CH 47

Eugene’s heightened sense of smell was even better than wild animals, even during the day. He had already noticed the presence of uninvited guests due to the stench of metal and grease they gave off. 

There was only one reason why a group of troops armed with weapons would hide in the bushes located next to the road – an ambush. And the best way to respond to such a tactic was to strike first.

“Kill them! Aim for the knights first!” A man shouted desperately. He appeared to be their leader, and he was armed in chain mail. However, it was impossible to stop the rampage of two fully armed knights when they were already in the midst of the troops. 

With every swing of the knights’ spears, two or three men would collapse while spewing blood. 

Several of the bandits fired their crossbows, but it was difficult to aim properly in such chaos. Although one or two bolts managed to find their mark, it could not penetrate the solid defense of the knights’ plate armor.

Clang!

“Hooh?”

Galfredik narrowed his eyes. He felt a slight resistance as his spear was deflected. Most of the troops were wearing leather armor, but there were a few equipped with chain mail or plate coats. It was evident that they were proper troops.

Shuuack!

“Keugh!”

Galfredik threw his longspear like a javelin and pierced a soldier’s abdomen before re-equipping himself with two iron rods from his saddle.

“Huaah!”

“Die!”

Several men rushed in while shouting, not willing to miss the opportunity.

Cluck!

However, Galfredik was even quicker. After abandoning his spear, he was now holding two iron rods connected to metal balls with short chains. The weapons were flails.

Shiiing! Boom!

The large metal ball whipped through the air, and one of the bandits was instantly thrown back without being given the chance to even scream.

Kaaang!

The other flail took a twisted path and wrapped around the shortsword of a bandit standing on the other side.

“Huh!?”

The sword was ripped out of the man’s hand by an enormous force, and his head was greeted with the metal ball immediately after.

Thuck!

The bandit collapsed with a cracked skull.

“Kuhahahahaha!” Galfredik burst into frenzied laughter. It appeared his blood was boiling after a long period of abstinence from battle. He displayed a brutal appearance as he wielded two flails coated with blood, flesh, and brain fluid.

On the other hand, Eugene’s killing moves looked neat and clean. SIlion was much more agile compared to ordinary warhorses, and Eugene had fully utilized the steed’s abilities to completely violate the bandits’ formation while leaving behind corpses. 

From the outside, it looked as if he were performing acrobatics.

Crack! Thuck!

It didn’t matter whether the bandits were wearing leather armor or chain mail. Wolfslaughter cut and pierced through all armor as if they were nothing more than a piece of paper. 

The slaughter was a result of Eugene’s brilliant swordsmanship and his incredible strength. 

On the other hand, the bandits were unable to inflict any meaningful damage to the knights. Their attacks could not possibly get past the knights’ plate armor. Moreover, Eugene’s vampire fear drove panic and fear into the hearts of the bandits. 

They were completely overwhelmed and could do nothing except turn their tails.

In the end, about 20 bandits died or suffered critical injuries before even a minute had passed.

“A m-monster!”

“Run!”

The bandits finally realized who they dared to aggravate – a rarely-seen, genuine knight.

They assumed the two knights to be arrogant young masters without skill after seeing how fancy and clean their plate armor was, but it had been a terrible and fatal mistake.

Uaaaah…..!

The bandits ran in all directions while screaming. However, escaping the pursuit of a knight on a warhorse was as impossible as surviving an encounter with a hungry ogre. Of the 10 bandits who chose to flee, none of them made it out alive.

Nearly 30 troops had been slaughtered by two men. Very few survivors remained with only minor injuries. The boss of the group eventually dropped his weapon with a pale expression.

Thud!

“I-I surrender, so let me live! I am Kalu of Leovin. If you speak to my family, they will pay a ransom…”

Boom!

Leovin never finished his words. The man fainted with a single kick from Galfredik, his mouth foamed and his eyes showed whites. 

Tap. Tap.

