Chapter 24 : Chapter 24

Chapter 24: A Reliable Friend (1)

It only took about 15 minutes for Derr, the mages of the Magica Mercenary Corps, and the other mercenaries to be subdued and laid out on the floor.

“Hey, you okay?”

While the Derth Mercenary Corps was cleaning up, Trophin smiled and extended a hand to Artier.

Artier looked around with a bewildered expression and asked.

“Is this really okay?”

Honestly, it was satisfying, but it wasn't like he had no worries.

Depending on how that guy ran his mouth when he got back, Trophin could become a traitor who attacked his own allies.

“What do you mean, is this okay? Those guys are already certified bastards.”

But Trophin just cleaned his ear with his pinky and spoke as if it were no big deal.

“If it weren't for them, the front line would never have collapsed.”

“Come to think of it, what happened at the front line?”

At Artier’s question, Trophin’s expression crumpled even more as he glared at Derr.

“Just thinking about it again makes my blood boil. Thinking about what happened then…”

***

The sun rose, and the battlefield where the Hellmorphs had invaded once more was filled with blood and screams, just like yesterday.

Chwaak!

“Somehow, those big guys aren't around today.”

Trophin, who had just sliced through a leopard-shaped monster rushing at him, looked around and said.

Yesterday, large giant-like creatures had certainly advanced to break their formation, but today, there were no such creatures in sight.

“At this rate, it's no different from hunting magical beasts.”

Trophin smirked and advanced even further.

As he, the vice-captain, stepped forward, the other members followed him.

It didn't take long to push the creatures back to the entrance of the mountain where they had first appeared.

“Did all the northern castles really fall to guys like these?”

Just how lazy were the northern lords that they couldn't withstand even this level of magical beasts and all collapsed?

‘Those stupid knight order bastards, just how much did they neglect their training?’

The mercenary corps and the knight orders did not get along.

The knights disliked the mercenaries for imitating them, while the mercenaries disliked being discriminated against due to their status despite having similar skills.

And Trophin was the vice-captain of such a mercenary corps.

“Alright boys, let’s make a legend today!”

“Wooooh!”

The fact that their mercenary corps would annihilate a horde of monsters that even the knight orders couldn't withstand for two days?

This would be a great achievement they could talk about in taverns until they grew old and died.

Everyone's morale was overflowing, ready to burst.

Jjeoooong!

“Ugh?!”

But suddenly, a piercingly high-pitched sound echoed throughout the entire battlefield.

The sound was so terrible that even the supreme-grade mercenaries of the Derth Mercenary Corps had to drop their weapons and cover their ears.

“What was that…?”

Trophin picked up the sword that had fallen to the floor with a bewildered expression.

And just then, something flew quickly from behind him.

Clang!

“What?”

Trophin, who had hastily turned and swung his sword, could only freeze.

What his sword had caught was a sword swung by another corps member.

“What do you think you’re—!”

Kagang!

“Ugh!”

Before the furious Trophin could even shout, the member immediately deflected Trophin’s sword and began to swing his own continuously.

‘His eyes are gone. Mental magic?’

Paak!

“Snap out of it!”

But that was as far as it went.

In the first place, Trophin was a supreme-grade mercenary, while the one who attacked was merely a high-grade mercenary.

Trophin immediately parried the member's sword and knocked him out by striking his forehead with his bare fist.

Chwaak!

“Kraaah!”

“Everyone, snap out of it! We're allies!”

But the situation was already a mess.

Just a moment ago, they were comrades to whom they could entrust their backs, but now they were swinging their swords without distinguishing between friend and foe.

Their eyes were all hazy and unfocused, and they swung their swords randomly, unlike their usual selves.

‘Confusion magic?’

Trophin gripped his sword tightly and scowled.

He was a swordsman who wielded a sword, so he didn't know much about magic, but his ability to grasp abnormal situations was outstanding.

“Everyone, get your wits about you and take out the sleeping powder! Sprinkle it only on the ones who’ve lost it!”

At Trophin’s shout, the members took out bottles containing purple powder from their bosoms.

When they opened the lids of the bottles and sprinkled the powder on their charging comrades, even those who had lost their reason immediately dropped their weapons and collapsed onto the ground.

“Damn bastards, they use magic too?”

Trophin scowled and glared at the approaching Hellmorphs.

Taking advantage of the broken formation, the creatures were swarming from all sides, tearing the members standing at the front in half.

Trophin hastily ran and exerted as much strength as he could to strike down the Hellmorphs.

But no matter how skilled he was, there was a limit to what he could do alone.

“What is the Magica Mercenary Corps doing?!”

Asking for help from mages was annoying, but one had to leave things to the experts.

To save some of the comrades who were still in a state of confusion, it was right to contact the experts.

Peng!

“Ugh!”

But the communication wouldn't connect.

“They know how to use communication jamming magic too?”

As he muttered that, the sky suddenly began to darken.

Trophin looked up at the sky and froze solid.

“……Huh?”

***

“It was hundreds of fireballs.”

“What did you say?”

“I knew then. That the large-scale confusion magic and the communication jam were not done by those monster bastards in the first place.”

Trophin muttered with a rotten expression.

His voice was filled only with lament.

“They were planning to wipe us out, the ones on the front line, to claim the glory for themselves.”

“That’s not true!”

Derr shouted.

Even while tied up tightly with ropes, he was boldly running his mouth.

