In the camp of the Swadia army, Earl Greyward had already read the letter from Byron, the leader of the Peony mercenaries.

"Claes is right, Your Majesty, it's hard to believe that these mercenaries actually took down Serindil and captured one of the noble councilors of Rhodok."

The Earl of Greyward handed the letter to King Harlaus, who was sitting in his chair, and the other took the letter and scanned it several times with his gaze.

"These mercenaries did a good job, although I think they exaggerated their results. Let Count Prais's army enter Thrindir and replace the mercenaries. ”

King Haraus nodded and threw the letter onto the table to the side.

"And about their pay..."

"You're a marshal, it's up to you. But remember to replace that military councilor, we have captured too few Rhodok nobles since the start of the war. ”

Earl Greyward asked, but King Harauth didn't seem to want to waste his energy thinking on it.

King Harauth left the marquee, and the Earl of Greyward saluted his back.

When the king had left, he sighed, sat down in the chair in which the king had been seated, and began to think about the next question.

His Majesty rarely interfered with the marshal's decisions in wartime, lest he be questioned by a large group of nobles after a problem. King Haraus suffered two losses in this regard, and that was when his relationship with the Count of Sweden had not deteriorated, and his prestige for interfering in command had greatly diminished the war, leading to the emergence of forces against him in the country.

On the surface, the king seemed to care very little about the mercenaries, but his attitude was evident from the fact that he had sent Count Prais to take over Thrindil.

The Count of Prais was considered the weakest among the counts, and his fiefdom was only villages and towns, and there were not many troops. However, he has a good face and likes to put on a show in front of civilians and subordinates. If he was to take over Serendil and pay the Peony mercenaries, he would definitely not give those mercenaries a good look.

King Haraus wanted to make the kingdom's strongest mercenary force understand who they were, that they were always just thugs hired by the kingdom, so that they would not get carried away.

Obviously, the king restricted these mercenaries in order to better recruit them later. After several years of conquest, many lords began to oppose the king, or chose neutrality. Although King Haraus still had an army far superior to that of any other local lord, if a group of lords stood up against him, the kingdom of Swadia would inevitably be divided and even internally strife.

"Peony mercenary..."

Earl Greyward closed his eyes, thinking about the information that King Harlaus and his lords had gathered over the past six months against the kingdom's mercenary forces.

This Peony mercenary team grew so fast that Earl Claes secretly recruited the idle people around De Hem to serve as a militia to reduce their troop supply.

I have to admit that the effectiveness of the training methods of these mercenaries is simply unbelievable. In a matter of months, they were able to train a group of peasants who had not even touched a sword into light infantry that could form a platoon on the battlefield.

And this mercenary captain named von Byron, although he is still too young and his wrists are not strong enough, he really has two brushes in fighting and training troops.

And there is also a very realistic thing, that is, he has a mercenary force in his hands that is comparable to the size of the Earl's standing army, and no matter which lord he joins, it will be a very important combat force.

"Claes is right, he does have the potential to become a lord, if this kid can survive..."

-----

Just as King Haraus had commanded, the Earl of Prais arrived at Serindir with 500 men under his command and the 200 conscripts sent to him by the Earl of Greyward.

When they arrived, Byron had just repelled a troop of Rhodok mercenaries who had come to harass them.

The number of the mercenaries was only two hundred, and the equipment was very average, so it seemed that they were only here to test the strength of the city's defenses. Byron chose to take the initiative, ordering Fatis and Kenrad to take the cavalry troops around the city behind the opposing forces, and then send infantry units to engage them head-on. Because he didn't really want to attack, the opponent chose to retreat after a little fighting, and was chased by the Peony cavalry with heavy losses.

However, the Peony mercenaries also lost twenty soldiers again, and the remaining horses were only more than half of what they set out for.

However, the harvest and the effort were also directly proportional, and Byron had so much loot that they could not even fit the wagon they brought.

The armor and weapons obtained from the Rhodok soldiers who died in battle and surrendered were innumerable, but when counted, it was found that most of the captured armor was soft and leather armor, and the number of chain mails was only a little more than a hundred, and a considerable part of it was too damaged to be used. The quality of the weapons is generally good, and the weapons that can be used by soldiers after grinding can arm two hundred soldiers.

Fortunately, there are still a lot of unused equipment in the stone tower in the center of the town and the armory in the town, and they are all sets. Thirty sets of full-body infantry armor, with chain mail and scale armor, as well as the broad shields and spears of the Rhodok soldiers.

And after Byron and the others occupied the town of Serindil, although they did not do anything to the prisoners and civilians, with Byron's acquiescence, the Peony mercenaries turned the town upside down. As long as there is something of value in the town, as long as it is not too heavy and too obstructive, the mercenaries will not let it go. Some even began digging everywhere in search of silver coins that the rich had buried.

Of course, none of them had gained much, because on the day they took Serindil, Byron had taken Bandak and a few mercenaries to look through all the places marked by the Yellow Arrow. The gold, the jewelry, the jewelry, the art, the treasures that the rich people of the town had hidden when they left the town were all turned over by Byron. Byron's soldiers were even more cruel, and after they had taken all the velvet clothing and all the gold and silver vessels, they did not even leave the oil and salt left in the oil jars.

Except for the food and grass supplies that the Count had asked for to leave for the Swadian army, everything else was taken away by the Peony mercenaries as trophies. And according to the previous agreement, it was reasonable for Byron to do so. After all, the kingdom's army is only the last end, and for the peony mercenaries who pay the most, they must always say no.

On closer calculation, Byron had looted almost five thousand dinars of wealth from the town where the men had largely evacuated and most of his property had been transferred.

Sure enough, just like in the game, war raiding is a great way to make a fortune. It's no wonder that so many armies in history have been keen on looting, and the money is really fast.

Unfortunately, because of the faith and reputation of many soldiers, Byron could not remove the contents of the church, which was one of the fattest places in town, and the things were basically not moved.