Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Investing Through the Status Window.

Episode 8: The First Expedition (4).

Charlotte opened her eyes. Not from a soft wool mat, but from a musty-smelling leather mat.

‘……Uh…….’

Raising her upper body, she grabbed her throbbing head and tightly shut her eyes. A fishy taste of blood wrapped around her mouth once, and at the same time, a terrible stench aggressively entered her nose. …It felt like her brain was being crushed.

It was still the faint of dawn. Holding her head, she scanned her surroundings once. She saw a mercenary, chewing on jerky without even wiping off the blood on his face, in front of a crackling campfire. He was on morning duty.

“Ah, have you woken up? You must be tired, why not sleep more….”

“…It’s oka-, kehem, it’s okay.”

Charlotte’s voice was cracked. It must have been from screaming and wailing all night.

Her eyes soon adapted to the darkness. Then, the stark scene within the fortress rushed at her retina and collided.

Scattered flesh, innards, fragments of bone… And there, several corpses left half-eaten and the motionless bodies of monsters sprawled out.

“Urgh.”

She had been fine before going to sleep, but seeing that horrific scene again almost made her vomit what was in her stomach. The mercenary who saw her state let out a strangely twisted laugh.

She turned her head. And with a rough breath, she recalled the incident she had experienced earlier.

…Pathetically…

Revisiting her own disgrace was almost a form of torture for her, who had a strong sense of pride. Her actions last night were, literally, a disgrace in every sense.

Honestly, she was so flustered at that time. And scared. She had seen monsters from a distance before, but it wasn’t such a horrific creature then. The moment she saw it, her mind went blank, unable to think of anything. …Then Allen came. And scolded her. And then, slapped her….

‘Ah—.’

Charlotte, who belatedly remembered, touched her slapped cheek. “Ugh.” Touching the swollen cheek, a sharp pain shot through.

Having never been scolded, let alone hit, in her life, she couldn’t forget that intense shock that made her see stars.

Strangely, while the memories before that were vague, Allen’s voice, cursing after hitting her, remained very clearly in her ears.

“- Hurry up and go, you fucking bitch! Hurry up and handle those sons of bitches!!”

‘…Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn…!’

She felt so ashamed and angry that she was on the verge of tears. To hear such words from that coward, of all people. How lowly must she have behaved.

She was so embarrassed that she was afraid to face anyone. Then, her pride’s defensive mechanism kicked in. She simply couldn’t bear it otherwise….

‘…I had no choice. Yes. Anyone would be, uh, anyone would be flustered at first. I undoubtedly prepared meticulously. It was just, just so sudden that I was taken aback. …And the monsters were so hideously ugly. Anyone would have been startled. Everyone must have been, at first. It’s natural for anyone to feel scared. …I— I—am a fragile woman. And of noble blood at that. It’s only natural to be flustered in such a situation. I wasn’t considerably too bad. Still, in the end, I did it. I managed to do it in the end!’

Charlotte, rationalizing her actions, rose from her seat and headed towards the area strewn with corpses and bodies.

The horrific sight made her feel like vomiting immediately, but now she had something far more important to protect than her own stomach.

Namely, her cracked pride—.

She tried to be calm. Telling herself that she has adapted now. She was slightly startled at first, but now it didn’t bother her. She could do much better in the future.

As dawn began to break, people started to wake up one by one. After making a round inside the fortress, she gave them orders with a calm expression as if nothing had happened.

“Recover as many of the bodies as possible. If there’s no torso, at least the limbs. If not that, then at least their belongings.”

Though she acted as if she was caring for the dead, it was a kind of performance to cover up her shameful past.

The respect in people’s eyes looking at Charlotte had diminished significantly, yet she acted even more calmly. As if to assert that she acknowledges the mistake but that she was not originally such a person. …But in the end, didn’t she come to her senses and give orders—!

After entrusting the subordinates with the handling of the corpses, she gathered the leaders of the subjugation force. Six of them, excluding one severely injured captain, gathered around her.

“…I’m sorry for showing an unsightly side of myself yesterday. I apologize.”

“No, Group Leader. It’s your first time, so it’s natural to be flustered. Yes, of course.”