“We were also in a state of confusion. There’s no way we would have had time to cast something like fireballs!”

Thump!

Trophin stomped on Derr’s head before he could even finish his sentence.

“Keok!”

“Hey, to your eyes our heads might look like decorations, but we have common sense too, kid.”

“Fireballs are one of the spells whose trajectory is most visible as they fly. Besides, you can’t even cast magic when you’re confused in the first place.”

Collie stuck out his tongue.

At that, Artier gave a hollow smile.

‘I had a hunch, but to think they would self-destruct.’

The Magica Mercenary Corps’ plan must have been obvious.

With large-scale confusion magic, fireballs, and communication jamming magic, even a large mercenary corps of about 100 people could be eliminated without a trace.

‘What caused it to fail? The Hellmorphs’ interference? Or did Trophin use some kind of skill?’

I wasn't sure, but in any case, because it failed, they ended up being treated as traitors among their other allies.

“Then why are those people traveling with the Magica Guild?”

At that, Trophin pointed to the sky and said.

“You know, right? All communication with the outside is blocked.”

“Yes.”

“It’s because communication with the client was cut off.”

“Huh?”

Why would that be?

When Artier made a puzzled face, Trophin tilted his head and asked back.

“What’s wrong?”

“What does the communication with the client being cut off have to do with the mercenaries contracting with the Magica Guild?”

“Huh? Are you really a supreme-grade mercenary?”

“You really are…”

It was Gerard who sighed and chimed in.

“You need to learn the common sense of a mercenary.”

“Pardon?”

“What do you think a mercenary can do when contact with the client is lost?”

“Uh… continue with the last given order?”

“But what if it cannot be carried out?”

“Cannot be carried out?”

“The order given to the mercenaries on the front line was ‘hold the front line’. But in this situation, that order can no longer be carried out, can it?”

Perhaps if they were an army, they would have received orders from a superior officer present.

But for a mercenary, the only superior is the client.

“The initial order has failed, and yet leaving this place would be a breach of contract. So, they have no choice but to struggle to survive somehow. To survive in this situation…”

“It’s better to stick with the bigger group.”

“Yes, good that you understand quickly.”

“But there should be the Derth Mercenary Corps and the Robist Mercenary Corps too.”

“There are circumstances.”

Trophin said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Even inside, the communication would get cut off if the distance became too great. These guys were probably friends who weren’t on the front lines.”

They didn't know the situation, but the front line was breached, and the only ones nearby were the Magica Mercenary Corps.

The choice for unaffiliated mercenaries who knew nothing was obvious.

Although it was like putting shackles on themselves, by being bound by a contract, they could temporarily belong to a large mercenary corps.

“It’s complicated.”

Artier sighed and looked up at the sky.

A faint light was descending through the hole in the ceiling.

“So what are you going to do now?”

When I looked at Trophin, he placed his hands on his hips and shouted confidently.

“What do you mean what am I going to do! I’m going to crush these bastards first!”

“Is that possible? The opponent is another large mercenary corps. It could result in mutual destruction.”

“I don’t care. Our guys died because of the fireballs they launched. Should I endure this?”

Whoosh!

A small gust of wind blew.

And everyone touched by that wind could not help but freeze solid.

It was a thoroughly restrained killing intent.

‘His tone is cheerful, but his eyes aren't smiling at all.’

“The Derth Mercenary Corps does not leave its enemies alive. Isn't that right, boys!”

“Yes, boss!”

As Trophin finished speaking, members wearing the same armor swarmed in and picked up their swords.

“W-wait a minute. You should think carefully! About what end this action will bring!”

Derr, sensing danger, hastily opened his mouth.

But no answer came back.

Puk!

He simply raised his sword and pierced through his heart.

“Keoheuk!”

The fate of the others was not much different. Derr’s companion mages immediately chanted spells upon seeing the carnage before their eyes, but they could not avoid the flying swords.

“Aaargh!”

“Keoheok!”

“Kggghh…”

The members of the Derth Mercenary Corps piled the mages' corpses in one place and threw a torch on them.

Smoke rose to the sky with the terrible smell of burning corpses.

“……”

Artier did not know how to react to their actions.

To think that the person who had screwed him over twice would go so meaninglessly.

It was satisfying, but on the other hand, he was also afraid of the ruthlessness of the Derth Mercenary Corps.

‘I must never make an enemy of them.’

Eventually, when the fire died down, Trophin released the survivors Derr had contracted and said.

“Now that the contractor is dead, your contracts must be broken too. Follow us, or die here, the choice is yours.”

“We will follow you.”

They said so without hesitation.

Trophin nodded as if it were a matter of course and looked at Artier.

“From the looks of it, you’ve suffered quite a bit from these bastards too. Why don’t you join me in crushing them?”

“……Is this a proposal for a contract?”

“It is, but that doesn’t mean I want to put you under me.”

Trophin laughed heartily and waved his hand.

At the same time, a quest appeared before Artier.

[You have received a quest.]

Trophin is furious about the betrayal of the Magica Mercenary Corps. If you help him now to eliminate the leader of the traitors, ‘Helena de Ronian’, you will be able to receive the help of the Derth Mercenary Corps and receive a great reward later.

Reward for acceptance: (Player exclusive) Attribute Enhancement Stone, Increased affinity with Derth Mercenary Corps

Penalty for refusal: Decreased affinity with Trophin

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