CH 7

When a clear breakthrough appeared, Cadel suddenly became motivated. Now, he was used to the Head Pitchers.

As time passed, the rain of arrows weakened, but the number of remaining monsters decreased significantly. Cadel slowly got up. It would be better to kill them while the monsters were confused.

He looked for Ron and Babil to tell them the simple plan he’d come up with. But the first thing he saw, before opening his mouth to speak, was Babil’s bloody shoulder.

Cadel had been unable to hear his screams because he had blocked his external senses while activating the technique. He frowned, staring at the horrifying wound.

“When did you get injured? If you don’t stop the bleeding quickly, you’ll collapse before being able to fight any longer. Do you have any cloths or bandages to wrap the wound?”

“What? When did this happen!”

Babil’s wound had been caused by suffering the attacks during Cadel’s long magic activation, without the cloak for protection. In the first place, if only the cloak had been left, he wouldn’t have been injured like this!

Even though he knew that the tide had been reversed thanks to Cadel’s magic, his suffering still found a place for his resentment. When Babil was about to react violently, his gaze instinctively shifted. Behind Cadel stood a ghastly Van.

He seemed to be saying, ‘If you dare raise your voice at the commander, I’ll strike what’s left of your shoulder.’ Babil’s survival instinct forced him to swallow his resentment.

“Taking off the breastplate now is suicide, and I can’t open my bag in the middle of the monsters’ den.”

“The situation is urgent, but let’s stop the bleeding first. With an injured body, cleaning up the remaining monsters will be difficult. Wait a bit.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Cadel bent down and grabbed the hem of the robe he was wearing. He was wearing a long robe instead of armor, as he rarely engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Ripping off a little of the hem wouldn’t put his life in danger.

But before he could put force into the hand holding the hem, Van gently pushed his arm away.

“You don’t have to, Commander. I can.”

“...Isn’t that the cloth for your greatsword?”

“There’s nothing more precious than the clothes the commander wears.”

Van smiled at Cadel, then grabbed the long blue cloth and went to Babil. His expression was chilly, unlike when he had faced Cadel.

He took hold of Babil, who instinctively faltered and was retreating, and draped the cloth around his collapsed shoulder. Babil opened his mouth widely as if he was going to scream at any moment, so Van shoved his fist into his mouth.

“Let’s not get the commander’s attention one more time. Him acting like you weren’t there… I’ll let you know that it’s better than disappearing altogether.”

Even if his magic power had been exhausted, the already-spread fire was not easily extinguished.

Cadel’s group, led by Van, began to gradually knock down the confused Head Pitchers. Van’s sword, which had not lost its power throughout the long battle, slashed forward with a fierce momentum. Cadel’s [Fireball] sniped the heads of the Head Pitchers approaching from afar, and Ron and Babil cut apart one or two of the escaped monsters.

Van’s swordsmanship not only killed the monsters, but also scattered the thick fog. Thanks to this, their vision became clearer than before.

‘With this momentum, we can clear everything before the day is over.’

Cadel calmly grasped the situation and thought this. A deep sense of relief permeated the battle, which was being resolved more smoothly than expected.

‘Alright. I was so scared. Even in the game, the first quest isn’t an insurmountable ordeal. You can usually clear the tutorial with even your feet, right? This wasn’t anything like that.’

He’d been more nervous than necessary because of the system’s warning of ‘losing Van Herdos’. Of course, he had been troubled by the monsters’ first appearances, but… wasn’t this something that they would be familiar with over time? Even now, the Head Pitchers’ heads were still terrifying, but he didn’t feel enough fear to bring tears to his eyes.

Cadel staggered and threw fireballs at the approaching Head Pitchers, estimating his remaining power. He made [Fire Curtains], prepared [Fire Arrows], and used [Fire Spheres] in his remaining time. The magic left in his body was less than a tenth of the original.

‘The monsters seem to have been cleaned up, so now I really need to save my energy. I feel like I’m getting weaker as my magic power decreases.’

They slowly traversed the Smog Plains while cleaning up the monsters, and before knowing it, they arrived at the opposite fence. Ron rushed to the fence first and fumbled at it urgently. After clinging to it for a while and crawling all over it, he immediately shouted in disappointment.

“Damn it, there’s no exit here, right? We finally managed to escape! A hole… Should we dig a hole?”

“There will still be monsters left. I’d rather not leave until we’re sure they’re taken care of.”

Ron looked hesitant at Cadel’s words. He felt like running away right away and celebrating over keeping his life, but he was also a mercenary. There were gold coins right in front of him, but he didn’t want to not get paid due to finishing poorly. The wounded Babil felt the same greed, so he walked over to the crouching Ron and whispered to him quietly.

