Chapter 99: Wisdom

"It's okay." Essin looked much calmer than Cleo. At least he could smile and carefully look at the enemy's military appearance. "Sure enough, the vanguard is a cavalry... the cavalry cannot come to attack the city. Don't worry, this is a fast force. The responsibility of the fast force is to surround the city, reconnaissance the enemy's situation, and prevent the enemy from escaping."

"Oh," while speaking, Essin suddenly sighed, "Acquaintances are coming."

"Acquaintance?" Cleo looked at him in confusion.

"Hey!" Essin took off his helmet, revealed his face, and raised one hand to greet the cavalry near the city wall. "Baranka, I'm so happy to see you!"

Cleo stood beside him and saw a rider leaving the brigade and coming to the city. The man was not wearing a helmet either.

"Who is this person?" he asked Essin.

"His name is Baranka, a captain of a mercenary," said Essin. "This guy is the leader of the mercenary troops in the Guards. He is a smart guy who should not be underestimated."

"It's you, Essin!" Balanca from the city spoke. "Essin, if you are smart, please open the city gate. As long as you are not a fool, you should know that with the strength of the guards, you will definitely not be able to defend here. For the sake of my friends, I will let you go."

"Oh, I'm just shouting and killing, and there's no atmosphere of meeting old friends at all." Essin sighed. "Actually, there's no problem with Kaicheng, but even if you're negotiating, you should find a suitable candidate to negotiate."

“Am I not suitable?”

"All right, Baranka, we all know that your title of 'deputy general' is not even a Grono. Why are you so active? Not to mention anything else, even if you get the first credit for entering the city, what does it mean to you? Add a few more gold oreys when paying your salary? Or don't do these unethical things that harm others and don't benefit yourself. Find someone who can make contributions and talk to me carefully."

"Essin! You underestimate me!" Baranka knocked his breastplate hard a few times. "I am no longer a mercenary, but a nobleman of Groone. Although I am just a knight at the moment... we always have to look far."

"Then I really want to congratulate you... But why do I only know this good news now? Who sealed your 'knight'?"

"It's not too late to know now. This morning, Queen Luvia Angel Markremiz personally enthroned me as a knight. Look, I am now a genuine nobleman of Groney. Open the door for me!"

"Ah... I really didn't expect this. What did you do and get such a reward?"

"This is really up to your last reminder. I should have said thank you. No, a thank you may not be enough. I decided to let you go and express my gratitude."

"What did I remind you?"

"Didn't I ask you the secret to becoming a success when we met? You said to me at that time, 'Be prepared and wait patiently for opportunities. Opportunities will always come, but those who are not prepared will not have time to seize the opportunity when it passes by.' It was because I listened to your opinion that I kept preparing and waiting patiently for opportunities that belong to me. This morning, the opportunity finally came, and I seized it without hesitation."

"What does he mean?" Cleo asked in confusion.

"Creo... do you know anything about mercenaries?" Essin asked softly.

"Of course, mercenaries..." Cleo originally wanted to say "a group of thugs who fought for money", but remembered that Essin was also a mercenary, so he changed his words temporarily. "...there are dragons and tigers hidden in it."

"It should be said that there are all kinds of religions." Essin chuckled. "In fact, let alone the nobles, even ordinary people do not respect mercenaries very much, and regard them as rogues who work hard for money. Not only that, on the battlefield, mercenaries are always regarded as cannon fodder and consumables. Although almost no general will restrict the military discipline of mercenaries, no one cares about the life or death of mercenaries." He smiled, but there was no joy in his smile. "Many people saw that mercenaries had high military salaries, and many people saw that mercenaries were corrupt, but they forgot one thing... Except for the very few lucky people who could be favored by the gods, there was no future in the mercenary industry."

"This...is..." Clio admitted this. On many battlefields, mercenaries and ordinary soldiers fight together. Although mercenaries receive higher military pay, ordinary soldiers are better than mercenaries on the other hand, that is, they have the opportunity to be promoted. If they can make contributions, it is not uncommon for civilian soldiers to be canonized as knights, and even higher status is not a fantasy. Compared with this, mercenaries make meritorious service on the battlefield, their reward is usually money.

