Chapter 43: The Holy Sword Legion (1)

The kingdom issued a call for enlistment, ordering all nobles and common warrior volunteers to report to the camps of the Holy Sword Legion stationed at the border fortress in Marquis Ansel’s domain.
The Holy Sword Legion of Ansel was affiliated with the Ansel family and regarded as one of the three strongest military forces in the kingdom. It had long served as a sharp sword and a solid shield for the kingdom’s borders, defending against invasions by orcs from the northwestern wastelands.
The other two of these three major legions were the Royal Glory Knights under the control of the royal family and the Tower Mages Corps managed by the Kingdom Mage Association.
The Royal Glory Knights were the largest of the three military forces. Although there were only slightly over three hundred full members who had reached the knightly rank—mostly at the peak of the Black Iron tier—each knight had at least two fully armed servants, plus support troops. The sight of three hundred knights leading thousands of cavalry charges was enough to intimidate most of the kingdom’s enemies.
Compared to these, the Tower Mages Corps of Selt, though the smallest in number—never exceeding nearly a hundred even when at full strength—was the most combat-effective. After all, on the battlefield, once a sufficient number of mages, known as mobile artillery, were deployed, their combat power could exceed that of a thousand cavalry charges.
After the mage corps came the Holy Sword Legion under Marquis Ansel’s control.
Founded by the first Marquis Ansel, its history traced back a thousand years to the ancient magic empire of Bannai. Through the development of successive generations of the Ansel family, what began as a private guard of dozens of swordsmen had grown into a powerful legion with a permanent core of a thousand members and thousands of support troops.
Every full member of the Holy Sword Legion was a proven peak Black Iron swordsman, with some officers being Bronze Swordsmen who had surpassed the Black Iron tier and mastered the control of energy. Among them were even rare Silver-level experts. It was said that their supreme leader, the current Marquis Ansel, was a powerful Gold-level Sword Saint. As one of the two greatest sword saints in the kingdom, his status was on par with that of the kings of various continental nations.
With thousands of elite peak Black Iron swordsmen and a powerful legacy of sword saints, this was one of the fundamental reasons why the Ansel family and the Holy Sword Legion had endured to this day. Even though they were feared by successive royal families, they continued to grow stronger.
Now, outside the barracks behind the fortress, there was chaos. Hundreds and even thousands of people had gathered there—common adventurers who came to sign up for the war, noble private guards, and the rarest among them: professionals.

The registration sites were located outside the fence at the entrance of the barracks, with two in total. However, due to the large number of civilian adventurers, which kept increasing, they couldn’t handle thousands of applicants in such a short time. As chaos ensued once again, an officer leading a squad of soldiers to maintain order had to step forward and shout again. “Listen up! Civilians and adventurers register here, while nobles and professionals register over there! Those who deliberately cause trouble will be dealt with according to military law!” Hearing the officer’s words, most civilian adventurers calmed down somewhat. Only a few noble mercenaries who were waiting to be assigned ignored him, but no one made loud noises or tried to stir up trouble anymore. At this moment, Donald went to the less crowded registration area, where there were only two or three people in line. Although the number of noble mercenaries was large, there weren’t many nobles themselves. The nobles who arrived earlier had already finished registering and been invited inside the barracks to rest. Those left outside were just their mercenaries waiting to be assigned lodging. After absorbing the demonic power of the Fire-Forged Demon and undergoing transformation—excluding the power of a Demon Hunter—Donald’s strength quickly rose again, reaching the peak of the upper mid-iron tier. If not for his spell level not keeping up, advancing to an upper mid-iron tier mage would have been effortless for him. Of course, although his level now met the criteria for a second-tier spellcaster and he had earned certification at the mid-iron tier, his strength was still not very stable. He currently only knew one second-tier spell, Wind Arrow, as he hadn’t had time to familiarize himself with the composition of those new spells. But with the Truth Book as a backing and his mental power having risen by one level, he wouldn’t fear even being surrounded by multiple bronze-tier strongmen. With the strength granted by the Demon Hunter, he could now even compete with silver-tier strongmen, making Donald even more confident. When it was Donald’s turn to register, the conscript officer looked down on him due to his ordinary noble attire. He had seen many such lowly nobles before. No matter how high a noble’s title might be, without actual territory or official power, they were just ordinary soldiers in the barracks—nothing worth paying attention to. He didn’t even bother to ask, waiting for that little noble to fawn over him. For a conscript officer who had risen from a commoner to his current position step by step, it was quite enjoyable to experience such vanity from time to time.

Contrary to the recruter’s condescending attitude, Donald, who was eager to prove himself on the battlefield, had no intention of caring. Without waiting for the other party to ask, he briefly outlined his background in a few words.
“Donald Merlina, heir to a hereditary knightly title, intermediate black-iron mage, and summoner!”
“What?”
The recruter was utterly incredulous and even panicked. His first thought was that Donald was lying about his identity. Both being a hereditary knight and a mage were things he could only envy, let alone the combined status of both.
“Are you joking? Misrepresenting your identity is a military offense punishable by death!”
As he spoke, the recruter looked at Donald with mockery, as if expecting him to retract his words, apologize, and offer a large bribe.
It wasn’t worth getting upset over such a despicable person. Though dissatisfied, Donald simply showed off his newly updated mage badge and said coldly, “I said I’m an intermediate black-iron summoner. This is my teacher, a silver mage—Master Mesel from the Stonemont Mage Guild—who personally certified me. Do you have any questions?”
Seeing the unforgeable mage badge, the recruter’s smile froze on his face as he broke into a cold sweat. He immediately changed to a flattering expression, bowing deeply and saying, “None! None at all! Honorable knight, honorable mage, this place is only for recruiting ordinary nobles. For someone as noble and powerful as you, the general has specially assigned someone to attend to you and provided you with a separate tent for rest. Please follow me!”
After saying that, the recruter instructed his subordinates to take over, left the few noble youths waiting behind, and personally led Donald to a luxurious tent set up separately outside the fortress.