Half a year later...

It was harvest time again, and thanks to the Erdtree that nourished the land, there was another great harvest in the Kingdom of the Erdtree. With its blessing, the health of the army and the people were restored and improved. Although the golden tree had contributed a lot, Marika still intentionally controlled the height of the tree. Therefore, the tree did not grow much during this period of time. Marika did this for an important reason. That is the future capital city. Stormveil was too close to the border of the Falcari Empire, and even though Stormveil's walls had excellent defenses, Marika was still unwilling to take the risk of being under threat of an invasion. So in the future she hoped to set up her capital in a safer, more desirable location.

In trade, the kingdoms were captured by the diversity, quality and quantity of the Erdtree Kingdom's food, spices and wine. Elfasen is obsessed with the sweetness of the fruits that Marika brings from her world, Falkeri are racking their brains to get the Golden Dynasty's farm cultivation methods, and even the most remote Bulheim is impressed by the Golden Dynasty's wines and spices. Gradually, all countries began to buy more and more food from Marika's country, and even many of the nobles of the Kingdom of Inrud secretly bought food behind the backs of their king to fill their own pockets.

The rising star of the Golden Dynasty was slowly becoming richer and richer, and gradually treading on the road to gain a seat among the various kingdoms.

With money left in the treasury, the first thing Marika did was to use the trade money to build sewers in cities across her country. For the sake of the system's mission, as well as for the sanitation of her citizens, Marika had Siduri, who was in charge of the project, try to promote the concept of sanitation that Marika had brought with her from the twenty-first century. Of course, Marika did not say anything about the existence of germs, which was an overly complicated subject that most of her subjects would not understand. So she did her best to put the simple concepts of washing hands and bathing more often into the Golden Order Church's sermons, and relied on these fervent missionaries to help her spread the word.

And the results? From what Marika could see, these missionaries were true fanatics, and once she gave them instructions, they would work tirelessly to carry them out. Thanks to their efforts, the busy Siduri was given some breathing space.

So after half a year, when the sewers of Stormveil were completed, Marika was happy to see the completion of the sewers and received the system's rewards. First and foremost were the Carian soldiers. As a gift, Marika immediately summoned 10,000 of them and sent them to Renalla. When the Carian soldiers saw that they were brought back to life by the leader of their biggest enemy, and their queen standing side by side with her, their dumbfounded expressions were quite amusing to Marika.

As for the multiverse gacha prizes, Marika received the Guardian Lance (B), Guardian Dagger (B), and Master Sword (A) from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Excluding the Master Sword, the Guardian Dagger and Lance are both mass-produced energy weapons. Marika was even more interested in this kind of goodies than the Master Sword. In order to understand how these weapons work, Marika immediately sent the Guardian Weapon to Sellen to study. But the results will not be known until Selen finds time away from her teaching duties.

In the midst of all this prosperity, there were always a few blemishes on Marika's life. Unsurprisingly, our stubborn friends, the noble lords of Inrud, continue to work tirelessly to send small armies of mercenaries back and forth to disturb the towns and farmlands along the border between the two kingdoms. Whether they did it out of necessity or stupidity, Marika will not tolerate an army that burns and robs her subjects. But against a flexible army of mercenaries who were good at hitting and running, sending an army to chase them down would be like killing a chicken with a sword. Therefore, the trio of Drifters came into play. With Nobunaga as the leader of the army, the mission of this 1,500-strong army is to patrol the border area to repel or annihilate the mercenaries who may invade at any time.

And today, the battle of wits between the Drifters and the mercenaries is still going on.

It's a foggy morning, visibility is not so bad for ordinary people, but for the army, it's a dangerous concentration. Whoever could utilize it well would gain the upper hand in battle.

"Don't let them escape, catch up with them!"

A female mercenary leader with a scarred face and a full head of red hair shouted orders to her 1,000-strong troop. She led the way with her cavalry, chasing their prey through the wide paths of the forest. Her infantry followed the cavalry at a brisk pace. The men the mercenary captain had spent almost half her life building up were a fine comparison to the flimsy armies of the common lords. She and her men had fought countless battles, and though they hadn't been without sacrifice, they had survived to this day by virtue of the mercenaries' ruthlessness.

Today, she was sure they would survive and win, just as they had always done!

