Chapter 41

Chapter 41 - Becoming a Commander (4)

If one gains something, one must discard something. Since he had decided to stand on Morad's side, Duran was now an enemy.

For the mercenaries, there was no family to pay their ransom anyway. Eugene swept away even those who threw down their weapons and surrendered equally.

"You damned fellows! I said I surrender..."

A mercenary who tried to pick up the discarded weapon again, driven by spite, was hacked to pieces and died.

"The spoils come later. Send scouts to the front and rear, and hurry to treat the people of the House of Morad first."

"Yes! Gamdin, O'Connell, to the south! Kevin, Smoke, to the north!" At the mercenary captain's instructions, his subordinates scattered in an orderly fashion.

Wheeet-!

At a clear whistle, the horses that were scattering after losing their masters and the donkeys that had taken refuge huddled together at a distance gathered at the battlefield one by one.

Brrr-! Some of the timid horses stopped in their tracks due to the vibrating smell of blood.

Wheeeeet-!

However, as Homi urged them, they soon gave up and approached.

"Just what manner of principle is it?" Eugene marveled at the squire's wondrous talent as he dismounted from his horse.

"A-Are you Sir Eugene?" As he approached the survivors, the old clerk among them recognized Eugene.

"How did you know?"

"Lord Benjamin has spoken of you in detail, Sir Knight. Not only your martial prowess, but even your cunning to catch the Duran fellows off guard and execute them. His praises were not excessive in the least."

The survivors of Morad had faces deeply moved by the unexpected rescue. Their wrists were pulled behind their backs and they were wearing iron shackles.

"Sir Knight. We must find the key." The mercenary who had run over first and inspected them looked at the corpses scattered around.

"In what age will you rummage through that? Step aside."

"Pardon?"

Eugene, kneeling on one knee, grabbed the iron shackles.

Crunch!

Riiiip!

Everyone's faces turned to astonishment at the shackles tearing like rotten stems.

"It was true that you defeated Volks with strength."

"This seems not to be a realm to compare with humans, whether one is a stalwart or whatever."

The envoys murmured with dazed faces.

Eugene, having finished the emergency treatment and the cleanup, departed in a hurry. For it was unknown how much ambush force the House of Duran had mobilized. The equipment of the enemy mercenaries was taken by his subordinates, but the arms and horses of the knights and squires were Eugene's share.

'The class of spoils is different from when sweeping away village pillagers. As expected, must one target nobles?' Converting his share of the spoils into money, the period he could maintain the mercenaries leaped up.

"To think they would launch a cowardly attack without even a declaration of war. They are beasts." The old clerk spoke with a distressed face.

"I am regretful. If I had arrived but a little sooner, everyone might have lived."

"Who would have predicted such tyranny? You arrived sufficiently early, Sir Knight. I am rather worried whether there was any inconvenience for you due to the messy surroundings while you were coming."

"There was a small incident. A village belonging to Morad was being pillaged by mercenaries. I subjugated those fellows while I was at it."

"We have incurred two debts even before serving you. I have no face." The clerk, who had only received help instead of treating the knight who came from afar, bowed his head even lower.

* * *

The ambush of the House of Duran was carried out in various places. However, not everyone succeeded. There were those who attacked believing in their numerical superiority and the surprise nature of the ambush, only to be repelled in turn.

"Kuaaaargh!"

The knight who was the leader of the ambushers screamed. He was currently tied next to a flower-decorated carriage and undergoing torture. The Morad soldiers surrounding him glared fiercely.

"Sir Knight. Could you stop barking?"

"You aren't dead yet, are you? How envious those underlings of yours dying in real-time right behind you must be."

Behind the knight, the captured enemy mercenaries were being decapitated.

"You have suffered, My Lady." A middle-aged head maid wiped the sweat-covered face of a woman with a handkerchief. Her name was Roxanne. She was the second child of the House of Morad and was on her way back from diplomatic duties to a neighboring territory to prepare for the war. The high-quality dress Roxanne was wearing was torn everywhere and covered in blood from Duran's ambush.

"You need not examine me as if licking me. I avoided all the vital spots. Rather than smiling brightly and playing twenty questions in front of a sly old snake of a lord, it's better to lock blades with fellows trying to kill me."

"My Lady! Speak more prettily!"

