"…If I were you, I'd kneel first. Chief."
A wolf smiles before me.
A wolf looking at the poor flock of sheep that flock to him.
As soon as Stephan saw Vlad's cold eyes pass by his side, he felt goosebumps on the back of his head.
"There's only one of him and dozens of us. If you take the lead, we can easily subdue him!"
Stephan involuntarily snorted at the absurd suggestion of the village chief.
No matter how peacefully you've been living, you can't recognize the threat smiling before you.
This person isn't qualified to be the village chief.
"Then we'll leave."
"…What?"
With those words, Stephan and the mercenaries began to retreat slowly.
The mercenaries, who lived at the crossroads between life and death, recognized the cruel wolf smiling before them and didn't hesitate to bow their heads to him.
"Why are you doing this?"
"You weren't hired to do this in the first place! Why are you retreating?"
The vigilantes who had gathered, each with a spear, were surprised to see the mercenaries abandoning the battlefield without hesitation.
"That person is a knight."
"What?"
"That guy is a true knight."
Some of the mercenaries who recognized Vlad quietly informed the villagers even as they withdrew.
No matter how many of you gather, you won't be able to handle the man in front of you.
"Drop your weapon immediately. Idiots."
"…"
The atmosphere grew colder and colder.
Although there was only one, there was a force in the blue eyes that overwhelmed dozens.
Only then did the villagers, realizing what was happening, swallow nervously and look at Vlad.
"You're lucky."
The breath of the black horse becomes rough.
Rough enough to trample the humans in front of it at any moment.
Because the world touching him was trembling greatly.
"Because I came here for a quiet vacation."
Once this sword is drawn, there's no turning back.
Because the world around me taught me that once I draw my sword, I shouldn't stop until my work is done.
And I'm not used to being patient.
"Don't waste the last chance I'm offering you. Chief."
Even if you've only lived in a small world, it's time to figure it out.
Who is the person you have before you now and what are they doing to him?
To the villagers, who finally faced reality after going through anger, shame, and prejudice, their lips turned blue.
Just as the tip of the spear trembled, their eyes also trembled mercilessly.
***
"…"
"The chief's house in the village, where a heavy silence reigns.
Being the largest and most spacious house in the village, the interior space was comfortable, but the weight of the air was beyond imagination.
"We did not dare to acknowledge the knight..."
"It's 3 gold coins each."
"Yes?"
Vlad's cold eyes passed over him as he looked at the village chief who was stupidly questioning him.
"They are the guys who threatened with the lance. However, we cannot ignore the guys who invaded Goethe's house."
There were dozens of villagers who had just aimed their spears at him.
However, if he were to kill them all just because they were hostile towards him, he would not be any different from a mere murderer.
As many rights as one may have, they must be exercised according to common sense.
"3 gold coins per boy."
"B-but, sir. In a small village like ours, 3 gold coins..."
"Your son is worth 10 gold coins."
Even so, the insulting deal could not simply be ignored.
Vlad was proposing a compensation plan before which the owner of this village, Baron Rosmitz, could only nod his head.
Though it was an excessive amount of gold coins, it was like a bolt from the blue for the parties who had to pay directly.
"If you really can't pay, there are other ways."
"Just say a word!"
The village chief bowed his head and tried to find a solution other than gold, but he should know it.
The cheapest way to resolve everything in this world is with money.
"Cut off each of their left arms."
"…That, sir."
He was a man who grew up in a tough place and swore to carry a sharp sword for the rest of his life.
Vlad's words contained a chilling sincerity that anyone could understand.
"Of course, your son will have to have both arms cut off."
The chief, facing Vlad's bright eyes, no longer had the strength to open his mouth.
There are no more negotiations.
If you reject all these offers, your son and the lives of those insolent bastards will be lost.
"Is there anything else to say?"
"…No."
"Then leave."
He had put the village in crisis with his wrong judgment, but the village chief, who had the final clue, had no choice but to bow his head and leave.
Because it was none other than themselves who committed an irreversible mistake.
"…You also have this side."
"It was good that you didn't step forward. Stephan. I was already thinking of putting someone as an example."
Stephan stopped and lowered the jacket he was wearing around his neck at Vlad's casual words.
Vlad's tone, whose anger had not yet subsided, contained thorns difficult to overcome.
"Because we knew very well what kind of person the lord knight was."
Vlad pushed away the tea given to him by the village chief and stood up.
Vlad continued, looking at the numerous bottles of alcohol placed in the cabinet.
"But how did it end up here? I don't think this is going to move to a corner of the field."
Is this mead?
Vlad's eyes began to gleam as he found a bottle of liquor that was not easily found in the northern part of the country, where flowers were rare.
"Well, in a way, the reason we're here is because of the knight's virtue."
"…Ah."
When Vlad realized what Stephan meant, he fell silent.
"Although it wasn't so bad. It's been a while since I saw the countryside, and my nose feels refreshed."
"Let's have a drink with this. I'll follow you."
Vlad opened the village chief's mead without hesitation as if it were his own and poured it for Stephan.
Vlad had a fight with Count Vitskaya in Tanovo.
There was no problem for Vlad, who planned to leave anyway, but the Thornwood Mercenaries, who planned to establish a new position there, had no choice but to wander around looking for requests.
