The siege that had raged for nearly half a month was completely over.
Two full days had to be poured into cleaning up the aftermath alone once the fighting ended.
Just as Count Bladers had promised, the troops from the main castle handled all of that cleanup work.
The day after the two-day cleanup wrapped up,
Count Bladers held an awards ceremony for those who had distinguished themselves in the battle.
My name was included on the list of recipients.
And as the very last recipient on the list, no less.
In other words, I was being recognized for having made the greatest contribution in this battle.
It was an unprecedented honor.
I had never imagined that someone like me—neither a noble nor a knight—would be the grand finale of an awards ceremony presided over by a Margrave.
"Baron Clark achieved great merit in this battle by annihilating the supreme commander and officers of the Kingdom of Belarus's army. In recognition of this feat, I hereby bestow upon him the armor of the enemy commander and a reward of 50 gold."
Count Bladers handed over a heavy coin pouch along with a single bracelet.
"Thank you, Commander, Your Excellency!"
Having received his reward, Baron Clark turned toward the assembly and held the pouch of gold coins high in the air.
Right after, he extended his right arm, now wearing the bracelet, out in front of him.
A faint blue light flashed, and silver-gray metal flowed out from his arm to encase his entire body.
CLATTER-CLINK—!
I know what that is.
Magic armor.
An item used by the nobles and top-tier knights of the Demon Realm expeditionary army.
I'd worn a suit of it myself once, too.
Because the armor I wore when taking down the Demonic Dragon had been magic armor as well.
Even if it did end up melting away in the dragon's corrosive Breath.
""Uwaaaaaah!""
"Magnificent work, sir!"
"Treat us to a grand round tonight, Baron Clark!"
"Captain, don't forget your promise today!"
Whistles and cheers rang out across the courtyard.
Wait—they're saying I earned greater merit than someone like him?
Hopes began rising in my chest that he might bestow magic armor on me as a reward, too.
If he did, I'd be seriously grateful.
Baron Clark stepped down from the platform, and at last, Count Bladers locked eyes with me.
"Bellun Thomas! Step forward!"
"Yes, sir!"
Answering loudly, I climbed the steps onto the platform.
Since I'd been warned ahead of time not to scamper up hastily just because Count Bladers called my name, I deliberately walked up at a measured pace.
Our eyes met.
True to form for a Master-level powerhouse, just standing in front of him radiated an overwhelming pressure that was no joke.
The commander who had directed that brutal battle at the fortress.
A remarkable leader who had fought right alongside the soldiers inside the fortress so the main castle's forces could lie in ambush undetected.
Without him, the soldiers would never have withstood the relentless waves of the Kingdom of Belarus's assault.
Since the Kingdom of Belarus's commanders weren't fools either, they must have kept a constant eye on scouting around the main castle, yet they had still walked straight into a surprise ambush.
Learning that holding out until the fortress's siege supplies ran completely dry had been a deliberate bait all along left me in sheer awe.
Back when I was in the Demon Realm, the rumor I'd heard about Count Bladers was just that he was an 'ignorant bastard.'
"Bellun Thomas here alerted the garrison to the enemy's rear infiltration, quelling confusion at the outset, and held back the relentless assault of the enemy knights."
I only did that to stay alive, though?
"Even when the enemy siege tower breached the battlements, he responded calmly and succeeded in holding the line. In doing so, he bolstered the morale of our troops and contributed greatly to forcing the Kingdom of Belarus's army into retreat."
What do you mean, responded calmly... I was half out of my mind back there.
Anyone listening to this would think I fought the entire Kingdom of Belarus army all by myself.
"Therefore, I, Olivion Bladers, by my authority as Margrave, hereby grant Bellun Thomas the rank of Centurion. Furthermore, to commend his deeds, I bestow upon him the armor of the enemy deputy commander and a reward of 50 gold."
"Thank you, Your Excellency Count Bladers!"
I never dreamed he would actually grant me a suit of magic armor too.
While the prize money was the same 50 gold Baron Clark had received earlier, considering the gap in our social status, this was huge.
"I hear you intend to return to your hometown?"
"That is correct, Your Excellency Count Bladers."
Knowing I was a soldier from another territory and still promoting my rank and rewarding me this generously made it all the more touching.
I fastened the bracelet around my left wrist and tucked the promotion orders inside my coat.
Finally, I accepted the heavy pouch of gold coins.
"Thanks to you, this battle went far more smoothly. The remarkable fighting spirit you showed allowed our soldiers to hold out to the very end. The only reason I could hold our knights in reserve until the final blow was because you fought so fiercely on the wall."
"You praise me too highly, Your Excellency."
"Boast of it freely to the men. You have more than earned the right."
His Excellency Count Bladers was being unusually talkative with me.
Maybe because I was the very last recipient of the ceremony.
