battle soon. I know your skills, and if you want to live and return back to your homes, don’t act recklessly and trust your fellow companions and obey orders. Do you understand?”
“We will keep that in our mind!”
After a while, Luke came out with his equipment and armor to lead them.
Luke’s group came out of the castle and stopped at the wasteland in the east of Bless.
Already 100,000 troops were gathered there.
They were hired by Bless and the local mercenary guilds, like Luke and the local army from the Holy Empire.
Their shelter was spread beyond the horizon, and its magnificent appearance amazed the Rakan knights.
“Wah, how many knights are there?!”
“It looks like maybe a hundred thousand, right?”
“The Gigants itself seems to be around a hundred.”
Although the Rakan had developed and made considerable strides, no one had ever seen knights that were over 100,000.
It was the same with Luke.
In many of his wars, which he had witnessed in his two years of military service, he never saw 100,000 troops even when adding the soldiers from both sides.
‘Is this what an Empire is?’
There were only two nations in the Rhodesia continent that could mobilize such a huge amount of troops for a civil-war and not an all-out war with its neighbors.
The Baroque Empire and the Holy Arthenia Empire.
One of them was Luke’s enemy.
‘There is a long way to go. If the Baroque Empire can mobilize this much force…’
Luke’s heart felt tired. The guide spoke to the knights who were talking, “Huhu, don’t be so surprised. I heard that the troops who were running for the capital are 150,000.”
“What? 150,000?”
“Hu! We intend to harass the rebels.”
The knights clicked their tongues after listening to the guides.
It was time for breakfast, and white smoke was rising everywhere. The soldiers were eating hard rye bread with hot soup.
White tunic outfit with a cross on the chains.
The central army of Holy Arthenia Empire.
The soldiers, who wore a tunic with the same basic dress but different colors and crests, were of different territories.
‘Hmm, the outfit of the Holy Empire army hadn’t changed much even after 500 years. Are they this dedicated to their traditions?’
Unlike the regular soldiers, few mercenaries wore tunics as well.
Most were only wearing iron or leather armor of thick coats or breastplates. The wealthy mercenaries were armed with a breastplate.
Anyway, the mercenaries wore various different styles of armor and attire so that they could be recognized at a glance.
“What? They are priests?”
“They look too good to be priests.”
The knights looked puzzled at the men who had the physique of knights and were wearing brown priestly suits.
It was because their weapons were maces.
“Ah! They are monks, the pride of our Holy Arthenia Empire.”
The knight who heard the guide asked for an explanation. “Monk?”
“Yes, some of the monks in the temple learn martial arts and even become combat priests.”
The true power of monks wasn’t their combat force.
When they read out a holy prayer, a green film forms around their body, and the strength and stamina of the nearby soldiers, as well as the monks, improve remarkably.
“In addition, their body’s ability to recover will also increase, so they could treat minor injuries themselves.”
‘Kuk, I went through some hard times because of those damn bastards.’
Luke grunted upon hearing the guide.
In his days as the Devil King Saymon, the Holy Army was the most toughest one he had dealt with.