The Legendary Mercenary King Plants Cabbages
The noon sun blazed directly overhead. Unfazed by the scorching heat baking the earth, Rodin remained bent at the waist, tenderly stroking each cabbage leaf as if it were something precious. The hands that had once drenched the continent's battlefields in blood were now the hands of a farmer, plucking insects and sifting soil.
“This year's cabbages are packed full. Very commendable.”
A faint smile crept across Rodin's lips. To him, these were no mere vegetables. They were his salvation from crippling insomnia and battlefield nightmares—his children, more precious than anything else in the world. Every time he saw translucent dew forming on those green leaves, Rodin truly felt alive.
But an uninvited guest shattered the peaceful moment. Right in the middle of the cabbage field sat a boulder the size of a house, something that hadn't been there the day before. It must have rolled down in a nighttime landslide, and of all places, it was now blocking sunlight from the best-growing Gold Cabbage section.
Rodin's brow furrowed into a deep scowl.
“Huh? What the hell is this? Why is something like this stuck right in the middle of my field?”
Annoyance surged over him like a wave. To most people, it would be an enormous rock that five or six grown men couldn't budge. To Rodin, it was nothing but a bothersome pebble getting in the way of his farming.
He sighed and walked up to the boulder.
“Such a pain in the ass. A rock messing up my soil work… Begone!”
Rodin lightly extended his index finger toward the rock. It was a careless flick, like shooing away an annoying fly. Yet the instant his fingertip made contact, a power that defied all logic exploded outward.
Collapse of Matter
BOOM—!
The air shook with a deafening roar that threatened to rupture eardrums. The boulder didn't crack or get knocked aside. In a single instant it disintegrated into fine white powder and scattered into the sky, as though it had been struck by a massive magical bombardment. Not a trace of its original form remained.
“That's better. Whew~~ Dust.”
Rodin irritably waved away the white powder drifting before his eyes. The fact that he had just performed the Collapse of Matter—a feat Sword Masters across the continent would spend lifetimes chasing—with a mere fingertip didn't register with him at all. He was only worried the dust might settle on the cabbage leaves and interfere with their photosynthesis.
“Time to water them, I suppose.”
“Why does the world have to be so damn noisy? Digging in the dirt is the only way to live.”
Rodin muttered as he poured water over the cabbages. His eyes gleamed with a cold light.
“If even one bug dares to show up, I'll smash it to pieces.”
The peace-loving former Mercenary King's threat settled over the silent mountain backyard like heavy pressure.
At the same time, a completely different sort of world-shaking commotion was unfolding on the forest path below the stronghold.
“Hey, Gil! Look at that! Something’s glittering like crazy in those bushes!”
Dagan, action leader of the Black Mane Bandits, shouted as he shoved branches aside. The spot he pointed to shimmered with an alien gleam that clashed violently with the deep green foliage.
Gil, who had been patrolling the woods, narrowed his eyes before his jaw dropped.
“Boss, are your eyes just for show? That’s clearly a gold nugget! It’s way beyond normal glittering!”
The two bandits pushed through the undergrowth. Before them stood a carriage of such extreme luxury it almost hurt to look at. Pure white wood covered in meticulously applied gold leaf, with the imperial family crest boldly engraved beside the door. Any normal person would have fled in terror at the sight, but to these two idiots the imperial emblem was nothing more than “an expensive-looking picture.”
“Why did the knights run off? Earlier I saw some armored bastards scrambling away through the bushes like their lives depended on it.”
Dagan rested his chin in his hand, pretending to ponder deeply.
Gil snorted as if it were obvious.
“Of course they did! They were scared shitless of our stronghold, that’s why! The rumor that our boss is a monster who chews up boulders like candy must have spread across the whole continent!”
“Ooh, as expected of the boss! Just hearing his name makes imperial knights piss themselves!”
The two bandits stroked the carriage in awe. The bloodbath or imperial pursuit this carriage might bring never crossed their limited minds. All they could think about was money.
“If we take this, the boss might finally give us some meat dishes. We eat nothing but cabbage every day—my mouth tastes like grass.”
“Pull harder! A scratch drops the value! Heave! Ho! We hit the jackpot today, seriously!”
With cheerful heave-ho cries shattering the forest’s silence, the imperial carriage—pride of the empire—began to be dragged toward the bandits’ lair.
A peaceful afternoon mood filled the stronghold yard. Rodin tilted a wooden kettle, sprinkling water over the freshly sprouted radish shoots. Sunlit droplets sparkled like jewels as they soaked into the soil.
Suddenly a heavy vibration shook the ground, followed by the clank of chains and rough breathing. Rodin’s brow slowly tightened.
“Boss! We brought back something amazing! Look at this first!”
Dagan and Gil burst through the entrance in a cloud of dust. Behind them trailed an imperial carriage so extravagantly shiny it hurt the eyes.
The problem was their excitement had made them completely oblivious to the carriage’s path.
Crunch. Crack—!
Rodin’s world slowed to a crawl. The carriage’s massive steel wheels mercilessly crushed the carefully placed border stones of his radish patch. Worse, three young radish shoots that had just been about to unfurl their first true leaves were pulverized beneath the wheels, mixed into the mud.
“......!”
