episode_0012

For a time, a young village man named Jace was in charge of guarding the watchtower.

“Even though I have no legs, I want to help the village.”

Jace, who lost his leg while protecting his comrades in war, had a good character, unlike any lame man.

I gave him a rough idea of guard duty. Reminiscing about his time as a soldier, he handed over all the knowledge that a sentry needed to know, and finally handed over a bell to him.

“If you see a group of mercenaries trying to attack the village, ring this bell.”

“Okay.”

The intention of the bell is twofold.

The goal is to let people know that the enemy is coming so they can prepare for battle and to quickly evacuate non-combat personnel.

And the evacuation area is my home.

“Hey~Xian I made the door just like you said.”

“Thank you for your hard work. Tom.”

This is because my house, built with soldiers made of black wood, is almost impossible to breach unless ladders or siege towers are used.

However, it was only meant to protect for a while and would break through over time.

‘So I prepared various things. I don’t know if it will work.’

I have fought and hunted countless beasts and monsters, but this is my first time dealing with people.

I was worried that I might make a mistake because of my aversion to murder.

“Well, that won’t happen.”

“Xian what?”

“I’m talking to myself, Leon.”

“Really?”

“And when Leon’s time comes, let’s go out with me.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, there is something I need to make.”

There are guests coming to town, and I need to welcome them warmly.

. . .

“Maybe because it’s a rural town, there’s nothing to see.”

“That’s right.”

Ron, the ten leader of the Black Wolf mercenaries who arrived in front of Rugeron Village, sighed as he looked at the view of the quiet and unremarkable village.

“No matter how much I think about it, I doubt whether it is right to type here.”

“Is that so? Other ten leaders say that there are many beautiful women here.”

“How many beautiful women can there be in the countryside?”

Ron was a thief from the city.

For Ron, who grew up observing the city’s culture, development, and enjoyment, the village of Rugeron was a village among village villages.

“Ha… If it wasn’t for the leader’s orders, I wouldn’t have come here.”

“Don’t do that too much. If you have a lot of beautiful women, you can have an amazing day, right? It also makes money.”

“Asshole, if it were that simple, you wouldn’t worry about it.”

Human trafficking.

It was clearly a profitable business, and other mercenary groups also jumped into the business, but Ron doubted whether this was actually a good idea.

It was not easy to turn a nobleman’s serfs into slaves.

No matter how cheap we sell it to the slave trader, the slave trader will not accept it. Because there is a huge obstacle called credit.

‘No matter how chaotic the empire is, it’s okay.’

Currently, wars were taking place everywhere in the empire.

Power struggles between nobles, countries rebelling against the empire, issues of succession to the imperial family, etc.

The empire itself was chaos, but centralization was proceeding without any problems than expected.

What this means is proof that the empire is still alive and well. What if a nobleman’s serfs were to be sold as slaves?

This could be seen as a challenge to the authority of the nobility, and furthermore, an act of treason that disregarded the imperial authority.

‘If this continues, I think I’ll end up becoming a bandit instead of a mercenary. ‘If I see an opportunity later, I will escape right away.’

In front of him who doesn’t want to be labeled as a criminal

“Huh?”

One of the subordinates in front disappeared before my eyes.

“What is it?”

“Gon is gone!”

“Fuck I know! So what?!”

Because the incident was so sudden, the Black Wolf Scout Team, including Ron, quickly became alert to the surroundings.

Then, one of his subordinates discovered something and shouted cautiously while stuttering.

“Woman, there’s a trap here.”

“This is crazy… ”

Let’s look at the direction the subordinate is pointing. Ron could see his subordinate dying gruesomely. The subordinate who fell to the ground died with his entire body impaled by thorns.

“This looks like a trap made by a hunter.”

“I know that when I see it. But why are you here?”

Ron responded nervously to his subordinate’s words. A trap on the way for people to pass by? No matter how much I thought about it, it was strange.

“Wouldn’t you say that this is a village adjacent to the famous Dark Forest? It’s a trap prepared for monsters, so it’s understandable that it’s so ugly.”

“Damn, then Gon was unlucky and fell into that trap?”

“Well, isn’t that a pity?”

Ron was inflamed by his subordinate’s words.

As a representative ranger of the Black Wolf mercenary group, he became skilled and noticed that the trap was made to be human-sized and not specifically for monsters. This trap was created in anticipation of them coming here.

“Everyone, come to your senses. Because there could be a trap in front of here.”

“Haha, we are not fools and will be treated like Gon… ”

There was a subordinate who confidently took the lead.

He, who usually had a bad relationship with Gon, took the lead to show that he was different from Gon.

Kwasik!

He was killed by a flying rock.

“Asshole.”

Instead of comforting his dead subordinate, Ron cursed.

“Say it again. Everyone, be nervous. Otherwise, you will be left behind like this idiot.”

“Yes!”

The subordinates also sensed that something was not unusual and set out to search for the trap.