Turning to face the troops, I raised the pouch of gold coins high into the air.
""Waaaaaaah!""
""Bellun! Bellun!""
"Bwahaha! You were incredible out there, Bellun!"
"I'm alive today thanks to you! I'm in a good mood—tonight, drinks are on me!"
Huh?
They acknowledge me enough to cheer this wildly for me?
I fought pretty hard, sure, but it's not like I went rampaging solo through the enemy camp the way we used to in the Demon Realm.
Since I received magic armor just like Baron Clark earlier, I ought to put it on for the crowd.
Back when I was a skeleton soldier, I'd needed the help of a magic stone to activate it, but things were different now.
I pushed the mana stored in the Core of my lower abdomen into the bracelet.
CLATTER-CLINK...
Fine, silver-gray metal plates spread out from the bracelet like snake scales, wrapping around my arm before encasing my entire frame.
""...""
"Wait, he was a knight?"
"Didn't they say he was a regular soldier?"
Why did the mood go dead silent all of a sudden?
That I know how to use mana...
Ah!
Come to think of it, I never showed it in front of them.
When I first arrived at the rear of the fortress and fought that knight, I had used mana.
However, that had been some distance away from the walls, and our soldiers had been too busy fending off the Belarus infiltration unit to notice.
The duel itself had ended in a flash, too, and I'd picked off the remaining knights with arrows.
During the siege on the ramparts, I had only used mana internally to recover my stamina, and none of the enemy knights I'd fought up there had survived long enough for me to use a Mana Blade...
No wonder nobody here knew I could handle mana, right?
Wait, so what?
Is there a law saying a regular soldier isn't allowed to use mana?
"Were you a knight?"
"I am a common soldier, Your Excellency Count Bladers."
Turning back around, I answered politely.
For some reason, the look in Count Bladers's eyes seemed to have shifted.
"How would you like to serve under my command? Become my knight and lend me your strength to defend our homeland."
Excuse me, Your Excellency Count Bladers?
This isn't even my home territory, you know?
Becoming a knight is definitely on my wish list, sure, but getting roped into knighthood on the spot like this just to spend my life swinging a sword on the northern border is a hard pass.
"I only ended up fighting here briefly after losing my way while on leave. I belong to the house of Baron Silverstone. Please forgive me."
I turned him down politely.
Just getting back home is a real struggle.
I cannot spend the rest of my life hacking away with a blade in a place like this until the day I die.
Do you have any idea what I went through in the Demon Realm just to make it back alive?!
I was sure he was still in great health, of course, but I couldn't let myself get tied down here before I'd even seen my widowed father's face.
"Already a soldier serving another noble house, is it? A pity, but nothing can be done."
"Please forgive my impudence."
"Think nothing of it. I must respect that."
Thankfully, Count Bladers backed off without pushing the matter.
Maybe he gave up so easily because the County of Bladers was already overflowing with talented knights.
"This concludes the awards ceremony! Leave only a minimum guard on duty and rest for the next seven days!"
Having brushed aside his lingering regret, Count Bladers looked down over the assembled soldiers and boomed.
""Waaaaaaah!""
""Long live Your Excellency Count Bladers!""
"It's a festival!"
"Booze! Bring out the booze!"
Before the echo of his words had even faded, the soldiers went wild with cheers.
And a group of men came sprinting straight toward me.
"Yo! Centurion Bellun, congratulations!"
Beaming broadly, Squad Leader Henny walked up with his subordinates in tow.
Mixed in among them were Hans, who had acted like a total idiot during the battle, and Tom, who had quickly read the room and backed me up.
"I'm not even from this garrison, so forget calling me Centurion... Please just treat me comfortably like before."
Smiling, I welcomed Squad Leader Henny and the rest of the guys.
After spending nearly half a month stuck together side by side lopping off the heads of Kingdom of Belarus soldiers, they almost felt like family.
"Bellun, let's head down to the castle town. I promised to buy you a drink earlier, so let's drink until we drop tonight. What do you say?"
Grinning from ear to ear, Tom clapped me on the back.
Listen to this guy?
"Forget it, punk! If a Centurion lets a lowly private buy him drinks, people will talk. I'm treating everyone with my reward money—let's go!"
"Oh! Bellun, are you letting us tag along too?"
"Squad Leader Henny, aren't we brothers-in-arms? Brothers-in-arms!"
As Squad Leader Henny slyly chimed in, I lifted my chin and thumped my chest twice with my palm.
I'd just come into a windfall anyway, so there was zero reason to be stingy with booze money.
Drinking to my heart's content until I get wasted.
Because that was one of the items right there on my wish list.
And so, leading Squad Leader Henny and the men of his squad, I headed down to the castle town.
