People riding on horses approached Zich and his companions. They wore thick leather armor lined with hard metal and carried sharp weapons. Their almost bursting muscles and serious eyes indicated they weren’t just wanderers but skilled mercenaries. Yet, skills and good character often didn’t go hand-in-hand with one another. Lyla let out a small sigh. From far away, she could just tell these guys would not pass by without making a fuss.
Lyla wondered if she could avoid them. She didn’t like people who made provocations; thus, she hoped that the mercenaries would calmly pass by them and prove her wrong. However, in cases like this, her expectations often failed.
The mercenary closest to them shouted, “Hey! You there!” He was clearly addressing Zich and his companions. They turned around to look at the mercenaries. There were twenty of them. Considering their significant number and rough demeanor, most people would have felt great pressure from facing them. However, Zich and his companions weren’t ordinary people.
Zich and his crew stopped in front of the mercenaries. The man in the front took one step forward; he was the man who had yelled at them before. Although the other mercenaries looked scary and intimidating, they were nothing compared to this man. Like a mountain bandit, the man’s face was covered with a ruffled mustache, and there was a knife mark on each side of his jaw. Above all, the eyepatch on one of his eyes made him look even more fearsome. The man looked up and down at Zich and his companions and smirked.
‘As I thought!’ Lyla shook her head. She felt the man’s one eye disgustingly linger on her and Elena. As if she also felt the gaze, Elena hid half of her body behind Snoc. It wasn’t that she was scared—she simply shuddered from the natural repulsion she felt.
“Who are you guys!” the one-eyed man shouted. It was apparent that he was trying to intimidate the group. Yet, no one in Zich’s group was scared by the man’s vain attempts of intimation.
“Speak for yourself,” Zich responded crookedly. Lyla was impressed. Although his appearance and clothing were completely different from the mercenaries, he acted just like the mercenaries he was facing.
The one-eyed man scowled, this wasn’t the response he had expected. With a considerable number of men with mean-looking faces and battle horses—admittedly not the ones with astronomical prices, but still impressive—he had expected most travelers to cower in fear. Yet, Zich and his companions showed a completely different response. The one-eyed man repressed his anger. He wanted to crack his opponent’s head after Zich spoke to him impertinently, but he couldn’t use his fists right away. Even if they were trained and armed, Zich and his companions were also armed.
‘Moreover, those girls look like mages.’
It was very surprising that this group had not one but two mages—they were extremely rare and hard to come by. Nevertheless, the one-eyed man didn’t think he would lose this battle; his group had battled mages before and won. However, unexpected things could happen once they pulled out their swords and began to fight; this was even more so when there were mages in his opponents’ party. Yet, what the one-eyed man wanted to avoid most was causing a commotion in this place.
‘I don’t want him to come and check because of the commotion.’ Thus, the one-eyed man decided to hold himself back from fighting. Besides, he had another way to achieve his goal instead of fighting.
“We are mercenaries hired by Pialu!” the one-eyed man shouted as if he was trying to emphasize his authority from the city too. Of course, this method didn’t work on Zich.
“So?”
The one-eyed man quelled his erupting anger once again and said roughly, “What were you guys doing right now?”
“Can’t you tell? We are burying the corpses rolling around the street.” Zich pointed at the burials that weren’t covered with dirt yet. The one-eyed man smirked. Zich knew what this smile meant. The man had found something to nitpick about.
“Oh? Are you perhaps trying to cover up evidence for your misdeeds?”
Zich let out a very exaggerated sigh. The one-eyed man’s smile instantly disappeared. Zich’s sigh meant that he clearly looked down on him.
“Hey, hey!”
Zich looked at the man and said, “If you are going to keep saying nonsense, waste somebody else’s time. There’s no one among us who will even shudder at your ridiculous attempts to intimidate us.”
“What! Ridiculous! Must I remind you once again that we are mercenaries employed by Pialu! We also have the authority to investigate the happenings around the city!” The one-eyed man took out something from his belongings. It was a scroll, and the man proudly unrolled it. It was a contract that showed the contract they made with the city. It was the real deal with a clear seal that belonged to Pialu.
“Do you get it now! We are obligated to find and erase everything that might threaten Pialu because of this contract! From what we can see, you guys are an extremely suspicious bunch,” the one-eyed man said confidently and stared at the holes that Zich and his companions had dug.
“Therefore, I will arrest and investigate you all! Don’t resist and follow us! If you refuse, you are not only refusing us but the city’s command and thereby refusing the lord of this estate’s command. Beyond that, you will also be refusing the kingdom’s command!” The one-eyed man was basically blackmailing them—if they didn’t follow his order, they were making an enemy out of the whole kingdom. There was nothing wrong with the man’s statement. If they broke the city’s order, it meant that they were ignoring the lord of the estate’s authority and thus the kingdom that had given the lord the authority.
