Zenbe and I slowly walked into the Utz River Mine to hunt down the rest of the Frakers.
On our way to the entrance, we could see the ground flooded with dead bodies. Some of them were workers who failed to escape out and their bodies were squashed. Other corpses were mercenaries slaughtered during the battle.
As I rummaged through a pocket of a mercenary soldier, Zenbe started complaining again.
“Do not insult the dead.”
“Someone’s going to take it anyway. Wouldn’t it be better if we, who could get revenge for their death, took it?”
I took out a bag of coins and smiled with satisfaction. It’s heavy. As expected, mercenaries were always carrying a lot of money.
“You can say that after you’ve hunted down all the Frakers.”
“It will be too late then. Kara’s soldiers and Alon’s crew will come and sweep everything.”
After finishing my sentence, I walked to other mercenary corpses with hurried steps. Shaking his head, Zenbe walked towards the entrance right away.
Kyoooo! Thump.
Shortly after, I heard a loud noise from inside the mine. Probably Zenbe was hunting the Frakers.
While still rummaging through the pockets of mercenary soldiers, I glanced at their battle scene.
‘Wow~ Seriously, his combating skills are really great.’
Zenbe in Berserker-Mode was slicing off the Frakers all by himself. Their tough skins were torn apart like a piece of paper and their strong foreheads were crushed like a watermelon.
He was like a god of war.
During the Era of Destruction, the Fraker was feared by all human armies but right now, she’s hunted down by Zenbe like a piece of cake.
But that was it.
Unlike Grandpa Cloud or Grolmogg, I could not feel any awe from him.
I had sparred with Grandpa Cloud once and been chased to death by Grolmogg. While they were treating me leisurely at those times, I felt an unimaginable fear which hasn’t gone away until now although I became a Master Swordsman.
I stopped searching through the pockets for a little bit and gently looked up at the sky.
‘If Grandpa Cloud and Grolmogg were still alive at that time…’
Grandpa Cloud and Grolmogg both died before the Era of Destruction. In fact, Grolmogg was killed by Grandpa Cloud who passed away of old age.
If both of them were alive, the Era of Destruction could’ve been much different. Of course, the end still would not have been changed but at least the Orcs and the Yosrahim Empire wouldn’t have collapsed so miserably. At that time, the Orcs were totally disorganized after the death of Grolmogg and the Yosrahim Empire was ruined by rebellions risen all over the empire because of the absence of Grandpa Cloud.
“Damn Grandpa Cloud. Why couldn’t he die alone? Why did he have to kill Grolmogg? Phew~ That old man has always been a big headache for sure.”
I shook my head and started searching through the pockets again. Although I knew what was going to happen down the road, there was no way I could stop. How could I change such a stubborn old man’s or Grolmogg’s mind? They’re damn old mavericks.
Actually, if other people tried to keep him from doing what he wanted, Grandpa would make bigger trouble instead. So, the more I asked him to change his mind about killing Grolmogg, the more certainly he would kill him.
“Watch out! A Fraker is coming at you.”
Once I heard Zenbe’s shout, I stopped thinking about stupid things and raised my body. Then I looked around and saw a Fraker snorting the rough breath from her nose and coming at me.
At that moment, I took a bag of coins and a gold ring out of a mercenary soldier’s pocket and stood still on the ground.
“Hey human! Run!”
Zenbe shouted again and I just absent-mindedly stood still while the Fraker’s rushing towards me right now.
I smiled at Zenbe.
“Hey uncle, are you worried about me?”
As soon as I asked him a question, the Fraker was trying to attack me. I instantly sled beneath her abdomen and my forehead got swept by her rough skins. Sand and pieces of gravel spattered and hit me hard all over my body. Shortly after, I could see intense sunlight and then her wobbling tail.
I immediately bounced off, grabbed her tail, and launched myself forward. Once I was in the air and saw her back, I sliced her off with Yojo in a Z-shape.
Kyoooo!
Fraker screamed, fell down, and rolled on the ground. Then she breathed her last.
Zenbe rushed towards me.
“Human. Haven’t you got hurt?”
I dusted off my clothes and took Chaos Piece out of her flesh on the ground.
“Not really.”
Zenbe opened his eyes wide.
“Hey, you human. You’ll be dead soon if you keep fighting like that.”
“But this is the only way I could hunt her down with one blow, right?”
“What? With one blow? You’ve said Fraker’s danger level is over 70, haven’t you?”
“Yes, I said that.”
“Then you should approach and hunt her down with caution.”
I waved my hand.
“No way. If I did as you said, then I would’ve been dead.”
“What?”
“It’s because of the environment I’ve lived in. If I try to defeat enemies with my mind at ease, I will get defeated. In a short period of time, while I keep my composure, I will be surrounded by layers of enemies. So, you just need to understand the way I fight.”
“What kind of the world have you lived in? Why are you fighting like that?”
I crossed my arms and cupped my chin in my hand.
“Nothing special really. For instance, when hundreds of thousands of troops go to war, I am the only one who survives. Of course, sometimes the outcome is a little different but in most cases, that’s what is happening in that world.”
“Don’t lie to me! Even we Orcs don’t wage such brutal wars.”
Zenbe was convulsed with anger and shouted.
Actually, I could understand his feelings since there are no wars like that in human history. Usually, if ten percent of troops got killed, the whole troops would retreat. Even in the worst-case scenario, there’s no war in which only one guy survived in the end.
