Chapter 40

Chapter 40. Excellent Aim!

Just what had happened to the main force?

Feeling uneasy, the advance party searched around the ruined campsite, and soon, they were able to find people who were still alive.

Balun approached the people sprawled across the torn tents and groaning, shook their bodies, and checked whether they were conscious.

“Hey. Are you all right? Are you conscious?”

“Ugh...”

The people groaned, but they could not open their eyes.

“Hey. Wake up.”

When they still did not answer, he began shaking their shoulders mercilessly and slapping their cheeks.

SLAP! SLAP!

“It is cold. If you sleep in a place like this, your mouth will twist crooked. You will die away from home. Open your eyes!”

“No, Lord Balun. How can you slap an unconscious person’s cheeks that hard?”

Gregory rebuked the rough Balun, but...

“It is fine. This is how they wake up.”

“I feel as though they will lose consciousness instead of waking up...”

Contrary to his concern, Balun quickly woke the unconscious people.

“Ugh...”

The people began opening their eyes one by one.

“See? What did I say? I told you it would work.”

“...”

After that, they gave simple emergency treatment to the people who had awakened and began asking them what had happened.

They were soon able to hear an answer.

“It was around half a day after the advance party entered the underground area. Suddenly, Lizardmen began appearing in groups from outside the campsite.”

“Lizardmen!”

The advance party members shouted without realizing it.

That was because Lizardmen were monsters far stronger than Goblins.

“A battle broke out. And we were defeated. That is all.”

“Lizardmen are strong, but that does not mean the main force should have been unable to deal with them. There were knights and Mages as well.”

“There were many Lizardmen. I could not count them properly, but even at the lowest estimate, there seemed to be about fifty or sixty.”

Everyone’s faces stiffened. Lizardmen were monsters with bodies larger than humans, great strength, and hard scales. If there were that many of them, it was not unreasonable that the main force had been defeated.

“When signs of defeat appeared, the expedition scattered in all directions. The mercenaries all fled.”

At those words, anger appeared on the advance party members’ faces.

“They ran? Those damn bastards!”

“We went through that hellish suffering in that cursed place!”

While everyone burst into anger, Gregory suppressed his rage and continued questioning.

“What about the knights? And where are the Mages?”

“They fought with us, but they scattered midway through. When we began to be pushed back, I think they were trying to evacuate the expedition captain... I do not know what happened after that.”

Gregory nodded. Just from hearing that much, he felt as though he could understand how the battle had unfolded.

The expedition captain, Heinrich von Rotenfeld.

Before he was the expedition captain, he was a member of the noble Rotenfeld Family. More than that, he was the son of the current family head.

Naturally, the knights would have tried to protect him as their top priority. It was only natural that the life of a noble was more important than that of some mercenary rabble.

“For now, let us split up and search for the expedition members. They likely have not gone far yet.”

“Yes, Mage.”

And so the advance party members scattered in all directions.

Balun was left alone.

Since everyone else had gone off to search while he alone had not, Gregory asked out of curiosity.

“What is the matter? Do you have something to say to me?”

“Hmm, that is...”

For some reason, Balun hesitated.

Then he carefully asked.

“Can we no longer explore the ruins now?”

“I cannot give you a definite answer, but we should consider that highly likely. How could we continue the exploration in this situation?”

“Then Balun will not receive the remaining payment?”

“The remaining payment? What do you mean by... Ah, do you mean the remaining payment for the request? Of course. A contract is a contract, after all.”

“The remaining payment? What do you mean by... Ah, do you mean the remaining payment for Lord Balun’s request?”

“That is right.”

“That... I suppose we cannot help but be unable to pay it. A contract is a contract, after all.”

Balun’s heart sank.

‘He says I cannot receive the money?’

His mind grew urgent.

‘That cannot happen. I must receive that 250 gold.’

Balun began stamping his feet without realizing it.

He desperately wanted the request to succeed.

It was an enormous sum that could buy two houses in Milford.

It was a fortune large enough for a commoner family to live comfortably for more than ten years and still have money left over.

