The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations (light Novel)

The most fundamental tactic for dealing with a superhuman without having one of your own is sheer numbers—a human wave assault.
No matter how strong a superhuman is, if their mana is overused and their strength drains, even regular soldiers can take them down.
The fortress commander had prepared for this very scenario. Anticipating the collapse of the gates, he had placed obstacles and positioned soldiers in advance.

“They’re coming! Hold your ground!”
The soldiers behind the gate gritted their teeth and raised their weapons.
A man with a cold expression stood alone before them.

Charging in alone may have seemed reckless at first, but this was a man who had shattered the gates with a single strike. They had no choice but to risk their lives to stop him.
Even with fear in their eyes, the soldiers showed their resolve to stand against Julien.
“...”

Julien glanced at them briefly but said nothing. He had no intention of forcing his way through them.
He had simply opened the gates so his allies could enter more easily while preparing for the enemies’ last resistance.
Swish!

Suddenly, Julien began climbing the fortress wall.
The soldiers behind the gate had to remain at their posts, guarding the open gate, so they could only watch him climb. The soldiers atop the wall were still too dazed to react.
Tap.

Julien landed on the wall as if in a painting, immediately swinging his sword.
Slash!
“Aaaargh!”

The heads of the nearby soldiers fell to the ground, and only then did the others snap out of their stupor.
“Attack! Kill him now!”
The fortress commander screamed from afar.
A superhuman had climbed up alone. They had to exhaust his strength and inflict some damage, no matter the cost. While the losses would be heavy, if they overwhelmed him with numbers, it was not impossible.

If a superhuman could take a fortress single-handedly, wars would have ended long ago by their efforts alone.
“Waaaaaah!”
The soldiers charged at Julien, and even the knights guarding the commander rushed forward.

They all knew this was their best chance to take down a lone superhuman.
Julien swung his sword at the soldiers rushing him like a pack of hounds.
Slash.

With a single sweeping motion, the heads of the soldiers in the front row fell simultaneously.
Before the blood of the first row had even settled, Julien moved again.
Slash.

Thud, thud.
More heads fell. This time, the advancing soldiers froze in place.
“Huh? Huh?”

“What just happened...?”
“Why...”
The chaos of the battlefield instantly cooled to a silence.

Superhumans, as they had seen and imagined them, were like living war machines.
They had expected him to unleash overwhelming strength and destroy the battlefield with brute force. They had prepared for that much.
Had Julien acted that way, they might not have been so shocked. Even if their bodies were crushed or exploded, they would have followed orders and pressed forward. The frenzy of war did not dissipate so easily.

But this was different.
There was no explosion. No forceful impact. He had simply swung his sword, and soldiers who hadn’t even reached him had their heads fall to the ground.
Fear.

The inexplicable terror froze the Atrode soldiers in place.
“This... This can’t be beaten.”
“We can’t even get close to him.”

“How are we supposed to fight that?”
These soldiers already had low morale and little experience. At their level, they couldn’t even comprehend Julien’s skill, much less counter it.
Clang! Clang! Clang!

At that moment, the knights following Julien climbed up the fortress wall using grappling hooks.
“Julien-nim!”
The knights quickly formed up around Julien, raising their shields.

These were knights from the Turian forces and the allied army—about a hundred in total.
While not a small number, they weren’t enough to defeat the entire fortress garrison on their own.
But their expressions showed no trace of concern. Instead, they brimmed with confidence.

With Julien by their side, victory was always assured.
Simultaneously, Marquis Gideon, leading the allied forces, shouted.
“The gate is open! Charge forward!”

“Waaaaaaaah!”
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The cavalry waiting in reserve shot forward like arrows.

They would now seize the opened gate.
The soldiers on the walls should have been firing arrows and hurling weapons to stop the approaching cavalry. But with Julien standing on the wall, no one dared to act.
The fortress commander screamed, veins bulging in his neck.

