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344화 Let’s Go Back Easily (3)

“Grrr… That crazy bastard…”

Martin, who was coughing up foam, had a bewildered look in his eyes even while dying.

The king of mercenaries? I had never heard of such a title, nor had I ever thought about it.

It was well-known that Count Penris was a madman. So whatever he said only sounded like madness to me.

‘Is there anywhere more unfortunate than this?’

Martin felt it was unjust to die like this because he got caught up with a lunatic.

“My father… will surely… kill you all… tear you apart…”

Martin spat out curses as he breathed his last in agony.

The Drake Mercenary Group looked somber as they gazed at Martin’s corpse. Taking revenge felt refreshing, but they worried about the aftermath.

But Ghislaine, seemingly unfazed, smiled at Dominic.

“How about it? Feels good, right?”

“Yeah… it does feel good, but…”

“No need to worry too much. What kind of mercenary is so timid? We just have to win when we fight later.”

“……”

Isn’t it more bizarre not to worry after killing the son of the strongest noble in the West?

Dominic realized the immense difference between him and Ghislaine.

So different that it almost seemed like the other side had lost their marbles.

Thud thud thud thud!

At that moment, the sound of hooves grew louder as a troop of soldiers approached. Dominic snapped back to reality and mounted his horse.

“Prepare for battle!”

The mercenaries fell into formation and brandished their weapons.

The approaching army consisted of the city’s defensive troops and Martin’s personal soldiers.

The captain of the guard arrived at the Drake Mercenary Group and snarled at Dominic.

“Dominic! You’ve really caused a stir! Where is that young lord?”

Dominic slightly bowed his head toward Ghislaine and spoke.

“I’ll take care of it from here.”

Then he immediately hurled Martin’s corpse at the captain of the guard and shouted.

“I killed him because he held our families hostage and killed them. This is justified revenge.”

“What? What? Are you out of your mind?”

The captain’s face went pale. This young lord from the House of Marquis Roderick has been killed by mere mercenaries.

If things went south, the entire guard could avoid punishment.

They had to kill these guys right away. Otherwise, they would end up dead themselves.

“Kill them all… right now…”

The captain couldn’t finish his command. It was due to the fierce momentum of the mercenaries.

‘If we attack, we’ll die.’

There were nearly a thousand troops on their side combined. It wasn’t a small number, but the Drake Mercenary Group was larger than that.

Even with some personnel out on other missions and others still not gathered, their strength looked close to two thousand.

As the largest mercenary group in the West, the Drake Mercenary Group was experienced. Their renown was no small matter, either.

‘If we fight, we’re definitely losing; even if we win, we’ll suffer nearly total casualties.’

In fact, he had no confidence in winning against them. Their troops had little combat experience.

Nobles like Martin looked down on mercenary groups, but they were not a trifling matter to ordinary people.

‘What should I do?’

It was death if they retreated and death if they fought. The captain of the guard, with a perplexed expression on his face, couldn’t make a decision.

Dominic, knowing this, said with a relaxed expression.

“Process it as a disappearance.”

“What?”

“Most people don’t know what happened anyway. Say the dead knights and soldiers went out on a mission and didn’t return. Isn’t that simple?”

“……”

The captain could only swallow his saliva and didn’t respond.

For now, they could indeed get through it that way. But Marquis Roderick wouldn’t be an easy target. Surely, time would pass before an investigation began, and eventually, the truth would be uncovered.

Seeing the captain unable to answer, Dominic continued to persuade him.

“You don’t have a choice. You either die fighting us here or die honestly speaking to the marquis. Isn’t it better to buy time and think it over?”

“…Uh, um.”

“If everyone keeps their mouths shut, they won’t want to die.”

“Y-yeah, but they’ll definitely find out.”

“When that happens, just make up a story about us. Say we kidnapped you.”

Even if they did that, they would surely face punishment and end up dead. The Marquis Roderick was a cruel person.

But it was better than dying immediately. They would have to manipulate and hide information as much as possible, and if they felt they might get caught, they had no choice but to escape together beforehand.

“Alright, I understand.”

The captain eventually accepted Dominic’s proposal. Martin was not worth loyalty. So he had to look out for his own life as best as he could.

Ghislaine looked around at the guards and Martin’s personal soldiers and chuckled.

“Pathetic compared to the North.”

No matter how much money and power they had, what good was it? Indolent soldiers had no loyalty, zeal, or will to fight.

Even the soldiers of Count Cabaldy, who was famous for being a wicked lord in the North, weren’t that bad. Those who had survived the harsh North at least had a mindset of giving it a try.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely their fault. The fault lay much more heavily with the nobles who treated people that way.

The marquis’ direct troops might be different, but the situation of troops from other territories was clear.

Anyway, thanks to the captain of the guard agreeing with Dominic, the situation came to an end without a fight.

Dominic raised his hand and looked back at the mercenaries.

“Let’s go.”

Most of the Drake Mercenary Group had already packed their belongings.

Soon, news would reach the mercenary group that was far away or those stationed in other territories and those on missions.

Most of them would start packing and move to Penris.

Since Dominic had caused a stir, staying here would eventually lead to torment from the marquis.

As the Drake Mercenary Group was leaving, the captain of the guard suddenly asked Dominic.

