episode_0032

After finishing the final briefing,

The Red Fox Mercenary Corps’ executives joined the regular soldiers.

Then, they headed straight to Jebodang Village outside of Athens.

Medic Peter, carrying medical supplies, was in a cart with the elf Priscilla,

and the rest of the executives were on horseback.

Jeanne, the captain, Eugene, the assault captain, and Marie were at the front,

with Ivan, Thomas, and finally Sophia in the back.

“That’s surprising… I heard that Sophists only appeared in the territories of the Tyrannos nobles, the anti-Imperial aristocratic alliance. Are you sure they were sighted in Jebodang’s Dark Forest?”

“There are only three people who witnessed it. Even then, they didn’t specifically mention Sophists, but said they were wearing unusual monastic robes, so I inferred from their testimony.”

As they slowly left the Pangaea region, Ivan and Thomas began to discuss the Sophists.

“Oh… they became a mystical group at the level of a secret society 12 years ago, but you still knew their characteristics, Thomas.”

“When I was in the assassination squad, I saw a black market transaction with the Sophists. I saw Priest, Claymore, and Nagarjuna, except for Jedi. It was a pretty big deal.”

The Sophists, led by Ulysses Schneider,

was a cult that strived to reach excellence through the sword.

Therefore, it was also called the Order of the Sword,

and had a more philosophical than religious tone.

However, after Ulysses, who symbolized that color, was branded as a murderer

and passed away disgracefully, the Sophists transformed into a secretive religious group that rarely revealed itself.

And it didn’t just mean a change in color.

The beginning of extremely secular, profitable, and political moves,

the corrupted Sophists are said to be a core force of the Tyrannos, the largest faction of the anti-Imperial aristocratic alliance within the Elysium Empire.

“It’s truly ironic. Most mercenaries side with the Empire, but the mercenary system has taken root and expanded because the anti-Imperial aristocratic alliance’s strife hasn’t stopped for hundreds of years.”

“Do you believe the conspiracy theory that the Empire is deliberately leaving them at a certain level?”

“Heh heh! That’s not it, Thomas. At least when I was in a brass-scale mercenary corps, the imperial family members I saw, as well as high-ranking nobles and officials, didn’t feel that way.”

The roots of the anti-Imperial aristocratic alliance are deep,

and their conflict with the Empire is well over half of the Imperium’s thousand-year history.

Because they have caused internal wars for so long,

quite diverse and in-depth conspiracy theories are circulating in the world.

“Anyway, Thomas, you said you saw monks, Claymores, and Nagarjunas, so I’m curious about what kind of guys the Sophists that the Jebodang people are testifying about are.”

Ivan shifted the topic of conversation back to the Sophists.

The Sophists are divided into three stages, excluding Jedi, which is a term for leader.

First, there is the Highlander, a novice monk.

The second is the Claymore, an intermediate monk, which means “big sword,”

and finally, the name of the third, upper-level monk is Nagarjuna, which means “big snake.”

“They were wearing black cloaks. In that state, there was a snake emblem wrapped around the armor with a golden sword. It must mean Claymore.”

Thomas made a troubled expression and described the

Sophists appearing in Jebodang, as testified by the residents.

“Claymore? If it’s a Claymore, aren’t they at least Sword Runners or, in many cases, Sword Users?”

When Thomas mentioned their cloak color and the Claymore rank directly,

Ivan was quite surprised.

The reason was clear enough based on the general awakening level of the Claymore he mentioned.

“Besides, they’re not just excellent in awakening abilities, but they’re also guys who have reached a certain level of swordsmanship… Hmm… it’s not going to be easy.”

“Don’t worry too much, Advisor Ivan. The area where they were sighted isn’t inside Jebodang or near the Dark Forest. So, even if those testimonies are true, I don’t think we’ll run into them directly. And as you know, the Sophists hardly ever start fights with mercenaries unless it’s a direct conflict zone or the territory of the Tyrannos.”

Ivan was very wary,

and Thomas diagnosed that the possibility of encountering them directly was slim, based on his own grounds.

“….”

And Eugene was at the head of the line,

silently listening to what Ivan and Thomas were saying.

