83 Double Swords (1/2)
”Name? Age? Job? Expertise? Goal?”
”Aaron, 16, Iron-rank Warrior. My Swordsmanship isn't bad. I want to earn money and become a hero that saves the world!”
Looking at the foolishly-smiling young fellow in front of me, I nod my head in response to his words. That plain-looking tanned young man reminds me of the Adam of the past.
”Next.”
16-year-old Iron-rank, why are you even still training? Can you reach Gold-rank within 3 years? We aren't a group of nannies, you'll be better off looking for a rookie party to grind your way up.
”Kavan, around 30 plus I guess, Silver-rank Shaman. My goal is to earn enough money to buy the Fire Dragon Circus.”
”Dixu, 40 plus, I am his big brother and a proud Warrior. My goal is to be a good big brother.”
”I am the big brother! Dixu, you fool who can't even count properly. We were born together, how can you be 10 years older than me?”
Okay, this is a rarely seen Ogre Shaman. It is said that they were once the pillar propping up a circus. After the circus disbanded, they came out to work as mercenaries for a living, hoping to earn enough money to bring back the circus.
”I am the elder brother!”
”I am, don't think that I would be afraid of you just because you can do a few light tricks with your hands. I am strong, you know.”
”Fine, then let's play scissors paper stone. The one who wins will be the elder brother.”
”Fine, one, two, three. Hah, stone.”
”Paper, I won. I am the elder brother.”
”Kavan, you were slow. That is not counted! Again, or I will beat you up.”
”Come on then, today I will show you the dignity of an elder brother, you fool who can't even count to 9.”
But now, this rare double-headed Ogre Kavan and Dixu is actually brawling to determine which head is the elder brother. While beating each other up, they were both screaming in pain. It is just that it is hard to tell whether they were feeling pain from beating up the other or from getting beaten up.
I nod my head solemnly. This double-headed Ogre is indeed quite powerful, being naturally talented in magic and martial arts from birth. Their combined fighting power definitely matches up to the strength of a Gold-rank human. Even more importantly, different from the rookie just now, they would contribute to our fighting power as soon as they join our team.
”Next.”
However, what I lack now is not fighting power but normal people. We already have enough perverts and weirdos in our band. If we were to add in a person whose left and right is brawling with one another, we would be going down the road of making our opponents laugh to their death.
That day, after realizing that the 'Gentlemen Alliance' is lacking in decency and common sense, considering the need to pull up the bottom limit of our decency, I decided to recruit 2 normal people.
Of course, another one of the reason is that in this human country, there were too many foreign races in the Gentlemen Alliance. If we use a non-human as a front to communicate with our clients, it would be hard to prevent others from overthinking things. Thus, even if it is just for show, I decided to recruit a few human mercenaries. Of course, it would be best if they were knowledgeable about this city.
Even if they can't be of help, they would be useful as a cover. The situation of our band now, a bunch of foreign races moving together, is too striking. In comparison, it would be much better if it was a group of human mercenaries with a few foreign races in its mix.
Thus, so as to not delay the matter, I immediately got down to it. Thus, I set up a stand in front of the Mercenary Guild early in the morning to recruit people. With the 'friendly sponsor' from the Count with broken eggs, the starting salary is one that makes eyes widen.
However, it is a pity that as a foreigner, my background and identity couldn't be checked. Furthermore, with the tense atmosphere in the city due to the inauguration ceremony, the experienced mercenaries are all lying in wait to judge the situation. Those who responded to the recruitment are either rookies or oddities that other bands are unwilling to accept.
Looking at Kavan and Dixu who were still brawling with each other, I shake my head helplessly. I start to pack up my stand to leave. It looks like I have wasted an entire morning today.
However, passing by the mission board, I stopped.
”A-rank reward mission: Look for the true culprit who destroyed the northwest underground sewage in Pearl District. Dead or alive, 200000 gold coins will be awarded.”
