Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Camping
"Who says a country bumpkin can't aspire to love a noble lady? Even Emperor Ludwig said so!" Banda retorted impatiently.
Vilter was at a loss for words. It was true that Emperor Ludwig had said this, but the Savior himself was a figure of unimaginable power, capable of defeating demonic princes of the sacred order in a single round. Strength is revered in this world, and if Banda were indeed of the sacred order, not just a councilwoman of Garon, but even the daughters of electors or the emperor himself might be within his reach.
But Banda was merely a common-tier warrior.
"Son, it's understandable to have great aspirations, but you need matching strength... Banda, do you know Mr. Ryan's story?"
"Isn't he just someone who leveraged his ancestors' military exploits and his own noble status to gain a knight's title?" the young mercenary disdainfully said. "Killing the orc chief was all thanks to his weapon. If I had the same weapon, I could do it too!"
"It seems you don't know Mr. Ryan's story... He awakened his professional talent at the age of three and joined his father, 'Bald' Lord Norman, on the battlefield at sixteen during the famous Battle of Lapland. In less than eight years, 'Great Hammer' Ryan became a household name in Nord. So..." Vilter was about to continue, but the still injured Boris put a hand on his shoulder, "Vilter, that's enough."
"Alright, Banda, you need to become stronger, striving hard is the proper way." The deputy commander stopped speaking.
After decades as a mercenary, Vilter had seen many young warriors like Banda, characterized by lofty ambitions but insufficient talent, always dreaming of slaying dragons through some stroke of luck and hoping for beautiful ladies to fall for them, but such plots were the stuff of knightly novels, not reality.
Meanwhile, Ryan was setting up a tent.
The kingdom knight drew his long sword, swept over an uneven patch of ground stirring up dust. When the dust settled, he had leveled a section of ground covered with small stones and snow, and then he used his war hammer to compact the soil, making sure the sorceress wouldn't have an uncomfortable bed. He erected a tent on this flattened ground. Gathering pale blue energy in his palms, he warmed the interior of the tent. After cleaning the inside, Ryan laid out animal skins and blankets before making a welcoming gesture to Teresa: "Please, Councilwoman Teresa Trovik of Garon."
For the first time that day, the sorceress's complexion seemed a bit better. She took off her high-heeled boots and white cotton socks at the tent entrance, revealing delicate feet. Leaning on her staff, Teresa half-lay down inside the tent, her tone somewhat improved: "You know how to take care of people, unlike those days I spent with the mercenaries. Don't they know what hygiene and personal space mean?"
"Teresa, not everyone can come back from a mission with hundreds of dinars. The mercenaries do what they can under their circumstances. Providing you a separate tent is already quite accommodating; they can't light incense for you or spare so many furs and blankets to keep your delicate body from the hard stones." Ryan sighed, "I don't want to argue with you, you know that."
"I don't want to argue either, Ryan." The sorceress placed her staff aside, found a comfortable position, and pulled out a velvet blanket from her spatial ring: "Traveling with a mercenary group was really not a good idea. Last night, Captain Boris actually had me eat unscented roasted lamb. By the Mystic Lady, how could I possibly stomach such a thing?"
The Mystic Lady was a colloquial name for the goddess of magic, as directly invoking the names of deities could draw their attention, something people generally avoided.
"But for the mercenaries, that's already a delicacy, isn't it? They offered you the best they had, what more do you expect?" Ryan was sitting at the tent entrance talking to Teresa while keeping busy.
"I know, which is why I shouldn't have hired a mercenary group to accompany me. I should have waited in the previous town for you to join me." Regret tinged her voice.
"You can't always hide behind high walls and cast spells, dear Teresa. Didn't Lady Aurora send her precious daughter to pursue Bert to also gain some experience?" Ryan shook his head. "You're older than me, but your practical experience might not even be one percent of mine."
"I'm not a knight who spends all day riding and slashing." The sorceress didn't argue back, knowing she had accepted Ryan's point, so he softly said, "Rest well for now. I'll go see if I can find some game. In this cold weather, some hot meat would be good."
Ryan had dealt with many
from the Garon Council and knew these women were proud. Sometimes, maintaining their dignity and giving them a way to step down gracefully could earn a lot of good will.
"Understood." Teresa tightened the blanket around her, calling out as the knight stood to leave.
"Ryan."
"Hmm?"
"Be careful."
"Heh, don't worry."
The tent flap closed, and the sorceress felt the long-missed comfort, quickly falling into a deep sleep.
Teresa and Ryan had met before, their first encounter when Ryan was sixteen and she had just turned twenty.
After being adopted by Lord 'Bald' Norman of Otten territory, the boy displayed incredible talent, awakening his professional potential at the age of three. Under the auspices of the Church of Righteousness, he successfully changed classes. To this day, no one knew exactly what his profession was, though many speculated it was a unique blessing from the god of justice. His base class was known to be a warrior.
For unknown reasons, he seemed much more mature than his peers. At the age of eight, he had read most of the books in the Nord national library and completed the etiquette courses for nobility alone. His eloquence and learning astonished the nobles of Nord.
When barbarians from the north invaded again when Ryan was thirteen, his father—the White Wolf Knight Norman—wanted him to join the battle. Ryan famously said, "Father, if I go to battle now, I might get split in two like a wild dog, so please give me three more years. I promise to become a knight no less than you."
Coincidentally, three years later the northern barbarians invaded again, attacking the port of Lapland. Their first meeting was during this battle when Ryan, at sixteen, decapitated a barbarian warrior and killed five more single-handedly. The king of Nord knighted him on the spot as a ranger knight, and many attended the ceremony, including her first encounter with Ryan.
