Rustle, rustle.
From somewhere, I heard the sound of someone stepping on leaves. I picked up my sword, looking at the surroundings. Definitely, it was not a group of smugglers because they never passed through these dangerous Dwin Mountains alone. And this unknown creature sounded like being alone.
And it’s probably not a wild animal. Even large carnivores are very cautious but this one makes a fuss and kerfuffle for sure.
It might be a demon. Demons are not cautious at all.
‘What is it?’
Near the lower part of the mountain road, I saw trees swaying and tottering. Three or more trees were tottering at the same time so it must be a creature in quite a large size. Given its size, It was not a wild animal for sure. Wild animals in the mountains were not as large as those living in the grasslands. Saber Tiger was one of the large wild animals living in the mountains but still, its size was only about three meters.
Before long, I caught a glimpse of a black insect-like creature crawling over a small tree between rocks. I barely saw it but I knew what it was right away. I’m a living encyclopedia of demons.
‘It is a giant silkworm.’
A giant silkworm is a biotype, larva-like demon which is about 10 meters in size. It has a large mouth often used for bite attacks. And with its body-swing attack, it can crush the enemy in a heartbeat. So, it’s a pretty dangerous demon. However, its danger level is only between level 15~20 because it is slow and gets easily fatigued. If anyone spots it in advance, they can easily avoid its attacks.
That’s why I had never seen giant silkworms in my past life, only except at the battlefield where the Prosia Continental Army and demons collided with each other for the first time. Due to their extremely slow speed, giant silkworms fell behind so much compared to other reckless demons.
“Well then, it’s time to feast.”
I drew my sword and slowly approached it. In the body of a giant silkworm, there’s a by-product called Chaos Piece which can be sold at the Magus Tower or magic shop for quite a lot of money. Because once Chaos Piece gets purified and crystallized, it becomes an Essence which is an essential ingredient when making magic items.
No matter how strong a giant silkworm is, I can’t just pass by. When I escaped the Hoton Prison, I only took my ceremonial robe with me. So literally, I am penniless right now. Of course, my ceremonial robe can be sold for quite a lot for money but that’s the exact problem. My ceremonial robe, an imperial gift granted by the Emperor, was made by the best artisan in the continent. And obviously, there are not many places where I can sell it for money.
Srrr… With a noise, the giant silkworm was heading towards me. It must have seen me. And I lured it out to a wide-open space nearby.
Kiooo!
With its mouth widely opened, the giant silkworm jumped out of the forest. It looked just like a huge black earthworm. This worm creature approached rapidly and raised its upper body aloft to swallow me inside of its mouth, just like a dark abyss.
Its movement is fast. Even though a giant silkworm is extremely slow, it’s still agile when exerting its final attack. Without such agility, it would already have starved to death.
I infused mana into the sword in my hand. And at the moment it was trying to swallow me, I gently slid to the other side and cut off its head away.
The giant silkworm’s head rolled over and over. Its body without the head was thrashing and spreading its blue blood everywhere, completely destroying all the trees around it. What a great strength. I could certainly give it a credit for that.
I approached its head with the mouth still widely opened and poked my sword into it. Now, it couldn’t move. I pierced a dagger on the back of its neck and stirred it around to take out a small translucent crystal which was as big as a thumbnail, worth around 35 units of Chaos Piece.
The wholesale price of Chaos Piece is about two riffs of silver per unit within the Empire. And one riff of gold is worth about 20 riffs of silver. So, 35 units of Chaos Piece would be worth about 3.5 riffs of gold.
I rubbed off Chaos Piece crystal with my clothes to wipe out the blood and put it into my pocket. And I left the place right away since there are no other valuable by-products in a giant silkworm except Chaos Piece.
‘I have got my travel expenses now. Should I make some extra for entertainment expenses? Hehehe.’
At the Great Divinum Temple located in the Divinum Holy Land, there is a shrine of Degenera, the Goddess of Corruption in the middle. Anyone who makes huge offerings can have extreme pleasure provided by a bunch of priestesses and vestals. So obviously, everyone should stop by here.
Unfortunately, the Church of Corruption is on the side of the power of Darkness, I could only have such pleasure in the Divinum Holy Land or neutral country because I am a Yosrahim Empire citizen. Those who don’t take advantage of the situation would be regretful once they leave. Is there something to life? This is how life goes. You only live once. This is my life’s motto while living in this era. Thus, I hunted all the demons in my sight during my travel.
* * *
Another night had passed and morning came. The sun is high up in the sky and my pocket is full of Chao Piece that I got from hunted demons. Now, I have around 110 units of Chaos Piece so it’s worth about 11 riffs of gold.
11 riffs of gold are plenty enough to pay the cost of living for 36 families of commoners a year. So it’s totally enough for my entertainment expenses.
‘Huh?’
At some kind of open space on a downhill road, I stopped suddenly. A group of smugglers was stranded while blocking the road. I could see their cooking equipment being used so they must have been here for quite a long time.
As I walked forward and passed through them, a young mercenary soldier came and stopped me.
