Ch.157Rebellion (1)

    Francis, a mid-level adventurer, was a mercenary from the southern part of the Western Continent, a region notorious for its unstable political climate and civil wars.

    In real-world terms, it was comparable to Italy. A region filled with chaos where territories were constantly conquered and reconquered without any central authority, where peace was a luxury except for the fact that they shared the same cultural background.

    Of course, such chaotic situations provided excellent opportunities for those with nothing to turn their lives around, but at the same time, regardless of social status, many perished in these endless wars and turmoil.

    Therefore, when he felt he had saved enough money, Francis desperately fled northward to the relatively safer Frankish Kingdom. He changed his identity, legitimately forged his credentials, and transitioned to becoming an adventurer.

    Thus, Francis the veteran mercenary from the Southern Kingdom disappeared, and only Francis the adventurer from Alzar Barony remained in the world.

    Of course, he was quite satisfied with his life in Alzar Barony.

    Particularly, the satisfaction derived from the high standard of living in Alzar Barony enhanced Francis’s motivation, and working diligently in this environment, he eventually awakened his aura and reached the mid-level rank.

    This meant that if he wanted, he could be knighted and obtain noble status at any time.

    Having experienced a complicated childhood, he harbored some desire for noble status and a stable foundation, which Francis never overlooked.

    After receiving the largely ceremonial title of “Free Knight” from the kingdom and attaining noble status, he participated in a pioneering project implemented by Alzar Barony and came to lead a village.

    The condition was that if he served for exactly seven years and achieved certain results, he would be granted the village and its surrounding area as a manor. Even someone like him who was reluctant to enter feudal contracts couldn’t refuse such terms.

    And so, five years had passed since he became the lord of this small pioneering village. While he had been diligently leading his village, it was inevitable that he would harbor some ulterior motives while managing it himself.

    To be frank, it irked him that he had to pay taxes and remain subordinate for a village he had pioneered and cultivated himself.

    Of course, these thoughts remained just that—thoughts. Francis, who knew his place all too well, couldn’t deny that the stable development of what would become his manor was entirely thanks to the Baron.

    Moreover, since the fundamental reason he could possess land and act as a lord was due to Baron Alzar, Francis had no intention of committing acts of rebellion.

    …Until “that day” came.

    ※ ※ ※

    One day, Francis, who had briefly visited the city of Colland in Colland Barony for supplies, was unexpectedly invited by the branch manager of the Adventurer’s Guild in Colland.

    Assuming he was invited because of his unique status as a pioneering village lord with an adventurer background, and knowing nothing of the branch manager’s political circumstances, he naively accepted the invitation.

    The branch manager even hosted a small party, inviting not just Francis but his entire entourage visiting the city, including his former comrades who were now his subordinates.

    So, thinking he’d just enjoy a fancy meal and socialize, Francis visited the “party” with his subordinates, but…

    “Now, would you look over here?”

    “Mu, Mus—”

    What actually greeted Francis was none other than a purple flash gleaming from one of the branch manager’s eyes.

    A malevolent power that licked at his consciousness and seized his mind. A hideous, distorted demonic transformation. Through a power resembling magic but even more advanced, Francis’s mind was completely taken over.

    And thus controlled—no, though outwardly resembling his former self, he was essentially a different person—he, along with his subordinates, became tools moving according to “its” will.

    Therefore, like someone possessed by a ghost, Francis returned with supplies provided by the branch manager and mercenaries who were employed (controlled), and began to commit all sorts of atrocities after seizing and closing off the village with his subordinates and mercenaries.

    He closed off the village, oppressed the people, and even used the residual power of “control” that remained faintly in his eyes to gradually recruit villagers one by one.

    As a result, by the time he had completed the implicit brainwashing of everyone except for a few who noticed early and escaped, he now proceeded with fortifying the village without any hesitation and delivered a declaration of independence.

    One of the means actively promoted by the lord to exert influence on Colland Barony. The means to cause unrest in the “pioneering village” had thus begun.

    And about three days after the declaration of independence was completed.

    Francis’s pioneering village was being fortified by villagers who had been brainwashed in a manner close to suggestion, and by executives who had undergone permanent spiritual and mental modification.

    They armed and trained the villagers with the abundant supplies they had brought, and reinforced the defensive facilities, which had previously been mere palisades like other pioneering villages.

    In particular, the support materials delivered by the branch manager mainly consisted of weapons like crossbows, which were quite convenient even for conscripts, along with direct-fire cannons and firearms (old-fashioned muskets), though not many due to their expense, and plenty of shells.

    Thanks to this, if they could just hold out for a few days, they would have a defense capability befitting their “purpose,” and the monster wearing Francis’s disguise seemed to smile greedily, but…

    Around that time, he encountered an unexpected event.

    The door burst open as a brainwashed villager entered. In a situation where everyone had gone mad and no one cared about rudeness, the villager managed to overcome his trembling voice and barely opened his mouth toward Francis.

    “Mo, monsters… Monsters are coming!”

    “…Monsters?”

    At the words of one of the brainwashed villagers, who appeared to have been on watch duty on the palisade, Francis-monster sensed something ominous and jumped up from his seat to see it for himself.

    ‘…Over there?’

    And as gray smoke-like substance was rising into the sky from a direction where people were strangely gathered, Francis-monster immediately sensed that was his destination and headed in that direction…

    And so, the owners of the gray smoke that Francis-monster could see at once upon climbing the wall—the so-called “monsters”—were indeed frightening enough for the villagers to call them monsters and be terrified.

    Amidst the dense gray smoke resembling fog spreading in all directions, the source of this smoke was… an iron giant.

    “…Huh?”

    The body size exceeded 4 meters by the sacred unit system. While the overall appearance was humanoid except for being made entirely of metal, it was also a monstrosity that wasn’t quite human in form.

    The legs had a reverse joint structure similar to a horse’s, unlike human legs. The metal covering its entire body adopted sleek, streamlined curved armor, and a single eye peering through a horned helmet on its head was striking.

    But what particularly caught Francis-monster’s attention wasn’t that, but rather the form of the armament that the iron giant was holding.

    In its left hand, it had a shield with an elongated oval shape attached to its arm.

    In its right hand, it held something like a cannon that could be fired with one hand, complete with a shield attached to it.

    Additionally, on both shoulders, it was equipped with small-caliber cannons (mortars) designed to face the sky for some reason, one on each side. What would appear to the eyes of medieval people who had never seen such golem armor?

    “Mo, monsters…!!”

    In this situation where two more machines appeared behind these golem armors, a chimera that emerged from the gray smoke as the finishing touch further heightened their fear.

    Honestly, at this point, villagers and mercenaries without proper mental fortitude would have been sufficient to flee without looking back, but…

    The power of brainwashing overcomes fear. Humans whose mental structures had been reorganized to not properly feel fear did not flee, even in this overwhelming situation, though they trembled.

    Or more precisely, they couldn’t even think of fleeing.

    Along with the villagers who were restricted in their very thinking and couldn’t even conceive of such ideas, the mercenaries—originally just greedy thugs but now transformed into indomitable berserkers through brainwashing—stood their ground.

    In this world where no one could predict how things would unfold, a confrontation that could have been avoided finally began.


    0 Comments

    Heads up! Your comment will be invisible to other guests and subscribers (except for replies), including you after a grace period.
    Note
    // Script to navigate with arrow keys