Chapter 40
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: The Shattered Life Vessel
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"Let's go."
At Julr's single command, the academy mages gripped their staves tightly and scurried after her.
Pinpointing the site wasn't difficult at all.
Julr had fused the mana of various lifeforms into an artificial hybrid mana.
A unique mana that only the Reverse Academy, specialists in chimera research, could wield.
By tracking the fused mana, they could easily locate the orc lich.
"You know what happens to stragglers, right? If you don't want to end up as fodder for the test subject, you'd better keep up."
At Julr's chilling threat, the mages ran for all they were worth.
Thus, the Reverse Academy group, led by Julr, arrived at the scene in less than ten minutes.
"Oh my, looks like they really went at it."
An empty clearing where nothing remained!
It had once been a mountain thick with underbrush, but now it was a ruined wasteland, punched open and scattered with black ash.
"Check if any living things survived."
At Julr's cheerful order, the Reverse Academy mages scattered to inspect the traces of battle.
It was a pointless endeavor, really.
Even a quick glance showed no sign that anything alive could have survived.
"No signs of life."
Her subordinate mage reported, and Julr nodded with a sly smile.
For a mere mercenary corps to be vaporized without even leaving corpses behind was only natural.
"Now, where did our precious test subject go?"
Julr closed her eyes slightly and focused on the flow of mana.
If the orc lich had unleashed such a massive amount of mana, its trail should still linger.
But...
After concentrating in silence for a long while, Julr finally furrowed her brow and opened her eyes.
'What the hell?'
She couldn't sense the orc lich's mana at all.
The fused mana was something she had created herself. There was no way she could have missed it.
'Even if the test subject moved far away, the mana trail should connect...'
The reality was the opposite.
Incredibly, the orc lich's mana had cut off right here in this wasteland.
'That sly orc bastard! What trick did it pull?'
At this point, Julr simply assumed the orc lich had pulled some kind of stunt.
She couldn't even imagine any other possibilities.
'Damn it. I should have chased it sooner, before it exhausted its mana...'
Then, as Julr paced anxiously, her foot stepped on something.
Crack.
Julr instinctively tilted her head and lifted her foot to check below.
And she froze completely, as if time itself had stopped.
'This is...'
The orc lich's life vessel!
The vessel of life lay shattered in pathetic fragments.
An unbelievable sight, even seeing it with her own eyes.
With her thoughts stalled, Julr could only stare blankly at the shards.
'What in the world...'
Why was this on the ground?
Why was it broken?
Unable to make sense of it, Julr blinked repeatedly until, after a long moment, she snapped back to reality.
"Aaaah! No way!"
The orc lich was undoubtedly powerful.
An incomplete 6th Circle wasn't something to dismiss.
Even Julr had found it daunting enough to resort to deploying mercenaries.
How could something like this happen?
Julr, unaware that a god had sided with the Alize Mercenary Corps, simply couldn't accept it.
She dropped to her knees with a thud, her hands trembling as she swept up the fragments of the life vessel.
"No! This can't be!"
Julr was on the verge of madness.
What was an orc lich to her?
The one-of-a-kind test subject in the world.
It was a unique treasure she wouldn't trade for the emperor's throne.
Tears welling up as her whole body shuddered, Julr soon clenched her teeth and lifted her head.
"Find them! Whoever did this, track them down and kill them all!"
A terrifying killing intent exploded from Julr's slender frame.
"Ruyan! There was a huge explosion over there... What the hell happened?"
As Ruyan returned to camp with a impassive expression, Alize rushed over in one bound.
Ruyan gazed at her for a moment before shrugging nonchalantly.
"I found the one that attacked Cloryang before."
At Ruyan's frank answer, Cloryang's eyes widened in surprise as she tilted her head.
"What do you...?"
It was only natural. Cloryang hadn't even realized she'd been attacked until now.
But before she could say more, Alize fired off the next question.
"What kind of bastard was it?"
"An undead that used magic."
Ruyan explained plainly, neither adding nor omitting, just as he had seen it.
But the mercenary corps flinched in shock at his words, instinctively stepping back.
"My god! A lich?"
"Where the hell did a monster like that pop up from?"
The stunned Eric and Eddie shouted in unison.
Even the taciturn Gerard looked like he had plenty to say.
Seeing this, Ruyan calmly raised a hand to quiet the group.
"I don't know. But I've dealt with it definitively, so no need to worry."
His astonishingly calm tone.
As always, there was a power in Ruyan's voice that soothed people.
Only then did the mercenaries relax their stiff necks.
Of course, their relief stemmed from ignorance of the details.
What if they knew the lich Ruyan had slain was a 6th Circle archmage?
They certainly wouldn't have stayed this composed.
"Sigh, and it's the last day too. No sleep for us now."
In that brief span, so much had happened.
Mages disguised as merchants approaching them. And some unidentified archmage lurking behind.
Now even a lich had gotten involved. Something ominous was clearly afoot.
"No choice. Let's head back to Tvente as fast as we can."
