The Azure Longsword, ultimately joined the battle.
Of course, it was when the situation on the battlefield was already decided.
Soon, the disadvantaged vanguard of the Latin Crusaders could only desperately try to retrieve their two commanders, Alfred and Joel, dragging themselves in a miserable retreat toward the northeast.
The bloodied Spartans relentlessly pursued them for two hours before slowly returning with various spoils of war, and they reunited with the members of The Azure Longsword.
Although boasting about one’s own battle achievements was something that Aske completely disdained.
However, this did not prevent the Spartans from coming over and lavishing praise on the members of The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps.
After all, penetrating deep into enemy-occupied towns and causing a huge explosion, then forcing the enemy commanders to flee their stronghold in disarray was something everyone only saw the outcome of, but the process was imaginable even if they had to fill in the blanks.
Squad Leader Aske, you and your ladies are incredibly strong!
It was unfortunate that the Spartans’ vocabulary was too poor; no matter how much they praised, they could only utter bland phrases like "well fought," "beautiful," "splendid battle," which nearly put the ladies to sleep.
And their own mercenaries were already weary of these courtesies.
"The Azure Longsword? What mercenary group, never heard of it."
"See that? All women."
"Why are they all females? Am I seeing this right?"
"You’re not wrong, look at that redhead, that figure, tsk tsk tsk."
The mercenaries whispered among themselves, and their voices gradually became louder without restraint.
Rudashus coughed unhappily, his expression darkening.
The mercenaries trained harshly by the Spartans immediately stopped talking in embarrassment.
However, within a few minutes, their discussions began to grow louder again.
These guys still haven’t been beaten enough!
Rudashus was incredibly embarrassed and quickly looked at Aske and the others.
Aske then turned and asked Medea, "Was it you?"
"I don’t know," Medea said, bewildered.
"It was you, wasn’t it?" Aske asked suspiciously, "It must have been you."
"It really wasn’t me!" Medea exclaimed in frustration, pulling her hair, "Why would I provoke them against you? What sense would that make!"
"After all, you have a history, and you’re still mischievous," Aske sighed, "Never mind."
Tears streamed down Medea’s face.
"Aske, these people..." Rudashus was about to say, "I will give you an explanation," when he saw Aske smile and say,
"It’s okay, doesn’t matter."
His magnanimous response suddenly made some mercenaries feel ashamed, while others saw it as a sign of guilt and grew even more arrogant.
A mercenary who looked like a troublemaker walked up to Aske, arrogantly lifting his chin,
"You say your people defeated the Power Armor Knight in the town center?"
"The battle is over, should we head back?" Aske asked Rudashus.
"Of course," Rudashus replied, "Once we’ve gathered the remains of the fallen heroes, we’ll return."
"Hey, don’t ignore me!" the mercenary suddenly roared in anger.
"Who are you?" Aske asked, as if he had just noticed him.
"Hogg," the mercenary replied with a cold smirk.
"Gnolls?" Aske exclaimed in surprise.
(Gnoll Hogg, a well-known online game NPC from Shankou Mountain)
"What the hell is a Gnoll?" Hogg’s eyes twitched.
"Oh, it’s a strange creature whose upper body is a wolf, lower body also a wolf but walks and talks like a human," Aske explained.
"Pfft!" The girls all giggled, naturally taking Aske’s description as a clever metaphor and teasing aimed at Mr. Hogg.
"Damn it..." Hogg started to curse loudly, but then paused, his words stuck.
Because in the culture of mercenaries, a wolf wasn’t considered an inferior creature but rather a symbol of power.
Indeed, some renowned mercenaries were nicknamed after wolves, such as ’White Wolf’, ’Mad Wolf’, symbols of ruthlessness, cunning, and bravery.
How dare you call me a wolf? That sounded strange to the mercenaries’ ears. How could that possibly be an insult? ’Wolf’ is an impressive nickname, you know!
However, the laughter of the girls reached Hogg’s ears and it was so irritating and uncomfortable.
He clearly understood that the girls were laughing at him for being uncultured, crude, and savage, qualities typically respected as ’classic masculine virtues’ by mercenaries, but considered worthless by the girls.
It finally dawned on Hogg why he disliked looking at Commander Aske.
We mercenaries don’t think with our belts, we fight valiantly through life and death, hoping to one day save enough money to retire and marry a wife to our liking.
But look at this mercenary – his team is filled with charming and beautiful women, achieving what we dream of as merely their starting point.
Who could stand this! Hogg almost wished he could throw a fireball to burn down this sinfully outrageous mercenary corps.
"The Azure Longsword, what mercenary group is that? I’ve never heard of them," Hogg crossed his brawny arms, pretending to laugh loudly.
"Hey, Hogg! They are a famous all-female mercenary group! It’s normal that you haven’t heard of them," someone immediately chimed in, obviously sharing Hogg’s sentiments.
Rudashus was furious upon hearing this and was about to scold the mercenaries when he heard Aske turn to Medea and ask,
"Was it really not you?"
"No!" Medea burst out angrily, "You’re just jealous! It has nothing to do with me!"
Realizing this, Aske turned to Rudashus, waving his hand helplessly, and smirked,
#￥%￥... In the hearts of the mercenaries present, various regional swear words and an uncomfortable sour feeling suddenly emerged.
It was truly sour, like having bitten into a lemon from West Francia, so sour that it almost made their teeth fall out.
Some of the mercenaries even reluctantly recalled their childhood sweethearts with their gentle smiles and graceful figures, who ultimately were cruelly married off by their despicable fathers to the fat miller at the village edge.
Burn him! Burn this wicked heretic! The mercenaries silently roared in unison.
Of course, it was only in their minds. After all, wouldn’t openly showing their frustration just confirm that they were in fact feeling bitter?
Thus, they could only manage a forced smile (rigid), tears at the corners of their eyes (held back), as they scornfully watched the leader of The Azure Longsword.
We’re not jealous of you, we simply scorn you! Understand?
Aske, however, seemed oblivious to this and watched the Spartans wrap their fallen comrades in red cloaks, then said,
"We need to destroy Olympia Town," Rudashus said, "We can’t leave it as a fortress for the Crusaders."
"After ll, this city environment with multiple buildings is full of natural covers against spell casting."
"Did you bring high explosives?" Aske asked.
"No need, leave the destruction of the buildings to our Arcane Mages," a few people wrapped in Mage Robes stepped forward, their arms, necks, and faces covered with dense Mithril circuits.