episode_0125

“Antonio’s senses have dulled quite a bit. He was known as a bear with the eyes of a hawk in his mercenary days. Well, that’s how the knighthood blunts a man’s senses.”

Adan scoffed at Antonio after hearing that the 2nd merchant group’s escort personnel had begun moving to the 1st main group.

Eugene Schneider felt a considerable sense of déjà vu upon hearing that a large army of Tyrannos was attacking.

As he suspected, the Tyrannos army targeting the flank of the 1st main group is a bluff.

Except for the cavalry, the rest are just volume-based units that barely fill the numbers.

That’s why the large number of people were able to sneak in without much trouble.

“Good. Thanks to that, we can hunt down the blonde fox.”

Smirk…!

Adan mentioned the blonde fox with a raised corner of his mouth.

The target is none other than Vivian.

The reason for simply filling the ranks and approaching the 1st main merchant group with great fanfare is,

precisely to draw all the attention of the Iron Cross Knights, who are responsible for the main escort of the group, to that side.

As a result, if the escort for the 2nd merchant group becomes somewhat weaker,

Adan’s special forces, small in number but the actual combat power, plan to attack the 2nd merchant group.

“Even if those petty goods pass through here, they’ll inevitably be torn to shreds if the head disappears. So, we just need to catch the head, that bread roll-haired fox.”

The Iron Cross Knights and the Red Fox Mercenary Group judged that Tyrannos was aiming for both the goods of the group and Vivian at the same time.

But that judgment was wrong.

The target of the Tyrannos special forces was only Vivian.

If Vivian is neutralized, the enormous wealth, equivalent to one-tenth the size of one of the four major cities, could rather become a seed of discord.

The reason why it can become the foundation for change is because Vivian, who possesses definite abilities and is a symbolic figure, is holding the center.

Based on that calculation, the Tyrannos special forces targeted Vivian,

and they are somewhat anticipating that she is affiliated with the 2nd merchant group.

Swish…!

Confirming that the situation was turning in the direction he induced, Adan looked back.

“By the way, it’s unexpected. I thought you’d be desperate to catch Vivian as much as you’re short on money. So you’re really just going to cut off the retreat? Is that right?”

Behind him, those wearing monks’ hoods were seated.

“Sometimes there are things more important than money, wouldn’t you say? Just like how Tyrannos sometimes overreaches to maintain its anti-imperial line.”

The emblem of a snake wrapped around a sword,

they were none other than the Sophists.

**********

“S, save me!!!!”

Thud!

Before long, the 2nd merchant group crossed the cliff area and entered the forest,

and at that point, Adan’s Tyrannos special forces immediately attacked the 2nd merchant group.

As a result, the 2nd group was quickly taken over.

Then, Theo Leopold of the Theo Merchant Group, who was leading the 2nd group with Vivian, knelt before Adan and begged for his life.

“Stop talking nonsense and stand up. It’s disgusting to watch you act.”

Adan, who was in front of him, retorted to the head of the Theo Merchant Group with a subtle comment.

That’s right.

The person who had been leaking information about the Iron Cross Knights to the outside,

and the person who allowed spies to infiltrate even inside the group, was Theo Leopold, a high-ranking group leader affiliated with the Merchant Guild.

It can be seen as his scheme that the 2nd merchant group was easily subdued in an instant without putting up a fight.

No matter how much Antonio had lost his senses from his mercenary days, he would never be the type to recklessly subtract troops.

Even so, the reason why he made such a decision was precisely because of Theo’s trickery.

Theo had deployed all of his Theo Merchant Group’s escort troops, the most numerous among the groups, to the 2nd merchant group.

Antonio trusted those troops and diverted the Iron Cross Knights’ forces to the 1st main merchant group.

However, the escort troops belonging to the Theo Merchant Group surrendered the moment the Tyrannos special forces approached, following the orders of Theo Leopold, who had already chosen betrayal.

“Haha…! Still, there are eyes watching, so please play along a little… That’s because even if I become the representative later, I’ll need to maintain at least a minimal reputation.”

Theo still bowed his head and muttered as if begging Adan.

The commercial district of Alexandria has become enormous in the past few years.

It’s all because of Vivian’s abilities.

As a result, the Merchant Guild, which was previously just a facade, has also become powerful with its wealth and strength.

Thus, Theo Leopold, a deeply embedded stone among the existing group, wanted to take over the board.

Meanwhile, there is currently no guild master in the Alexandria Merchant Guild.

Only Vivian, the overwhelming group leader, is wielding power like a de facto chairman.

Theo Leopold planned to take advantage of such a transitional loophole,

to blow away Vivian and then create a solid chairman position to take over the Merchant Guild.

“Where is Vivian, Theo Leopold?”

“Sh, she’s in that old carriage… disguised as a goods-carrying carriage…”

The Tyrannos side also has a plan to seat Theo as the Alexandria group leader and control him.

That’s why Adan accepted Theo’s request and immediately tried to locate Vivian.

“I know you’re in there, Vivian! Open the carriage door and come down, if you don’t want to be dragged out!”

Step, step, step,

Adan led a few escorts toward the old carriage that Theo Leopold subtly pointed to.

