Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Atra Follower 2
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“Derek, are you sure you have the authority?”
“What are you talking about? Are you saying I’m overstepping right now?”
“No, at least it feels like you should hand it directly to the regional manager. Plus, on the way here, I saw some suspicious guys.”
“Suspicious guys?”
“One of Count Kazel’s bastards—the one who leads a mercenary band and plundered the gateway village? His mercenaries have Kurt cultists in them.”
“You’re saying they came here to take refuge because they’re scared of those guys?”
“Not exactly, but they’ll attack eventually.”
“Sigh, so what? Even though I got wrecked by your little sister and my body’s a mess, I’m a former herald. And these colleagues of yours here can handle petty mercenaries no problem.”
“That’s true, but... There are rumors that the Korasar peddler guild folks fight really well. Isn’t that bad?”
Azadin shrugged.
“That’s not what I’m saying. We can protect the New King Array codex copy just fine, so hand it over now! Unless you want to waste that lucky page you got.”
“No, I’m not really in the mood to hand it over. Let’s consult with the regional manager later.”
“You little... You trying to piss me off? You can’t protect that New King Array codex with your skills! You haven’t done a single herald-worthy job in the past three months—just goofed off!”
Derek bristled at Azadin.
“What? I did stuff. I rescued people here and there.”
“You idiot! Who’s talking about that? You’re supposed to smash rival guilds and assassinate anyone who gets in our way! Burn down other people’s warehouses to manipulate the market prices for our goods!”
“......”
It seemed there was a big difference between what Azadin considered herald work and what Derek thought it was.
“With this level of disagreement, I don’t even know where to start. Fine. Either way, I’m not giving you the New King Array codex copy.”
“You insolent punk. Aren’t you two years my junior? How dare you talk back to your senior?”
Derek had already been forced to retire after losing to Araelle. There was no way he’d look kindly on Azadin, her blood relative.
And now he was pulling stunts like this...
But just as Derek and Azadin started raising their voices and things got heated, a commotion suddenly erupted outside.
*********
The relay village was governed by Sir Jeran, a knight in the service of Count Salasmar.
Originally from a nearby baronial family, he was now 25. In his prime, but his father showed no signs of dying, and the child from his father’s second wife had passed 15. He was growing increasingly anxious.
He was still the official heir, but he worried his father might fall for pillow talk from the second wife, send him off to join the King’s Church, and hand the territory to his half-brother.
To ease that worry, he had no choice but to hoard wealth—hoard and hoard some more.
That was why he guarded the relay village’s gate, taking bribes from passing merchants and travelers. In exchange for the bribes, he’d quietly waive or discount tolls and simplify the entry process.
But at dusk, a young knight leading a band of mercenaries arrived.
It was Tarqi, Count Kazel’s bastard son, and his mercenary band.
“What’s this? Armed troops? Too many. It’s getting dark, so rest at the inns outside or camp in the open and come back tomorrow.”
Sir Jeran played hardball. It wasn’t wrong; that was standard procedure.
But most travelers would offer a bribe in response. Sure enough, Tarqi slyly slipped one to Sir Jeran.
“Come on, just take this at least.”
“Ahem. Sir Tarqi. This is awkward. You’re a knight yourself.”
And the bastard son of the count who was currently his employer, no less.
“If we screw up, won’t we both end up shipped off to the King’s Church? We’re in the same boat, so please accept it.”
“Hmm, in that case.”
Sir Jeran took the bribe and allowed Tarqi’s group through the gate. But the moment they entered—
Shwick!
Fresh blood suddenly sprayed along the roadside.
“Huh?”
Sir Jeran blinked in confusion as soldiers dropped. The gate guards on either side spewed blood and collapsed.
And right before his eyes stood the mercenary captain, dual swords drawn.
Incredibly, the captain had swung his blades sideways, taking down one soldier per sword in a single stroke.
“Huh?”
Startled, Sir Jeran fumbled for his sword, but the dual-wielding captain charged and smashed the flat of his blade against Sir Jeran’s helmet.
Clang!
The impact on his helmet made stars explode in his vision. Numb pain spread through his body, but Sir Jeran was a proper knight. He gripped the guard of the longsword at his waist with both hands, thrust forward with the pommel still sheathed, and jabbed.
The mercenary captain recoiled, then swung upward for Sir Jeran’s jaw.
“Ugh! You bastards!”
Sir Jeran dodged the attack and managed to draw his sword. But by then, the mercenaries who had breached the gate were assaulting the soldiers.
And...
Thwack!
