Chapter 54
Chapter 54
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Pavane for a Dead Dwarf (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* * *
***
After the battle ended, the mercenary band gathered together once more.
Fortunately, there were no deaths. In particular, the superhumans who had leaped from the trucks had suffered almost no injuries.
Five mercenaries had been hit by stray bullets, but there was a saintess here who could use healing blessings.
The battle had been a victory close to perfection… but no one in the mercenary band could bring themselves to speak of it.
“…Who would’ve thought it was a diversion.”
Captain Kwon Mongju ground his teeth as he stared at the wrecked truck.
He blamed himself, thinking it was due to his command, but the mercenaries thought differently. It was because the enemy had done something utterly beyond common sense.
Not content with overwhelming their rear with a massive force, they had even sent flying superhumans to strike the trucks.
As a heavy mood hung in the air, Tianlin, who had remained in the truck, spoke up.
“All who stayed in the truck are seriously injured. Unfortunately, no fatalities.”
He was leaning against a supply crate with a broken leg, and most of the mercenaries who had been guarding the truck were in similar shape.
The driver had both arms snapped, and the rest of the mercenaries couldn’t even stand properly after taking punches infused with mana.
“…Cunning bastards. They broke our limbs one by one and left without killing us.”
As soon as Tianlin finished explaining, Captain Kwon Mongju clenched his fist tight.
The reason those who could smash the truck barehanded hadn’t killed the mercenaries was obvious.
They wanted to force the mercenaries to waste time and strength tending to the wounded.
The reason for buying time in a situation like this was probably…
“…Those guys are after the royal seal too.”
“Yes. Logically speaking, there’s no other reason they’d pull something like this.”
“Information must’ve leaked somewhere. An assault this scale would’ve taken quite a while to prepare…”
As the captain trailed off, the dwarf happened to wake up with a fit of violent coughing.
For a while, he couldn’t regain his senses and kept vomiting something up. Only after much retching did the dwarf finally open his mouth.
“W-We have to stop them.”
The eyes of Captain Kwon and the mercenaries all focused on the dwarf at once. Their gazes were deadly serious.
“Darulma, there’s a high chance the enemies are after the royal seal. What exactly happened—”
“I got played. Played, I tell you! Their target was me from the start!”
The dwarf slammed the ground with a tearful expression.
“…What do you mean? Darulma, explain yourself properly.”
“The location of the royal seal in my head—that was their goal from the very beginning of this raid!”
Captain Kwon frowned as he looked at what the dwarf had vomited up.
A purple liquid infused with mana. The name of a certain potion came to his mind.
“…Confession potion?”
A magic potion that forced whoever drank it to speak only the truth. The problem was its ingredients.
The eyes and organs of living humans.
It went without saying. The confession potion was a vile elixir of necromancers, strictly forbidden by international law.
“Yeomyeong, were there any necromancers among the enemies you fought?”
Captain Kwon asked Yeomyeong, who was sitting at the back. It wasn’t so much curiosity as a need for confirmation.
Yeomyeong nodded.
“Yes, the enemies’ trucks were full of things like zombies.”
“…I see.”
Captain Kwon pondered deeply for a moment before speaking to Darulma.
“Darulma, we need to request help from the government and military.”
“…What? How can you say that? Do you know how much money I invested in you!”
The dwarf let out a shrill cry as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“If the military and government get involved, do you think they’ll hand the royal seal back to us dwarves? They’ll demand shares and squeeze us for money somehow!”
“…”
“The royal seal is ours—dwarves’! Our blood! Our lifelong wish! As long as I live, I will never hand over even a speck of it to you earthlings!”
A desperate cry as if vomiting blood. But Captain Kwon didn’t bat an eye as he replied.
“If it’s something that valuable, shouldn’t we prevent it from falling into the hands of unidentified necromancers all the more?”
“…That’s…”
“Think coldly. The mission has already failed. Without a truck, it’s impossible to cross Manchuria ahead of the enemies and claim the treasure.”
His words were an irrefutable truth. The truth pierced the dwarf like an arrow, and tears fell in place of blood.
“No, there must be a way… there has to be a way.”
“Impossible.”
As Captain Kwon cut him off coldly, the dwarf scanned his surroundings with forlorn eyes.
“S-Saintess.”
The trembling dwarf’s gaze fixed on the saintess.
“If the saintess helps, it might be possible. Didn’t you defeat the skeletal dragon together with Yeomyeong?”
The saintess, who had been treating the wounded, shrank her shoulders slightly as if embarrassed by the sudden attention.
“I…”
“We still have the motorcycles we seized from the enemy. If the saintess and a few superhumans ride them ahead, we can definitely recover the treasure!”
As the dwarf cried out, Captain Kwon interjected once more.
