Chapter 33
Urich was busy admiring the city and the sea as he sat on the hill. Behind him, the mercenaries were scurrying to take down their camp in preparation for their departure.
‘The Edge of the World.’
People believed that there was a cliff called the ‘Edge of the World’ at the very end of the sea.
Urich had been out on a fishing boat this morning.
“It was massive and vast. I couldn’t see the end of it no matter how far we went out.”
All Urich wanted was to see the Edge of the World with his own eyes, so he had asked the fisherman to take him there.
“You want to go to the Edge of the World on a boat like this one? No way! You must be from pretty far inland, haha!”
The boatman answered his request with a scoff. This made Urich contemplate throwing him overboard again and again on their way back to the shore.
As promised, Urich returned to the mercenary camp by noon to wait for his new employer. His mind, however, was on the endless horizon.
“They’re here. Everyone, get ready. Here comes our employer!” Urich shouted as he stared at the group of men emerging from the path behind the city. He could tell exactly who was who even though they were still quite a distance away.
“Are you out of your mind, Sir Phillion? You want me to travel to the capital of Hamel with these filthy mercenaries?” After arriving at the mercenary camp with the company of Phillion and three guards, Pahell bounced in frustration as he glared with his blue eyes.
“Please calm down, Master. The ship that was arranged didn’t show up, which means that our information may have been leaked out. And if that’s the case, then the sea route is risky. If we unexpectedly travel on foot with the mercenaries...”
“On foot? Like, on land? You’re telling me I have to walk?” Pahell exclaimed in disbelief.
“Of course not, Master, I’ve prepared a horse for you. Sir Lupin should be on his way with the horse right now,” Phillion said as he tried to calm down his young master. Pahell frowned and crossed his arms to show that he still didn’t fancy the situation.
“Sir Phillion, I...”
“I know, Master, of course I know. Just endure this humiliation for a little longer, and you will soon see the light at the end of this long tunnel,” Phillion was practically on his knees. Pahell rubbed his temple as if he had suddenly picked up a migraine, then nodded.
“I trust you, Sir Phillion, so I will do as you say this time.”
“Thank you, Master.”
From a few steps away, Urich and the other gladiators were watching their conversation.
“What the hell are they doing?” Urich asked the other mercenaries as if he couldn’t believe what he had just seen.
“Let them be, he’s a young noble. They live in a whole different world as us,” Bachman shrugged out of habit.
“That kid looks like he wouldn’t even survive a day if I threw him into the woods to fend for himself. Do you think he even has the balls to pick up a woman, like a real man?” Urich said with a smirk.
“Hey, who knows? He might be into guys, not girls, so watch out, Urich,” Bachman said as he poked Urich’s butt with his spear shaft.
“Yuck, I don’t even want to hear that. Get lost, asshole,” Urich laughed as he shoved Bachman away.
The mercenaries had finished replenishing their supplies in the city, and they took down the rest of their camp in preparation for their departure. Donovan unfolded his map and set the course.
Clop, clop.
A guard joined the group with a brown horse. It was the horse that Pahell was going to be traveling on.
“This is not a white horse. Even its mane is dirty, too,” Pahell started complaining the moment he saw the brown horse.
“Forgive me, Master, I was in a hurry to get you a horse...” The guard who brought the horse bowed his head.
“Whatever, it is what it is.”
Pahell swung himself up onto the horse with a flourish. It showed how much experience he had with horses. He skillfully reined the horse and circled the perimeter.
“Quickly, please, mercenary leader,” Phillion rushed the mercenaries. He didn’t want to spend another second in the Porcana Kingdom.
The mercenaries were almost finished with the takedown and were double-checking their numbers before starting their journey to the capital.
“Urich, the guards are coming this way.”
Soldiers on horses rode up to the mercenaries. They stopped at a bit of distance from the mercenaries and started their questions.
“Are the Urich’s Brotherhood leaving now?” The captain of the guards said in a thunderous voice.
“Yup. It looked like there wasn’t much for us to do here. I’m pretty sure we didn’t cause any trouble during our visit. In fact, didn’t we spend a whole lot of money in your city?” Urich replied. The guard captain laughed, then counted the number of the mercenaries.
“Hmm, Leader Urich, can I ask you one question?”
“Of course.”
“You came to our city with forty-six men, and now you have over fifty.”
“We took in some rookies from your city. Is there a problem with that?”
“It just doesn’t match up with our guest log. I know it’s a hassle, but do you mind if we checked the mercenaries one by one?”
