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335th Chapter What’s So Good About It? (1)

The Drake Mercenary Group is the largest mercenary group in the West.

It comprises over 500 mercenaries, with dozens of subordinate mercenary groups under its banner.

When they all gather, it amounts to about 3,000 troops. Indeed, it was the largest mercenary group in the kingdom.

In the North, mercenaries are merely a bunch of pathetic weaklings, and while there are some decent mercenary groups in the East, they can’t hold a candle to the West.

The West is bustling with numerous merchant groups and nobles, making it the place with the most opportunities and money flowing around. Naturally, this leads to a surplus of mercenaries.

And the one who commands this largest mercenary group in the West is none other than Marquis Roderick’s son, Martin.

The Drake Mercenary Group is involved in a lot of ordinary mercenary work but also undertakes plenty of the Marquis’s dirty jobs.

Thus, alongside its high reputation, its infamy had grown quite significantly.

“Phew…”

Dominic, the leader of the Drake Mercenary Group, drank his alcohol every day with an angry expression. The faint glint of killing intent in his eyes made his sharp appearance even more menacing.

He was a competent leader who had brought the Drake Mercenary Group this far, but now he had an overwhelming desire to throw it all away and run.

“Damn bastard…”

The target of his curses was, of course, Martin.

Dominic had been forced to do countless dirty deeds at Martin’s command. While getting involved in power struggles was one thing, he even had to kidnap or kill innocent civilians in disgraceful acts.

The reason he had no choice but to follow Martin’s orders was that his family was framed and taken hostage.

“To have to follow the words of my enemy…”

Martin had previously killed one of Dominic’s family members as a warning. Despite being an enemy he couldn’t live under the same heaven with, the lives of his remaining family hung in the balance, leaving him unable to rebel against that bastard.

That wasn’t all. Martin was a truly despicable guy who had also taken the families of other executives as hostages in case Dominic got removed.

“There’s absolutely no way out of this…”

With all the key figures of the mercenary group having their weaknesses grasped by that bastard, escape was impossible.

He had tried to reach out to other nobles or seek help before. But if he even attempted anything suspicious, Martin would ruthlessly kill hostages right away.

Other executives had experienced their families getting killed, so they couldn’t move an inch against Martin. Hence, the Drake Mercenary Group had no choice but to do whatever he said.

“What a devilish guy holding power and a background in his hands. This world really sucks.”

His father was the Supreme Commander of the Western Army and the ruler of the West, Marquis Roderick. No matter how strong the Drake Mercenary Group was, they could not stand against Marquis Roderick.

So, he could only drown his rotten insides in alcohol day by day.

While Dominic was endlessly drinking, one of his subordinates entered and said.

“Commander, we have a new order.”

“Who are we supposed to kill this time?”

“…Yes, it says to disguise ourselves as bandits and raid the Campbell Merchant Group.”

“Madman.”

The Campbell Merchant Group was a rival to Martin’s merchant group. It had substantial financing, and rumors said a noble was backing it.

Telling them to casually raid and trample such a place? If caught, it would spell trouble for them.

Yet Martin treated them like this without a care.

“Does he think of his father, Marquis Roderick, as a shield? Even so, telling us to sweep away another noble’s merchant group… It seems he’s getting anxious.”

Martin did have ambitions, wanting to usurp the heir position from his brother.

Thus, if he could grow his forces and bolster his power, he boldly moved ahead without hesitation.

Dominic set down his wine glass and sighed deeply.

“At this rate, we’ll be the ones dead before long.”

The demands were becoming increasingly radical. No matter how powerful they were as a mercenary group, there were limits to their strength.

If they weren’t careful, they could end up getting killed by a coalition of nobles. If that happened, the hostages would die too.

Marquis Roderick and Martin would feign ignorance even if they died. No, they would ensure that death wasn’t simply granted.

They would likely throw them into conflict with political rivals and let them kill each other. They were that cruel and vile.

The Drake Mercenary Group was already on a path charging towards its own destruction.

“I should have gone to the North earlier.”

