Chapter 780

The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Release schedule: 3 chapters per week

Looking for an editor for this novel. If interested please contact fenrirtl. (username)

The village chief asked with a disbelieving look.

“You, you say this happens often? A-Are you saying everyone does this?”

“I told you, didn’t I? The last village we stopped by was the same. We could do it right now if we wanted.”

Ghislain continued with a smirk.

“When we see something like that, we just can’t ignore it.”

“……!!!”

The faces of the village chief and the villagers turned pale.

Especially the chief, who had allowed the mercenaries to stay in the village, was distraught. He was overwhelmed with the feeling that he’d been deceived.

‘S-So it’s true, you really can’t trust anyone in this world…’

It wasn’t just one—the entire mercenary corps were a bunch of perverted bastards!

The village chief trembled as he asked,

“A-Are you called Astion, sir?”

Ghislain proudly gave his name, completely unaware that his infamy was spreading in real time.

“Yeah, I am Astion.”

“I heard you’re the deputy commander. A-Are you saying the commander thinks the same way?”

The village chief just couldn’t believe it.

The mercenary corps that had been so kind and helpful to the village turned out to be like this?

He desperately wanted to hear the thoughts of the always-quiet commander.

As Ghislain turned his head, Julien stepped forward.

Julien was wearing a mask, to avoid drawing crowds due to his looks.

When Julien took off his mask, the villagers gasped in awe without even realizing it. His appearance was that overwhelming.

Julien looked around at everyone with a picturesque expression and spoke softly.

“Whenever we see such things… we never just sit by. My beliefs are the same as theirs.”

At his words, the village women were even more shocked.

‘No way, with that face?’

‘Just ask politely if you want to look!’

‘Why does he look like that if he’s going to act like this?’

The village chief was truly desperate now. It sounded like they had to see it through, even by force.

The only person he could still believe in was Deneb. Surely, someone called the Saintess wouldn’t support such insane behavior.

“S-Saintess! Do you really think the same?”

Deneb exuded a soft divine power and wore a firm gaze.

She was no longer the pushover who blindly sided with people as she had in the past.

“Yes. Because it’s what the Goddess desires.”

“……!!!”

The village chief and the villagers were all dumbfounded.

Was that really something to say while radiating divine power?

No, what kind of goddess would want people to spy on a bathhouse?

Now the village chief was certain.

‘T-They’re insane. They’re lunatics following some cult.’

Even a backwoods hick knew that no goddess would want something like that. These people were clearly part of a crazy cult.

‘No wonder they were so overly friendly. I wondered why they were offering their services for free.’

Turned out, they were just a bunch of lunatics pretending to be kind while toying with them on a whim.

The village chief fell to his knees and said,

“A-All right. We truly are grateful for all the help you’ve given us.”

Ghislain rested his staff on his shoulder and asked,

“So?”

“C-Could you please leave the village now?”

The village chief knew just how dangerous the world could be. He had to avoid provoking outsiders as much as possible.

Especially if they were part of a crazy religious cult.

At that, Ghislain let out a small laugh.

“You want us to just leave? Without doing anything?”

‘T-These bastards are finally showing their true colors!’

The chief broke into a cold sweat. He spoke with every ounce of strength he had.

“We… we don’t have much, but we’ll show you our utmost sincerity.”

The villagers all fell to their knees as well.

They had come thinking they could reason with people who had helped them, expecting them to be reasonable.

But if the other side refused to listen to reason, there was nothing they could do.

Some of the young men and members of the village watch had bitter expressions. The village women had tears in their eyes.

To them, Ghislain said indifferently,

“I told you, didn’t I? We don’t just let things go. We can’t rest easy unless we see it through to the end.”

At the same time, the mercenaries began to exude their pressure.

There was no way the gentle villagers could withstand that. Their faces turned white as sheets.

“Ah…”

The village chief let out a deep sigh.

To think they wouldn’t be satisfied until they’d seen it. They’d fallen into the hands of truly wicked people.

This village would be humiliated and stripped of its possessions. Still, he had to at least protect his people’s lives.

In the end, the village chief, nearly in tears, said,

“A-All right. Please give us some time to prepare.”

At that, Ghislain sneered. Did they really think some village thugs could prepare to fight them?

“Prepare? Fine, go ahead—do your best.”

“Y-Yes. We’ll do our best. Everyone! Go on, take off your clothes and finish your bath!”

