Chapter 99
Chapter 99
Ch. 99 .｡.:✧ Chapter 99 ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“I’ll talk to Annelise myself.”
“Tell her we’ll let her join our party for a while. If necessary, you can use mana breathing techniques or aura cultivation methods as bait.”
“Are you planning to hand over your secret techniques, Master?”
“Of course not.”
I intended to either give her something I possessed or take Cereo’s techniques and pass them on.
However, it seemed that wouldn’t be necessary.
When we returned to the base camp…
“Let go! Untie this!”
“…You’ve returned.”
We found Cereo’s group tied up and Baldur standing with injuries all over his body.
“What happened here? Are you alright?”
While speaking, I glanced at Kayla.
There was a possibility she had given some instructions in advance, fearing I might make the first move.
However, Kayla also seemed surprised.
Fortunately, it appeared she hadn’t crossed any lines.
‘Excessive loyalty can be poisonous.’
More precisely, when excessive loyalty becomes distorted and runs wild on its own, it becomes a problem.
This time, even if Kayla had acted on her own, it was a situation I could handle.
But later, it would be a different story.
If she had acted on her own this time, I wouldn’t have let it slide.
“They attempted to escape. I’m fine. Just minor injuries.”
‘Escape attempt?’
I looked at Cereo’s party with sharp eyes.
I saw Cereo’s group bowing their heads.
Even Flana, the spear wielder who had been struggling earlier demanding to be untied, fell silent when I appeared.
“Is this true?”
Cereo answered as if devastated.
“Why? Were you trying to sell the location of the ruins?”
Cereo didn’t answer.
Instead, it was Annelise who spoke up.
“He didn’t intend to do that. He was just afraid that you might harm us…”
“…The value of the ruins is great, after all. We were scared.”
Tildi picked up where Annelise left off, he too had an apologetic expression.
“To be precise, Flana brought it up first. Rabid and Arahard agreed, and Cereo seemed to reluctantly go along with it.”
Surprisingly, Baldur seemed to know quite a bit.
When I asked how he knew so much, he said he had overheard them even though they tried to speak in whispers.
‘Well, even though it’s spacious, it’s still a cave…’
The space was limited.
Moreover, Baldur was an expert.
His senses were bound to be different from ordinary people.
If they had been more careful, they might not have been caught, but it seemed luck wasn’t on their side.
“I ambushed them in return when I confirmed that the leader, Cereo, had agreed. It was when they were trying to convince in Annelise and Tildi.”
He said those two seemed to want to stay behind.
Perhaps reflecting this, the two hadn’t sustained major injuries.
Still, they were Cereo’s companions, so they were tied up together.
“Hmm… Attempting to escape in this situation…”
I stroked my chin while looking at Cereo.
“You say you did it to survive, but it’s an action that can be interpreted in many ways.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Trust was extremely important when parties worked together.
Moreover, this wasn’t just a case of working together, but a situation where I had hired Cereo’s party.
In such a situation, to betray the client and attempt to escape?
It was tantamount to saying they never intended to work as mercenaries again.
Even if I was a warlock, they had crossed a line.
It was an act that would make them outcasts among fellow mercenaries and clients alike.
‘Even if their motives might be understandable…’
However, just a few words suggesting they were trying to sell the location of the ruins would easily shatter even that excuse.
Honestly speaking, Cereo’s actions weren’t at a level that could be excused with a few words.
‘What on earth were they thinking…’
Were they planning to try some kind of public relations campaign after returning to the Mercenary Guild?
‘…If survival was truly their only goal, they might have been able to survive by selling the ruins and conducting a public relations campaign.’
However, in the end, they had failed.
“Originally, I was going to discuss whether we should take time to conquer this on our own due to the high difficulty, or if we should act together with you all in exchange for sharing the results.”
That was a lie.
I had intended to use them somehow, even forcibly.
To make some of them accomplices and to deal with them legally, but they didn’t know that.
Their faces lifted at my words.
High difficulty, sharing of results.
Those words seemed to have stirred the greed deep in their hearts.
Of course, they were probably aware that if it was dangerous even for our party’s level, they might not be of much help.
There was a chance their companions could die.
However, even so, opportunities like this didn’t come easily.
If they survived and received a share of the results…
‘They probably think they could aim for greater heights.’
And that was true.
It was certainly worth trying.
Although they were a party unit, at the same time they were a cooperative of individuals rather than a group, which allowed for such thinking.
No, to begin with, mercenaries were selfish.
This was true even for those belonging to mercenary groups.
However, mercenary groups had binding rules, while parties were looser in this regard, which allowed for a bit more selfishness to be expressed.
The only one who seemed somewhat better was Tildi.
Surprisingly, Cereo appeared to have the strongest desire.
It seemed that being ambushed and having his entire party defeated by Baldur, despite learning a mana breathing technique, had wounded his pride.
‘In a way, it’s natural.’
After all, it meant that even though he had learned a mana breathing technique, he was no match for Baldur.
Baldur looked quite tired and fatigued, but he had no fatal wounds.
That was how one-sided it had been.
“However, there’s no need for that now.”
With their attempt to escape, they had broken our trust.
“I won’t be asking for your cooperation. You’ll stand at the very front. If you survive, I’ll distribute some of the results to you and keep quiet about your betrayal.”
