The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations (light Novel)

Silence fell over the battlefield.
Fenris soldiers climbing over the walls, exhausted knights, even the charging enemies—all stopped in their tracks.

No one had fully seen what Ghislain had done; the blinding light had obscured it all.
*Rumble.*
When they opened their eyes again, the gate was collapsing.

The knights near Ghislain, who had watched the scene in stunned silence, finally muttered to themselves.
"The… the gate…."
"How could a sword… do that?"

"Lord Ghislain… holds such power?"
Even the knights of Fenris, who had fought alongside Ghislain, stared at the fallen gate with dazed expressions.
It wasn’t just the allies who were shocked; Cabaldi’s soldiers also wore looks of confusion and fear as they beheld the destroyed gate.

"Our gate… has been breached."
"One man did this?"
"Who… is he?"

Count Balzac, the kingdom’s top swordsman, was said to be capable of destroying a gate alone.
But that was only a distant rumor, something that seemed like a legend to most.
Now, someone had done just that—right before their eyes.

And it wasn’t just anyone. It was their enemy.
"We… we can’t win this."
"We’re all going to die."

The faces of Cabaldi’s soldiers slowly filled with despair. Already weak from hunger and surrounded, their morale was at rock bottom.
Just earlier, they had thought their last hope lay in the Fenris forces digging tunnels, believing they could still secure victory by morning.
But that hope had been shattered.
The battlefield, once teeming with urgent movement, fell silent. Everyone seemed too shocked to remember they were still in the midst of a battle.

Ghislain, who had achieved this incredible feat, took a moment to gaze at the fallen rubble of the gate.
"*Hoo…*"
He let out a deep sigh and slumped to the ground.

"Ugh, using that technique again after so long… I feel like I’m going to die."
Unlike in his past life, he was still far from wielding this power freely.
The mana expenditure was extreme, and he could only use it once with intense preparation.

If he had regained his former strength, he wouldn’t have needed such an explosive display of light, nor would he have collapsed after just one use.
"My lord!"
"Are you all right?"

The knights around him rushed over, but Ghislain waved them off with a casual motion.
"I’m fine. Stop worrying and get back to the fight. The enemy is right there—literally at our doorstep. *Tsk tsk,* you all need more training."
The Fenris knights, jolted back to their senses by his words, quickly resumed their battle stances.

The enemies, too, regained their composure. Quick-thinking Count Cabaldi pointed at Ghislain and shouted.
"No matter how strong he is, he’s used up his power! Look! He’s too weak to move! He’s exhausted! Attack him! Use your bodies to block the gate if you have to!"
Hearing this, Cabaldi’s knights and soldiers gripped their weapons tightly. This was their last chance to defeat him.

With crazed shouts, they surged forward.
"Waaaaah!"
Fear was the only thing driving them forward now.

This was their one opportunity to kill the man who sat by the gate.
It was also the last chance to close off the gate before the full force of the enemy swarmed in.
If they failed—

They would all be slaughtered.
That fear became their last source of courage.
"My lord, get back!"

"We’ll protect you!"
"Everyone, gather around!"
The weary knights gritted their teeth and crowded around Ghislain to form a defensive line.

Gillian and Kaor joined, leading the Fenris soldiers who had climbed the walls to form a formation.
Seeing them, Ghislain smiled calmly.
"Enough. Stop blocking my way and step aside."

"Huh?"
As the knights hesitated, puzzled by Ghislain’s unexpected words, a thunderous sound echoed.
*Thud thud thud thud!*

The ground shook, and a loud voice boomed from outside the gate.
"Clear the wayyyyy!"
Startled by the sound, the knights moved aside.

No sooner had they cleared a path than a man on horseback burst through the gate.
"Lord! I’m here! Are you all right?"
Lucas, who loved to make a dramatic entrance, dashed over to Ghislain the moment he entered.

Ghislain gave him a grin. "I’m fine, so just sweep them up already."
"Understood!"
Lucas raised his spear high and charged toward the enemy, itching to jump into the fray.

"My lord! I’m here, too!"
Right behind him came none other than the muscle-bound Gordon, his spear in hand as he roared and charged at the enemy.
Both had experience and skill, which was why Ghislain had chosen them to lead the vanguard.

