Episode 18
* * *
I opened my eyes.
Oh, I woke up from a dream.
A dream I’ve always had.
Honestly, I feel a little bad for my sister and Ron, but I dreamed about my Master more than I did about them.
I lay in bed for a while and stared up at the ceiling.
Outside, a rooster crowed and the dawn briefly flashed into view, but that was it.
I raise my hand and wipe my eyes, and a small teardrop falls onto my hand.
This is driving me crazy.
It hasn’t been that long since I returned to the past, but I’ve already shed tears twice.
‘… … .’
I closed my eyes without saying a word.
Going back to the past is honestly unrealistic, but I’m very satisfied with where I am now.
Even if I didn’t do anything directly to cause the regression, this was definitely an opportunity for me.
It’s not an opportunity to gain power or an opportunity to gain authority or anything like that.
Power is something you can have whenever you want, strength takes time, but you will eventually get it.
I don’t care about those things.
My interest is only one thing.
Something you couldn’t do in the past.
To make my unhappy sister happy, to make Ron, who gave up his life for a wretch like me, live as long as a dragon, and to make my lifelong benefactor, my teacher, who is in some ways more pitiful than me, happy.
This is all I’m trying to accomplish.
It’s simple, but that’s really all there is to it.
“ha…….”
But now, my teacher appeared in my dream.
Of course, I don’t call the dream I just had a dream.
That moment was a turning point in my life, so how could I call it a dream?
That was a turning point, the best moment of my life.
But in this world, it is the best moment that only I remember, and even if I meet the Master now, from the Master’s perspective, I am just a little kid he is meeting for the first time.
From the small dot under the Master’s chest to the small star-shaped dot on his buttocks.
It’s all vivid in my head. I’m the only one who remembers it.
It’s as if it’s scattered like dust.
I opened my eyes and got up from my seat.
In some ways, I might have been afraid.
If the moment I meet my teacher again is different from the past, wouldn’t the bond and connection I build with my teacher be different from the past?
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I, who am best at killing and destroying people, am very clumsy in this regard.
I have no intention of denying it.
After fidgeting with my fists for a moment, I brushed my hair back and lightly washed my body.
Should we say that this is the price paid for drawing out the power of the soul?
Anyway, my body is still a little sore because it hasn’t adapted to that force yet, but I’m okay with it.
After drying my hair with the towel I had prepared in advance and going down to the first floor, Jane, who was dressed the same as yesterday, spoke to me.
“You’re awake?”
I look at her in silence. She tilts her head slightly at my appearance, which is quite different from yesterday.
“It seems like the client has had trouble sleeping, so I prepared a high-quality carriage.”
I ended up smiling slightly at her still bright appearance.
“And we have prepared a force of very veterans to escort us.”
When I turned my head to follow her hand, five mercenaries were looking at me with puzzled expressions.
The large, scarred man who seemed to be the leader looked like a veteran to anyone, while the two mercenaries on either side of him looked more like porters than veterans.
Hwa-ryong-jeom-jeong was the two men standing at the back.
Yesterday, the hairy and skinny guy who talked behind my back.
When the two of them made eye contact with me, they smiled awkwardly.
I don’t think the road to Mt. Bawi will be very boring.
* * *
As always, having a job and making money is not an easy task.
Furthermore, the job of a mercenary is not only difficult, but also has a bad reputation, making it the worst job.
If it’s an errand, it’s an errand. Although the nature is a little different, if it’s a request, it’s a request. And it even goes as far as kidnapping and murder.
Mercenaries who would do anything for money could be considered a professional group in their own right.
“My name is John Doe, the leader of the Fire Ant Mercenary Corps, and I am in charge of escorting you to Mt. Rock.”
I was going down the stairs one by one when I suddenly stopped.
John Doe.
It’s not like I’ve heard it somewhere or anything.
No.
To be exact, I have heard of it.
A familiar name not only to me, but at least to those who work as guards in the territory and the inspectors in charge of case investigations.
‘John Doe’ is the name given to an unidentified male corpse.
By the way, women are called ‘Jane Doe’.
So, I don’t want to reveal my real name… … something like that?
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A smile naturally forms on the lips.
“That’s a funny name.”
“Is that so?”
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“uh.”
“… … I’ll introduce the rest. From the left, Malcolm, Vinnie, Harvey, and Silva. It’s not a short distance from here to the rocky mountain, and there are no villages around except for two or three small villages along the way, so we’ll basically be camping about twice. Harvey and Silva here used to be cooks, and they’ve been camping a lot, enough to be considered veterans… … .”
The story is too long.
We raised our hands and stopped the mercenary leader, John Dora, from speaking.
“Let’s take it easy. You’re saying I don’t have to do anything?”
John Doe grins.
“Yes.”
“Okay then. Let’s go right away.”
With those words, the mercenaries walked out of the tavern ahead of me, and I followed them, briefly turning my head to look back.
Jane Arbeloa.
She rests her chin on her arm and waves at me as if to bid me farewell.
‘That’s interesting.’
I’m not saying this in vain, it was really fun.
Let’s say the name is John Doe.
After all, there are countless mercenaries on this continent who operate under cover of their names.
but.
‘Why on earth is a guy who has completed 8 circles working as a mercenary?’
Even though my body is now shabby, my eyes and senses are still the same.
