episode_0017

“Charlotte, have you and Grand Duchess Marianne ever seen an elf in person?”

Since puberty, Charlotte would hold young Eugene in her arms and read him books from home.

Today, the two are reading an encyclopedia that organizes the different races of the Fedon Continent together.

Eugene and Charlotte are having such a good time,

Eugene, who was very curious about the mysterious race of elves,

looked up at Charlotte’s beautiful face and asked a question with a curious expression.

“Sister, you still have many restrictions on your activities in the Holy See, Eugene. So I haven’t seen one. But Mother became a bishop nun at the age of 20. So she has seen elves.”

Fifteen-year-old Charlotte kindly answered her beloved younger brother’s questions.

Since Charlotte had a high chance of becoming a saintess,

she had participated in quite a few projects with the consideration of the Holy See even before entering the convent.

Even so, she had never met an elf up to that point.

Among the different races of the Fedon Continent, they have the smallest number of individuals,

and not only is their mysticism severe, but they also possess a noble sense of self-awareness as sons and daughters of the World Tree,

so the higher race of elves rarely faces humans unless it is a special situation.

“Mother said that they really have a different aura when you see them in person. She said that their noble attitude is immediately understandable. This sister wants to see them too, my brother.”

“That’s ridiculous! There is no one with a greater aura than the Grand Duchess and Charlotte!”

“Hehe! Do you really think so, my brother? Wow~ I’m so happy! I feel so good when Eugene says that!”

Whack!

“Of course!”

However, young Eugene could not agree with Charlotte’s statement that elves exude an aura that is impossible to approach.

From his perspective, he had grown up in the Oblean Grand Duchy for several years,

so he was in the midst of a flowering thought that he was living with the most beautiful, noble, and elegant women in the world.

‘Still, I want to see an elf… What would it feel like? If I actually see one…’

However, deep inside, he became curious.

That’s because the elves depicted in the encyclopedia of different races were so amazing.

However, since he had not experienced even the footsteps of elves since then,

that curiosity remained only as forgotten unconsciousness.

**********

‘Elf!! They really look mysterious!!!’

The mysterious race of the Fedon Continent that he finally met directly after 10 years,

the mysterious being was about 150cm tall and was looking up at Eugene Schneider with a haughty expression.

‘Even though they’re covering themselves up like that, I can feel the aura! It’s like they just cut out the elf’s face in front of me in an ordinary mercenary tavern scene!’

Elf Priscilla was overflowing with mysterious charm.

Her eyes felt like they were emitting light beyond just emerald color,

and her skin was full of radiance and moisture to the point where the word mercenary seemed out of place.

Also, even in Fedon, where people with various hair colors coexist,

the beauty of Priscilla’s emerald-colored hair, which was even emitting a slightly subtle light aura, created an overwhelming feeling in its uniqueness.

And the most decisive element that stole Priscilla’s gaze,

it was the long ears that can be said to be the symbol of the elves themselves.

Priscilla’s elf ears, which made Eugene feel a sublime and mysterious emotion rather than being strange,

made Eugene realize that this life was definitely a different species from me.

Elf Priscilla, who has such beauty and charm,

but soon from the prim mouth of the mysterious and cute Priscilla,

“Sloppy, you’re making a stupid expression.”

A comment came out that shattered that image.

‘….?’

It was a comment from Priscilla that smelled strongly of a nasty brat.

As a result, Eugene’s expression froze as it was, admiring her appearance with a surprised feeling.

“Marie, did you order my vegetable juice?”

Jump!

“I ordered it a little while ago, so it will be out soon, Priscilla!”

Whether Eugene made such an expression or not,

Priscilla asked Marie about the order status

and landed in her original seat inside the sofa with a very nimble jump.

Elves usually drink vegetable juice because alcohol doesn’t suit them very well.

“Still, I don’t think you should say that to a new colleague, Priscilla!”

Marie, the upright and proper young lady, pointed out Priscilla’s previous remarks to Eugene with a feeling of admonishment.

Then, Priscilla leaned her chin chicly, looked out the window, and did not back down.

“Priscilla is a very nice person even if she acts like that, Brother. Sit over here.”

“Oh, okay.”

It was Thomas behind him who took care of Eugene, who had been hit by an unexpected blow.

