Mercenary Wars

Chapter 132 Brian

Nikon awakened the sleeping fake whitebeard and used magic to partially restore him from his drunken state.

The fake white-bearded man was still a bit confused.

Brown's voice suddenly came through: "Dude, your beard is dyed, isn't it?"

This startled the fake whitebeard, instantly bringing him to his senses. His eyes widened, and he stammered, "You...how did you know!"

“You just told me that while you were talking in your sleep!” Brown said.

A hint of annoyance appeared on the face of the fake white-bearded man.

Brown smiled, stroked his long beard, and continued, "Since you have the same beard, you must have heard the sound of fire too. Fire is born free, and we shouldn't be like Matolius, making enslavement our faith—"

The fake white-bearded man interrupted him, his brow furrowed: "Wait, what are you trying to say? That I should join the Brotherhood of Prometheus?"

"Pretty much," Brown said.

The fake whitebeard shook his head: "To be honest, Brown, I have no such intention. I think your ideas are a bit too extreme."

“Where is the extreme? Do you think slavery is just?” Brown blurted out. “Besides, you should know how fragile slavery is. It is naturally easy to destroy. Only a weak and despicable god like Durag would make slavery a dogma!”

The fake whitebeard clearly disagreed with his assessment of Durag: "No matter what, Durag is still our god, even though we have received the blessing of fire again."

Brown's fiery red beard trembled: "Drag is not the faith we have chosen. Look at the color of our beards—the true color, full of power and beauty. This is the faith that belongs to us! We are completely different from those gray-white slave owners. All intelligent beings in the world of Farallo would agree!"

He paused for a moment, then continued, "I remember you want to become an outstanding master blacksmith. So, do you think the blazing flames will help you more, or the shameful slave owners?"

The fake white-bearded man remained silent.

After a while, he hesitated and whispered, "At least Whitebeard's forces are more numerous, and if you include the other Underdark regions, their advantage will be even greater! The Brotherhood of Prometheus has no hope of victory, and you can't change anything."

“That’s not necessarily true,” Brown said, pointing to his beard. “Who knows how many other people have beards like yours? Maybe the abundance of white beards is just an illusion; they’re far more vulnerable than we imagine!”

The fake Whitebeard shook his head repeatedly: "I think I'm just in the minority. Whitebeard's strength is at least half again as great as Redbeard's, and Matolius is Debussy's strongest warrior. It's an obvious comparison..."

Brown repeatedly tried to persuade him.

But no matter what he said, the fake Whitebeard maintained a neutral stance, unlike the real Whitebeard who was full of disgust and hostility towards the Brotherhood of Prometheus, but he also had no intention of joining the Brotherhood of Prometheus.

The reason is obvious—Whitebeard is more powerful, or at least appears to be more powerful.

Brown disagreed with this, but he couldn't provide any convincing evidence, so the two were practically talking past each other.

Finally, Brown said, "Our break with Whitebeard is inevitable, and you'll have to choose a side then! You have a fiery beard on your face, do you really think a mere bottle of gray dye will make you side with Matolius?"

The fake white-bearded man didn't respond to his question, and after a long pause, he only said, "Let's drink instead..."

After this fake white-bearded individual, similar conversations were repeated with others several times, with largely the same process and outcome. None of the fake white-bearded individuals were convinced.

If they could be persuaded by Brown, they probably wouldn't choose the lifestyle of dyeing their beards; the fake white beards already indicated their stance. They weren't white-bearded, but it was difficult to say they were fellow members of the Brotherhood of Prometheus, which frustrated Brown somewhat.

But there is good news too. Most importantly, the number of fake Whitebeards is indeed quite large, even more optimistic than he had previously estimated.

The proportion of fake white beards at the party and their memories provide clear evidence for this.

In other words, the real town of Dibusala is most likely populated by more red-bearded people than by more white-bearded people as it appears.

If all of Redbeard's men stood up to fight, defeating Whitebeard would be no difficult task.

Unfortunately, confidence is often the most important thing.

While Redbeard's numbers are no fewer than Whitebeard's, most of them don't believe they can defeat Whitebeard. Therefore, they prefer to maintain the status quo, especially the fake Whitebeard, for whom the cost is merely a little dye.

This frustrated Brown greatly: "They completely lack the spirit of fire!"

Gaucano said, "But like you said, they would never side with Whitebeard. The color of the beard is the best flag of faction. When Redbeard and Whitebeard go to war, they will at least remain neutral, and Whitebeard may not even realize it."

Brown thought for a moment: "What are your plans for the future?"

Gaucano pondered, "It's about time. We need a slave revolt—the slaves in the mines and the enslaved fire elementals."

Daniel: "To incite a powerful slave revolt, we'd better get the overseers' cooperation. It seems we'll have to talk to those overseers more often."

“Many of the white-bearded men have worked as foremen at the iron mines,” Brown nodded. “Hopefully, they had more backbone than the craftsmen!”

The white-bearded gray dwarves who were brought into this room afterward were mostly mine foremen.

Under Nikon's mental surveillance, one fake white-bearded man after another was exposed. But much like the craftsmen before, no matter what Brown said, these overseers showed no interest in the Prometheus Brotherhood's cause.

Until they met and persuaded Brian—the overseer who gave drinks to the slaves in the mine.

Of course, strictly speaking, it might not even qualify as persuasion. On such a significant issue as faith, successful persuasion is a miracle in itself.

More likely, Brian's thinking was already biased towards the Brotherhood of Prometheus.

Therefore, when Brown spoke with him, the two quickly found common ground.

“…Living in Durag’s shadow, even if it’s not the worst feeling, I’ve had enough!” Brian said.

“Absolutely right, we are not a race of darkness, it is the curse of Durag that has led us to this state!” Brown’s tone gradually became more fervent. “Now let us change all of this!”

(End of this chapter)