CH 87

Cornkill, the village chief of Nefiro Village, had a lot of worries.

Tonight is the day to pay tribute to ‘It’, but there was a serious problem.

The problem was……

“What can we do, boss?! We’re short of one tribute!”

“My god, I’ll be damned! There are only a few hours left! I don’t want to die, boss!”

As a result, the village chief, who was virtuous and kind, revealed his original character.

“Shut up your snout! I told you to call me Chief in the village!” 

“So-sorry!”

Although it is an area where it was difficult to see men, there were dozens of them in Conkill’s house.

They were the elite members of the bandit gang ‘Ducks and Drakes’. The remaining personnel was stationed in a hideout that has recently moved deep into the mountains.

(Note: The original name is 불수제비, Bulsujebi. Translated as ‘Ducks and Drakes’ also known as a game of throwing flat stones so that they skim along the surface of the water. Popular name, Skipping Stones. The link goes on to explain what it means. The more you know!)

Ducks and Drakes were a gang that had never been subjugated and maintained its legacy until the third generation. Thanks to this, they were able to increase their power large enough to dominate the Hegelix Mountains.

But now these rugged men were trembling with fear.

“We need to quickly fill in the one that’s missing! We don’t have time!”

“That’s right. We’ll all die if we don’t give it or if we don’t have enough numbers!”

“N-no! I don’t want to die!”

“I want to see Mom! Guhhh!”

Just around the time squeaking noises began to be heard, a bearded thief scrambled out.

“That’s why I told you to move out from there while we were alive! It was not a good place to begin with! What kind of hideout is made in a dungeon?”

“Shut up, you ignorant bastard! How do you get rid of the place you inherited from your predecessors?! Thanks to that, we’ve been able to avoid search and subjugation with success, just because the situation gets a little bad why do you start to talk nonsense?!”

“This is not just a bad situation!”

The large thief huffed and puffed taking off his hood as if tossing it on the ground. On his exposed forehead, a wing-shaped stigma radiated a mysterious red light.

It was a sign of being a slave to an S-class boss.

It was nice to use an empty dungeon as a hiding place to avoid search networks while catching money and riches as if eating a piece of cake.

But they didn’t know one thing. A new owner is bound to appear in any dungeon that was left open for a long time without a proper heir!

Their nightmare began when a huge egg hatched from the crater of an extinct volcano.

– You are my slaves from now on. If you don’t want your brain to melt and die, then once a month offer ten young men!

One month was based on the dungeon and on the outside world, it was a week.

In order to survive, The Ducks and Drakes diligently abducted and sacrificed villagers and travelers. The fate of the men who became tribute was cruel. If it was not to ‘It’s’ taste, they were eaten on the spot, and even if the men were to ‘It’s’ taste, they suffered a terrible disgrace.

To the point where the majority of men would rather beg to be killed. 

Of course, it was none of the thieves’ problems. It’s all about making ends meet. What can they do? 

‘It’s a sin to be weak! Who told you to be born weak? Or, if you had enough money, you can cross the mountain range with a teleport stone!’

But recently there has been a problem. Rumors of the kidnapping began to spread and the number of travelers passing by dried up.

To make matters worse, scary rumors were circulating among the bandits. What kind of Sword Master is attacking the entire mountain range and wiping out the bandits? 

After the dungeon had a new owner, The Ducks and Drakes moved their hideout to an ordinary cave. This means that they came to an easy-to-detect location. For the time being, they also had to take care to not get caught by the Sword Master.

‘Damn it. Why would a Sword Master come and rob weak bandits for nothing!’ 

Cornkill felt like he was going to be bald from stress.

“There are no more men in the village to catch, what are we going to do now, boss?! If you become a boss, take responsibility!” 

He was already getting annoyed, but the young man was striking his nerves. It was time to show the dignity of the boss.

“Hey, catch that bastard. Fill in the tribute numbers with that punk.”

“Wh-what… … !”

“Okay, boss! Tie him up!”

“Hng?! Whoopm!”

There is no loyalty between thieves. 

As if they had been waiting for such orders inside their hearts, the others rushed in, tightly tied the scapegoat, and put him on a cart at the back of the house.

“Whoa, I’m barely surviving this week. Let’s move to the hideout.…what?”

Cornkill’s eyes suddenly widened as he was giving the instructions. Because he saw something amazing through the window.

“That……!”

A handsome man with silvery brilliant hair and an even more dazzling face was walking into town!

Cornkill exclaimed in disbelief.

“Tribute! The tribute came on its own feet!”

“Ooooooooh!”

Upon closer inspection, there were two people entering the village. One woman and one man, both were very beautiful.

It was a special product in the eyes of Cornkill, who had done some human trafficking in his past years.

Cornkill tried to gauge the strength of the two strangers.

“Neither of them has weapons. They are not even wearing a priest’s uniform.”

“Maybe magic?”

“No, if you know how to handle any of the three powers in the first place, you wouldn’t walk by foot over the Hegelix Mountains.” 

“That’s right. They would have made some money to buy a teleport stone!”

“Yes, so they must be poor travelers!” 

“Wow!”

“Hmph! Whoopmmm!”

It was a very subjective and hopeful judgment. But the bandits applauded and chanted false accusations. 

Cornkill smiled wickedly as he looked at the two travelers.

“Hehe, don’t blame me too much. This side is also trying to make ends meet.”