Following Lucas and Gordon, the Fenris knights waiting outside poured into the fortress.
Each knight who passed Ghislain offered a word:
"My lord, well done!"

"Leave the rest to us!"
"We knew you’d do it!"
Some wore expressions of pride, others of awe, and others of profound gratitude.

But they all shared a common resolve—to be the strength of their lord.
"Let’s sweep them up!"
With that shout, the spears of the Fenris knights began to glow with a vibrant blue light.

*Thud thud thud thud!*
As the thunderous hoofbeats echoed and the charging knights approached, Cabaldi’s soldiers gritted their teeth.
Caught mid-charge toward the gate, they had no time to form a proper defensive line against the cavalry.

Their only hope lay in the protection of their heavy armor, and they braced themselves as the Fenris knights bore down on them.
But hope was just that—hope.
*Boom!*

"Aaaaaah!"
The blue-tinted spears of the knights pierced through the Cabaldi soldiers’ armor effortlessly.
In a single clash, the Cabaldi forces’ formation was shattered. But the Fenris knights didn’t stop; they advanced relentlessly, grinding down their enemies.

It was impossible for the heavily armored infantry to hold back a charging force of knights without a proper formation.
Count Cabaldi, watching from the back as his forces fell like leaves in autumn, could only stare in disbelief.
"This… this can’t be… so many knights?"

Just as Zamon had been, he was utterly overwhelmed by the scene unfolding before him.
There was no way to win. With so many knights on the other side, a direct confrontation was unwinnable.
And it wasn’t over yet.

"Waahhhhh!"
From both walls, Fenris soldiers in formation were charging forward.
Soldiers who had already poured through the gate spread out, surrounding the enemy on all sides.

"Spare us! Please, spare us!"
The screams of Cabaldi’s soldiers echoed in every direction.
This was a massacre, pure and complete.

In Count Cabaldi’s eyes, his proud northern troops fell without purpose or resistance.
The sight was so surreal, it felt like a dream. Time seemed to slow.
Then, a loud shout snapped him back to reality.

"My lord! You must flee! You have to escape!"
It was Leslie, the captain of the knights.
With newfound clarity, Count Cabaldi gritted his teeth.

"The royalists must have supported them with knights. We’ve been defeated!"
It was unthinkable for Baron Fenris to have so many knights and soldiers. To Count Cabaldi, this was clearly a strategic move by the royalist faction to strike at the dukes during this chaotic time.
Leslie urgently grabbed his arm.

"That doesn’t matter right now! You must escape immediately! The enemy has surrounded us!"
"Unhand me! Are you telling me to flee from a whelp like him?"
Count Cabaldi shook off Leslie’s hand with a fierce glare.

Fleeing from someone like Baron Fenris was an insult to his pride.
"What are you all doing? Form ranks! Form up and resist them!"
Count Cabaldi’s eyes were bloodshot as he shouted.

But the battle had already been decided.
The charge of the Fenris knights had wiped out half of Cabaldi’s forces in an instant. Fenris’s soldiers, having begun their encirclement, pressed in on them with ease.
The few remaining Cabaldi soldiers clung to their shields, barely holding on.

As the encirclement completed, Fenris knights shouted from all directions:
"Those who throw down their weapons and lie on the ground will be spared! Those who resist will face death!"
The call signaled the end of the battle.

*Thunk.*
One Cabaldi soldier dropped his weapon and lay on the ground.
As if signaled by that, the remaining Cabaldi forces began to surrender rapidly.

*Clang, clang.*
The sounds of discarded weapons echoed from all directions.
Half still clutched their weapons, but they were demoralized beyond recovery.

Having witnessed Fenris’s overwhelming strength, they had no fight left in them.
It was exactly as Ghislain had planned.
He had instructed Lucas and Gordon to make a swift, forceful push but then slow the attack afterward.

There was no need to kill every soldier. Those who surrendered would be forcibly conscripted into Fenris’s army.
The battlefield quickly became deathly quiet.
Aside from the groans of the wounded, there was no sound.

Even the usually boisterous Fenris knights held their silence.
They knew their lord had unfinished business.
"Get up! Get up and fight! If you don’t get up, I’ll kill you all myself!"

