Chapter 171: Turning Against
Chapter 171: Turning Against
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"What does that guy want to do?" Christian asked with a frown.
What they were talking about right now would not necessarily decide their legion’s fate, but they still had to be careful. The few people in leadership roles were here, including Black Eleven. They finally settled down in Moramatch even though it was not all smooth. The Ozzic and his people’s sudden presence made everybody uneasy.
"Some people just love the world to be chaotic. They feel they can take advantage of chaos to achieve their dreams. I think Ozzic is one of them," Anfey said slowly.
"Anfey, did you say they want to establish a union?" Black Eleven asked.
"Ozzic wanted it," Anfey said.
"Great! We can use them to fight back Shansa Empire. It was originally their idea anyway," Black Eleven said.
"You’d better know if they are thinking of using us to do something before you want to take advantage of them," Anfey said.
"Do you mean…," Black Eleven said.
"Ozzic had agreed with other mercenary groups to meet up at Moramatch, which meant he had already targeted Moramatch for some reason, known or unknown to others. In other words, he came here for us."
Everybody looked at each other and went quiet.
"Anfey." Ozzic walked in with big strides as he called out. Dozens of mercenaries followed Ozzic in. It was easy to tell that one of them was the leader, while others were just his followers.
"Anfey, why did you not attend the union meeting?" Ozzic smiled.
"I did, but they were looking for me, so I came back," Anfey said casually.
"Please allow me to introduce these men. This is the commander of Warflame mercenary, Orsie. He is famous for being tough. This is Anfey, the commander of Alibaba mercenary group," Ozzic said.
Anfey nodded at Orsie. Orsie was a young man around 24 or 25 years old. He looked normal but with an obvious military vibe. He nodded at Anfey as well. "I heard you beat Shansa Empire’s military badly, and they had to flee like rats. You defended our mercenaries’ honor. You are our hero."
"It was a small cavalry unit. If Shansa Empire sent their main unit to Moramatch, I would run away like a mouse." Anfey smiled.
"Interesting," Orsie laughed with Anfey.
"This is the commander of Wuming mercenary group, Tiger." Ozzic pointed at another guy.
Anfey followed Ozzic’s hand to take a look. The man was half beast and half man. His features as a beast were not obvious. His fur was not as thick and messy as the werewolves Anfey had seen before. His face was similar to humans, but his nose was not as tall as humans. It looked like someone punched his nose into his face. The tip of his nose was big and round, like a tiger’s nose.
As Anfey looked at him, Tiger was closely watching Anfey as well. Beasts had been looked down upon. They had been living in the human world for a long time, so they had developed a habit of quietly observing others’ attitudes and deciding what attitudes they would present in return.
"Hello." Tiger nodded as well.
Commanders of the rest of mercenary groups introduced themselves one after another without Ozzic having to introduce them. Anfey did not show anything on his face, even though he may have thought negatively of them. He still greeted them politely.
"Anfey, on their behalf, I would like to invite you to join our union. What do you think?" Ozzic asked.
"I understand that no one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole orchestra to play it. We have to be united to fight Shansa Empire. However, I would like to know who will be the leader of this union?" Anfey asked.
"We have not selected the leader yet, but I think he has to have a good name for himself, qualified, and trustworthy." Ozzic smiled. "Please allow me to nominate one person for our leader. When Shansa Empire threatened our country, Anfey was the first to lead his legion to fight back. I never have any doubt about Anfey’s ability and position. I recommend Anfey to be the leader of our union. What do you think?"
"I don’t agree." A woman called Elizabeth stood forward. She was the commander of a mercenary group. She had greeted Anfey very enthusiastically before, but also became the very first to disagree on the issue of having Anfey as the leader of the union. "Ozzic, you stated the necessary the qualifications of our union’s leader well. Our leader has to be well-known, qualified and trustworthy. I just want to ask one question. Can we trust him?"
A commander from another mercenary group snapped, "I first heard his name just two days ago. It would be a long time before we can trust him. Ozzic, if you insist on having him as our leader, I would take my people and leave the union."
