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Chapter 73




Chapter 73. Rarely Smiled
Second Base Camp.
“……”
Halleig held a cigarette between his lips and looked down at the camp from atop the guard post.
The Second Base Camp was quite substantial.
Tall wooden walls surrounded it on all sides, capable of blocking monster invasions, and platforms for archers and guard posts were set up at various points along the massive trees.
It looked more like a small fortress than a base camp.
Halleig was taking in the scene when someone climbed up to the guard post.
“Chief Halleig.”
“Ah, you’re here.”
The mercenary group that dominated the Second Base Camp.
Flen, the commander of Vektima, was there.
“The kids are all ready. By the way, what should we do with the facilities? If we leave them as they are, goblins might come in and settle down.”
“That’s not bad. It would be easier to reclaim them from the goblins than to build new ones.”
“……Hmm. Yes, I understand.”
Flen was about to say something but closed his mouth.
The goblins of the Hameln Great Forest were not ordinary goblins.
They were as cunning as the goblins outside, but their physical abilities rivaled those of orcs.
To reclaim such a fortress from them?
‘It won’t be easy.’
Perhaps, a new goblin village might even be born around this fortress.
A large ruling village that would dominate the surrounding area!
However, Flen did not show his true feelings.
The reason was simple.
‘Reclaiming’ was only possible when there was a chance to return.
When Flen thought about it.
“Isn’t it meaningless?”
Halleig’s voice, tinged with futility, echoed.
“……?”
“Becoming chief, I thought I had everything. Ah, you don’t know yet. You’ve never been up here.”
“……Hmm.”
“I have to die soon for you to take this seat.”
“……Huh.”
Flen let out a low sigh at the nasty joke.
Halleig was this kind of person.
A man who, with the most serious expression in the world, would spout nasty jokes as if they were serious.
“What do you think? I could die for you now. Even if I go, don’t you want to try being chief?”
“What’s the point of being chief without a camp? Why are you acting so out of character?”
“Out of character……”
Halleig exhaled deeply.
It wasn’t a sigh.
It was just an action to exhale the smoke he had deeply inhaled.
As the white smoke fluttered and rose, his mouth opened.
“I don’t know. Maybe I just want to indulge in sentimentality when it’s time to die.”
“……?”
Flen tilted his head.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s time to die’……?”
Something flashed through his mind at that moment.
“Chief, surely……?”
The information relayed from the Fourth Base Camp.
When that information was passed to the chiefs of each camp, it wasn’t long before a message came from the First Base Camp.
The core content was simple.
- We are joining the Fourth Base Camp.
It wasn’t a proposal.
Just a statement of position.
There was no talk of ‘What will you do?’ or ‘Join us.’
However, the intention was guessable.
‘For the next generation, they are willing to sacrifice their lives.’
To be honest……
It was ridiculous.
Yes, it was utterly ridiculous.
For a cynical and calculating person like Flen, it was a completely incomprehensible way of thinking.
‘Mercenaries, what sacrifice? Just live day by day, and when you die, that’s it.’
What did Halleig say at the time?
- Pish, this guy must be senile. Let them do their crazy things among themselves.
It was a decisive choice.
- When the situation calms down, we’ll come back, or maybe wander around the continent.
He didn’t have much attachment to the Second Base Camp.
It was just a place that made money. No, an incredibly profitable business.
Giving it up wasn’t pleasant, but what was more valuable than life?
Clearly, that was Halleig’s stance……
“Surely, not Abiot. You’re not going with those un-mercenary-like guys, are you?”
“I might not go with them, but I will go to the same place.”
Flen’s face turned red at the calm voice.
A single cry burst from his mouth at that moment.
“Chief!”
“Your voice is too loud. I feel like pulling out your tongue.”
“Are you crazy? Where are you going, where? Don’t you know about Destrue? Even before it awakens, it’s changing the ecosystem of the Great Forest. What do you think mercenaries will do in such a place……?”
“There are not just mercenaries. There’s an old war mage, and you know that. All the mages in the Great Forest are gathered at the Fourth Base Camp.”
“That’s…… true, but!”
Indeed, it was true.
The old war mage entered the Hameln Great Forest a year ago.
At the time, this rumor spread.
- An old war mage is staying at the Fourth Base Camp and doesn’t refuse to teach.
Mages who wanted to study abroad at the Fourth Base Camp.
They went crazy.
Their eyes rolled back, begging for permission to go to the Fourth Base Camp.
Of course, it was impossible to grant permission.
The conversion of mages was a serious loss of strength for the camp. But what could be done? If left alone, they might run away in the middle of the night. It was better to send them.
“Haha! Now I see, those guys are looking for a place to die. Still…… maybe it’s a good thing now? The forces are concentrated, after all.”
Halleig laughed as if it was funny, but Flen didn’t. No, he couldn’t.
“Please, just watch them. What can they do, huh? It’s Destrue.”
That’s right.
What could a bunch of mediocre mages, who had fallen to the level of mercenaries, do?
Of course, some of them were at a high level, but most were just half-baked.
They were sufficient as mercenaries, but far from being treated as proper mages…… lacking in both firepower and knowledge.
The arrival of Destrue.
In the grand scheme of things, they were too insignificant to change the tide.
“Please reconsider.”
“Reconsider?”
“Yes, they’re ready to run out at any moment. In such a situation, the Fourth Base Camp? It’s a miracle if they don’t get stabbed.”
“For example?”
“Beksen……”
“Hmm, Beksen. Indeed, he was a guy whose eyes I never liked. I guess I’ll have to close his eyes for him now.”
Halleig said the brutal joke calmly.
Flen’s face contorted, and he grabbed Halleig’s shoulder at that moment.
“Chief, this isn’t a joke. Don’t change the subject. This time, it’s really not possible. And……”
“Are you afraid of dying?”
