Chapter 87
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 087
Chapter Title: The Swindler and the Staff (1)
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“We’ll arrive soon.”
Cedric, who’d been leading the way, turned back to us as he spoke.
Cheers erupted here and there.
Everyone seemed worn out from all the camping.
They must’ve been hoping for a comfortable rest in a village tonight.
Still, thanks to my purification magic, at least they all looked clean on the outside.
Finally, the North.
A little later, we’d reach Stonehill.
The village sat at the very edge of the northern frontier.
It meant we’d finally entered the North proper.
We’d left my territory in Evergreen just over three weeks ago, which was a few days ahead of my estimates.
Credit to Cedric’s guidance, no doubt.
Good call hiring them.
The Four Idiots Mercenary Group.
A week after they’d started working for free, I’d finally hired them proper.
Contract term? Until I reached my destination.
And if they earned my trust along the way, I figured I’d offer them a spot back in Evergreen.
Not without downsides, though.
Their pay wasn’t cheap.
Sixteen silver coins a day.
Keep this up for a month, and I’d burn through 480 silver coins just on them.
Enough to buy four healthy milk cows.
Money flying out the window with every breath.
And the kicker? Cedric swore this was their honest rate.
Makes me grateful for Bear, Conall, and the soldiers.
Bear and Conall were top-tier talent.
Hiring knights of their caliber as mercenaries would cost at least four silver coins a day each.
Yet they hadn’t asked for a single coin so far.
Sure, I let them take their pick of the spoils, but that wouldn’t cover a knight’s daily wage.
So why the silence?
I had a hunch.
They feel they owe me too much.
Bear and Conall had earned their knighthoods from a noble.
They sported fine swords and quality chainmail.
Who hooked them up? Me, obviously.
They’d received so much from me that they’d stuck by my side without complaint.
Same for the soldiers.
Two sturdy men who’d followed me from Rabbit Farm.
Two young recruits who’d joined up in Evergreen.
None of them had taken separate pay either.
I wasn’t stingy, though—spoils whenever we had them, plus I covered all their food, lodging, everything.
Still felt a bit guilty.
Eh, I’ll reward them handsomely when we get back to the territory.
I soothed my conscience with that thought.
Then I sensed something racing toward us from afar.
My mana detection picked it up.
Unknown foes carrying mana.
And not just one or two—ten signatures in all.
Familiars?
Too weak for mages.
So I pegged them as summoned beasts under someone’s control.
“Something’s heading our way.”
Bear voiced it just then.
He’d sensed it too.
“Everyone, battle ready!”
The air grew tense, and Conall shouted the order, taking point.
Bear joined him.
Gilbert and the soldiers stayed near me.
The Four Idiots mercenaries guarded me as well.
Rustle rustle.
The bushes thrashed wildly, and black shapes burst onto the path ahead, blocking us.
They looked like wolves or large dogs at a glance, but way too grotesque for living animals.
Parts of their bodies were rotting away.
No ordinary beasts—these were corpses revived by necromancy.
That was their true nature.
“What the hell are those?”
A mercenary muttered in confusion.
Makes sense he wouldn’t know.
They weren’t the sort you saw every day.
“Bargest. Undead made from dog corpses by a necromancer.”
I cleared it up for him.
Hell, even I’d never seen one in person before.
Bargest were rare enough that most monster buffs wouldn’t know them.
“Grrr...”
Ten Bargest.
They bared razor fangs, milky eyes glaring—barely able to see, if at all.
Crouched to lunge any second, pure menace.
Regular folk would’ve bolted in terror.
But our frontliners were knights.
No backing down from mere dogs.
Thud thud!
Bear and Conall charged.
The beasts met them head-on, bold as brass.
And the predictable outcome followed.
Slash!
The knights swung.
Two Bargest torsos cleaved clean.
Follow-up strikes sent heads flying.
Two skulls spinning in midair.
All in a blink.
Bear and Conall keep getting stronger.
I watched with satisfaction.
Wooden staff? Still tucked in my saddlebag.
No need for me to step in.
And I was right.
Shwick!
They carved through the enemy effortlessly.
Less than thirty seconds in, eight of ten down.
Heads, torsos, legs—scattered chunks everywhere.