“Huuuhuh…”

“Perverts…”

The village women began to cry. But the chief could only urge them on.

“I’m sorry. This is for the village. We have no choice. The watch can’t handle them. Men, clear the materials around the bathhouse so they can have a better view.”

Thunk.

Ghislain froze. So did all the members of Julien’s mercenary corps.

They finally realized—something, something very, very serious had gone terribly wrong.

Ghislain was so shocked he even stuttered.

“W-W-Wait a minute. Why… why are you undressing and… taking a bath?”

“Huh? Isn’t that what you all wanted this whole time?”

“W-W-W-Why the hell would we want that?!”

“Wasn’t that what we were talking about this whole time?”

“C-C-Could you say that a-again, clearly?”

The village chief pointed at Osval as he spoke.

“That man was caught peeking at the village women while they bathed… and he even punched the young men who tried to stop him… That’s what we came to talk to you about…”

Everyone’s heads snapped around.

Ghislain turned to Osval with a blank stare, his mouth hanging open.

Julien, Deneb, Kyle, Ereneth, Lionel, and the rest of the mercenaries also stood slack-jawed, utterly stunned.

Even Dark, who had been watching in his usual indifferent manner, opened his beak.

And with all eyes on him, Osval…

…abruptly turned around and started running.

“It’s been fun! Don’t look for me! I’m going off to fulfill my dream!”

As he watched Osval’s back retreating, Ghislain wore a world-crumbling expression.

He had worked so hard to build up the reputation of Julien’s Mercenary Corps!

Fame was a fickle thing—hard to earn, easy to destroy with a single mistake.

They had tried so hard to gain honor, only to become infamous for something utterly disgraceful. Even Claude and Alfoi, the troublemakers of the Fenris Estate, hadn’t done anything this vile.

Ghislain trembled. He was so shocked he couldn’t even muster the strength to move.

“C-Catch him! Catch that bastard!”

The others were still too stunned to react. Deneb actually fell to her knees, closed her eyes, and began praying for forgiveness.

Thankfully, Ereneth came to his senses quickly and darted off, managing to capture Osval.

“Argh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—it was a revolutionary idea that came over me…!”

Wham!

Starting with Ghislain, everyone pounced on Osval.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

“Waaah! Please, stop! Have mercy!”

Osval was beaten to a pulp in what could only be described as a truly revolutionary fashion.

After being thoroughly pummeled, he knelt before the villagers and offered an apology.

“I… I’m sorry… nghhh…”

Ghislain gave a sheepish laugh and said,

“Sorry. This is… really just a huge misunderstanding…”

Ghislain and Julien apologized to the villagers repeatedly. Deneb did as well.

But the village chief and the others still wore deeply wary expressions.

To them, Julien’s Mercenary Corps were nothing more than volatile madmen. Their constant flip-flopping made it impossible to trust them.

In fact, the villagers now worried they might just be acting again, playing some kind of twisted game.

But they couldn’t voice their doubts. Who knew when these lunatics might change their minds again?

In the end, the village chief cautiously said,

“A-All right. So it was a misunderstanding. But, um… the villagers are still quite shaken…”

“We still feel responsible, so we’d like to finish helping with the construction…”

“No, no. We’ll finish the rest ourselves. We’re already grateful for all the help you’ve given.”

Which, of course, meant: Just get lost already.

Ghislain had no choice but to agree to stay just one more night before leaving.

The reason he didn’t leave immediately wasn’t anything dramatic.

‘Those bastards…’

The villagers had all gathered around, watching with worried expressions. Among them were the ones who had been trailing the mercenaries.

Those guys had seen everything and were now struggling to suppress their laughter.

Seeing that made Ghislain’s blood boil, but in the current situation, he couldn’t be the one to pick a fight first.

‘We’ll know by tomorrow.’

Tonight was already a mess because of Osval. If those bastards had plans to make a move on them in this village, it would be tomorrow.

Now that some of them had shown their faces, it would be harder for them to pursue the group to another village.

With that thought, Ghislain calmed himself and returned to his lodging.

As he lay down, all sorts of thoughts flooded his mind.

‘Dammit…’

Ghislain was usually the kind of guy who could bulldoze his way through things, no matter what anyone said.

It’s not like he’d never been wronged in his life, but being treated like a pervert was a first.

He felt humiliated. He tried to catch some sleep on his bed, but it was no use.

So, he shot up and went looking for Osval again.

Wham! Wham! Wham!