Just on cue, a flying arrow flew over the head of the mercenary leader, almost piercing through her skull. The brush with death caused her to break out in a cold sweat, wetting her well toned body covered in leather and chain mail.

The thrill of almost being killed had stirred her ferocious nature, making her subconsciously seek out the shooter with her eyes. Her eyes were fixed on the target of their pursuit, a group of cavalrymen in strange armor.

The armor of these strange men was not shiny silver plate armor or chain mail, but brightly colored armor of unknown material. The armor has a bright weave, and the shoulders of the armor are two broad square shoulder guards made of several pieces of iron. If it wasn't for the sound of iron plates swinging up and down in the distance, she would have thought that these strange cavalrymen were wearing some kind of cloth armor under the foggy vision. Another oddity was that only a few dozen of the hundred or so cavalrymen were armed with spears, while the rest were all armed with longbows. There is no sign of the standardized round shield of the cavalry.

"What's going on? Why are all their soldiers carrying longbows? Even the Elven cavalry are charging with spears like us, what the hell are these guys doing?"

Just as the mercenary leader was slightly distracted by the oddity of these people, another arrow brushed against her!

"Damn it! Who the hell is it! I'm being targeted!

Cursing angrily, she struggled to open her eyes again to find the sniper who had targeted her. This time, she was more lucky, and after another arrow flew past her, her eyes finally locked onto the shooter.

"He is so handsome!"

The mercenary leader couldn't help but exclaim quietly. The man in the center of her gaze was too handsome, so beautiful that he didn't even look like a man. She saw that the man's face was youthful, obviously a young man who had just reached adulthood. His long black hair was tied back in a handsome ponytail, and a white forehead protector was tied around his forehead. He wore the same brightly colored armor as the rest of his companions, and on his face was a smile so proud that it was irritating.

"Good boy! I'll take you alive!"

The mercenary leader said viciously. It was true that the young man in front of her had made her heart flutter, but he was still an enemy on the battlefield. Even if she wanted to crush him, she would have to capture him at the end of the battle.

"Men! Follow me!"

Licking her lips, the mercenary leader flicked her whip, raised her leather shield, and accelerated the pace of the chase with the men on horseback beside her.

In this way, both sides chased after each other, and the mercenary group chased after this 100-odd people cavalry to a town with scattered buildings. The town had no walls and was empty, and the fog became even thicker, causing the mercenaries to lose sight of their goal.

But confident in the numbers of her troops, the mercenary leader did not back down.

"Spread out! Those men must be hiding in the house! They're probably the Erdree Kingdom's patrol! Search for them!"

The mercenary leader ordered. As her orders spread through the troops in a slightly slower, person-to-person fashion, the large group of mercenaries began to carry out their leader's orders.

Just as they had begun to move, dozens of missiles suddenly flew at them from the roof of the buildings, killing or wounding dozens of mercenaries on the spot!

"Ambush! Ambush!"

"Where are our archers? Fight back, damn it!"

The mercenaries warned their companions in fear, but it was too late. The mercenaries had already fallen into the trap. In an instant, archers appeared from the roofs of every building in the town, raining arrows down on the mercenaries.

"Damn! Boss, we've been tricked! Where did these archers come from!"

The deputy beside the mercenary leader said anxiously.

"Don't panic! We'll retreat from the west side of the town, there's a forest outside that can give us cover!"

Although the female leader grimaced at this surprise, she still ordered in an orderly manner.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

In the midst of the chaos, with the arrival of the new order, the mercenaries hurriedly swarmed towards the exit on the west side of the town, their lives depending on it.

But when the regiment on the brink of collapse arrived at the west exit, what awaited them was not a thoroughfare to the forest, but an enemy force of about three hundred men.

These soldiers were dressed rather differently; some wore plate armor and some sort of odd bowl helmets, while others wore armor similar to those of the cavalry, but with smaller shoulder guards and smooth surfaces that looked like lacquered wood.

But what these soldiers have in common is that they are holding a weapon that the mercenaries have never seen before. This weapon looks like someone welded an iron pipe onto a wooden grip.

The soldiers with strange weapons stood in lines, the soldiers in the first line kneeled down while the second line remained standing, both aimed the tip of their weapons at the mercenaries.