‘The Sophists, have they become like that now?’

Two years after Eugene’s father, Ulysses Schneider, died,

that is, for two years after Eugene entered the Oblean family,

he could occasionally hear stories about his father

and mentions of the Sophists related to him.

Because Ulysses’s fall from grace as a sword master and sword saint was one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Imperium Empire at the time.

So, Eugene Schneider was also aware of the situation at the beginning of the Sophists’ corruption at the time.

But for the next 10 years,

he had never even heard the name of the Sophists on the pilgrim’s path.

So, just as he gradually forgot about his father,

Eugene lived forgetting about the Sophists as well.

And now, he is hearing such in-depth news like this.

Swish…!

Jeanne looked at Eugene, who was on her left.

The reason why Eugene had not heard the name of the Sophists from others for the past 10 years

was due to the power of Jeanne’s father, Antoine de Cell Oblean.

Antoine’s power, which had been strong from before,

took wing in the form of an overwhelming archduke family in the two years after Ulysses’s death.

Based on that foundation of power, Antoine took steps to prevent his friend’s honor from falling further.

He even obtained the Emperor’s consent to ban mentions of Ulysses and those related to him, even within aristocratic society.

Of course, it was talked about for a few more years among the general public, who had a much broader spectrum.

However, since new gossip was not generated by the nobles from a certain point,

as more time passed, Ulysses’s name gradually disappeared from the memories of people across the Pedon continent.

‘Sophists, not a philosophical Order of the Sword, but a mystical religious order…’

Eugene Schneider thought that

his father, Ulysses Schneider, had left two things in the world.

One is himself, his son,

and the Sophists.

So, from Eugene’s point of view, it was like hearing news about a brother he had forgotten about.

**********

“Oh! Oh, thank you! Thank you so much for responding to our request, Mercenary Captain!”

Bowing! Bowing! Bowing!

After leaving Athens and traveling for about half a day, as the sunset began to set in the sky,

the Red Fox Mercenary Corps arrived in Jebodang Village.

The village chief greeted them from the entrance of the village

and formally welcomed their saviors at the village community center.

At that point, the Red Fox Mercenary Corps’ porters and shield soldiers

had already begun setting up a base camp in a designated area with a view of the distant Dark Forest.

“We are just mercenaries who receive money and provide value for that money. So, you don’t need to show such a face.”

“All the mercenaries avoided this situation! Just the fact that you came is a tearfully grateful thing for our village!”

Bowing! Bowing! Bowing!

If it were the noble lady Jeanne, she would have warmly embraced and responded to the village chief’s bows,

but the mercenary captain Jeanne is different.

As she said, since the relationship is created through money,

no one knows when even the person bowing in front of her like this will suddenly change at some point unless a certain amount of trust has been built up.

Starting with an appropriate line,

that is the cornerstone for doing the job as a mercenary smoothly.

‘They look full of expectations, and their faces are eaten up by fear just as much.’

Behind Jeanne, a few steps away, Eugene moved his head slightly to look around.

In addition to the village chief and some of the villagers in the community center,

quite a few people were hiding here and there on the walls outside the community center,

or looking at the mercenary corps responding to their quest through the cracks in the doors of their houses.

That’s how the people of Jebodang were seen,

the villagers had been tormented by goblins for quite a long time,

and their faces were covered in deep despair.

In the psychology of staring at the Red Fox Mercenary Corps with such faces,

there was a feeling of grasping at straws.

‘That’s why the archduchess is working so hard on social projects. There are more and more blind spots that the public authority cannot reach.’

Jebodang can be seen as a typical example of a blind spot created by the sudden increase in monsters.

Monster subjugation is originally a part-time job concept for mercenaries.

However, since the difficulty level has recently been created beyond the part-time level quite frequently,

it has become difficult for ordinary people to be protected under the existing system.

However, from the Empire’s point of view, moving a large number of troops from time to time to protect small villages on the outskirts of the city, which do not help secure tax revenue, is a severe waste of administration.

“When did you go up there?”

If a sudden variable occurs, they may have to deal with goblins in the village.