“Then, if we safely find the expedition captain, can we continue exploring the ruins?”

“That will depend on the expedition captain’s decision. If he says we will push forward, we will, and if not, we will withdraw as we are.”

“I see.”

“Judging from his temperament, I think he will probably say we should continue. He will likely consider failing the ruins exploration like this to be a stain on the Rotenfeld Family’s honor.”

Balun’s eyes gleamed. That was the answer.

“Gregory. Leave it to Balun.”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“Balun will find the expedition captain.”

Gregory was flustered. Balun had suddenly thrust his face close.

His face was flushed with excitement, and the two eyes set within it blazed like flames.

“Balun is strong! Balun can do it!”

“No, Lord Balun. That is not something that happens just because you say it will...”

“After finding him, we resume the exploration! No matter what happens, the exploration must succeed!”

Balun was desperate.

He was truly behaving like a slave of capitalism.

“Yes. Understood. I understand, so please calm down first. Settle your excitement a little...”

“Then will you permit it?”

“Pardon?”

“I am asking whether you will permit Balun to find the expedition captain.”

“Yes. Well, of course...”

Gregory was bewildered even as he spoke.

No, had he ever told him not to search?

“Good!”

Balun nodded in satisfaction.

“Then I will go.”

“Wait. Lord Balun...!”

Before Gregory could say anything, Balun darted off.

Watching his back as he ran away with heavy thuds, Gregory swallowed the words he had been about to say.

‘Lord Balun, do you even know what the expedition captain looks like?’

He was worried that the Barbarian might wander aimlessly.

Of course, it was a needless concern.

Balun might not look it, but he was quite knowledgeable about tracking.

The reason the Barbarians of the eastern Great Plains had regarded Balun like a nightmare was not simply because Balun was strong.

It was because no matter where defeated soldiers hid, he found their traces to the end, chased them down, and caught them.

***

“Hah! Haaah!”

Heinrich kept gasping for breath. Even though his breathing had risen all the way to his throat, he could not stop. Pursuers were following behind him.

Thanks to using his head fairly well, he had shaken off quite a number of them, but he could not feel relieved. If he stopped even for a moment, it felt as though they would catch up in no time.

‘What sort of bastard dares target a member of the great Rotenfeld Family?’

At first, he had thought it was simply the threat of monsters. But when unidentified men in black appeared and attacked, he realized that was not the case.

This was clearly a conspiracy by another force targeting the expedition.

‘How dare they, how dare they!’

It felt as though his insides were turning over. Anger boiled up. If he survived this, he would absolutely not let them off. Absolutely not.

Unfortunately, anger alone could not solve the problem. Heinrich was already exhausted to the limit. He had swung his sword too much, seen too much blood, and run too much.

“Lord Heinrich! You must increase your speed! At this rate, we will be caught!”

“What do you mean! I am already doing my best, haah, I can, haah.”

“Lord Heinrich!”

Heinrich stopped running. The knights were horrified and supported Heinrich.

“You must not stop!”

“I cannot. I cannot run anymore... Ueegh!”

“Lord Heinrich! If we stop here, we will be caught!”

In the end, Heinrich vomited.

He suddenly felt dizzy, touched his forehead, and shook his head.

“This will not do. I cannot run any further. My side hurts too much.”

“Even so, you must run! Of course, I know you are out of breath, but... Hah! Blood!”

The knights were startled. Heinrich’s side was soaked with blood.

“You were injured! Why did you not say anything?”

“If I had said it, would anything have changed?”

“That is not true, but!”

“Go on without me. Go and tell the family of this. Then my father will avenge me.”

“No! How could we abandon Lord Heinrich and go by ourselves?”

“If you do not go, we will all die together.”

“That would be better! We will die fighting!”

“In that state? With bodies that cannot even manifest Aura, do you think you can defeat those Assassins?”

“Urgh!”

The knights gritted their teeth. It was truly bitter.

This was all because of the Mana Poison. If they had not been poisoned by that damned thing, things would not have come this far...

“We still do not know. We will only know whether something is possible after trying.”