"Ok, we will talk about who is going to be the leader later." Ozzic gave an awkward smile. "Let’s first talk about the pressing issue. It is not a small issue about feeding over a thousand people. It is commonly said that generals do not send their soldiers on the battlefields with empty stomachs. Nothing can be solved if we have hungry soldiers."
"We have enough food supplies for seven days," Elizabeth said.
"Mine is enough for four days," a commander from another mercenary group said.
"We have prepared a lot, but there are a large number of mercenaries in my group. It should be fine for ten days. I promise everyone that we do not need to worry about food. I can find a solution for it. Anfey, how long would your food supplies last?" Ozzic said.
"A long time," Anfey said casually.
"A long time does not mean anything. We have a lot of people here as well. I need to know how long will it last feeding over a thousand people," Elizabeth said.
"I don’t think I am obligated to answer your question." Anfey could neither be seduced by cajolery nor threatened by coercion. He was being polite to even answer the question.
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth said angrily.
"Everybody, calm down." Ozzic hurried to mediate the situation. "Anfey, how about you take us to see where you store your food supply. Is it in the underground tunnels? We can help do the estimate."
"Ozzic, you are asking me this as the leader of the union, friend or guest?" Anfey asked.
"Well, I am not the leader of the union," Ozzic said, smiling bitterly.
"Then are you asking me as a guest? Don’t you think you are asking too much?" Anfey said.
"We have not chosen our leader for the union yet, but we still can make a decision by majority vote. This is the command from everyone here," a commander said.
"Don’t. We can talk it out." Ozzic sweated as he was getting worried. "Our union is just established. We are a family. Don’t do anything to hurt our brotherhood."
"Majority rule? It’s a joke." Anfey did not even look at Ozzic. "When did I say I would join your union?"
Some of them were shocked after they heard what Anfey said. Ozzic had his mouth open wide. They looked at each other. Elizabeth said slowly, "You don’t want to join the union? Ok, then we do not have to worry about you anymore. We are confiscating Moramatch now. Get out of Moramatch now. Immediately!"
"You must be kidding me. I rented Moramatch from Band of Brothers mercenary group. I am the legal renter of this town. If someone has to leave, it’s you," Anfey said.
"Sorry, we think the reason that the Country of Mercenaries got to this point is that those four super mercenary groups did not do anything for us. The founding theory of our union is to clean up the corruption. The lease between you and Band of Brother mercenary group does not mean anything to us," Elizabeth said.
"Anfey, calm down." Ozzic stepped forward. "Our union is to fight against Shansa Empire. Didn’t you just say it’s better if we can work together? If we are not united, how could we fight against Shansa Empire?"
"I understand everything you said, but I do not agree with how you guys do things," Anfey said disdainfully. "So, if I join your union, everything we own will be yours? I have seen many robbers, but this is the first time I have seen robbers could be so shameless. Our food supplies did not come from nowhere. You need supplies? No problem. We all have sympathies. I definitely would not want to see you guys starving to death. However, you have to exchange food for something else. A trade off."
"Are you saying we have to buy the supplies from you?" Ozzic asked.
Anfey nodded.
"There is no point in making things complicated," a commander said with a grin.
"Ozzic, I came to Moramatch to fight Shansa Empire. I am not here to see you guys bully others," the commander from Warflame mercenary group, Orsie, said slowly. "Don’t go too far."
"What do you want to do? Do you want to see our union disintegrate?" Ozzic yelled. He turned to Anfey and said politely, "Anfey, we are all mercenaries. We have the same enemy. Don’t be stubborn, ok?"
"I am not being stubborn. You guys are too greedy and arrogant," Anfey said coldly, "Besides the food supplies, I have many other good things. Are they yours now too? Riska, pass me the magic scroll."
Riska was shocked by Anfey’s request, since he was engaged in their conversation. He took out the magic scroll and passed it to Anfey.
"This is a series lightning magic scroll. I was mine. If you think it is yours now, you can take it from my hand." Anfey played with the magic scroll in his hand. "Go ahead."
Other objects could be faked, but not magic scrolls. The intense magic surges had proved it was an authentic senior magic scroll. Several commanders stared at the scroll.