The companions behind Zich who looked carefree before stiffened now. They also didn’t intend to back down from these mercenaries’ blackmail, but it was a different story when a country was backing them. The one-eyed man was proud of himself as he finally saw that Zich’s companions looked tense. It was enjoyable to see how Zich and his companions acted unfazed and cheeky at first, then changed their attitude when he brought up his authority he received from the city.
‘This is why people are obsessed with power.’
Even though it was fun to play around with his opponents with his specialty, which was brute force, using authority against his opponents was also fun in its own way. The one-eyed man was completely immersed in the authority he recently obtained from the city these days. Moreover, the prey he found this time was of extremely good quality.
‘It’s my first time seeing such nice girls.’
The one-eyed man scanned Lyla and Elena. They were both beauties that were hard to come by. No, it was his first time seeing beauties like them. Lyla was also on an entirely different caliber. While Elena was still a beauty that could possibly exist in real life, Lyla was a beauty that didn’t look real even after rubbing his eyes and staring at her again. It was to such an extent that if she claimed that she was a goddess, he would believe her.
‘The guys are okay too.’
Two of them were extremely handsome and while one was clearly less good-looking than the other two. His body looked firm so he would probably also be in demand. Since he had given them enough of a scare, it was time for him to reap the benefits.
The one-eyed man made a strict expression (but regardless of what he did, it looked like the face of a gangster) and said, “If you understand, quietly foll…!”
“Fuck it.” However, Zich’s cold reply cut off his words.
The one-eyed man opened his eyes wide. He hadn’t imagined that his words would be cut off, and he stared at Zich. Then, he noticed that Zich didn’t even seem to be even a bit nervous. He was startled for only a moment and his face soon reddened. Then, he loudly cried out, “You insolent brat! How dare you defy the city’s orde…!”
“There’s no way that the city gave such a shitty order.” Zich cut off the one-eyed man once again.
The one-eyed man’s face was now burning red, and the hand on his scabbard twitched as if he wanted to slice Zich immediately. However, the one-eyed man seemed as if he wanted to suppress Zich with authority in whatever means possible, so he didn’t pull out his sword.
Instead, he shook the contract in front of him. “Don’t you see this contract in front of you!”
However, this still didn’t work on Zich. He snorted, “It’s true that you guys made a contract with the city.”
“If you know that, immediately follow us…!”
“But the contract that you punks made is just a contract to hunt down monsters. Right now, you’re going around to check if there are any monsters wandering around.”
The one-eyed man closed his mouth. His wide eyes that looked as if they were about to pop out of his sockets verified that Zich’s words were indeed true. The mercenaries watching the situation with twisted smiles also stiffened.
“W-what nonsense…!”
“Nonsense, my ass. While we were coming here, we saw monsters moving around in groups. There are also a lot of people who were ambushed by monsters. Even if this place is near the Denest Mountain Range, it’s still a dangerous situation beyond what’s normal. Pialu would have obviously responded to this situation, and one of its responses was to hire mercenaries like you guys.”
Shock slowly filled the one-eyed man’s face, but Zich continued speaking.
“However, in a situation where monsters are causing havoc, would it make sense for Pialu to give the rights to investigate humans who have nothing to do with monster ambushes? In a city that lives on trade? Especially to mercenaries like all of you who have no value except for brute force and throw trust and loyalty into trash? Even if there are a lot of incompetent people as higher-ups, their brains would be able to at least think this much if they’re leading a trade city, you fucking idiots!”
The one-eyed man’s expression turned menacing at Zich’s insults.
“It’s so obvious. You probably threatened people with that low-level contract and reaped the profits and also got some fun in the process. Let me remind you now, don’t you see this tragedy in front of us?”
Zich pointed at the blood marks, wood pieces, and scattered goods on the ground. “Even though it’s already a shitty thing to commit crimes while being hired by the city, you should have at least done that after doing your job. What kind of useless punks can’t even do their job properly but try to do trashy acts first? Punks like you are worse than dogs, you trashy bastards.”
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting out from that filthy mouth of yours!”
“Then, why don’t we go to the city and check? You won’t change your words, right? If you want to investigate us, we obviously have to go to the city. Unless you were planning on dragging us to a secret hideout that only you guys know.”
Compared to the agitated one-eyed man, Zich’s voice was unbelievably calm. However, rather than getting angry together, this was even more annoying.
“You bastaaaaaaard!” The one-eyed man pulled out his sword. At the same time, the mercenaries also pulled out their weapons.
Zich’s companions also got ready for battle.
“Diiiiiiiiee!” The one-eyed man let down his sword.
Zich didn’t move and watched the sword come down towards him. The sword approached the area right above his head, and the one-eyed man twisted his lips while imagining how Zich’s head would soon be split in two.
Crasssh!
The one-eyed man’s body flowed sideways. His sword and his arm that held the sword was completely shattered. The one-eyed man stared at the scattered metal fragments, flesh, and bone pieces flying in the air. His eyes headed towards Zich. Before he realized it, a bizarre, tree-looking sword was in Zich’s hand. Yet, this was the extent of his thought.
Bam!
The one-eyed man hit the ground with a harsh thud and blacked out.