Chapter 9

Chapter 09: The Ego Sword Picked Me Up (9)

Talent.

Humans lived in this world as well. Fortunately, all of them looked no different from me.

Perhaps because they had grown up poorly fed, it was hard to find anyone taller than me. I was around 184 centimeters tall, and here, anyone over 170 centimeters was called tall.

Murmur, murmur.

As I crossed the village, murmuring sounds came from here and there.

“……Is he a barbarian?”

“Isn’t he mixed-blood? His eyes are red.”

“Is that why? He’s handsome. Look at those muscles!”

The Rubalt Kingdom, the Barony of Azif!

It was located in the northern part of the kingdom and bordered the territory of the barbarians. Life had been devastated by the barbarians’ constant invasions, and unfortunately, my appearance was similar to theirs.

Black hair, black eyes, and even the skin tone characteristic of East Asians.

However, my eyes were no longer the black pupils of the past. Perhaps because of the influence of resonating with Flambeju, or perhaps as a side effect of crossing dimensions, a red aura had settled in my pupils.

When I saw the red solid lines of living beings, my pupils would become even more deeply dyed red.

Since an inn and eatery showed interest in the Vulf corpses, I said to the innkeeper,“I’d like to dispose of these.”

“……I can give you up to 30 silver.”

When I nodded, the shopkeeper’s face brightened. I had clearly handed them over below market price.

However, right now, I had no time to weigh this and that. I immediately paid 10 silver and entered my lodging.

‘A dirty, smelly straw bed. Can I really adapt to this…….’

The moment I leaned against the bed, I fell sound asleep.

***

‘Veronica Mercenary Office.’

After sleeping deeply and waking up, I headed to the building with the red roof.

When I entered, a man with a wooden prosthetic leg on one side limped toward me.

I exchanged a few words with him, and with that alone, I became part of the Veronica Mercenary Company.

“From today onward, you are an apprentice mercenary of the Veronica Mercenary Company.”

In this northern land, where barbarians were hated to the extreme, mercenary was one of the few professions someone with a barbarian’s appearance could choose.

Carlton, the Azif Branch Manager of the Veronica Mercenary Company, handed me a wooden badge. On it, “Rohan” was carved in the common tongue.

“Should I check requests over there?”

When I pointed at the wall in the back, Carlton snorted. Reeking of acrid tobacco smoke, he pointed to one corner.

There, a large number of heavy-looking grain sacks were piled up.

“Only lowest-grade mercenaries and above can check the request board. If we blindly entrust someone with a request and they fail it, trust in our mercenary office may fall. First, move those things piled over there to the northern wall. Once you move them all, I will give you 15 silver.”

The only requests given to apprentice mercenaries were odd jobs. Even those paid dirt cheap, but to build trust and become a formal mercenary, one had to perform odd jobs even if they hated it.

‘Everything has an order. Obtaining the qualification of a lowest-grade mercenary comes first.’

Fortunately, Carlton lent me the mercenary office’s cart.

“Do not overdo it needlessly. Carry them one by…….”

When I shouldered 4 grain sacks at the same time, Carlton’s eyes widened.

Each one weighed at least 30 kilograms. If I only had enough hands, I felt as if I could shoulder not 4, but 8.

However, I did not overdo it. If I forced myself to use too much strength, backlash would occur later.

“Huh! A talent has come in.”

At his casual tone, the corners of my mouth moved without my realizing it.

A person who has been used for a long time is easily tempted by words of recognition.

I moved 40 grain sacks in less than 2 hours.

The money I received after finishing that job was 15 silver. A day’s room and board, including one loaf of bread, cost 10 silver.

‘Since a day’s room and board is 10 silver, should I understand 1 gold as around 1 million won? 1 silver is ten thousand won, and 1 copper is one hundred won.’

I had to set a standard point for currency so I could use money at a proper scale.

I pulled out rocks discovered in the western field and received 40 silver. Only then did the day end.

***

FLASH!

As soon as I opened my eyes, I visited the Veronica Mercenary Office. It was early, before sunrise.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

When I knocked on the door, Carlton came out in pajamas, rubbing his eyes.

“……What is it from dawn?”

“Give me requests.”

“Can you not see that the sun is not even up yet?”

“The early bird catches the prey.”

Carlton’s brow narrowed.

“……Bird? Prey? What is that supposed to be? A barbarian proverb? Prey or not, you are about to catch this old man first. Can you read numbers?”

“Yes. I can read and write numbers and letters.”

Carlton looked rather surprised. Judging from his reaction, the illiteracy rate in this world seemed fairly high.

“……A talent has come in.”

Carlton looked at me with a steady gaze. Unlike the way Secretary Kwak had looked at me, there was a little affection in his eyes.

Carlton left the door half open and walked inside, and I followed after him.

“Take care of the things written here on your own.”

Carlton held out a bundle of leather. On the stale-smelling leather was a request list that Carlton had organized himself.

They were miscellaneous requests classified as odd jobs, and their fees were also on the cheap side. Most of them were requests that would make it hard to earn even 1 silver per hour if taken by an unskilled mercenary.

However, I had skill. All kinds of odd jobs could be called my specialty.