Dominic sighed.

These days, the North was said to be incredibly vibrant compared to before. Thanks to Count Penris, there were rumors that various industries had developed, and mercenaries had plenty to do.

Had he built his power in the North, he wouldn’t have been caught up like this by Marquis Roderick’s family.

“If I had stayed in the North, I might have had the chance to meet the famous Count Penris.”

“Maybe… If we meet, it would probably be during the war.”

“That’s possible.”

Dominic let out a self-deprecating laugh.

Marquis Roderick was a prominent lord in the Duke faction. And Count Penris was a lord opposing that Duke faction. So if a war were to break out, they’d inevitably meet as enemies.

“Still, I want to meet him at least once before I die. They say he started with a band of mercenaries and achieved such feats. Being a mercenary myself, just hearing about it makes my heart race.”

Upon hearing rumors about Ghislaine, Dominic thought that if he were to follow someone, he’d rather follow such a person.

Perhaps the more miserable his situation became, following a dirty bastard’s orders only, the more he admired and longed for Ghislaine.

So, he kept up his interest in him and made sure to hear news about him.

That was his only remaining solace.

But his subordinate coldly stated the reality.

“If we meet him secretly, Marquis Roderick’s son won’t sit idly by. He’ll kill the hostages one by one.”

“Right, I truly can’t even meet a single person properly anymore.”

Dominic let out another self-deprecating laugh.

His life was as good as over now. He would live his whole life leashed as someone else’s dog, dying with nothing but infamy.

At that moment, a loud commotion could be heard from outside.

“Waaaaah! We’re being attacked!”

“What the hell is going on?! Why are they so fast?!”

“Head to where the Commander is! Capture him! Hurry and stop them!”

With all the noise, Dominic frowned and looked toward the door.

Crash!

Before long, the door was smashed in, and a group burst inside. They certainly had some guts to cause a ruckus in a place like this.

Soon, dozens of subordinates rushed in, surrounding the intruders. They couldn’t all fit inside, so they formed a perimeter outside.

Dominic looked at the young man at the forefront of the invaders and asked.

“Who are you?”

The man grinned at Dominic.

“I heard some rumors on the way here. They say you’re my fan? The story is about to speed up.”

“What?”

“I am Count Penris.”

The suddenly intruding figure was Ghislaine. He pointed to himself with his thumb, wearing an arrogant expression.

Dominic frowned at Ghislaine.

The subordinates could only fidget, unable to decide what to do as the sudden intruder insisted he was a noble.

“Tsk tsk, everyone’s lost their spirit after getting pushed around by the Marquis’s family. I can’t blame them either.”

Dominic shook his head in disappointment.

Count Penris was the figure he admired and longed for. Naturally, it was true that he wanted to meet him.

But he couldn’t believe the words of the person right in front of him.

How could a prominent lord from the North barge in like this without warning? And only bringing a few subordinates around like this?

Unless he was a madman, that wouldn’t be normal. If the nobles of the Duke faction knew, they’d be desperate to assassinate him.

No matter how he thought about it, it was an illogical situation. And there was another reason Dominic was confident that the other’s words were lies.

“You are not Count Penris.”

“What do you mean? I am Count Penris.”

“I know Count Penris’s face.”

“What? My face?”

“Not yours, Count Penris’s face. So, I know it well. You must’ve heard rumors and come to pull a trick, but that kind of lame scheme won’t work here.”

“…?”

This time, Ghislaine showed an expression of disbelief.

“You say you know my face, but you claim I’m not Count Penris? Is someone impersonating me?”

“I did come here secretly, but I’m telling you I’m Count Penris!”

Ghislaine pulled out his noble identification. It was a luxurious aristocratic ID with a beautifully engraved seal.

Dominic scoffed at that.

“Honestly, it’s not hard to forge an ID if you have money. We engage in that sort of work too. If you set your mind to it, you could create as many as you want.”

“…”

Ghislaine felt as though he was choking on a piece of something. He had gotten called a loser countless times, but it was the first time someone denied his identity.

