Listen Carefully. In the Future... (1)
“Waaah! Long live the Lord!”
“Long live the Yulian Mercenaries!”
Quack! Quack! Quack!
The citizens of Nordhill and the ducks cheered as the triumphant allied forces marched back in grandeur.
When news broke that Count Crest had declared war, everyone had been deeply worried. The power difference was obvious to anyone.
But then, a miracle occurred—Count Crest, the mighty overlord, was defeated.
Although it wasn't solely Nordhill’s strength but thanks to the allied forces and the contribution of the Yulian Mercenaries, what mattered was that they had won.
"As expected of the Yulian Mercenaries!"
"They even took down the dark sorcerer!"
"The Lord hiring them was a stroke of genius!"
All anyone could talk about was the Yulian Mercenaries. As Ghislain intended, their reputation soared rapidly.
The citizens had developed deep trust in them after the subjugation of the dark mage.
To commemorate the victory, Nordhill held a grand festival. Even Lord Andrew spent the money he had "borrowed" from Rio to provide the people with alcohol and meat.
“With the Yulian Mercenaries around, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“They even took care of all the bandits. What a great mercenary group.”
“I wish they’d stay in our territory permanently.”
Quack, quack! Quack!
Andrew and Rio grinned all day, just as much as the joyful citizens. After all, their territory had suddenly expanded.
Of course, they were concerned about future repercussions, but for now, they decided to enjoy the moment.
Thus, the two, now bound by the same fate, discussed the administration of the territory daily.
“Don’t worry too much about stabilizing the territory. I will lend you money,” Rio said.
Andrew chuckled awkwardly.
“Oh, I still owe you a lot from last time... I can at least offer you plenty of ducks.”
“… Haha, that won’t be necessary. If needed, I’ll just buy them through my merchant guild.”
Rio, thanks to his gold mine, was growing wealthier by the day. His guild also expanded, increasing trade with neighboring territories.
In contrast, Andrew didn’t have much to boast about. However, perhaps because of his straightforward and bold nature, talented individuals started flocking to Nordhill.
As they continued discussing the territory’s management, Andrew frowned.
"By the way, Count Swipel's response is taking a long time. This shouldn’t take this long."
“Indeed. We need to finalize the land distribution quickly and report to the royal court.”
Count Swipel, having secured key strongholds in Crest’s territory, only sent word to ‘wait a little longer.’
Realistically, there was no reason for him to stall. The war was won thanks to the Yulian Mercenaries.
The only reason noble lords were dividing the land was because they were eligible to own it, but if the Yulian Mercenaries demanded payment, they’d have to sell their lands to compensate them.
However, the mercenaries asked for nothing. They simply told them to divide it among themselves.
Considering that the true victors had been so generous, what was taking Swipel so long?
Scratching his cheek, Rio gave an awkward smile.
“… Surely, he isn’t thinking of keeping it all for himself, right?”
“No way. He saw the Yulian Mercenaries in action. He’d have to be insane to try that.”
Even Crest’s forces hadn’t stood a chance against them, let alone Swipel’s weaker army.
Thus, they quickly dismissed such suspicions. If Swipel was sane, he wouldn’t even entertain such thoughts.
Andrew remained nonchalant.
“Well… He doesn’t seem crazy, so he’s probably just trying to justify taking a slightly larger share. I’ll send another messenger to set up a meeting.”
They decided to wait a little longer. There was no real concern—Swipel didn’t have any options, after all.
***
While awaiting Count Swipel’s response, all troops remained stationed in Nordhill.
The first order of business was handling the prisoners of war.
They were divided between Nordhill and Lacus. Since Crest’s lands had been seized, there was no need to worry about the prisoners’ families.
However, Andrew and Rio had another problem to deal with.
“Hmm… We have more prisoners than we have soldiers. I’m not sure we can keep them under control,” Andrew mused.
“Money isn’t an issue, so feeding and housing them is fine… but I have no idea how to integrate them,” Rio admitted.
