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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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Chapter 127 - A Slap for Every Penny Found (9)
"Who are you people?! Ahh! Everyone, fall back!"
As the guards charged toward us, a spell came crashing down in front of them.
"There’s a mage! One of the intruders is a mage!"
"If you get too close, you’ll be in trouble!"
Orendi, hiding behind me with just his upper body sticking out, was trembling as he shouted a kind of non-threatening threat to the guards.
In contrast, Scala, who led the charge, knew how to intimidate the opposition with much more finesse.
Brandishing her sharp blade with a fierce presence, Scala kept moving steadily, neither speeding up nor slowing down, as she strode through the courtyard of the castle.
"I am Scala of the Reblanc Mercenaries!"
As Scala shouted, crossbow bolts came flying down from the castle walls.
But not a single bolt hit her.
In a blink, her blade flashed, deflecting each one with precision.
Watching Scala's movements, I felt both admiration and pride.
Ten years ago, Scala was just a little girl, swinging around sticks she found, envious of her brothers going off to battle.
It felt like just yesterday that I took pity on her and taught her a few things, and now she’d grown into such a fine warrior.
"Lord, come out here this instant!"
Scala shouted, but the lord did not appear.
If I were in his place, I wouldn't come out either.
Four people smashing through the main gate with magic in the middle of the night, marching in without any backup—it’d make anyone suspicious.
Besides, since this involved negotiations over the prisoners, the lord held the upper hand. There was no reason for him to easily comply with our demands.
But it didn't matter. I had no expectation that the lord would cooperate in the first place.
"Alright, everyone, back away. We didn't come here to fight you."
I spoke to the guards, who were hesitantly keeping their distance, intimidated by Scala’s aggressive aura and Orendi’s magic deterrence.
"There are mercenary prisoners in the dungeon here, right? We’re just going to take them and leave. If you don’t interfere, no one will get hurt."
"Who are you people?!"
At that moment, someone stepped forward from the ranks of the guards.
Unlike the others, he was clad in armor that looked quite expensive, probably a knight.
"I am the chief knight of this castle! It’s the middle of the night, and you have the audacity to smash through our gate! Identify yourselves!"
"I am Scala of the Reblanc Mercenaries."
Scala lowered her sword slightly and stepped forward.
"I’m here to take back the prisoners."
"Mercenaries, are you? Lowly scum who know nothing of basic decency."
The knight drew his sword from its sheath.
"Everyone, stand down! I’ll handle this!"
After dismissing the guards, the knight planted his sword point-down into the ground and placed his hand on the hilt, solemnly declaring.
"I am Varian, a knight of the Chtorrerong territory! This sword is drawn for the honor of my lord and this land. Now that you insolent brutes have trespassed here, there is no turning back… damn it!"
Before the knight could finish his declaration, Scala rushed forward and swung her sword, launching an attack.
The startled knight stumbled back, hastily deflecting Scala's strike with his own.
Knights typically exchange formalities before engaging, introducing themselves and stating their reasons for drawing their swords.
But Scala was a mercenary. She had no time for the outdated customs of knights.
"Ugh!"
Taking advantage of the knight's momentary distraction, Scala landed a sharp kick to his groin.
The knight groaned, doubling over in agony.
"How dishonorable!"
"You filthy wretch!"
The guards, who had been watching the duel, booed and jeered from the sidelines, while I clapped and whistled in approval.
"Well done, Scala! That’s the spirit!"
Mercenary battles are not about fighting honorably; the one who uses dirty tricks effectively is the one who wins.
That's why, over ten years ago, I taught Scala how to fight dirty.
No matter how skilled one is, the physical differences between a man and a woman can be hard to overcome.
So, instead of straightforward combat, one must rely on tricks, deception, and every possible advantage.
"You wretched woman!"
Despite the excruciating pain, the knight managed to twist away, dodging Scala’s follow-up strike.
Then, with a burst of strength, he pushed her back with his sword, knocking her to the ground.
"Kill her!"
As the knight raised his blade over the fallen Scala, ready to strike.
"Ugh! Ptooey!"
Scala threw dirt into the knight’s face, rolling backward to dodge the attack.
"Nice one, Scala! Keep it up!"
As I cheered on my student’s impressive growth, the knight snarled.
"What are you all standing around for?! Stop watching and get in here!"
Realizing he couldn’t win the duel, the knight called the guards to join the fight.
As the guards finally shouted and charged in, Hindrasta leapt forward.
"Raaaahhhhh—ugh!"
One guard, seized by the collar, let out a pained cry as Hindrasta threw him into a wall, where he collided with a thud.
"What, what the—?!"
"Whoa, whoa!"
When Hindrasta reached out for another target, the guards panicked, shoving each other as they scrambled to retreat.
"Aaah! She’s got me!"
