The Regressed Mercenary's Machinations-Chapter 760: I Guess I’ll Have to Do It That Way (1)

A brief silence passed through the meeting room.

The mayor opened his mouth with a courteous smile.

“Is it... because of the recent rumors about the Salvation Order? We’re aware of them as well.”

He waved his hand gently and smiled softly.

“That’s why the lord has decided to reinforce the military presence in this city. We’re putting a lot of effort into maintaining public order.”

At those words, Ghislain lightly shook his head.

“That’s not enough. We need to mobilize a large-scale force to this city as soon as possible.”

“For what possible reason...?”

“Because the Salvation Order’s high priests are going to attack the dwarven fortress directly.”

Once again, silence fell.

Then the mayor burst into laughter, as if he’d just heard a joke.

“As I said, I know the Salvation Order is causing problems here and there. Stirring up trouble in some regions by colluding with dark mages, I hear? But...”

The mayor stood up from his seat and pointed out the window toward the massive mountain range.

“The dwarves built a fortress halfway up the mountain and then dug further in to create a vast city. Unless monsters from the Demonic Realm charge head-on in massive numbers, it’s absolutely impossible to breach.”

Ghislain clicked his tongue. The mayor wasn’t wrong. He was also well aware of the grandeur of Vallscrum.

‘Impregnable,’ ‘The Fortress of Steel,’ ‘The Unbreakable Kingdom.’ None of those accolades were exaggerations.

But...

In the future within Ghislain’s memories, the dwarves no longer existed.

That mighty fortress, those resilient warriors, that glorious legacy—every trace of it had vanished.

And the likelihood was high that it was because of the current war. The Elven Forest would have been lost too, if they hadn’t intervened.

But words didn’t work here. As always, Ghislain tried to push forward with his thoughts, but in this era, what he could actually do was severely limited.

Of course, the mayor had no desire to clash head-on with an imperial envoy.

Still smiling like a good-natured man, he nodded.

“I understand your concern. I’ll pass the message along to the lord.”

“......”

Ghislain didn’t respond. He simply inhaled slowly.

Then, clenching his fist, he slammed it down onto the solid table in front of him.

Boom!

The table shattered into pieces instantly.

The knights waiting in the corner of the room all drew their swords in unison.

But Ghislain didn’t even glance at them. He stared straight at the mayor and spoke firmly.

“This is an imperial command. Immediately summon all military forces from the surrounding territories to this city.”

“......”

The air in the meeting room froze.

The mayor realized that jokes, smiles, and diplomatic phrasing were all useless now.

Every kingdom might have autonomy, but by law, they were still bound to follow the imperial summons.

Whether such authority could be wielded by a mere envoy was questionable—but once he invoked the name of the empire, it was no longer something the mayor could resolve on his own.

The mayor spoke with a now expressionless face.

“Understood. I’ll deliver the order to the lord.”

As Ghislain exited the meeting room, he slowly shook his head. A brief sigh slipped between his lips.

“They never listen until they get smacked.”

It didn’t seem like the army would be summoned easily this time either. The prideful lords would surely stall under the pretense of verifying the truth.

He looked around. The city appeared peaceful.

No one had sensed the coming catastrophe. They were simply going about their daily lives, busily and unaware.

Ghislain went straight to find the dwarves’ external affairs officer.

The dwarven liaison, like most of his kind, was short but had shoulders as broad as mountains.

Several rings hung from his thick beard, and a stubborn gleam shone in his eyes.

“Hmph, the pope’s envoy, you say?”

The dwarven liaison, Dorgan, looked Ghislain’s group over as he spoke.

“Are you here to request our ‘Guardian Stone’ again?”

As expected, each race had its own name for the Sacred Stone. It was, in a sense, a matter of racial pride.

Ghislain nodded briefly.

“That’s right.”

Dorgan burst out laughing, his shoulders shaking. Deep wrinkles formed on his forehead, and the grin stretching across his cheeks was coarse but unmistakable.

