Uprooting the Weeds
The Empress’s private office lay deep within the Eterno Imperial Palace, the very heart of the empire. Even in broad daylight the chamber was steeped in a bone-chilling cold. Heavy curtains embroidered with golden thread remained tightly drawn, and the only light came from flickering candles that cast grotesque shadows across the Empress’s pale face.
“Bandits…?” the Empress murmured, her voice low and dangerous. “Am I supposed to doubt my own ears now?”
Kneeling before her was the director of the empire’s premier intelligence agency, the Black Crows. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. The report clutched in the Empress’s hand had been crumpled beyond recognition.
“Explain yourself. Give me the evidence behind this pathetic document claiming that the Third Princess Veronica is still alive, living in the bedchamber of some nameless bandit.”
“Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness, but that place is no ordinary bandit camp. Our intelligence indicates the leader of the group known as the Black Mane possesses incomprehensible strength. Recent reports confirm he has also taken in both the missing Tower Master Lize and the Saintess Ivona.”
The Empress’s eyebrows trembled violently. She hurled the teacup in her hand to the floor. The porcelain shattered with a sharp ring, and a jagged fragment grazed the director’s cheek. He did not dare lift his head.
“The Saintess and the Tower Master as well? So that lowly wench Veronica has learned how to wag her tail quite skillfully. Does she truly believe she can hide from my eyes and build her own kingdom in those cursed northern mountains?”
“According to our local informants, the man is suspected of using the empire’s forbidden dark magic and ancient secret arts. There are reports that he ripped out a Troll King’s spine with a single strike and subdued an entire horde of magical beasts with a roar that shook a mountain…”
“I refuse to believe such vulgar marketplace ghost stories!” The Empress rose and lifted the director’s chin with the tip of her shoe. Her eyes swirled with murderous intent bordering on madness. “Dispatch the Black Crows’ elite unit immediately. Bring me that man’s head and Veronica’s corpse to lay at my feet. If you fail, your family’s heads will decorate the palace gates first.”
“Y-Your command will be carried out…!”
The director fled the office as if escaping a predator. Once alone, the Empress reached out and crushed the burning candle between her fingers, snuffing it out.
“Weeds that sprout in my garden must be torn out by the roots if I am to feel satisfied. Veronica, you will not be granted an easy death.”
In the darkness, the Empress’s bitter laughter stretched on and on.
On a thick branch of a massive oak tree at the edge of the mountain stronghold’s dense forest, men in black uniforms held their breath. They were members of the imperial elite intelligence unit, the Black Crows. Their gazes were locked on Rodin and Veronica, who were strolling peacefully through the cabbage field.
“Captain, look at that man’s movements… They’re anything but ordinary,” one of the subordinate agents whispered through a transmission spell. To his eyes, even the trivial act of Rodin lifting a cabbage leaf appeared to be a fragment of some terrifying martial technique.
Rodin had spotted a small caterpillar on one of the leaves. He flicked it away with a precise snap of his finger.
Whoosh!
The caterpillar tore through the air and smashed into a distant boulder, disintegrating on impact.
“D-did you see that? The finger strike that just ripped through the air! One flick and he sent a shockwave through the atmosphere. That is not within the realm of humans.”
The man called Captain muttered, cold sweat dripping down his face. In his vision, Rodin was no farmer tending cabbages; he was the incarnation of a Demon King, suppressing the earth’s energy while preparing a lethal strike.
“There’s no presence at all. Does he already know we’re here and is deliberately showing off? Look at his stride. Every single step is twisting the ley lines.”
In reality, Rodin was simply walking heavily because his boots were uncomfortable.
“Haah… Those damn dung-flies keep buzzing around. It’s so annoying. Why are the bugs swarming like this?”
Rodin glanced toward the forest and grumbled. The agents in the tree felt their hearts nearly stop from sheer terror.
“We’ve been discovered! He called us ‘dung-flies’! He has completely identified our presence and is mocking us!”
The Captain’s face turned deathly pale. “We retreat for now. That man is not someone we can handle. This is a catastrophe. We must request support from at least three knight divisions of the main force.”
Just as they were about to move, Rodin picked up a pebble from the ground and casually tossed it toward the forest.
“Get lost already. You’re really bothering me.”
BOOOOM!
The carelessly thrown stone broke the sound barrier and obliterated the thick branch where the agents were hiding. The massive tree screamed as it toppled, the sound echoing throughout the forest. The agents scattered in panic, screaming as they fled.
“See? Throwing a rock makes it quiet again.”
Rodin looked satisfied as he returned to inspecting his cabbages.
A bizarre scene was unfolding at the training grounds in the center of the stronghold.
“Come forth, O Lord! Grant these pitiful and ignorant bandits the strength to smash our enemies’ heads even more splendidly! We shall turn all the wounded into meat dishes, so bestow your power upon us!”
Saintess Ivona swung a massive crucifix as she encouraged the bandits. The golden blessing pouring from her hands caused their muscles to swell until they looked ready to burst.
“Saintess! You said you would heal us, so why do you keep measuring the angle of my cervical vertebrae?! I’m scared to death!”
“Shut up and swing! The Lord’s mercy flows from strong forearms!”
Beside her, Tower Master Lize was drawing complex geometric magic circles on the ground while driving the bandits harder.
“So noisy. You are no longer ordinary bandits. You are ‘mana batteries’ for my magnificent magical experiments. When the imperial dogs arrive, we will vaporize them in one go, so maintain formation.”