But one unfortunate guard was caught by Hindrasta’s grip and disappeared across the courtyard, smashing through the branches of a tree and out of sight.
"What the hell is that…?"
The guards fell silent, their disbelief at Hindrasta’s raw strength turning the courtyard eerily quiet.
I could almost hear the sounds of them nervously swallowing.
Alright. It looks like I can leave this to Hindrasta and Scala.
Since that swordsman wielding the giant sword hasn't shown up despite all this commotion, they must not be here.
Maybe they were just a wandering mercenary working solo.
"Orendi. Open that door."
I pointed at the entrance to the inner section of the castle, and Orendi fired off an attack spell.
Boom!
The door crashed open, and as we stepped inside, the unarmed staff screamed and fled at the sight of us.
"Where’s the dungeon?"
I grabbed one of them by the collar and forced him to lead us down to the underground dungeon.
It was dark and damp, to the point where it was hard to make out anything.
I grabbed a torch from the wall, shining it into the cells where I could see several people locked up.
"Reblanc Mercenaries, right? We’ve come to get you out."
"You’ve come to save us? Wait a minute… your face looks… familiar…."
One man peered at me through the bars, tilting his head.
"Could it be… Brother Dian…?"
"Hey. Long time no see. You don’t look so great."
"What the—are you serious?! It’s really Brother Dian?!"
The young man jumped to his feet, shouting excitedly.
"Father! Brothers! Brother Dian is here! He’s come to save us!"
"What? Dian?!"
At his shout, all the mercenaries who had been lying down or sitting sprang to their feet.
"Dian? What are you doing here?"
The middle-aged leader of the mercenaries reached through the bars to grab my hand.
The man had aged considerably over the past ten years.
"I heard the news and came. Scala’s been having a rough time handling things on her own."
"Scala? She’s safe?"
"She’s outside holding off the guards with Sophie."
"What? Sophie’s here too? I thought she’d gone to the academy. What’s she doing here?"
"I’m a professor at that academy."
"A professor?! Are you serious?! This is like some kind of joke…."
"Alright, everyone, quiet down."
I raised my hand to silence the barrage of questions from the mercenaries.
"We’re planning to leave without paying the ransom, so let’s get moving. We can talk more once we’re back at HQ."
I made the mercenaries step back, then used magic to break the bars.
"A mage too…? I really don’t understand what’s going on…."
"Hurry up and get out, old man. Don’t dawdle."
As the mercenary leader was climbing out of the cell, he seemed to remember something and asked.
"What happened to that guy?"
"That guy? You mean the swordsman with the greatsword? Not sure. Didn’t see them. Maybe they left, being a contract mercenary and all."
"Damn."
The leader’s face darkened, and he ordered the other mercenaries to arm themselves.
Arming themselves, in this case, meant using the broken bars as makeshift spears and clubs.
"Listen, Dian. That guy is still in the castle. They're the one who captured us, and they said they'd personally collect the ransom."
"Really? That’s odd. Why would they, and not the lord? Are they a retainer or something?"
"No, they're just a wandering swordsman."
"Then why not just kick them out?"
"It’s not that simple. The lord can’t stand up to them. Before you arrived, they were having a feast, but it was all set up because that guy forced the lord to do it. That bastard’s completely insane."
What kind of story is this?
So, this nobody swordsman fights in the territorial war, decides to pocket the ransom, and then sticks around to drain the lord's resources until they get their money? I don’t know who this bastard is, but I’d like to see them for myself.
"Anyway, let’s get out of here. The area has a coordinate disruption spell, so we need to get outside the castle walls before we can open a dimensional gate."
As I led the mercenaries outside, we saw Scala and Hindrasta cornering the guards.
Especially Hindrasta, whose overwhelming strength had left the guards terrified, none of them daring to step forward.
Anyone who got grabbed by her was sent flying, so no one wanted to take their chances.
"Alright, everyone! Time to head home!"
I shouted, and Scala and Hindrasta came running over.
"Father! Brothers!"
Scala rushed to the mercenary leader, throwing her arms around him.
"How disgraceful, Reblanc Mercenaries being taken as prisoners!"
"Heh, I’m sorry about that. And Sophie, thank you for coming to help."
At the mercenary leader’s words of gratitude, Hindrasta awkwardly scratched the back of her head.
"I just came to get the money I left with you guys, but then they said they couldn’t give it to me because of the ransom. So don’t get the wrong idea."
As we made our way past the hesitant guards toward the exit, I suddenly felt an odd sense of unease.
"Dian! Up there!"
At Hindrasta’s shout, everyone looked up.
There, on the terrace of the castle’s spire, stood a dark figure.
With a massive, straight object resting on their shoulder, it had to be the nameless swordsman.
They stepped onto the edge of the terrace railing and then leaped down, landing between us and the exit.
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HELHEIM SCANS
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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