episode_0033

Episode 33

On the road near the territory of the Count of Bajis, a group of mercenaries that looked bad were marching along the road.

At the head of the group were two mercenaries with unkempt beards who looked like bandits, conversing.

“Captain, how long must we live like this?”

A muscular, burly man, carrying a huge two-handed axe on his shoulder, began to grumble at the man who appeared to be the leader.

“Shut up, do you think I, a 4th-tier person, want to live like this too?”

-Bang!

“Aya! I told you it’s time for us to make a big deal and leave the kingdom. Honestly, with the skills of a captain, it wouldn’t be a big deal to sweep away a decent escort force. ”

“… If you think you can get away with it since the quest doesn’t have much of an escort force, you should kill them all before taking the opportunity, take all the luggage and money, and run away to the Holy Empire.”

In this day and age, it wasn’t common for mercenaries to hit their clients in the back of the head, but it happened more often than you might think.

Unless the opponent was a noble, there weren’t many aftereffects, so there were some mercenaries who made a big hit and then disappeared.

“But isn’t the client a woman? If she’s a woman…hehehe, if you do it well, it could be fun, right?”

“I heard it’s pretty.”

“Ah, I can’t stand the tingling in my lower body…”

“You have an STD…I have to go first no matter what. After you do, I can’t use it anymore, so you use it last.”

“Ah, Captain! Please! It’s no fun when a bitch who has already eaten everything doesn’t react much when you eat her last turn! ”

“No, you little punk! Who would eat anything you want at a cheap restaurant?”

-Bang!

“Oh no!”

“Hehehe… Let’s go quickly and take a look at our client’s face and get a price quote.”

“Okay, guys! Let’s speed things up a bit!”

“”Yes!””

The two men, who appeared to be the captain and vice-captain of the mercenary group, seemed to be enjoying just imagining it, and they grinned and grinned while moving.

#

In the afternoon, the mercenary group arrived at the top of Violet.

“Hello! Are you the leader of Violet Top? I am Dargon, the leader of the ‘Night Echo’! ”

A man who looked a bit dirty and rough, like a bandit, came towards Alice, showing his yellow teeth.

“Hello, Dargon. I’m Alice, the top lady of Violet.”

“Hehehe, you’re prettier than I thought, the walk won’t be boring.”

“Thank you for the compliment. I’ll check the items one last time and then leave.”

‘It looks like it’s about 4th tier.’

“Hehehe, take it slow.”

He must have noticed my gaze, but he glanced at me to gauge my skills.

-Sigh…

He laughed lightly at me, turned around, and walked towards where the mercenaries were gathered.

They keep whispering among themselves and looking at us.

Looking at the mercenaries’ mood, I don’t trust them.

The number of mercenaries is 12… On the other hand, our upper body guard consists of about 8 people including me.

‘I’m anxious…’

Even the opponents included a 4th-rank mercenary captain and another person who was presumed to be 3rd-rank.

Our side, with two third-tier groups including me, was clearly at a disadvantage.

If by any chance they turn around and attack our superiors…

‘It’s too dangerous.’

I walked straight towards Alice.

“Alice, do I really have to use those mercenaries?”

“Well… I don’t like it either, but if we cancel the contract, there’s a penalty… Besides, it’s too dangerous for us to go to the County of Bologna by ourselves.”

“That’s true too…”

A ship laden with cargo is a tempting target for thieves and wandering knights.

You may wonder, what about a wandering knight, even if he is a thief? However, in this era, a wandering knight can turn into a swordsman or a robber at any time.

If you commit a crime and don’t get caught, that’s fine, but if you hide your identity and eliminate any witnesses, who will know that you committed a crime?

There are certainly noble knights, but not all of them are like that, and even among knights there are bound to be scumbags.

Even occasionally, some nobles lead their own secret knightly orders and rob passersby around their territory like a mob.

It’s a world where there’s really no one you can trust.

“It takes about 4 days to go back and forth to the County of Bologna, so I have to be as cautious as possible.”

“Yes, and those mercenaries, unlike what they look like, seem to have been faithfully carrying out requests up until now.”

“That’s fortunate, after all…”

Even though I still felt uneasy, I prayed that I would complete the journey safely since I had no other choice.

.

.

.

“Captain, I think they’re ready to take it, but when will they take it? Looking at that woman’s face, I want to eat it as quickly as possible…”

“Just wait a little longer. We’ll stop by Baekjakyeong and finish the transaction, and then come back. It’ll be hard for us to dispose of all those items separately.”

“As expected of the leader! Then I’ll tell the kids to prepare in advance!”

” Hehehe, if that girl gets stuck under there, I wonder what she’ll cry about…”

##

The journey up to the County of Bologna was fairly smooth.

Although small groups of bandits would occasionally appear, the 4th-tier mercenary captain would take the lead and cut them down, so there wasn’t much we could do.