Just as the mercenaries were briefly confused, a loud, gruff voice rang out from their enemy's side.

"Fire!"

In an instant, with that command, a neat burst of fire lit up from the rows of soldiers, with a loud cracking sound that seemed to tear the entire mist apart! Immediately after, the unlucky mercenaries in the front row all experienced an unforgettable experience at the same time.

A fast, indescribable impact hit their bodies like a punch. Then they felt themselves losing blood, and when they looked down, they saw one or several small black holes in their bodies. Finally, they blacked out and fell to the ground.

As the first mercenaries fall, they are quickly followed by their brethren in the rear. For as the first and second platoons of the enemy finished firing, the third and fourth platoons soon followed, maintaining the line of fire.

"Damn! Those Erdtree freaks! When did they create so many battlefield mages?"

With this bizarre scene in front of him, the mercenary commander's adjutant could only explain it with magic!

"I don't give a shit if it's magic or not! We have to retreat to the east now! We're at the end of our rope!"

The mercenary leader ordered with a sense of urgency. Indeed, the current situation was quite unfavorable, but she was still confident that she could lead her men to escape!

"Have the men put their shields over their heads as they retreat! This will counteract the attack from the roof!"

The captain then ordered her adjutant.

"Yes ma'am!"

The adjutant replied in a firm voice, out of trust in his leader.

So, after losing a large number of their men, the whole mercenary regiment with their defeated soldiers once again passed through the town under the rain of arrows from the roofs of the houses. The captain's plan does keep the survivors alive for a while, and they manage to make it to the town's other exit with little further attrition.

But instead of freedom, a deeper hell awaits them.

Standing in their way was an army dressed in the same style. Fortunately, they are armed with ordinary melee weapons, but unfortunately, they are three times as many as the one they just encountered! This is the enemy's main force!

[Author's Recommended BGM: What to do Ieyasu OST - Theme Song]

Standing at the front of the group is a tall and strong young general. He was wearing red light armor, with a curved longsword at his waist and a spear in his hand. The expression on his face was even more chilling to the mercenaries. Obviously, he was just an ordinary human, but his crazy, bloodthirsty smile was like a tiger that would break free from its chains at any time, ready to pounce on them and tear them apart.

The general took a step forward and then hit the ground with his spear, the sound of the blow shook everyone's heart. What kind of warrior was this man?

"After countless battles, even after receiving hundreds of wounds, I have not died!"

A roar as loud as a tiger bombarded the ears of the mercenaries, and some of the timid ones had already begun to tremble.

"That's me! Shimazu Toyohisa!"

The general continued to roar, and as he did so, he stomped and the clatter of his armor gave off a loud, heart-stopping thud. The man's arms were wide open and his eyes were wide open as if he was inviting the enemy to attack.

"With me here, none of you will leave alive!"

Regardless of the man's strength, the mercenaries were already shocked by his fierce aura! Many of the mercenaries were already thinking of running away in the face of such a disadvantage.

"Let's go!"

"RAAAAAHHHH!"

At last, Shimazu Toyohisa's order was given, and his men responded with war cries. More than a hundred of them suddenly rushed forward! At the tip of the spear, riding in the lead, was the arrogant and ferocious samurai!

"I'll be having your heads!"

Waving his spear wildly, Toyohisa took the lead in cutting off the head of a helmetless mercenary!

The other soldiers catched up to their leader and engaged the mercenaries!

Toyohisa, on the other hand, continues to fight his way through the enemy line without a care in the world!

One of the mercenaries comes at him with a battle axe, and Toyohisa immediately parries it with the shaft of his spear. Toyohisa's strong arm easily pushes him away, then he quickly squares his spear and stabs another attacking soldier with a straight thrust. But he didn't pull his spear out, Toyohisa roared and twisted his spear hard, tearing a big hole in the mercenary's stomach! Immediately following the kinetic energy, he swept his spear across the battle axe wielding mercenary, disemboweling him!

"Hahaha! This is amazing! This Golden Grace thing is awesome! I can't get enough of it!"

Toyohisa laughed maniacally, his lance splitting a mercenary's head from top to bottom. Then he changed his stance and stabbed the next enemy.

At that moment, the Runes given to him by Marika were boiling inside his body, strengthening Toyohisa's flesh to a level he could never have imagined!