They had no choice.
“Of course, the distribution rate will be lower than I initially thought. Depending on what we obtain, there might not be any distribution at all. However, if you at least survive, I’ll keep quiet about your act of betrayal.”
This was the price for revealing their own weakness.
If they had succeeded, it might have been different, but they had failed.
Now it was time to pay the price.
‘Well, even if they had succeeded in escaping, they wouldn’t have made it out of the forest anyway.’
They seemed to have forgotten that Athena had tracked the Minotaurs’ traces.
Or perhaps they were confident they could escape even in that situation.
Even if they all scattered and fled separately, I was confident I could catch them all with my undead and the Specter.
“Make your choice. Either stand at the front, or die here.”
I threatened that if they refused, I would kill them all, as we couldn’t have a threat at our backs while conquering a dangerous ruin.
Cereo, receiving the gazes of his party members, spoke with difficulty.
“We’ll cooperate.”
Even if I had declared I would use them as meat shields, once they had shown their weakness first, they had no other choice.
I coldly examined Cereo and his party members, then looked at Annelise and Tildi and said,
“Baldur, you said these two were trying to stay behind?”
“Untie the others. I’ll talk to these two separately.”
“Keep an eye on the rest,” I said.
Baldur bowed his head in response.
As promised, Athena took Annelise away.
Kayla also followed Athena, seemingly intending to talk with that side, and I called Tildi separately.
“No, there’s no need to apologize. Tildi, you weren’t trying to betray us.”
“If you survive this time, I’ll probably distribute the results to you properly.”
“…Is it very dangerous?”
“We have to face two guardians, and it’s not easy. They were Living Armor moved by divine power.”
“…Living Armor moved by divine power?”
An expression of disbelief appeared on Tildi’s face.
“Yes. You’ll see for yourself soon. They even have ranged attacks. There’s almost no warning, so it’s very difficult to dodge.”
“You’re a priest of the Goddess Religion, correct?”
“If so, it would be difficult for you to hide this temple, wouldn’t it?”
He didn’t deny it.
“But we want to keep this temple a secret.”
We wanted to hide the fact that we had conquered the ruins and obtained results.
“…I understand, but…”
“In exchange, after we finish conquering it, we’ll destroy the temple for you. We’ll erase all traces of the temple, and if we find any holy relics or artifacts, we’ll completely taint them with demonic energy.”
“It’s difficult to sell things obtained from ruins anyway… Usually, gold coins, jewels, and artifacts are found in ruins, aren’t they?”
Rarely, stone tablets with historical records were also discovered.
‘Ruins also have high historical value.’
In other words, what I said meant that we would completely ignore the historical value, totally destroy the ruins to erase all traces, and on top of that, if any holy relics or artifacts were found, we would taint them with demonic energy to completely erase traces of other religions.
‘Even if tainted with demonic energy, the artifacts won’t be completely ruined.’
It would take time, but by leaving the core intact and making careful adjustments, we could turn them into artifacts that operated on demonic energy.
‘If it’s something like holy relics, it’s even easier.’
Divine grace or blessings could be corrupted to create artifacts suited to our tastes.
It was entirely possible if one knew the method.
Of course, I knew the method.
Therefore, there was no particular loss for me.
“…You’re just going to take the substance… That’s what you mean.”
“That’s right. If we do that, there’s nothing for you to worry about, is there?”
“…Is that the reward you’re offering me?”
“The distribution of results is separate. It will probably be paid in gold coins.”
“I don’t care about the distribution. …It seems you know quite a bit about the Goddess Religion, Inha.”
“Well, the Goddess Religion hates warlocks, so I had to study to survive.”
They had hated and despised warlocks for generations.
Tildi nodded with a bitter smile at my words.
“There are a few who aren’t like that… but they are indeed few in number.”
Tildi was one of those few.
Even someone like him was so strict about other religions…
“As for showing goodwill, you just need to prove that it wasn’t us who caused any losses to your party if there are significant casualties.”
It was like indirectly saying that I would spare his life.
“…You seem quite angry.”
It also implied that the others would have a hard time surviving.
“They committed a serious offense. I don’t intend to kill them directly, but considering the power of the guardians, I’m not sure how many will survive.”
While I said I wouldn’t kill them directly, it was essentially throwing them to their deaths.
Despite my blunt words, Tildi couldn’t respond.
Honestly, from a mercenary’s perspective, not killing them on the spot could be considered an act of mercy.
The mercenary world was strict when it came to traitors.
Of course, unofficial betrayals might be quite common, but it was a different story when it came to the surface.
“If you’re worried about your party falling apart, we’ll help you find a new party while you act with us for a while.”
Given that I was a warlock, it would be difficult to continue working together for long.
It wasn’t a problem for me, but it would be a problem for him.
With a good reason, it might be possible for a short while.
Tildi looked a bit surprised, as if he hadn’t expected me to show this much goodwill.
“In exchange, please swear in the name of the goddess to keep the ruins a secret.”
“…If you completely destroy this place, I have no reason to refuse.”
After hesitating for a moment, Tildi nodded his head.
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[FINALLY GODDAMN, tildi seems like a stand up dude but the rest gotta go]
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