It was difficult to unify people from different regions, and they had no prior experience absorbing prisoners of war.
They couldn’t just keep them locked up forever. Eventually, they sought advice from Ghislain.
The self-proclaimed ‘King of Wisdom’ nodded knowingly after hearing their concerns.
“A valid concern. The post-war period is always more troublesome than the war itself. After all, handling the aftermath is no easy task.”
“So… what should we do?”
“The fastest way to unite them is to create a common enemy.”
“A common… enemy?”
“Yes. When people fight together against a shared foe, they naturally bond.”
Andrew and Rio nodded. Indeed, camaraderie was the fastest way to build unity.
But who were they supposed to fight?
Andrew hesitated before speaking.
“Well… I do fear retaliation from Marquis Falkenheim, but we don’t know when that’ll happen. Even if we do fight him, it won’t be right away. We need to be united before then.”
They couldn’t just sit around until an enemy appeared. If they went into battle in their current state, they’d crumble under pressure.
They needed an opponent they could feasibly defeat—but there were none left.
“The bandits are already gone. The Yulian Mercenaries took care of them. And we can’t just send all these troops out to different territories either.”
Ghislain nodded again. A conventional solution wouldn’t work in such a short time.
But this was Ghislain. A man renowned for his military acumen. No one on the continent surpassed him in strengthening armies.
With an exaggerated sigh, he spoke.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to make the sacrifice.”
“…Huh?”
“I’ll become your enemy.”
“….”
“What? Am I not good enough?”
“N-No… It’s not that. It’s just… too much.”
This was a man who had once faced over 5,000 troops alone. Everyone viewed him as a monster.
Hearing that he’d be their ‘enemy’ was anything but reassuring.
As an awkward silence filled the room, Ghislain smirked and waved dismissively.
“Oh, come on. C’mon. You’re taking me too seriously. I don’t mean actual combat. I just mean I’ll take all the blame.”
“…Take all the blame?”
“Yes. I’ll push them to their limits, and they’ll all curse me. Meanwhile, you two just have to look after them. Got it? I’ll handle everything. As always.”
Andrew and Rio exchanged uneasy glances but eventually nodded. If Ghislain said he’d take care of it, the problem would undoubtedly be solved.
Ghislain immediately reorganized the troops from Nordhill, Lacus, and Crest into mixed units. Then, he announced the start of grueling training.
The soldiers, upon seeing the training schedule, were utterly horrified.
“…Why do we have to march while carrying metal weights?”
“A thousand thrusts a day?! Is that even humanly possible?”
“…Why are we climbing cliffs?”
“An hour on fire?! What?!”
“There’s an hour underwater, too.”
“Push-ups… ten thousand?!”
“And we’re supposed to do all this… every day?”
This was not a training regimen for ordinary soldiers. Not even elite forces of major territories endured this level of training.
No—this wasn’t humanly possible.
Even knights were not exempt. They were subject to the same rigorous training.
By midday of the first day, half of them collapsed. By the end of the day, even the knights had fallen.
In just one day, all three territories’ forces had been utterly wiped out—by training.
But Ghislain didn’t stop.
"Deneb! Hurry up and heal them all!"
"........"
No matter how hard Deneb tried, she couldn't heal everyone. Being a small territory, there were no other priests besides her.
All the servants and healers in the territory joined in to take care of the soldiers.
Still, Ghislain forced the training to continue. Inside, their hearts bled.
"I will become the devil for your sake!"
Soldiers kept collapsing during training. It was never something a human could endure.
The knights were no exception. They finally gathered and protested to Ghislain.
"Enough of this training!"
"This is just torture!"
"There's no way anyone can actually do this!"
Ghislain looked at them as if they were being absurd.
"Why can't you do it? Isn't it just because you're not trying hard enough?"
Saying that, he personally demonstrated every part of the training. And, of course, he completed everything effortlessly.
"See? If you put in the effort, you can do it too."
"......"