“Great work, Master!” Luke hurried to Eugene’s side with a face full of excitement and awe.

“Hmm.”

Eugene entrusted Wolfslaughter to Luke, then slowly approached Veron. The mercenary and his subordinates were staring with disbelief in their eyes.

“Veron.”

“Y-yes!” Veron responded with great shock before quickly taking a salute. His attitude had completely transformed from before.

“Did you hear the bastard’s name? Do you know him?”

“If it’s Kalu Leovin, he should be the leader of a bandit group. He has a bounty on his head as well. It seems those men were the Kaluna Bandits.”

“I thought it would be something like that. Then we only need to take his head. Galfredik.”

Eugene mumbled quietly before turning towards Galfredik. The burly knight decapitated the head of the fainted bandit without hesitation. Even if the bandit leader’s words had been true, they could not expect a ransom if he even had a bounty on his head.

No noble would possibly pay a large ransom for a child who tarnished their name.

“Sir Eugene, what should we do with the rest of them?”

“Is there a need to leave them alive? Kill them all—”

“Please! Let me become your slave! Please show mercy! Please let us live!” The bandits begged with teary, snotty faces. They had only suffered non-life threatening injuries.

“Hmm.” Eugene sank into thought. He felt a little reluctant to have such men as slaves.

“Sir Eugene, they are young and healthy, so selling them will net us a good sum.”

“Let’s do that.”

Partec made a careful suggestion, and Eugene immediately agreed. He always welcomed a little extra pocket money.

“T-thank you! You are truly merciful!”

“May God’s blessing always be with…”

“Shut your mouth and take off your clothes.”

“Y-yes!”

The four surviving bandits, or rather, slaves, hurriedly disarmed themselves. Soon, all the weapons and belongings of the dead bandits were collected and loaded into the carriage.

“So, Veron. As you were saying before, this is the general atmosphere of this town?” Eugene asked.

“For now, yes.” Veron replied.

“So something like this could be a recurring event until we arrive at the Beogalan Barony,” said Eugene.

“Yes, that is likely.”

“There are knights and mercenaries too?”

“That’s probable. However, this ambush was a little rare. Usually, we give them an appropriate sum as a toll.” Veron explained.

“Like what you were saying earlier?”

“Yes.” Veron replied.

“But you said almost none of them are real nobles, right? Will there be a problem if we don’t pay?” Eugene asked.

“N-no, there isn’t. No problem at all.” Veron stammered.

“That’s what I thought. I understand.”

Veron gulped with fear. This was truly the most frightening ‘I understand’ he heard in his life.

*** 

Boom!

A body collapsed after suffering a blow to the head by a mace.

“Partec, go check out the surroundings.”

“Yes, Sir Eugene!”

Parte quickly disappeared with Lavan. Similar to the previous battle, they made little contribution during the actual battle. Glade took the slaves and naturally began sweeping the equipment and belongings of the dead.

“Is this the fourth one?”

“Yeah. I think all of them must be out of their minds. Dammit! My armor’s gotten dirty again.”

Galfredik took off his helmet and wiped off the blood. His plate armor had been without a single speck of dust when they first arrived in Moffern, but now it was in terrible shape.

“Hey! Do any of you bastards know how to polish armor?”

“I can, sir!” One of the new slaves instantly raised his hand and ran forward.

“Let’s see how good you are.”

“Please leave it to me, sir!”

The slave started wiping down Galfredik’s plate armor while sitting on the edge of the carriage. Until yesterday, he had been a relatively renowned figure in the area.

“Anyhow, the bastards of the Carls Baggins Peninsula don’t even have a trace of honor.”

“Hmm. They are definitely different from Maren’s knights. Moreover, all of them seem to be rather stupid.”

“They don’t know their place. You have to crack their head open before they come to their senses. Hey, you would be dead right now if you kept pretending to be a knight. Count yourself lucky.”