Count Cabaldi’s voice broke the silence, echoing across the battlefield.
Around him stood only his knights’ captain, Leslie, and about a dozen remaining guards. Yet, even in this state, Count Cabaldi refused to accept that he had been defeated.
His pride and stubbornness refused to acknowledge the young Baron Fenris as his conqueror.

Thud… thud…
Footsteps sounded, and all the Fenris knights and soldiers moved aside, forming a pathway as someone approached.
Count Cabaldi looked up, glaring at the figure drawing closer.

“You…?”
It was the man who had destroyed the gate. The one who had shown such terrifying power.
Though fatigue was etched on his face and his steps were slower, Ghislain exuded an unyielding aura as he moved forward.

Count Cabaldi quickly understood who he was facing, simply from the figure’s presence and the reaction of those around him.
“You… you’re Baron Fenris?”
“Yes, I am Baron Fenris,” Ghislain replied calmly.

“How… how could someone like you possess such strength…?”
But Count Cabaldi’s question was left unanswered, as Leslie, the knight’s captain, abruptly turned and bolted in retreat.
A knight of his station, fleeing and abandoning his lord—everyone around, Fenris and Cabaldi alike, stared in disbelief. Count Cabaldi’s face burned with humiliation.

The soldiers surrounding them raised their weapons to stop Leslie’s escape.
“Move aside!” Leslie shouted, frantically drawing his sword. He intended to fight his way out of the encirclement.
But before he could take another step, an axe flew through the air, finding its mark.

Thud!
“Ack!”
Caught off guard, Leslie took the axe to his back and collapsed off his horse, landing heavily on the ground.

Cough!
Struggling to rise, Leslie used his sword as a crutch. But by the time he managed to stand, Gillian was there, looking down at him with an expression of disdain.
Desperately, Leslie raised a trembling hand. “Wait… I surrender…”

Thwack!
Before he could finish, Gillian’s sword swung down, severing Leslie’s head.
As Leslie’s lifeless body hit the ground, Gillian cleaned his sword with a flick and surveyed the remaining Cabaldi knights with a haughty expression.

“Kneel before our lord, now.”
The Cabaldi knights scoffed at the demand.
They were not mere soldiers; they were knights who had lived with pride and honor.

Watching their captain flee and die shamefully had only strengthened their resolve. Kneeling would dishonor Cabaldi’s legacy forever.
One knight drew his sword and spoke up, “For our lord and for Cabaldi, we will fight to the end.”
That declaration spurred the other Cabaldi knights into action as they charged at Gillian.

At the same time, Kaor and the Fenris knights around Ghislain joined the fight.
Clang! Clang!
In moments, the remaining knights were locked in a desperate struggle.

Count Cabaldi, watching as his last knights fell one by one, bit his lip so hard it bled. For the first time, he felt the weight of total defeat. Everything he had built was crumbling.
“Lord… please… flee…”
One of the last knights, chest pierced and coughing up blood, tried to urge him to escape. But he fell silent as Kaor’s sword ended his life.

With the final knight slain, Count Cabaldi closed his eyes.
Ghislain’s voice cut through the silence with an unsettling calm.
“Bring him down.”

Several knights stepped forward, roughly pulling Count Cabaldi off his horse and forcing him to his knees.
“Let me go! Do you know who I am?” Count Cabaldi roared, struggling in vain against the knights’ firm grip.
In a tone as cold as ice, Ghislain spoke as he approached, “It’s been a long time, Count Cabaldi.”

Not even bothering to look up, Count Cabaldi let out a bitter laugh.
“Heh, what are you talking about? When have you ever met me? Do you even know who I am?”
“Oh, I know you well.”

Memories of his past life filled Ghislain’s mind. The very moment he had declared his loyalty to Perdium, Count Cabaldi had cut off his iron supplies to Perdium, halting weapons production and even basic repairs.
But that wasn’t all. Count Cabaldi had sent soldiers to ensure Perdium’s downfall.
How could he not remember? How could he ever forget?

In his past life, he had sought out the Count himself, ending him personally, yet even that hadn’t extinguished the fire burning in his soul.
Ghislain knelt, grabbing Count Cabaldi by the hair and forcing him to look up.
“You insolent wretch… How dare you…” Count Cabaldi spat, his face twisted in anger.

But Ghislain only grinned, his eyes filled with a savage, cold fury.
“Funny. I was going to say the same thing. How dare you.”