Episode 18

“Father, did you call for me?”

“Ah, you’re here. Elena.”

Elena Horgan Herera, the Wizard of Mahvana, arrived at the office upon the Count’s call.

“The preparations, Is everything ready now?”

“Yes. Everything is finished. I can leave at any time.”

“Good.”

The Count sighed lightly and stood up from his chair, approaching the tall arched window. Outside the window, the Romelon Mountains, with their peaks always covered in snow, were visible at a glance.

The conflict with the Wiergang family—

The war started from a quarrel between the children of the two families. About the ownership of the plateau located below the Romelon Mountains… In fact, that land was of no particular significance except to shepherds, but whose land it was, was a sensitive issue for both parties.

It was inevitably a topic that could only raise voices, so it had become an unwritten rule not to mention it, but that day, the words just happened to slip out.

Naturally, neither side gave an inch, confronting each other and claiming ownership, and it eventually even led to a fistfight. Thus, two families, originally uninvolved in the war that broke out in the eastern region, were almost forcibly dragged into this complicated fray.

Count Herera watched as his territory’s finances dwindled in an instant and the city’s situation deteriorated, wondering if this was truly the right thing to do, but he couldn’t avoid the fight that had already started. This was a matter of pride for both families. And for the nobles of the east, without their pride, they were nothing but corpses.

Elena, who had been quietly observing her father’s broad back, recalled the man she had just encountered in the hallway. A handsome man, rare to see in the East.

However, beyond his outward appearance, she felt a strange sensation from him. An indescribable feeling, slowly emerging from deep within.

“Father. May I ask who that man from just before was?”

“…Just now? Ah. He’s a mercenary group leader. Despite how he looks, he’s quite bold. I had thought all people from the southern cities were cowards.”

“A mercenary group leader?”

It was quite unexpected. She had thought he was more likely to be associated with a trading company. She wasn’t one to judge people by their looks, but she couldn’t have imagined he was from that sector.

“To think that he’s even the same as you… Really, it’s funny. Who would have thought a noble family from the South would come here to be mercenaries. Having been alive for so long, I’ve seen many strange things… Maybe it’s about time for me to depart.”

“Time to depart, father? You’re exaggerating.”

The Count, who had been chuckling softly, turned his body from looking out the window and stared back at his daughter. The smile vanished in an instant, and the old lion of Mahvana roared.

“The time has come. Go into battle. Show those who doubt our Herera family what we’re made of—!”

“I have been waiting for that command.”

The sorceress Elena bowed her head deeply. As she raised it again, her expression was filled with the same fierceness as the Count’s. Indeed, the resemblance was enough to prove they were father and daughter—.

“I will bring us victory, father.”

…And finally, Mahvana began to move.

The mercenary group belonging to Mahvana numbered twenty-four. The total personnel nearly approached three hundred. Three hundred ordinary peasant soldiers might not be a significant force, but it was a different story with professional fighters.

Exaggerating a bit, three hundred mercenaries could turn a small town with only a peasant army into a field of ruins. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the numbers might be in the thousands or tens of thousands, but in reality, even hundreds were a formidable force.

In fact, Allen had no idea that Mahvana had hired this many mercenaries. Even if the cost was minimized by the Count’s family, with this number, at least ten thousand gold coins would have been spent on hiring fees. Of course, a mid-sized city’s lord wouldn’t go bankrupt over that amount, but it was still a significant financial loss that couldn’t be ignored.

Moreover, from what he had heard, the territorial dispute between these two was unrelated to the war in the eastern region. It was, quite literally, a fight over the pride of the eastern nobles. Of course, since it involved land ownership, it was hard to dismiss it entirely as a matter of pride, but in reality, that land was practically worthless….

Honestly, for Allen, the son of a merchant from the south, this was a war he could never understand. However, thanks to that pointless pride, the mercenary group was able to fill its coffers.

“Wow, fuck, look at that babe. What a killer.”

“Damn, touching her once would fulfill all my wishes.”

Elena, the third daughter of Count Herera, a wizard of Mahvana, and the temporary leader of the Roakin-Mercenary Group, attracted more attention with her ample bosom than as the daughter of the Count’s family. Amidst the burly mercenaries, she stood elegantly like a delicate flower on the edge of a cliff, so beautiful and slender that it was impossible not to feel anything unless one had an unusual sexual desire.