This is really quite a significant sum. An A-rank reward mission can make a small mercenary band without any rank to climb several ranks at one go. 200000 gold coin is sufficient for one to buy a luxurious mansion in the Pearl District where land is worth gold itself. It seems like the occurrence of the mysterious vandalism just before the inauguration ceremony has struck the nerves of the officials of Auland Empire.
I hesitated for a moment. Considering that I have earnt quite a sum recently, I am not in urgent need of money. It would feel great to betray the explosion maniac who is getting more and more dangerous in exchange for the reward money. But, considering that it would most probably end up implicating me as well, I can only regretfully give up on this opportunity to thoroughly rid me of a trouble.
Yesterday, after communicating with the Count with broken eggs, it was as I expected. The reason why he sought foreign faces to settle his tasks is so that he could get rid of them afterwards. When he saw that there were only 3 of us and that two were women, he was prepared to expose his true intentions but Diana immediately used her great Sin-Splitting Strike to chop up a dozen of his men while Krose destroyed the roof and everything else remaining. Then, I took out the Devil Contract.
That fat Count was still quite knowledgeable at identifying objects. When he saw a Holy Knight expertly changing the terms of the evil contract using the Devil Language, he was so surprised that his jaws almost dropped off, as though he had seen an angel and devil dancing together.
What happens afterwards was even more simple. After the contract was signed, seeing how he was scared out of his wits and considering the need to maintain a long-term relationship with him, it wouldn't be wise to push him too far. He might retaliate with all he got without any consideration about the cost if forced to a corner. Thus, I didn't come up with any unreasonable demands. I only extorted a large sum of money from him, a luxurious mansion to serve as our temporary base and made him our eye to provide us with intelligence.
Of course, Devil Contracts mainly work by raising the stake bit by bit, pulling people bit by bit up the hook. If we were to play big from the very start, the tasty piece of flesh would be frightened away.
I am still quite satisfied with our mansion, which is in the Pearl District. It doesn't feel right to be living in a hostel all the time. The mansion might be a little old, but the renovations and the garden could still be considered high-class. Now, our entire band is currently cleaning up our temporary base and as the human leader of the band, I made use of the opportunity to sneak out to recruit personnel.
If it's just me doing the recruiting, it won't be that be so striking. Without those decency-lacking fellows pulling me back, I should be able to get some normal people on the band.
Un, I definitely did not do it to avoid the responsibility of cleaning up. Finding excuses to slack off, is it something an upright Holy Knight like me will do?
”Looks like without any reputation, it would be hard for us to recruit decent people. Why don't we try the legendary technique of Transcenders, recruiting the future heroes who still aren't faring well? Un, it is about time for that plot to happen, they should be born already. Sigh, when I received the walk through, I thought that I could get many powerful little brothers under my command. But, I didn't expect that even their ancestors were still in their sperm and egg form. At that moment, I 囧-ed. This is even more depressing than when I put in so much effort to create glass back then, only to realize that the toy has been long created. Heh, digging talents from Auland Empire, I don't feel any guilt at all.”
Thinking about how cool I would be, leading a bunch of Epic heroes in the future, I couldn't help but daydream.
”I still remember that the 'Rain Swallow Sword' and 'Master of Magic Machinery' are still in the Auland Capital. If so, should I look for them tomorrow? Un, I should first head to the Count with broken eggs to obtain some intelligence first. Alright, the recruitment mission is done. So, where should I head to spend my time next.”
”Hey hey! This big brother here.”
”You haven't told us whether you will be recruiting us. We need money to revive the circus, we will listen obediently to you.”
I was looking at the bounty list, thinking about how long it would take for the cleaning to conclude and where I should go to waste my time when the sight in front of me turns dark suddenly. Then, 2 ugly faces suddenly appear in front me, their bad breath hitting me squarely in my face.
”GHOSTS!”
Alright, what is faster than my scream is my reflex action. Before I came to, my fist has already been struck out. Based on the sensation on my hand, it feels like I hit something physical.
”He hit him! He actually made a move against them.”
”Hah, to actually dare to taunt this silly Ogre who doesn't distinguish between allies and enemies, looks like there's a show to watch.”
”3:1 for the man dead, 1:10 for the man getting heavily injured.”
