The Count's Gun-Shooting Scoundrel-Chapter 71

“H-huh! Don’t come any closer!”
Yarve gasped, startled, backing away as Arthur entered the prison cell.
Arthur pulled a chair from the corner and sat down.
“Answer my questions, unless you want another hole in your thigh.”
Arthur’s cold words sent a chill down Yarve’s spine.
“You said this place would turn into a sea of fire if I killed you, didn’t you?”
“A sea of fire?”
Yarve seemed to ponder for a moment, then a strange light gleamed in his eyes.
“Heh, looks like you’ve caught on to something now, haven’t you?”
The fear-stricken man approached, a faint, fishy smile playing on his lips.
Arthur, too, smiled in return and tossed out a remark.
“Were those words spoken with Marquis Valtre in mind?”
“How did you…?”
Yarve was taken aback.
“Why so surprised? Like you, I have informants planted everywhere. If I set my mind to it, I can find out whatever I want.”
“Mmm…”
“Do you really think a Marquis could stand against me? The troops you brought, which were more than the Marquis could muster, were annihilated, weren’t they?”
“They were.”
Yarve stared intently at Arthur, a meaningful smile on his face.
After a long moment of apparent thought, he spoke gravely.
“I’m telling you this because you know I serve Marquis Valtre. He is the one who will lead the Oscar Empire in the future.”
“...!”
For a moment, Arthur’s eyes wavered slightly.
“Are you very surprised? Well, it is surprising. No one has ever rebelled against the Emperor since the Oscar Empire was founded.”
“Surely he wouldn’t be ignorant of the Emperor’s power?”
“He knows it better than anyone. It’s the Emperor who is ignorant—ignorant of how powerful an army that man has built.”
“He doesn’t seem to fear the Emperor’s Central Guardians.”
“Of course not. He possesses a Knight Order comparable to the Central Guardians and the Empire’s only Mage Corps.”
“Mage Corps?”
A glint appeared in Arthur’s eyes.
“The one you should fear isn’t the Emperor, but Marquis Valtre himself. You’ve provoked me, so now all that’s left for you is death, ‘kekeke’.”
As Yarve let out a cunning laugh, Arthur scoffed.
“How amusing.”
“What did you say?”
The smile vanished from Yarve’s face.
“Both the Emperor and Marquis Valtre are merely fleeting enemies to me. There’s someone else I must defeat.”
“You’re spouting nonsense. Where in the Oscar Empire is there anyone more powerful than those two?”
As Yarve glared with bulging eyes, Arthur uttered a single phrase.
“Someone you know as well.”
“...!”
“The enemy the House Julius must inevitably defeat.”
“Tell me! Who is it?”
“You’ll find out naturally when the time comes.”
Arthur turned his back and continued.
“Jakal will surely bring the ransom to save you.”
“Never. He’ll go straight to Marquis Valtre and this. Then the Marquis will lead his troops here, blow your head off, and turn this place into a sea of fire.”
“You’re gravely mistaken.”
Arthur turned back to face Yarve and asked.
“He will uphold his conviction.”
“I don’t care about such convictions! And he’ll never succeed. Because Waiman and I prepared a sort of code for this very situation. Don’t even dream of ransom without figuring that out.”
“Hmph.”
Arthur grinned faintly and asked.
“Do you really think the man who stuck by your side like a shadow wouldn’t know that?”
“...!”
“He said a fortnight would be enough.” Arthur stated firmly and walked towards the exit.
‘No way! This bastard…!’
Yarve’s mind became muddled, and his face hardened.
After a moment, he shook his head vigorously and muttered.
“Waiman, you must not be fooled by him.”
***
“Mmm…”
Coming up from the dungeon, Arthur went straight to his office to investigate Marquis Valtre.
Consulting a book on the Oscar Empire’s noble hierarchy, he found that after Emperor Ruan Barotas came Archduke Natharsian, followed by two dukes and three marquises.
Marquis Valtre was Emperor Ruan Barotas’s half-brother, born from the previous Emperor’s affair with a woman from the Marshana family.
He gathered and organized the facts gleaned from the book with the information obtained from Millerf and Yarve.