I removed moss from inside the central village well and replaced the water buckets. I removed expired or already completed requests from the mercenary office’s request board, and organized them by grade and request fee.

I chopped firewood and filled an entire storage shed, then buried several monster carcasses in the ground.

I skinned Vulf hides, burned monster-like weeds growing near the fields, and even moved a handcart filled with water from one end of the village to the other.

It took a full 3 days to circle the village, find traces of bandits or monsters, and mark them on a map.

Aside from those, I handled miscellaneous requests without rest.

When I returned to the mercenary office, Carlton raised his white eyebrows.

“……You did all of that?”

“Yes. Please settle the request fees at 1 gold and 10 silver.”

Carlton sent someone to verify it, and even that took quite some time.

“While I’m waiting, may I organize the request board?”

“You organized it a few days ago, so there is nothing more to organize.”

“Then I’ll just look it over once.”

“Well, do as you please.”

Carlton approached me and handed me a beer. It was a dark beer with a strong, sharp smell, and it was the only food in this world that I liked.

Carlton was also holding a greasy sausage.

The sausage made from ground mixed meat was fairly edible. It was disappointing that it was bland due to lacking salt, but in the Rubalt Kingdom, salt was an expensive ingredient.

“You said this is your first time living as a mercenary?”

“That is correct.”

“Is it because you are a barbarian? Or are you especially capable? In any case, you worked hard.”

Carlton added 10 silver on top of the request fee. Including the 30 silver I had earned from selling the Vulf corpses, I had earned roughly 2 gold in total.

However, after subtracting a week’s living expenses and the cost of daily necessities, I had 90 silver left.

“Buy clothes first. If you need armor, say so.”

My appearance was indeed a mess. It was the hospital gown I had worn when I crossed dimensions, and even that had become dark and filthy from being covered in sweat and blood.

“I need armor.”

The places injured during the fight with the Lizardmen still ached. Thanks to my heightened physical abilities, my recovery speed was fast, but it seemed difficult to fight intense battles every day.

“Go to the warehouse in the back.”

The place Carlton pointed to was filled with items that seemed to have been collected from corpses. Their condition was so awful that even impoverished mercenaries avoided them.

Mercenaries also tended to be sensitive to superstition, so there was an atmosphere of avoiding the belongings of dead mercenaries.

‘At least these are a little cleaner.’

I put on a set of leather armor, top and bottom. The stale smell and sticky texture made me feel uncomfortable, but it seemed better than being bitten to death by a monster.

When Carlton saw me emerge from the warehouse, he shook his head.

“Are you desperate to die? You are all flash and no sense, tch!”

Carlton dragged me into the warehouse, then gathered armor with dried blood scabs stuck to it, wrist guards, boots, and the like for me. They looked far from clean, as if wearing them for even a short time would give me a terrible skin disease and kill me.

“Pay me only 50 silver. They were things I was going to throw away anyway.”

“……Thank you.”

I meant it.

During one week of living as a mercenary, I had felt the prices of this world firsthand.

Arms and equipment belonged to the category of expensive luxury goods. Even defensive gear that seemed like nothing was priced at over 50 silver, and weapons could only be bought by paying at least 1 gold. A proper longsword started from 10 gold.

Aside from the armor, Carlton also gave me a backpack, along with a vest and belt with pockets so I could insert the rabbit horns I used as hidden weapons.

“Those are 50 silver apiece, but pay me back slowly. Do not die early after showing off because you want to catch monsters. Even if you die, you must pay back all your debts before dying.”

Carlton spoke while glaring at me, but his tone was fairly warm.

“Can I sell Vulf corpses?”

“Of course. Vulf subjugation requests are only given to lower-grade mercenaries, so do not get cocky just because you work well. You can learn such things step by step, and it will not be too late. Do not look down on horned rabbits either. If you are stabbed wrong by their horns, you will bleed heavily.”

I had already felt firsthand that spiral horns were excellent at causing bleeding.

“I have caught a few.”

“Caught?”

To be precise, “Baluka had caught them.”

Baluka the Massacrer had scoured the forest around the village with Flambeju gripped in his hand.

Thanks to that, public order in the Barony of Azif had improved, and I had not heard of monsters appearing anywhere.

I brought the Vulf corpses Baluka had piled up on the outskirts of the village.

“W-What is all this?”

“I could not sleep at night, so I caught a few.”

There were exactly 13. They had been hunted over 2 days, and there were also 21 horned rabbits.

“Y-You caught all of these by yourself?”

“How much are they all worth?”

“Horned rabbits are 3 silver each, and Vulfs are 10 silver.”

It was 1 gold and 93 silver. It was far more efficient than breaking my back completing requests.

Carlton, who had been examining the corpses, tilted his head. He picked up a horned rabbit and asked,“By the way, what happened to these? Did you drain their blood?”

“Yes. Blood attracts insects and beasts, so I dealt with it.”

“Is this a barbarian technique? To be able to drain blood this perfectly. How fascinating.”

“Will that affect the price?”

“What we need is the hide, so it does not matter much, but horned rabbits are also used as meat, so that may be a problem. Meat drained of all its blood becomes dry. I will count the horned rabbits at only 2 silver. Please understand that point.”