“Sir Martin is right. Let us try.”

As they steeled their resolve, they sensed presences. Soon, several sets of footsteps were heard, and silhouettes appeared one after another.

There were as many as twenty-one masked men dressed in black from head to toe.

Wearing attire that did not suit the green forest at all, they surrounded Heinrich and the three knights.

One of the masked men opened his mouth.

“You did not get very far.”

“You bastards! Are you not afraid of the great Rotenfeld Family?”

Knight Martin shouted in anger. At that, one corner of the masked man’s mouth, visible beneath his mask, curled up unpleasantly.

“It does not matter. The dead do not speak, after all.”

“What?”

“Do you have anything else to say? I will at least listen to your final words.”

“You bastard!”

Knight Martin shouted in rage. The masked men did not even react. They merely narrowed the encirclement little by little.

At that, the three knights stood back-to-back around Heinrich in a circle and gripped their swords.

“Farewell.”

The masked men approached. A faint shimmer rose from their swords. A sharp steel aura could be felt from those blades.

By comparison, there was no shimmer on the three knights’ swords. Their blades had lost their light and had no luster. They were not even gleaming in any impressive way, only stained with blood.

Heinrich closed his eyes. He felt utterly wronged. He had wanted to succeed in exploring the ruins and raise his family’s honor, but instead, he was about to leave behind nothing but disgrace.

‘I am sorry, Father. Please do not forgive m—’

“I found you! My 250 gold!”

Heinrich’s thoughts were cut off by a thunderous voice that suddenly came from somewhere.

‘250 gold?’

What was that out of nowhere...?

No, more importantly.

Whose voice was that?

While he was still wondering, he saw something flying quickly toward them.

SWISH!

It was a hand axe. With an impressive handle as black as pitch, it flew straight toward them.

CRACK!

The masked man’s head burst open like a watermelon.

“Headshot!”

A satisfied voice immediately rang out.

“Excellent aim!”

Heinrich’s eyes widened.

‘What?’

He looked in the direction from which the axe had flown. Someone was standing far away. The distance was so great that he looked smaller than a single finger.

‘He threw it from that far away? That axe?’

Was that even possible? Even an arrow would have been hard to land properly from there.

How had it not been caught on all those trees and grasses along the way?

“Wait there! 250 gold!”

The man soon began running. For some reason, it felt as though the earth was rumbling beneath his feet.

***

Balun smiled in satisfaction. That was because he had struck the head dead-on.

What was surprising was that he had not even seen the enemy properly.

He had seen something through the dense trees, assumed it was a Lizardman, and thrown it, and it had hit?

‘So I can hit something even at this distance.’

He could not measure the distance, but he was certain it was a distance impossible through brute strength alone. But with Enhancement Art added, it had become possible.

‘It would be nice if the axe had a retrieval function. Is there nothing like that? Then could I not use something like sword control?’

No. It was not a sword, so would it be axe control?

Wiping away those useless thoughts, Balun ran. From the campsite to here, tracking had been quite a struggle. How long had he moved while staring at the ground just to discover traces?

Now was the time to reap the fruit of all that damned suffering.

‘Will there be around ten or so Lizardmen? It will be tiring, but not impossible. I can defeat that many one by one...’

Balun’s thoughts stopped. Only then did he properly grasp the situation.

Masked men in black clothes could be seen through the dense trees.

Since Lizardmen probably would not wear clothes, those were undoubtedly humans.

‘Why are they there?’

Balun blinked as he ran.

Since the main force had been beaten by Lizardmen, he had naturally assumed the expedition captain would be chased by Lizardmen as well.

Then why were men in black dressed exactly like the ones he had encountered in the underground dungeon here?

‘No, this is cheating! I did not think those bastards would be here!’

Those guys had been fairly strong.

How much trouble had he gone through underground?

Balun wanted to stop for a moment, make a few calculations, and then go in, but after killing one person and even making eye contact, he could not back out now.

‘Damn it, no wonder the head burst so nicely!’

He had no choice but to fight, as though swallowing bitter medicine.