Chapter 4 - Rational Judgment
Translator: Homia
The group made their way through the snow that had fallen the previous day, accompanied by the sound of their pounding footsteps.
My position is somewhere in the middle of the group. Thanks to Galad’s consideration, I’m not standing at the front or back of the formation.
Of the ten mercenaries gathered, six, including Galad, were personally brought by him. A new mercenary group with a total of six members. They said it had its own name, but it didn’t seem like a story to be marked down, so I already forgot it.
“Priest Marnak.”
Clear eyes, innocent-looking face, but a build that doesn’t match it at all. A man who is somewhere between a boy and a young man. He was the youngest member of their mercenary group that Galad had assigned me for any errands I have.
I answered with a kind smile.
“Yes.”
Did he say his name was Pierre? He was born in a village near Guise. Galad, who recognized Pierre’s innate abilities, had a good deal with his family and paid a generous price, managing to persuade them.
How do I know about this?
“I’m sure you’re from somewhere other than Guise. Can you tell me what the scenery is like there? If you go straight down this road, you’ll see the village where I used to live, but I’m not sure if my mom and dad are doing well. Of course, thanks to the generosity of Mr. Galad to my parents, I’m sure they’ll have a good winter, but what’s this feeling that makes me a little worried?”
Pierre was talkative. He wanted to tell me a story that I wasn’t even curious about, as if it were just an excuse for him to talk more.
They weren’t trying to be considerate of me, but just wanted to keep this chatterbox away from them for some time? Did I fall for it?
“You know what? Priest?”
Now, without even asking me a question first, he began to tell his story. The way he whispered to me with a seemingly solemn expression on his face was a little funny, since it didn’t match his innocent face at all.
“What?”
Pierre glanced at Galad and whispered.
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“Actually, it is rumored that it is not people or monsters that are making the farmers walking this road disappear, but ghosts.”
In this world, a ghost is used in a slightly different sense from a monster with a mass of negative energy. Well, the image was not very different from the ghosts we know in our world.
“Are you talking about ghosts?”
“Yes, a ghost.”
I just grinned quietly.
“If the culprit is a ghost, it would be very difficult.”
Pierre looked at me with twinkling eyes.
“Why?”
Are you expecting a story about magical powers? I’m sorry, but that’s not what I meant.
“If the culprit is a ghost, everything will probably be in vain, and then we won’t get paid for our success.”
Then it became difficult. If there’s no success reward, the reward is one silver coin. It was the same amount of money I got paid yesterday after getting a scolding from the receptionist lady. This was the same as saying that my ninety-coppers-pockets situation would not improve at all.
It’s really difficult.
Pierre looked at me with a slightly disappointed look, as if he was expecting something great.
“I think it would indeed be difficult to get paid if the culprit is a ghost.”
“By the way, does Mr. Galad also thinks the culprit is a ghost?”
As if waiting for my question, Pierre glanced around with that gigantic build, then whispered to me in a low voice.
“Actually, I don’t think Captain Galad thinks he’s going to catch the killer. When I heard him talk to other people before going to bed last night, I felt that he was just taking on the job because he didn’t have any work to do. He’s not even sure if there’s a culprit really harming passersby in the first place.”
So my pocket situation doesn’t get any better after all. It’s a little discouraging. Pierre just continued to tell what he wanted to, not interested in what I was thinking.
It’s kind of like walking with the radio on.
“Really, Captain Galad always complained that there’s no work these days, because the great Lord Thredon is taking care of Guise so well that there are no problems. Thanks to him hiring us, our mercenary group has been paid a lot more this month than those in the mercenary guild or laborer office.”
The laborer’s office was an institution under the direct control of the lord, and when the lord needed manpower, he arranged for a job in return for an appropriate price. This system, similar to a modern manpower office, was originally a place for the players of jobs that had difficulties hunting in the early game.
After all, should I work as a laborer, not a mercenary? The mercenary was much better in my opinion. It was about killing, brothers-in-arms, back-stabbing, getting rich, and collecting divinity, if I collect it from the corpses that inevitably occur in the process of killing.
“But isn’t someone who has a lot of natural talent like Mr. Pierre excellent at such a job?”
At my honorifics, Pierre laughed awkwardly as if he couldn’t get used to it.
“The only person here who doesn’t speak informally to me is Mr. Marnak. I don’t mind if you talk to me comfortably.”
“I’m comfortable with this.”
Kindness was quite a useful tool unless the opponent ignored me. Having a good image was more advantageous in many ways than I thought. Especially in getting on someone’s good side.
“If that’s the case, then I have nothing to say.”
“Pierre!”
“I guess I’ll have to go for a while. I’ll be back soon!”
As he tried to continue his story further, Pierre bowed to me at the voice of Galad calling from afar and headed across the snowy road to Galad at the front.
