Chapter 20 – Chapter 3

The Harlot Kingdom, where Wolf’s mercenaries operate, is located in the eastern part of the western continent. It is an ordinary(?) Civil war in which the 1st prince with legitimacy and the 2nd prince with ample talent and ambition are fighting for the throne.

If you choose one of the two factions and are hired, you can receive a much higher reward than a normal quest.

However, if that happens, it is certain that the small and medium-sized Wolf mercenary corps of about a hundred people will shrink to about a dozen by the end of the civil war.

You need money to grow and maintain your mercenary squad, but getting involved in civil war is too dangerous.

It is not necessary to intervene in the civil war, so the reason why they are active in the civil war is because the soldiers’ spears and knives turned inward due to the civil war, and the monsters outside began to grow in power.

The kingdom’s next ‘successors’ did not particularly touch the mercenaries who only hunted monsters like this because it was undesirable for the kingdom to be eaten away by the threat of monsters.

Thanks to this, Wolf was able to stably raise the mercenary group and move smoothly towards the ‘future’ he dreams of.

However, on that journey, a new talent appeared who would change the outcome of the future he had decided.

*                           *

Tung! Puck! Tung! Puck!

“Oh come.”
“Are you getting along pretty well?”
“I see. If you hit 6 or 7 out of 10 in 10 days of training, you have talent.”

Kaisent, who judged that he had sufficiently melted into Wolf’s mercenary corps for a month, begged to be accepted as a member of the mercenary corps.

At first, Wolf refused, saying he was too young, but his heart gradually weakened at the stubborn boy’s begging.

‘Then let me shoot a bow from afar!’

When I heard that, I was dumbfounded.

The bow must have both muscle strength and endurance, as it is necessary to repeatedly pull the strings during battle.

Feeling determined that he would never back down until he did something, Wolf gave him a bow and arrow and gave it to him so he could shoot.

I just told him how to put the arrow on the string and how to shoot, but surprisingly, Kaicent shot the target precisely in the center.

Thanks to this, all the mercenaries who were watching looked shocked, but perhaps they were lucky, and after that, the arrows missed here and there as if they hadn’t scored.

Still, Kai Sent, who showed that he could shoot arrows and showed his qualifications, was trained as an archer with Wolf’s permission.

Kaicent was finally able to receive the training he wanted, but his heart was rather filled with dissatisfaction.

‘Ugh. It’s even harder when you don’t get it right…’

He became the spectacle of the mercenaries whenever he grabbed his bow, and because of their notice, he couldn’t shoot freely to his heart’s content.

‘What’s difficult about this? Isn’t it enough to repeat the most natural and optimal posture?’

Mercenaries who shoot arrows repeatedly shoot a few arrows for training while marching to maintain their senses.

After watching and studying their shooting posture for a month, Kaicent was able to hit the center of the target even though he held the bow for the first time.

It is the result of understanding the flow of the wind, the direction the arrow is aimed at, and the posture when pulling.

‘I can’t believe it wasn’t on purpose that I hit the target here and there.’

Kaicent thought that the reason why the mercenaries shooting arrows hit the target not in the center but here and there was to imagine that they were aiming for gaps when the allies and enemies were fighting.

That it wasn’t like that, I knew through the expressions of the mercenaries when they hit the center.

If it wasn’t for Dang Seol-young’s advice, I would have hit only the center in a row.

‘If I shoot too many times, it will look strange again, right?’

At this level, it’s okay to shoot all day, but other mercenaries have warned that pulling the string too much will tear your fingers.

“Come!”
“It’s finally shift!”

At that time, the other mercenaries cheered when they found half of the mercenaries who had entered the city returning.

Currently, Wolf’s mercenaries have arrived in a new city and camped outside.

Since the various resources of the mercenaries are stored with the wagons, it is impossible to enter the city with these wagons, and even if it is possible, there will be various problems.

So, half guarded the camp, and half went into the city to do errands and then returned.