Before we knew it, it was getting dark, and we decided to set up camp. Half of the people from the Night Echo Mercenaries and the Violet Group were each drafted to take turns standing guard.

-Tap… tap…

I plan to stay up for two days and watch them until we reach the County of Bologna, just in case something happens.

I lit a bonfire right in front of the tent where Alice was staying, and watched the movements of the mercenaries who were standing guard at another bonfire a little further away.

They kept looking at me, their gazes drawn towards Alice’s tent.

-Keep going…

Strength entered the hand holding the scabbard.

-Rustling…

“Leon…”

“What’s going on, Alice?”

“I just can’t sleep, so I’ll stay with you for a bit.”

Alice came out of the tent, walked over to the campfire, and sat down next to me.

-Tap… tap…

-Pok…

Alice began to rest her head on my shoulder without saying a word.

“I’m sorry Leon, you couldn’t sleep because of me…”

“I should protect you, if not, who will?”

“Ugh…!”

The night air was still cool, but the heat from the campfire was so strong that Alice was blushing.

“I’m going to go in now and sleep…Thank you, Leon.”

Alice fanned her face and went into her tent.

“Good night, Alice.”

.

.

.

Everyone is asleep, and you can hear the sound of people on night watch chatting.

-Rustling…

“…Would you like a drink?”

-Rumbling…

When he felt a presence and turned around, he saw Dargon, the mercenary captain, holding a bottle of wine and smiling with yellow teeth.

“No, I don’t drink. And I don’t think it’s right to drink while on night duty.”

Due to the influence of my father, who was an alcoholic in my past life, I have never touched alcohol.

I have such a strong aversion to alcohol that I get so upset and angry when I see people passed out after being drunk.

‘Why do you harm others when you can’t control yourself…’

I don’t have any particular aversion to other people drinking, but I get angry when I see people who can’t control their drinking.

-dump!

He moved towards the campfire, sat down on the other side, brought the bottle to his lips and began to drink.

-Gulp…gulp…

“Phew… You’re wasting your life by not drinking something this good.”

“I have bad memories of drinking.”

“Kihihihi… Even those bad memories can be forgotten if you get drunk on alcohol. You’re stupid.”

“Director Nam.”

I shrugged my shoulders at Dargon, who chuckled and laughed at me, and brushed his words off.

“…I heard you’re a slave?”

“…Right.”

“Don’t you want to be free?”

“…”

Are you trying to persuade me?

Dargon suddenly started asking me serious questions.

“It looks like you’re at least a third-tier person, but don’t you think it’s too bad to just rot away as a slave?”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Do you want to join our mercenary group?”

“…”

He made me a pretty straightforward offer.

“If it’s you… I already have a place for my right arm, so I can do my left arm right away. What do you think?”

“No, no need. Let’s pretend I didn’t hear the suggestion. ”

If we continued the conversation here, I felt like it would lead to dangerous conversations, so I firmly refused.

“Hehehe, there’s still a lot of time, so think about it slowly, but if it’s too late… No. I hope you make a wise choice. ”

Argon stood up, shook out his pants, glanced at me, and then walked back towards the mercenaries.

-Thump…thump…

‘This is fucked.’

If we look into the hidden meaning of the recruitment offer that Dargon gave us, it seems that they are already full of thoughts of betraying us.

Perhaps he had just made the offer to recruit me in order to induce me to betray him, as he seemed to be the strongest among the Violet tops.

‘Should I take this opportunity to secretly cut off his head while he’s sleeping?’

I turned my gaze to the mercenaries and tried to figure out how to assassinate the mercenary leader, but…

impossibility.

They must have sensed that I was acting suspicious, because they were already starting to move as if they were on guard against me.

The die has already been cast, and now it is not surprising that an accident could happen at any time.

“Ha…Fuck…”

When what I feared becomes reality, my heart grows cold.

-Sigh…

Feeling frustrated, I ran my hand down my face and began to organize my thoughts.

Their betrayal was expected, but… there’s not much we can do about it.

Without clear evidence and only circumstantial evidence, it would be unreasonable for us to attack them first, as they are mercenaries who have already built trust elsewhere.

Even if we claim that we attacked first and won by surprise, once the investigation begins, it will be revealed that we attacked first through confession magic.

Even if we capture some of them and ask them to confess, if they insist that they only thought about it and never actually did it, we have nothing to say.

If that happens, Violet Top will lose all the trust and reputation it has built up so far.

In the end, unless they show us their teeth, the only thing we can do is break the contract…

There was no guarantee that they would not come after us if we broke our contract upon reaching the County of Bologna.

In the end, it was obvious that an absurd situation would unfold where the deposit would be paid as the deposit and the attack would be sustained.

‘If we hire more mercenaries…’

Will those mercenaries not betray?

Rather, the worst-case scenario could unfold, with the number of enemies only increasing.

It’s impossible for us to attack first, or to ask others for help…

If I have to choose the lesser of two evils…