Embracing Magic Chapter 176

Embrace the Magic (176)

The departure date for the request has arrived.

The weather was gloomy today. The rain that had fallen overnight had stopped for a while, but the ground was still muddy.

“It just so happens that the day of departure is like this.”

“What’s wrong, Larry? I’m feeling cool, okay?”

“I don’t like it because it makes me feel uncomfortable.”

Rodin and Charis brought a carriage out to the front of the inn. Soon Larry and Bianca climbed into the carriage.

“Brother Larry, you said we were in front of the castle gate, right?”

“Yeah. There’s a big square over there. I’ll meet you there.”

“What about Sister Jenna?”

“There will be a mask.”

Jenna, who was left behind as Queen Regina’s escort, has not returned yet. We agreed to meet in the square in front of the castle gate in the morning.

“let’s go.”

“Brother, I’ll drive the carriage.”

“You’re a mercenary with no armor. You have to do all kinds of dirty work when you go.”

“Ah! That’s right.”

The number of mercenaries hired for this mission was exactly 21.

There was Rodin, a platinum mercenary, one gold mercenary, one silver mercenary, five bronze mercenaries, and the rest were all iron mercenaries.

Larry, Bianca, Charis, and Jenna were part of the 13 Ironclad mercenaries, the lowest rank of mercenaries hired for commissions.

“Let’s go. Charis, let’s go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

A morning when the surroundings are not yet fully illuminated.

The carriage ran along the wide road. It was a slow pace, not much different from walking.

If others saw it, it would be a frustrating speed, but for Rodin and his group, this was a daily routine.

Although it was a slow move, we arrived on time for our appointment. The mercenaries who arrived early were gathered in small groups and chatting.

“Ugh!”

Larry got out first and announced his arrival. The mercenaries who had arrived earlier glanced at the carriage.

“You say it’s a platinum plate?”

“This is my first time seeing the platinum plate?”

“I heard he was a great wizard.”

“The Great Mage’s Platinum Plate… … Isn’t this the first time something like this has happened in the mercenary world?”

It wasn’t the first time. There had been a great wizard among the mercenaries almost 600 years ago.

That meant that Rodin was the first mercenary archmage to appear in 600 years.

Hearing the people’s chattering, Rodin also got out of the carriage. In the meantime, the surroundings had become quite bright.

“Is it going to rain again?”

“Brother Rodin, is it raining again?”

“Yeah. It’s going to rain again sometime in the morning.”

The spirits who made a contract with the water spirits were usually able to predict with great accuracy when it would rain or stop. As Undine, a low-level water spirit, grew into the mid-level spirit Undyne, Rodin’s predictions became even more accurate.

“I don’t hate rain. What if an accident happens?”

“I’ll only drive on well-paved roads in the morning. There won’t be any problems.”

After a while, a magnificently decorated four-horse carriage arrived. It was the carriage carrying Queen Regina and Prince Ariane. There were also maids accompanying them.

“I am back, Your Majesty.”

“great job.”

As Queen Regina’s carriage arrived, Jenna’s mission was also completed. Jenna returned to the coachman’s seat and exchanged greetings with Charis.

“Nice to meet you, Wizard Rodin.”

“Yes. Nice to meet you, Your Majesty.”

I exchanged a brief greeting with Princess Regina. A little girl poked her head out from behind Queen Regina.

“Greetings, Prince. I am the wizard who will guard us on our way home.”

“Hello. This is Arian Hesward Levain. Nice to meet you.”

“Yes. I will take you safely, Your Majesty.”

After greeting Rodin, the client met with other mercenaries one after another. In particular, he had a long conversation with a mercenary named Scott.

Scott, a 5th-grade inspector and gold-plated mercenary, was from the Kingdom of Levain. Until a few years ago, he was mainly active within the Kingdom of Levain.

The reason Scott left the Kingdom of Levain was the civil war.

There were frequent battles here and there, and the sacrifices of mercenaries were great. I also experienced many dirty scenes.

Because I didn’t want to see this and that, I left the Kingdom of Levain and came to the Kingdom of Maven.

“Shouldn’t my brother step forward?”

“We need to make sure the chain of command is clear.”

Rodin had already decided that he had to decide on a leader. The presence of the platinum mercenary could easily cause confusion in the command system.