Tarqi swung his longsword, smashing the back of Sir Jeran’s knee at the joint. Aimed at the gap in his armor, it made Sir Jeran’s leg throb.
‘T-the ligament...’
The dual swords flashed again, stabbing through the helmet’s gap. Sir Jeran died on the spot.
“Hey! Not so brutally...”
Tarqi panicked. He’d meant to capture Sir Jeran, not kill him. But while he was neutralizing the knight, the mercenary captain had gone and murdered him.
This was a major village. Openly ambushing the gate and killing the guarding knight? Were they insane?
Such an outrageous act would instantly make them enemies of the state, attacked by all sides. This wasn’t noble land disputes or honorable duels—it was indiscriminate assault.
“Well done, young master. Impressive skill.”
“You idiot, are you crazy? Now we’re...”
Tarqi was doomed to be branded a rebel too.
“Don’t worry. We need this level to have enough loot worth taking, right? We’ll definitely score a massive haul.”
The mercenary captain flashed a sleazy grin.
A caravan campground was visible near the gate entrance, where merchants were camped.
“Merchants, huh. We should hit them first for plunder, but...”
What he wanted was control of the gate. Having lost the magic wand that could locate the New King Array codex, he needed to seize this gate completely first.
“Let’s take out the relay station overseer and grab control. No need to fight the merchants’ guards over plundering them right away. Securing the village comes first.”
“We can’t do it alone! We snuck one gate, but there are three here!”
“No worries. Our forces are more than enough.”
The mercenary captain spread his hand. A small black speck wriggled on his palm.
“What?”
“A s-spider.”
Tiny spiders clustered, squirming. He blew on the spider, sending it toward his men.
“Huh?”
“Eek!?”
“G-get away!”
The mercenaries flinched away in horror, but the spiders danced through the air and latched onto them.
“What?”
“Th-these are threads?”
In that instant, the mercenaries realized the threads were coming from their own bodies.
And not just that.
“Huh?”
“When?”
They noticed tiny spiders, rice-grain-sized, swarming out from their armpits, groins, and such.
Not the ones the captain had just sent—far more, already inside them all along.
“You can’t shake them off. They’ve been eating your blood and flesh, growing inside you for a long time.”
“Uh.”
“Argh!?”
“S-save us!”
The mercenaries freaked, trying to shake off the spiders, but more kept emerging from their body hair.
They hadn’t noticed while the spiders burrowed out from under their skin?
When the captain’s spider touched the swarm, the spiders began emitting a faint green glow. Like a spark had been passed.
The spiders on the mercenaries’ bodies glowed green in unison, then burrowed back inside.
“Ah!?”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Told you—they’ve been eating your blood and flesh for ages. They’re part of you now. And with this...”
The mercenary captain kicked up a corpse on the ground—the body of a gate soldier.
Kicking a prone armored corpse into the air was impossible for a normal human. The gear alone was insanely heavy.
Yet he lofted it effortlessly to head height, like kicking a leather ball.
His dual swords flashed, and the body was diced.
Terrifying superhuman strength.
“Now you can do this too.”
“Uh...”
“Such power.”
The mercenaries gaped, feeling inhuman strength surging through their own bodies.
“Right?”
“Yeah.”
“B-but.”
“Gonna resist? That works too.”
The captain whistled, and every mercenary suddenly writhed in agony from pain raging inside them.
“Gaaah!?”
“Ow, it hurts!”
“S-save me!”
“Get it now?”
The captain stopped whistling, and the pain vanished like it was never there.
“Your lives are mine. Now go—subdue the relay overseer. Split up and take the gates...”
The mercenary captain divided the mercenaries, ordering assaults on the gates and relay station.
Tarqi clicked his tongue at the sight.
“Now I see—you’re a Kurt cultist too.”
“Oh, took you this long? So perceptive.”
“Ugh.”
“Come on, let’s cooperate. You don’t want to just get dragged to the King’s Church either, right? Grab some quick cash, get revenge on that count who used you and tossed you aside. I get the New King Array codex copy. Win-win, yeah? Besides...”
The captain whistled again, and Tarqi doubled over in abdominal pain.
“Gaaaaah!”
“You don’t have options anyway. Not all Kurt faithful are unreasonable. They’re more flexible than the King’s Church, even.”
“Ugh... you bastard!”
Tarqi seethed, but with the spiders already inside him, he had no choice.
*********
“Good lord. It’s chaos out there.”
Azadin climbed a ladder onto a wagon and scanned the surroundings from atop it.
“The east gate’s fallen. It’s them.”
Just as Azadin had predicted, the Kurt cultist mercenaries had begun their assault on the relay village.