episode_0074

The goods carried by the escorting convoy were in fact smuggled goods.

The reason Echolings found out about this was very simple.

One of the upper-class party members who, to anyone who sees him, has the appearance of a talker with a loose mouth.

I couldn’t stand the boredom during my break so I spoke to Echolings.

“What? This is smuggled?”

“Yes, yes. That’s right. It’s a new weapon brought from the Magic Kingdom Talion.”

This is information that would not have been revealed if he were a normal mercenary.

As he was a professional mercenary with guaranteed credit, the merchant readily disclosed the information.

“The destination was Ravenburg. Ravenburg is a vassal state of Talion.”

“That’s right. So it’s smuggled.”

In response to the merchant’s answer, Echolings opened the map and checked the locations of the two areas.

“Isn’t it a bit far for a vassal relationship?”

“That’s because Ravenberg is such a special land.”

“Special land?”

To summarize the merchant’s explanation, it was as follows.

In Ravenberg, there is a stone that contains mana, called a mana stone.

It was an area where large quantities of that rare resource were buried.

Mana Stones were a key material for Talion’s unique magical engineering technology.

As such, Ravenburg was an absolutely necessary land for Talion.

What’s the easiest way to get what you need?

It was invasion and war.

Talion has been fighting this war for a long time.

The natives of Ravenberg, finally exhausted from the endless war of attrition, knelt before the invaders.

Eventually, the natives of Ravenberg were reduced to mere ‘savages’ and became vassals serving Talion.

“Didn’t Ravenberg have any technology?”

“There was technology. However···”

The merchant’s gaze turned to the cargo hold where the new weapon was hidden by a blanket.

“They couldn’t use it. There was no mana in their bodies, which were the masters of Ravenberg. ”

If we compare this to Akare, it has zero affinity.

It was not possible to raise stats separately like a player.

Even the natives’ bodies were ones that rejected mana itself.

Buffs related to affinity were also not applied.

In other words, no matter what you do, the affinity with the natives is zero.

“A weapon that can overcome even the ‘barbarians’ invented by a magic engineer. If it weren’t for this new weapon containing the essence of magic engineering, there would be no way for them to fight.”

The merchant lifted the blanket covering the cargo space.

Then, guns with a mix of modern and fantasy feel appeared.

Most of the magic engineering guns had the appearance of a sniper rifle.

Echolings instinctively felt that this was the Ranger’s weapon and was lost in thought.

Apparently, a merchant belonging to the Erzsebeck upper class said that this was smuggled goods.

The destination of this smuggled goods is Ravenburg.

That means in the end···

“It’s a revolution.”

Did you read Echolings’ thoughts?

The merchant looked up at the distant sky and said nonchalantly.

“The wind of blood will blow. It is the time when the barbarism that has been crouching and hiding for 100 years will rise up.”

Is this the true Ranger backstory?

During the secret class, Bard and Muin came out of the Hall of Heroes.

The cult was revealed to be a way to solve a kind of gimmick.

However, there was no way to solve the problem by linking it to the in-game story in this way.

“But you. How do you know the inside story so well?”

A question that suddenly occurred to me. A question that I blurted out at the same time.

Echolings became alert at the lack of an immediate reply.

“Of course, I have savage blood flowing through my veins. I know that very well.”

“···Are you from Ravenberg? Then what about Erzsebeck?”

“Yes, they are all from Ravenburg.”

To be precise, these are not just the tops.

It was said that the revolutionary army of Ravenberg was disguised as the top.

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It’s dangerous. But it’s okay.”

The merchant informed us that he would meet armed revolutionaries at a certain point.

We even hired professional mercenaries to help us get to that point safely.

With just the weapons in the cargo hold, you could easily subdue any number of bandits or monsters.

“Why are you telling me all these facts?”

“I’ve worked with a bunch of pro mercenaries a few times.”

The merchant looked fed up.

“Authors who will do anything for money. That’s why they are even more trustworthy. Aren’t you one of those people?”

“···Right.”

What the hell are these professional mercenaries doing?

Is it possible that our external image is this damaged?

It was Echolings who had questions about professional mercenaries.

“Anyway, since we are on the same boat, I will introduce myself formally.”

The merchant extended his hand.

“My name is Yarac. A revolutionary from Ravenberg···.”

The merchant, Yarak, did not continue his words there.

Kwaaang-!

An explosion occurred outside the carriage.

A wagon carrying contraband was caught in the explosion.

Echolings, who had escaped instant death thanks to the warrior’s strong body, immediately took a recovery potion.

“Coolook!”

Echolings coughed and looked straight ahead.

Black smoke is rising.

Through the blazing flames that covered the area.

I could see lumps of charcoal that had been people just a moment ago.

And beyond that are wizards in white robes.

They were not, at least, wizards of imperial origin or belonging to the Magic Tower.

Because the Empire’s wizards wear only black robes, one of the symbols of the hero Aurora.

“The impure elements have been dealt with. There is one remaining target mercenary. How do I deal with it?”

Thud thud-

Talion’s wizards approached the Echolings.

Urgent situation.

Echolings’ health has not yet fully recovered.

Because the healing effect was halved due to the burn debuff.