“Tower Master, we just wanted to collect tolls on the mountain paths… Why do we have to learn how to dodge meteors? That’s not something humans should be learning!”
At the bandits’ complaints, Lize’s eyes gleamed coldly. “This is to protect my cabbage field… no, Rodin’s cabbage field. If you complain again, shall I bury you in permafrost forever?”
“Hiiik! Understood!”
The bandits continued their superhuman training, tears streaming down their faces as they dodged the fragments of seventh-circle area-of-effect spells. They had now acquired reflexes and durability that surpassed most imperial regular army knights.
The imperial agents watching from afar wrote a single sentence in their report.
This is not a mountain stronghold. It is the Demon King’s Castle, currently building its forces to annihilate humanity.
At the outskirts of the stronghold, one of the empire’s top agents—the Captain of the Black Crows—was desperately racing down the mountain.
This is impossible… So many monsters gathered in one place! This is a matter that threatens the empire’s very existence. I must report this to Her Majesty at once…!
But the moment he turned onto a forest path, a man carrying a pickaxe over one shoulder stood blocking the way as if by magic. It was Rodin. He had simply come to gather some wild greens for dinner, yet in the Captain’s eyes he looked like a grim reaper risen from hell to bar his path.
“Kugh…! When did you get in front of me?! You ghost of the Mercenary King!”
The Captain drew his sword in terror. His hand was shaking minutely.
“Who are you calling a ghost? And you’re the bastard who’s been loitering around my field since earlier, aren’t you?”
Rodin twitched an eyebrow and dug at his ear.
“You dare interfere with Her Majesty the Empress’s secret orders?! Traitor who seeks to shake the very foundations of this nation! Die!”
The Captain activated a forbidden lethal technique, Black Shadow Slash, burning his own life force as he charged at Rodin. His body split into dozens of shadows, all aiming for Rodin’s vital points.
“Haah… You really don’t listen. How bothersome.”
Rodin sighed and lightly swung the pickaxe resting on his shoulder. The motion was as casual as swatting away a fly.
Clang!
The result was devastating. The pickaxe blade crumpled the Captain’s sword like a sheet of paper, and the following shockwave slammed into the man’s chest.
“Guh?!”
The Captain couldn’t even scream as he was sent flying ten meters backward, smashing into a massive boulder. The rock cracked and shattered.
“Hey, you still alive? I held back.”
Rodin approached, but the Captain had already fainted. Rodin noticed an ornate scroll poking out from the man’s chest.
“What’s this? The paper quality is nice. I can use it as kindling.”
Rodin casually pocketed the letter and headed back toward the stronghold, thinking it was fortunate he hadn’t stepped on any cabbages.
The letter Rodin had picked up now rested on the living-room table of the stronghold. When Lize lightly tapped it with the tip of her staff, the imperial magic seal flared up and dissolved.
Veronica scanned the contents with curious eyes. Then her face drained of all color until it was as white as paper.
“Th-this is…”
Her voice shook violently. The scroll bore the Empress’s personal seal and contained orders of a cruelty that defied human imagination.
Eradicate all living creatures within a five-mile radius of the mountain stronghold. Behead Veronica and display her head upon the capital’s main gate. To this end, the entire Imperial Mage Division and two full army corps shall be deployed.
“What does it say? Are they offering money or something?” Rodin asked indifferently.
Veronica’s eyes glistened with tears as she handed him the scroll. “This isn’t a simple arrest warrant. It orders the extermination of every living thing within five miles of the stronghold, my beheading, and my head to be hung at the capital’s main gate… They plan to mobilize the entire Imperial Mage Division and two regular army corps.”
“O Lord! How can one wear human skin and commit such atrocities! This requires a holy war! We must turn that satanic horde into meat side dishes!”
Ivona gripped her crucifix tightly, seething with righteous fury. Lize gave a chilling smile and adjusted her grip on her staff.
“The Empress must have finally gone mad. The entire Imperial Mage Division… The scale is no joke. The stronghold might disappear from the map entirely.”
Veronica clutched desperately at the hem of Rodin’s clothes with trembling hands.
“Lord Rodin… please run away. I beg you. This is not something you can handle. The entire imperial army will come! I cannot let you die because of me!”
Despite her desperate plea, Rodin remained silent. He skimmed the letter, then tossed it into the fireplace without a second thought.
Whoosh.
The flames consuming the paper reflected red in Rodin’s eyes.
“Hey, Veronica.”
“Yes…?”
Rodin slung the pickaxe he had left in the corner back over his shoulder and spoke in a low voice.
“Imperial army or whatever, they’ll be coming on horses, right? Tens of thousands of them, all wearing those iron boots, marching in droves?”
Veronica nodded blankly. A cold, dangerous light flashed in Rodin’s eyes.
“Then my cabbage field will be completely ruined, won’t it? There’s only a week left until harvest.”
His voice was quiet, yet the killing intent within it was so powerful it seemed to freeze the air in the living room instantly.
“I absolutely cannot allow that to happen. Lize, Ivona. Get ready to till the fields.”
As Rodin stepped toward the door, he added,
“Looks like quite a lot of weeds will be coming this time. We’ll pull them all up and turn them into fertilizer.”
With Rodin’s chilling declaration, the atmosphere surrounding the entire stronghold shifted. The legendary Mercenary King and the imperial army—the curtain was rising on their inevitable head-on collision.