Ch 33

Merlin’s eyes shot wide open as he let out rough breaths.

"Gasp! Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!"

His whole body felt weak, as if he had fallen into deep water and barely managed to get his head above the surface. Then, shortly afterwards, a severe pain came over his whole body, and he began to hack and cough dryly.

"C-cough! Cough! Cough! Keup! Uwack!"

A dark red clump of blood came out his mouth. In exchange for seeing a future that was not currently allowed, a decent chunk of his life span had been cut off.

"Not yet…! The future still hasn’t changed?"

Merlin had made countless efforts to prepare for and change the future, but it did not change even the tiniest bit. In the future he saw, the Holy King was always destroyed, and the Crow tribe chief always died. The head of the witches was proud of her only son, and the warrior made the son’s first daughter his disciple. … And the world was always destroyed by the Demon King from the Reverse World, such that there was not even a single living thing remaining.

* * *

Caron yawned and threw stones from the top of the wagon.

"Ugh!”

The fleeing bandit was hit by one of the stones, and collapsed while foaming at the mouth. The bandits who managed to escape the stones died by Benjamin's arrows. The mercenaries were tired from the countless number of surprise attacks by bandits.

"Captain, wouldn't it be better to give up on this request?" Buruko asked Benjamin.

Benjamin sighed. “Mercenaries do not give up their duties, that is how we build trust. You know the story of the father and son who fought each other on the same battlefield.”

The story Benjamin spoke of was a legend in the mercenary industry. It was a story about a father and son from a village of mercenaries, who were hired by different employers, ended up meeting on the battlefield, and fought each other for the village and family. It was unknown whether it was a true story, but it was a tale to teach mercenaries how important credibility was.

"I know that, but…"

Buruko knew that trust and credibility were important, but not more than survival.

Benjamin smiled lightly. "I would have also given up on this request too, but look at our situation right now. There are no fatal injuries or deaths. That’s a miracle in this kind of battle."

The mercenaries all looked at Caron, who was juggling with stones on the wagon. More than half of that ‘miracle’ was thanks to him.

"As long as Caron’s here and we keep our wits about us, we can finish this request without a single casualty. Plus, the merchants promised three times the remuneration that we originally agreed upon.”

The mercenaries gulped at the talk of the reward. The original reward was already a lot. If they received three times as much, they would have enough money to play around and eat for at least half a year. Of course, it was a request given to the mercenary group, so some of it had to be offered to upper management, but it was still a considerable sum.

"You guys, don't die and just focus on defense. Caron and I will handle the enemy. No matter how tired you guys are, you can manage that, right?"

The mercenaries accepted Benjamin's encouragement and plucked up their courage. For Benjamin, the request had to be successful. Otherwise, he didn't know when the head of the mercenary group would let go of him. The entry exam for the Knights of the Round Table’s was a rare opportunity, one he may not come across again. After clearing the bodies of the bandits by the side of the road, the merchant party got moving again.

"You're working hard.” Caron said to Benjamin.

Benjamin grinned as he attached his bowstring. "I would have had a hard time without you."

Despite saying that, Benjamin was feeling rather tired after a few days into their difficult schedule. If they had stuck to the original schedule, they would have taken breaks and moved slower, but after the first ambush, they were moving so fast that they didn't even collect loot from the bandits properly. Arriving at the destination as soon as possible was good for both the merchants and the mercenaries.

"But you don't look tired at all?" said Benjamin quizzically.

Caron tilted his head in confusion. "Tired? Why would I be tired?"

Benjamin looked at Caron, dumbfounded. "We can only sleep four hours a day, and the only break time is when we eat, so isn't it natural to get tired?"

On top of that, the bandits continued to attack. The smaller bands only had about a dozen bandits, but sometimes there were more than fifty.

"So why would I get tired? I sleep and eat three meals a day. How could I get tired when I’m not even walking, and just moving comfortably like this instead?"

For Caron, this schedule was nothing compared to the long-term hunting schedule of the Crow tribe. There was no way someone could sleep well in a forest full of dangerous monsters. Until the moment he had left the village, he hardly slept until he had hunted enough. Eating also meant risking stimulating the sensitive smell of the prey, so they only ate simple, dried foods. By comparison, this journey was a piece of cake for Caron. If he had any complaints, it would be that the bandits who attacked were too weak to bring him any real challenge. The burden on the mercenaries increased the less motivated Caron was, but the mercenaries who didn’t know that were just grateful to Caron for handling most of the bandits.

"You're amazing, too," Benjamin said in awe.

"Oh, it's nothing. I think your eyes are more amazing."

Benjamin flinched. "Haha, do you know about that?"

"I've seen it so many times, so it’d be strange if I didn’t know. Is it magic?"

