Chapter 131 - Mercenaries

Lissa was dumbfounded.

She already half-expected for her parents to treat the entire army as a tool for their amusement. But, to the point of allotting all of the guards to protect the royal couple? Even Lissa thought that was absolutely insane.

For one thing, her parents didn't even consider checking up on either her or her brother. It just goes to show how much her parents actually cared about their children.

"If they did order the entirety of the castle guard to the throne room, why are you here?"

Lissa came to an abrupt realization. According to the captain, the entire army should be in the throne room. And, knowing her parents, this particular squad being here was a direct violation of orders. Which inevitably meant that this squad would receive capital punishment.

"Well...," the guard was visibly hesitant to answer Lissa's rather simple question. In fact, the other soldiers were much of the same. It appeared that they were hiding something.

"Out with it," Lissa pursued the matter, "Or else, I'm gonna sick my kitty here on all of you."

All of the guards' heads shifted to Prominence Alpha.

The Spirit of Fire was looking down on them with arms crossed. It was as if the only thing that was stopping it from devouring the entire squad was their Princess.

"R-Right...," the captain hesitantly answered. "If I may, I would like to speak openly."

To which Lissa gave a slight nod.

"We were all suddenly summoned into the throne room just a few hours ago. Most of us didn't really know what was happening. The King and Queen collectively ordered to form a blockade around them. It was the first time I've ever seen them alert."

The captain cleared his throat before continuing.

"Some of us were confused as to why they suddenly acted this way. Most of the time, they didn't even care what was happening to the people of their own kingdom. So, against their orders, we decided to go out and investigate. I tried to wrangle up a lot more people than this, but they were too afraid to defy the King and Queen. Most of the reasons were along the lines of receiving capital punishment for three generations."

Lissa was silent as she tried to interpret what the captain had just explained to her. It was completely normal for the army to stay and follow orders because of fear of capital punishment.

Which, according to the ridiculous laws of this kingdom, would first execute the person that defied the command. Then, their immediate family would be stripped of all titles and properties. After that, the entirety of the defiant's family would become slaves to the kingdom for the next three generations.

"What are your reasons, then?" Lissa calmly responded.

"We're worried about our families. I assume that something terrible is going on in town. Capital punishment is nothing when we have no families to go back to."

The captain's response this time was rather determined.

"You're not wrong."

Lissa's response surprised the squad that had fended off the monsters that came out of the dungeon.

"The Duke is currently rampaging through the town with an army of his own. Along with his son, he plans to take the throne by force, killing the people in the process."

Up until this point, it still wasn't clear. As far as Lissa knew, the Duke was after the throne all along. Never mind the fact that he could have done so through diplomatic means, the Duke was determined to cull the entire population for some unknown reason.

"Then, that means...!"

"I have people en route to stop the Duke. Unfortunately, I cannot say for certain how many lives would be lost in the meantime..."

The squad of guards was surprised by Lissa's sudden declaration. For one thing, the people that Lissa mentioned were an unexpected thing for her to say.

Lissa, the Princess of the kingdom, was known for one rather famous thing about her personality. It was the fact that she was rather anti-social. No matter which person approaches her, Lissa always acted cold.

Whoever these people are, they ought to be pretty amazing to earn the Princess's recognition.

However, the surprise didn't stop there.

Lissa not only did have anti-social tendencies, but she was also rather uncaring of the things around her. The throne or anything else she was uninterested in. None of those things ever mattered to her.

That's precisely why people were surprised by the fact that she was willing to do something to protect the citizens of this kingdom. Citizens that she was rumored not to care about.

From confusion to maddening respect, the soldiers were in awe all the same.

What Lissa didn't expect was that one of the soldiers kneeled down on one knee. An action that was normally reserved for her parents. People with actual power.

The rest of the guards followed after the first soldier. Soon, all of them were kneeling with great respect in their hearts.

In unison, they announced.

"We pledge our loyalty to you, Milady."

'W-What?'

Naturally, Lissa was taken aback. She didn't expect things to turn out this way.

It was, for the most part, a misunderstanding.

Lissa had phrased her answers in such a misleading way. In actuality, what she meant was that there were people on the way to save the innocent. There was nothing, in any circumstance, mentioned that she had control over these people.

But, of course, she wasn't one to deny any of these guards' wishes either.

"Alright! Everyone stand up and take the loot that the monsters dropped!"

Recovering from her shock, Lissa started to order everyone around. The squad of guards didn't even so much raise a question against her orders and grabbed the loot. Weapons and random spellbooks were dropped from the now-disappeared monsters.

From there, the distribution of the items was assigned by Lissa.

If she ever wanted to survive the culling, she needed to increase the strength of those around her. By giving them access to spellbooks, these guards were then transformed into elites.

'I wonder how he's doing...,' Lissa thought as she learned one spell for herself.

