"Who are you?!" One mercenary wearing a flashy armor shouted in alarm as he gestured his hand to his companions.
Showing how experienced they were in combat, the mercenaries got into a fighting stance while making a half-moon formation. Because the scene from before was totally unusual, they could probably sense that they were facing a powerful enemy, so they didn't attack immediately even though they were ready to fight.
Picking up his old-looking black spear, Sian placed the end of the spear's wooden shaft on the ground.
"I am the person who will send you to meet the creator." Looking at the mercenaries mockingly, he prepared to attack.
"Wait!" Illianna interrupted.
"What is it?" Sian cast a dissatisfied glance at her.
"Instead of just killing them, I have a better idea." Illianna gestured with her hand to the three guys, "How about you turn them into slaves like you did with those three and put them to work?"
"Aren't the golems enough?"
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'Too many people are bad only if the food is too little'?" Saying that, Illianna continued, "Although the golems are great, if we have more workers, the faster we'll finish. Plus, some of them look like mages, which will speed up the process even more."
Perhaps realizing that Sian was about to refuse her proposal, she added, "Don't forget your promise to change your way of life that you made to Ophilia."
Squinting his eyes, Sian cast a sideways glance at Illianna. "I'm starting to realize that whenever you want to convince me of something, you bring up Ophilia's name."
"It's just your impression." Illianna showed an expression as if she had been wronged. "I'm just trying to help you maintain a normal, stable relationship with her."
"Since you're so helpful, I'll pretend to believe your words." Giving a deep sigh, he replied and immediately pointed at the guy he had pierced with the spear. "But that guy will die."
"Have it your way."
As for the fellow in question, he took advantage of the conversation between Sian and Illianna to apply a healing potion to his wound.
"You guys are pretty confident when you're only in five." The man said in a hoarse voice due to his throat not having healed completely.
"It's rather bold of you to say that when you haven't died yet on a whim of mine." Sian provoked. "But since you want to, let's even the numbers out."
With a simple flick of his hand, 10 clay golems appeared in a half-moon formation before the mercenaries.
"You are greatly mistaken if you think we will lose to a few lumps of clay. I will show you the power of divine skill holder." With those words, the guy who had his throat pierced had his body covered by a pale green mantle.
Judging from the magic surrounding the guy, Sian assumed it was some sort of acceleration ability.
As if to confirm Sian's suspicions, an overwhelming sound of air being torn apart rang out. Where the chest of one of the golems had been, there was now a huge hole big enough to fit an adult's head through.
But in less than a second, his confidence had vanished as he tried to retreat quickly, but it was too late. The golem had firmly grasped his arm, making him unable to move momentarily.
"Hel-"
Before he could even finish his plea for help, a clay hand slammed so hard against his face that he was thrown through the air as he proceeded to spin several times upside down.
In the direction he was sent, a third golem was waiting for him. Not giving the man a chance to regain his balance, the golem brought both hands together and smashed him against the ground, causing him to let out a muffled cry of pain.
"Be careful! Those golems can work as a team." The guy in flashy armor shouted. "Get into attack formation number 6, we can't let Jiuliano die, or we're screwed!"
"Leader! That golem is regenerating too fast!"
"Don't worry, we just need to break them until they run out of mana." The guy in flashy armor replied.
With both sides attacking aggressively, the fight between the mercenaries and the golems began. Although the mercenaries had an early advantage due to some large-scale spells, the golems' unstoppable regeneration allowed them to turn the tables.
In a desperate attempt to disrupt the golems' operation, the mercenaries tried to attack the person controlling them, Sian. But it turned out to be a futile action, as they couldn't even get close before being pierced by his spear.
When they realized that they wouldn't have the slightest chance of winning, they had no choice but to run away. Unfortunately for them, from the moment Sian laid his eyes on them, any resistance was futile.
***
Illianna looked at the 13 mercenaries who were lying on the ground in a deplorable state.
"While I'm surprised at the resilience of these golems, I'm even more surprised at the colossal amount of mana you have to be able to keep them constantly regenerating."