The guard captain was speaking in a cordial voice, but it was obvious that he had different intentions. He gripped the reins of his horse tightly as if he was getting ready to move at any moment.
“We can’t let them search us, Urich,” Phillion said to Urich. He was drenched in cold sweat in no time.
‘If the mercenaries sell us out, it’s all over.’
Phillion nervously looked around at the mercenaries to see what they were going to do. The mercenaries didn’t say a word, as they were waiting for their leader to speak.
“Hmm, I don’t think that’ll be possible. You know how us mercenaries are—most of us don’t have proper identifications. And cap, we’re not only mercenaries but each other’s brothers. Once we’ve accepted one another as our brothers, we don’t give anyone away, no matter what.”
Urich narrowed his eyes. Even though the two parties had a good distance between them, the tension was palpable.
“Are you sure we can’t do a quick check?” The guard captain asked for the last time, and to that, Urich stuck with his answer. There wasn’t a point in continuing this conversation.
“I see, very well. Safe travels, Urich’s Brotherhood.”
The captain of the guards and his guards turned their horses back toward their city. Urich stared at them as they made their way back.
“They’ll be back, right?” Urich asked as he looked at his mercenaries.
“Obviously. He’s going to form a chase party and come after us. It was written all over his face,” Donovan said as he picked his teeth with a twig. The other mercenaries nodded in agreement.
“We ditch the roads. We’ll go through the forests and mountains instead.”
The mercenaries left the paved road and opted for the mountain route.
“Mountain? Why can’t we just stay on the road? Aren’t I paying you to fight for me? Just take care of the chase party when they come,” Pahell complained on his brown horse. Phillion, not knowing how to deal with the situation, tried to calm his master with his silver tongue.
“Sir Phillion.”
The mercenaries began their journey. Donovan broke away from the line and came up to Phillion.
“What’s wrong?”
“If you don’t do something about that mouth of your little master’s, one of us might cut his tongue out in the middle of the night.”
“H-how rude.”
“I’m not trying to be rude. It’s just that it hits close to home—I just want to help. You see, I used to be a soldier myself, and I had a superior who used his tongue however much he pleased.”
“You were a soldier?”
“An Imperial soldier, though I was dishonorably discharged.”
Donovan was the only former Imperial soldier in the mercenary squad. It was rare for them to fall into the mercenary business.
“Dishonorable discharge... That’s a shame. If you were an Imperial soldier, you would have gotten a pretty good treatment. What happened?”
Donovan grinned and showed his yellowed teeth at Phillion’s question. It was the grin of a murderer.
“The superior I told you about, I killed him myself, Sir Phillion.”
Phillion shut his mouth and looked at Donovan’s back with shivering eyes. His words were a pure threat.
‘These goddamn mercenaries have no manner whatsoever.’
Phillion cursed the mercenaries under his breath. To him, mercenaries were lowly people. But nevertheless, he was traveling with mercenaries, and on top of that, their leader was a barbarian.
* * *
Two days had passed since the squad left the city, and the road was only getting rougher.
“Hey, Master Pahell, we should ditch the horse now. Besides, a man’s gotta walk on his two legs,” Urich, who was leading the line, shouted at the young noble.
The mercenaries purposely chose the rougher terrain to escape the potential chase of any pursuers. As they climbed the rough mountain path, the paved road broke off and the terrain became impassable on a horse.
“Master Pahell, it looks like you’ll have to leave the horse,” Phillion said with caution. Pahell, the only person riding on a horse, frowned.
“Sir Phillion, tell these mercenaries to find a different path—one that my horse can get through!” Pahell didn’t budge on his horse.
‘You think I’ll walk? On this rugged mountain path?’
Pahell snorted in disbelief as he looked arrogantly around the mercenaries.
“Urich, can’t you find a path decent enough for a horse?” Phillion practically begged.
“If there’s a chase party after us, they’ll also be on their horses. If we opt for a better road, then they’ll catch up to us for sure, which means we’ll have to fight them.”
“E-ehem...”
Phillion walked back to his young master. It looked like he was sweating profusely as he tried to convince his young master to follow the mountain path.
“That’s a lot of loyalty. If it were me, I would have stabbed him in the stomach already and be long gone by now,” Bachman said sarcastically, and the other mercenaries laughed in agreement. They were half-mocking Phillion’s respectable patience.
“You know who I am, Sir Phillion! Even you are telling me to walk alongside these mercenaries, at the same eye level. What a joke. I’d rather go back to the city and wait for the ship.”
