Ch.29The Mercenary Captain Who Dislikes Women (10)

In the old kitchen of the potion maker, Adelheid frantically grabbed the potions placed on the desk.

The red one is a Healing Potion, and is this orange one the strength potion?

“Captain! Come quickly!”

Hearing her subordinates’ desperate cries, Adelheid had no time to think and gulped down the orange potion in one go.

One isn’t enough. I need to drink more to stop that crazy Holy Knight.

Forget the side effects—if I can’t stop him now, our mercenary group is finished!

After drinking two more potions in succession, a hot energy began spreading throughout her body.

Is this the legendary strength that slaughtered thirty goblins?

Adelheid hurried to join her subordinates.

Just as she was about to go outside, Adelheid stopped in her tracks, bewildered.

The hot energy spreading through her body was now concentrating in her groin?!

“Ugh…!”

Experiencing this unpleasant and strange sensation for the first time in her life, Adelheid clutched her stomach and hunched over.

Damn it, what is this?! Is this normal?

But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t find any correlation between super strength and her lower body becoming increasingly wet.

“Captain! We really can’t hold on anymore!”

“I’m coming…!”

Adelheid pulled herself together and staggered outside.

The slippery sensation in her groin was driving Adelheid to the brink of insanity.

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, trembling with her thighs pressed together, Adelheid suddenly had a suspicion.

Did that potion maker trick me?

Did he give me poison instead of a strength potion?!

She should have been furious.

But Adelheid couldn’t feel anger.

What filled her heart instead was a sense of betrayal.

Were all those things he said to me… all lies?

Were they just lies to gain my favor and prepare for this moment?

Adelheid slowly collapsed and hung her head.

How… how could you do this to me…

And I was so excited, not knowing any better…

I believed it was sincere…

Thick tears fell from Adelheid’s eyes.

“Captain! What are you doing here?!”

The second squad leader ran down the hallway and grabbed Adelheid’s shoulders.

“We need to evacuate! We absolutely can’t stop that thing!”

“I thought it was real…”

“What…?”

The second squad leader’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of his captain’s tear-streaked face.

“Captain? What’s wrong?”

“At least I was sincere…”

Just then, the door to the dining hall shattered, and a golden light illuminated the hallway.

There was no more time to waste.

The second squad leader grabbed Adelheid by the nape of her neck, pulled her to her feet, and dashed toward the opposite end of the hallway.

* * * * *

The mercenaries began scattering in all directions.

I was worried they might try to harm us, but they were all too busy trying to save themselves to even glance at me and the administrator.

“Those who live by the sword die by the sword…”

The administrator, who had regained her senses after drinking a Healing Potion, muttered as she watched them flee.

“Mercenaries are motivated by money… It will be difficult for them to regroup under the Remugen name again…”

“I suppose so. By the way, Administrator, were you trying to trade me for the village?”

The administrator said nothing in response to my question, just giving me an eerily dark smile.

Is this woman crazy?

How could she think of selling off the village I worked so hard to build?

“Don’t have such reckless thoughts next time. I’ll report directly to the imperial court.”

“Then I would be dismissed from my position…”

The administrator whispered gloomily.

“And I’d probably spend several years in prison… My property would be confiscated, and I’d become a stupid woman with nothing but a vulgar body… When I returned to Starting Village, they would look at me like a bug… The only one who would welcome me would be Jack… Taken in by Jack, working at the potion shop… Then being violently raped by Jack who couldn’t control his lust…”

“Aaaaargh! Stop it!!”

I’m just now realizing that whenever this administrator talks about her gloomy, depressing future, she subtly mixes in her own wishful thinking.

And in quite a bizarre way, too.

“Brother! Brother!”

Just then, I heard a very welcome voice from the distance.

I could see Mirella and the Potion Knights running toward us, panting.

“Mirella!”

“Brother!”

Mirella ran up and jumped into my arms.

“Have you been well?”

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

“Thank goodness…”

“By the way, what’s with everyone?”

I asked, looking at the Potion Knights and village guards who had stopped to catch their breath with their hands on their knees.

Mirella glared at the administrator with narrowed eyes.

“That big-breasted idiot took the carriage by herself, so we had to run all the way here!”

“I’m sorry, Miss Mirella…”

The frightened administrator hid behind me and hugged me, causing Mirella’s eyes to nearly pop out.