***
《Soldiers, Get Drunk》
Even the tavern's name summed up the atmosphere of Count Bladers's Castle town.
My head is spinning.
A human body really is inconvenient in all kinds of ways.
Getting dizzy just from drinking some alcohol.
Still, one nice thing about it was that this experience really drove home that my skull was properly filled with a 'brain' again.
Back in my skeleton soldier days, people used to call me 'empty-headed' all the time.
Though the knights and soldiers had probably said that because I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with.
"Khahaha... So I ducked right under their spear shafts and started stabbing those Belarus bastards straight in the family jewels!"
"You crazy bastard, doing that to fellow men—isn't that crossing a line?"
"Who cares when it's those white devil bastards... Anyway, they were rolling around on the dirt screaming like they were dying."
"Seriously, the way this bastard fights makes him more of a devil than those Belarus bastards."
They were chattering away in high spirits, while my head was ringing so hard all I could do was sit there and listen.
So alcohol is this terrifying of a substance, huh.
Squad Leader Henny and the rest of the soldiers kept downing mug after mug like it was nothing.
Chattering non-stop the whole time without slurring a single word.
What incredible people!
My throbbing head is bad enough, and now my stomach feels like it's churning upside down too.
How on earth can they keep drinking without taking a breather? They really are amazing.
"Bellun, what's wrong? Are you drunk?"
Tom called out to me, yet I couldn't answer.
Before I could even part my lips, my tongue was flopping around with a mind of its own, so I doubted a coherent word would come out.
"A guy who slaughtered hundreds of those devil bastards wouldn't get tipsy from a little booze, right?"
"Damn straight! This kid sliced up dozens of Belarus knights by himself. A real man has his pride—how could he pass out from drinking this little?"
"I'mmm... I'mmm..."
I tried to tell them I was totally fine, only for my tongue to keep twisting around on its own.
And my eyelids kept drooping shut.
"Wait, what? He's passing out from drinking just this much..."
Squad Leader Henny spoke with an incredulous look on his face, though I could barely make out the end of his sentence.
No,
At some point, something snapped inside my head, and my consciousness blacked out completely.
How much time has passed?
My head feels heavy as lead.
My body feels nice and cool, though.
Wait, my body feels heavy too.
Why is my current state so complicated? I can't make sense of it.
"Mmm..."
A low groan slipped out on its own.
Drinking until you get wasted seems way more dangerous than I thought.
"...!"
The instant I opened my eyes, I froze in shock.
A woman I've never seen in my life is lying right next to me?
Stark naked.
And wait—me too?
No wonder my body felt so cool and breezy—this was why.
"Where am..."
First, I checked the room around me.
Aside from the bed I was lying on, a large bathtub filled to the brim with water was the only thing in the room.
This place...
Had to be that kind of establishment.
My head is spinning.
I need to wash up first and then think.
SPLASH.
Stepping into the cold bathwater snapped me right back to my senses.
"So yesterday, I was drinking, and then..."
My memory is a total blank.
I looked around the room.
My military uniform tossed carelessly on the floor, along with my pouch of gold coins.
And the bracelet on my left wrist.
Since a bracelet that transforms into magic armor cannot be removed unless the wearer wills it, I hadn't been worried about losing that anyway.
"Mmm? You're awake?"
Lying naked on the bed, the woman felt around the empty spot beside her before sitting up.
I'd noticed it briefly when I first opened my eyes earlier, and she really was a knockout beauty.
"Were you with me last night?"
"Why else would we be lying in bed together? Don't tell me you don't remember anything from last night? Oh my, how hurtful. You told me I was your very first."
Whoa!
Maybe because she's a professional in this line of work, she doesn't seem to have a single shred of shyness in her body.
Hrm!
It wasn't actually my first time, though women in this line of work usually liked hearing that they were your first.
Even as she spoke, she walked over with a sultry sway to her hips and stepped right into the bathtub.
"..."
"You were so passionate last night, and now you've suddenly gone all shy on me?"
"I honestly don't remember a thing."
I told her the truth.
Doesn't this feel like a total rip-off?!
"Oh my goodness... And here I had such a wonderful time, especially since you're so handsome. Though I did feel a little guilty about how young you look. Keep that a secret, okay? The soldiers who carried you in here practically shoved you into my room by force."
"My birthday already passed, so I'm nineteen."
It was the truth.
And honestly, she was pretty much my type, too.
Originally, I should have been around twenty-seven by now, but since barely a year and a few months had passed in the human world when I returned from the Demon Realm,
That made me nineteen.
I was born in January, and right now it's June.
Which means.
"Let's extend the session."
"Oh my, really? I'd love to."
She wrapped her arms around me.
.
.
.
Three hours later,
"Phew!"
Out of 'The 98 things I must do before I die' on my wish list, I knocked out a full seventeen of them in one go today.