However, Elena with her large breasts was of noble blood, and being a wizard, was even more rare to see than exotic animals. Therefore, she was nothing more than a daughter to be teased from afar by the lowly mercenaries.

“I don’t care what everyone says. But don’t let your guard down. The moment we leave the domain, the battle has already begun.”

Allen said to the resting members. The mercenaries’ habit of teasing anyone they pleased, regardless of gender or rank, was already infamous. So, Allen didn’t forcibly stop their play. Instead, he occasionally reminded them not to lose their focus.

After a short break, the Mahvana group began to climb the mountain again.

Their current destination was the Marlen Plateau. The very land that caused this war. They were moving to take over that place because the two families had agreed to follow the traditional rules of territorial warfare.

The one who holds the plateau for ten days becomes its owner—

A simple, clean, and clear method. Wars in the east were mostly like that. Hence, there were many feuds, but few enemies.

The mountain that passed through the plateau was rugged and high. Allen felt a strange sense of awe towards the shepherds who climbed this steep mountain path as if they were taking a stroll. Even the mercenaries not from the east, who rarely had experience with mountain climbing, seemed to struggle a bit.

“I’m gonna die, damn it.”

Still, thanks to Elena, the chief in charge, who considered the members not accustomed to mountain climbing, they had frequent breaks, albeit short ones.

Allen acted nonchalant, but in reality, he was so exhausted he felt like dying. But as the group leader, he couldn’t show weakness in front of his members.

‘Even if I die, I’ll die standing—!’

That was roughly what Allen, who was obsessed with the mercenary business, thought. …In fact, if he wasn’t crazy, he wouldn’t have gotten involved in someone else’s territorial war in the first place.

After moving for half a day, they finally reached the Marlen Plateau. The climb was steep, but the plateau itself was not. Behind the plateau, snow-covered peaks stood majestically like a folding screen, capturing the mercenaries’ attention at once.

The plateau was a mix of warm sunlight and cool snow winds. It felt like alternating between hot and cold baths in a bathhouse.

However, as soon as the sun hid behind the ridge, the temperature dropped sharply. The extreme cold turned their sweat-soaked clothes into sheets of ice.

“Shit, what kind of cold is this…!”

As it quickly darkened, the group decided to camp and hurriedly lit a bonfire, huddling around it. Only after gobbling down a bowl of warm soup did their frozen bodies start to thaw a bit. But the biting wind quickly refroze their bodies that had just melted.

Each mercenary group decided on their own night watch. The Allen-Mercenary Group agreed to change shifts when the sand in the hourglass ran out.

They all crammed into the large tent they had brought. It was a bit cramped once everyone was inside, but not so much that they couldn’t lie down like corpses to sleep.

However, from the start, the tent became a complete mess with farting and burping. The unbearable stench of sweat and smelly feet from their bodies was truly hell within hell.

“Damn it, who farted?!”

“Look at how stinky that is.”

“Kehehe.”

“Whoever laughed, come out, you bastard. I’ll kill you.”

“Everyone just shut up and sleep.”

“Damn it, who touched my chest, you bastard.”

“Ah, shit, it was a man’s chest. Damn it. What the hell.”

“Knew it would happen, so I changed places, fools.”

The noise eventually quieted down and soon turned into a nasty snoring.

Whirring, whirring, the wind cried, and the tent shook with a clatter. Allen, despite wearing two layers of clothing, pulled a thin blanket up to his chin against the cold that seeped into his flesh.

However, the severe fatigue that soon overwhelmed him made him forget even the cold. The droning snore flew far away, and his mind plunged into a dream in an instant.

Allen dreamed.

Ridiculously, he was playing a game even in his dream.

Then, he felt something caught at his toe and looked down.

“Ah!”

It was a corpse.

A terrible corpse with a cracked head leaking brain fluid, a burst abdomen with intestines spilling out, and flesh and bones crushed, oozing blood.

…No, there wasn’t just one corpse. Countless corpses were spread throughout the room.

Ji-hoo struggled with a scream.

“Eup—!”

Allen gasped as he woke up from a nightmare.

Outside, it was still a deep night.

…No, perhaps.

This might also be a dream.