“Hey, how about this water?”
“It was just average.”
“It’s good if it’s normal level in this kind of war.”

Naturally, the mercenaries’ interest was to satisfy the sexual desire of a hot-blooded man.

“Hey, Kaicent. Do you want to follow me too?”
“Yes?”
“You’ve become a mercenary now, too? You don’t know when you’re going to die, so why don’t you enjoy women? Don’t worry about money because this older brother will shoot them as a commemoration of his virginity.”
“Crazy bastard. Teach him good things.”
“You’re not even an adult yet.”
“What about it? Is there a way to enjoy it after you become an adult?”

A mercenary tried to take Kaicent’s virginity away, but of course he shook his head and refused.

“I’m done.”
“Are you scared? You say it feels good once you try it?”
“Oh, I don’t like it. Don’t teach me strange things.”
“It’s nice, but I can’t say anything about it. It’s really nice.”

The other mercenary dragged the mercenary who felt sorry for not being able to take pity until the end.

‘A vulgar woman makes me feel bad.’

Kai Sent, who grew up with the cuteness of her orphaned but elegant older sisters, had seen her handmaid trying to seduce him to become a member of her family.

In an attempt to arouse his sexual desire somehow, he took a dizzying pose and showed off his flesh-revealing clothes, but at the time he looked like he had seen something black and disgusting that smelled like a chicken coop.

‘I hate women who don’t have pride.’

I don’t know if it’s because she was influenced by her sisters and mother, or because she inherited her father’s blood, but a woman who devotes herself to seducing men, no matter how beautiful, is repulsive.

Since he had no money anyway, Kai Sent, thinking that there was nothing to live for even if he entered the city, decided to stay in the camp.

“Kaisent.”
“Ah, vice-captain.”

After a while, vice-captain Frederick returned from entering the city and called Kaicent.

“It’s a gift.”
“This…?”

Kaicent, who received a box as a gift, checked the contents with a glance to open it.

“Uh.”

What came out of the box was leather armor tailored for a small physique.

It is hardened leather in the form of a shirt, and is integrated with the shoulder guard.

It’s a little big compared to Kai Sent’s physique, but if you tighten his straps, you won’t be able to wear it.

“It’s an armor for the dwarfs. I bought it one size bigger because it will grow more. If you adjust it with a string, it will fit.”
“Go, thank you!”

Remembering that he had been measured before, Kaicent was delighted with the gift he had received for the first time in this world.

Frederick, who said he was a subordinate but only dealt with tough mercenaries, but received a greeting from a cute boy in the belly, relaxed and gave advice sincerely.

“First of all, you trained me because you wanted to, but keep in mind that the real battle is tougher and more dangerous than you imagined.”
“…Yes.”
“I recommend wearing armor on a regular basis. You have to get used to the discomfort so you can use it in real combat.”

After that, Frederick, who taught him how to put on his armor, left for errands.

‘I know. How terrifying it is to fight to kill each other…’

Even now, the face of the man who defined themselves as ‘evil’ and cut them with a murderous expression comes to mind.

If Kaicent had been an ordinary coward, PTSD would have come and he would have been terrified at the sight of a knife, let alone fight for the rest of his life.

‘That’s why you have to fight. Even if it’s to get my sister back and kill that bastard who gets in the way of our happiness… !’

However, in the galaxy where he originally lived, he inherited the blood of his father, who was called the demon king, emperor, and various titles stronger than anyone else, and his hatred for the man who hurt and bullied his woman overcame fear.

Kaicent, determined to the extent that he would kick it if he had the opportunity to return to his original world until he regained Dangseolyeong, started wearing the armor to get used to it.

*                           *

After selling the loot and purchasing necessary supplies, Wolf stopped by the city and found the next request.

By evening, all the mercenaries had gathered together and Wolf explained their next destination.

“This destination is east.”
“East?”
“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”
“Shut up.”

The mercenaries, who reacted sensitively to the word east, became noisy for a moment and then became quiet.