Rodin’s eyes turned ice-cold in an instant. The temperature around him plummeted as a chilling killing intent rose like heat haze behind his back.
“What the hell is this? Why did you drag this junk into my yard?”
“Junk?! Boss, this has the imperial crest! If we sell it we’ll never have to work again!”
Gil babbled excitedly, but Rodin’s voice was low and heavy. An overwhelming pressure like something dragged up from the abyss crushed the entire yard.
“Move. Can’t you hear? You stepped on my radish field.”
“But boss… this is worth way more than radishes—”
“One… Two.”
Rodin took a single step. The ground beneath his foot cracked outward like a spiderweb. Dagan and Gil froze, seized by instinctive terror. The man who had been gently tending radishes moments ago had vanished. In his place stood the destroyer who had once ravaged entire battlefields.
“Before I finish counting to three, if you don’t clean this up I’ll plant your skulls in the ground like radishes.”
“Hiiik! S-sorry! We’ll remove it right now!”
The two bandits shrieked and frantically grabbed the carriage. Rodin’s hands trembled as he examined the crushed radish shoots.
“It’s not about cleaning it up. Can’t you see these poor young sprouts are smashed? Are you even human? You’re demons.”
Rodin’s fury burned not for the imperial treasure, but for the trampled green lives.
Just as Rodin lifted his foot to kick the carriage far away, the well-oiled door opened with a soft clunk.
A blonde woman staggered out. Even covered in dust and tear streaks, her noble beauty was unmistakable. It was the Third Princess, Veronica.
She looked around with trembling shoulders.
“Huh…? There’s a woman inside? And she’s insanely pretty!”
Gil’s jaw dropped. Rodin’s reaction, however, was ice-cold.
“What a hassle. Hey, close the door again. Let’s pretend we never saw it.”
“A-are you… assassins sent by the empress?”
Veronica’s gaze locked directly onto Rodin. The killing intent he had released in rage over the ruined radish shoots must have felt to her like the aura of a legendary assassin sent to tear her apart.
“Assassins? I’m just a farmer. What’s with your clothes? They’re filthy. You’re dropping dirt on my yard, so get down and shake it off.”
“You’re not… here to kill me? In this bandit hideout?”
“It’s not a bandit hideout, it’s an agricultural cooperative. Watch your words.”
Veronica stared at the man before her in disbelief. He wore ragged work clothes with dirt on his hands, yet the overwhelming pressure radiating from him surpassed any knight commander in the empire.
“But this killing intent… You’re no ordinary person. Just who are you?”
“I told you, I’m a cabbage grower. You don’t listen, do you?”
Rodin waved his hand irritably and turned his attention back to the radish patch. Princess or not, what mattered right now were the radish shoots that needed emergency care.
The western sky began to bleed crimson.
Veronica had nowhere left to go. Returning to the palace meant death. She knelt on the muddy ground with resolve.
“I have nowhere else. Please use me as a slave here.”
“No. You look like you’d eat a fortune in food. Why would I? Our stronghold’s budget is already tight.”
At Rodin’s blunt refusal, Veronica grew desperate.
“I… know the imperial family’s secrets! Keeping me will benefit you!”
“Not interested in imperial secrets. Unless it’s about cabbage farming techniques.”
Dagan, who had been watching nervously, cautiously spoke up.
“Boss, she’s a princess. Couldn’t we at least get a ransom? Then we could eat meat properly.”
“Want me to plant you in the radish field too? Shut it.”
Dagan clapped a hand over his own mouth and retreated. Veronica was stunned. Never in her life had a man treated her—the woman praised as the continent’s greatest beauty—with such utter indifference, like nothing more than an annoying piece of luggage.
“You truly… care nothing for money or power? With such terrifying strength?”
“Not interested. Let’s get some sleep. I stayed up all night catching cabbage worms yesterday. Stop bothering me and just leave already, yeah?”
Rodin yawned widely and turned away.
The night that should have been quiet was shattered by ominous hoofbeats.
Thud thud thud—!
Imperial knights in pitch-black armor burst from the darkness. They smashed through the front yard fence and charged into the stronghold without mercy.
The problem was exactly where they stopped.
Crunch. Squish—!
Beneath the horses’ hooves, Rodin’s most cherished Gold Cabbages were crushed with pitiful screams.
“Found you, you rat of a princess! Hiding in a place like this! Wipe them all out!”
The assassination squad knight drew his sword and roared.
Then a low voice cut through the darkness.
“Hey. Do you idiots even know where you’re standing?”
Rodin slowly raised his head. The overwhelming pressure pouring from his entire body violently swept the surrounding dust away.
“What? Who cares about some worthless weeds! Move or die!”
“Those… are the cabbages I spent three months carefully raising. They’re like my own children.”
Rodin’s eyes flashed coldly in the gloom.
“Crazy bandit scum. Kill him!”
“Aah, damn it. There goes my sleep. Dagan, bring my pickaxe.”
As Rodin took one step forward, the ground cracked like a spiderweb.
“Anyone who stepped on my cabbages… won’t walk out of here on their own two feet today. I’ll turn every last one of you into fertilizer.”
The legendary Mercenary King’s rage-filled warning settled heavily over the outskirts of the stronghold.