chapter 69

There were five carriages in total, and they carried a group of 40 which consisted of Mercenaries, merchants and coachmen.

The number of carriages was small, but that was because they were able to maximize space through the use of subspace bags.

Frey was seated in the fourth carriage.

This was the carriage he’d stay in for the entirety of the journey.

As he found a comfortable seat and watched the passing scenery, Frey felt someone staring at him.

“…”

It was an old woman with an ugly appearance.

She had an aged face that was stained black, a hawk-like nose, wrinkled skin and crooked, yellow teeth.

From the staff in her hand, he guessed that she was one of the two Wizards on the trip, including himself.

‘Illusion Magic.’

She was hiding herself the same way he was.

Her spell was at a pretty good level, but he could still see through it.

Shik.

When he concentrated his mana into his eye, the real appearance of the old woman was revealed to him.

She turned out to be a dazzlingly beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. However, Frey was not paying attention to her face.

Long ears, an Elf.

Her blonde hair and fair skin were also tell-tale signs that she was a High Elf, the most noble among the Elves.

Frey got a complicated look in his eyes.

‘What is a High Elf doing here?’

He also wondered why she was looking at him.

She shouldn’t have been able to notice his illusion. Her level wasn’t high enough.

Was she interested simply because he was another Wizard?

When he thought this, his expression became a bit strange.

While he was trying to understand the reason for her staring, Alkon spoke.

“Kain, how are you feeling?”

He was still acting friendly.

“Fine.”

“That’s good. You can relax for a few days while we cross the grasslands. Nothing will really happen until we enter the forests.”

To get to the Great Forest, they had to go through a long stretch of grasslands before arriving at the forest.

The grasslands were flat and open on all sides, so it was easy to spot if there was someone approaching, but the forests would cause their field of view to narrow.

It could be said that most of the encounters with monsters and bandits intending to steal their goods happened within forested areas.

“Alkon, who is that old woman over there?”

By then, she had stopped looking at him and had begun fiddling with her staff.

Alkon stroked his chin as he responded.

“She’s a 5 star Wizard, just like you are, and she’s also an A-rank Mercenary. Her name is Syax. I don’t know her last name.”

“Hmm…”

“If you ask someone else, you’ll get the same answer. She’s a bit unapproachable because she is always in a quiet and gloomy mood. How should I say…it’s like talking to a wall.”

Alkon shrugged.

“Among the Mercenaries, there are many who are like that. The kind of people who have strong personalities.”

“Has she been a Mercenary for a long time?”

“As far as I know, she’s been one for at least 5 years. You can say she’s a veteran. It’s been a while since I’ve been around Pillat, but she’s quite famous around here, she’s called ‘Green Wind Syax.’

He wasn’t surprised that she decided to hide herself.

In the past, Elves’ appearances were always conspicuous, so they always wore a robe.

‘Elves have learned magic now. There may be more worlds hiding in the world like she is.’

Frey didn’t look at her.

Perhaps because he expected her to approach him first.

And that evening, while dinner was being served, Syax approached him.

Frey had deliberately chosen to sit a bit further away from the others while eating his soup.

Fortunately, Alkon had gathered the other mercenaries.

“Do you have a second, young man?”

Fey glanced up at her and nodded calmly.

“I do.”

“Thank you. I’m just an old lady called Syax. You must be…Kain Rixton, was it?”

Frey felt a bit weird seeing Syax call herself an old woman.

This was because, in his eyes, Syax was just a young, beautiful woman pretending to talk like an old lady.

For him, it was very strange.

From her appearance, Syax should be a High Elf younger than 100 years old.

“I am Kain Rixton. I’ve heard rumors of your name, Green Wind Syax.”

“…well. It’s nothing much.”

She scratched her cheek in embarrassment at the blatant compliment.

She certainly didn’t have the character of a Mercenary.

“So what business do you have with me?”

When Frey asked that question so bluntly, Syax, who hesitated for a moment, finally opened her mouth.

“Are you a Spiritualist?”

“Huh?”

“I felt your spirit energy. That…is a very rare type of energy.”

‘Ah.’

Only then did Frey realise why Syax was interested in him.

She had noticed that he’d signed a contract with the Dark Spirit ‘Dark Ming’.

High Elves had great affinities to spirits. The especially talented members among them were even able to contract Spirit Kings who could be considered transcendent beings.

Perhaps she herself had a level of spirit power.

Because of this, she could easily see that he had signed a contract with a spirit.

It was not something he could hide.

“Is Ms. Syax a Spiritualist?”

“…well, you could say that.”

“I have a contracted Spirit, but I am not a Spiritualist.”

Syax waved her staff slightly and her expression became strange.

“Which Spirit did you contract?”