“We already rejected that request. No point in begging again. A decision made by dwarves is as firm as stone—never overturned.”

His tone was resolute, but not emotional like the elves. It was just a matter-of-fact statement.

Ghislain accepted it calmly.

He’d expected to be refused from the start. The elves had done the same.

So he got straight to the point.

“Then I’d like to meet your king.”

Dorgan narrowed his eyes briefly. Then he shook his head.

“That won’t be easy. Our king doesn’t much like humans. Especially not the pope.”

“Why?”

“Says he’s a sly bastard.”

“Hm. Is that so?”

The evaluation of the pope was harsher than Ghislain expected. Then again, he could somewhat agree with it.

The pope had always remained behind a veil, never showing his face.

But Ghislain wasn’t trying to acquire the Sacred Stone for the pope. It was for Deneb.

Dorgan took a small metal seal out of his pocket and handed it over.

“A pass that’ll let you into Vallscrum. Meeting the king might be impossible, but since you’re here, have a look around # Nоvеlight # our city. It’s something to behold.”

His words were full of pride in Vallscrum.

Ghislain bowed slightly and accepted the seal.

The one fortunate thing was that the dwarves were less closed off than the elves.

Sylann, the elven liaison, had been so paranoid of humans he even lied about the High Chief’s gender, claiming she was male.

The dwarves, likely due to frequent trade with humans, were more open. Their pride came with a certain blunt cheerfulness.

With the seal in hand, Ghislain gathered his resting group and began climbing the mountain range.

After a long ascent, they finally saw a fortress that seemed to be one with the mountain.

Its outer wall was part of nature itself, and the massive force of the land formed the foundation of the fortress.

The barricades and towers carved into the towering rock looked less like constructions and more like the mountain’s own jagged fangs. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

“Whoa...”

“This... yeah, I get why they’re so confident.”

“This time, even the Salvation Order might have a hard time.”

The entire group stood in awe, staring at the colossal stronghold.

Even Ghislain couldn’t help but murmur in admiration.

“...The entire fortress is a mountain.”

Vallscrum was no ordinary city. It was a massive, multi-layered urban structure carved directly into the cliffs and stone, hollowing out the mountain itself.

At this scale, they could probably hold off any invading army. That much he had to admit.

Even after entering Vallscrum, they had to walk quite a distance to reach the royal castle.

As they passed through several residential zones, towering walls rose between each sector.

In other words, even if the outer perimeter was breached, one would still have to break through multiple more barriers to reach the castle.

No wonder Dorgan had confidently handed them the pass and told them to enjoy the sights.

They finally reached the royal castle with great effort, but the dwarven king did not meet them right away.

Even when they explained that the Salvation Order was targeting this place, the only response was to offer them lodging and tell them to wait.

“Sigh... nothing ever goes smoothly.”

Ghislain let out a deep breath. The more time passed, the deeper his worries grew.

His companions began to read the atmosphere.

‘Please, no incidents this time.’

‘This isn’t like the elf situation. That fortress is no joke.’

‘Let’s just stay quiet unless there’s a problem.’

Contrary to their thoughts, Ghislain had no intention of stirring up trouble right away.

Normally, he would’ve caused a separate issue just to force negotiations. But with the Salvation Order’s attack almost certain, he couldn’t afford to be reckless.

He’d never caused trouble without reason. There was always justification.

His companions just didn’t know that.

Ghislain continued thinking, planning.

‘They’ll come soon. If they’re unprepared, the damage will be worse.’

They had to shift into wartime mode and gather all warriors into a single force. That was the only way to face the Salvation Order.

‘They’re far too confident.’

This wasn’t just one king’s stubbornness. It was a deeply rooted pride running through the entire dwarven race.

They were proud of the city they’d built, and that belief was as heavy as the mountains themselves.

Ghislain didn’t exactly fail to understand that pride. Even he had to admit that Vallscrum was absurdly impressive.

But the enemy was the Salvation Order. There was no way they didn’t know how solid Vallscrum was.

They would find a way to bring it down—no matter what.