“What are you doing?! Kill him! Fight back, damn it!”
Even then, the soldiers couldn’t move. The thought that they shouldn’t fight him dominated their minds.
Julien slowly extended his sword forward and spoke.

“Step aside.”
Julien had emerged into the world to save people. It was no coincidence he was called “The Savior.”
His desire to minimize casualties was strong.

At his calm, chilling words, the entire fortress garrison involuntarily stepped back.
But not all of them.
Even here, though low-ranking, there were knights who had sworn oaths.

“Attack, now!”
The fortress knights shouted, charging at Julien together.
They intended to sacrifice themselves to rekindle their soldiers’ fighting spirit.

It was admirable. Even as enemies, they embodied the true essence of knights.
“...”
Out of respect for such knights, Julien chose to offer them a small courtesy. Even though it required him to exert more strength than usual.

Slash.
Fwoosh!
Blood erupted from the hearts of the charging knights. Their chests and hearts had been cleaved in a single strike.

Thud, thud, thud.
The knights collapsed simultaneously. Their heads remained attached to their bodies—Julien’s gesture of respect to honorable foes.
But witnessing this, the soldiers’ terror only grew. They stepped back even farther, now certain they could die without even getting close.

Tap!
Julien didn’t waste more words. He leapt forward.
Using soldiers’ shoulders and heads as stepping stones, he propelled himself toward the fortress commander at astonishing speed.

The commander, seeing Julien approach, drew his sword.
Slash!
Julien spun midair and landed gracefully on the ground.

The commander hadn’t even had the chance to swing his weapon before his body split diagonally, collapsing to the ground.
Thud!
Clang.

Julien glanced briefly at the commander’s lifeless body before sheathing his sword. His part in the battle was over.
The knights following Julien shouted loudly.
“The enemy commander is dead!”

“The commander is dead!”
“Surrender! Surrender, and you will be spared!”
A mere hundred knights were now shouting for over ten thousand soldiers to surrender.

The Atrode soldiers turned to look at their subordinate officers.
The officers, too, were at a loss. One man had completely shattered the battlefield’s morale.
Step, step.

Julien turned and began walking. The fortress soldiers instinctively stepped aside, not daring to touch even his sleeve.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The allied army’s main force reached the fortress gates, radiating an imposing presence.

If the defenders refused to surrender and continued resisting, the slaughter would begin.
That was the fate of every fortress that had resisted to the end.
Julien was offering them a chance.

Clatter.
The nearest subordinate officer dropped his weapon. The others followed, hastily throwing down their arms.
They had already lost the will to fight after witnessing Julien’s strength. They could fight if they had to, but no one wanted to be the first to die.

“Everyone, get down!”
At Marquis Gideon’s command, the entire fortress garrison fell to their knees.
“Waaaaaaaah!”

“We’ve won again!”
“It’s all thanks to Julien-nim!”
The allied forces cheered, weapons raised high. Once again, they had captured a fortress quickly and with minimal casualties, thanks to Julien.

With victories like these, their confidence and joy only grew stronger.
Marquis Gideon approached Julien and bowed his head.
“Well done.”

“...”
Julien gave a slight nod and began walking back to camp. Once the battlefield was cleared, they would march to the next fortress.
As he walked, Julien stopped and glanced up at the sky.

The Ruthanian forces, advancing along the most treacherous route, were reportedly making the fastest progress.
As expected...
While their progress was due to overwhelming strength, it was still impressive. That strength was something Ghislain had built from nothing.

Julien knew well, having read The Chronicles of the Grand Duke Fenris (Revised Edition – By Claude).
Ghislain possessed not just immense power but also unparalleled military strategy and administrative skill, having transformed his territory into a vast, thriving domain.
The more Julien thought about it, the more he marveled.

He doubted he could accomplish the same.
Memories of that day surfaced again.
“Friend,” huh...

To befriend someone and share a bond—such things were foreign concepts to Julien.
But not anymore. Through this war, he had begun to experience new emotions.
Unlike before, when he had to make every decision and fight alone, he could now share that burden with others. That brought him an immense sense of relief.

