Translator: Nox

Ch#60

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“They said no. No time.”

Tesetan shook off his right hand as he spoke.

Thick monster blood splattered long across the dry leaves, and Aleric swallowed hard before stepping forward.

“Captain. You can't do this.”

Tesetan, who had been wiping the monster blood from his body, paused at those words.

As his gaze turned toward him, Aleric involuntarily swallowed dryly.

“Can't I? Even if I do this?”

The questioning voice was gentle.

A faint smile even played on his lips.

But Aleric knew.

That Tesetan's eyes weren't smiling in the slightest at this moment.

“Captain. What I mean is……”

Aleric anxiously lowered his gaze.

Where his eyes landed was Tesetan's sword, emanating a strange aura in all directions.

The air subtly trembling around the blade.

The bluish mana rampaging like a living thing, and the opposing golden energy.

The two energies clashed as if on the verge of collision yet maintained a perfect balance, flickering.

Aleric swallowed a sigh.

‘He's exhausted. Extremely so.’

Tesetan's sword aura was always like that.

The more fatigued Tesetan was, the more ferociously it rampaged.

Of course, Aleric desperately wanted to let him rest,

“It's Berugon. The one trapped in Krazar's subspace.”

but even in this weary state after successive sieges, they had to respond to this mobilization order.

Because,

“Captain, what if Berugon dies because you refuse the mobilization order?”

Berugon's life was literally in their hands right now.

Yet Tesetan's expression didn't so much as twitch.

“What can we do? Just show up at the funeral and that's that.”

“Captain!”

Frustrated, Aleric turned to his comrades behind him.

But they all just shook their heads.

Letting out a groan, Aleric took a short deep breath.

Then, approaching Tesetan, he said,

“This isn't some simple matter, Captain.”

“Then what kind of matter is it? You know best what I've been doing for the past three days.”

Aleric silently closed his mouth.

Tesetan continued coldly.

“If there's a problem, it's not with me—it's with that damn Frost Union. They accepted me, no, Trebaga as an affiliate and haven't given us a single national commission, Aleric.”

“…….”

“And yet every time, mobilization orders. Come do this, do that. Am I a mercenary or their pet dog? Since when?”

Aleric clenched and unclenched his fist before opening his lips.

“Captain. Of course I know. That the Frost Union has been a nuisance.”

When they first joined the Union, Aleric hadn't anticipated this situation.

‘Because I thought the Union would accommodate us to some extent.’

If the Frost Union back then was a makeshift aquarium, Trebaga was a great fish roaming the deep sea.

With such a great fish willingly entering the tank,

he figured they'd at least toss in some feed.

‘But they've never once granted us national commission start rights.’

Of course, Trebaga could live prosperously enough just from regular commissions and sieging magic stones.

Not a single member lacked renown; they already had outstanding fame.

They didn't even need national commissions—plenty needed them anyway.

However, even for mighty Trebaga, talk changed when their national commission participation rate lingered at 0% for years.

“I know we're losing face too.”

Aleric added, gazing at Tesetan with pleading eyes.

“But this really isn't just a matter of pride.”

One of Tesetan's eyebrows twitched slightly upward.

“Every piece of equipment the Holy Knight Order uses passes through Berugon's factory. If he dies and the factory stops, there's no one to repair the holy knights' chipped swords right away.”

Holy knights' swords fundamentally had to be crafted to hold holy power.

Berugon was one of the few who could systematically handle that difficult, complex process.

“Captain. The moment Berugon dies, all the blame will pour on us. From the Church, the Imperial Family, the Holy Knight Order—everyone.”

Only then did Tesetan's unmoving head tilt slightly.

“We don't even have much rapport with them anyway. Do you want to get completely blacklisted now?”

“…….”

“And why have we endured the Union so far? To see when they'll finally give us start rights, to squeeze at least one out before leaving, right?”

“…….”

“But refusing the mobilization order now means all our efforts go down the drain.”

“Hah.”

As if it gave him a headache, Tesetan bowed his head deeply.

He roughly swept up his black hair and glared at Aleric with displeased eyes.

“Want me to be honest?”

“About what?”

“I'm pretty worn out right now, so my temper might be sharp—keep that in mind.”

Tesetan lifted his chin and lowered his gaze.

“I just feel like whatever happens, happens. The Imperial Family, the Church—screw 'em.”

“Pardon?”

“What can they do if they're dissatisfied with me? Have I been slacking? Sorry, but I've been busy too. Handling the massive magic stones that suddenly popped up at the empire's border here.”

Tesetan's words were true.

Trebaga's schedule had been packed tight for the past few months.

While denying them 'national commission' start rights, the Imperial Family always oddly exploited Trebaga.

And just days ago, something ridiculous happened.

‘We thought we'd finally get some rest, but massive magic stones sprouted in clusters at the empire's border.’

The Holy Knights abandoned the siege upon hearing the news.

Because there were no imperial citizens living in the area, so no need to siege?

Of course, it seemed more like an order from higher up than the Holy Knight Order itself...

‘But we can't just leave multiple massive magic stones alone.’

The problem was that few mercenary groups in the empire could handle a siege of that scale.

And right on cue, the neighboring emperor bordering the area offered high rewards.

Trebaga naturally stepped up for the siege.

As a result, Tesetan's temper grew even rougher.

‘Of course the captain's exhausted.’

Tesetan particularly hated sieging multiple massive magic stones at once.

He said just seeing clusters of them made him nauseous.

But the battle progressed smoothly anyway, and it seemed they'd siege successfully.

Then today, right after the long siege wrapped up, the mobilization order came from the Union.

To rescue Berugon trapped in the subspace, no less.

“Feels sticky. I wanna wash up.”

Tesetan lightly lifted the sword leaning against the tree.

“I'm sleeping for two days, so don't wake me.”

“No, even so……!”

Aleric watched Tesetan's back as he headed toward the barracks, his face blank with dismay.

If Trebaga fell out of favor with the higher-ups, snagging national commissions would get even harder.

Moreover, the other mercenary groups eyeing the top spot would be throwing a festival.

“……Nothing's going right.”

As he muttered, a comrade who had been spectating sidled up.

“Aleric, what are you wearing to the factory chief's funeral?”

It was Libia.

Aleric sighed and shot Libia a glare.

“Leave it for now, Libia. My head hurts.”

Libia widened her eyes round.

“Huh? If even our strategist you has a headache already, that's trouble. We need to figure out how to scout Basto Paerics from now on.”

“What?”

“I overheard from ‘Silvar's Scream’ earlier—apparently someone else got trapped with Berugon.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Agavert's captain. That weirdo who pretends to be four years old.”

Libia giggled.

“Funny, right? We were worried about the monster, but it up and vanished on its own. If the Sovereign King dies, we definitely snag Basto Paerics. Okay?”

“What the hell is that?”

At that moment, a peculiar voice came from behind.

Turning around, Tesetan—who had been heading to the barracks—stood leaning, watching them.

“Not just Berugon trapped in the subspace?”