Chapter 59: Salgaera (2)

Chapter 59: Salgaera (2)

The incident happened around lunch time.

The Hound Corps had ridiculed Henry during the entire journey, which was still bearable, but when one of Vilay’s men purposely spilled Henry's lunch, it was the last straw.

“I can’t bear it any longer!” Hagler was fine with being mocked since he could ignore it, but he couldn’t stand back and listen when it came to his lord. Hagler lost his temper and began to hit the person in charge of distributing the lunch trays.

“Hey! Someone stop him!”

“Damn, he’s so strong!”

Halger possessed incredible strength when he was enraged. He was a big man, and with sufficient rest and nutrition, there was no way that the relatively smaller men could stop him.

“Tsk, how short-tempered.” Henry clucked his tongue as he looked at Hagler and observed the situation.

“Let go!” All thirty members of the Hound Corps could barely stop him.

Vilay approached Henry in anger. “What the hell are you doing?”

The Hound Corps had received significant injuries while trying to stop just one individual, and the person who’d spilled Henry’s lunch was in such serious condition that he couldn’t even open his eyes.

Henry replied with a nonchalant look. “Doing what?”

“Thanks to the ruckus that your subordinate caused, my subordinate is in that state!”

“And?”

“What?”

“What point are you trying to make?”

“What kind of question is that...!” Vilay wanted to say that he couldn’t stop the ruckus on his own. He wanted to ask for help, but it was too embarrassing to say it. Finally, he couldn’t hold his anger back any longer, and he placed his hand on the sword around his waist.

At that moment, Henry looked Vilay straight in the eye and said, “That’s enough.”

Halt.?

Henry firmly cautioned Vilay without even taking out his sword, but it felt more like a warning than a caution to Vilay.

‘H-how... is it possible for someone to have such a murderous look...!’?Both of his feet were frozen solid to the ground and his hands sweated profusely, as if he were naked and vulnerable in front of a beast.

Vilay’s hand only lasted a second on his sword. Henry chuckled when he saw that Vilay was frozen in fear.

“Hagler.”

“Gasp... Yes?”

“That’s enough.”

“Huff... Yes, Sir.”

Thud.

Hagler let out a long sigh and shook off his remaining opponents. As Hagler approached, Henry released his murderous look.

“Phew...!” It was only then that Vilay could breathe easily again. However, Vilay didn’t want to admit that he was afraid, even though it had only been a short moment. “You...! I’ll never let this slide.”

“Whatever.”

“Damn you...!” Perhaps because he was gathering his last bit of pride, Vilay glared at Henry until he was out of sight.

Hagler lowered his head. “I apologize.”

“It’s okay, just have a seat.”

Henry did not reprimand Hagler, since he was only doing his job. Henry sat Hagler down in front of him and took out a small bag.

“Sir, what are you doing?”

“We need to eat.”

“Huh? But why the bag...”

“Have you ever heard of a subspace pouch?”

“What? Subspace pouch, you mean a magical pouch where you can store anything?”

“That’s right.”

Henry hadn’t taken out a subspace pouch. It was just a regular supply bag, but small lies like this were necessary if he wanted to use Chest to take out the food he had prepared the day before.

“W-wow...”

Each dish that emerged left Hagler looking awed like a child. Henry brought out a salad and other perishable dishes. He knew that non-perishable foods like beef jerky and bread would be provided on a road trip instead of ones with fresh ingredients.

‘Just because we’re here to do harsh work doesn’t mean we should eat harsh food.’

The two ate and savored the instant feast.

Just like that, two days passed.

* * *

“You’ll see the Slan Gorge after that point.”

The merchants had reached the first gorge, which was also known as the Gate of Salgaera. The weather had grown quite chilly because they were in the path of the cold wind that crossed the gorge as they drew closer to Salgaera.

Munke continued, “Mercenaries, please pay special attention from this point, as bandits sometimes appear here.”

“Why worry when we’re here? Hahaha!” Vilay hit his chest and confidently smiled. It was his way of taking the initiative, and he followed it up with sarcastic remarks. “It’s the Million Corps who should be worried, there are only two of them after all.”

Henry thought to himself. ‘Those idiots.’

They seemed foolish. However, now that they had sorted out the pecking order two days ago, they no longer tried to pick fights.

“Well... Of course, I trust all of you, but I think the quality of bandits here is a little different.”

“How can the quality of bandits be different? They’re all the same.”

“Haha, I guess there’s no point in explaining it to you, you’ll just have to see for yourself. Anyway, are you all aware that if the bandits steal the supplies, there will also be a penalty, right?”

“Of course, we know that. Don’t worry and let’s keep moving.”

It seemed that Munke really liked the word “penalty.” The carriage wheels began to move again. A few minutes, the leader suddenly shouted, “Stop! Stop moving!”

“Huh?”

.