As Pierre, who had been chatting beside me from morning till afternoon, disappeared, only my slow breathing and the beating of my heart were heard.
‘Kill!’
“Mother, why do you keep telling me to kill them all? If they all die, I’m in big trouble. You don’t have anything to say for when we get back to Guise, do you? Thirty silver coins. No, one is paid in advance, so the reward is 29 silver. Your son desperately needs these 29 silver coins. I want to spend this winter in warmth.”
‘Kill…’
With a slightly drooping voice, the mother of corruption was easily convinced and stepped down. Our corrupt mother had no knack for making coins.
I tapped her hand in my pocket.
“I think I was a little harsh. Poverty must have eaten a little of my bright reasoning. Don’t be so discouraged by this stupid son’s words. Actually, I don’t mind staying a little cold. It’ll be warm on its own when spring comes.”
‘Kill!’
The mother of corruption was quick to express her feelings.
It’s starting to get a little dark. Seeing Galad rushing the group’s steps in the distance, it seemed that there was a little distance left until the campsite that had been chosen in advance.
Pierre, who returned from Galad’s side, remained silent. I smiled and talked to Pierre.
“What did you hear?”
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Pierre, who glanced at me, hesitated and said.
“I’ve heard from the captain not to bother the priest too much. He said it must have been annoying to chat and stick to each other from morning till night.”
It was definitely a little bothersome, but it was still better to have a chatty radio than not having one.
“I’m really fine. Don’t worry.”
Pierre’s face lit up. His figure reminded me of a baby bear smiling.
“Really? Priest?”
“Yes.”
A sudden wind. A small sound that cuts through the air. Something caught my perceptive senses.
I pushed Pierre down reflexively.
Puck.
Two arrows pierced my stomach and shoulders. The culprit who makes passersby disappear was not a ghost. It was a human.
Is it a thief?
“P-priest?” A-are you alright? Ar-arrows!”
I calmly looked at the situation. Galad, who was walking in front of me, was already lying on the floor. with one arrow in his head.
Among the group of ten, five of them were hit by an arrow.
A frighteningly sharp aiming skill. It was too systematic and sharp to be considered a surprise attack by a single bandit.
‘Kill!’
The mother of corruption told me to pretend to be dead on the floor after being shot.
Surely that was a rational decision. Now that it is not even clear how many enemies there are, it was right to wait until the enemy showed himself before doing anything.
I glanced behind me. Pierre is shivering contrary to his size. Apparently, it was his first fighting experience.
If I pretend to be dead here, I’m sure everyone else will be dead except me.
‘Kill!’
“I know, Mother. I know very well what the benefits are.”
This is a game. This world itself is a game. They’re just NPC’s and I’m a player.
“But you know what? Mother.”
With two arrows stuck in my body, I stood up.
I pulled a sword from the waist of the nearest body and jumped out while shouting.
“This is how I do things!”
I swung the sword, and blood splattered. A thief’s head, who was hiding in dark clothes, fell to the floor.
The enemy was not one. I looked around with my eyes penetrating the darkness and rushed towards the next enemy.
Yeah, I used to play games like this.
Keeping what I want to protect as my heart goes.
Because games are all about doing what you want to do.
Belkir was a Ranger deserter. He was unable to adapt to the hard discipline-filled Ranger life and deserted.
Then he managed to escape his pursuers and hid in a mountain village. There, Belkyr trained a few like-minded bastards to form a bandit group.
A bandit group based on Ranger’s training is a natural disaster that farmers can never escape.
Belkir systematically raided only suitable groups of farmers and collected their wealth. If you try to steal a lot in a short time like some bold bandits, you’ll soon lose your neck.
However, as the theft continued for a long time, the lord eventually gathered mercenaries and began to pursue him.
Finally, it was time to make a big fuss and relocate the base. Belkir chose the mercenaries sent by the lord as his last prey before leaving.
It was far more profitable for him to sell the goods of the mercenaries than to rob the peasants.
If he preemptively attacks and ambushes them, the seven men he has raised would not lose to only ten mercenaries. That’s what he thought.
Everything went as planned. The sun slowly set, and the mercenaries were relaxed, moving in a long line.
Holding his breath, he sent a firing signal to his men, who were ready to bite their prey’s throat.
The surprise attack was very successful. Five out of ten people were shot down with arrows. The supposed leader died immediately by his arrow, and the mercenaries had yet to locate him.
The problem emerged as a beast in the form of a priest.
The mad priest, as if waiting with arrows in his stomach and shoulder, pulled a sword out from a corpse and then rushed to one of his hiding men, chopping his head off with the sword.
Belkir spit out swear words involuntarily as he looked at that berserk-like figure.
“Crazy!”
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