”That pitiful Fire Dragon Circus. They were already troubled by debt due to bad management and now, their members are going to hurt someone again. This time, no one is able to help them anymore.”
The shouts of the onlookers prove that my judgement is correct. From my perspective, Kavan and Dixu's prowess is already quite decent, so comparatively, to normal mercenaries, their strength would be at a shocking level. However, the reason why no one dared to hire them is because Ogres are easily enraged and would go into Berserk state. Once they start fighting, it is easy for them to go into a state where they wouldn't be able to distinguish between allies and enemies.
”I'm sorry, but you appeared too suddenly. It was an accident.”
I smile sheepishly as I retrieve my hand from Kavan and Dixu's stomach. Some kind-hearted people were already shouting warnings at me.
”Lad, escape quickly! Why bother reasoning with Ogres. Just half a month ago, he severely wounded a Berserker from the Southern lands. Hurry up!”
”You actually dare to hit Kavan...” Blood-red veins appear in the 4 eyes of the 3-meter tall double-headed Ogre. Then, they start to roll upwards, showing the whites of their eyes. Saliva starts to flow freely from their mouth, and they were no longer able to complete their sentence.
”It is a Complete Berserk state! Everyone, let's face him together, otherwise we will all die here!”
Alright, looking at this sight, there were already veterans who roared furiously and charged forward.
Complete Berserk state is the ace (race talent) of Beastmen, Berserkers and Ogres. In exchange of their rationality, they burn through their life force for terrifying strength. Perhaps, they would die of exhaustion if they weren't treated in time after their Berserk ends, but until then, they would be a fearless killing machine.
Kavan and Dixu's combined fighting prowess is Gold-rank, so they would be minimally be of the strength of a Legend-rank after Complete Berserk. The judgement of the veterans was accurate. If the both of them weren't killed in time, everyone in their surroundings would probably die.
But...
The next moment, the 4 eyes of the salivating Ogre turn completely white. Then, their heads suddenly slant and they crash to the ground, their gigantic body raising a cloud of dust.
”How is this possible? It isn't Complete Berserk but rather, they were knocked out? From a blow of this young man?”
Disbelief can be seen on the face of the strongest mercenary of the group who were charging towards the Ogre. He really found it hard to accept such a reality. He was once partners with Kavan and Dixu and he knows how tough that Berserker and Shaman Ogre are physically. In fact, he has even seen the Berserk state Kavan and Dixu tearing a war elephant apart but now, they were knocked out by a single blow?
After the dust settles, the cheerful smiling young man has already disappeared.
At the same time, I, who accidentally used my full strength in the punch, made use of the chaos to escape.
The basic strength of a normal Ogre is 16 points and as a Berserker, Kavan and Dixu should have at least 18 points. It is indeed quite fearsome compared to the 10 points of an average human. However, when placed in comparison with one who have exceeded the limits of mortals, 20 points, there is a difference in terms of quality between the two. Furthermore, I accidentally used a strength exertion technique that I have been practicing recently. This is also the main reason why they fell in one blow.
Why did I have to escape?
”Darn it, even if I have to make a reputation for myself, but this kind of striking reputation is really unbearable. If I don't escape, I wouldn't be able to escape the title of 'Ogre Knight' or some similar nicknames.”
I still roughly get the mercenary industry. For veterans, their titles often spread further than their real name. Furthermore, this title is often related to how they made their name for the first time, it would be hard to change it after it is fixed. It would be great if it was some elegant title like Dragon Slayer. But, imagine 'Professional Kobold Slayer', 'The Destroyer of Goblins' and 'The Ejector of Dogs' kind of titles, you wouldn't be able to raise your head for the rest of your life.
As for 'Holy Knight who is stronger than Ogres' and 'Ogre Holy Knight' kind of bizarre titles, given my Luck stat, it is definitely possible that I would receive such titles. Thus, it would be best for me to escape as far as possible.
Of course, before I left, I conveniently completed one of my objective. Holding the bounty in hand, I found a way to spend my time before the cleaning ends.