Of course, if Rodin had taken the initiative and led the mercenaries, there would have been no problem. Because the leader was clear.

But Rodin wasn’t that kind of person who was so outspoken. He was also far from being the type to take the lead.

“Golden Medal Mercenary Scott.”

“I see you, Platinum Armored Mercenary. What brings you here?”

Scott wasn’t arrogant, but he wasn’t mean either. He was confident in his own abilities, but he showed a confidence that he would respect the Platinum Medal mercenaries.

“Unless there is a combat situation, I would like you to lead the escort. Is that okay?”

“I was going to ask you anyway. I don’t mean to disrespect you, but I guess you lack experience.”

“Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

The core force of this escort was the Platinum, Gold, and Silver mercenaries. The five bronze mercenaries had much lower fighting ability than the top three. The 13 iron mercenaries were practically errand boys.

“Phobi!”

“why?”

“You are the last line.”

“I get it.”

Scott, a gold-plated mercenary, and Poby, a silver-plated mercenary, have been escorting the same merchant for the past three years. It was a one-year long-term contract, but they became close friends as they filled the contract for a full three years.

We knew each other well because we spent so much time together. We were able to talk comfortably with each other.

“How many people should I give you as a companion?”

“Just give me three.”

“okay.”

If the core of the battle was the Platinum, Gold, and Silver mercenaries, then the core of the chores were the 13 Iron mercenaries. If they did not move, time would be delayed in many situations, including camping.

The Dongpae mercenary was the bridge connecting the top three and the Ironclad mercenary. If he didn’t give instructions in a timely manner and make suggestions right away, there would be many parts that would go wrong throughout the request.

“Master Rodin, let’s go.”

“You don’t have to report to me. Just command comfortably.”

Rodin said so and entered the carriage, showing with his actions that he did not care and that they should do as they pleased.

“All set to go.”

“depart!”

A fairly long line moved. The gates had been wide open from early on. Those passing through the gates were also standing on either side, creating space.

Carriages and carts escorted by mercenaries passed through the created space.

* * *

There were a total of four moving carriages for this mission. Two carts were also mobilized.

Of the four carriages, two were brought by Rodin, one was for the clients, Queen Regina and Prince Ariane, and the last carriage was filled with a number of Ironclad mercenaries.

Even if they were only a Dongpae, they would usually own a horse, but that was not the case for the Iron Armor mercenaries. Since most of them did not have their own horses, carriages were prepared for them.

Of course, there were also ironclad mercenaries who brought the horses themselves.

The three of them had their own horses, so they didn’t need to ride in the carriage. There were also Charis, Jenna, Larry, and Bianca riding in Rodin’s carriage.

In the end, only six Ironclad mercenaries were allowed to ride in the carriage prepared for the Ironclad.

“Hey, can I just ride here?”

“The other Ironclad mercenaries are also riding in carriages.”

“Still. I think it’s going a little more comfortably.”

“It’s all the same.”

Rodin’s two chariots took up positions at the rear of the procession, positioned to evenly distribute the Ironclad mercenaries to the front and rear.

The carriage carrying six ironclad mercenaries was at the very front. It was positioned at the very front to serve as a makeshift fence in case of emergency.

Charis, Jenna, Larry, Bianca, and the mounted Ironclad mercenaries. All seven Ironclad mercenaries were in the rear.

The Ironclad mercenaries had to do odd jobs like lighting campfires or pitching tents whenever the procession stopped. That’s why they were evenly distributed in the front and back, so that they could work together.

“There won’t be any problems, right?”

“If you are careful for the first three days, there won’t be any major problems for about a month.”

“The first three days?”

“huh.”

The trick that the Duke of Lientas had been using had already been exposed. A normal person would have backed out at this point.

However, if Duke Lientas was truly narrow-minded and had a personality that could not control his anger, the situation could have developed differently. The probability that he would do something to avenge his subordinate was very low, but it was not 0%.

“The Duke of Lientas can do something about it?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Well, I guess I’m not that stupid, though.”

The Duke of Lientas that Rodin saw was a narrow-minded and cowardly man. He was not brave enough to seek revenge on himself, the Archmage.

There was even a trace of the Master there. I thought that unless he was half-sane, he would quietly pass over it.

It was lunchtime. The carriage pulled over to the side of the road and stopped for a meal.

