Chapter 24: Twenty-Nine and One
Right after rushing into the battlefield, all the newcors had to do was clean up. More precisely, they were gathering the surrendered enemies in one place while continuously letting out exclamations of admiration.
"My goodness, you cleaned all this up by yourself?"
"Crazy... You split people in half."
Romance, Kotchap, and others. Even those at the top among the newcors were sending looks of admiration and reverence.
anwhile, Volga revealed a tch-like expression mixed with dissatisfaction.
However, that emotion was neither jealousy nor envy.
'These damn bat bastards are sothing else. Once a friend, always a friend, right? What the hell are they trying to do?'
The first eting with Calix hadn't been particularly pleasant, but at least Volga himself believed that process was 'the typical way n beco friends’.
"You guys! Don't just stand there gawking, hurry up and collect the spoils of war!"
"...You were gawking the most yourself."
"What?"
"Ah, got it. I'll collect them."
Right.
A friend can do well sotis.
He can beco stronger a little faster than oneself.
"Calix."
"Yeah."
"We're friends, right?"
"...?"
"We're not? Damn it, hurry up and say yes. If you say no, I'll get clingy. The girls I liked never rejected . Because I chased after them like a crazy bastard."
"...That's nothing new. We're comrades-in-arms. Of course, we're friends too."
Hehehe.
A satisfied smile unconsciously leaked from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes clearly held the aning 'Did you see that? Did you hear?'.
Dealing with the salty gazes from around was entirely his burden.
However, the excited atmosphere didn't last long. It subsided because Hadiya gathered the newcors and gave them a cold lesson.
"...Kill them all?"
Thud!
He answered by kicking the prisoners' feet to make them kneel.
"Uh... They're not even holding weapons now."
"So?"
"Huh?"
"Should we spare them because they surrendered quickly? If you had been the ones surrendering, would these people have spared you?"
"..."
"Get your head straight. If they had put down their weapons before fighting, that would be different, but once combat started, both sides rushed at each other, intending to see it through to the end. Drawing a sword ans that."
As if she had never worn a refreshing smile, only a cold expression lingered on Hadiya's face. She looked young on the outside, but she was actually a veteran rcenary with considerable experience.
"Or should we just spare them? Send them away like this? You can do that if you think these people will repay the favor when you face them in the worst situation later."
"Our children are waiting. My lords, please... Please just once..."
"Please spare us just once. This will never happen again. We were originally just farrs, but we had nothing to eat, so we had no choice..."
The prisoners trembled as they begged for rcy, but Volga instead drew his sword and walked forward at the last words.
"Hadiya is right. I'm from Bamba Village. I know exactly how farrs live. And it's sumr now. Not the 'starving spring'. You had choices. You could have hunted, you could have picked berries. You could have stripped birch bark to make porridge, crushed acorns to eat and endured."
At this, Calix suddenly interjected and added.
"Instead, you ate human flesh."
"N-no! That can't be..."
"You have severed heads and hands hanging from your waists. Flesh has been torn off in places. These marks aren't from decay. They were cut out with sharp objects."
"..."
"You ate people. Didn't you?"
When the rcenaries' gazes fell on the heads and severed forearms that Calix pointed to, malice imdiately emanated from the attackers' eyes.
The nature they wanted to hide was completely exposed.
"You... Damn bastards! What do you know? What's the point of farming? The noble bastards take everything away under all kinds of pretexts, and we starve to death! Yes, we ate people. So what? We got sick of being robbed, so we decided to beco the robbers instead! Do you think you're any different?"
The atmosphere beca nacing with the voice filled with evil. Just before soone caused trouble, a calm and composed voice awakened the newcors' reason.
"We're different."
"What?"
"Volga said it. He's from Bamba Village. Do you think my friend was in a better situation than you? But he ca to the battlefield to shoulder the responsibility given to him. Instead of eating people, he fulfilled his role by facing death and resisting."
Calix couldn't be without hesitation either.
However, if soone's life had to be taken, it should be for a clear reason, not simple anger.
"So we're different. You might look down on us as re rcenaries, you might point fingers at us for living off sword-wage... But we have our own honor. We have pride."
"..."
At the calm tone from beginning to end, the anger or hesitation in the newcors' hearts was completely washed away.
In the place where emotions had passed, only the line of 'standards for killing' remained.
Those who must die, die.
Stab!
When Calix made the first start with his own hands, the rest was handled by Volga and the other newcors. There was no hesitation, and at the end, only the leader who truly won their hearts remained.
Personal martial prowess and leadership.
Calix had completely proven he possessed both elents, and from this mont, the 29 rookie rcenaries beca entirely his people.
"Calix, my friend."
"...Yeah."
"You're sotis tasteless, but you're a damn cool bastard."
"..."
Still, the remaining one was still a friend.
***
After the night when Calix's reputation rose another level had passed, the rcenary company 'Mountain Rabbits' hurriedly moved as if nothing had happened on the surface.
Swoooosh.
As they approached the Marquis Hoover territory, the river beca wider and beca too wide to cross without a boat, and as they entered safer areas, they also encountered shepherds.
And at the end appeared the territory ruled by the great western lord, Marquis Hoover.
"Silver Marika. We're here again."
"Silver Marika?"
"The Marquis Hoover family is called the 'Silver Wings of the West'. So the territory ruled by him is also called Silver Marika. Look there, you can actually see the walls sparkling, right?"
"Yeah."
"I heard it was made 300 years ago from a stone quarry that a wizard told them about. I don't know what's in it, but I heard it sparkles regardless of day or night. It's Marika's specialty."