The two temporary group leaders, even more unbearable than Charlotte, exaggeratedly raised their voices as they spoke. The captains, having already overcome the crisis, fawned over power as if they had forgotten yesterday’s events. Whether she did well or not, behind her was a count’s family with a territory. Only Allen silently nodded without a word.

What bothered her the most was the coward’s attitude, but she forced herself to ignore it and looked at the officers, saying,

“Since we’ve defeated the monsters, they won’t be coming near here for a while. It seems we’ve completed our mission, so how about we return quickly. There are many injured as well.”

“You are right.”

Everyone agreed with Charlotte’s opinion. Since all the officers agreed, preparations for return proceeded swiftly.

…Too overly excited.

That was Allen’s first self-assessment.

Overcoming the fear of death in the first battle and giving orders from behind the mercenaries was indeed worthy of applause, but the problem was the excessive criticism that poured out due to over excitement.

As the group leader commanding the mercenaries, the right attitude would have been to remain calm until the end and calm down the excited mercenaries….

However, the members of the Allen-Mercenary Group had a somewhat different opinion than their Group Leader’s coolheaded self-assessment.

“Wow, I didn’t know it would really be like that. It’s true when they say that a person’s true nature is revealed during a crisis!”

Who would have imagined that the famous young noble who was renowned as a coward would perform such feats? Even Aiden, who had a quite bit of training abroad, hardly felt any discord following Allen’s commands. There might have been disagreements on how the orders were given, but the content was undoubtedly beyond reproach. Considering this was his first time, it could well be seen as the birth of a new star.

Thanks to that, although there were severe injuries, including an arm being torn off, among the mercenary groups in the subjugation force, the Allen-Mercenary Group was the only group without any fatalities.

“What true nature? It was just my duty as the group leader, nothing more. And you all followed my orders well. I’m more thankful for that.”

Allen didn’t bother gilding his own face. He felt his shortcomings acutely.

Anyway,

Despite not having high expectations, his reputation soared, while Charlotte, who had been eagerly anticipated, saw hers plummet.

Even though she regained her composure towards the end, the disgraceful behavior she exhibited in the process caused her downfall. Her loyalists tried to keep a tight lid on things, but it was difficult to completely silence people’s idle chatter.

[Traits]

♦ Talent

♦ Utilitarianism

♦ Coolheaded

♦ Narcissism

♦ Greed

♦ Victim complex

[Notes]

She wants to hide her disgrace.

Her calves are cramping.

Her Throat burns. Her ankles ache.

…It doesn’t seem too bad for a first attempt. Is there really a need for such gossiping?

Of course, he was angry at the sight of her trembling in fear, so he slapped her, but after that, she didn’t do too bad. Hadn’t Allen also panicked for a moment when he first saw the monsters? Unless someone was exceptionally brave, that’s how everyone would react their first time.

Certainly…, the battle with the monsters far exceeded his imagination.

It wasn’t something that ended with a simple array of sentences seen through a monitor.

In scenes filled with flesh and blood, one had to overcome fear, think continuously, make quick judgments, and scream at the top of their lungs.

Allen realized that the position of group leader was not simply a title of being the owner of a mercenary group.

“Preparations are complete.”

“…Ah, really?”

The subjugation force finished preparing to leave the mining fortress. And a while later, they roughly tidied up inside the fortress and left.

The atmosphere of the subjugation force returning was quite different from when they first came here. Especially, the confident expression of Charlotte had now disappeared without a trace.

Allen thought about offering Charlotte some words of comfort, but soon gave up.

‘…I’m a novice myself, what comfort can I offer… I should worry about my own future.’

Moreover, those full of [Narcissism] might actually react negatively to clumsy comfort. As if saying, how dare someone like you—. It wouldn’t be good to upset Charlotte, who especially wanted to hide her disgrace.

Allen entered under the dense trees. The sky, cleared by logging, was quickly hidden by lush leaves.

“Hooo—.”

He let out a long sigh. Relieved to finally be leaving this place, yet at the same time, filled with regret for not having done better.

This place here, was his first rite of passage.

Through this experience, he realized that the world of Guild Master was never going to be easy.

Clearly, a heavy resolve and firm belief were necessary.

To survive here—.