So, Eugene went around to familiarize himself with the village structure before it got completely dark.

Then, he saw the elf Priscilla on the roof of the Church of the Radiant Goddess and called her.

“A while ago.”

Priscilla, with a blank face,

looked at the distant Dark Forest and answered chicly.

She was still wearing the monk’s hoodie.

“It looks like it’s going to rain in a few days, we’ll have to decide the outcome within two days.”

At that moment, Priscilla mentioned the weather.

Because elves are a spirit race, they can sense changes in the weather with amazing accuracy.

“Hey Eugene, how much do you know about monsters?”

After that, she asked Eugene a question as if throwing a pebble carelessly.

“Just that they’re beings created with magic involved?”

Eugene crossed his arms and answered in a calm tone.

He didn’t seem to know what Priscilla was asking.

“Do you want to come up here too? You’re a human with a big and sloppy body, so it might be hard to come up?”

“Are you provoking me?”

“Yeah.”

Then Priscilla asked Eugene to come up to the top of the cathedral.

Priscilla looking down at Eugene with a blank face

was making a pretty annoying expression.

“By the way, how old are you Priscilla?”

“Are you upset because I’m talking down to you so openly?”

“Yes.”

“But what can I do? I see you as a kid. You can think of me as being older than Ivan.”

“You’re an old woman.”

“…..”

Eugene climbed the wall nimbly to the top of the roof with his massive body.

After showing such a great appearance,

he hit Priscilla with a counterattack as a pretext for finding out her age.

“Monsters are also beings belonging to the Spirit Realm after all. Therefore, they tend to appear in places full of magic from the Spirit Realm.”

Priscilla skillfully turned the topic back to monsters.

And her gaze was once again directed towards the distant Dark Forest.

“That forest, now called the Dark Forest, was once home to a small number of elves a long time ago. As such, it was connected to the Spirit Realm quite a bit. Back then, it was called the Forest of Life.”

“Ah, are you talking about the ancient Prasia era?”

“Oh, do you know about Prasia, even though you’re just a commoner human? Not bad?”

Swish!

Priscilla was looking at the Forest of Life, a forest where elves existed in ancient times, not the Dark Forest now.

Since the ancient Prasia continent was something Eugene had learned about in the Oblean Archduke’s library,

he reacted reflexively without being conscious of it.

Then, Priscilla turned around with a surprised expression because the general civilian Eugene knew knowledge that only the upper nobles usually know.

“Haha, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to learn to write. So I was very interested in books.”

“You’re a suspicious friend.”

Eugene, realizing he had messed up, skillfully made excuses.

“In that Prasia era, humans and elves coexisted on this continent. In fact, human magic was also passed down by elves.”

However, since she was a Priscilla who was far from being persistent, like an elf,

she immediately said what she wanted to say again.

“But as the upheaval in the Spirit Realm occurred and human civilization developed at the same time, elves began to leave the continent. As a result, the Forest of Life, where elves lived, became the Dark Forest where goblins settled.”

Whooooosh…!

Flap!!

Priscilla’s face, looking at the distant Dark Forest,

was still expressionless, but it felt like she was feeling new emotions.

At that moment, the wind blew

and Priscilla’s cloak attached to her monk’s robe fluttered.

‘Oh, Ms. Priscilla has finally taken out her bow.’

The new content of Priscilla that was revealed because of it,

made Eugene Schneider’s eyes widen.

The day Eugene first saw Priscilla, and from this morning until arriving here,

he hadn’t seen the elf archer Priscilla’s weapon, the bow.

However, when he arrived at the quest location and the camp began to be built in earnest,

Priscilla brought her bow.

Commonly called the World Tree Bow,

elf archers are given a bow made of a World Tree branch at the same time as they are born.

‘As expected, there’s no bowstring.’

Priscilla’s World Tree Arrow, revealed by the fluttering cloak,

did not have a bowstring.

In other words, it meant that it was a bow that used mana arrows instead of normal arrows.

And what that means,

‘As an archer, she’s at least an expert or higher.’

Priscilla’s mana awakening ability meant that it was above Jeanne, Ivan,

and Sophia.

At least expert or higher.