Calix quietly stared at the place Hadiya pointed to. Indeed, even though the sun was high in the sky, it sparkled as if reflecting sunlight.
"I've never seen it before. There are so many fascinating things."
"Yeah. You don't know quite a lot of things. You're curious about a lot, too."
"Haha..."
As the group moved toward the outer castle's main gate, Hadiya continued her playful teasing with one eye winking.
How to choose a place to set up camp, how to light fake bonfires, how to set up detection traps, etc. The things he had asked Hadiya about were not few.
"Anything else you're curious about?"
"Not yet."
"Really? But Gregor seed to have sothing he wanted to ask you."
"Gregor?"
"Yeah. He's been making it obvious."
Then suddenly, the direction of the conversation twisted, and the old rcenary beca the topic.
Last night,
The old man who arrived late at the scene and examined the enemies Calix had dealt with had been muttering to himself ever since.
"Fast, too fast. Cook comrade is growing so diligently? Jumping up recklessly before even establishing the basics. Quite cheeky, isn't he? You didn't miss that, did you?"
"..."
How could he have missed it?
Dwarf Basim openly teased him by calling him 'cheeky knight sir', and Zahira also troubled him by saying in passing that 'there's a cunning sll coming from sowhere'.
Even the healer Ella, smiled slightly, so the person involved couldn't help but know.
At this, Calix quickly changed the flow of conversation.
"But can we enter the outer castle?"
"Hmm, it would have been difficult in most territories. We have quite a few people, right? But we have connections with the Marquis Hoover family. If there are no major problems, they'll let us in."
Just then, at the front row, Captain Royce t with the territorial soldiers, and soon a low groan and stiffly hardened voice flowed out.
"Royce, it's nice to see you after a long ti, but... What the hell is this about?"
What the soldier pointed to was the luggage cart.
Although they had spread cloth to cover it, the length wasn't sufficient to hide the Baron's corpse, so below the knees - two feet - were sticking out from the end of the cart.
"What reason would rcenaries have to carry a corpse?"
"...By any chance, is he from the west?"
To the roundabout question of whether it was a western noble's corpse, Captain Royce showed a brown feather as an answer.
A hawk's feather.
Since it was sothing the nobles of the central and southern regions used when being arrogant, even a re gatekeeper knew well what this ant.
"...Holy shit. This is really fucked up."
"Indeed it is."
"Follow the main road straight in... Well, you know the way. Go on in."
And shortly after, the 'Mountain Rabbits' who passed through the high walls crossed the main road, drawing the gazes of all residents.
Just showing the corpse's bare feet would draw attention. Since expensive armor that only knights could afford was sticking out, everyone was busy whispering.
At tis like this, Volga's behavior beca quick again.
"...Calix. Shouldn't we hide it even now?"
"Well."
"Even now, to the company commander-"
"Maybe they're showing it on purpose."
"Huh? Showing it on purpose?"
At Calix's answer, Gregor's expression, who had been walking beside him, suddenly beca pleased.
'Cook comrade doesn't know much, but his eye for reading the flow is accurate.'
Correct.
"The other party is a Marquis. A very high status. He could make things big, but conversely, he might want to reduce them. It would require a big decision to fight against Duke Saitz. And if he wants to minimize the incident, the first thing he needs to deal with is..."
"...Damn, it's us."
"Yeah. So it seems like they're showing it in advance. So that rumors don't end in corners but spread everywhere, laying the minimum groundwork."
"You're really damn smart. My head is bigger than yours... Why is there such a difference?"
"It's just my thought."
Fortunately, the worst assumption was wrong, and while Captain Royce t with the heir, the 'Mountain Rabbits' unpacked their luggage at the monastery as guests.
At this, the veteran rcenaries cheered.
The monastery was a place to offer prayers to God and spread faith. Since money was needed to spread faith, the monks had-
"Beer, there's beer!"
"Kraaaaak! This is amazing! This is the taste of faith!"
"If we get the commission fee too, we can drink to our heart's content!"
"Hey, you stupid bastard, a knight died with a gulp, how would they give us the commission fee?"
"...Damn, now that you ntion it, that's right?"
"..."
"Then we should drink more! What else can we do?"
"Drink! Pour!"
They forgot all about Duke Saitz's conspiracy and everything else, enjoying one night of peace as passionate mayflies.
Calix withdrew from the enthusiastic mayflies' party and walked out to the monastery courtyard to prepare for sparring.
On the opposite side, combat specialist Zahira was fiddling with her weapon.
"Thank you for making ti."
"Huh? Thanks for what? Rather, this worked out well. I don't really like drinking. I got a request from the Captain too, so let's consider this loosening up."
The thirty-sothing woman with dark skin and matching beauty showed her inner toughness with rough speech.
The request he had made to Captain Royce to 'find a sparring partner' was finally realized, but for Calix, it was actually better.
She was at the beginning of 'Blue'.
Since the output of neural accelerators on both sides was similar, she was a perfect opponent for learning about his shortcomings.
Sure enough, the experienced rcenary also supported his guess.
"Cook comrade, do your best to survive! She's a very tough woman! If you let your guard down, you'll get beaten to death!"
"...Gregor!"
"Yeah?"
"You know exactly what kind of woman I am."
"Hahaha! That's how spiders are. Seductive yet deadly!"
And that night, she taught Calix humility.
Whiiiiick!
"...!"
Whirlick, swooooosh!
From sword and dagger, to curved soft sword and long spear and short spear, to throwing daggers and capture rope, etc.
As if the reputation of 'combat specialist' wasn't false, she drew out all the weapons she could handle.
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