Unknown Knight

In order to conceal their tracks, the new nobles of the territory held a meeting and decided to reorganize the existing army. The official army remained unchanged, and the newly expanded army operated in the form of a mercenary group to achieve the purpose of secretly expanding the army.

There are five such mercenary groups in total, known as the five major mercenary groups. They are:

The Hammer of Justice Mercenary Group was the first mercenary group established in the territory. It has now been officially renamed the Big Hammer Mercenary Group. Its main source of income is from suppressing bandits, capturing bandits and selling them as slaves, and providing armed escorts.

Although everyone knew that the Hammer of Justice belonged to the Territory of Aix, after they became famous, many bounty hunter teams followed suit, so when they announced to the outside world that they were the Hammer Mercenaries, it did not attract much attention from outsiders.

Since Sir Niza was absent, the leader of the group was Sir Fadis, with more than 500 men. All of them were cavalry, including 300 light cavalry and 200 heavy cavalry. It was known as the strongest mercenary group on the continent.

The Blood Mercenary Group, led by Ran Hu and Liu Tang, is composed of archers from the relatives of Aix. Their main source of income comes from the sale of horses and leather goods. Spices and snow salt with high value are also commodities they often sell. Sometimes they also undertake the business of chasing criminals and thieves to earn rewards.

Most of them are Tannu from Kugit, claiming to be relatives of Aix. They are considered outsiders here and have easily recognizable looks. In order not to attract attention, they often wear masks and hats when on missions, and never take the initiative to cause trouble. They are very low-key and mysterious.

The Blood Mercenary Corps is composed entirely of cavalry, with about 600 people. Many of them are from the Khergit Khanate and are skilled in archery and horse riding. Among them, more than 500 are archers and more than 100 are heavy cavalry.

The Arrow of Justice Mercenaries, they call themselves the Black Arrow Mercenaries. Their leader is Sir Desevi the Corpse Dragger and their deputy leader is Sir Robin Hood. They are a group of elusive archers, and their main livelihood is selling animal skins, meat, mountain products, valuable wood and precious furs. They also undertake the business of chasing criminals and catching thieves and collecting rewards. As long as you can afford the money, they will even secretly undertake assassination business.

They often roam in thickets and dense forests, wearing light leather jackets, with a nimble body and quick reactions. Most of their members are sharpshooters from green forest bandits and snowfield bandits, so they are all excellent archers, making outsiders terrified.

The Black Arrow Mercenary Corps has a total of more than 500 people, including more than 100 elite horse archers and more than 400 elite crossbowmen.

The Shield of Justice Mercenaries call themselves the Great Shield Mercenaries. Their leader is Sir Resarit and their deputy leader is Shieldmaiden Nia. Their main source of income comes from transporting goods in trucks, and they also fight bandits and eliminate evil along the way. They also provide escort services to those who pay. It is said that the people they protect can be guaranteed to be safe and will not have to worry about their lives.

The members of this mercenary group are mainly selected from elite array infantry, and some elite shield maidens have joined. The total number of people is about 700 people.

They are skilled in mountain warfare, good at shield techniques, one-handed weapons, and throwing axes and javelins. Each of them is a king in individual combat. When fighting as a group, they will form an offensive and defensive shield formation and shield wall, and wear double-buckle chain mail with excellent defense under the wide robe. Their overall strength is comparable to the Nord Royal Guards, the king of infantry combat on the continent.

The Holy Cave Mercenary Group, this mercenary group calls itself the Cave Mercenary Group. They are very mysterious, including those in the territory. The leader is Madam Sophia, and the deputy leader is the witch Madam Meimei. They are mainly engaged in the chain department store business.

This new business model is derived from the traditional department store, but no one would make a department store so large, with such a complete range of goods, such affordable prices, and so many consumer items. They also hold discount promotions from time to time, so they are very popular.

The mercenary group has very strong financial resources. The leader Sophia can often come up with large sums of money for operation. With the advantage of this ability to pay, they either spend a lot of money to buy land or cooperate with local nobles to run businesses. They have opened more than 20 chain stores in more than ten cities, and built transit warehouses in important transportation cities such as Dehrim to facilitate the allocation and rapid circulation of goods. With the benefit of various comprehensive effects, these stores make a lot of money every day and secretly deliver huge profits to the territory.

The membership of this mercenary group is also very complex. There are strongmen as strong as bulls, rangers who punish evil, beautiful, mysterious and terrifying witches, chivalrous thieves who can climb walls, break doors and unlock locks, assassins who kill people without anyone noticing, a lame carpenter who is skilled in craftsmanship but sinister and eccentric, and so on. All the extraordinary people on the edge of the continent are their targets for recruitment.

The energy brought by these people with special abilities is also very huge, and they can often complete tasks that ordinary people think are impossible. This terrifying ability to get things done makes people who know the Cave Mercenaries fear them, and even stand in awe of them. It is said that as long as you are willing to offer a sky-high price, there is nothing they can't do.

Once there was an ignorant and evil noble who wanted to seize the local department store of the Holy Cave Mercenary Group. As a result, he and his mistress were found dead in bed one morning. A famous local doctor examined them and believed that they must have died of poisoning. As for what kind of poison it was, even the famous doctor could not figure it out.

With this fear-inspiring ability, the Cave Mercenary Group's business is growing bigger and bigger. No one dares to stop their expansion. Even the remote Sarand Emirate has opened their branches.

As the most profitable mercenary group, they have the least direct armed forces, with only one hundred light cavalry and one hundred elite archers. In addition, there is an action team composed of more than one hundred capable people who are responsible for difficult and shady tasks such as reconnaissance, assassination, poisoning, and gathering information.

These five major mercenary groups all claim to be private armed forces, have their own relatively independent livelihoods, and are doing well. The leaders, deputy leaders, and key members all use aliases and do not easily reveal their true identities, which is very mysterious. Even the weapons and equipment they use are captured or purchased from other places, and they basically do not use standard equipment produced in the territory.

Therefore, all countries did not know that these newly emerging mercenary groups belonged to the Territory of Aix. They just thought that they were forces supported by certain great nobles and did not pay much attention to them. This allowed them to not be greatly affected by the outside world, allowing them to grow and develop rapidly, becoming a powerful military force hidden in the territory.

Outsiders saw that although the territory was developing very well, its military strength had not expanded. Therefore, the hostile King Yarogerk, Sega Khan, Lord Iden and others temporarily relaxed their vigilance. As veterans in the underworld, they all knew that the first to strike would get the upper hand. They were all waiting for some flaws in the territory, or for a fight with other hostile forces. It would be best if they fought to the death before they could take advantage of the situation.