“You have the ability, but you seem to have a terrible way of understanding the situation, Vivian. In fact, you could say that your father died because of that, kukuku!”

Even when Adan threatened her, Vivian did not get out of the carriage.

Then, Adan mentioned her father, Alexis Saint-Pierre, and mocked her.

“I hope you use that good head of yours while you’re being dragged away, Vivian!”

Clunk!

Even so, when there was no reaction from Vivian inside the carriage,

Adan grabbed the handle of the carriage to forcibly drag Vivian out.

“!!!!!”

After that, Adan, who was already intoxicated with a sense of victory and confidently opened the carriage door,

his expression suddenly widened rapidly.

“What! Where did she go, this wench!”

That’s because Vivian did not exist inside the carriage.

“I think the Tyrannos guys must have noticed that Vivian the group leader has disappeared by now.”

And there was a person who was predicting Adan’s expression very accurately.

He was none other than Eugene Schneider, the unfaithful male, the leader of the Red Fox Mercenary Group’s assault team, and the man who ate both Jeanne and Vivian.

He is currently walking through the forest path with Vivian.

“I can’t believe it… Mr. Theo Leopold was a traitor.”

Vivian, who was following behind Eugene, mentioned Theo’s betrayal with a miserable expression.

“The thought that he might be a spy for Tyrannos actually started about 4 days ago.”

Then, Eugene looked around and answered Vivian’s murmur.

The current situation of the two people was that Eugene triggered his senses upon seeing Davis reporting on the situation related to the 1st main group’s attack and took action arbitrarily.

Eugene’s specialty was that, unlike Antonio

and Jeanne, he was able to observe the internal situation of the Merchant Guild quite closely while acting as Vivian’s bodyguard.

And that was from the eyes of a mercenary, not a merchant.

Under his perspective, Theo Leopold was suspicious in many ways.

“Then, yesterday, he desperately tried to insert his own escort unit into the 2nd group. That look was so ominous. Then, a little while ago, when I saw the Iron Cross Knights going to the 1st merchant group, I was virtually certain.”

Although he was suspicious, frankly, Eugene Schneider, who was just an ordinary bodyguard, could not take concrete action with only suspicion.

But the suspicion soon became a certainty.

That was because Theo Leopold abruptly adjusted the composition of the group’s escort force yesterday evening.

Originally, the escort troops belonging to the Theo Merchant Group were scheduled to be deployed to the 1st main group.

However, Theo Leopold suddenly said that he wanted to help Vivian and belatedly made a request to Antonio.

Antonio did not want to make unnecessary noise ahead of the important event,

so he adjusted the position of the escort troops belonging to the Theo Merchant Group to the 2nd merchant group.

Seeing that, Eugene Schneider had a strong feeling that Theo Leopold was going to do something.

‘He’s really amazing, Mr. Eugene, he’s been doing the bodyguard work really hard without me knowing. Of course, he worked hard when meeting the group people, but now it’s like… it feels like he’s trying to solve the situation very deeply?’

Looking at his back as he walked ahead while listening to Eugene’s story, Vivian’s eyes were full of awe and respect for Eugene Schneider.

In fact, it’s the rice bowl that a mercenary and bodyguard who has received a request should do, of course.

However, Vivian had no choice but to think differently.

Wasn’t Eugene the person who treated her badly, the person who looked at her unfavorably as Jeanne’s man?

But knowing that he was doing everything he had to do even while doing that, she could not help but be overwhelmed by surprise.

“If we walk through this bush for about 10 more minutes, we should be there. Around that time, I asked Thomas to hide two horses for me. So we can ride them and return to the camp.”

Eugene’s specialness was not limited to that.

Feeling a strong scent of betrayal from Theo Leopold,

he set up a kind of device to escape in a safe way, preparing for a possible situation.

He requested Thomas, a really knife-like assassin who keeps secrets, to have horses ready at a suitable place that Vivian and he could use at any time.

“Y, you’re really amazing, Eugene-nim!”

“Since requesting horses is so important to keep secret, it was paid for out of pocket, so I’ll bill you tightly.”

“Of course, I’ll give you a hazard pay as well!”

Vivian’s face was almost at the level of being hooked on Eugene’s professionalism, which kept coming out even when peeled.

However, Eugene just coolly presented the statement of accounts,

and Vivian shouted out for a more active call without paying attention to such coldness.

Eugene and Vivian, who were heading towards their destination with a cheerful feeling in a crisis situation,

“Hmm, I guess it’s not going to be easily resolved?”

encountered a situation where hazard pay was likely to be more tightly attached.

“As expected, you got out of there very well, leader of the Red Fox’s action team.”

Step, step, step,

People who blocked the path of the two appeared.

There were a total of four strangers.

‘Huh… who are those guys?’

The mysterious beings slowly walking out of the somewhat dark bushes,

then, when they came within a certain distance, Eugene Schneider seemed to have caught their identities.

As a result, Eugene’s eyes, who was trying to hide his emotional state with a somewhat serious look, widened slightly.

‘Sophists.’

The beings with monastic robes, and the picture of a sword wrapped around a snake engraved on the chest of their armor,

those who blocked Eugene and Vivian’s path were none other than the Sophists.

They were those Sophists who were with Adan, the leader of the Tyrannos special forces.