"Ayze once told me that the amount of mana I possess is absurd even for an extraordinary human. She even checked me to make sure I was human."
Nonchalantly, Sian looked at the bloodied blond guy who was at his feet and said in a contemptuous tone.
"You look quite shabby."
Despite looking at Sian hatefully, the man could not utter a single word.
"Compared to the rest, he's in a state beyond recovery, was that your doing?" Illianna asked.
"That was still a very low price he paid." Sian said with a contemptuous tone.
"Are you a masochist?"
"How did you come to that absurd conclusion?" Sian rolled his eyes.
"You seem to be having a great time since the moment this massacre began."
"No, well... I guess it's a matter of being happy when your enemy is suffering?" Sian pointed the spear at the guy's chest, above his heart.
"Don't do that!" The guy who was called the leader shouted as he tried to stand up with a pained expression. "He is the king's nephew, if you do that, you will be doomed."
"I wonder how many times I've been threatened like this..."
With an indifferent expression, Sian pierced through the man's chest with the spear, making the light in his eyes to vanish forever.
"Noooo! Damn you!" The leader shouted desperately. "Do you know what you've done?! Now not only are you going to die, we were dragged along too!"
"You ignoramus, he was Jiuliano Benato, heir of Duke Diogenes Benato!"
"It's not like I care," Sian replied calmly as he put his spear away. "Now I give you guys two choices, become slaves willingly or by force. Which option do you choose?"
"We may not be of the line of succession, but noble blood still runs in our veins. We would rather die than become slaves."
"It's like the leader said! We'd rather die!"
Approaching the leader of the mercenaries, Sian grabbed his hair. "Then, it will be by force."
The mercenaries still tried to appeal to Sian by saying that they are a group of known mercenaries and have a lot of money. They promised to give him whatever he wanted, but Sian just ignored them.
Without giving them a chance to react, Sian took them one by one and forced them into a master and slave contract.
"I didn't think that was possible." Illianna muttered.
"It's possible when the difference in strength is too great," Sian replied. "But still, even if these guys weren't heirs of their families, shouldn't they at least recognize me? Didn't you say that the nobles spread my portrait?"
"You look quite different from your normal appearance," Illianna said. "Normally you wore an old and tattered cloak, plus, your hair was always disheveled. It's normal for them not to recognize you now, since you're wearing a decent hairstyle and clothes."
"I see, so that's the case."
Sian ran his hand through his hair, ruffling his 3-by-7 hairstyle, and put on his tattered, patched cloak that had accompanied him for years.
"E-e-e-executor!" The leader of the mercenaries shouted.
But he wasn't the only one, the other mercenaries were also wide-eyed in surprise and fear. This was especially so for the women in the group, despair was stamped all over their faces.
"Executor?" Sian looked at Illianna.
"Don't look at me, I don't know it, but I think it must be some or tittle they gave you," she replied. "I only know two, Reaper and Deflower."
"What?" Illianna's words left Sian indignant. "I can accept Reaper, but Deflower? That's an exaggeration."
"If you have any doubts, just look at how those 4 women are."
Illianna pointed at the terrified women who were shaking like green sticks.
"You're a well-known womanizer, that's why they're already imagining what kind of fate awaits them."
"Oi oi, don't give me that shit! I may have killed some people for trivial reasons, but I've never raped anyone."
"It doesn't matter what you say. When a rumor circulates many times, people take it as truth. Thais gave you a pretty solid reputation."
"Well, whatever."
Since complaining wouldn't change anything, Sian turned to the frightened mercenaries.
"Let me be very clear, I don't intend to kill unnecessarily and I'm not going to rape anyone either, so don't make it hard for me."
"I think we better get out of here," Illianna said. "A group of five people are coming this way, I think they're guards."
"They were probably alerted by some sheepherder who heard the commotion. Let's leave, I don't want any more unnecessary problems."
After erasing all evidence, Sian used space magic and took everyone to the construction site, where he healed his new workers and returned to the inn after nightfall.
After a good night's rest, they returned to work early the next day.
As they followed this arduous routine daily, time flew by and in the blink of an eye, 15 days passed before they finally completed the construction.