He caught a glimpse of a mercenary trying to shoot at him in the midst of the chaos, and Toyohisa reacted quickly, throwing his lance as hard as he could. With superhuman force, the spear flew across, piercing the mercenary with the bow and the three men behind him!

Quickly drawing his preferred tachi, Toyohisa swung it with a speed that exceeded his previous limits, and the enemies around him were immediately dismantled!

"Yeahah! Amazing! This is fucking amazing! That Hewg guy really knows how to make a good blade!"

Seemingly in a frenzy, but in fact with great skill, Toyohisa continued to slash and kill the enemies in front of him. At that moment, an elf soldier wielding a katana helped Toyohisa parry an enemy's attack, and answered:

"Yes, Toyohisa-sama! These katanas are right up our alley, they're perfect!"

With that, he bellowed angrily and slashed the throat of the enemy in front of him.

"Good! That's the spirit! Then let's have a good time!"

Toyohisa roared with a grin on his face, and dove into the enemy pile...

Looking at the whole battle, the mercenaries were already demoralized after being ambushed twice. Facing Nobunaga's army, they could only resist in vain.

Looking at the female mercenary leader, she had been shot by several arrows and was already at the end of her strength. Her aide-de-camp was lost in the chaos, and her horse had been turned to swiss cheese by the arquebus troops coming up behind her. As she watched her troops being surrounded and slowly slaughtered, she realized just how meticulous and ruthless this trap really was.

"Thi-is i-isn't ho-norable.."

In the face of such despair, she could barely form a thought, but only managed to come up with such a nonsensical sentence. Her brain was already unable to think and was in a short-circuit. Soon her brain went out of commission as well, as a well-aimed bullet made a big hole in her head.

The person who fired the shot was the designer of the trap, Oda Nobunaga. Blowing away the heated smoke from the muzzle of the gun with a casual breath, Nobunaga looked at the new weapon in his hand with satisfaction.

"Never would I think that the one-eyed fellow's modification suggestion was actually useful! This is much more accurate than the Teppo!"

Looking at the gun in his hand, he was thankful for the modification made by the man who called himself Venom snake. The weapon's barrel had been lengthened and a wooden buttstock had been incorporated into the design. This made the gun in his hand look more like a smoothbore, unbeknownst to him.

Nobunaga looked back at the battlefield from his horse, the figure of the mercenary leader had been engulfed into the battlefield. Thinking of his opponent's last words, Nobunaga laughed out in disdain.

"Hmph! No honor? Don't make me laugh. The strong and cunning thrives, that's the way it always is. To win by any means for the sake of victory, and to keep on winning, that's the way to be famous for ages to come!"

An hour later...

Nobunaga's army had easily won the battle. In that hour, Nobunaga's army easily crushed the mercenaries, who had lost their leader. At the end of the battle, the stubborn died and the wise ones surrendered. Everything went as Nobunaga expected.

This was not the first time they had done this. In the past half a year they had eliminated several mercenary groups, and even fought against demonic beasts a few times. But after receiving Grace, the ordinary soldiers were gradually able to keep up with the veterans from the Lands Between. As Marika's generals, the Drifter Trio had been blessed with more Grace than ordinary generals, giving them the capital to fight in this world of swords and magic.

As long as Nobunaga calmed down and felt it carefully, he could realize that the blessings in his veins were constantly nourishing his gradually aging body.

'At this rate, I might be able to fight for another twenty years!'

Nobunaga thought happily.

"Our casualty count is complete, sir."

A tall 'samurai' reported to Nobunaga. Of course, this 'samurai' wasn't a real samurai, his real identity was a Storm Knight who had been transferred here from the Storm Legion. It was just that all the men in this legion wore Japanese armor as requested by Nobunaga. The Storm Knight had no problem with this request, as each regiment had its own style of armor, and changing to the armor of the Land of Reeds was just a change of position for him.

"Good, let's talk as we walk."

Nobunaga said, then clipped his horse's belly and continued to inspect the battlefield. While listening to the reports of his subordinates, he mentally analyzed the situation of the Erdtree Kingdom. He had gotten bored of fighting mercenaries in small-scale battles; to him, these mercenaries were not difficult to fight. Although the mercenaries he encountered this time were the largest he had ever encountered in his campaign, they were still no match for his cunning. So he preferred to spend some time thinking about how to move up in this new society. His deep-seated ambition drove him to do so.

