Chapter 325: White Cloaked Stranger II

"And why would you do that?" Reiji asked suspiciously. "And why would you think that we would even need your help?"

Reiji obviously knew that he desperately needed help. He wasn’t exactly a fighter. Back on Earth, he knew a little bit of high school level kendo, so he could swing a sword around passably well. But actual combat was something that genuinely terrified him. He was no different than a basic first circle mage. All he could do was use a few basic utility spells, and none of them were remotely useful for a life-or-death battle. Just swinging his sword around did way more damage than his magic but that wasn’t exactly enough to fight in wars.

Hearing Reiji’s bluff, the hooded man let out a dry chuckle.

"Well, we aren’t so bright are we?" the man mocked. "You clearly have around four thousand soldiers here. And all of them are knights, yes?"

Reiji gave a stiff nod.

"Well," the hooded man smirked. "The Ironhold Kingdom currently has an army of eight thousand men. And all of them are knights as well. Some of them are even E-Rank and D-Rank knights too."

The man took a slow step forward.

"You are a summoned hero. And clearly, you did not really understand the true value of potential. So you took these thousands of peasant men and forcibly accelerated their growth using your blessing. But in doing so, you stole away their future potential. Now, every single one of them is permanently stuck at the F-Rank."

Reiji tensed.

"They also have zero combat training," the man continued. "So I really don’t see how they can perform well against a fully trained, veteran army. The Ironhold Kingdom has eight thousand knights who are actively trained for war. We would like to help you. And in return, we want a share of the mana crystal mine in this territory."

Reiji took a deep breath, trying to keep his composure.

"Well, I am the hero," Reiji said, trying to sound authoritative. "I was summoned as one of course. But I do not have the political power to make such a massive decision. You might have to talk to the King of Avarice about this."

"Well, why don’t you just talk to him right now?" the hooded man replied smoothly. "You already should have a way to communicate over long distances, right?"

Reiji gritted his teeth. He stared hard at the man in the white cloak.

’How the hell did this guy even know about that?’ Reiji thought to himself, a cold sweat breaking out on his neck.

The King had explicitly told him that the long distance communication artifact was a highly confidential secret even amongst royalty. Not even most of the high ranking nobles in their own kingdom knew about its existence. So how the hell did this random Ironhold representative find out?

Reiji took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Okay fine," Reiji finally said. "I’ll go contact him and tell him about your offer. Give me a few minutes."

Reiji quickly turned around and practically jogged down the stone stairs from the top of the wall.

The Avarice soldiers maintained their tight formations. They still looked incredibly cautious, keeping their spears aimed at the stranger.

The hooded man completely ignored them.

He just turned around and looked out, his gaze locking onto the distant lights of the Crestwall military camp.

"I must purge you before there are any more chain events occurring due to your involvement," the man whispered to himself. "And I will fulfill my mission no matter what."

He just stood there in the chilling wind, silently staring straight in Adrian’s direction. It was almost as if he could see him perfectly through the dark.

Adrian had stalled for time as much as he possibly could.

It was mostly Count Frankenstein doing the heavy lifting in the command tent for him, but their excuses were finally reaching their limits. It had already been three full days of Adrian forcing the untrained soldiers through hellish physical conditioning. But right now, he just stood there and stared at the group of nobles who were looking incredibly pissed off at him.

He raised both his hands in a mock surrender.

"Okay fine," Adrian chuckled. "If that is what you want, then feel free to take your soldiers to war."

The nobles instantly let out collective sighs of relief.

"Good," one of the older barons grunted. "At least you are finally coming to your senses."

"But they are going to need some rest first," Draven said as he looked at the others. "So they will be marching out to the front lines in two days."

Adrian shrugged, acting as if their decision didn’t concern him..

"Okay fine," the nobles agreed quickly, not wanting to push their luck.

Then someone else stepped forward from the group. It was Sebastian Kaldwin. He was the eldest son of Baron Kaldwin, and he hadn’t really directly opposed Adrian until now, but he did look pretty annoyed at everything that was going on.

Sebastian looked at Adrian and cleared his throat.

"Lord Adrian, you are still going to cook for the soldiers right?"

Adrian raised an eyebrow.

"One of my men brought me a plate to taste yesterday," Sebastian explained. "And I must say, even though you had less ingredients and used some of the cheapest ones available, you managed to make something that was on the exact same level if not better than the lavish dishes we usually eat. So would it be okay for you and your soldiers to cook for both the regular army and for us?"

Adrian looked a little surprised by his words.

He actually had to think about it for a few seconds. Cooking for the nobles wasn’t exactly a big deal since he was already cooking for the soliders but cooking separate dishes for them was going to be annoying.

’If they like what I make... they might just end up giving me more ingredients which will be nice.’