Chapter 76
Chapter 76
Saint, You’re So Vulgar! – Chapter 76
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Baern was full of orphans. With mercenaries forming the core workforce of the city, discarded babies left behind as traces of their short lives were inevitable.
Asher had been one such child.
No one knew which mercenary had been his parents, but he'd been found at the entrance to some ruins near Baern.
That fact gave rise to a few speculations.
The most likely one was that Asher had been born from a low-rank female mercenary's fling.
The woman probably hadn't even known who the father was.
For people living day-to-day without a care, reckless flings weren't all that unusual.
She must have gotten pregnant unexpectedly, and even with a child on the way, she'd had to keep earning a livingso off to investigate ruins she'd gone.
Ecological surveys in ruins that had already been fully explored were among the safest jobs available to mercenaries who could only do manual labor.
But then disaster struck.
"Even in ruins that have been fully explored, variables always exist. My birth mother must have gone into labor amid that chaos, and sensed the anomaly in the process."
"."
"She had two things to deal with: giving birth to me, and escaping. But even that didn't go well."
The woman gave birth to the child.
But she likely didn't have time to even catch her breath, let alone flee.
The anomaly was the outbreak of magical beasts.
The woman faced a choice.
Use the newborn baby as bait and run.
Or hide the baby and lure the beasts away.
"My birth mother chose the latter. That's the only conclusion I can draw. I was hidden away, and on the day I was found, beast-eaten corpses lay at the very edge of the ruins' entrance."
That was why no one knew who his parents were.
The woman's corpse had been crushed to splinters, barely recognizable as human.
They'd tried tracking her down through the guild's commission records for the ruins survey, but that hadn't worked either.
She'd probably just ripped a posting off the wall and rushed off without reporting it.
It wasn't uncommon.
Versia's expression hardened.
Asher gave a wry smile as he spoke.
"A mother whose face I never knew. All I can do is guess that she risked her life to save meand that I was a child worth loving to her."
How could he remember events from before he was even born?
This story was only necessary to explain that he'd been born that way, and that it marked the beginning of everything.
Asher continued.
"The mercenaries who picked me up that day were the ones who raised me."
"...The former royal Lion Corps."
"They weren't called the Lion Corps back then."
The sudden emergence of magical beasts had prompted a call for mercenaries to subdue them, and the newly formed mercenary company 'Terbion' had answered.
Versia let out an exclamation.
Asher nodded.
"My surname comes from the mercenary company's name."
That was why he could never abandon it.
Even after all these years, it remained his pride.
"Anyway, after I was found, the captain himself decided to raise me. He said a child would become our reason to return home."
He didn't know the full detailsHwaran had told him the storybut those words had convinced the members who'd opposed it.
Mercenaries lived day-to-day.
Without a future, they burned bright and faded like flames.
The members might have wanted something different for themselves.
They might have needed a reason to survive.
And so, Terbion's child Asher was raised by an entire mercenary company.
The burly, bearded giant cooed and soothed the baby. The poison-brewing assassin mixed formula. The light-fingered thief changed filthy diapers with deft hands. The mage who researched late into the night held the crying child while penning grimoires until dawn.
That was how Asher grew up.
Memories before Seneal were hazy now, but everything after was etched clearly in his mind.
The captain's pleased smile when he first gripped a wooden sword. The thief snatching a fork midair when he threw a tantrum over side dishes. The mage tearing up when he read a book aloud. And countless other moments.
Happy times.
Asher had lived the ideal childhood that came to mind when one thought of a "beautiful youth."
"That was when the Terbion Mercenary Company was selected as a candidate for the Lion Corps."
It happened in the company's fifth year, when Asher was four.
From their very debut, Terbion had stood out, and in just five short years, they'd risen to lead the Big Tenthe top mercenary companies of the eraand been named one of the three candidates for the next Lion Corps.
The king's throne would soon pass to the next generation within the year, and that was when Asher first met Gester Kuolin.
Asher chuckled softly.
"We really didn't get along at first. We treated each other like lifelong enemies."
"Your personalities clashed?"
"Everyone assumes that, but it was a much simpler reason."
Gester and Asher were oppositestwo sides of the same coin.
That was why so many thought the kids' fights stemmed from clashing personalities, but no.
"It was a perfectly childish reason."
Asher had boasted that the Terbion Mercenary Company was the greatest.
Gester had insisted the Kuolin royal family was the greatest.
In other words, they'd fought over whose parents were more amazing.
Versia furrowed her brow.
But not in disbelief.
"So kid-like."
"We were only five at the time."
Their first fistfight ended with both sporting bloody noses and bawling their eyes out.
The second had Gester with the bloody nose and Asher crying.
The third saw Asher pummeling him one-sidedly.
"Huh?"
"I... have a bit of a talent for fighting."
"Isn't the story getting weird?"
"Even though the victories tilted my way, we actually got closer. We started understanding each other's roles."
The royals ruled Baern.
The Lion Corps protected Baern.
That hierarchy had been seared into their young minds once the fights settled who was stronger.
"The royals doted on me, the Lion Corps kid. My company spoiled Gester, the royal heir. By age seven, we stopped fighting. Instead, we dove headfirst into war games."
Gester played the king.
Asher was the grand general.
Whenever village kids gathered, their team always won.
Playing in the markets, merchants tossed them fruit. At the mercenary guild, adults cursed at the kids to scram but slipped them jerky anyway.
It was a warm world everywhere they went, and in truth, that era marked the most peaceful time in Baern's history.
For Asher, that golden age lasted until he turned nine.
"...Ambition can sometimes summon disaster."
Asher looked up at Baern's skyline.
The grand castle looming in the center still brought back memories of that day.
"As I mentioned earlier, Terbion was one of the Lion Corps candidates. We competed against other Big Ten companiesincluding one massive outfit boasting centuries of history."
"...They plotted a rebellion. And colluded with one of the throne's claimants."
Coming from royalty herself, Versia pieced it together instantly.
Asher nodded.
"Rebellion... Yes, if we'd stopped them that day, it would have been called that."
It had been a peaceful day.
The Lion Corps had departed on the royal family's orders to seal ruins spawning magical beasts.
Asher alone remained in the city, utterly absorbed that day in Gester's war games in the palace gardens.
"Then screams rang out. Suddenly, from the palace entrance."
Those chilling shrieks were nothing like the mercenaries' usual bellows.
Even young Asher could tell they heralded some massive catastrophe.
"Soon, the stench of blood filled the air. Gester's handmaidens scooped us up, trying to flee through the rear gate. But the enemy was thorough. The conspirator was Gester's uncle, Anton Kuolinpushed out of the line of succession. He'd already planted that mercenary company inside the palace."
The handmaidens fell.
Asher and Gester, drenched in blood, frozethen were captured.
The calculated coup had seized the moment of the Lion Corps' absence and succeeded.
The king was dragged to the execution block on fabricated charges of corruption.
Gester, his blood kin, and Asher, the Lion Corps child, were branded slaves and moments from being sold off.
Asher steadied his breath.
His heart pounded so fiercely he could barely speak.
But he had to continue.
He squeezed his eyes shut, regained his composure, and pressed on.
"And then the Lion Corps returned."
The shadow of the end fell over every beautiful moment he'd ever known.
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