‘If I were attacking this place...’

There were many options. The easiest would be to infiltrate using hot air balloons.

Deploy elite troops to strike from within and secure the entryways. That alone would neutralize even the mightiest of fortress walls.

There were other methods too. The dwarves were relying solely on their fortress and would be scattered and picked off one by one.

The Salvation Order would likely use a similar strategy.

‘The dwarves have no intention of listening to me. And I can’t force them. That means we’ll have to buy them time.’

It was the same as with the elves. Thanks to Ghislain buying time, the elves had managed to gather.

There was nothing different from back then. It was just that the movement of the enemy they had to stop this time would be different. The Salvation Order couldn’t concentrate all their forces in one place and push through at once like before. It was obvious they would raid multiple places and induce chaos.

But his body was just one. Even though his companions were highly skilled, they were far too few in number.

“How can I buy time...”

While pondering, Ghislain sat on the balcony of the lodging and looked down below. In the commercial district, quite a few human merchants had gathered. They had come all the way to this city to trade goods made by the dwarves.

‘Hmm...’

Ghislain continued watching the scene. A rather large merchant guild must have arrived, as several wagons loaded with cargo were lined up in a row. The person who appeared to be the highest-ranking in the guild gave instructions to various people, and those people scattered in all directions.

They carried liquor, gold coins, and other goods as they went around visiting dwarven shops. They were probably moving to purchase items from the dwarves.

Watching the scene closely, Ghislain nodded several times. A pretty good method came to mind.

“I guess I’ll have to do it that way.”

Muttering to himself, Ghislain soon gathered the group.

With a serious expression that was unlike his usual self, he spoke.

“Looks like we’ll have to prepare to fight on our own first. The dwarves are a bunch of stubborn fools who won’t move until they see blood.”

To the group, who looked puzzled, Ghislain carefully explained the plan he had come up with. As they listened, they all wore doubtful expressions. It was because they couldn’t believe whether Ghislain’s plan could really be pulled off this time either.

But it was always like that. They had no choice but to trust him and carry it out.

“Get as many runestones as you can. Don’t spare any money—grab them all.”

The mercenaries who had come with Ghislain each took money and dispersed.

They visited various shops and bought as many runestones as they could. They even went down from Vallscrum to the trading city to get more.

Ghislain handed over all the money he had in subspace. They bought so many runestones that the price of runestones in the trading city suddenly skyrocketed.

Besides that, Ghislain also bought countless metal rods. In Vallscrum, such rods were extremely easy to obtain.

Once the materials were prepared to some extent, Ghislain rented out an entire lodging with a very large open courtyard.

Then he began drawing a massive magic circle in the courtyard.

Ghislain didn’t bother with the hassle of drawing the magic circle himself. He entrusted that task to Astion and handed over his body.

He could have done it himself, but when it came to work like magic circles that required meticulousness, Astion was the perfect choice.

Astion, breathing fresh air for the first time in a while, cheerfully called out to his friends.

“Julien! Deneb! Kyle! It’s me, me! Astion!”

But the three of them looked at Astion with suspicious eyes.

They had already been completely fooled by Ghislain’s tricks before.

“It’s really me! I came out to draw the magic circle! Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Y-yeah. N-nice to see you.”

Kyle answered on behalf of the group with an awkward expression. He was extremely cautious, wondering if Ghislain was pulling another prank.

Julien and Deneb also smiled awkwardly and gave half-hearted waves.

The three of them gradually drifted away from Astion. The other mercenaries also kept their distance.

“......”

Astion stood quietly, then silently began drawing the magic circle.

Sniff... “Jerks. Just wait.”

It felt like tears were about to fall. As Astion sniffled while drawing the circle, Ereneth quietly approached.

“Ghislain?”

“Noona! It’s me, Astion!”

“......”

Ereneth took a step back with a reluctant expression.

She could tell with certainty. That this was clearly a different being than Ghislain.

‘What is this? What? What happened? How can a person change this much?’

The aura he gave off was completely different. Especially as someone who dealt with spirits, she could sense changes in people faster than anyone.