They had no words. Watching someone actually pull off that madness with their own eyes left them speechless.
Of course, Ghislain knew that no amount of effort would let an average person succeed in this training. But right now, the goal wasn’t just increasing combat strength—it was fostering unity.
And sure enough, after a week, everyone became of one mind—cursing Ghislain together.
"That crazy monster... Just because he can fight well, does he even understand human limits?"
"For fuck’s sake, how is anyone supposed to last an hour in fire?!"
"Is this some sort of human experiment? Is he secretly a mage?"
"I’d rather go to war than do this training!"
"Please, just let us go back to the old training..."
The old military training had been tough, but at least it had been reasonable. Looking back, it felt so easy in comparison.
As Ghislain fully embraced his role as the villain, the soldiers naturally grew closer to each other.
A shared grievance was extremely effective. At this point, it didn’t matter where someone was from.
All that mattered was that they were suffering together.
That was when Andrew and Rio stepped in. They generously handed out alcohol and meat, giving the soldiers moments of respite.
"I can’t bear to see you all suffering so much under this training. From now on, you will have two days of rest!"
"Wooooaaah!"
He had simply given them a break, yet the soldiers cheered as if he had given them a kingdom.
As time passed, Andrew and Rio’s popularity skyrocketed, while Ghislain’s infamy only grew.
Watching their soldiers change so quickly, Andrew and Rio were deeply moved.
"He’s sacrificing his reputation for us..."
"Truly incredible. Giving up one’s name for the greater good is no easy thing."
"Absolutely. A great man, willing to take on the role of the villain for the sake of unity."
Lately, Ghislain looked quite pleased with himself, but that must have been their imagination. Surely, it was just their imagination.
Ghislain himself wasn’t bothered by his rising infamy. He wasn’t the type to care about minor things when pursuing a greater goal.
However, there was someone who was very concerned about it.
— Hey! They're cursing my name! Everyone is hating me right now!
"........"
That’s right. It wasn’t just Ghislain’s personal name being slandered—it was Astion, the name he had officially presented to the world.
With a solemn expression, Ghislain said,
"It’s fine. I will carry all the hatred. The unification of the troops is more important."
— That’s what I’m saying! It’s not you taking the blame, it’s me! You’re leaving anyway! You’re going to leave, and I’ll be stuck with all of this!
"........."
— You… You planned this from the start, didn’t you?! Since I’ll be the one left behind, you don’t care about ruining my reputation!
"That’s a misunderstanding. I’m not that kind of person."
— Oh really? What part of this isn’t exactly as I just said?!
"…If only the two of us take the blame, then everyone else will be happy."
— So I’m the only one getting blamed! I want to be famous too! I want to save the world with my friends and be known for it! But if I start stacking up nothing but infamy now, what happens to me?!
"Fame, huh…"
Ghislain let out a deep sigh. Astion wasn’t exactly wrong. But in the end, wasn’t he the one taking the hits right now?
It was a little disappointing that Astion didn’t appreciate his deep sacrifice for the greater cause, all over something as trivial as fame.
So, he decided it was time to teach him just how meaningless that so-called ‘fame’ really was.
"I told you I came from the future, right?"
— Yeah, and I still don’t fully believe it.
"I know what happens to you in the future."
— Oh yeah? I bet I become famous, right? I must have saved the world and become a renowned hero!
Astion asked with a pounding heart. He had asked about the future several times before, but Ghislain had never answered directly.
Ghislain took a deep breath and spoke.
"Listen carefully. In the future…"
— The future?
Ba-dump, ba-dump!
"You become a shut-in recluse."
— ………..
"No one even knows who you are. You hide your magic tower in some rural backwater. You even spread a fake name for it. It seems like you committed some huge crime."
— ………..
Faced with such a shocking future, Astion was utterly speechless.
Superrbbb
Superrbbb
This horse is insane lol
Why are comments not chapter specific smh
Best novel EVER
Great novel! Already caught up completely. Just wish it would get more updates compared to the other novels on here.