This is a deep-rooted prejudice: since mercenaries fight for money, isn’t it better to use money as rewards? But in fact, who is ambition will set his goal as money? For those who have no ideals, do not consider the future, or live in a daze, mercenaries may be a good profession. But for those who have talent and ambitions and want to stand out in their military careers through war, the identity of mercenaries is a shackle tied to them. Just as there is an invisible transparent wall blocking their way, few mercenaries can reach the top by war.

To ordinary mercenaries, using their military achievements to get the opportunity to climb upwards is like a horizon - it can be seen, but it can never be reached.

"Well, not everyone will be content with the status of a mercenary... but it's hard to move upwards." Essin said in a voice without personal feelings. "So this Captain Baranka made his own choice when...the Queen went to the barracks to try to seize military power."

"you mean……"

"If Baranka chooses to support the unlucky Farusa, then he will always be a mere mercenary captain, holding more military pay than his subordinates, and at most a worthless title of 'deputy general'. But if he chooses to support the queen, then he will have a future!"

"...I understand... I guess Baranka is the first to jump out to support the queen, and he must have given a letter of vote... I guess he should have spent a lot of effort in the process of seizing command. Of course, our little queen will definitely reward this loyalty... There is no doubt that this kind of timely help and loyal performance in times of crisis will leave an extremely deep impression on our little queen. If the little queen wins in the end, it is not impossible for him to become a high noble in the kingdom..." Cleo smiled. "It's a pity that's just 'if'! His venture capital this time may end in failure."

"You're wrong, my dear Clio." Essin replied. "He will never fail this venture capital this time. At least in theory."

"Ah, do you think our little queen has hope?"

"Of course not, but...you have to understand that even if you become a prisoner, the treatment you receive is completely different from being a nobleman and a mercenary. Simply put, even if you really have an extremely bad situation, as long as he becomes a nobleman, he will have the capital to sell the country! Do you know this? At that time, our Duke Byron will probably bargain and buy him after a little bit of bargaining."

"... So that's it... I understand! A smart person... is indeed a smart person." Cleo couldn't help but nodded. He always thought he was also a smart person, so he respected other smart people.

"Dear Baranka, I'm sorry I must refuse your request." Essin poked his head and shouted to Baranka under the city. "Although you are a knight, I am also a knight... but it's not appropriate for me to decide that you are going to negotiate with me. I need someone who can make a decision... To be honest, I hope to talk to my colleague, Ash Rufat, and of course Her Majesty the Queen can do it too."

"Esin, you are no longer a knight." Baranka, under the city, could not see how angry he was after being rejected. Of course, even if he was angry, it was useless. "According to the will of Her Majesty, Byron committed a serious crime of rebellion, and he and his followers will be deprived of all his territory, titles, property and position. In other words, you are nothing now."

"Ah...ah..." Essin sighed. Of course, this was just pretending. "Okay, I admit, this is a blow that was beyond my expectations. It seems that your progress is above me... But you should continue to wait and see in this regard. If you can't find a suitable person to talk to me, I suggest you should perform your task better."

Seeing that there was no consequence after the talk continued, Baranka rode his horse and left and returned to his team.

"Will they siege?" Cleo, who was beside Essin, couldn't help asking again.

"Impossible, I didn't even bring a hook." Essin comforted. "I can't climb the city wall with no hands."

The facts proved Essin's judgment. A few minutes later, some of the cavalry began to leave the brigade and should have been conducting search missions. The rest began to camp. Of course, no matter how they wandered around the Eagle City, the final result would not be different. Because Essin knew very well that all the walls were the same - no one was guarding. Now, the only thing he could rely on was the city wall itself, not anything else. As long as thirty people climbed over the wall with hook ropes, all Essin's plans would be ruined. Not to mention the plan, he himself would die here.

Essin didn't think that Ash Rufate would show mercy to his men because of his colleagues.

The rest of the day passed like this. With the arrival of the next day, Essin saw a huge army coming from afar to the city. At the central army, the white eagle flag of the Groney royal family, namely the Markremiz family, was flying.

Even if it was him, the smile on his face couldn't help but fade away. Whether to survive or destroy depends on what is going to happen below.

Perhaps the words I said to Baranka before worked. Before the sun had finished a quarter of the journey, Ashurufat came to the city and faced him far away.
Chapter completed!