Ch 31

Knowing that their ambush was discovered, the bandits suddenly took out their weapons and charged in, without any intention of negotiating.

"Captain!"

When an old-looking mercenary on a horse called for Benjamin, Benjamin stood up and shouted instructions. "Bring the merchants to the center! If we send them to the rear and get caught in a rear ambush, we’ll be in big trouble!"

"All right!"

Benjamin continued giving instructions as the merchants began moving.

"Jawe! Spread it!"

The mercenary Jawe took out a bag containing caltrops with three of his team members and quickly spread it widely in front of the group, sending caltrops flying onto the path between them and the bandits. Some of the bandits who were ahead of the others on horseback were instantly killed or seriously injured when some horses couldn’t slow down and stepped on the caltrops, sending them into a frenzy.

"Captain! There are horses! They aren’t ordinary bandits!"

"I know! Buruko! Io! Shoot!"

Buruko and Io took their team members and began shooting arrows recklessly. There were many targets on a narrow path, so they would strike many even if they shot roughly. In the meantime, the mercenary called Jawe and his crew sprinkled caltrops all around the group to prepare for an ambush from the sides. Perhaps the bandits had to change their strategy against the unexpectedly swift response of the Dragon Fang Mercenaries, because they spread into the forest and began to counterattack with arrows. Benjamin drew his sword and struck an arrow as it whizzed towards him.

"Protect the horses with shields! They can't pierce the walls of the wagon with these arrows anyway, so use the wagon as cover!"

Benjamin continued to dictate and assess the situation. No matter what groups battled, the best strategy was to take out the leader as quickly as possible. Benjamin placed his sword on the roof of the wagon and pulled out his bow, scanning the area for the bandit boss. Meanwhile, Caron yawned as he did some light stretches.

"You guys have good chemistry, so it’ll probably interfere if I try to join in. But I'll work for my own meals."

"What?"

Caron jumped off the wagon and high into the air before Benjamin could say anything more, and quickly crossed the area where the caltrops were sprinkled. Then, he rushed directly into the group of bandits.

"Hahaha! How stupid of you to run in alone! Deal with him!" shouted one of them.

The bandits swung their swords, laughing at Caron's apparent folly. However, when Caron pulled out his sword, the situation changed.

"Enlightenment, Cutting the Woodpecker."

A bluish aura formed on Caron's sword, and dozens of attacks poured out in the blink of an eye.

"Huh? Argh! My arm!"

"My leg! My leg!"

More than thirty bandits died and about a dozen were seriously injured and left crawling on the ground. Nearly half of their force was lost at once. The bandits lost their fighting spirit and began to retreat.

"It's a m-monster! Run!"

When the bandits lost their fighting spirit, Caron put away his sword as he panted, losing steam from the effort. The mercenaries all stood in awe with their jaws open.

Benjamin shot an arrow and yelled, "Don't space out! Check the damage first!"

Benjamin's arrow penetrated the heads of fleeing bandits. Due to his quick and accurate shots, most of them died trying to escape. His fellow mercenaries came to their senses and looked at the Ghost in admiration.

"About three or four people got away. What's the damage?” asked Benjamin.

Buruko reported, “There were no injuries among the merchants. A horse died. Among our comrades, Jacob and Dutero, were shot by arrows. Fortunately, they were both hit in the arm, so they will be okay. If stitched up well, I think they can continue to escort."

"Not bad. Take the two of them off the night watch for the time being and take care of the aftermath.”

"All right, Captain."

Benjamin jumped over the field of caltrops and approached Caron.

"Thanks to you, we handled it easily. Thanks."

Caron shrugged. “What thanks? You could have handled it well without me."

"Well, I won't deny it."

In a short period of time, Benjamin's arrow had also killed more than forty bandits. Even if they hadn’t been able to defend themselves properly because they were running away, his skill was still great.

"But without you, two or three people would have retired from the battle just now."

The caltrops would have delayed their approach, but they wouldn’t have completely stopped them. Everyone knew that if they had kept shooting arrows from a long distance, the damage wouldn’t have been small.

Caron smiled mischievously, "If you're so thankful, then it's okay to eat as much as I want for lunch, right?"

"Of course. That much is possible."

It was the employer's job to prepare meals anyway.

* * *

The mercenaries looted the bandits’ money and valuables, retrieved the caltrops, and immediately set out. The area near Olympus Forest wasn’t called a Forbidden Place like the forest itself, but monsters who lost territorial fights frequently appeared in those outer regions. They were all eager to escape this area, which was filled with the smell of blood. Thanks to this, lunch and the interrogation of the survivors were done on the move.

The merchant in charge called Caron and Benjamin to the wagon and thanked them repeatedly. "Aigo, thank you! As expected of the person who became a gold plate mercenary at a young age! And who could forget his friend! It was like watching people from the battle-race!"

"Oh, were you a gold plate? Then the platinum plates must be stronger?" Caron said.

When Caron showed interest, Benjamin snorted. "How strong would those old people be? I’m only a gold plate because I lack experience. In terms of skills, they’re all below me."

"Really? You're saying they aren’t as strong as you, right?”

Caron smacked his lips with regret. Benjamin smirked at the sight and turned to the leader of the merchants. "By the way, when we first signed the contract, you didn't say there would be a massive surprise attack like this."

"Well, that's…"

"Contracts are built on trust. Money doesn't make everything work."

Benjamin's sharp words made the leader flinch. If there was another attack like this, it was the merchant’s that had the most to lose if the mercenaries decided to cancel the contract. The Dragon Fang Mercenaries would lose some reputation, but this was better than potentially losing lives and money from another bandit attack. Benjamin was very upset. He was confident he would survive no matter what, but that was not the case for his comrades.

"My comrades are interrogating the prisoners. It's going to enter my ear anyway, so don't bother and just tell me nicely.”