What Stephan said was not just an insult, it was the truth.
"So, what request did you come here for?"
"Mmm... The principle is not to reveal requested information without the employer's permission."
Vlad stopped smiling at Stephan's joke.
An acquaintance with whom he had a connection with delicious alcohol.
It was a moment when the atmosphere that had been heavy until now was broken.
"You saved my life. This time and the last one too."
"Yeah. I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for the knight who was on the bridge at that time."
The position of mercenary leader wasn't something you attained just by eating a bit of bread and meat.
It's also a place where you have to create a comfortable atmosphere and promote yourself to your employer, like now, facing Vlad.
"It's not really a secret. After all, it's something everyone knows."
Stephan, who drank the drink Vlad offered, leaned his head towards Vlad's as if someone might be listening and silently opened his mouth.
"It seems like there will soon be a war here."
"A war?"
"Yes, a territorial war. It's basically a land dispute between nobles."
When completely unexpected words came out of Stephan's mouth, Vlad set down his drink and straightened up.
A world he had never before experienced flowed from Stephan's tongue.
"Continue."
"…The request we received from Baron Rosmitz was to protect this village from the bandits."
The Thorn Mercenaries, seeking a new area to settle, arrived at Wisteria Village after being entrusted with a kind of vigilante work.
This was because bandit raids had become more frequent near the border of the baronial territory.
"What does banditry have to do with territorial war?"
"That's the key part."
Although the village chief's house was empty, Stephan quietly approached as if someone might hear, and opened his mouth to Vlad.
"Those guys robbing around, they seem more than simple bandits."
"..."
Even if the villagers didn't know it, Stephan, with a long career in the mercenary industry, could recognize it.
The actions of the bandits rampaging here are suspicious.
"The appearance of the robbery and escape is very clean and refined. Just like trained soldiers."
"…Hmm."
Perhaps Baron Rosmitz knows it too.
The bandits running rampant at the moment aren't ordinary folks.
"In my view, this is some kind of prelude. It's about securing an access route to Marcia."
Before declaring war, the enemy was clearing out surrounding villages and securing the access route to Marcia.
"And Baron Rosmitz?"
"That person is buying time."
And Baron Rosmitz was sacrificing several villages to buy time and troops to build a defense line.
The attackers and the defenders.
Both moves may have been strategically correct, but in the end, the people who were sacrificed were simply villagers who knew nothing.
"We plan to stay here until this week and then collect and leave. You can't be on a sinking ship, right?"
"…Seriously?"
The mead you're drinking is bitter.
Although he had come to the village to enjoy a vacation, he felt like something was pulling him back again.
No, it was a time when that was inevitable no matter where you went.
"Who's the opponent?"
"…I think it's probably Baron Pylos. There are raids from that direction."
"Pylos?"
Although his common sense was still not deep enough to clearly understand noble families, the family called Pylos was clearly a family that Vlad remembered.
'Pylos, Pylos...'
Vlad closed his eyes and began to recall a familiar name, reviewing his memories as best he could.
"Ah."
When the name buried in his memory began to emerge, Vlad felt a faint lemon scent rising from the tip of his nose.
-As expected, I have good strength, just as I heard.
-Not for nothing are they called mud boars. If you get caught there, you won't even be able to pull out the bones.
There was a land where he took his first steps to become a knight.
The duel at that time was not honorable at first, but it had a splendid ending.
There was a fixed gaze on the boy who carried on his back the honor that Joseph had entrusted to him.
He was a knight who was furious because he couldn't defeat the man who had been defeated by his master, Jager.
***
"¡Agh!"
"Help me! I'll give you whatever you want!"
The cries of people echoed everywhere along with the acrid smoke.
Inside the small village, sounds that could no longer escape reverberated and lingered.
"Colin."
"Report."
The smell of blood and the sound of someone crying.
A man with dark skin chewing on tough jerky as if nothing had happened amidst such a scene of carnage.
"This town has been completely taken over."
"…Did you get everything you needed to get out?"
If a village is going to be burned, it would be right to leave out useful things.
These are items that anyway will no longer have an owner.
"Is this all you can do?"
"It seems to have been a very poor village."
Not a city, just a village.
As it was a village buried in a corner of a mountain, there was no way they could find a satisfactory loot.
The expression of the man named Colin began to distort, as if he was not pleased with the loot before him.
"But the next town we go to will be a little different. It's also a village near Marcia, and the village chief was a former collector."
"Is that so?"
The boar's expression finally began to turn happy as he smelled the gold coins he coveted.
If you're a former tax collector, you probably have a bribery fund saved up for one reason or another.
Because it was a place that allowed such things in the first place.
"Which village do you want to go to next?"
"It's called Wisteria Village."
Colin put away the dagger he was using to carve the meat and stood up.
Dusk was about to fall.
Perhaps there were bright gold coins waiting in the direction where the sun sets.
"Finish up quickly, boys."
"Yes, Colin."
A knight is a sword.
And the sword is a tool.
Depending on who holds the hilt, the knight appears in various ways.
And today, Colin of the Pylos family, who surrendered his honor according to his lord's orders, no longer looked like a knight.
He was just the appearance of a vicious bandit.
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