Larry ran out as soon as the carriage stopped and started gathering firewood. Some of the ironclad mercenaries prepared a table for the meal and took out the cooking utensils.

Once some firewood had been gathered, Bianca went around to light the fire. Then the Ironclad mercenaries took their places by the fire and began preparing lunch.

“They are all in perfect harmony.”

In the meantime, Charis and Jenna just stood there quietly. And yet, no one dared tell Charis and Jenna to do anything.

Rumors of Karis defeating the Platinum-Plated Mercenary Hurst had already spread throughout the mercenary circles of the Central Continent. In particular, there was no one among the mercenaries of the Lientas Duchy, which was not far from where the Territory War had taken place, who did not know about it.

“Larry is doing a good job too.”

“Yeah. You’re quick-witted. You look at other Ironclad mercenaries and figure out what to do. That’s admirable.”

The meal was over. After finishing up the clean-up, the procession started again.

As Rodin had expected, he was able to leave the Duchy of Lientas without any problems. The cowardly Duke of Lientas was afraid of a clash with Rodin.

Day 4.

Rodin came out of the carriage. Charis and Jenna looked back at Rodin as he appeared.

“Masuda! The number is 38. The direction is forward and left and right.”

“It’s a demon!”

“The devil has appeared.”

Rodin’s voice was not loud. It was hard to hear unless you were right next to him.

But Larry was familiar with this voice. He quickly figured out what it meant and sounded a warning to the other mercenaries.

The procession stopped when they heard Larry’s voice. Then they formed a defensive formation centered on the front.

“It looks like an orc. Jenna, just take care of half of it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Considering the strength of the mercenaries, it would have been possible to deal with the demons without any damage even if Karis and Jenna had not come forward. Also, if Jenna had used her true power, it wouldn’t have taken more than a few minutes to deal with them all.

But this time, he only let Jenna show off her skills to a certain extent. This was to preserve Jenna’s status as an ironclad mercenary to the outside world.

The procession stopped, and there was a brief silence. Soon, demons appeared, blocking the front and sides.

Kua! Kuchika!

-Profit!

Jenna stepped forward. Without hesitation, she plunged into the midst of the demons and began to slaughter them.

Kwak! Kwakwak!

The demons fought hard, but it was no use.

Jenna quickly dealt with exactly half of them, 19, and returned to the carriage, not a drop of blood on her body.

“You can figure out the rest, right?”

“Of course, Wizard Rodin. You heard? He gave us half. The rest is ours. Strike!”

“Die!”

“Put the pressure down!”

The orcs, who had been reduced to half in an instant, were dumbfounded. They were so flustered that they didn’t even think about tidying up their disorganized camp.

The mercenaries attacked those orcs. Scott, the gold-plated mercenary, did not move. Poby, the silver-plated mercenary, also stayed behind just in case.

Only the Dongpae and Ironpae mercenaries fought the orcs.

Originally, the force was slightly lacking. The Dongpae mercenaries could easily deal with one orc, but the Ironclad mercenaries were a bit shaky.

However, the orcs had already lost their will to fight. They were not prepared to fight properly, so they could not properly respond to the attacks of the Dongpae and Cheolpae mercenaries.

The presence of the wizard was great there.

“Magic Missile!”

Bianca, who had climbed onto the roof of the carriage, supported the mercenaries. The target was mainly the orcs fighting Larry, but sometimes the magic flew at the demons fighting other mercenaries.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The battle took quite a while. It seems that the gold and silver mercenaries gave up, and the firepower was lacking.

However, we steadily reduced the number of orcs, and after fighting for nearly 30 minutes, we succeeded in dealing with all of them.

“Ugh, ugh!”

“Phew.”

“I won!”

“Stop shouting! Clear the battlefield. Just throw away the bodies!”

There was no time to slaughter and collect the by-products. Orc by-products were not that expensive, so the mercenaries gave up the orc corpses without any hesitation.

The mercenaries dumped the orc corpses on the side of the road to make room for wagons and carts. Larry and Bianca also helped clear away three orcs.

“Move again.”

“Move! Move!”

The mercenaries moved again, escorting the carriage carrying Queen Regina and Prince Ariane, and regaining their original speed.

“Scott Mercenary.”

“Please speak, Your Majesty.”

“Can I talk to you?”

“Of course.”

Queen Regina called the gold-plated mercenary Scott aside to ask him something she was curious about.