The leader of the merchant party sighed and confessed. "We are currently transporting important treasures of the Holy Kingdom to the Holy Land, Percival, at the request of the imperial court."

"Treasures? What treasures are you transporting that would incite a massive attack like this?" Benjamin asked.

The leader of the merchant party shook his head, "I don't know that either. It is sealed with the great madosa, Sir Merlin’s magic. I could not even ask what the goods I was transporting were because it was a confidential request from the imperial court."

"The fact that there was an attack means that information about the request was leaked." Benjamin pointed out.

"W-we have kept this secret safe! We did not even tell you, our escort! I'm the only one who actually knows about this among all of the merchants here!" the flustered merchant party leader exclaimed.

Benjamin clicked his tongue softly. He remembered that his leader was thinking hard about whether to accept this escort request or not. Had he known this information? Benjamin contemplated for a while, but soon cleared his doubt. For his leader, it didn’t matter if Benjamin died since he was retiring, but that wasn’t the case for his comrades. Even if his leader had known, it would have just been from rumors going around. His leader had likely sensed the danger with his instincts honed through various battles, but then concluded that the request was large enough to take the risks. In other words, in exchange for being allowed to retire so easily, he had given Benjamin this incredibly dangerous final request.

"That damn old man." Benjamin cursed his leader under his breath.

Listening quietly next to Benjamin, Caron thought for a moment and said, "But isn't that treasure fake?"

Benjamin and the leader of the merchant party looked at him quizzically.

"Why do you think so?" asked Benjamin.

Caron stretched out two fingers. "First, the merchants kept the secret thoroughly, but there were still rumors about it. Second, the leader of the merchant party couldn’t properly check what he was transporting. There is only one thing that can be inferred from these two facts."

Benjamin thought for a moment, came to the same conclusion as Caron, and frowned. "Are you saying that the actual transportation of the treasure is taking place elsewhere and that we are only here as a decoy?"

"That's right. If it was such a precious treasure, logically, wouldn't they have dispatched someone from the imperial court? It'd be normal for them to at least hide their identity and put a watch on it so the merchants didn’t get any ideas about the treasure. Don't you think so?"

There were bound to be things that could only be seen by a third party. When Caron looked at the leader of the merchant party, he broke out in a cold sweat. He couldn't deny what Caron had said. In fact, all of the people in the merchant party were those who he had been working with for years.

"W-was there perhaps someone who suddenly betrayed us from the mercenary side?" the leader of the merchant party asked, grasping for straws, but Benjamin shook his head.

"Do we look like such pushovers that we’d turn our backs to someone we don't know?"

In the case of mercenaries who worked alone or in small numbers, they were often commissioned with people they didn’t know. However, mercenary groups of decent size were not commissioned like other mercenaries, unless they were in a war-like situation. They were mercenaries too, but they had no faith in other mercenaries. Veteran mercenaries in particular would have rather trusted their enemies than idiots who did nothing but show off. Benjamin's statement made the leader of the merchant party squirm.

"It seems I'll have to talk to my comrades about whether we'll continue the escort." said Benjamin.

"F-Farhan-nim!" the merchant part leader exclaimed.

"Even if things go wrong, we will continue to go to the nearest city, so don't worry too much."

Decisively cutting him off, Benjamin rose from his seat, opened the door of the moving wagon, and skillfully climbed onto the top.

"Well… I could be wrong, so cheer up." said Caron, in an effort to console the merchant party leader.

Then, Caron tried to climb up by holding the top of the wagon as Benjamin did, but his handhold broke off, and he rolled out of the wagon.

Crunch!

"Ahh!"

* * *

"Cough! Cough! Cough!"

A man frowned as he coughed deeply. The man's face was strange, it was impossible to tell how old he was. He had a unique appearance such that if you didn’t have an eye for it, he could look young and middle-aged at the same time. However, his dirty white beard, dry skin, white hair, and wrinkles around his eyes gave away that he was an old man.

“Are you all right, Sir Merlin?”

“You do not look well.”

Two young knights stepped into the bell tower at the top of the castle, fussing over the old man.

"Ah, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern, Sir Percival, Sir Lancelot."

The three were members of the Knights of the Round Table, under the direct control of the Holy King.

"Were you looking into the future again?” Lancelot asked.

Merlin laughed bitterly. "No, I was thinking about looking at it, though."

Percival sighed, worried by Merlin's answer. "I heard that foresight puts the caster in danger. Is it okay to do it so often?"

"Uhuhuhu, don't worry. It's not that dangerous of a form of foresight I'm using. At best, it's just predicting fortunes and divinations, so it’s not too dangerous."

Merlin lied naturally. The magic he used to see the future was a dangerous magic that used life force as collateral.

"If that’s true, then I'm glad… By the way, there was a saying that the Miracle Crystal, the Holy Kingdom’s secret, was being brought here, to the Holy Land. Is it true?”

Merlin nodded. "It seems that the rumor has already spread. It’ll be fine, I've already received His Majesty the Holy King’s permission and made arrangements for it to arrive as safely as possible.”

"Is bringing the Miracle Crystal related to the recent secret hiring of workers?" asked Lancelot.

Merlin smiled. "Maybe, maybe not. What's certain is that I'll use it to satisfy my curiosity."

"Hahaha, I knew that much."

Percival and Lancelot smirked.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

"If you came here to ask about the Miracle Crystal, you've heard the answer, so go and see about your business now. Aren't you both busy preparing for the exam to fill the vacancy?"

"That is true. Then we will be on our way. Please take care of yourself."

The two knights said their goodbyes and went down slowly. Upon confirming that the two had disappeared, Merlin took out a magic wand from his subspace and injected mana. Merlin's consciousness faded as he sank into the darkness.