'Let's see... this is my current situation. The samurai of my world are the equivalent of the generals in the court now, and the court aristocrats of my world are the equivalent of the civil ministers now, but there is a clear division of duties between the two, unlike in my time when us samurais were able to interfere in politics as we wished. And our Lady king personally manages the salaries of both the civil and military ministers.'

At that moment Nobunaga passed a few soldiers and a priest of the Golden Order who was healing a soldier's cut on his leg with basic healing incantations.

'But while the military ministers appear to be on par with the civil ministers, they are in fact suppressing them with military power. Again, this is similar to my time.'

A few more soldiers passed by, these people were looking down and picking up weapons scattered on the ground, ready to take them for recycling.

'The civil servants are led by that woman named Siduri. Based on observation, her position is roughly the same as Kempaku's. As for the military ministers... it seems they are closer to our lady king...'

(Author's note: Kempaku roughly translates to chief advisor to the Emperor)

On the way back to the camp, Nobunaga's gaze went to a group of soldiers carrying supplies scavenged from the battlefield. Each soldier was humming a hymn of praise to their goddess. This scene did not escape Nobunaga's gaze.

'Utilizing one's prowess in war and religion to keep the army highly loyal to oneself, even the Kempaku is one of her own. It seems that the safeguards to check and balance the civil servants are really well thought out.'

Nobunaga made a silent judgment. It seemed that his current monarch did not fully trust all of the civil ministers?

'And although I have finally secured my own territory in the past six months, it is still too small, most of the grain is paid to the court or left to the peasants, and I still have to take most of my salary from her. ...Never mind...I'm still getting a good salary anyway. '

Nobunaga lamented about his rather meager power, but his deep-seated ambitions were not quenched, but merely shifted.

'But convincing a man like me, who feeds on war, will be a great test of her personal charisma, and a test of the political skill of her successor. I'm afraid she still has a long way to go~''

While Nobunaga was pondering the road ahead, Toyohisa was dealing with what he saw as a major event.

"You shall slit your own belly and die manfully!"

Toyohisa said to the bearded middle-aged man in front of him. The man in front of him was the adjutant who had gotten separated from the mercenary leader earlier. After the battle, he was unable to leave the battlefield immediately and was inevitably captured by Nobunaga's army.

"Wh-what!? You want me to spill my own guts?"

The adjutant said incredulously. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He remembered that the Erdtree Army always treated prisoners well, right? Even the soldiers holding the adjutant at the side were horrified by the words of their general.

"That's right! You are the current commander of this unit, aren't you? Then you have no reason to live after losing this battle, unless you want to live with the humiliation for the rest of your life!"

The lieutenant's face gradually twisted in anger at Toyohisa's matter of factly reply.

"Fuck you, you fucking tree huggers! If you want to kill me, just go on with it! Don't try to insult me with torture. Although I am a mercenary, I still have the honor of a warrior!"

The adjutant shouted angrily and glared at Toyohisa. Instead of getting angry at this insult, Toyohisa suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahahahahaha! Now thats golden! It's been a long time since I've met a guy like you with a backbone! However, Warrior, I didn't mean to insult you in my proposal just now! I'm from Japan, uh... I think it's called the land of reeds in your language? Well, it doesn't matter! That's not important. What matters is that where I come from, hara-kiri is the last resort of a warrior to preserve his honor after losing a battle. A warrior who accomplishes this feat is considered a samurai, a true man!"

"A true man...?"

The anger in the mercenary's eyes subsided as he listened to the general who claimed to be from a foreign land. This man looked so sincere, with only firm respect and appreciation in his eyes.

"So? If you agree, I will cut off your head myself! I'll even give you a proper burial!"

Toyohisa extended his hand to him, inviting him once again with sincerity.

"Hmph, then don't chop it off wrong. Don't delay my reunion with my commander!"

Responding with a snarky remark, the lieutenant's face finally settled on relief. There weren't many options in front of him.

"Don't worry! I'm quite the expert at this."

When Toyohisa saw the man's response, he followed suit with a bright and satisfied smile.