So, he asked indignantly.

“Why do you deny that I’m Count Penris without even recognizing me? What gives you the confidence to say that?”

“Because I have a detailed and accurate portrait of Count Penris.”

“…?”

Ghislaine blinked in surprise. He hadn’t had a portrait made after his childhood, apart from that.

But Dominic walked confidently over to one corner of his office. He carefully carried a large box back.

Soon, Dominic carefully pulled something out of the box.

It was an elegant frame containing a portrait.

“See? This is the portrait of Count Penris that I bought for a hefty sum.”

Still slightly tipsy from drinking, Dominic proudly showed the portrait to Ghislaine.

Ta-da!

“…Wow.”

Ghislaine was left speechless upon seeing the portrait that Dominic displayed with pride.

‘Why does my face look… like that?’

It was vaguely similar. But it looked overly edited.

The nose stuck up too high, making the nostrils almost too small to breathe through. The chin was so pointy that it seemed like it would kill someone if poked.

The whole face had sharp angles, almost like a sculpture drawn instead of a genuine likeness.

“You… you think that portrait is the real Count Penris? You’re trusting that based on just that, without even knowing what he looks like?”

Dominic then wore a smug grin and said,

“I bought it from someone trustworthy for a hefty amount. I even received solid authentication.”

“…Trustworthy person?”

“I know Count Penris very well. He possesses many precious items.”

“…Precious items?”

Ghislaine asked with a dazed expression as Dominic continued boastfully.

“You seem to not believe me, but I’ll especially show you. Don’t impersonate Count Penris in the future.”

It didn’t seem like it was to specially show him; it looked more like he was eager to boast. He pulled out a thick book from the box and handled it with care.

“This is the biography of Count Penris. It’s a first edition documenting everything from when he was called a loser up until his battle with Count Desmond. More editions will come out in the future as well. It’s incredibly pricey.”

‘Who the hell wrote that?’

This definitely wasn’t something Count Penris was doing. Ghislaine never ordered or planned anything like that.

Dominic wasn’t paying attention to Ghislaine’s reaction; he was too busy boasting about his merchandise. He was occupied showing several items to Ghislaine.

“This is the wine glass used by Count Penris. I bought this for a really high price.”

“…?”

“This is the saddle of the horse Count Penris used. This one was pretty expensive and hard to acquire.”

“…??”

“This is the coat Count Penris wore when going out. I got this in an auction, and it was tough to win. And this is his underwear…”

“…???”

Ghislaine was left completely dumbfounded as he watched Dominic pull out various items. They seemed like things he had used in the past.

There were all sorts of items. It felt as though a thief had come in and made a massive haul.

Just when Ghislaine was bewildered, Dominic pulled out a decisive item.

“Alright, check this out. This is the sword that Count Penris used on the battlefield. It ranks among my prized possessions.”

‘That’s… my actual sword, isn’t it?’

While he couldn’t be sure about many other items, the sword was definitely genuine.

Ghislaine didn’t particularly guard or cherish weapons. He would carelessly pick them up and toss them around. So, there were many weapons that ended up abandoned on the battlefield.

However, he wouldn’t forget the sword he used. For starters, noble weapons were marked with special seals, so it was strange that he could forget them.

That was clearly the sword he used. How could his belongings have leaked out? Even if he left it on the battlefield, it should have been collected by soldiers unless it was a rare occurrence.

Ghislaine asked with a slightly trembling voice.

“Where… where did you get all those items?”

“I told you, I got them from someone trustworthy.”

“So who’s this trustworthy person?”

Dominic wore a smug smile and said,

“I got them from the Chief Officer of Penris. He even wrote a certificate for me.”

“…Chief Officer?”

“Yes, my subordinate met with the Chief Officer of Penris directly and got them. It was through an auction, and it was really expensive. I wanted to go myself, but I couldn’t leave this area for some reasons.”

“…”

Upon hearing Dominic’s words, Ghislaine closed his eyes.

He had hoped against hope, but indeed that bastard Claude was the culprit.