“Really? Then perhaps I’ve been talking about my dreams.”
“What?!”
Zenbe grabbed his Titania tightly. Orcs hated jokes.
I poked his waist mischievously.
“Alright, we’ve had enough chatter. What about other Frakers? Our job is not done yet.”
He relaxed his serious eyes.
“Well, the one you killed was the last.”
“Really? How come?”
“That was the sixth one.”
“Ah-ha. So it’s the sixth one so there are no more Frakers? Who told you that?”
“Rumor said there were six Frakers. Also didn’t Commander Adan say the same thing?”
I sighed deeply and shook my head.
“Uncle Orc, you’re so naive. Listen. If others say six, then it’s not six. Even if you see it with your own eyes, it often turns out differently. And how can you trust what others say?”
“But I can’t feel any energy from other Frakers.”
“Then they might be in a place where we can’t feel their energy.”
“Like where?”
I looked around and pointed to the entrance of a tunnel into the mine.
“Maybe inside that tunnel. Frakers tend to like caves.”
He flinched a little bit.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I am pretty sure. If there’s one inside the cave, that would be the strongest one. You know why? Always the strongest takes the best spot. But don’t be too scared. It’s still just a Fraker.”
He snorted a little bit and walked towards the entrance of the cave. Meanwhile, I started doing my job of rummaging through pockets again.
A while later, Zenbe with a sheepish face came over and handed me a huge Chaos Piece which was a byproduct from the seventh Fraker. It seemed like at least 800 units.
“Here you go.”
“Oh, thanks. Great job.”
After finishing our job, I went to Adan and complained a lot about the seventh Fraker. I told him we’re in great danger because they were seven instead of six. Of course, that was a lie but this was how business should be done. To maximize the profit, sometimes one should lie a little bit.
Eventually, I charged him 1,548 riffs of gold including the bonus. Not surprisingly, Adan was very discontented but after reading grave Zenbe’s face, he accepted at last. Certainly, uncle Zenbe was useful in many ways.
* * *
“Wow. How did you make this huge sum of money?”
Armida was at a loss once she saw a mountain of gold coins on tables.
Feeling haughty, I hummed to myself.
“Of course. Who am I? I am Yan… No, I am Kaoyan Anuquin. I can make money so easy.”
“Oh~ I see. So how much is it in total?”
“750 riffs of gold.”
I nimbly avoided eye contact with her. In fact, the total was 1,548 riffs of gold. So where are the other 798 riffs of gold? Of course, it’s my slush fund.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Actually, the biggest prize was byproducts, especially Fraker’s skins. They could be used to make armors or clothes which were impenetrable by a sword. Since people didn’t know the true value of these skins, I could not sell them at a high price but it didn’t matter. I never thought of selling them. It’s stupid to sell something that could save a life.
“Anyways, you’re much stronger than I thought. Usually, humans can’t hunt strong demons like Frakers because they’re so vicious. Thus, Valkyries come down and hunt them.”
“What? Frakers are not that strong. Why should Valkyries help? Aren’t you guys overprotecting humans? I mean, I just hunted them down too.”
“Hmm… Actually, I think you’re right.”
As I put 300 gold coins separately, she made a weird face.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, I need to pay for a part-time employee.”
“Someone helped you hunt Frakers?”
“Yeah. Some stupid, stubborn guy. He’s an Orc and always nags a lot. Do you want me to introduce him to you?”
She waved her hand.
“No thanks. I feel annoyed even by listening.”
I chuckled a little bit. Then I put the bag of coins in my arms and got myself ready to go out.
“By the way, how is Shura’s meditation training going?”
“Yeah, she’s doing fine. Actually, she’s training too hard so I’m a bit worried. She doesn’t even eat sometimes.”
I giggled.
“You don’t have to worry about that. Human instinct is pretty useful. When a person is about to die, he or she eats food without help from others.”
“You little bro is so cold-hearted.”
“Just let her do whatever she wants to. She thinks it’s a very important moment in her life.”
“But one can not reach the Master level by one’s will. It should come naturally, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then why would you let her waste time?”
“Sometimes there’s an exception.”
Armida furrowed her brow because I just said something illogical.
“What are you talking about? Can one reach Master level with one’s will or not?”
“Both are true. As you’ve said, one naturally reaches the Master level only when one loses a sense of purpose. But on the other hand, one needs a sense of purpose as well. Seriously, who becomes a Master Swordsman or women? One who has a sense of purpose in swordsmanship, not a farmer. Do you think a farmer can become a Master Swordsman one day after plowing the field throughout his whole life? It’s totally impossible. Therefore, to become a Master Swordsman, one should clearly have a sense of purpose in swordsmanship.”
“But one should give up his or her desire for the sword, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. To be more accurate, the Master level is something very subtle which exists in between those two.”
She tilted her head to one side.
“But what other option exists between ‘should have’ and ‘should not have’?”
“There’s no other option in theory. But in reality, there are plenty of cases. A typical example is war. To survive in a war, one should prepare for death while fighting against enemies. Thus, one should give up one’s life to save oneself. With the black and white approach, it’s impossible to explain. Yet, it’s happening all the time.”
For countless times, I had encountered these kinds of controversies in logic and theory during the Era of Destruction. In the castle and fortress besieged by a numerous number of demons in layers, I risked my life to escape out and survived in the end. On the other hand, all those who hid in the castle with fear were either slaughtered by demons or starved to death.