Though her tone was half-commanding, it probably came from a place of concern, right?
Weiss sighed, admiring the girl’s toughness—truly befitting a sergeant in the army.
After watching Lortisa walk away, he didn’t forget his own business. Returning to his tent, he hurriedly sat down and took out his phone to check—
「Interaction Not Achieved · Willpower +0」
The floating particles on the screen coalesced to display this line of result notification.
“So, it really didn’t trigger.”
Weiss shrugged and rested his chin on the table.
Opportunities to gain Willpower were rare.
Even with commissions, usually the client didn’t have a strong enough desire to see the wish fulfilled.
Most often, tasks were routine assignments or passed on by intermediaries, and they wouldn’t provide Willpower.
In other words, the mercenary profession was just a reasonable means to filter out people and events capable of generating Willpower under the pretense of accepting commissions.
Generally, when a Willpower-generating target appeared, you could directly see the Will Light with your eyes.
Its color varied, similar to the random hues of stars falling during the “Wish” event,
but no matter the color, the rule was that the stronger the desire, the brighter the gathered Will Light.
Back in the knights’ camp training ground just now, the Will Light emanating from that female knight, by Weiss’s experience, was at least three or four points, if not five.
Since there were no other commissions now, any chance to harvest Willpower was welcomed—no refusals, the more the better.
But as for the result, although the duel was agreed upon, Lortisa’s punch didn’t seem to fulfill that female knight’s wish as a hopeful party, so no Willpower was collected.
“Murphiana… is that the name? The noble knight lady applied for a duel, not just to show off her strength, right?”
Weiss was puzzled.
They had dueled, the opponent had honestly admitted defeat,
all the proper procedures were followed—what else could she be dissatisfied with?
It couldn’t be that she wanted to beat the other unconscious and trample on her head in humiliation…
Whatever the case, no Willpower meant no Willpower.
Not only was it a wasted effort, but it also consumed a “private time.”
—Although a byproduct of “Wish” draws, blue-quality items sold to the Mage’s Guild could buy a small squire’s estate—not exactly wealthy, but enough to live comfortably as a minor noble.
The more Weiss thought about it, the more it felt like a loss, and he started pondering about finding the “Return Journey Dust” group again.
Though the current situation of the Calamity Tide was uncertain and the potential danger hard to estimate,
having witnessed the Kingdom’s Holy Patrol Knights’ strength, plus the atmosphere among the soldiers here in camp,
it was likely that under Lortisa’s leadership, this Calamity Tide would be quelled swiftly.
In that case, returning to Quiet Sun Town was only a matter of time, so there was no need to rush.
But this commission…
Weiss recalled the undead forms filled with the faces of victims from the Soul-Eating Zealot Sect—
hmm, aside from praying for the employer’s daughter, there was no other option right now.
For the rest of the time, Weiss stayed inside the sergeant’s tent in the vanguard unit camp.
To avoid causing trouble, he didn’t go anywhere, only sneaking off once in a while to relieve himself in the bushes on the hillside behind.
Lortisa, however, had gone out and hadn’t returned.
Asking the female guards outside, Weiss learned that the sergeant and the adjutant had gone out with other sergeants who had gathered here to patrol and investigate the Calamity Tide’s area.
After all, facing the Calamity Tide was a major threat, no different from the frontline, so reconnaissance before launching the cleanup operation was prudent—Weiss fully understood.
What was strange, though, was that neither inquiries nor overheard conversations mentioned anything about the Empire’s movements.
Though this was a remote border region, it shouldn’t be so utterly neglected, right?
During his time in the Empire, Weiss had often heard citizens complain about the Imperial Court’s negligence, with constant power struggles among the elder council above and corruption plaguing the bureaucracy below.
If they failed to organize any countermeasures even against this Calamity Tide crisis, the Sunmane Empire would truly be on the brink of collapse.
With nothing else to do besides overthinking, Weiss found some books on the table to read.
It was unclear whether the young sergeant was carefree or simply trusted him enough, but several documents clearly related to military matters were piled right on the table.
Curious as he was, Weiss didn’t dare meddle with them—and besides, he wasn’t here as a spy, so there was no point in rifling through them.
At most, he picked up some reading material near the sergeant’s pillow.
To his surprise, the cold, stern sergeant actually read fairy tale poetry collections—quite girlish.
As Lortisa had “ordered,” meals were delivered to the tent on time by female guards.
The food was surprisingly good: bread, roasted meat, and fruit wine from the military cellar, almost rivaling a tavern in Raven City.
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat—with no burdens, and guards available if needed,
Weiss even felt like he was on vacation.
Thus, he comfortably settled in for almost two full days.
If he had internet on his phone and a laptop, Weiss was confident he could stay holed up here until the heat death of the universe—if he didn’t die first.
But without those luxuries, staying cooped up in the tent was bound to get dull.
On the third day after dinner,
taking advantage of the routine guard and patrol shift change to slip out unnoticed for some fresh air,
Weiss stepped outside.
The early autumn sunset and the campfires just lit blended together,
like milk stirred into black tea—the indistinguishable orange-yellow hues added a gentle warmth to the slightly chilly mountain valley.
Even soldiers returning from field training maintained neat formations.
The guards approaching their shifts stood upright and proud.
Weiss once again sighed deeply at the discipline under Lortisa’s command—completely different from the brash, swaggering thugs often seen in the Empire.
If the two forces of similar scale met, the Imperial army would surely break instantly.
Though an outsider here, whenever Weiss passed by, the nearby soldiers all sincerely nodded and saluted him.
Having not come out much before, he hadn’t noticed, but the whole walk was like this—almost making him feel honored.
(Is it because they know I was left behind by their sergeant, so they’re being polite?)
At first, Weiss thought so.
But looking closer, he sensed those gazes held more than mere obedience; there was a hint of incredulous surprise.
Then Weiss overheard some curious conversations—
“Look, it’s him—the mercenary who survived the duel against Lady Murphiana the day before yesterday!”