‘If Thomas and Marie are using those titles, then is she older than she looks? I heard that elves usually live more than five times longer than humans.’

But Eugene was indeed not an easy person.

Eugene, who quickly recovered his mentality, began to extract information about Priscilla, his object of curiosity.

Even in the human race, when the level of mana awakening reaches a certain level, aging slows down and they live longer.

However, as beings classified as spirits, elves, whose mana is manifested as soon as they are born, are on a different level.

Therefore, trying to estimate their age based on human appearance is a foolish act.

‘Elves have Walker-level mana awakening ability as a basic. That jump just now, it was infuriating and coy, but it wasn’t ordinary.’

Elves are a race that is far from effort, training, and this side of things.

A race that lives on innate talent.

The reason why that is possible is that

just for the reason of being born as an elf, awakening is basic from the time they start walking

and they produce Walker-level stats.

Of course, that’s just the minimum,

Priscilla’s stats will far exceed that.

“Oh! You became a Sword Runner at the age of nineteen? You’ve got a friend with tremendous talent!

Soon, the Red Fox Mercenary Corps’ conversation ripened as much as their plentiful table.

The topic was, of course, about the newcomer Eugene

and Ivan was greatly surprised to hear about Eugene’s level of awakening.

“Wow, no wonder the captain is giving you a grand initiation ceremony! It’s really hard to find a swordsman Sword Runner or higher! For your information, Marie and I are Sword Walkers, Brother Eugene.”

Thomas, who already knew that Eugene was a noble,

deliberately exaggerated and hyped him up.

“When did I become an X Runner? I think it was when I was twenty-one. I became an X User when I was thirty-three. If you only look at the point when I rose to Runner, I was also very fast compared to the average. So I trained hard afterwards. But I felt that the period of becoming a User was taking longer than I thought, and I thought my talent was only up to here. Hehe!”

Ivan crossed his arms and shook his head, comparing his situation with Eugene’s.

Ordinary people usually start mercenary life around the age of 16~19.

The average point at which people who have achieved mana awakening among them break through the Runner Awakener is around their late twenties.

And most of them end at this Runner Awakener stage.

Still, Ivan achieved an X Runner breakthrough at a fast timing enough to be called a genius among ordinary people.

That’s why he had a lot of motivation to live as a mercenary.

But he was eventually stuck as an X User,

but Eugene became a Sword Runner around December when he was finishing his 19th year, the year he started his pilgrimage.

“Our captain must work hard. You can’t be overtaken by a junior from your hometown, hehe!”

“The captain, who became a Sword User at 23, certainly has specs that make him feel threatened, Mr. Eugene~ At this point, he’s almost at the legendary level in terms of ordinary mercenary level?”

Ivan and Sophia jokingly promoted the competition between Jeanne and Eugene, who were using the concept of seniors and juniors from the same hometown.

There may be several reasons why Jeanne inflated her age by about three years,

but the most important thing was because of her awakening level.

A Sword User achieved at the age of 20 is at a level that cannot be explained unless they are a genius of the level of nobility or an ordinary person.

The borderline that could avoid that unnecessary suspicion was 23 years old.

‘Hmm, so there are three User-level awakeners in the Red Fox Mercenary Corps? Excluding Priscilla, who is an elf, for now.’

Eugene, who was listening to his colleagues’ awakening level coming out, wore an interested expression.

Based on ordinary mercenaries, a User Awakener is a boss-level person no matter which scale of mercenary corps they go to.

There are as many as three User Awakeners in the Red Fox Mercenary Corps, a small mercenary corps of about 30 people.

Jeanne, the Sword User,

and X User Ivan Igor,

plus Sophia, who was from a mid-level nun but has become an upper-level nun this year, added to the headcount.

It can be seen as a mercenary corps that seems somewhat disorganized, but has a considerable level of substance.

“Hmm~ Some troublesome guys have come~”

At that moment, Secular Nun Sophia, who had opened another bottle of alcohol,

looked at the entrance of the mercenary pub and raised the corners of her mouth subtly.

“Who is it, Sophia?”

Then, Thomas reacted by turning his head in the direction Sophia was looking.

“Huh? Why are those bastards here?”

As soon as he saw that place, Thomas’s expression, which had been consistently pleasant, soured slightly.

