Chapter 196

Chapter 196

Investing Through the Status Window.

Episode 196: I Am A Servant Of God…! (1)

Ah.

Upon opening her eyes, what she saw was a worn and shabby stone ceiling.

Ordnung instinctively groped by her bedside for her blindfold, but it was nowhere to be found. As she turned her head towards the crackling sound of the campfire, she saw Allen’s profile, lost in thought, staring endlessly into the fire. His side profile, glowing in radiant golden light, was as beautiful as a painting.

Sensing movement, he shifted his gaze toward the Blind Saintess. And their gazes met.

“You’re awake. How do you feel?”

“Ahem, ahem. I’m okay.”

She cleared her throat a few times to soothe her hoarse voice.

“By the way, my blindfold… do you know where it is?”

“It must be uncomfortable; just stay like that. It’s fine with me. It’s pretty, you know… Like the universe.”

He was the second person to say that her eyes were as beautiful as the universe—the first man to do so.

As she tried to sit up, she let out a small groan due to the aches all over her body.

“Stay down. You’ve been through a lot.”

She gently felt her lower abdomen that had been pierced by that monstrous stem. Fortunately, the hole seemed to have healed well. Her limbs were intact too…

“Thank the girl next door as well. She worked hard to heal you.”

“…Okay.”

The Blind Saintess, defying the instruction to stay lying down, stubbornly got up and quietly sat next to Group Leader Allen.

Slightly intimidated, she glanced at the Group Leader nervously.

“I’m sorry…”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I almost messed up the job…”

At that, Allen chuckled softly.

“Honestly, I was a bit freaked out back then… but you did well. In the end, you didn’t succumb to temptation. Anyone who got their hands on the Finger of God would have been tempted like that.”

It wasn’t just a statement of consolation.

The first immortal couldn’t resist the temptation of the Finger of God either, and offered their own finger instead. Thus, the whole city faced divine punishment.

“You did it.”

Allen warmly patted the back of Ordnung.

“Well done, our sister.”

The Blind Saintess was filled with mixed emotions.

“No. We all did it together…”

She murmured softly, almost to herself, with a voice dampened with emotion.

And then followed a long silence.

The crackling sound of burning wood quietly filled the empty space.

“Group Leader…”

“Yes…”

“200 gold coins… starting from this month, right…?”

“…”

He did wonder when she would ask.

As the Finger of God vanished from the continent, the immortals also turned to dust and disappeared with it.

Perhaps it was the last mercy of God.

Thus, by achieving the goal of consecrating the Finger of God, the subjugation force completed their mission.

The total death toll was one mercenary from the Pesial-Mercenary Group. It was said to truly be an accidental mishap.

Thanks to the presence of healers and experienced handling, no other deaths occurred, but there were many with severe injuries.

In particular, the injury list of Team 3, who fought against the King of the Immortals, was hardly missing any names from the overall list.

Broken limbs were considered minor bruises, while losing arms or legs, getting a hole punched through the stomach, or having one’s belly skin torn open with entrails spilling out were common occurrences. They fought desperately, pouring potions directly onto their bodies.

The absence of casualties in such brutal battles was due to the unbroken chain of command and action system. Particularly, it was largely thanks to Allen’s dynamic position shifts and proper command delivery.

And the person who played the most active role in this ancient city battle was undoubtedly the Blind Saintess. She became famous in many ways.

The Top 10 group leaders often joked with Allen about how little he must have paid her for him to resort to subtle threats. They marveled at his skill in managing someone like the Blind Saintess for around 100 gold coins.

A relentless money demon.

At the same time, a subtle recruitment war for Blind Saintess Ordnung began.

Of course, openly discussing recruitment could harm their relationship, so they cleverly used the pretext of asking mercenaries to pray for divine blessings to subtly gauge her intentions. The Itty Titty Swordsman, who was also considered for recruitment, was so loyal that there was no room to intervene, but they thought perhaps the Blind Saintess could be swayed with money.

Even in the mercenary world, while overt recruitment attempts were frowned upon, such things were generally tolerated. Allen couldn’t excessively interfere with it. Of course, as the group leader, he couldn’t help but worry.

After he had painstakingly raised them to this point, how painful would it be if some random person just swallowed them up whole?!

Anyway.

Having completed all their tasks, the subjugation force now embarked on their return journey to the capital, leaving the ancient city with nothing left behind.

Though a grueling journey across barren wastelands and sand dunes awaited them once again, the spirits of the subjugation force felt much lighter.

After a month and a half of relentless marching, the subjugation force finally arrived in the capital, looking quite bedraggled.

The Crown Prince commended their efforts, having toiled for months for the empire, and promised that a fitting reward would be given to those who resolved this crisis threatening the continent.

And soon, rumors of the arrival of the subjugation force spread throughout the capital.

Among them, the most fervent topic was, of course, the Allen-Mercenary Group.

The content of the rumors was that this remarkable new star had grown into a mercenary group standing shoulder to shoulder with the Top 10. Even mercenaries from the Top 10, who had ventured together on the expedition, did not deny this, turning the rumor into a truth.

Surprisingly, the one who acknowledged Allen the most was the leader of the Top 10 from the North, Monster Ryga.