However, there was no way that a mercenary ranger other than a professional ranger would be able to find a trap made by an experienced hunter, one of the best hunters in the empire.

“Kaaak!”

“Fuck, it’s poison!”

“Sa, save me!”

In the end, Ron, who lost nine of his subordinates except himself, smiled helplessly.

“Hahaha, that’s ridiculous. There is a hunter of this level just in front of a rural village?”

He immediately ran away. This is because I am not confident in moving forward.

But running away came too many times.

Kwasik!

“Quaaah!”

Ron stepped on the trap and couldn’t move, and a large rock fell on him.

“Oh, no!”

Kwazijic!

The scouting team of the Black Wolf mercenaries, including Ron, whose head exploded, was annihilated.

. . .

“It looks like you’re caught in a trap.”

Hunters basically had to be good at handling traps, and the traps taught to them by Ian were both traps for animals or monsters and traps for humans.

‘They said it could be used as a ranger in war.’

Due to my personal inclination, I was not able to use traps well.

It’s not that it can’t be made, but it’s because the monsters I usually deal with aren’t ones that can fall victim to traps like this.

‘This is my first time using it on humans, but I don’t know if it’s effective.’

It’s just a hunch, but it must have worked properly.

So, this was my first murder, but it wasn’t particularly unpleasant or burdensome.

Is it because he didn’t die right before my eyes?

Tap!

“Hit!”

“You’re good.”

“Really?”

After building the watchtower, I taught Leon how to shoot a bow whenever I had time.

For someone with relatively weak muscles, a bow would be a better means of attack than a sword.

‘It would be good to be an archer in the watchtower.’

Of course, since he had only recently learned it, Leon’s skills were not that high, but at least he was able to hit opponents in sight.

“Okay, let’s get back to this.”

“Already? I think I got the hang of it. Let’s do a little more.”

“I’d like to, but the sun is slowly setting.”

“That’s right, I didn’t realize time passed.”

I don’t go out in the countryside at night if possible.

It was so dark that you couldn’t see without a torch, but it was also dangerous because there were beasts and monsters wandering around at night. Especially the closer you are to the dark forest.

“If not tonight, it will be tomorrow.”

. . .

As a village adjacent to the Dark Forest, danger lurked.

I don’t know what kind of crazy person built a village in a place like that, but I’m sure he was insane.

If the Black Wolf Mercenaries were an ordinary mercenary group, they would not have even thought about attacking Rugeron Village due to its reputation as a dark forest.

However, the Black Wolf mercenaries were not ordinary. To be exact, Wolf, the general manager, was unusual.

He is a knight-level being who can fight 100 people on the battlefield alone. He could easily deal with any monster, so his subordinates could follow him with confidence.

However, the scouting team that started first fell behind.

To monsters? No, they just fell into a trap set by farmers in rural villages.

I felt pathetic and sick.

“Ron, I will spend your money well.”

“Hey, don’t monopolize it yourself.”

It is nearly impossible to expect camaraderie from mercenaries. These are the people who go to war for money in the first place.

Although they are hired by nobles, they commit a lot of plunder in war, just like bandits. In a way, mercenaries could be of worse quality than bandits.

“Fuck, the village is so fucking far away. All the country women were searched.”

“Hehehe, I have to make you fucking cry.”

Haha, smiling mercenaries. They liked it best when they plundered rural villages.

The pleasure of stealing the assets they have worked hard to accumulate over the years and raping women in front of everyone is one of the ways they enjoy their mercenary life.

In contrast to the appearance of their subordinates, the leader, Wolff, and the vice-leader did not have a very good expression.

“How did this happen? Ron just died because of a trap.”

Ron has the best skills as a ranger in the Black Wolf mercenary group.

There were times when he overcame several difficulties with his scouting skills and trap setting, and Wolff trusted Ron for that. The reason why Ron is a member of the Ten Masters is because there are not many subordinates who can act as a ranger, but in reality, he can be seen as almost a vice-captain level.

“It looks like there is a skilled hunter in the village.”

The adjutant acting as a staff member expressed his thoughts, but it didn’t mean much. Because Wolff can guess that to some extent.

The most important question is how to deal with future pitfalls if you are caught in one.

The answer was found faster than expected.

“It will be resolved if you send the new recruits who failed their mission in this war to the front first.”

“You mean the ones you don’t need?”

Again, there was no camaraderie among the mercenaries.

If they were not needed by the mercenary group, it was common for them to be mercilessly abandoned.

“Quaaaagh!”

“Sa, please save me!”

“Fuck, my feet!”

Most of the subordinates sent forward died mercilessly.

Don’t you feel sorry for me?

well? The other mercenaries were busy laughing at them.

“Haha, I won, right? Give me the silver quickly.”

“Fuck, Heil, how does he get to the last topic first?”

The Black Wolf mercenaries were able to gradually move forward and reached the village of Rugeron.