Ch.31Dark Elf Mercenary Red Hood #2

“Very well. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“First, I need travel expenses. And I’d like to disguise myself as a war merchant.”

The Kingdom of Bluenail is in the midst of a civil war.

It’s a three-way conflict between the faction of the 1st and 3rd princes combined, the faction of the 2nd prince, and the faction of the 4th prince.

As a result, assassination attempts against the leaders of each camp are frequent, and wars both large and small occur often.

In such a war-torn situation, it was natural for various activities to be suppressed.

People couldn’t open and close their shops as usual or farm with peace of mind.

The power and national strength they possessed was also being consumed moment by moment.

However, where some suffer losses, others inevitably gain, and in relatively safe areas, economic activities continued, albeit uneasily.

Those who rode the wave of war profiteering were among such people.

I wanted to disguise myself as a merchant seeking to profit from the war.

If I tried to enter as I would in peacetime during wartime, I would likely draw suspicious glances in many ways.

In that respect, I thought that posing as a merchant seeking to benefit from war profiteering would provide a good pretext and help avoid suspicious eyes.

“A war merchant… not a bad idea. Then I shall arrange for you to use our company’s identity.”

The Altram Trading Company was established very long ago, when the Krauser side half-pressured it into existence, saying what nobleman doesn’t have a front pocket.

Thanks to this, the Altram Viscounty was able to accumulate wealth despite having no territory or serfs.

On paper, the head of Altram and hereditary Viscount was the owner, but in reality, it was run by the vice president beneath him.

Chess, upon hearing just the words “war merchant,” called someone to make various arrangements.

He prepared everything as if I had been with the company for a long time, appointed me to a position with some authority, and even had simple goods prepared for sale.

Additionally, Chess had me use an alias.

In my opinion, it seemed unnecessary to go that far, but it was out of concern for rumors spread due to Helena’s commotion.

“It seems all preparations will be complete by tomorrow. When do you plan to depart? Will you leave as soon as everything is ready?”

“Yes, that’s my plan.”

I answered Chess’s question firmly.

Although there was a fair amount of time, it wasn’t something to be leisurely about, and I intended to follow the saying “strike while the iron is hot.”

After all, tasks only become more troublesome the longer they’re postponed.

◎◎◎

“Mr. Black, we’ll be crossing the border soon.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

I nodded at the coachman’s words from the seat right next to me.

After passing through the Margrave’s territory, we were about to set foot in the entrance of the Kingdom of Bluenail, which was the 4th prince’s domain.

The caravan wasn’t particularly long, but it wasn’t short either.

A line of wagons carrying goods and military provisions, which we used as a means to appear as moderate as possible, followed one after another.

Additionally, there were wagons containing camping equipment such as tents.

Black was my alias.

It was a name I chose partly because my hair color was close to black, leaning toward navy.

I picked it simply to avoid overthinking an alias, but I quite liked it.

“Haah—”

I gazed absently at the distant forest and the reasonably well-maintained road, savoring the clean air.

The sound of rolling wheels and horse hooves hitting the ground also put me at ease.

It felt like going on a picnic rather than entering a civil war zone.

However, since this wasn’t actually a picnic, I had ordered the people following me to arm themselves.

They were soldiers borrowed from Duke Krauser and Helena.

I could have used mercenaries, but using available soldiers was a consideration to reduce the possibility of betrayal.

Of course, in the mercenary world, breaking trust would result in being treated like garbage, but such incidents happen quite openly in reality.

There were also cases where mercenaries claimed they did their best to protect their client, but the client died first, and they simply played innocent.

In such cases, they might be labeled somewhat incompetent, but that seemed better than losing credibility.

Thus, what was meant to be merely a pretext and disguise had become quite a convincing trading expedition.

“Huh?”

Just then, I heard rustling sounds from the forest on both sides of the road.

It was the sound of something stepping on fallen leaves or brushing against leaves caught on branches.

Better safe than sorry.

I drew one of the black dirks hidden in my chest and raised my hand high.

Seeing this, the people following me nodded with evident tension and drew the swords at their waists.

It was a signal to arm themselves and stand by.

Of course, it could simply be a wild animal, or someone who had briefly entered the forest.

But we were at the entrance of a civil war zone, a place swirling with various forms of chaos.

So I judged it best to arm ourselves and be ready.

“Mr. Black, do you see something?”

The coachman asked, more tense than the soldiers.

He was trembling so much that his hands and feet were shaking.

Unlike the soldiers standing by with swords, he was one of the few ordinary people in this trading expedition, someone who actually worked for the company.

So, the fact that he didn’t carelessly call me by my real name was already a great help.

“Yes… I see them.”

I enhanced my eyesight with mana and carefully examined the direction of the sound.

Enhancing my sight didn’t mean I could see things far away like a telescope or spot every speck of dust.

But it was clearly much better than normal vision.

Thanks to this, I could see men hiding and waiting to ambush us, despite having made rustling sounds to reveal their presence. Some were conversing with urgent expressions.

They were all armed with swords or hand axes, and some were sporadically wearing light leather armor.