Roxanne laughed while twirling the sword in her hand. The head maid, who was examining her body, wore a bitter face.

"Oh my, a wound on this fair skin! Those fellows who should be torn to death."

"Would the fellows who were struck by my sword and died not feel wronged if they heard those words?" The head maid, sighing as she looked at the shallow wounds, was from Gord. Despite having served the family for a long time, she had not adapted to the culture of Roman where one becomes a knight regardless of gender.

"Sir Roxanne! I think this fellow is about to die; you should add a strike."

"What? You've already touched him up that much? Go a bit gently."

"Hahaha! Because we were all excited from the reckless remarks he made toward you, Sir." The soldiers had returned the favor to the knight who had rushed in claiming he would treat their master cutely, by treating him cutely in turn.

"You monster... monster-like bitch!" The knight shouted toward Roxanne, who was wearing a blood-red dress.

Before the battle, the power and situation of both sides were clearly in Duran's favor. If one told mercenaries to place bets, except for a minority of under-dog addicts, they would have bet on them. The reason they were caught off guard like this was because of Roxanne, who kicked open the carriage and ran wild like a crazy bitch.

Smack!

"Has this Sir Knight completely lost his mind?" At the punch of a soldier who had erased his smile, the knight groaned in agony.

"Hey, hey, he'll really die at that rate."

"We must give the final blow to the Lady."

"Lady Roxanne! Pray, hurry!"

At the soldiers urging her, Roxanne turned her back and waved her hand. "I am fine. Process him amongst yourselves."

"Pardon? Truly?"

The Roxanne they knew did not send off those who struck first or insulted her gently. That knight included both.

"My makeup is all gone from fighting!"

"Lady Roxanne, you are beautiful even barefaced!"

"I know that too. But my eye makeup ran down and I've become like a clown."

"Wahahaaha!" While her subordinates laughed heartily, the knight spat blood bubbles and breathed his last.

Before they knew it, the day was also growing dark.

"Our schedule shall be delayed, but we shall lodge at a nearby village. Discard the carriage. It's broken and cannot be used." Roxanne approached a horse detached from the carriage.

Riiiip! Riiip!

As she unhesitatingly tore off the hem of the dress she was wearing, her bare skin above her knees to her thighs was revealed. They were white but well-trained knight's legs.

"My Ladyyy!" At that wild appearance, the head maid screamed.

"The carriage is broken, and I cannot ride a horse in a dragging outfit, can I?" Roxanne leaped up and mounted the horse without a care. The young soldier holding the reins lowered his reddened face.

"Now, let us go!"

At Roxanne's shout, the soldiers who had finished their emergency treatment followed behind. Even though they had won, the surroundings were still dangerous. They had to enter a village before the sun set.

* * *

"A village will appear soon. As it's a place frequently passed by travelers and merchant guilds, the village is quite large. They shall treat us well too."

At the clerk's words, the mercenaries under Eugene rejoiced. Even if one lived a long life as a mercenary, one could not get used to sleeping outdoors. Rather than sleeping on the hard ground wet with dew, resting in a village was much better.

For the purpose of exchanging the spoils obtained from victory into money, visiting a village is also essential. Spoils are wealth but simultaneously a lump of baggage. Only by disposing of them quickly will one's body be light and able to capture new things later.

"It seems there are already guests ahead?"

At Eugene's words, the mercenaries reflexively reached for their weapons. For they were well-armed individuals, not a merchant guild's group. However, the clerk hurriedly stopped them.

"It's fine. They are people from our family."

"Old man, you were alive? I was worried, thinking your side might have been ambushed too." A beautiful but fierce-looking woman waved her hand and welcomed them.

"She is Lady Roxanne, the second child of the House of Morad." The clerk, who introduced her to Eugene, dismounted and paid his respects. "We suffered a dishonorable ambush from the Duran fellows."

"It was the same here. However..." Roxanne narrowed her eyes. The individuals following behind the clerk were all people she was seeing for the first time. She had thought they had repelled it without major damage like herself, but it seemed that was not the case.

"Most of those who departed with us, including Sir Gauss, have fallen in battle."

"Ah. He was a good man." Roxanne scratched her head nervously. Her curly, long black hair swayed wildly.

"Sir Eugene here saved the few of us remaining and punished the scoundrels."