Just as I could tell at a glance the level of the 6th Circle Knight I killed before, the same is true for that man now.
It seems like he’s aware of his surroundings and is trying to hide his power as much as possible, but if it weren’t for me, he would have looked like a knight of the 4th or 5th circle.
So it’s bound to be fun.
“You introduced me to quite an interesting mercenary, didn’t you?”
“Because I’m a veteran.”
Looking at it this way, it may seem like they are just some kind of dog or cow Gocircle users, but this is clearly an exceptional phenomenon.
The reason Ron was a 9th Circle was because he was hiding his identity and powers, but this shouldn’t be considered a normal case.
That’s really the exception among exceptions.
In particular, the Iron Blood Knights of the Marquis of Valantier are a fairly famous knight order, ranked 5th in the Teslan Kingdom.
The leader of that order is currently in the 8th circle, and will soon be promoted to the 9th circle.
But the 8th Circle mercenary that appeared before my eyes?
Is that also hiding power?
Just when laughter was about to burst out, Jane lowered her waving hand and smiled.
“You want a veteran?”
It’s a laughter whose meaning is unreadable.
Still, I think I can tell you one thing for sure.
“I guess I’ll see you again. With you.”
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“Really? Let’s have a beer together then.”
I stared at her blankly for a moment, then turned away.
As I open the closed door and go out, I hear her voice saying, “Goodbye, little guest.”
The voice is unnecessarily clear.
So much so that I thought it looked like a cuckoo.
* * *
As I stepped out of the inn, a fairly large lower-class carriage greeted me.
Without hesitation, I opened the carriage door and shoved my backpack in.
Then he grabbed the carriage ceiling and lightly pulled himself up onto the carriage roof.
Of course, I used mana a little bit.
I turn my head to look at John Doe, and sure enough, at that split second, John Doe’s eyes light up.
No, by the way.
“What are you looking at? Aren’t you leaving?”
“… … Yes, I will depart.”
The mercenary sitting on the coachman started the carriage, and I fell down on the roof of the carriage.
Then it comes into my sight.
A furry mercenary moving alongside my carriage.
I think his name was Malcolm.
“You know. You heard roughly who I am, right?”
Malcolm answered with a slightly nervous expression when I pointed with my finger.
“… … No. I just heard that you are the son of a high noble family.”
“Oh… … Really?”
“Yes. The branch manager said it was like traveling the world… … .”
Because it’s a trip… … .
“Okay, let’s say that’s true. But there’s one thing I’m curious about.”
“Yes. Ask me anything.”
The furry one looks at me with a slightly nervous expression.
It’s as if there’s a look of doubt as to whether he really is a high-ranking noble.
I chuckled and threw him a sort of free pass ticket with the Marquis’ emblem, or more precisely, a crimson eagle, engraved on it.
Malcolm swallows hard as he receives the thing that looks extraordinary at first glance.
As a mercenary, it is impossible for him not to know the seal of a noble family.
“Judging from your expression, I think you know what it is, but you don’t seem to know the details?”
“… … .”
“Look over there, there’s a f*cking family called the Marquis de Valanti, who are going to be completely destroyed soon. That’s the symbol that represents them.”
When I took my eyes off the furry and looked in the opposite direction, the skinny guy on the horse was just as nervous as the furry guy, with veins bulging on his hand holding the reins.
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“Come to think of it, there’s a guy in the Marquis’s house called a fool. You probably know him, don’t you? He was sent to prison a while ago because he looked bad to the Marquis.”
The hands holding the bridle of the hairy and skinny horse began to tremble.
I guess he figured out who I was.
Well, it would be stranger if you didn’t know even though I explained it to you so kindly.
“When I got out of prison, the funny thing was that ‘I’ used some kind of black magic. That’s what the rumor was. Isn’t that strangely funny? Am I the only one who finds it funny?”
The two mercenaries lower their heads as if they cannot bear to look me in the eye.
“Of course it’s not that I can’t use it. In fact, I know a little about black magic.”
Maybe a lot.
That’s understandable, my master is a top-notch black magician.
Since I called that person my master, I couldn’t help but know about black magic, even though I focused on the sword.
“But why would I use black magic when I can just use my fists?”
“……sorry.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just like that.”
I accepted Malcolm’s polite apology with a laugh.
I looked away from the furry creature with a smile on my face.
Then he asked the skinny guy on the other side.
“Hey, but why did you just stay still when that guy was swearing at me yesterday? You covered your mouth when that bastard was swearing at you, King?”
“… … That’s… … .”
A skinny and hairy guy who can’t find the words.
And two cooks driving the carriage.
They were all confused.
Another one who was 100% sure that he was genuinely embarrassed and not acting.
John Dora was not a mercenary.
His expression showed a hint of embarrassment, but it was awkward.
To my eyes, that expression is acting.
‘The branch manager only told that mercenary, and that mercenary didn’t tell the others… … Something like that.’
I said with a bright smile.
“Let’s forget the past, but we’ll still be moving together for a few days. Right?”
“… … Yes, that’s right.”
He reached out and gently grabbed the furry one’s shoulder.
His body trembles with the movement of the horse, but before that, I can feel through my hands that his body is stiff with tension.
“Now as employer and employee.”
Eventually, the furry one laughs back at my laughter.
It’s a bit of a nervous laugh, but let’s just let it go.
“Please take care of me.”
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“Yes. Thank you.”