He seemed to understand why Valtre had been hiding troops.
‘He intends to start a war.’
Arthur’s face hardened.
He needed to find out what kind of relationship Marquis Valtre had with Count Yarve.
If Count Yarve was merely a disposable asset to Marquis Valtre…
An enemy of an enemy could temporarily become an ally, or he could incite a three-way war.
However, if Yarve was an absolutely indispensable figure to Marquis Valtre, Arthur might end up with yet another enemy.
The Emperor, Marquis Valtre, and the Demon King.
It would lead to the worst-case scenario, with enemies on all sides.
No one would want to ally with the House Julius, and it was clear they would eventually be isolated.
There was only one way to overcome that situation.
To become stronger!
Arthur closed the book and fell into thought.
Merely becoming stronger wouldn’t be enough to pressure them or win a war.
Something absolutely special was needed.
Something that would make enemies tremble in fear at the mention of the House Julius.
‘In that case…’ Arthur’s eyes flashed ominously.
With a resolute expression, as if having made a decision, he left the office.
The place he visited was the training ground.
They were performing physical training exercises, fully armed.
Groans and grunts emanated from various spots.
“Ugh…” “Enough already…”
Hellot, who had taken over as training instructor in Skevin’s stead, bellowed.
“Stop whining about dying!”
Instantly, silence fell, as if a mouse had died.
Hellot, with his sharp, piercing eyes, looked at the trainees and shouted.
“Don’t forget why you came here! You came to get stronger and protect your families and territories! Didn’t you?”
“Argh!”
The trainees yelled, exerting themselves.
“Endure and overcome with grit! The more you do, the safer your families and territories will become! Understood?!”
“Argh!”
Hellot, with a satisfied expression, looked around and then spotted Arthur approaching.
He quickly ran up and saluted with his sword.
“Argh!”
Arthur nodded and asked.
“How are they doing?”
“They’re working hard.”
“And the vigilantes?”
“As expected, since they’re training alongside official Knights, they’re struggling physically. Today alone, 50 voluntarily dropped out.”
“So, how many are left?”
“Around a thousand.”
“...?”
Arthur tilted his head.
Half of the training ground was occupied by Knight apprentices.
That would mean the rest were vigilantes, but their numbers weren’t even half of a thousand.
Moreover, there was no sign of the official Knights anywhere.
They still seemed to be intoxicated by their victory.
As they weren’t involved in any training, the Knights’ discipline seemed to be loosening more and more.
Anyway, he couldn’t figure out how the vigilantes were being rotated through training.
“The rest…”
Just as Arthur was about to ask.
“Argh!”
A resounding shout echoed from the direction of the castle gate.
Amidst the shouts, someone roared fiercely.
“Who’s walking?! Run!”
“Argh!”
Dark appeared on the training ground, leading the vigilantes.
Their bodies were drenched in sweat, and they gasped for breath.
Some turned pale and collapsed with a thud.
A Devil’s Corps member quickly rushed over and fiercely urged them on.
“Get up! If you collapse here, who will protect your families?!”
He forcibly pulled the collapsed man back to his feet.
Arthur watched the scene and asked Hellot.
“Have they been on a mountain run?”
“Yes, since the training ground is small, we’ve divided the vigilantes into two groups and are alternating between training here and mountain runs every other day.”
“So, they’ve been mountain running all day?”
Hellot replied with a proud expression.
“That’s right. Since they move along the border, it also serves as reconnaissance and patrol, so it seems quite effective.”
“Well, I’ll be…”
Arthur shook his head.
In a way, it seemed they were passing on the exact suffering they had endured to the trainees.
This ‘tough love’ through training was the same here as on Earth.
In that case, the thousand who remained could be considered the most tenacious of the tenacious.
He had intended to exclude them from the Knight Order reorganization, but he decided to change his plan.
Based on his own experience, most of those who survived until the end on the battlefield were tough as nails.
On the other hand, he decided to give the arrogant Knights a good dressing-down.
A chilling smile played on Arthur’s lips.
‘I should completely overturn things with this opportunity.’
***
Silence hung over the training ground, which had been filled with shouts during the day.