"Fucking hell!"

Rynold was not doing well. Not in the slightest.

Faced with multitudes of bullets, Rynold didn't know what else to do. The closer he got to the hilltop, the more resistance he faced.

From the standard and normal assault rifles to absolutely terrifying sniper rifles, Rynold was facing quite a predicament.

X, in the meantime, was facing the same predicament. The Mech Knight was struggling to push through because of the number of guns pointed at him. Even though the bullets do not affect him, it was still slowing him down. Each consecutive magazine made him flinch.

Neither one of them was making any leeways towards their destination. Both Rynold and X could easily kill each person without so much as a sweat. But, when they get together, it was a much more serious threat.

What's worse was that the soldiers were like ants. There was no "giving up" in their dictionary. When one went down, another took its place.

'Screw this.'

Rynold had had enough.

He decided to descend onto the unbecoming battlefield and took cover from volley after volley of bullets. Bobbing and weaving, Rynold found an empty building and entered through the window.

The building, for lack of a better term, was nearly collapsing.

Upon entering, Rynold saw that most of the pillars were about to break. Debris from the roof crumbled down onto the second story where Rynold had entered.

Basically, it was a crap shed.

Unfortunately, though, Rynold's initial impressions were wrong. Instead of the building being empty, there were children inside. These children, upon first look, didn't appear to have similar features. Rynold was too worried to check their similarities one by one, but he was sure of it.

'Shit. This place is an orphanage.'

Rynold raised a finger to his lips, motioning for the children to stay quiet. Looking at it, Rynold could tell that none of them had proper care for quite some time. The oldest one appeared to be around thirteen years of age. But, their condition wasn't that of one.

Regardless, Rynold had to hold out. He couldn't just rush in the middle of the room where snipers are probably looking into. Rynold, logically, stood behind a wall that was beside the window he went in.

He was still standing on the Miniature Floating Platform as he waited to see how the soldiers would react. Rynold knew that the soldiers noticed him going into the decrepit building. He had initially planned to lure the soldiers into this confined space.

The plan, naturally, did not go well.

Rynold knew he couldn't risk the lives of the children. However, the risk of simply leaving was unacceptable either. Who knows how many people have their guns pointed at the building right now?

Checking with Axiom, Rynold couldn't even begin counting how many. The soldiers have every exit checked and covered.

'Say what you will about those guys. But, they're a lot more experienced than the castle guards.'

"Throw your hoverboard out the window and stand by the window with your hands up! We, The Black Ants Mercenary Group, will take the bounty on your head!"

Rynold's eyes widened.

'Mercenaries? Really? And, on top of that, I have a bounty on my head?'

He couldn't decide whether to be happy or not. Having a bounty on his head was a pretty badass thing. What's more, is that these mercenaries were acting like cops! Rynold thought that it was pretty funny for them to say things like that.

"First of all," Rynold sarcastically answered back from behind the wall, "This isn't a hoverboard. It's a lot more complicated than it looks. And, when the hell did mercenaries start to act like cops? Kinda weird, don't you think?"

"Alright, you son of a bitch. Let's see who gets the last laugh."

A different voice seemed agitated by Rynold's snide remark.

"Calm down. Quit blowing shit up," the first voice stopped the second one. He then directed his voice towards Rynold once more. "My friend here is getting a little impatient. So, I suggest that you do as I say, and nobody gets hurt."

'Heh.'

Axiom picked up movement from the side of the building. From that small piece of information, Rynold knew he hadn't much time.

Judging by the movement that Axiom picked up, Rynold knew that the mercenaries were about to rush into the building. It was a fairly common tactic when it comes to sieges and raids.

Unfortunately, their opponent was Rynold.

With a clear view of the stairs from the wall his back was leaning on, Rynold knew he had a clear shot on any soldier that dared to come up. However, Rynold's main concern was the children that were in a room next to the stairs.

Rynold's thoughts suddenly shifted to acceptable losses. His eyes abruptly turned cold at the children, causing them to inch back.

'Shit, focus, Rynold.'

Shaking his head, Rynold's eyes softened. He immediately shifted his eyes on the stairs and kept his focus on it.

'Don't think about what could happen. Focus on what you can do, Rynold.'

Rynold psyched himself up. He knew what he had to do.

With a focus and determination like a moth with a light, Rynold directed Dictum to protect the children. Rynold was willing to risk a significant portion of his safety net to have the children safe.

The Accord Sphere moved on its own and crossed the room with relative ease. From there, it activated the forcefield and protected the children.

The main thing about the Accord Spheres was that the farther they are, the less control Rynold had over them. Upon Rynold's tests, he started to lose accurate controls once the Accord Spheres leave a two-meter radius.

Rynold's heart started to race as the sound of footsteps appeared from underneath him.