“…We only seized three motorcycles. Darulma. And we don’t have enough fuel.”
“Three? If we double up, that’s six people! Captain Kwon, I beg you. If that’s what you want, I’ll increase the investment fivefold—no, twentyfold!”
“…Darulma.”
“Please, the government and military can’t get involved. I’d rather watch Manchuria fall to ruin than allow that!”
Tianlin muttered a quiet curse at the dwarf’s mention of ruin, but most of the mercenaries held their tongues.
In the ensuing silence, the saintess cautiously raised her hand.
“Um… Mr. Darulma? I can help.”
“Oh, Five Gods! I knew you wou—”
As Darulma knelt to offer praise, the saintess extended her raised hand forward, cutting him off.
“But I can’t risk my life.”
“…”
“If it looks impossible, I’ll run away. Is that okay?”
Those words weren’t for Darulma—they were to convince the mercenaries. The saintess glanced around at them as if to say, “How about these terms?”
Fortunately, a few mercenaries nodded.
At that point, even Captain Kwon nodded as if he had no choice.
“If that’s how it is, we’ll do our best.”
Only then did Darulma let out a sigh of relief. He sniffled his runny nose and addressed the mercenaries.
“Those who’ll come along, raise your hands. Even if it fails, I’ll compensate you from my own pocket.”
The first to raise his hand was Kim Mansu. He burned with determination as he looked at his comrades with broken limbs.
With both the captain and vice captain stepping up, the mercenaries hesitantly raised their hands.
Soon after, every mercenary had raised a hand. Except for one.
“…Cheon Yeomyeong?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t mean…”
“I’m not going.”
Darulma’s face twisted. He trembled with disbelief as he spoke.
“How can you say that? Do you know how much that elixir you took cost!”
Yeomyeong tilted his head as he replied.
“Was that elixir the commission fee? I thought it was just a token of apology when I received it. Wasn’t it?”
“No, that’s not…”
“And I already fought unidentified enemies beyond the commission and saved you from hostile superhumans. Doesn’t that exceed the original fee?”
As Yeomyeong answered coldly, the saintess, unable to stand it, interjected.
“Hey, even so, watch your mouth…”
Yeomyeong raised a finger to her lips to silence her and subtly winked where others couldn’t see.
It was a signal: Play along, pretend you don’t know.
But whether she misunderstood the wink or wished she hadn’t seen it, the saintess whipped her head away.
In any case, confirming the saintess had shut her mouth, Yeomyeong turned back to Darulma.
“So, I’ll set new conditions for extending the commission.”
“…Conditions?”
Darulma looked to Captain Kwon with a pleading expression, but he merely shrugged with arms crossed.
It meant he found Yeomyeong’s demands reasonable. Darulma nodded as if he had no choice.
“Fine. Name your conditions.”
“First, request military aid right now.”
“What? Haven’t I been saying the military—”
“Just don’t mention the royal seal.”
“…”
“If we fail, the military will stop them. If we succeed? It ends as a mere incident.”
“…Incident? Do you think military deployment is a joke? They won’t just let it slide.”
“So what if they don’t? At worst, they’ll demand dragon bones. With Dungan Heavy Industries’ wealth, what’s that amount of trouble?”
Hearing Yeomyeong’s response, Darulma fell into thought for a moment.
Setting aside his instinctive disgust toward earthling militaries, it was a logical point.
In the current situation, the worst outcome was the royal seal falling to the unidentified raiders including necromancers.
If they could mobilize the military, they could reduce the chances of that worst case.
And if by some chance the military recovered the seal but didn’t know its value…?
It was a thought he hadn’t considered amid his visceral hatred for earthling armies. Darulma readily admitted his oversight.
“…Fine. If those are the conditions, I’ll gladly accept. What’s the next one?”
“My second condition concerns the right to use the dwarf forge.”
This demand was unexpected. Hadn’t they already agreed to smelt the dragon bones?
Demanding direct forge access meant he wanted something even greater…
“…If we recover the royal seal, I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll persuade the artisans myself.”
Darulma decided not to overthink it. The positions of debtor and creditor were clear here.
“Are those all the conditions?”
“No, one last one remains.”
Last. At that word, the watching mercenaries began drawing lots.
Three motorcycles. Even doubling up, after seating the saintess and Yeomyeong, captain and vice captain, only two spots left.
Ignoring the commotion, Darulma focused on Yeomyeong’s mouth.
“My final condition is…”
The moment Yeomyeong stated his final condition, the dwarf’s brow furrowed deeply.
***
The time when the eastern sky over Manchuria darkened and the western sky burned red.
Above the heavens where the sun formed a taiji, Pasun took in the two mountain ranges crossing Manchuria.
He didn’t understand why earthlings called the separated ranges by the same name, but they did.
The Xing’an Mountains.