Someone appeared on the roof of the Defen Knights barracks, where the Knights were sleeping.
Thump.
A cat lying on its belly on the roof was startled and fled below.
In the spot where the cat had been, a man in black attire and a mask appeared.
It was Arthur.
He had waited until dawn, changed into the clothes he had prepared, and appeared here.
Currently, a total of five combat groups were gathered: the Knight Orders of the four houses and the Horkamun Tribe.
Although he had the Devil’s Corps under his command, they alone were insufficient to carry out his mission.
Thus, he planned to select outstanding individuals to reinforce his ranks.
He could have done it through a temperament test, as he had when selecting Devil’s Corps members, but since these individuals already possessed a certain level of skill, he decided to select them using his own method.
‘Shall we begin?’
With a mischievous look, Arthur closed all the windows in the ceiling.
Then he quietly descended and propped an iron pipe against the back door to prevent it from opening.
Standing before the barracks entrance, he lit a fire inside a tin can.
As smoke billowed from the can, Arthur quickly placed it inside the barracks and swiftly climbed onto the roof of the building opposite.
Perching on the roof, he looked down at the barracks with an expectant expression.
“Now, I wonder who will catch my eye.”
A moment later.
“Cough, cough!”
“What kind of smoke is this?!”
“Fire!”
Crash!
Someone burst through the door and rushed outside.
“Cough! Cough! Ugh!”
The man lay prostrate on the ground, tears and snot streaming, looking as if he were about to die
Following him, men poured out in masses.
Their actions were all identical.
As if poisoned, they wore deathly expressions, lay prostrate on the ground, shedding tears and snot, and some even vomited and writhed in great pain.
Inside the tin can Arthur had placed in the barracks were Namala flower leaves.
He had asked Millerf to procure something that would irritate tear ducts and cause nausea, similar to the CS gas used in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) training.
He had doubted whether it would be as effective as CS gas, but it proved to be more effective than expected.
Arthur watched their suffering, recalling his own CBRN training from the past.
‘They’re probably crying from the pain.’
He curled the corners of his mouth and looked around.
No one had caught his eye yet.
Men continued to rush out of the barracks in terror.
“Ugh!” “Ugh-aaah!”
“What’s going on?!”
Knights guarding the castle interior hurried over to assess the situation.
It seemed everyone inside the barracks had come out, but no one had impressed Arthur.
‘Is there no one?’
Just as a hint of disappointment crossed his face.
CRASH!
Someone smashed through the barracks door and emerged.
Unlike the others who had rushed out in a panic, this man appeared calmly, even carrying his weapon, and his sharp eyes swept over his surroundings.
Then, didn’t he go back inside the barracks?
‘Who is that guy?’
A glint appeared in Arthur’s eyes.
After about ten seconds.
He re-emerged from the swirling smoke.
He carried one man slung over his side and another over his shoulder.
He put his comrades down on the ground and went back into the barracks.
After rescuing a total of six people, he shouted loudly.
“What son of a bitch is doing this?! Is this supposed to be training?!”
“...!”
Everyone was startled, and their gazes turned to him.
‘Whatever else, I like his quick wits.’
Arthur imprinted the man’s face in his mind and moved to the next location.
The place he arrived at was the barracks where the Lannister Knights resided.
Unlike the Defen Knights barracks, this one was surrounded by Giant Wolves.
‘Access won’t be easy.’
Sure enough, Ron sensed his presence, sprang up, and growled.
Then, Sasha and the other wolves began to rise one by one, baring their fangs and glaring at Arthur’s location.
It seemed the Knights were about to wake up.
‘My plans can’t be derailed because of you lot.’
Arthur drew up his Mana.
As a golden aura flared, the wolves that had adopted aggressive stances all lowered their heads simultaneously.
It seemed they recognized him as Arthur.
Arthur grinned, approached Ron, and stroked the wolf’s head.
Ron rubbed his head against Arthur’s leg, displaying affection.
“Could you clear out for a bit?”
Arthur whispered, and Ron, as if understanding, nodded and led his pack far away from the barracks.
Arthur clasped his hands together, an expectant look on his face.
‘I wonder what kind of fellow will emerge this time?’