To someone as emotionally parched and deeply lonely as Julien, it was a friend who had reached out to him first.
Ghislain.
It was an emotion he would never have felt before. Julien had never needed anyone’s help.

Julien stared up at the clear sky, lost in thought, as Claude’s lackeys scurried around him.
Rustle.
Scratch.

Like cockroaches, they scrambled to record every detail of Julien’s actions in this battle.
And Julien...
“...”

He ignored them entirely and returned to his tent.
***
“Waaaaah!”

The Ruthanian army roared in triumph as they seized the Atrode royal castle.
They had finally broken through every stronghold and fortress, achieving complete victory.
Of course, the war wasn’t entirely over. There were still allied forces fighting battles in other regions.

But with the capital, which controlled all supplies heading for Grimwell Kingdom, now captured, the Atrode Kingdom was effectively finished.
Ghislain entered the Atrode royal castle with confident strides. Soon, the allied forces from various fronts would converge here after securing their designated territories.
“Alright, everyone, move quickly! Gather everything edible.”

Claude and his administrators scoured every corner of the castle, collecting documents and valuables. These resources would now be redistributed for the benefit of the allied forces.
Of course, Claude was hiding the fact that he was personally raking in vast profits behind the scenes.
‘Heh, just wait. I’ll become the richest man in the kingdom.’

Since he was a slave, he hadn’t been able to receive a title during the last commendation ceremony. If that was the case, he would simply drown them all in his wealth instead.
His methods had become far more covert this time, to the point that even Wendy hadn’t noticed yet.
While the castle was being cleared out, Belinda approached Ghislain and asked, “The Duke of Reinster is nowhere to be seen? Or should I say, the King of Atrode now. Did he run away?”

“No. He was never here to begin with.”
“Really?”
“Their goal was elsewhere from the start.”

“The holy relic, I suppose?”
“Yeah. It’s hard for us to understand, though.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Whatever that relic was, it was baffling that they would abandon their kingdom just to pursue it.

Ghislain looked around at his closest aides and spoke.
“The real fight begins now. The strongest ones have already headed for Grimwell Kingdom.”
There were still numerous formidable figures left among the enemy ranks:

Aiden, a man with enough talent to rank among the continent’s Seven Strongest.
Leonard, the insidiously cunning leader of the Revolutionary Corps.
Count Vipenvelt and Count Kalmund, both brilliant strategists.
And finally, the high-ranking priests of the Salvation Order, including Gatros, who manipulated everything from behind the scenes.
Even though the allied forces held the advantage in terms of overall power, they couldn’t afford to be careless. One mistake in war could turn the entire tide.
Not long after the Ruthanian army arrived, Julien and the allied forces under his command also reached the castle.
Ghislain welcomed Julien with a bright smile.

“Hey! No probRems, right?”
“None.”
As always, Julien’s answer was short and to the point, but Ghislain grinned widely.

Fighting alongside the continent’s greatest swordsman from his past life gave Ghislain a sense of reassurance. Julien’s strength had already proven invaluable.
It had happened faster than expected. Ghislain hadn’t imagined Julien would seek him out and join forces so readily.
Any enemy encountering Julien for the first time would be utterly shocked. Even if they had received prior information, no one truly knew the depths of Julien’s power.

‘That will become the greatest variable in this war.’
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason Ghislain felt so pleased.
He was always grateful to Julien and the others for sharing the burden of this war.

In his past life, he had fought alone, leading only mercenaries. It had been a grueling, bitter experience.
‘No way I’m telling him about the dream I had.’
He was curious how Julien’s expressionless face might change if he did, but a momentary laugh wasn’t worth making himself a target for those lunatics.

After a while, the rest of the allied forces began arriving one after another.
Some legions had been delayed by fierce enemy resistance, but none had suffered significant losses.
Once the allied forces had fully regrouped, Ghislain issued his next order.

“All troops, march on Grimwell Kingdom.”
It was time to crush what remained of their enemies once and for all.