Of course, if you cut off the burned area and drink a healing potion.

My physical condition may be a little better than it is now.

What kind of person in his right mind would cut out his own flesh?

That was something that only a truly crazy or mentally ill person could do.

Even just cutting out the burned area cleanly required very delicate control.

An act close to a feat that cannot be easily imitated by just anyone.

Doing that was like taking a gamble.

“Eliminate the witness. Understood.”

Someone who appeared to be communicating stood in front of Echolings.

Anyway, my physical strength hasn’t fully recovered.

It was also difficult to parry the magic shot from this distance.

That would be impossible unless you were the father of all warriors, Paegwi.

In the end, it was a do-or-die situation.

The only way to break this situation is with a light warrior.

Since I’m a professional mercenary and not a warrior, I don’t have the Weapon Mastery skill.

Not being able to properly handle the Halberd, the Berserker’s main weapon.

The chances of success were extremely low, but there was nothing I could do.

Just do your best at what you can do.

Echolings, having made a decision, used the light warrior.

As soon as my main weapon changed to a halberd, I stabbed the wizard in front of me.

Phew-!

Choaaaak-!

“First of all, one guy.”

Kill them all before you die.

Leaving the dead wizard’s corpse behind with his eyes wide open.

The Echolings that crossed ahead engaged in a melee.

When facing an enemy comprised entirely of wizards, melee combat is a must.

Most magic skills were area-of-effect damage skills.

Therefore, using magic in a melee was bound to be difficult.

Because I watched ‘How to Deal with Multiple Wizards’ that Paegwi uploaded on YouTube.

Echolings fought the magician unit, recalling the memory of watching that video.

It’s best to parry the magic.

But if your parrying skills are lacking.

You should never stop moving against a wizard.

Although it was Echolings who single-handedly caused several more casualties against the magician force.

Eventually, the numbers get the better of you and the duration of your Berserker spell runs out.

The flame of hope was completely extinguished.

···At least that’s what Echolings thought.

“You savage bastard. Are you finally out of strength?”

I wanted to say, “Fuck it.”

My body wouldn’t listen to me because of the penalty of the light warrior.

Is this the end?

Are you just going to miss out on any traces of the Secret Class?

It was unfair, but there was no other way.

The wizard cast his spell towards the unresponsive Echolings.

The moment when a red haze appears before your eyes.

Taang-!

A blue bullet fired from somewhere pierced the wizard’s head.

dump-

Echolings stared blankly at the wizard who had fallen in front of him.

A fleeting moment.

The trajectories of the blue bullets I had seen once poured down like a meteor shower.

annihilation.

All the wizards around Echolings fell.

At the same time, someone appeared in front of the disabled Echolings.

“Don’t worry. The fight is over.”

“Who are you?”

Echolings barely opened his mouth to ask a question.

The man with the sniper rifle answered the question softly.

“Ranger. Just know that.”

***

Ravenberg is a special place.

An area where significant quantities of mana stones, a rare resource, are deposited.

Naturally, mana was abundant accordingly.

Oddly enough, the natives of Ravenberg were not born with mana.

Even the talent of affinity, which is the ability to sense mana and hold it within one’s body.

“The remnants of greed. That’s the problem.”

The seventh object of destruction that threatened this world.

The image of the seven sins.

Pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, avarice, sloth.

The seven deadly sins, commonly called the root of all sin.

It was the most difficult and tricky destruction object for me to deal with.

However, thanks to their nature of not cooperating with each other, it was possible to defeat them individually.

Actually, I thought it was completely erased from this world.

“It has to exist as long as there is intelligence.”

To be exact, it would be correct to say that even if you kill or destroy something, it will be ‘resurrected’ again.

The remnants of greed, which had suffered comparatively less damage than other sins, had taken root in Ravenburg.

Greed robbed mana from those born in Ravenburg.

At this time, Greed uses the stolen mana to grow its size.

Part of the flesh of the increased greed was a mana stone, one of those rare resources.

“Ravenberg is a kind of a breeding farm.”

A farm managed by Talion of the Magic Kingdom.

Talion knows the identity of the mana stone in Ravenberg.

Common sense tells you otherwise.

Because these were the people who studied sin with me during my heroic days.

“I thought it was just a different road···.”

The magic of the Empire and the magic of the Magic Kingdom are different.

The empire focused on training wizards.

The Magic Kingdom focused on the ‘production’ of magicians.

The Empire was the one that protected the roots of magic.

The Kingdom of Magic is the one that ignores the fundamentals and pursues only efficiency.

But I didn’t think it was wrong to ignore the fundamentals.

I just thought that we were walking different paths.

At least that’s what I thought at the time.

Now, a long time has passed since that point… as you can see.

Exploiting the innocent natives of Ravenberg.

They made it a vassal state and used it as a factory to produce mana stones.

The group that liberated this was the Rangers of Ravenberg.

Simply put, they were revolutionaries who wanted Ravenberg’s independence.

A struggle to escape from a life where everything is monitored by the Magic Kingdom.

The Ranger’s discovery story begins with joining that struggle…

“···Martial law?”

At this very moment, something unbelievable happened in reality.