If you feel wronged, be born strong or rich in your next life.

With the usual rationalization he always did, Cornkill got up from his seat like a boss.

“Release the guy who was tied up and loaded earlier onto the cart. Say it was a joke.”

“Yes! We’ll follow your orders and then we’ll be hiding.”

“Cheer up, boss!”

“It’s Chief damn it!”

Cornkill screamed and ran out of the house.

Catching travelers was his specialty.

It was enough to pretend to be a humble person from the countryside, let them stay overnight at the village chief’s house, and then feed them food with plenty of sleeping pills.

Occasionally, there were travelers who were wary and refused the provided room and board, but if he gets all emotional and shed crocodile tears while talking about a dead son, they would all fall over. 

This time, it was even easier for the kitties who walked in on their own because they were naive and ignorant of the world. 

They were happy to hear that he would put them to sleep in his house because there was no inn in the village, and drank honey milk with sleeping pills well.

It was very smooth to carry the sleeping ones on the cart and move them to a mountain hideout. 

The bandits, including Cornkill, were excited and chattered throughout the journey.

“Let’s put the guy in as a tribute as planned and since the girl is pretty, so she will cook and do laundry in the new hideout. It was a mess because there weren’t any women, this is great!” 

“Oh! As expected of the boss! You are wise.”

“I will teach her how to cook!”

“Heehee! I’ll teach her laundry!” 

“When you guys scream and the girl cries I’ll comfort her!” 

“Wow, the boss knows something!” 

The winding mountain road was filled with mean laughter. 

In a good mood, the rotten Cornkill, who was so dirty that other insidious men looked cute, shouted.

“I’m in a good mood! Let’s have a drinking party at the hideout after work!” 

“Wow! Boss is the best!”

However, this promise could not be fulfilled, for their smoothness ended the moment the cart arrived at the hideout. 

Screeching. 

“We are here. Everyone, get off with the luggage!”

“Really? Let’s go.”

“……Hm?”

The boss gave orders to his subordinates, but a woman’s cold voice stuck in his ears. And.

Kwagwagwagwang!

The cart shattered into pieces and his body floated in the air.

‘What? What happened?’

Unable to find an answer, he plunged to the floor.

Thud!

“Cough!”

Perhaps because it was the middle of the night, the stars were shining in front of him. He managed to get up and open his eyes. 

Then what he saw was pandemonium.

Bang! Aww! Quarreung!

“Awwww!”

“Ku-gha!”

The hard-earned hideout broke, cracked, and exploded in the midst of a lot of chaos. The men who came with him screamed and were thrown everywhere. The personnel waiting in the hideout heard the commotion and ran out, but they could not wield the weapon properly even once and were thrown around all the same.

“Wh-wh-what happened……”

At that moment, a cold white light flashed in the cloud of dust. It was after images of swordsmanship.

Patch, patch.

A silhouette walked out of the muddy field at a leisurely pace. The moonlight illuminated the face.

It was the pink-haired woman who had been soundly sleeping in the cart just a while ago.

“Thank you for the ride. Thanks to you, I saved the trouble of finding the hideouts.” 

Saaaah.

The blade of the sword she was holding shone stronger.

“Hi-Hiiic! I-It came!”

“I-It’s the S-Sword Master!”

The terrified scream of his subordinates helped him understand the situation. Cornkill stuttered open his mouth.

“Do-Don’t tell me that……th-th-the sword master who is said to be clearing out bandits these days……”

“Yes. It sounds like me.”

Cornkill knew his fate.

I’m screwed!

Kwaang!

White aura flew here and there and crashed.

Although they were the two outsiders whom the bandits had looked down on, the woman was never to be taken lightly. 

Not only she was able to freely handle Aura Sword, but she also used Aura Blade, she would at least be of expert level in terms of handling technique.

“Hic!”

“Kuk!”

The bandits were terrified.

In their foolish minds, the delusions of food and clean clothes provided by a beautiful woman evaporated in an instant.

“Si-sister, d-don’t do this, let’s talk……Cuckoo!”

“Sa- save me! I just did what I was told……Kook!”

“You guys are too weak to use swords.”

Whoops! Puck puck!

“Guaaaa!”

Those who were trying to get away with bullshit were thoroughly stepped on, little by little.

“Hey! It’s a monster! W-We must run away!”

“Where do you think you are going? Not a chance.”

Those who run away were tied with the Spirit King’s Harp String and dragged back.

Whoops! Puck puck peck! Puck puck peck!

“Kguh……ugh……”

They were gently beaten up until foam was spewed from their mouth.

“Hu-Huk….”

Cornkill, who had been unable to move since the first time he flew and landed on the muddy floor, had to watch all of this from a first-seat position.

“Oh, dear lord.”

The venerable bandit group, which has maintained its legacy for three generations, was destroyed by only one person. It was terrifying.

Then a shadow fell over Conrkill’s head.

“Huh?”

From where he looked up, a silver-haired young man was looking down at Cornkill.

“……”

The silver hair shone like the moonlight and the beautiful face was gentle and holy. But why?

“H-Hik!”

The sea-blue eyes that faced him were deep like an abyss, instigating his fear.

“Shh.”

Thesilid, who lowered his pose, only rolled his eyes and looked to the side where Ellet was. Making sure he was in her blind spot, he reached his hand.

“Kaaah-ghuo!”