“I know that the White Wolf Mercenary Corps was warned by the Management Knightage and was banned from entering the mercenary residential district for several months? There’s no way they’d break that rule and show up like that, so did they get released already??”

Six mercenaries were cracking expressions at the pub’s counter.

The White Wolf Mercenary Corps,

a group that is skilled but has a gangster-like behavior, causing constant noise in the Athens mercenary residential district.

Thomas is showing the same reaction as now because there was also trouble with Jeanne’s Red Fox Mercenary Corps.

“Hehe! How was it, Madam, did you defend your sales while we were away? It couldn’t have been easy, right?”

“Our madam’s breasts are so plump that the guys can’t help but stop by, brother!”

There were five men and one woman wearing a thief-class outfit.

They flaunted their presence by harassing the mercenary pub’s madam with a gangster-filled appearance.

“I heard that the White Wolf Mercenary Corps is merging with another mercenary corps to aim for promotion to a Black Stone-level mercenary corps. And it seems that there was someone in that merged mercenary corps who had connections with the Management Knightage.”

Ivan, with a benevolent expression, also wore a sullen expression and

shared the inside story he knew.

The mercenary residential area is called a semi-lawless zone where the law is more lenient than other places.

The empire is simply controlling the situation by placing a dedicated public authority called the Management Knightage and granting them considerable discretion.

As much discretion as they were given, there was a large margin for lobbying and there were many loopholes,

so the White Wolf Mercenary Corps used that to break their shackles.

“If it’s Black Stone, does it mean a mercenary corps with 100-250 people, Thomas?”

“That’s right, Brother. If that happens, we can do more profitable requests or be called to famous battlefields.”

Eugene confirmed the concept of the Black Stone level that came out of Ivan’s words with Thomas.

If the size of the mercenary corps is less than 10 people, it is a unit,

10-100 people is White Stone,

100-250 people is Black Stone,

250-1000 people is Bronze,

1000-2500 people is Brass,

and 2500 or more people is Platinum.

Originally, it was derived from the Knightage classification criteria,

but it was transplanted and settled as the scale of the mercenary society grew due to the empire’s encouragement.

“These White Wolf Mercenary Corps friends give off a strong gangster vibe, was there a fight with our mercenary corps too?”

“That’s because…”

Eugene carefully looked at the six members of the White Wolf Mercenary Corps who were harassing the madam.

He also collected his colleagues’ reactions to the White Wolf Mercenary Corps.

It seems that it is not simply the unpleasantness of seeing well-known gangsters.

In other words, it seems that the two mercenary corps are deeply intertwined, so Eugene immediately asked Thomas for confirmation.

However, it seemed that Eugene Schneider’s curiosity would be directly resolved by the other side.

“Yo~ Red Hair Mercenary Corps! Is it the Red Hair Mercenary Corps? Looks like you guys are having a good day today? The table is very plentiful, right?”

Step! Step! Step!

That’s because the man who seemed to be the leader among the six members of the White Wolf Mercenary Corps

began to walk towards the Red Fox Mercenary Corps table with his subordinates, raising the corners of his mouth with a hint of mockery.

“How have you guys been while we were away?”

Smirk!

The leader raised the corners of his mouth even more when he arrived at the Red Fox Mercenary Corps table.

Short white hair, about 184cm tall and weighing about 100kg.

The subordinates who were following behind him also took their positions one by one.

“Red Hair Mercenary Corps, Kyle! Show at least a minimum of courtesy between mercenary corps! Even though we are in a lawless place, it is ultimately a world where people get along with each other.”

The white-haired man’s name was Kyle,

Ivan glared at Kyle’s arrogant face with heavy eyes and gave him advice.

Kyle is not only the younger brother of Kasim, the leader of the White Wolf Mercenary Corps, but also

is the vice-leader of the mercenary corps, which is aiming for a Black Stone scale.

“Oh my, Advisor Ivan! I’m sorry. I am ignorant and have not mastered such etiquette. I realized it even now, so I am bowing my head like this…”

Bow!

Kyle bowed politely to Ivan with a face full of apology.

“What a load of crap! Just because you rolled around in a Brass-level mercenary corps, you’re acting like an old geezer!”

Thud!!

It was a feint.

Kyle immediately lifted his chin,

then struck the Red Fox Mercenary Corps table with his right Walker foot as if to press it down.