“The ship will not come, Master.”
“My sister said that it will most certainly come. Are you calling my sister a liar? How dare you... Are you mocking my bloodline?”
“That’s not what I meant...”
“I should have never listened to you and followed these lowly mercenaries.”
A small argument broke out between Phillion and Pahell. The latter seemed like he was never getting off his horse.
“Bachman,” Urich, watching the argument, called Bachman over. Bachman stopped his bantering with the other mercenaries and turned his head to look at Urich.
“Yeah?”
“You ever tried horse meat?”
“No, never.”
“Then let’s have that for dinner tonight.”
Urich’s muscles became pumped. He strode over to Pahell and his horse.
“W-what do you want? I haven’t forgotten the humiliation you caused me. One day, I’m going to make you pay for...” Pahell raised his voice to hide his fear.
Thump.
There was a blunt sound as Urich’s fist slammed into the horse’s temple.
“Neighhh!”
The horse let out a cry as it collapsed on the ground. Phillion grabbed the falling Pahell.
Crush!
Urich stomped on the head of the horse on the ground and crushed it. Its eyes rolled backward, and its long tongue fell out of its mouth.
“M-my horse? You killed my horse! What even...” Pahell almost had a seizure, then shut his mouth.
Schluck! Thuck!
Urich drew his axe and repeatedly slammed it down on the horse’s neck. Its blood spouted everywhere.
Crunch.
Urich pulled out the animal’s eyeball with his fingers and dug his teeth into it, making a crunching sound as he chewed a piece of the big eyeball.
“The eyeball of a beast is quite a delicacy. You want to try?”
Urich dug out the other eyeball and tossed it to Pahell. Pahell stumbled back with a clearly started face.
‘Now, he’ll shut up.’
Urich deliberately staged a violent scene. Pahell trembled as he leaned against Phillion.
“U-ugh, that barbarian,” Pahell tried to keep his pride until the very end.
“You almost hurt my master. If you ever try something like that again...”
Phillion snapped at Urich. Urich asked the mercenaries to prepare the horse for dinner and looked at Phillion.
“Then what? Hmm?”
“...please be more careful.”
That was all that Phillion could say. He was the clear inferior in this relationship.
Schluck, schluck.
The mercenaries dragged the lifeless horse to a nearby stream and cleaned it up. They quickly drained the blood and removed its entrails before cutting up the meat. The blood and guts floated down the stream, leaving a trail of red. The rest of the mercenaries were enjoying their rest.
“Horsemeat for dinner tonight, what a special meal.”
Horsemeat was not a common food, so the mercenaries hummed in anticipation of their special dinner. Some even sliced off the fresh flesh and ate it raw.
Chew.
Urich thinly sliced up the horsemeat and threw some in his mouth. It was a delicacy, indeed.
“Honestly, that young noble is something else. What kind of family do you have to have to grow up like that?
“He’s all pride but doesn’t know how to do anything. He’s just a kid.”
The mercenaries chattered away, with Pahell being the center of their attention. They couldn’t run out of things to say about the young noble.
“I agree. He seems like he’s around Urich’s age, but there’s a world of difference between the two of them, keke,” Sven said with a raspy chuckle. Suddenly, the mercenaries fell silent.
“What are you talking about, Sven? What do you mean those two are the same age? That young noble looks like he’s in his mid to late teens, at most,” Bachman asked as if Sven had said something outrageous. Sven opened his eyes wide.
“Isn’t it obvious that Urich’s also a teenager? Am I wrong, my brothers?”
The other northerners nodded to show their agreement with Sven. Urich’s young and childish side was obvious to the eyes of the northerners. They respected him regardless because he was an extraordinary warrior.
“Urich’s a teenager? Bullshit. Look at his face; how is that the face of a teenager? He’s got to be at least twenty.”
“Then ask him yourself, Bachman,” Sven grinned with confidence as he chewed on his horsemeat. Bachman jumped to his feet.
“Urich, how old are you?”
Bachman strode over to Urich and asked him straight up. Everyone in the squad waited for his answer, even Phillion and Pahell.
Urich thought about it for a second and started counting with his fingers.
“Ah, I’m seventeen this year, give or take.”
Bachman’s legs wobbled. He clutched at his weakened legs and pulled himself together.
“Urich,” Bachman said with a serious face as he put his hand on Urich’s shoulder.
“What?”
“From now on, you will call me Mr. Bachman.”
Bachman stuck his thumb up.
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