I’m a Rebel in Another World

Chapter 46: The Iron Lion’s Roar

In the Worui Duchy, a decision had finally been made regarding Fabio.

Because Fabio had seized a border fortress in the winter and occupied Iron Pit City, the Grand Duke was furious. He dispatched one of the duchy’s legions, and the two sides arrayed and fought.

The duchy’s legion was dragged into retreat by the Ironwall Legion and shattered; half of their forces were captured.

Before the duchy could respond, the nobles organized an allied force.

Under the pretext of avenging the nobles around Iron Pit City and restoring justice, they planned to take advantage of the chaos.

From their perspective, the Ironwall Legion had fought the duchy’s legion, and although the Ironwall Legion had won, the duchy’s legion had lost half its soldiers. They assumed the Ironwall Legion must have been grievously weakened. Having just finished a battle and exhausted from fighting, now would be the perfect time for the nobles to pick its bones.

The noble alliance’s thinking was simple: crush the Ironwall Legion to boost their prestige and strike a blow at the royal house’s influence. With Fabio’s identity, they could manipulate the situation and seize greater gains when the duchy reshuffled in the near future.

The plan sounded ideal.

But they unconsciously ignored one possibility: what if the Ironwall Legion was not a soft target at all—what if it truly was an iron wall?

So a textbook encirclement-and-destruction battle began.Fabio didn’t even show his face; Duwien led the Left Flank with eight thousand men and smashed the noble alliance’s force of over twenty thousand.

Except for a few, the nobles who joined the battle were all captured.

That wasn’t the end. Fabio led the legion personally and dragged every noble who had supported the alliance out of their castles.

Half the duchy descended into chaos and panic.

In the end, it took the Grand Duke himself to rebuke Fabio and get him to stop his extreme actions.

Afterwards, Fabio extorted a great deal of wealth from the noble alliance as ransom payment.

Grand Duke Amir and Count Obiken seized the opportunity to use various measures—some paid less, some paid more; some suffered greatly, others less—effectively splintering the already-fractured noble alliance into pieces.

As for Fabio, the duchy stripped him of all expeditionary honors from that campaign, leaving him with only his knighthood.

However, they tacitly allowed Fabio to occupy Iron Pit City and the border region—an area of over thirty thousand square kilometers with a population exceeding two million.

The largest earl domain in the duchy was only one-tenth the size of this territory.

Moreover, excluding lands gained from the War of Six Kings, this area already amounted to one-fifteenth of the entire duchy’s territory.

Fabio also commanded twenty thousand Ironwall Legion troops, divided into left and right armies—real, effective combat forces.

The serfs under the captured nobles were not returned. When the nobles were asked to pay their ransoms, their serfs’ families were handed over as well.

This extorted tens of thousands more people, giving Fabio the ability to control and provision this region and sustain his army.

People expected Fabio to try to establish himself independently, but he obeyed the Grand Duke’s orders and returned to the royal city to attend the victory celebration.

Thus the incident called “The Iron Lion’s Roar” finally drew to a close.

While Fabio rode the spring breeze back to the capital and received cheers, Henwil was shirtless, doing heavy training in the early spring chill.

Scarface Oki had been training Henwil alone for more than a month and was pleased with Henwil’s performance.

Henwil had endured the high-intensity physical training.

Next, Scarface Oki laid out a three-stage training plan for Henwil.

Each stage would last one year.

The first stage was to strengthen Henwil’s physique as much as possible and build a solid foundation.

The second stage was to develop Henwil’s various combat techniques, familiarize him with the use of different weapons, and teach him about human vulnerabilities.

The third stage would see Scarface Oki bringing Henwil into real combat to accumulate battle experience.

After completing the three stages, Henwil would be considered fully trained and could be handed over to the organization for deployment.

When Henwil learned of all this, he was surprised—this was a good deal. Two years of living safely? That was great news!

But plans exist largely to change.

Just as Henwil was completing six months of physical training and had spent a full year at the place called the Forge, things changed.

Scarface was facing Laiom, the man who had bought Henwil, and roaring: “What did you say? You want to shorten the time? Are you out of your mind? These kids haven’t been remodeled yet. What can they do if you send them out now? They are not qualified tools!”

Laiom pushed away as Scarface Oki approached: “Of course I know they’re not fully formed.

But things have changed. The organization is investing in a major project and funds are tight, so they want to reclaim some capital.

They will be put into the Blood Ring to earn more gold for the organization. They don’t need that much training. Right now, young gladiators are very popular! Many nobles and their mistresses like to watch children fight to the death.”

On hearing this, Scarface Oki stopped roaring; his eyes turned cold. “You mean to use my work as one-time expendables?”

Laiom shrugged and took a sip of wine. “Not necessarily one-time! If one becomes a Blood Ring star, maybe they’ll live longer! With luck, they could even be pardoned!”

“Are you insulting me?”

Scarface Oki exuded a feral aura; a faint red mist of blood swirled around him.

Laiom pursed his lips and said, “Think it over. Do you really want to take me on?”

As he spoke, bright lines began to illuminate on Laiom’s blue robe.

After a moment, seeing Scarface Oki wouldn’t back down, Laiom sighed and produced a scroll of parchment, throwing it over: “The leader’s orders. Read it.”

While Scarface Oki read, Laiom explained: “The war ended nearly a year ago. Prisoner exchanges are finished.

Many prisoners without exchange value have flowed into the Blood Rings; the number of bloody fights has risen.

Our Blood Ring cannot fall behind, so we must offer something others do not: partially formed goods—youth gladiators. Other arenas don’t have that advantage.”

After a long pause, Scarface Oki said: “Fine! But I must keep one person—he…”

Laiom raised his hand to stop him and continued: “I know. Your Number One batch was bought by me personally.

He cannot be kept. Our plan is to make him the young Blood Ring star! He’s the core of this group of children!”

“You’re destroying a masterpiece!”

“As an assassin and shadow guard, how much could he earn? If our plan succeeds, he could make us tens of thousands of gold in a year!

You saw the order. It’s an unchangeable fact. In five months, at most seven, I will come to collect them!”