At first, Ryga mocked the man, saying he was too feeble to fulfill a man’s role, but after spending several months with Allen, he came to know his true nature. He realized that not having rugged muscles didn’t mean he wasn’t manly.

And everyone who had been with the Allen-Mercenary Group was convinced they would soon become one of the Top 10. In terms of strength, they were already sufficient to be in the Top 10.

Everything was according to the blueprint Allen had drawn.

He was sure that he would go through a lot of hardships, but he was also certain of receiving rewards commensurate with them. Especially since continental events related to the Imperial Palace were the best for boosting reputation points.

Although it couldn’t be confirmed numerically, Allen speculated that the reputation he had steadily built up would finally explode this time, achieving at least the minimum standard for the Top 10.

Approximately six years of time.

Honestly, from the perspective of a game addict’s life, it wasn’t a very quick time. However, considering the foundation that had been honed during that time, it was definitely not late either.

It took almost 10 years for Group Leader Viola, who entered the mercenary world in her late teens, to become one of the Top 10, and even that was recognized as an incredible record.

…Of course, even if all the conditions to become one of the Top 10 were met, you couldn’t enter unless there was an opening. It was a kind of TO.1

Still, from Chapter 4 onwards, such continental events occurred frequently, so the probability of a Top 10 position becoming vacant was much higher than now.

…Now is the time to aim for that…!

After finishing his contemplation, Allen let out a long sigh and leisurely sipped his tea.

The Group Leader, waiting for results from the Imperial Palace… was recently feeling an unspoken pressure from Ordnung.

She had declared to the world that she was a woman who would do anything for money, so people were likely waving money at her from all directions.

Being a mercenary on the verge of the Top 10 and having proven her worth through her past achievements, there were probably quite a few willing to pay more than 200 gold coins.

Perhaps that was why she had been giving strange looks lately. Wondering if there was more to extract from the Group Leader, or why she continued to be favored.

“Sigh…”

Allen crossed his arms and grimaced, letting out a groan over this troublesome issue.

Speak of the devil.

Just then, the Blind Saintess came looking for Allen. She seemed to have some business with him.

“Oh, yes, Sister. What’s up?”

With her hands placed piously on her chest and pretending to smile gracefully, she was thinking furiously. Attempting a task much higher than her capacity, he could practically smell something burning.

“Uh, just, uh, I was wondering if you were doing well today!”

“Well, I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about these days!”

Except for you!

“Hoho, is that so…?”

Money.

It’s money.

She came because of money, this damn woman.

“Really, you have no other purpose?”

He prayed silently for her to just leave, but the brazen Ordnung finally revealed her sly intentions.

“Well, actually, there’s been a lot of talk here and there.”

“Talk? What talk?”

“My pay is… um… low…?”

He almost slapped her when she said ‘low’.

Finally, what he feared had come.

Something he had been worried about for a long time.

Honestly, the Milk-Jug Mage and Itty Titty Swordsman were quite unique cases; it was natural for excellent mercenaries to be bombarded with countless recruitment offers. The Group Leader must protect them against that.

The current recruitment push targeting the Blind Saintess was already anticipated. In fact, it was expected to happen much sooner.

“It’s not like I’m saying I want to go somewhere else. Just… you know… saying…”

If someone offered her double the money, she’d probably shake that plump behind and join them in a heartbeat. Of course, no matter how well she was doing, paying her 400 gold coins when she was not even at the leader level was absurd.

“Ordnung… Our relationship isn’t something that can be measured in money, right…?!”

“Yes, that’s true, indeed…”

A somewhat sullen response.

“So, how much were you thinking?”

He asked just in case.

“250 coins…”

You bitch!

However, if he retreated like this, who knew what kind of accident might occur?

Thus, Allen had no choice but to use his specialty.

It might be a bit unfair to this Pinkette Saintess.

You’re the one who drove me to this!

To Allen, 200 gold coins were the utmost limit of generosity he could afford. Asking for more was no different from asking for his heart.

Having made up his mind, the Group Leader wore a serious expression and asked Ordnung to sit next to him for a moment.

“I have something to confess to you.”

“…Yes?”

At a glance, it seemed like he was worried about not being able to give the 200 gold coins.

He gently took her hand. Even giving a very affectionate and warm gaze.

“I… have feelings for you, Ordnung.”

!!

“I know you overheard me talking with your master before. I’ve been thinking a lot about when to bring this up.”

Ah!

“Ordnung!”

Allen suddenly embraced Ordnung.

Caught off guard in his arms, she hesitated for a moment and then gently pushed him away, her face flushed.

“Th-this isn’t right…! I-I am… uh… a servant of… God…!”

“Just because you serve God doesn’t mean you have to ignore love!”

In her flustered state, Ordnung fidgeted nervously and then abruptly stood up.

“L-let’s pretend this never happened today…!”

Then she quickly scurried out of the room as if fleeing.

Good. It worked…!

Allen leaned back in his chair, grinning triumphantly.

Saving 50 gold coins with a single confession…

What a damn profitable deal.

TL/N: TO stands for Table of Organization in Korea, which means the way an organization/company is run and managed ↩️