At Alize's command, the mercenaries swiftly packed their bedrolls and erased the camp's traces.
Fatigue was plain on everyone's faces, but no one complained.
They all knew it well.
Staying here any longer was far more dangerous than a night march.
The Alize Mercenary Corps, trekking through the night, finally entered Tvente Village as the sun rose the next day.
Thus, Ruyan's first mercenary commission ended safely.
"Sis, does that even make sense?"
"Sorry. I didn't expect this either."
As Alize's voice rose slightly, the guild staff scratched his chin awkwardly.
Alize and Ruyan had come to the mercenary guild to report mission completion.
But they received a completely unexpected response.
"The client hasn't deposited the final payment yet. Could you wait just a bit for the reward?"
The guild couldn't pay out the reward.
It was no wonder exhausted Alize was getting testy.
"I just don't get it. This has never happened before."
She might seem prickly, but Alize's protest was justified.
Normally, official commissions through the guild required full payment upfront, including the final sum.
Depositing only the advance and proceeding was clearly suspicious.
"It's a rules violation! Why did the guild accept the commission with just the advance?"
"You know it was from the lord. His credit is solid, so we took it."
Truth be told, the guild had little choice.
This wasn't just any noble—it was the city's top authority.
Some flexibility was needed, even if it bent the rules.
Watching Alize bicker with the staff, Ruyan let out a dry chuckle.
'They must have thought we wouldn't return.'
The picture formed from these fragments.
Publicly framed as a goblin and ogre subjugation, the job actually involved an orc lich.
Without Ruyan there?
The Alize Mercenary Corps would never have returned alive.
'Means they knew all along.'
The lord was involved in this incident.
Or more precisely, the lord had tried to eliminate the Alize Mercenary Corps for some reason.
Ruyan gave a wry smile and stepped forward.
"I need to see the lord."
Alize flinched at Ruyan's icy tone and looked back at him with unease.
"Ruyan, wait! If you get involved, things could get messy."
"No mess. It can be resolved simply."
Ruyan meant it.
"That's why you can't! We can't just smash the lord's castle over pocket change!"
Knowing even roughly what Ruyan was capable of, Alize couldn't help but worry.
The Ruyan she knew was more than capable of leveling the entire castle.
"Hm. Annoying."
In the Central Plains, if he wanted to go somewhere, he just went.
No one blocked his path, and none could escape the Divine Bow's arrows, no matter where they hid.
To such a Ruyan, a lord cowering behind mere walls and gates was no obstacle.
"Calm down. Leave this to me. I'll get the money, I promise."
Alize clung desperately to Ruyan's arm, her expression pleading.
It would be the ultimate comedy if a city vanished over a mere 3 gold.
"Fine."
Unable to ignore her, Ruyan gave a curt reply and stepped back.
The lord would never know death itself had watched his back and passed by.
Just then, the guild doors burst open as someone rushed in panting.
"Captain Alize! Good, you're here!"
"The administrator?"
The man who entered was the administrator serving the lord.
"I rushed here as soon as I heard you'd returned."
Not a drop of sweat on him, yet he feigned heavy breathing with exaggerated gasps.
"We were waiting. What's going on?"
"There was a slight mishap in processing. Here's the promised success reward."
The administrator drew three gold coins from his pocket and offered them to Alize most politely.
"Mishap?"
"Yes. Seems my underlings slacked off. I was shocked when the guild contacted me."
Could a single word like "slacking" cover all this?
As Alize eyed him suspiciously, the administrator bowed deeply in apology.
"Truly sorry. It won't happen again."
Alize looked like she had plenty to say but ultimately accepted the gold without a word.
With the lord's proxy bowing so low, pressing further felt awkward.
"Got it. We've received the pay, so get up."
"Thank you for understanding. The lord was greatly pleased with this commission's success."
"Just a routine monster hunt."
"It was quite the headache. The lord promised to entrust all future commissions to the Alize Mercenary Corps, whatever they may be."
"No need to go that far..."
Alize played it cool, but her lips twitched faintly.
And rightly so—the lord's commissions always paid handsomely.
Securing them exclusively was a huge boon for the corps.
Perhaps greater than the 3 gold itself.
"I'll be off then. Tell the lord thanks."
Alize turned with a spring in her step, almost frivolously light.
'She looks pleased.'
Ruyan, following behind, couldn't fathom Alize at all.
Suspicious matters abounded, yet one honeyed word had her beaming.
A gruff tone slipped from Ruyan's lips unbidden.
"You said entrust it to me, but that's enough?"
Alize halted her bouncy stride and glanced back sharply.
Unlike her gait, her expression was sternly set.
"Ruyan, I'm not an idiot."
'Of course. She's no naive girl.'
Seeing her seriousness, Ruyan nodded silently.
"This is enough for now. Let's not stir up too much at once."
Too much.
What else was she plotting?
Ruyan started to ask but instead just gazed at her steadily.
'Enough, huh... Fine, for now.'