But why is tha monster that tried to eat me throwing up.
The people around me were stunned, unable to understand the sight of him struggling to spit out something.
Some ask [What happened?],
I who was covered in saliva from top to bottom also wants to know. All I know is that I survived.
Thereās no way for us to stop the monster from fleeing and the only thing we can do is watch as it makes itās escape. Everyone who was dumbfounded was staring at one place. No one tried to call out to meā¦ No one can. I too just sat there in silence.
What happened? Everyone ask.
What did you do? They ask.
I myself didnāt do anything, so I canāt answer those question. Frankly I know that I died in that showdown already. But for some reason I survived.
Time pass and the cooler our head gets the more awkward the atmosphere become. The pushing and showing on who to talk first generates silence until someone I never expected raised her hand.
With a slur, Cazetta said:
[Commanderā¦ Iām sorry if this sound rude butā¦]
[Say it.]
[When was the last time you take a bath?]
[I donāt rememberā¦ I donāt remember doing it for the last 3 years]
Everyone freezes at my response. Probably because they understood why the monster spit me out.
No, I wanted to believe that because I donāt understand anything anymore.
[Heyā¦ Do I really stink?]
And all the members of my group turned their head away and thus an unbearable silence followed.
When I return to LāEcole, I took a bath silently after I arrived home. My head which was covered with saliva was focused, that the water pouring over me caused me to hardly catch my breath.
With no rights to refuse, A convention to denounce the smell of my body were held. Words that start with [Iāve always wanted to say something about the Commanderās body odorā¦] as if they were first.
I remember being told something like [It was sour] and [It hurts my eyes] so forth and so on.
It looks like they are universally dissatisfied with my body odor and this became an opportunity to complain about it and all I can is endure it, though I am already crying inside.
I intended to make it look like āI canāt say anythingā but they returned it with āItās because of your smellā
Remember this during our training!
After being refreshed, I went to the guild.
Arngiel looked at me with surprised, but when I told him our findings and the extermination of the goblins and the possibilities of the existence of multiple nests he made a bitter face while saying, [I knew it]
[And thereās one more piece of bad information]
Arngiel held his eyes. Iām starting to feel sorry for him since heās always short on manpower and now he had the headache of handling multiple goblinās nest
[Weāve discover a new type of monster]
I guessed he already know what we are about to say, thatās why heās holding his head.
[As you see, I was beaten in a one on one match, Iām no match against it]
Saying this I show my fingers wrapped in bandage. By the way 7 of them are broken.
I guess I should have bought a new set of gauntlets, then again even those might not have done anything.
Anyway, Iām sure he already knows the result with our glaring injury, but that doesnāt tell anything about how bad it is to cross that guy.
[This guy impervious to arrows, sword wonāt work and spear will break. Magic is hardly a threat as well and I couldnāt even hit him with the <Giant Slayer>]
[What the heck is that monster?]
[Itās about the size of an ogre, humanoid with long tail and is gray all over its body, It could stop Lloydās hammer with one hand and is definitely stronger than an ordinary ogre. Itās also show intelligence that it was wary of me from the start then crush me and left, leaving us one dead and many injured]
[How did you encountered it?]
[We found something hiding when we use a search magic when we are exterminating goblins, then we tried to smoke it out with fire magic]
[So youāre completely defeated]
Arngeil said then sighed.
[A new kind of monster that we canāt defeat and something that would beat us easily]
[What should we do?]
[For starter, I think we need a good magic sword and a high-level mage]
Also, not even Annieās magic sword was able to damage it. I may have a duty to the guild but Iām not obligated to report everything.
[What do you think can we do?]
Arngeil snaps and replied
[Donāt ask me!]
[If the knights fight that monster, what do you think would happen?]
[Total defeat with the monster unharmed. Whatās the use of those metal sword and armor if it wouldnāt even scratch it?]
I heard a sigh for the umpteenth time at my answer. Iām sure he is thinking about it a lot but Iām pretty sure he wonāt find any solution soon.
[Do you really want me to report this?]
I answered him resentfully with
[Thatās your job]
[Iām going to ask you to assist us in dealing with that monster from now on. Do your best to explain it to the lord and the knights]
[Oi,oi,oi! Thereās no way that we were allowed to go to the Lordās mansion, right?]
They want me to join in the counter measure but my mercenary group arenāt allowed at the Lordās mansion.
[Ah thereās no problem, the <Dawn of war> is fairly evaluated on your trustworthiness and achievement and the only reason that you and your mercenary is not allowed at the mansion is because you stink.]
Arngeilās word left me stunned.
Competence, performance and trust are the three extremely important factors that a mercenary group should have. And, the proof of this is the fact that you can make deals with the Lord directly.
Until now, I thought that the reason we couldnāt deal directly with the Lord is because of we werenāt competent enough.
[Listen here, The days where you could get by merit alone is past, you have to understand that you are the āfaceā of your mercenary group, and not some bandit. Itās just a matter of honor]
After a short lecture from the guild master, I went back to base and what awaited me a drink after work. Without exception, it become an unspoken rule to held drinking parties after work with the mindset that <Even when there are deaths, we can laugh about it tomorrow>
Iām going to drink even if I canāt hold my glass because of these broken fingers.
[Todayās drink is on the commander, go drink till you drop!]
The group raised their tankard with Annieās word as the cue.
[Oi! I said Iād buy you a drink but I didnāt say Iād buy everyone a ā]
[youāre buying right!]
The menacingly looking Annie interrupts me and presses me.
[I thought youāre going to die so why are you still aliveā¦ Oi tell us what happened. At least, tell us something. Right?]
I guess sheās already drunk or something because sheās wobbling and shaking. I was told that sheās already drinking even before I returned.
(Seems like she wasnāt there when I washed.)
I canāt even imagine the dismay she might have felt
While being entangled for a while, I told the core member of the group about the conversation between me and guild master, while holding drinks between my hands. It led to me getting criticized for my body odor and apparently there are problems with various restaurant that was due to my body odor, and ask me to reevaluate my lifestyle.
I thought thatās not something you have to talk over drinks but their more insistent than I thought so I was left with no choice but to nod.
Anyway, I have to tell them everything before they get drunk
[I have something to tell you guys. Our immediate goal is to defeat the <new species>].
At those word, everyone stopped and listened.
It made me question if they really are drinking.
[Id doesnāt matter if we were not in full strength, a loss is a loss. Conveniently in line with the Lordās aim to expand this land, we were included to join in dealing with the new species. We may fight with other mercenary groups, or maybe even the knights. Perhaps they would know of our defeat and donāt take our information seriously and it may result in them being hurt.]
I took a deep breath once Iāve spoken that much
[I wonāt let it end with me getting chewed out! Next time we would be at our best and Iām going to choke the life out of him!]
Everyone became excited. One of them is drunk already, Iāll tell her later. And the party goes on until late at night. Our routine is back.
(I bet there would be a hell of a bounty for that guyā¦)
The reason I suppressed information about that monster is to raise the threat level. Iām sorry about the other group but I will have you get a cut on the action. Knowing the power of that monster would raise the bounty even more and if it deals more damage, itāll jump even more. And it would be us <Dawn of War> that would get that bounty.