“Let go of him right now!”

The more Mirella protested, the tighter the administrator held me, until finally Mirella inserted Vint’s Opener between us and began twisting it like a lever.

“Ugh, my chest is stuck…”

“Ugh, that lump of flesh!”

Meanwhile, Liberone walked over from the baron’s castle, leading her warhorse.

“Guardian Angel.”

“Liberone. You saved me again. Thank you so much.”

“Not at all.”

Liberone shook her head.

“I’m just glad I could be of help to you, Guardian Angel. I’m so relieved you’re safe.”

“By the way, did you happen to see a female mercenary inside?”

“I didn’t see any women.”

Hmm, so Adelheid escaped?

She must have drunk a lot of the pig aphrodisiac potion, but I guess it doesn’t work on humans after all.

Still, just to be safe, I asked the knights to search the castle.

I’d hate to let her escape only to have her come back for revenge later.

But Adelheid really wasn’t in the castle.

Instead, we found something quite amazing.

It was the mercenary group’s armory.

It was packed with melee weapons like spears and swords, as well as ranged weapons like crossbows and bows.

This is such a stroke of luck. I was just thinking about arming the knights.

Plus, in Adelheid’s bedroom, we found a safe containing gold coins and gold bars that appeared to be the mercenary group’s funds.

In the game, these would be mediocre rewards, but in reality, they feel incredibly significant.

It’s actually fortunate that I didn’t tell Alreina about this place.

We’re taking all of this.

If you do bad things, you should be prepared to face the consequences.

We cleaned out the weapons and safe, loaded everything onto the carriage the administrator had brought, and returned to the village.

Liberone accompanied us all the way back.

* * * * *

The weapons went into the village hall’s storage, and the valuables into the administrator’s safe.

I plan to manage these with a separate ledger rather than including them in the regular accounting books.

“Everything is very well maintained.”

Sir Hostante nodded with satisfaction as he examined the weapons.

“That’s the Remugen mercenary group for you. Whatever else they might be, they take fighting seriously.”

“What do you think? Is this enough to arm the knights?”

“Certainly. There should be no shortage. The question is how to train them.”

“Can’t you train them, Sir Hostante?”

Sir Hostante laughed and shook his head.

“How could a cripple like me teach young people how to wield swords? It’s too much for me now.”

“Hmm, I see. But we don’t really have any talented people in the village. The guards aren’t skilled enough to teach others either.”

“You have a Holy Knight.”

Liberone hasn’t left the village yet; she helped with the unloading and is now staying at the shop for a while.

I told her to wait so I could at least feed her before she leaves.

It would be wonderful if Liberone could train the knights, but unfortunately, she needs to return to her order.

She’s been involved with me for quite some time without returning to her order.

It must be difficult for her to delay any longer.

* * * * *

“I will not leave.”

Liberone declared as soon as we returned to the shop.

“What? Why? Don’t you have to go back to your order?”

“Three coincidences make a fate. This is the third time we’ve met unintentionally. I will stay here instead of leaving.”

Let me count those three times.

When we were going up to Odelin City, when we encountered the goblins, and when we were kidnapped by Remugen.

I’d be happy if Liberone stayed, but…

“But is it okay for you not to return to your order? What will you tell them?”

“This Starting Village area is beyond the concern of both the empire and the kingdom. Since public safety hasn’t been properly established, I’ll report that I’m staying to purify the area for the safety of the people before returning.”

Not a bad idea. I need Liberone, Liberone wants to be by my side, and the order will likely view it positively.

“Then I’ll get you separate accommodations. If I talk to the administrator…”

“I’ll stay here. Since I plan to assist you anyway, it would be more convenient to have meals and lodging in the same place.”

Live here? The three of us—me, Mirella, and Liberone?

We do have some spare rooms, so it’s not a problem.

There’s no particular reason to refuse Liberone’s request.

It might actually be better this way than setting up a new house with furniture and household items.

“Mirella, what do you think?”

“I don’t mind, as long as the knight doesn’t share a room with you, brother.”

If Mirella agrees, then it should be fine.

“Alright. Then you can live here too.”

“Thank you. I’ll unpack my things right away.”

Liberone took her bag and went upstairs.

And that’s how Liberone came to live with us at the shop.