“I can’t tell you that. Rather, how did Ms. Syax know that I had a contracted Spirit?”

“…”

This question caused Syax’s expression to become a bit strange.

It seemed that she had asked impulsively before thinking of an excuse.

Frey sighed inwardly.

He knew that she was an Elf anyway, so there was no need for him to question her further.

“If you can’t say the reason, it’s fine.”

“Thank you.”

“Is it okay if I ask another question?”

“Sure. I’ll answer if I’m able.”

“I would like to know why Ms. Syax took this mission.”

“…”

Syax hesitated for a moment.

It was a question that was so easy to answer, she wondered if there was a special meaning behind it.

“I’m worried about the undead that appeared in the forest.”

“The undead?”

“Yes. It is unusual for undead to appear near the Great Forest. It has not happened in the last thousand years or so.”

Frey let out a low laugh.

“A thousand years.”

Syax flinched.

She realised that such a long time frame was not one that humans often used.

Frey could see why Syax chose to avoid interacting with others and stayed alone.

She was very bad at lying, and she knew it well.

She chose not to interact at all rather than to say strange things by accident.

This was why she chose the appearance of an ugly old woman.

‘This was probably the reason why Elves don’t like lying in the first place.’

Still, this was an improvement.

She was much more flexible than the Elves from 4,000 years ago.

“Your soup will get cold.”

“…right.”

Syax let out a sigh of relief and began to eat her soup.

Frey looked at her for a moment before he continued eating.

As Alkon boasted, the journey through the grasslands continued without incident.

The Mercenaries became relaxed, and Alkon did not reprimand them.

However, three days later, the atmosphere changed completely as they entered the forest.

Alkon’s previously relaxed expression became so serious that it was almost as though he had become another person.

“From today, keep an eye on our surroundings. We’ll break up into three groups with two reconnaissance teams.”

Alkon decided the team leaders and members after considering the characteristics of every Mercenary on the trip.

But this did not include Frey or Syax.

Not only that, but they did not have to help with setting up camp, preparing meals or anything else of that manner.

As Domki had said, Wizards were treated like nobles by the Mercenary world.

The Mercenaries around them looked at them with envious gazes, but none of them found this strange.

Of course, apart from that, Frey also paid a lot of attention to his surroundings.

His facial expression behind the illusion was stiff.

It wasn’t because of the undead.

He didn’t particularly care about the undead.

Instead, it was something else that made his expression so serious.

It was because he could feel traces of Divine Power in the vicinity.

‘Is there an Apostle here?’

Eizek hadn’t mentioned that.

Come to think of it, he had not mentioned anything about undead either.

Did the Demigod’s servant enter the forest after Eizek left?

Undead and Demigods.

At first glance, they appeared to be unrelated, but at that moment, Frey recalled Beniang’s words.

[There are five of them that the Lord trusts the most. They’re the ones with outstanding abilities even among the Demigods. We call them ‘Apocalypses.’]]

[They’re not as strong as theLord, but they are strong enough to have some influence among Demigods.]

[We have identified the power of three of the Apocalypses. They are Sword, Poison and Death.]

‘…A Demigod with the power of Death.’

He knew to some extent that the Demigod’s power had been enough to easily destroy a large subjugation team.

He’d learned this information after joining the Trowman Rings.

‘He is said to have released a fog that could immediately kill those with weak resistance with just a touch. Not just that, he could also use corpses of the people he killed as tools.’

Is that Demigod the origin of the undead?

He’d never thought about that.

Frey had only ever seen them as destroyers. At least, he had never seen them exercise the power of creation.

‘If there really is a Demigod here…

He would have to run without looking back.

At his current level, he would be completely helpless if he were to face a Demigod.

But Frey knew that the odds of that were low.

‘If it was really a Demigod, then the traces of Divine Power wouldn’t be so faint.’

It was highly likely that it was either an Apostle or other subordinates of the Demigod here rather than a Demigod themself.

If so, then it would be a great opportunity for Frey.

If he managed to kill another Apostle and create an elixir from their crystal, then it would be a major step on his path to 8 stars.

Frey was more concerned about the fact that the Successor of the Magic Warrior King was in the vicinity of the Great Forest.

He didn’t think too deeply about it, but he couldn’t think of a reason for why the Successor would be in the forest.

It might be related to the Demigod.

‘Or he could be the Demigod’s subordinate.’

Frey felt that that was the worst case scenario.

The successor of the Magic Warrior King, Kasajin, becoming the subordinate of a Demigod?

It was absolutely unacceptable.

If that were the case, Frey would kill him without hesitation.

Kasajin had always claimed that the Warrior King’s Fist was the only martial art that could slay a Demigod.

Frey respected those words.

He would not allow his dead friend’s martial art to be tainted.