“Yes! From now on, I will never act out of place ever again. I will always be faithful to Master Eugene and Sir Galfredik.” Rudrian, who was once known as the ‘Silver Flash of Dimos,’ vigorously nodded his head. His face was filled with various bruises.

He was a mercenary who had been pretending to be a knight and a lord in a village known as Dimos. He once had about fifty subordinates under his control. However, his shield was smashed apart and he was thrown off his horse after a single clash with Eugene.

Afterwards, he was subjected to a series of merciless beatings. After screaming some nonsense of honor, he finally confessed the truth and volunteered to be a slave.

It was surprisingly simple to distinguish between real and fake knights. A real knight would have grown up with thorough education. He would never deny his status even in the face of death.

However, just like Rudrian had done, fakes would immediately reveal their true colors. They were without pride and dignity.

‘Anyways, this is…’

Eugene looked around. The number of cleaners seemed to have increased exponentially.

“Veron.”

“Yes, Sir Eugene!”

“How many slaves do we have now?”

“34 in total, with the new addition.”

The entourage had numbered around twenty when they set off from the city. However, in only two days, the number had grown to be almost fifty.

“Is there even enough food to eat today?”

“We have a little bit more, but it is becoming a slight concern.”

“Hmm.”

Eugene clicked his tongue. At first, he only wanted to make some extra income by selling the slaves. However, the battles continued, and the survivors were taken in as slaves every time. It was slowly getting out of hand.

‘Should I just kill them all?’

Eugene’s red eyes skirted over them, and the slaves started trembling.

“I-It’s okay for us to starve, sir!”

“There is no need for us to eat! I will even forego sleep!”

“Sir Eugene! Please, show mercy!”

The leader of notorious bandits, and even the mercenary leader who feigned his identity as a lord – all of them kowtowed while desperately begging.

“Master, why don’t we head to the village that the bastard ruled over? It’s supposed to be quite big, so we won’t have to worry about food in the near future.” Galfredik whispered, and Eugene turned around. Galfredik was pointing to the headless corpse, the same man whom Galfredik killed with his mace. Come to think of it, he had boasted about the village called Paranan as if it were his own property.

“Veron. How far is the Village of Parana?”

“It’s very close. Just a few more kilometers from here.”

The group needed to arrive at the Beogalan Barony within three or four days, but they would arrive by tomorrow if they continued at their current pace. They had quite a bit of time to spare.

“Then we will head to the village after cleaning up.”

“Yes, Sir Eugene!”

They had been strangers until two days ago, but Veron and his men bowed politely as if they were addressing their faithful master. It was no wonder, however, since Eugene and Galfredik had displayed a ruthless, overwhelming force over the past four battles.

But that didn’t mean they were merciless. Unless the enemies launched an ambushed or attacked first, they would exchange words. If the enemies made excessive demands, they calmly refused.

However, once they entered a battle, the two knights would instantly transform into cold-blooded demons that lacked sympathy. But they could not be blamed, since the opponents decided to attack despite the kind consideration of the two knights. 

It was justified for knights to retaliate against those who attacked them. Moreover, the two knights had no connections to the Carls Baggins Peninsula at all. Moreover, none of the attackers they met so far were real nobles.

Thus, there was no need for them to be so considerate.

‘What monsters. Both of them.’

Veron stole a glance at the two. Eugene and Galfredik were leisurely riding forward with their horses side-by-side.

An idea suddenly came to his mind. The number of slaves increased after the battles, but the two knights had killed several times the number of survivors. And all of the attackers had belonged to notorious or infamous groups.

‘Have they swept every infamous group in the areas along the road so far?’

Naturally, there would be a few more forces remaining, but as far as Veron knew, the two knights had already crushed the strongest forces in the local area.

‘Does this mean that Sir Eugene wants to be a lord in the Carls Baggins Peninsula?’

Veron came to a sudden realization. He was faced with an opportunity to become a subordinate of an outstanding knight – one who possessed a high chance of becoming a lord at that!

Favorite