章 9: Two-Faced Shura
White light covered the men, illuminating them in a flash that chased away the darkness, but only for a moment.
As the glow receded, what remained before Asher was nothing short of astonishing. Standing tall were 170 bronze-ranked soldiers, their frames larger, garbed in leather armor and fur cloaks.
The aura that surrounded them was powerful, clearly displaying their rank up.
Their strength, once waning, had not only returned but seemed to have doubled.
Muscles rippled beneath their armor, taut and defined, though not unnaturally so. Their old, battered weapons had been replaced by new, bronze-ranked ones.
Though their shields were still made of wood, they had been reinforced enough to withstand the full force of a fully grown orc's blow without faltering.
Asher's lips curled into a small smile as he took in the sight, his gaze sweeping over the transformed soldiers before him.
They had been nothing but survivors, lost in the chaos of a hopeless existence. Now, they looked like warriors they had been long before.
The soldiers stood frozen in disbelief. "Did Lord Asher do this?" one murmured.
Nodding, Asher signaled to his captains to follow him, Sirius trailing loyally behind.
As they approached the cave mines, Asher's attention was drawn to the valley, where veins of iron ore glittered beneath the surface.
Alex, ever the observer, was the first to speak. "They've been mining all these years!"
He had always believed orcs to be mindless, the lowest of the abyss creatures, but now, it seemed, he had been gravely mistaken.
"We have two mines," Asher asked solemnly. "But what of the third?"
"It's been mined dry," Alec replied heavily.
Asher sighed. He rubbed his thumb against his index finger with closed eyes and squat down.
"We can combine these ores with stronger, rarer ones to forge powerful alloys," he mused, more to himself than anyone else. "If we sell them, we can settle our debts."
He straightened, turning to face his captains. "Are there miners left in the barony, or have they fled as well?"
"Most of the men in the barony are miners, My Lord," Alex answered. "They haven't fled."
Asher's expression softened. "That's good news," he said, a slight relief in his voice.
Just as they were about to continue, a voice called out from behind them.
"My Lord!"
"My Lord!"
Asher turned his head to the soldier, his right eyebrow raised in a questioning fashion.
"The abyss creatures," the soldier gasped, "they've filled the caves with ores!"
"What!?"
Upon hearing this, Asher, his captains, and his pet beast made their way to the caves and saw that they were filled with iron ores. Only one of them had a few ores littered about, meaning the cave was recently cleared.
"So," he said, voice thoughtful, "they weren't worshipping a deity. They were transporting ores to wherever their base is. No wonder there are no young orcs here."
Asher's eyes narrowed as he took in the scene, the pieces slowly starting to fall into place.
Alec was shocked, yet his facial expression remained serious, as if it didn't function according to his emotions.
Each upgrade of the ores would enhance the ranks and quality of his troops' equipment, but Asher didn't see any immediate military use for them. Instead, his thoughts shifted, drifting to a more pressing concern: trade. Trade with other nobles, something he desperately needed.
Money. He needed money to pay debts and import goods. His citizens were murmuring about hunger, and the land, cursed as it was, could barely sustain them.
The wastelands hadn't earned their name by accident. Despite their huge size, capable of sustaining an empire, they were largely barren.
The true reason for this desolation was the Abyss Force, a corrupting power that had risen from the very depths of these lands, sweeping across Tenaria. This corrupt force had sucked life out of the land and also affected the once prestigious mages who ruled over Tenaria as overlords.
Their reign had lasted for thousands of years, and they were the ones who created the first Battle Force user. However, after the appearance of Abyss Force, the natural Magi Force became corrupted, causing countless supreme mages to become insane, and like that, their number dwindled, allowing Battle Force users to reign in their stead.
Due to this, mages, who were once as populous as the sand, became rare sightings.
...
After a day's journey, Asher and his troop returned to Ash Town with the corpses of some orcs as proof to the people.
As they marched through the streets, the townspeople gathered around, a sea of curious, faces peering from doorways and windows. Seeing them marching gallantly with the heads of the ferocious orcs, a huge crowd gathered, but they kept their distance because of the giant wolf their lord sat on.
"Is that our new lord?" a woman whispered.
The man nodded heavily with gleaming eyes. He knew the next thing coming was a notice for miners, meaning he would soon get a job and be able to afford a three-square meal!
Most of the people looked thin, and others were sick. Only a mere few looked healthy but still thin.
The walls were made from mud and wood and had lots of cracks and damages, which they tried to fix with mud, but Alex knew that against the walls stood no chance against the beasts that would come during winter.
He sent the soldiers to rest in their camp and also slept in his small stone castle until the next day. As he opened his eyes, the first person that appeared was Mary, his personal maid. She was cleaning the mural, and it was then that Asher discovered no one had cleaned this mural for ages because he could now see a familiarity between that wolf and Sirius.
Still, Sirius was much smaller.
"Lord Asher. You're awake!" Mary gasped.
"I am." Asher responded with a nod as he walked past her and studied the mural. With the dirt and dust gone, he could now see a name.
"Lord Zenas Ashbourne. The two-faced Shura. Archduke of the North. Rider of the Saintly Lionwolf!"
After reading the titles, Asher found himself faced with several questions: How in the world was this man a duke and he was a baron, the lowest noble in the ranking?
And that word 'Saintly caught his attention for it meant this wolf was no mere pet beast; it was a terrifying Saint-Ranked beast!
"Were the Ashbournes this great in the past?"
-- 贈り物
が届きました 
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット