Chapter 77 - Arranged Marriage (1)

Even though they had to carry an unconscious person, their movement speed wasn't something to laugh at. Drew and the guard leader of the hammersmiths carried the target throughout the night, but even though they hurried, they only reached half of the path back when the sun was starting to rise. They were a bit tired as well since they weren't used to that kind of task.

"We can't just stop here since we are close to the frontlines, we will have to keep moving," Leo said.

Moving during the day would make them easy to spot while moving in those long grasslands. Still, they didn't have any other option. They moved hard for four hours, but eventually, they found a pursuing party behind them.

"We are only ten kilometers away from Vergena, to think that they would us this far…" Leo said while clenching his teeth.

"We tried to make the horses run away toward all directions, but they recovered them too fast," Drew said.

The enemies had horses, so it wasn't possible to outrun them while carrying a prisoner and the target was already awake and even though his hands and feet were tied up and his mouth was covered with a piece of clothing, he still was struggling to free himself.

"I suppose you defeated some of them, so we have some chances of defeating them…" Drew muttered.

Soon he changed his mind when he saw that the number of the enemy cavalry was too high… they had at least three hundred of them. It was another thing that they didn't consider… of course, they would inform the commander of the armies and ask for Reinforcements.

"I guess we will have to take some drastic measures…" Billy said and then looked at Sarah.

Sarah understood what Billy meant by that and while she didn't have recovered all of her mana, she still could do what Billy was thinking. Hopefully, it will be enough to make the enemies forget about the young master that they just lost. However, things were just about to become messier… another army was coming from the East. It was another cavalry unit.

"Well…" Billy said while showing a nervous smile. "There is no shortage of opponents."

The group prepared to fight because they have been training during their whole lives to fight no matter the odds. However, much to their surprise, the second unit of cavalry changed directions and then began to head to the first. Billy finally realized that the second was allies instead of enemies. They probably saw a weird action on the enemy side and decided to check. In the end, the pursuers didn't have any other choice but give up.

"I suppose Jean had informed his soldiers to pay attention to any weird movements on the enemies' side…" Leo said and then sighed. "Let's keep going, we can leave this place on their hands."

Although they had time to rest, the group still hurried to Vergena city, they just wanted to get that job done and then go home. Even those who enjoyed staying near the bridge site disliked the fact that they had to help someone else like that… they could do pretty much everything, but taking hostages was too much.

As if they had been received a message about their success, Edward and Jean were already waiting at the entrance of Vergena when they arrived there. Edward seemed pretty proud while Jean looked shocked and pleased, but the group didn't share their feelings.

"Well done, everyone," Edward said. "Please rest for the day and leave the rest of the work to me."

Drew handed over the prisoner and he was sweating bullets while he was being stared down by Jean. His father caused a lot of trouble to the people of the state of Hiloh, so they had accumulated quite a grudge against his family. He certainly wasn't innocent since he was participating in the campaign.

"I wonder if back in the day, people had to do things like this in war times on Earth…" Billy thought.

After that, they received the free pass to stay in one of the best inns of the city, but on the very next day, the group got up and headed toward the fortress. Upon arriving there, they saw Edward and Jean laughing about something. Drew said that debts have to be paid, but he was starting to consider rebelling or at least leaving Edward's camp. He was being too easygoing lately considering that he put his soldiers at risk in a crazy mission.

"We have good news, everyone," Edward said. "The enemies agreed to pay quite the sum for the head of the prisoner. With that much money out of their pockets, they won't be able to sustain this campaign and will have to retreat and won't attack again for at least two years."

"I owe you a debt that can't be paid with money alone," Jean said. "Naturally, you will receive a payment for your hard work and the people of Hiloh state will consider the people of the Heinhall state our allies."

"We are glad that we managed to help… but what is this Heinhall state?" Drew asked.

"That would be us, while we are small in number, we will grow from now on and since in our lands everyone is working together, I decided that it was time to name ourselves," Edward said. "We will respect each other's tribes and leaders, but together we will be a new state."

That was bound to happen, so no one was surprised at the sudden declaration. Most likely, they will have to help Jean and his people here and there, but that was fine. Life would be boring once the bridge was completed, after all.

"I have to reward you as well," Edward said. "Everyone aside from Billy can ask me anything and I will do my best to give you what you want."

Those words didn't echo right in everyone's ears....