‘The larger western one is Greater Xing’an Mountains, and the northeast is Lesser Xing’an Mountains, right? Both decent mountains.’
Lacking compared to his homeland’s peaks, but for earth mountains, they were passable.
‘Yes, opportunities like this belong in mountains like these.’
With that brief impression, Pasun descended to the ground.
With every step, the sky split, and the cold Manchurian winds howled.
Roooar—
Falling at a speed near freefall for a long while, he halted above a deep valley in the Lesser Xing’an Mountains.
Now that he was here, it was time to awaken the meat shield. He shrugged his shoulders to rouse the guy strapped to his back.
“Guhk, kuhk.”
The Horse Head mage awoke, vomiting foul mana and blood at once.
“You awake?”
The guy groggily scanned his surroundings with half-dead eyes, then shuddered at the sight of the mountains below.
“Have you… found the location?”
“The spot the dwarf under confession potion mentioned is here. Coordinates confirmed.”
“Then… finally…!”
As Horse Head trembled, Pasun landed. The ground, untouched by human feet for ages, spat up dust.
Atop a sheer cliff with barely room for a few steps.
Pasun and Horse Head peered down into the deep, deep valley.
“Ah, I can truly feel it. The ancient scent of mana mingled with the earth…”
As Horse Head said, Pasun sensed the mana too.
Deep in the valley below, writhing magical mana… and the mana of a massive spirit beast.
‘A dragon, huh. This’ll be fun to hunt.’
As Pasun licked his lips, Horse Head pulled a magic tool from his bosom. An ominous tool made from a dead bird’s skull.
“First… I’ll call for backup.”
“Backup? After losing that many troops, you still have more to throw away?”
Pasun sneered, but Horse Head shook his head.
“Consumables like that aren’t even worth calling troops.”
“…Ah, so only monsters like you count as troops? What a great nation.”
Horse Head ignored Pasun’s mockery.
No need to explain patriotism to a damned criminal scum bought with money.
The next moment, he gathered mana in his hand and activated the magic tool.
Crack! The bird skull shattered, transmitting the coordinates here to the backup unit waiting in northern Manchuria.
Soon, Korea would claim the treasure it had dreamed of, along with the dragon’s corpse.
As Horse Head was convinced of this, Pasun spoke up again.
“Hey, that guy who wiped out your unit earlier. Name’s Cheon Yeomyeong, right?”
“…”
“What’s his deal?”
Horse Head recalled Yeomyeong charging in, covered in blood.
Inexplicable regenerative power surpassing even superhumans, and golden eyes brimming with murderous intent.
An unexpected tough opponent. A superhuman who endured five trucks’ worth of troops and corpse explosions.
“…Exact identity unknown.”
“Exact? So you had some rough idea?”
Clutching his empty right sleeve, Horse Head replied. The stump ached.
“From what we know, he’s a newbie mercenary who just joined. We had no idea he was this strong…”
“You didn’t do your homework? A guy like that wouldn’t stay unknown.”
“There was a story he cut Kahal Magdu’s ribs.”
“…Ribs?”
“He didn’t do it alone. Known as an achievement with the saintess, the mercenary vice captain, and him. Three together, but…”
As Horse Head trailed off, Pasun recalled the skeletal dragon that had returned to Siberia with ribs severed.
‘Said he met a good connection.’
This a good connection? What a clownish skeleton.
Pasun suppressed a smile tugging at his lips and continued questioning.
“So he’s definitely someone special? What do you… no, what do you think?”
“…Can’t be sure, but I have a guess about his identity.”
“Oh?”
Pasun’s eyebrow twitched.
“Trace his movements, and he’s always tied to the saintess, isn’t he?”
“Saintess?”
“Simple story. Arrived in Manchuria at almost the same time as the saintess, always by her side in fights. Obvious who…”
“Hey, hey. Conclusion only. Short.”
“…The saintess’s secret bodyguard, or the Holy Knight Order’s secretly raised next-gen holy sword.”
Plausible… maybe? Pasun, knowing nothing of the saintess, stroked his chin.
“Then can I kill him? You said the saintess absolutely can’t die.”
“…Unlike the saintess, no one will care if a hidden sword breaks.”
Horse Head replied with utter conviction. If he was this sure, it was probably true.
Pasun nodded and stepped behind him.
“Thanks for the info. Now I know what to do.”
“It’s just speculation, so don’t be too cer—”
The next moment, with a thud, Pasun’s foot slammed into Horse Head’s back.
A sudden betrayal without warning or sign.
Horse Head couldn’t even scream. Flailing his remaining left arm, he plummeted into the valley.
Moments later, a bursting sound echoed from below.
Pasun calmly looked down and left a short remark.
“As expected, opportunities like this are best enjoyed alone.”
* * *