It wasn’t processed from monster hide like what Helena often wore, but it was quite decent.

The men, who appeared to be bandits, were waiting on both sides of the road, having divided into groups.

I was able to determine this by turning my gaze to scan all directions.

“Tsk.”

The more chaotic a country becomes, the more impoverished its people, and the higher the probability of bandits and the like flourishing.

Even someone like me, not particularly well-versed in history, knew this well, so I wouldn’t have been surprised to encounter bandits anywhere.

But I realized that thought was wrong.

It was incredibly surprising to meet a band of bandits so soon after crossing the border.

Anyway, surprising or not… I needed to respond to minimize damage.

So I took out another dirk from my chest, held both in one hand, and lightly waved that hand.

At a glance, it might look like I was preparing to throw them, but it was actually a signal to form pairs.

The soldiers nodded with grave faces and naturally stood close to other soldiers nearby.

It looked like they were sticking together out of fear.

“My goodness.”

I unconsciously muttered in a low voice.

I had spotted a man in a tree, tightly drawing a bowstring with an arrow nocked.

I never expected them to have prepared bows as well.

So that’s why.

With the thought that I needed to stop that arrow first, I threw the two dirks in my hand forcefully.

Not throwing them to the ground, but aiming at the bandit’s head and the arrowhead in the tree.

Even if I couldn’t perfectly match the small arrowhead, I could at least cut his throat.

Of course, piercing the head, which was several times larger than the arrowhead, was inevitable.

“Kuhek?!”

The man sitting in the tree collapsed with a groan.

As the dying man’s hand released the bowstring, the arrow was shot, but fortunately, the arrowhead had been cut off, so there didn’t seem to be much damage.

Indeed, one soldier who was hit in the forearm by the arrow merely frowned.

“Everyone, prepare for an ambush!”

Since their comrade had died, they would likely show aggressive behavior. Judging that there was no longer any need to remain quiet, I shouted loudly.

It was proof that I had noticed the rest of them after killing the man.

“Shit! Attack! Attack now!!”

As expected, the bandits shouted a beat late and rushed in from all directions.

There seemed to be about thirty of them, and they wielded their swords without hesitation, as if they had done their share of looting or killing. The steadiness of their blade tips was evidence of that.

However, that was separate from their sword skills.

The way they wielded their swords was very crude, looking like ordinary people swinging swords to anyone watching.

The soldiers seemed to know this and were responding quite calmly.

I briefly considered whether to protect the coachman or take the initiative, and decided on the latter.

The longer this dragged on, the higher the probability of people getting hurt, so I wanted to minimize that probability as much as possible.

“You should hide under the wagon. In the current situation, they won’t prioritize attacking someone who’s quietly hiding.”

“Y-yes…!”

As soon as the coachman heard my instruction, he jumped down from the driver’s seat and hurriedly hid under the cargo compartment.

In such a chaotic situation, they wouldn’t expose themselves by attacking a hidden person first, so he would likely be safe until the fight ended.

Of course, there was a possibility that they might drag the coachman out and use him as a hostage, but that would only result in their own death.

Exposing themselves to pull out the coachman would be like asking me to kill them.

Regardless, killing all the bandits was a given.

I wasn’t going to eradicate them at the root, like the pirates I had buried with my own hands.

“What are you… keuuk?!”

This was only my second time in actual combat, but it was eerily calm to an extent beyond expectation.

In terms of mindset, I felt little different from someone hardened by murder.

I looked down at the bandit whose throat I had torn out, killing him instantly, and took the weapon from his hand.

I wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship and had mainly trained in unarmed combat, so it would only be cumbersome.

“Just hold onto this tightly for now.”

So I took the weapon, quickly ran to the wagon, and handed it to the coachman hiding under the cargo compartment.

The space was so narrow that it would be difficult to swing it satisfactorily, but it was meant for him to defend himself, however inadequately.

“You bastard!!”

Taking advantage of the moment I was giving the weapon to the coachman, another bandit approached within reach and swung his sword.

When I quickly turned my head, the sword was already half-swung, putting me in what could truly be called a crisis.

“That’s dangerous…”

All I could do in this situation was grab the wrist of the bandit holding the sword.

As a result, I was fortunately able to avoid being cut by the blade.

I had successfully caught the bandit’s wrist.

It was probably because I had higher strength and agility than him.

“Let go! Let go of this!”

“Let go? Then I should.”

I nodded at the bandit who was trembling with bewilderment, and applied all my strength to the hand gripping his wrist.

Additionally, I used mana to further enhance that strength.

“Ah, aaaagh!!”

Consequently, it was natural that the wrist of the bandit holding the sword was torn off like a rag and rolled on the ground.

Being alive while having bones broken and flesh torn would certainly cause enough pain to foam at the mouth.

Seeing the blood surging from the cross-section, there was a high probability of death from excessive bleeding. If left like this, he would likely die rolling on the ground while screaming.

From that perspective, there was no point in doing anything more, but I wasn’t someone who enjoyed watching human suffering.

Therefore…

Wuddeuk!

The best option was to strangle the man’s neck with force, ending his life with the sound of his neck bones collapsing.