From Ghislain, there were times when the wild ferocity of a blood-drenched wolf could be glimpsed. But this Astion she was seeing now...

‘He’s like a total brat, isn’t he?’

He just seemed like a cheerful child. He was clearly a different person from the Ghislain she usually saw.

Without knowing that, Astion started chattering away.

“Noona, I know all about you! I remember when you said you were dating me!”

Astion was so excited to be out again that he overreached.

“......”

Ereneth had no memory of saying anything like that. All she had said was that he was her first human friend.

At Astion’s excessive clinginess, she took another step back and spoke.

“Focus... on your work... get back to it...”

Ereneth said only that and turned away to flee.

Her mind was in turmoil. She had to process what had just happened.

Astion, sniffling again, focused on drawing the magic circle.

Next to him, Dark clicked his tongue and threw a line at him.

“Now I get why you’re single. Who comes on that strong? You need mutual understanding, you know—mutual connection. Geez, you’re smart in other areas, but when it comes to women’s hearts, you’re hopeless.”

“Sniff... shut up.”

Astion drew the circle with a gloomy expression.

It wasn’t just the courtyard where the magic circle was drawn. Astion’s touch also extended to the dozens of metal rods.

Fwaaaa—

Every time Astion waved his hand, beautiful and intricate golden lines continuously bloomed.

The golden lines spreading from his fingertips engraved complex sigils on the surface of the metal rods floating in the air.

Straight lines and curves intertwined like a dance, ancient letters connected together like a delicate circuit.

The metal rods infused with glowing letters looked incredibly mysterious. They looked as though magic itself were alive and breathing.

The onlookers couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.

“Right, that guy really is a magician.”

“Looks like it really is Astion.”

“Forgot for a moment that he wasn’t a fool.”

Even Ereneth widened her eyes and wore a surprised expression.

He sounded like a total brat when he talked, but what he showed in terms of ability was far beyond what could be described as just a great magician.

Once again, she grew curious. What on earth was going on inside that head?

Sensing the shift in mood, Dark whispered from beside Astion.

“You see that? For men, it’s all about ability. Ereneth is watching you now.”

“Really?”

Astion’s expression immediately turned goofy. To impress Ereneth, he poured out even more mana and focused harder on the work.

Seeing that, Dark clicked his tongue.

Sigh, “What a pure-hearted idiot. Do you really want a girlfriend that badly?”

Just from his one comment, Astion was working harder just to impress Ereneth. Honestly, not a bad result.

If he kept putting in this kind of effort, dating wouldn’t be that hard. He was, after all, a 7th-circle grand mage.

‘If he just shows off his abilities a little, kingdoms will be lining up to invite him. He’d be super popular with women too. Tsk tsk.’

Astion himself didn’t know what Dark knew. Because he rarely ventured outside, he had grown timid, and he was also discouraged because of his growing infamy.

He’d even once hoped Ghislain would date for him in his place.

So now, he was desperately trying to look good to the women around him.

When the work was done, Astion smiled gently and said,

“Noona, how about a cup of— The operation begins.”

His expression changed in an instant. No sooner had the work ended than Ghislain took back control of the body.

The group let out a silent sigh of relief.

Phew, almost got tricked again.

As expected, they had to stay on their guard at all times.

Only Lionel continued tilting his head, still clueless about what was going on.

Ghislain divided the group into several teams. Then he handed out the metal rods and scattered them across different parts of Vallscrum.

Since it was a city frequently visited by merchant guilds and travelers, even a simple map was easy to obtain.

After spreading out the group, Ghislain sat alone atop the magic circle in the courtyard.

Without eating, he closed his eyes and focused on meditation for several days.

The dwarves managing the inn came by a few times, but after seeing the sign saying he was in training, they quietly left.

They too knew that a mage’s meditation was an important matter.

Only after a full week had passed did Ghislain slowly open his eyes.

They’ve finally come.

From a place far beyond anyone else’s vision.

A deep darkness was drawing near.