“……”
Halleig exhaled a thin stream of smoke.
The smoke hit Flen’s face directly.
Flen closed his eyes for a moment due to the acrid smoke, then let his shoulders droop.
“……Yes, I don’t want to die.”
“Even though insubordination is death?”
“……Damn.”
Flen clenched his teeth.
Halleig, who spouted brutal jokes as if they were serious, was mostly not joking.
If you listened carefully, he would say things he could do at any time.
Even as a commander, he was not joking; he could really kill.
So, he gave up.
“It’s a joke.”
“……?”
Halleig rarely curled his lips into a smile.
“I’m only going with a few like-minded people. About twenty or so.”
Considering the scale of Vektima, twenty was not a large number.
Vektima had over a hundred members.
In fact, Vektima wasn’t that large.
Abiot was just unusually small.
Anyway.
Flen looked at Halleig with a slightly stunned face.
“……Then?”
“You should go.”
“What……”
“You should try being chief. By the way, you don’t need to keep the name ‘Vektima.’ Do as you please.”
Each word was a string of incomprehensible words.
No, the words themselves were understandable, but the combined sentence was too obscure.
“What the hell……”
“Who knows. Pish, maybe it’s the same with that guy.”
“What……”
Flen couldn’t regain his composure from the sudden declaration.
It had been over a decade since he entered the Hameln Great Forest with Halleig.
It was an incongruous scene.
Slap!
He slapped his cheeks to see if it was a dream, but the sharp pain in his mind was clear.
“Would that be enough? I could let you off with a warning.”
“Are you really crazy? No, I knew you were crazy……”
Halleig looked at the rambling Flen.
Whoosh.
A chilling wind swept between them at that moment.
A spooky wind called the ghost wind by Vektima’s mercenaries.
A wind that swept through the body like a ghost’s hair, blowing only near the Second Base Camp, neither strong nor weak.
“Now, you’re the chief.”
“……Me?”
“Yes. You’re the chief of Vektima…… well, the name is up to you. Anyway, the chief of the Second Base Camp……”
Halleig spoke indifferently.
But then.
“……Hmm.”
A strange sensation ran through Halleig’s mind at that moment.
Something, a sticky and unpleasant feeling.
The sound of a tear followed immediately.
Crack!
“……?”
Was this sound heard by the ears, or did it come from the body?
No, it was both.
“……Huh.”
Looking down unintentionally, the sound of the tear came from the center of his chest.
“C, C, Chief……?”
Flen couldn’t continue, his face pale.
The low sound of the tear. Behind it, a pale hand piercing Halleig’s chest.
It was all too surreal.
The voice came immediately after.
“A touching farewell, what to do……”
The owner of the hand was a man in a black robe.
“Too early to say goodbye. Because I plan to send you all to the same place now.”
His face was hidden under the hood, but Flen was sure.
That guy, he’s smiling.
Smiling while piercing Halleig’s heart.
“Y……!”
A raging anger rose in Flen’s chest at that moment.
“Damn……!”
Flen, about to draw his sword and charge.
But Halleig’s movement was faster.
“Kill…… Gah!”
Pushing Flen’s abdomen, Halleig sent him flying.
So forcefully, Flen’s vision went white for a moment, and his body shot out like an arrow, piercing the Great Forest.
‘Why…… me?’
A fleeting question in his mind.
But the vision was fading.
As Halleig’s figure grew distant, Flen kept his eyes on him. And when their eyes met, he realized.
‘Live.’
The eyes said.
The lips slowly formed the words.
‘You’re the chief.’
Halleig was rarely smiling.
Very brightly.
That was the last image Flen saw of Halleig.
* * *
When Flen’s figure, shot out like an arrow, completely disappeared.
Thud.
A lifeless body fell to the ground.
Velok looked down at the corpse with a hole in its chest and wiped the blood from his hands on the clothes.
“Huh, really.”
His face clearly showed disbelief.
“This is making me cry? Saving his subordinate in the middle of this?”
It was an incomprehensible action for Velok. He was secretly impressed.
The situation wasn’t fully understood, yet he could act so quickly.
“Hmm, what to do. Should I chase him? He flew quite far, after all.”
Did he learn a special technique?
A simple strike couldn’t send someone that far.
The figure flew so far that Velok couldn’t even sense it.
So, he pondered for a moment.
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
But.
“You.”
“……Yes, Seer.”
A man emerged from Velok’s shadow.
He stood with utmost respect, his eyes fixed on Velok’s feet.
“Chase that guy.”
“What’s the best way to handle him?”
“Just chase him.”
“Understood.”
The black mage disappeared back into the shadow after saying that.
Velok looked in the direction Flen had flown for a moment, then turned away.
‘The offering should be enough, but just in case……’
Preparation for any eventuality.
If a rat is released, it will naturally head towards other rats.
Anyway.
“Chief!”
“The chief is in trouble!”
Mercenaries, who had somehow crawled out, were shouting.
Their number was close to a hundred.
Looking down at them, another black mage approached and whispered.
“Seer, everything is ready.”
“Ah, good. Then let’s start.”
Second Base Camp.
A shadow rose in the chaotic space at that moment.
No, not a shadow.
All were black-robed black mages.
“What……!”
“Snap!”
The Vektima mercenaries fell helplessly to the sudden appearance of the black mages.
No, they didn’t fall.
“Vermin. Suffer more, suffer more painfully.”
Because of Velok’s order, they were left alive, only to taste excruciating pain.
It didn’t take long for screams to fill the Second Base Camp.
“Huh.”
Velok smiled, looking down at a round orb.
A sinister black mist swirled in the orb.
An ancient curse.
The darkness within grew deeper with each echo of the mercenaries’ screams.