“Huh? Never seen this guy before. Who is he?”
With a dumbfounded face, I just stared at the mercenary soldier
“Of course you don’t know me. I am not one of you guys.”
“Oh really?”
A young mercenary soldier looked around me and tilted his head sideways a little bit.
“You alone?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re really climbing through these Dwin Mountains all by yourself?”
“I have got some skills dude. Being alone? Not a problem for me. Anyways, get out of my way. I am pretty busy.”
As I was trying to go forward, the young mercenary soldier stopped me.
“No. It’s dangerous.”
“Why?”
“There was a battle out there.”
“A battle?”
“Yeah. I heard that a large group of mercenary soldiers were raiding the Aeem Village ahead. We’ve almost got robbed as well. Fortunately, our captain knew one of the guys in that group so we avoided a fight. Anyways, it’s dangerous to go anywhere nearby them.”
They must be a nasty group of mercenary soldiers. And this kind of raid often happens. When they are hired by someone, they fight as mercenary soldiers. But if not, they become a group of bandits and rob every village or traders in their sight.
“Oh~ you used to live in this village?”
“Yeah, it was a slash-and-burn farmers’ village before. And once a smuggling route was built through the village, they offered accommodation service for smugglers and got rich.
Then it’s a perfect village to be raided by a group of mercenary soldiers. Since there’s no police nor public security force, looters don’t need to worry about any further trouble after their raid. Also, the village is rich so that makes it more attractive for looters.
I was at my wit’s end and scratched my head idly. I’ve still got enough time but I can’t just stay here forever.
“Which group of mercenary soldiers is it? I am in a real hurry.”
“You know, the Zes Mercenary Group. It’s pretty infamous.”
I’ve heard that name from my friend, Hubeo before. In fact, Hubeo has got a three-tier sacred weapon this year so he’s qualified to become a guardian as well. But the thing is that he chose some weird job as his final mission, the Road of Asceticism. Because of that choice, he had gone through many hardships.
And that weird job was to subjugate the Zes Mercenary Group which had raided many villages.
‘Ah, since they made their getaway so well, he had to chase after them for more than a year. Hubeo must have gone through a tough time for sure. Hehehe…’
I abruptly made a serious face. Actually, I’m getting Yojo this time as well. Last time, I bribed a high-rank priest to be exempt from the Road of Asceticism. But this time is different. Let alone bribe money, I don’t even have enough for my entertainment expenses.
“For god’s sake, how many are they?”
“It’s pretty a lot. Over 200 soldiers. And the head of the Zes Mercenary Group is a swordsman at expert level.
If it’s just 200 soldiers, I could even have a head-to-head match with them. The fact that the captain of that group is expert level swordsman troubles my mind but still, it’s a piece of cake for me since I am an enlightened swordsman at the master level.
‘I should get rid of them. I am in a hurry anyway so it’s better to deal with them right here.’
My choice was pretty simple. Instead of going through one-year hardship, it’s less troublesome for me to get rid of this Zes Mercenary Group right now. Honestly, given the fact that my time-limited life would last for about ten years, how can I waste one year chasing after these guys? I don’t even have to do the math. It’s no brainer.
“Alright then. I am leaving first.”
Immediately, I launched myself ahead. The young mercenary soldier called me ceaselessly but I didn’t mind.
After I climbed through a few mountains, I saw five grim-faced mercenary soldiers who were guarding the corner. All of them drew their swords and stopped me. Probably, they were responsible for the job of forbidding anyone from passing through here.
“Stop!”
I approached him slowly.
“Are you guys members of the Zes Mercenary Group?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright then.”
In an instant, my sword swirled like a tornado, and heads of three mercenary soldiers were flying in the sky. Then, another mercenary soldier who was surprised by a sudden attack took out a flare. So, I cut off his arm and body in a heartbeat. The last one turned his back, yelling and running away. I followed him quickly and split his whole body into pieces.
“Okay. It’s five for now.”
Several streams of blood were running down under my feet. I sloppily rubbed off the blood on my feet and started searching through the corpses of those mercenary soldiers.
Mercenary soldiers often carry a lot of money with them since they don’t have any place to save money received after their service. Some soldiers send money to their families by mail but those without families keep money in their pockets all the time.
“Oh ho, just like I expected~”
One guy was almost penniless but I found 16 riffs of gold from the other four guys. Just like I expected, mercenary soldiers do carry some money for sure.
However, I am not trying to get rid of the Zes Mercenary Group for money at all. I took pity on villagers who were under attack by this mercenary group and I am trying to save them. Also, I am in a hurry right now and don’t want to go through the Road of Asceticism later. That’s why I am getting rid of them. Even though I am such an asshole, I never murder people for money.
“Here. This is some money for your afterlife expenses.”
I threw a piece of silver coin over the corpses. And I headed towards the Aeem Village, making a humming sound on my way. I could get 16 riffs of gold from five mercenary soldiers. Then, how much would I get from 200 mercenary soldiers? I feel definitely excited.