"Eugene? Eugene Meyer? The Victorious Knight of Bonyard?"

"That is correct. He is the Victorious Knight and simultaneously the one who executed the demonic beast."

"He looks younger than me, yet his resume is quite splendid."

"You two are of the same age. Sir Eugene has also reached adulthood this year."

As Roxanne looked at him with eyes full of curiosity, Eugene tactfully stepped forward.

"I have come upon the invitation of the House of Morad. I am Eugene Meyer. I express my condolences for the honorable vassals meeting unjust deaths."

"I thank you for avenging them. However, since the blood price of Morad and Duran are not equal, we cannot end it with this."

The emotion floating on Roxanne's face was not sadness but combativeness.

"I am joyful yet regretful. Had you come a bit later, Sir, the Duran fellows might have come here by now. And I cannot kill fellows who are already dead again." Roxanne spoke as she gripped the hilt of the sword at her waist.

This was the only village to stay at in the vicinity. If they were not to sleep outdoors, they would inevitably have come here.

"Sir Roxanne. I have killed all the mercenaries, but I have brought the knights back as prisoners."

"What? Truly?!" A bright color returned to Roxanne's face.

"I captured them alive, thinking they would be a good gift for the House of Morad."

"Ahahaha! This is the gift I like the most among those I have received thus far. It's ten thousand times better than an embroidery set that gives me goosebumps just looking at it."

As Eugene gestured, the mercenaries dragged the two captured knights over. Godric, who had taken a punch to the face, had a crushed nasal bone and his front teeth were knocked out in droves, but his life was not in danger. The other knight also merely had a broken wrist.

"Their condition is fine compared to what I thought. It doesn't seem they have any cuts."

"Thanks to the fellows letting their guard down, there was no need to swing my sword. They are truly pitiful individuals."

"Mmph! Mmph!"

"Mmmmmph!"

The knights glared at Eugene, who spoke nonchalantly, with bloodshot eyes. However, there were gags in their mouths.

"Let's see the faces of these sons of bitches. The trash of Duran who killed Sir Gauss and his son." Roxanne glared at the knights with burning eyes. Her eyes, which were reminiscent of a feline beast of prey, had beauty marks planted on both sides, making them even more full of impact. Her momentum was such that it seemed she could tear apart a person's neck and kill them just with her claws.

"Sir Eugene. Will you hand these fellows over to me? I will pay double the usual ransom. For I wish to repay the grievance of the Gauss father and son who have served our family for generations."

One does not necessarily have to sell prisoners to the relevant family. The distribution of distribution was also common in this world. Naturally, the price rose accordingly.

'Finally!' Eugene's heart raced with excitement. The most certain means of taking money in one's grasp, a noble's ransom! And that first experience came as a double event.

"If I hand them over, what do you intend to do with these men?"

Although it was his first time meeting Roxanne, he deduced from her impression and manner of speech alone that she possessed a cruel nature. He could roughly guess the future of the prisoners.

"Mmph!"

"Mmph! Hmhmph!"

The knights of Duran, who had been glaring at Eugene until just now, changed to pitiful expressions. They were eyes begging, 'Please do not hand us over!'

"Hohoho. Are you curious?"

Roxanne approached him with quick, short steps, her hands clasped behind her back, and stood on tiptoe. Her red lips whispered into Eugene's ear. Perhaps she ran hot, for the breath that touched his ear was incredibly warm.

Eugene's expression, as he looked at the prisoners calmly, gradually changed to a bizarre one, but in the end... he did not feel pity. For they were fellows who had it coming.

"I understand. These men are Sir Roxanne's from now on."

"Mmmph!"

"Mmmmmmmph!"

The two knights screamed desperately, but Homi tactfully gagged their mouths with an even thicker cloth. Roxanne smiled brightly and gestured to Eugene's mercenaries.

"You fine men over there? You must have grown attached to the prisoners even for a short while, so give them a farewell greeting. For you will not be able to see them anymore."

"I thank you!" The mercenaries answered vigorously.

"Your head shape is truly pretty."

Smack!

"Have a good journey!"

Thwack!

The mercenaries smirked and struck the heads of the kneeling knights one by one as they passed by. If not now, when would they ever be able to smack a noble's head!

Working under Eugene had many advantages. The food was delicious, it was safe, the spoils were generous, and such a special experience was also possible.