Benjamin shook his head, "No. Should I say it’s a family ability, or family trait? My family inherently has good eyesight."

"Really? That's similar to my family. Our tribe is naturally physically strong, but our dexterity is very bad."

The Crow tribe referred to their dexterity as ‘the humility of the Sky God’. The older Crows taught that the Crows, who were the descendants of the Sky God, stunted their dexterity in the hopes that it would give them humility. The Sky God feared they would become too arrogant if they did everything well. Caron once got in trouble for saying, "Shouldn't we call it the Sky God’s curse instead?”

Benjamin chuckled. "It's like the Crow tribe.”

"Huh? You know?"

"Huh? Know what?"

The two looked at each other with puzzled eyes.

"About the Crow tribe. Do you know about our tribe?"

"What?! You were a Crow?"

Although they had talked a lot, they had never talked about each other's origins. However, it was understandable to Benjamin considering Caron's strength.

"Is our tribe famous?"

Benjamin was dumbfounded by Caron's question of worldly ignorance. "There are nine famous tribes in the world that have special powers that are not like humans. They are often called the battle races, and the Crow tribe is one of them."

Benjamin opened his fingers one by one and explained the known characteristics of each tribe. "In short, the Holy tribe has strong healing power and various strengthening abilities, The Giant tribe has enormous muscles and giantification power. The Hunter tribe has tenacious vitality and hunter transformation abilities. The Fishman tribe has the water ability and can transform into fishmen. The Bird tribe has wind power and flight skills. The Dragon tribe has communication abilities and can borrow strength from the target of their communication. The Butterfly tribe has enormous mana capacity and magic talent. The Fairy tribe has long life and spirit power, and finally the Crow tribe has strong physiques and combat sense."

"That's right. Hmm, it seems only the Holy tribe, Butterfly tribe, and Crow tribe have no special ability?"

Although Caron had grown up hearing about other tribes to some extent, the more he compared the abilities of other tribes to those of his own tribe, the more he felt his own tribe was nothing special.

"What? Why do you say that?" asked Benjamin.

Caron shrugged. "You and your fellow mercenaries also fight well, so there's nothing special about our tribe. And there are magicians who are not from the Butterfly tribe in this world, and there are people with healing power who aren’t from the Holy tribe."

"People with healing power? Oh, you mean clerics. Well, if you think about it that way, I guess so."

"Yeah, I’m telling you. Also, are there any others besides the nine tribes?" asked Caron.

It seemed Caron was a bit unworldly. Benjamin smiled. “Well, it’s not like there aren't. Just as my family has especially good eyes, there are others who have special abilities, but just aren't good enough to be called one of the battle races."

Unlike witches, who passed power via blood relationships, Benjamin talked about those who passed down their powers through discipleship such as the Ten Holy Relics and the Seven Rare Swords. Their destination, St. Percival, was still far away, so it was time for Caron to learn valuable worldly knowledge.

* * *

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Arietta lowered the window and smiled, smelling the forest that tickled the tip of her nose along the gentle wind.

"Mmm! The weather is very nice. Don't you think so?" asked Arrieta.

Bors, who was in the carriage with her, laughed loudly, "Hahahaha! Yes it is!"

The sleek, middle-aged knight sitting next to Bors said calmly, “Holy Queen, it is dangerous, so please don't lean out of the window."

"Hahahaha! Kay has a lot of worries, too! Would Arietta-nim even get hurt if she rolled out of the carriage?" laughed Bors.

Kay of the Knights of the Round Table shook his head, frowning at Bors. "Whether she gets hurt or not, worrying is the duty of the attendant, Bors. Isn't that right, Gwalchavad?"

Gwalchavad, who was driving the carriage from the horse seat, answered in a gentle voice, "Kay is right about that. There's no harm in being careful."

Arietta became sullen and pouted. "Both of you are too much. It's been a long time since I've been on a leisurely trip, and you’re over here nagging! Don't you think so, Euss?”

“…”

Euss nodded slightly with an expressionless face.

"Everyone, look! Euss is agreeing with me, see?! Since it is two versus three, the majority wins, so I will enjoy my freedom!"

Gwalchavad and Kay chuckled helplessly. Arietta was like both a daughter and a younger sister to them.

"Well, we are almost there. Please be careful when we arrive.” said Kay.

Arietta nodded reluctantly. "All right, I will do that."

Although she said that, it was not known whether Arietta, who had a tomboyish disposition, would keep her word. Arietta hummed, fiddling with the box containing the ‘Miracle Crystal’.

"Come to think of it, I am looking forward to seeing what kind of people the new Knights of the Round Table will be! I'm sure they will be strong people, right?”

Kay sighed quietly and warned, “No fighting.”

“Tch!”

Kay frowned as Arrieta clicked her tongue and turned away.