“Hey, we’ve dealt with most of the monsters anyways, so let’s just follow those two. To be honest, they’ve done it all so far. They might toss us aside later to avoid sharing the reward, so hold on a little while longer.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Ron nodded reluctantly. So they decided to go back to the entrance they had first entered from and clean up the remaining monsters.

Cadel made every effort to not step on the nearby monsters’ corpses. Every charred head seemed like it was about to resurrect and rush at them at any moment, so he kept flinching.

And next to Cadel, Van opened his mouth carefully.

“I’m sorry, Commander.”

“Yes…? What?”

“Because of my incompetence, the commander used more energy than necessary. If it was a different type of monster, I would’ve been able to deal with everything by myself…”

Mumbling ‘if only they bled’, like blood from a living person would appear on his sword, Cadel hastily interrupted his knight before he could commit a horrific accident.

“Don’t be like that. You just did your best in a disadvantaged fight. That’s why I’m trying to figure out how we’ll get our money.”

“Commander…”

Cadel hoped Van would understand roughly and stop making such subtle expressions. He felt slightly uneasy and glanced back weakly. Then he saw the figure of Van, twitching the corner of his lips with a shy smile on his face.

‘...What are you doing?’

While harboring suspicious feelings, a system window appeared in front of his eyes.

[The favorability of the knight ‘Van Herdos’ has increased by 3.]

[Current Favorability: 73/100]

“Yeah?”

“Yes?”

“Ah, never mind.”

Had Van suddenly felt better about him? What had Cadel even done?

Cadel’s eyes trembled. No matter how much he thought about it, he had no memory of doing anything that would increase his favorability, but suddenly it had increased.

‘What was it? Why did it go up 3 points so suddenly? What will happen if the favorability level maxes out?’

Of course, higher was better than lower, since it had an effect on loyalty… but this was a female-oriented game.

Cadel had heard of a special event that could be seen if favorability was maxed out, but he’d never seen it himself. Well, he had been one of those ordinary male players who were more interested in combat than the story.

He broke out in a cold sweat that hadn’t come out even when they’d been fighting again. He felt like he could do anything to get rid of this uneasy feeling.

‘...I’ll stop talking for now.’

Meanwhile, Ron and Babil, who were following the two, were having a conversation with a completely different atmosphere.

“By the way, Babil. Doesn’t it seem like the monster extermination is over sooner than we thought? Of course, those two are incredibly talented, but… how could such a simple thing not be resolved with so many mercenaries’ deaths? I can’t believe it.”

“Heh, no matter how many mercenaries there are, it’s hard to beat a good wizard. Didn’t you see it too? That great large-area magic. At best, mercenaries only wield swords, so their efficiency is lower. It’s not for nothing that magicians are precious.”

“Even though…”

“Besides, killing isn’t that easy. It’s a shame to say this, but while we were panicking, the wizard was able to make quick decisions.”

“...Really.”

“Didn’t they say they were a mercenary group? I don’t know how many people they have, but it’s just a matter of time before they become famous.”

Aside from Van’s ferocious character, Babil had a high regard for their group. In fact, he couldn’t imagine what Ron’s and his futures would’ve been like if they hadn’t joined.

It took a long time to clean up the remaining monsters, each person with different thoughts and goals.

Cadel put on an expressionless look to hide the signs of exhaustion and looked around at the party.

“It seems like all the monsters stationed in the Smog Plains have been disposed of. For a perfect finish, it would be right to stay here until the next day, but we don’t have to. Let’s just go back.”

“Finally!”

Ron and Babil’s faces gleamed surprisingly brightly.  They wiped their sweat and rejoiced over the end of the hellish extermination operation. Cadel was also happy to have passed the big hurdle. His body’s stamina was almost exhausted, too much to cheer with them, so he only smiled softly.

‘How long has it been since I transmigrated? It’s been hard work all day long. I should gather more knights as soon as possible to sit back and relax.’

If there were at least two or three more people with them, his work would be significantly reduced. If he just gave simple commands, they would be ready to fight right away.

When he rubbed the corners of his tired eyes, Van noticed his condition and sent him a worried expression.

“Commander, are you okay? You look very tired.”

“Not really. Nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll return immediately and receive the commission from the young lord. You’ll be able to rest well if we find a good place to stay.”

“It’s still dawn. The sun will still rise regardless of whether or not I go back, but what worse things can happen?”

“But…”

Cadel waved his hand at the tenacious Van.

“I won’t die from being tired all day.”

“...I know. But if it’s too hard, tell me, Commander. I’ll carry you!”

Even if he died, he did not want to be carried. Cadel, who gave a forced smile, was sure of that.

***

TL:

I've been feeling super guilty over dropping this and since no one else has been translating either even though nearly half a year has passed, I decided to pick this up again.

I'll see if I can make it to where the next guy appears, but no guarantees. I also have to say that this is still MTL, so translation accuracy will vary wildly.