“Because of you! Huh? Do you know how much I’ve invested in building our reputation?!”

“Gyaah! Please, have mercy!”

Osval had been snoring moments ago, only to wake up to another beating. The other mercenaries were happy for the excuse to join in again.

So went a sleepless night for them all. And eventually, dawn broke.

After giving Osval one more round of “education” in the morning, Ghislain spoke to the others in a hushed tone.

“Don’t let your guard down tonight. Especially don’t let Osval go anywhere alone.”

They all knew that the ones tailing them had disguised themselves as travelers.

If they were really just normal travelers, they wouldn’t have left companions waiting outside the village.

The villagers no longer came near the mercenaries’ lodging.

Ghislain, Julien, and Deneb once again offered their apologies to the village chief and handed over a generous sum of money.

It wouldn’t completely erase their infamy, but it might soften it a little.

With their belongings packed and ready to go, the mercenaries prepared to depart and threw one last rowdy drinking party.

As bottles rolled across the floor, one by one the mercenaries collapsed into sleep. Except for Deneb, Ereneth, and a few other officers, the rest passed out right in the hall of the lodging.

But in truth, none of them were really asleep. They were only pretending to be drunk and unconscious.

All except one.

“Snorrrr… Rrrrgh… Revo~lution…”

“……”

Osval hadn’t been given any instructions. He was genuinely, purely drunk and fast asleep.

In the end, someone had to play the part naturally and that someone just happened to be Osval.

Thus, the atmosphere was set: anyone watching would believe everyone had passed out from drinking.

Then, not long after—

Sssshk…

Figures cloaked in heavy robes stealthily entered the mercenaries’ lodging.

Ghislain sensed their presence. But he didn’t move.

Neither did the other mercenaries. They willingly risked a surprise attack and kept their eyes closed.

Because they trusted the leaders of Julien’s Mercenary Corps—people like Ghislain.

The intruders quietly inspected the sleeping mercenaries. Then they began carefully lifting the gear the mercenaries had packed.

Ghislain clicked his tongue internally.

‘Tch. Seriously? Petty theft?’

It didn’t make sense. If they wanted to steal, they’d had plenty of chances before.

They didn’t need to follow them all the way to this village just to act now.

If stealing gear was the goal, ambushing them in the mountain pass would’ve made far more sense.

He couldn’t feel any killing intent but one thing was clear: these people were targeting them.

Until now, he had let it slide for the sake of their reputation. But now that they’d proven themselves enemies, there was no reason to hold back.

KRA-KOOM!

Ghislain shot up and sent the nearest intruder flying.

“Don’t kill them. We’ve got things to ask.”

The moment he said that, all the mercenaries leapt up and attacked.

The intruders panicked and tried to escape, but there were Transcendents in this place.

With no real martial skills to speak of, they were beaten to the ground in no time.

WHAMMM!

Another intruder, struck again by Ghislain, crashed through the wall of the lodging and flew outside.

“They seem decent enough not to die from a few hits, right? I’d like to blow off some steam.”

Ghislain grinned, twirling his staff.

He was already seething from the Osval incident. Now that these people were caught in the act, he had every reason to vent.

The fallen intruder looked horrified, supporting himself with one hand on the ground.

But there was no escaping from Ghislain, who had already resolved to beat someone down tonight.

Before the man could even get up, Ghislain was already in front of him, staff raised.

“Since it’s come to this, you might as well tell me everything you know.”

As he swung the staff down—

FWOOOM!

Someone blocked Ghislain’s path.

He reflexively redirected the staff in that direction then paused.

‘No way…’

It was a masked woman. But her piercing eyes were eerily familiar.

In that moment, her robe flared and dozens of daggers burst forth from within.

CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!

Ghislain deflected the daggers as he jumped back.

SWISH!

The masked woman’s figure dissolved into shadow. The fallen intruder was suddenly dragged away as if pulled by an invisible force.

The other intruders also began retreating in desperation.

A smile crept across Ghislain’s face.

“So, we finally meet. I was wondering when it would happen. Guess it had to happen eventually.”

BOOM!

Ghislain unleashed his mana and chased after the masked woman.

Meanwhile, the villagers who had rushed out in the middle of the night commotion—

‘I knew it. They were just pretending to be nice.’

‘They’re beating up harmless travelers.’

‘These people are seriously dangerous.’

Their misunderstanding of Julien’s Mercenary Corps deepened even further.