Their second meeting was when this young man was knighted as a kingdom knight. The fearsome chaotic orc lord "Fang" Gor led thousands of orcs to ravage Nord. Several kingdom knights and hundreds of soldiers witnessed Ryan duel Gor atop a cliff from dawn to dusk, eventually beheading Gor and earning the nickname "Great Hammer" and the title of kingdom knight.
Ryan's true strength was unclear, but what was certain was that no elite warrior could have slain a powerful chaotic orc lord alone, so Ryan's strength was at least...
Teresa fell asleep, exhausted.
"Lady Trovik? Lady Trovik?" She didn't know how long she had slept when she was awakened by gentle calls. Although still very tired, she felt slightly better. Looking up, it was Banda, the endlessly ingratiating mercenary. Teresa just nodded, noticing Banda craning his neck trying to see her face clearly, so she wrapped herself in her white fox fur coat, not letting the young man see anything else: "What is it?"
"Mr. Ryan is back, he asked me to call you." The young mercenary saw only the sorceress's exquisitely beautiful face and the swan-like white neck and black jade-like hair. He was somewhat disappointed, but he immediately sensed Teresa's displeasure and quickly said.
"I know, you can leave now." Teresa gestured for Banda to go.
The young mercenary had hoped to chat with Teresa for a bit, but seeing her unwillingness to talk, he felt very disappointed. He considered himself quite handsome, and not getting a good response from her, he didn't give up: "Is there anything I can help with, Lady Trovik? You seem very tired..."
"No, just go, tell Ryan I'll be there soon." Teresa reiterated her disinterest, and Banda, unable to make conversation, chose to leave.
Elsewhere, the mercenaries were shouting and cheering because Kingdom Knight Ryan had brought back an entire deer!
The massive deer was being skinned and butchered by the mercenaries. After the immense loss and sadness, the mercenaries finally found some solace in a deer meat feast that evening. Ryan generously allowed the mercenaries to take some of the deer meat, keeping only a leg and two chops for himself.
"Tch, damn knight, it's just good luck." Banda saw the cheering mercenaries and looked even more displeased: "He really knows how to win people over. Nobles just know how to bribe hearts, hiding behind high walls, collecting taxes, enjoying the offerings of the poor. They all deserve to die!"
Though he said this, the aroma of roasted deer was irresistible. Vilter, seeing Banda approach, handed him a skewer of roasted meat: "Lord Ryan brought us some roast, it's cold, eat up!"
"Mmm~" The young mercenary was indeed hungry, and at that moment, he couldn't care less, taking the meat and eating heartily.
"I'll leave you to it; I'm going to
see Teresa, make yourselves at home." Ryan didn't want to stay with the mercenaries; their habit of sharing dishes and utensils made him uncomfortable, besides, there was a natural opposition between knights and mercenaries.
The knightly profession was a paragon of lawful alignments, from the good-aligned paladins to the evil-aligned black knights, all tending towards order.
But mercenaries were different; some fought to protect their loved ones, others would turn their blades on anyone for profit. They were generally of chaotic alignment, and knights and mercenaries naturally opposed each other.
Ryan had no great affection for the mercenary profession; in many online novels of his previous world, mercenaries were portrayed as brave, kind, and wise. But since arriving in this world, he had seen more greed, stupidity, and violence.
Most mercenaries would do anything for money.
Ryan, carrying two deer chops and a leg, headed back to his tent, but before he could reach it, Teresa, wrapped in a white fur coat, lifted the tent flap. Seeing Ryan with the raw ingredients, the sorceress frowned: "I thought you had already cooked it."
"??? You knew I was back?" The kingdom knight was puzzled, setting up a pot over the fire, preparing to cook.
"Didn't you send Banda to call me?" Teresa wrapped herself tightly in the white coat, sitting opposite Ryan, only her mature, beautiful face exposed. Nord's winters were truly too cold, and normally, the sorceress could use magic to ward off the environmental effects, but she was very weak now.
"Banda?" Ryan was still puzzled. The two exchanged a strange look for ten seconds before the knight chuckled: "It seems another young man has fallen under Lady Trovik's spell. Maybe with just one look from you, he'd be willing to die for you. Congratulations on gaining another admirer."
"I don't want to argue, Ryan," the sorceress said coldly.
"Alright, alright, you certainly have a captivating beauty, that's undeniable." Ryan cut the deer chops into pieces, added them to the pot with various seasonings and wild vegetables he had gathered, planning to make a deer and vegetable stew.
"Has years of traveling only taught you sweet nothings to tell women and decent cooking skills?" Facing Ryan's untraceable flattery, Teresa had to admit the man knew how to speak, her tone softening considerably.
"No, years of traveling taught me much more. If there's a chance, I'll tell you about what I've encountered over the years." Ryan stirred the ingredients in the pot, the aroma wafting out, tempting the appetite.
"Why do so many think they are the main character of a story? A common-tier mercenary?" The sorceress, smelling the aroma from the pot, spoke softly.
"You say that now, but weren't you the same? I remember our first meeting; you didn't even look at me properly, just saw me as a lucky kid." Ryan retorted; their first meeting had been under her lofty attitude.
"Alright, the pressing matter now is what to do about Bert? My mana is exhausted; I can't use magic to pursue him any longer." The sorceress's cheeks flushed, her beauty unparalleled as she changed the subject.
"Let's eat first, then we'll discuss in detail what to do."
"Okay."
So cold!
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
INIT
INIT Please give this book stones of power and raise it in the ratings so that it can get more readers.
If you want to support me, check my Patreon.
I post 3 chapters a day of the books on my Patreon, check it out!
www.patréon.com/INNIT
(Replace é with e)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone