Chapter 36: This Place is Crazy. (4)
If it weren’t for Ghislaine, everyone would have ended up dead without even knowing what hit them.
Kaor, who was watching the mercenaries cheering, asked Gillian beside him, “What the heck is that guy? They said he’s a lunatic, but isn’t he really Perdium’s secret weapon or something?”
Kaor was quite shocked that what he had seen of Ghislaine so far was just the tip of the iceberg.
“I don’t know either. But one thing is for sure: there’s no one around his age who’s better than our Young Master.”
This was the first time Gillian had seen Ghislaine exhibit such power. Up to now, even when fighting monsters, Ghislaine hadn’t gone all out.
It was clear that he was hiding something, going beyond just being a genius.
Despite thinking this, Gillian’s face, while responding to Kaor, was filled with excitement and pride.
But not everyone was having as much fun.
“Ah, move! Move aside!”
Belinda rushed toward Ghislaine, kicking and shoving the mercenaries in surprise.
“Young Master! Are you okay? No, your skills have suddenly improved again! Are you really the Young Master?”
Belinda had seen Ghislaine’s skills more than anyone else, for the longest time.
In her eyes, Ghislaine’s abilities didn’t seem sufficient to handle the approaching Palors. That’s why she stepped in first.
However, she could never have imagined Ghislaine would show powers that surpassed her expectations once again.
“I’m fine. I lost my stamina early on, but thanks to you, I managed to buy some time. Everyone worked hard, so let’s tend to the Injured Soldiers first.”
But Belinda seemed to have no interest in compliments as she anxiously bounced around, trying to check Ghislaine’s wounds.
“You need to get treatment first!”
“It’s not that big of a wound.”
As Belinda said, Ghislaine had taken some injuries from fighting too hard.
It wasn’t only Ghislaine; Gillian and Kaor also had cuts all over their bodies.
Even though it was chaotic, it was a grueling battle that such skilled fighters got injured in.
With the Palors being strong and fast, and in such numbers, it was an unavoidable result.
Seeing Belinda make such a fuss, the mercenaries exchanged glances and murmured among themselves.
Everyone was surprised that the maid they thought so little of was unexpectedly strong.
“I knew it from the moment he threw that dagger and summoned mana!”
“Are you kidding? That guy was asking for you to cook soup? You almost got your head taken off.”
“You almost got your head chopped off.”
As the heated atmosphere of battle cooled down, the mercenaries began to fool around among themselves.
Ghislaine clicked his tongue at their simple-minded attitude and said, “Gather the injured soldiers and pile up the corpses in one place. The effect of light will wear off soon, so pull out the lamps and hang them up.”
The surviving mercenaries started moving without the slightest hesitation at Ghislaine’s orders.
‘Muscle Gordon’ was one of them.
“Ugh, disgusting bastards.”
While cleaning up the outer edge of the open space, Gordon grimaced at the corpses of the Palors. He had suffered mentally for several days because of them, so his muscles must have shrunk considerably.
‘I’ll need to hit the gym harder when I get back.’
He carelessly tossed a Palor, who had died while trying to flee, into a pile.
As Gordon followed the scattered corpses, he wandered towards the forest without thinking.
He was isolated from his group, getting close to the darkness filled with trees.
Involuntarily, he turned his head towards the light.
As the duration of the light magic was running out, the light from the sphere had significantly weakened.
Feeling an inexplicable sense of unease, Gordon quickly grabbed the leg of a corpse lying on the ground.
He planned to toss it back and return to his group.
In that instant, a Palor he thought was dead opened its eyes wide.
“Huh?”
Surprised by the unexpected event, Gordon could only mutter blankly.
Craaack!
The tentacles attached to the Palor’s arm rapidly extended and wrapped around Gordon’s neck, arms, body, and legs.
“AAAAAAAAHHH!”
Everyone turned their heads at the scream.
Gordon was being dragged into the darkness, and it caught their eyes.
“Gordon!”
“Damn it! There was one alive!”
“That stupid idiot!”
The mercenaries rushed to chase after Gordon, but they couldn’t leave the open space and stopped in their tracks.
They lacked the courage to enter the dark forest.
“W-What do we do?”
“It’s over. He’s gone into the darkness, so there’s no saving him now.”
“It’s a shame; we just managed to win.”
The forest was so thick with trees that they could barely see in front of them.
Palors were monsters that got harder to deal with in the dark.
In the end, all that awaited the dragged Gordon was death.
While the mercenaries wore expressions of regret, Ghislaine drew his sword again.
Belinda and Gillian, sensing his intent, grabbed his arm and shouted, “Young Master! Are you crazy?”
“Young Master! You can’t go! It’s dangerous!”
Ghislaine silently stared at the two who were trying to stop him before glancing around at the mercenaries.
The mercenaries shook their heads with bitter expressions.
This wasn’t the employer’s fault. Accidents could happen at any time.
Even an employer who always fights at the front couldn’t be expected to mind every little mishap.
If they accepted money to gamble with their lives, they had to accept the bad luck that came with it.
Even Kaor stepped in front of Ghislaine with a nonchalant attitude and said, “You should give up. It’s too late now. Losing your life because of your own mistake is something mercenaries have to bear.”
While they would naturally try to survive if possible, the mercenary life was about accepting unavoidable death with composure.
Ghislaine closed his eyes briefly and lifted his head.
Dying in battle was something he couldn’t avoid either. It was a risk a mercenary had to endure.
Being a mercenary also meant having to endure certain dangers.
However, leaving his companion, who was being dragged right in front of him while he remained unharmed, was something that he, the king of mercenaries and one of the Seven Greats of the continent, could not accept.
Especially if there was still a chance to save them.
Ghislaine spoke softly with his eyes closed.
“I…”
The following words pierced everyone’s ears.
“I have never given up on those who follow me.”
Belinda and Gillian exchanged anxious glances at the unusual declaration.
Slowly opening his eyes, Ghislaine looked at the two and said, “I’ll protect the mercenaries. I’ll go alone.”
Belinda’s face twisted in reaction.
“I knew this would happen! I I’ve never heard you say anything different since we were kids!”
She swiftly pulled out a dagger that had poison already smeared on it.
She didn’t want to hurt him, but if this troublemaker wasn’t knocked out, he would run off without a care.
“Prince, let’s stop this, okay? You know what I’m like when I’m mad, right?”
The title had changed. This was proof that Belinda, who usually never got angry, was genuinely furious.
Ghislaine, knowing this, merely shrugged his shoulders at her.
Whoosh!
Before Belinda could even react, he had vanished into the dark forest.
“Prince…? Hey! Where are you going?”
Severely angered, Belinda jumped around and looked back at Gillian.
“You’re supposed to stay here!”
After throwing that remark, she immediately chased after Ghislaine.
“You keep an eye on things.”
With a blank expression, Gillian muttered to Kaor before following Belinda.
Kaor scratched his head, staring blankly at the empty space where the others had just been.
“Ha, they really think they can look down on me? Who do they think they’re giving orders to? Ha, seriously. Ha, really.”
Ever since meeting Ghislaine, his social standing had taken a serious hit.
“Ugh, really! So annoying! Should I just wipe them all out?”
Kicking an innocent stone, Kaor surveyed the mercenaries with a ferocious look.
“Just here to watch, huh? Get to work already. Let’s wait for them. Anyone slacking off gets their head taken off.”
To the mercenaries, Kaor was still a terrifying mad dog.
They nodded weakly and hurried to get back to work.
Kaor plopped down on the ground, tearing into some jerky while savoring the flavor.
“Chew, that’s a shame.”
It seemed like it would be fun to chase after the three, but if he left, there would be no one to lead the mercenaries.
Meanwhile, Ghislaine was racing at breakneck speed after Gordon.
Chasing after Palor, who was perfectly blended into the darkness, wasn’t easy. He was completely out of sight.
Up close, one could sense his movements, but as the distance increased, it became impossible to catch even that.
In his previous life, Count Balzac, renowned as a master, had struggled significantly against Palor for this very reason.
But the situation was a bit different now.
Gordon had been captured by Palor, and he was human, unable to merge into the darkness.
— AAAAAAAH!
Far off, Gordon’s scream faintly echoed.
Ghislaine chased the sound and shouted loudly, infusing his voice with mana.
“Gordon! Keep screaming! I’ll follow you!”
The tremendous sound shook the forest.
That should have been loud enough for Gordon to hear him.
In the Forest of Monsters, making loud noises like this is a no-go.
Other monsters could wake up or catch on and come after you.
But this is Palor’s territory, and it’s nighttime.
The monsters likely don’t know that most of Palor’s kind are dead, so they won’t move easily.
“Uaaah! Save me!”
Whether he heard Ghislaine’s cry or not, Gordon kept screaming his lungs out.
Using his voice to gauge the direction, Ghislaine suddenly realized he could no longer hear Gordon.
‘He might be gagged.’
Ghislaine gritted his teeth and poured out more Mana.
‘Or maybe he’s already dead.’
Still, he couldn’t give up until he saw Gordon’s corpse right in front of him.
Squeak!
When Ghislaine tore open the Light scroll from his bag, the surroundings lit up.
He quickly scanned the ground for traces, took a guess at the direction, and ran like crazy.
“Gordon, hang in there!”
Just as Ghislaine expected, Gordon’s mouth was covered by a tentacle.
Feeling someone close behind, the Palor thought it was because of Gordon’s screams, so they immediately shut him up.
“Ughh! Uugh!”
Gordon heard Ghislaine’s cries.
He had to make some noise to get himself found, but the sly monster had blocked his mouth.
‘Ugh, if I can’t breathe properly, I’ll lose muscle mass.’
Gordon struggled with teary eyes, but it was useless.
‘Is this how I die?’
Finding traces of himself in this dark forest would be impossible.
Gordon was losing his hope for life bit by bit.
‘Now that I think about it, my employer mentioned teaching me how to read.’
If the expedition was successful, he might’ve learned to read and write.
Of course, he would have refused because he needed to train.
‘Is this the end? Is this how it ends?’
Everyone would think he was dead or give up searching when they couldn’t find him.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Ghislaine’s voice had also disappeared.
Contrary to Gordon’s resigned expectations, Ghislaine was still chasing after him.
However, his pursuit was slowing down.
Gordon couldn’t make a sound to give him a direction.
Chasing something that left no traces in pitch-black darkness was extremely difficult, even for Ghislaine, who was very experienced.
“Young Master!”
“Princeling!”
While Ghislaine slowed down, Belinda and Gillian caught up with him.
“Look for traces! From the ground to the surroundings!”
At the urgent shout, Belinda and Gillian also began searching for traces.
Both were skilled at tracking, but finding clues was becoming increasingly challenging.
Eventually, they reached a point where they couldn’t even find the right direction.
“Young Master, let’s go back. It’s too dangerous to wander any longer in the forest.”
“Belinda is right. He’s probably dead by now.”
Despite their persuasion, Ghislaine wouldn’t budge.
Even at that moment, he remained alert, surveying the area.
If only he could hear a sound, even once.
When Ghislaine hesitated to move out of a sense of despair, everyone heard Gordon’s voice, the meaning of which they couldn’t decipher.
“—!”
The three shot off like lightning towards the direction of the sound.
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