“Yelp!”
The last two seemed to realize their mistake and wheeled to flee.
Orders from their mage master, probably.
They bolted faster than any human could run, but I wasn’t worried.
They weren’t facing ordinary men.
Boom!
Bear kicked off hard, surging forward.
Sword slammed down.
Fleeing Bargest bisected.
Upper and lower halves flopped apart.
Not satisfied, Bear swung again—head gone.
One left, naturally...
Conall’s turn.
He caught it just as easy.
Two strikes, fully neutralized.
Threat over.
“No other enemies around.”
I scanned and confirmed.
Bear and Conall didn’t argue.
Nothing on their senses either.
“Whoa! I’ve seen plenty of knights in my time, but sirs like Bear and Conall? First for me! Most couldn’t dream of matching those moves!”
Their squires handed over weapons to wipe off the rotten blood.
Cedric jumped in with flattery.
Tension eased right up.
I waited till everyone loosened, then asked at the right moment.
“Cedric. Feels like trouble in Stonehill. You think?”
Village this close, with monsters like that?
Undead, no less?
Definite problem.
“I agree.”
Cedric glanced at the Bargest corpses as he replied.
Their severed parts twitched in eerie, mismatched spasms.
Then, all at once, they stilled.
The mystery mage must’ve cut the link.
“Shall we head into the village?”
I suggested to the group.
Time to hear the full story there.
Stonehill was a small village.
The rickety wooden fence proved it.
Hell, was this even a fence?
More like a barrier of sticks.
Barely waist-high, stakes sparse with gaps everywhere.
Better than nothing, I suppose.
Up ahead, the guards at the gate eyed us warily, faces tight with nerves.
“Wh-who are you?”
The guard stammered.
Normally, Cedric would’ve bellowed my intro for the whole neighborhood.
Something like: the mage granted lands by Earl Chester of the East, hero of the East, blah blah.
Not this time.
I’d told him beforehand—no mentioning I was a mage.
“Just travelers passing through. No trouble from us. Let us in.”
Cedric kept it low-key.
The guard scanned me, the burly trio, soldiers, mercenaries.
Not your average group.
Moment later, he asked Cedric politely.
“Mind waiting a moment?”
Cedric looked to me for approval.
I nodded.
Only then did he reply.
“Sure.”
The guard called over his partner, sending him for the village chief.
Just what I wanted.
The boss here would know why Bargest prowled outside.
As we waited, a soldier soon rushed back with a middle-aged man in tow.
Had to be Stonehill’s chief.
“Welcome, everyone!”
The chief greeted us, panting hard but cheerful.
Then, urgently:
“Did you break through the hellhounds?”
Hellhounds.
Had to mean the Bargest.
Didn’t know what they were, so they named ’em themselves.
“You mean the rotten mutts outside?”
My tone came out casual, condescending.
Unavoidable.
Acting polite here would be weird.
I had three knights in tow.
Them sworn to me, yet me bowing to a village chief? Morale killer.
Chief himself would find it odd.
“Rotten mutts?”
He shot back, all deference.
Figured me for some noble’s young master.
I didn’t correct him.
“The ones rotting in spots.”
“Ah! Yes!”
“Not hellhounds. Bargest—undead monsters.”
“I see...”
His face went ashen.
“Undead” did the trick.
“My knights took down ten of them.”
“Young lord, that’s not all of them. Dozens, more like. They’ve cut the village off from the outside. Missing people too.”
Not surprised—I’d sensed dozens of presences around via mana detection.
All Bargest.
“When did they start showing up?”
“About two months ago. One or two at first, then more and more. Until it got this bad.”
“Two months? That’s a while. How’d you hold out?”
Village didn’t look too wrecked for two months of attacks.
Curious, I asked.
Chief answered right away.
“A mage showed up a month back. Skilled one—drove off the Bargest with magic. Village has been peaceful since.”
“Oh? He the only mage in the village?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Too bad—eleven mages here by my count.
Ten necromancers among them.
Why the discrepancy?
Only one way to find out: meet this shady mage from a month ago.
In person.
Now.
“I want to see that mage. Right away.”
I fixed the chief with a steady gaze as I said it.