The carriage never stopped moving during their journey unless it was time to sleep or eat. Everyone was surprised. One of the merchant employees alerted them, “A group of bandits have appeared!”

‘Bandits?’

Henry understood why they had stopped moving. He and Hagler got off their horses to check their surroundings. It was true that a group of bandits had appeared. Henry nodded calmly as he looked at the dozens of bandits blocking the path.

However, these bandits looked different. Ordinary bandits usually walked, and only the leaders of the group rode horses since horses were expensive. However, the bandits in front of him were all astride horses and wearing the same black clothes and masks. Even their swords were the same.

‘Maybe they’re rich?’

No matter how successful a bandit was, his life was still worth less than that of a fly. It only made sense for them not to wear anything that would reveal their affiliations to avoid being tracked and discovered.

‘There’s something suspicious about this...’

One of the bandits in the front shouted at the top of his lungs, “Drop your weapons and surrender! Only then will we spare your lives!”

It was amusing because this was something that mercenaries usually said. The Hound Corps laughed till their stomachs started to hurt.

“What the hell is this guy saying?”

“I think he’s lost his mind due to the cold weather.”

“How stupid do you have to be to steal from this empty field?”

Vilay’s subordinate was right. This was the way to Salgaera, and because of the cold weather and rough terrain, hardly any merchants passed through other than the ones sent by the empire. There were no other cities near Salgaera, and yet bandits still appeared here.

‘Almost as if they were waiting for us.’?It was only a feeling, and since he didn’t have any evidence, Henry decided to keep quiet.

Vilay stepped forward and said, “Why don’t we have fun. It’ll be the first time in a while!”

Henry and Hagler also started to get ready for battle, but Vilay waved his hands with an arrogant laugh and said, “Hey, what kind of help do you think two people can give? You’ll only get in the way so just stand there and guard the carriage!”

“Is that so? Okay then.” Henry agreed easily because there was no need to help someone who rejected one’s offer.

Henry and Hagler got back on their horses and began to watch the Hound Corps.

“What a bunch of pathetic bandits you are...”

Shring—

Vilay and the members of the Hound Corps all drew their swords. There were around twenty bandits and thirty members of the Hound Corps.

Shriiing—

Since the mercenaries did not surrender, the bandits also drew their swords.

However...

Pzzzt.

‘Huh?’

The bandits who drew their swords looked strange. Although they looked like common brigands, their blades contained an aura.

‘Sword Aura?’

It was hard to believe that all of the bandits were aura users since sword aura was just a waste of money for them. In comparison, Vilay was the only sword aura Expert in the Hound Corps.

Henry turned to warn Munke, but...

Smirk.

‘What was that?’

It was certainly a smile.

Even a quick glance would reveal how serious the situation was, but Munke definitely had a small but noticeable smile on his face, almost as if he were enjoying this situation. It was the kind of smile that wouldn’t budge, even if someone accused him a hundred times.

‘I don’t have a good feeling about this...’?Henry’s hunches were usually right, especially when it came to bad situations. He was starting to feel worrisome things now.

‘I’ll just keep watching for now.’?Henry crossed his arms again and continued to watch the situation.

“Let’s go! Let’s take them down and steal their horses!”

“Whoo!”

Vilay boosted the battle spirits of his subordinates like an expert mercenary.

Although the bandits had horses, the mercenaries were encouraged by their superior number.

“Charge!”

“Ahh!”

The loud cheer bolstered their courage even further. Vilay charged forward in the lead, showing off his bravery. The bandits began to launch their arrows.

Twang! Twang!

Thanks to the speed of their horses, the bandits quickly penetrated the Hound Corps and began to wield their swords mercilessly.

“Fix your battle lines!”

A single swing of a bandit’s sword knocked one of the subordinates off his feet.

Although the gap in skill was obvious, Vilay shouted in an even louder voice to keep his composure.

“Ahhh!”

“Leader!”

“Argh!”

However, soon there were more people knocked out on the ground than standing to fight.

By the time the Hound Corps except Vilay was completely destroyed, the ground which the bandits stood on was stained dark red. They trained their swords on Vilay.

“H-how dare they!”

Soon, one of the bandits wielded his sword.

Slice!

Neighh!

The bandit sliced through the leg of Vilay’s horse. The horse immediately lost its balance and fell to the ground. Vilay fell off the horse awkwardly.

Thud!

As he sat on the ground, Vilay was covered in the blood of his subordinates. He felt empty. Ever since he was a boy, Vilay had dreamed of having his own mercenary corps. He’d even done chores for mercenaries while growing up. However, these bandits had destroyed his life dream in an instant. Vilay had a murderous look in his eyes.

“Kill me...” He had lost everything and no longer had the will to live.

The bandit held his sword high.

Slice!

Thud.

The bandit’s decapitated head fell in front of Vilay.