“It seems that organized greenskins are stirring up the weakened rear as the Karaiden Marshal’s army blocks the Command Kingdom. It seems that it is quite urgent, and one goblin head is 30 fairy tales.”
“Wow! That’s 10 more fairy tales than usual!?”
“If Goblin is that much, Orc or Hobgoblin will get more?”
“Organized greenskins are tough, but they’ll get a lot of loot as well.”

The mercenaries’ eyes sparkled on the necks of monsters whose prices were higher than usual.

“Because it’s unlimited participation, many mercenaries will also step in. The more time we waste, the more our share will disappear. We’ll move early tomorrow morning, so shut up and go to bed today.”
“Ah. I was going to play with the new card I bought.”
“You can play. As long as you have the trick to sleep on foot.”

Frederick responded to the mercenary, who was unable to play cards, in a light tone with a mix of jokes and warnings.

“Then dissolve.”

Having free time like that, the mercenaries flocked to Kaicent, who was about to fight for the first time.

“Kaisent, the greenskins are cunning, so you must stay behind us.”
“What are greenskins?”
“It means that the skin is green, and it means goblins, orcs, and hobgoblins.
“With their own organization, an organized group of greenskins is like fighting an army. It’s a lot clumsy.”
“It depends on the ability of the guy in command. Not all groups have the ability to organize.”

Everyone gave a warning to Kaisent, who was cute but strangely wanted to protect him.

But the scariest thing is that he thinks that all of this is his own will.

‘The first fight to be strong… I have to take another life for my personal wish…’

I don’t know much about the existence of greenskins, but they are also living beings and have their own circumstances.

From now on, in order not to be forced by the will of others, you will force your will on others.

Even in the form of taking lives.

I felt my heart grow heavy, but thinking that all of this was part of the journey to get back Dang Seol-yeong and get revenge on the man, I had no choice but to be determined.

The next morning, the Wolf mercenaries dismantled their camp, pushed them into wagons, and started moving eastward.

He was uncomfortable and hot because of the armor, but he thought that he would have to get used to all of this for the future, and moved with the mercenaries without complaint.

Around the time I moved for four days like that.
Kaicent came to understand what it meant to wage war with cold weapons.

“Ugh…!”

Bloodstains and chunks of flesh cut with sharp objects, a wooden house turned into a heap of charcoal.

Moving along the road, this is the situation we witnessed as we arrived at the looted village.

There were no bodies, but the bloodstains and flesh were enough to tell what had happened here.

“It’s good though. There’s no body.”
“It would have been dangerous if we had seen the corpses of the greenskins from the beginning.”

The mercenaries who cared about Kaicent were relieved that there was no body.

Since greenskins cannibalize humans, fear can consume a fighting spirit when they see a human corpse turned into a piece of meat.

“Captain. Traces of being dragged remain.”

A mercenary who was good at reconnaissance found traces of being dragged away.

The mercenaries, who had been vigilant about their surroundings, glanced at Wolf, just in case.

Because he covered his entire head with a helmet, it was impossible to tell what kind of expression he was making, but the mercenaries trusted him because he was always responsible for the decisions he made.

“Chase. If it’s a fortress, retreat. If it’s a camp, attack.”

Most of the captured villagers would have died and turned into pieces of meat anyway, so the goods plundered by the greenskins would be returned in return for revenge.

Ordinary monsters would find it difficult to obtain such a side income, but greenskins with intelligence and their own society could expect such a salty side income.

When he chose to pursue them like that, the mercenaries who had been exchanging jokes until now all shut up and began to be wary of their surroundings.

As Kai Sent drew his bow, he reflexively fiddled with the quiver on his right thigh.

Greenskins can also set up traps, so just in case, the scouts went ahead and checked the presence of traps.

Fortunately, even after such raids, there were no traps, as if they had not been tracked down.

By the time I moved for a few hours.

Along with the first stench in the woods, they discovered improvised fences and dirty tents.