He was curious where all those troops from the West would settle down.

“You guys… where are you going?”

Since news would spread quickly as they moved about, Dominic didn’t bother to hide it.

“To Penris. We’re heading to Penris.”

“To Penris…?”

The captain had heard the rumors. The most famous territory nowadays. The sanctuary of the North, where a reckless man was the lord.

After getting on his horse, Ghislaine looked back at the captain and said.

“I am Count Penris. I will be taking these people under my wing, so if you encounter issues with the marquis later, just say that. If you take issue with it, feel free to come by anytime.”

“……”

Seeing his face, he realized it was the one who kidnapped Martin. He seemed quite skilled, but also a bit crazy. The captain of the guard decided to simply pretend he didn’t know.

Ghislaine felt awkward and licked his lips, while Dominic couldn’t help but chuckle at that sight.

After all, who would believe it? That a lord from the North would come personally and wreak havoc like this.

Thus, the Drake Mercenary Group departed, and the city’s defensive troops hurriedly worked to burn Martin’s corpse and erase any evidence.

On their way to Penris, Ghislaine asked Dominic.

“How is the auction for my items going to be held?”

“……”

Dominic couldn’t respond right away. The temptation to secretly obtain items from an idol for his followers was overwhelming.

Especially for collectors, that inclination was even stronger.

Seeing Dominic hesitate, Ghislaine looked at him sideways and said again.

“Speak up already!”

“…Yes.”

In the end, Dominic laid everything out. He explained the method and place for contacts, how to purchase things, leaving nothing out.

Ghislaine sighed intermittently, clicking his tongue and nodding his head as he listened.

This was the first time he had wanted to return to the territory so badly.

*

“Alright, we need to work through the night to get this done quickly. We’re short on materials.”

In a building within the territory, Claude was urging people.

He was currently producing “The Chronicles of Count Penris – The Second Forest of Monsters.”

Numerous scribes gathered and were diligently writing under Claude’s instructions.

Claude watched them with a pleased smile.

“Hehehe… How much is all this worth?”

It all started small. A few merchants mentioned the lord was gaining popularity and inquired if they could secretly obtain items the lord had used.

Having been too busy to even step outside the territory, Claude wasn’t really aware of that. But it turned out the lord had quite a following!

“Items related to a popular figure sell well, of course. Hehe.”

Knowing that fact, Claude immediately started brainstorming. He decided to secretly run a business leveraging the lord’s popularity.

He wasn’t pocketing bribes or embezzling the territory’s assets. He was earning it honestly, so he had no qualms about it.

‘Deceiving Wendy was the hardest part.’

Claude glanced sideways. Sure enough, Wendy was nervously biting her nails.

Seeing that steel-like woman at a loss gave him a sense of twisted satisfaction.

‘Heh, now that it has come this far, you have no choice.’

Claude proceeded with utmost caution in this enterprise. The first thing he did was document the lord’s history.

At first, Wendy had questioned him about it.

“What are you doing?”

“Hmm, just documenting the lord’s activities. This is something everyone does, right?”

It wasn’t entirely wrong. Every noble family keeps records about themselves. If they have notable achievements, they even exaggerate them.

The problem wasn’t in the act of recording.

“Why is the Chief Officer writing that?”

Usually, a separate historian is responsible for such records. There’s no need for the chief officer to write them personally.

But Claude, with a shameless expression, replied.

“Everyone is busy, right? And there’s no one who writes as well as I do. I’m a master calligrapher and a great writer.”

Claude argued that ‘since it’s part of my duties, the chief officer could do it.’ It wasn’t a completely false statement, so Wendy couldn’t immediately stop him.

He alternated between working on the chronicle and instructing the scribes for the territory’s official documents to copy the chronicles verbatim.

That part seemed suspicious, but he managed to deceive them with the excuse that he was making copies to distribute among various people.

Claude then engaged in numerous dubious acts afterwards.

“Hey, as the chief officer, I need to inspect the lord’s garments, you know? The ceremonial management isn’t only a job for the butler.”

“Bring me the lord’s weapons. I need to check their condition.”

“Hmm, this doesn’t look good. Set it aside. I’ll inform the workshop of the deficiencies.”

“Ah, tell the butler to send the things to discard over here. I need to check them one last time.”

In this way, Claude used his authority to gradually pocket Ghislaine’s belongings. He tied those actions into the chief officer’s duties, cleverly keeping people in the dark.

As the chief officer of the territory, Claude naturally had many administrative officials under his command. Thus, he ended up with one or two trusted subordinates.

Claude entrusted his items to these trustworthy subordinates and had them secretly sell them.

This was the most challenging part. He had to employ various methods, like splitting up words and passing notes, all to avoid getting caught by Wendy.

Additionally, he used merchants to spread rumors discreetly to the followers.

‘Phew, that was a tight spot, but I made it through.’

Though it was tough at first, once his trusted subordinates caught on to Claude’s intentions, they understood everything with merely a glance.

And so, the dark auction house was created, and Ghislaine’s items were sold to followers.

By the time Wendy realized it, everything had been sold out, and the auction had grown in scale. Claude had used his brilliant mind to deceive everyone in the territory and build a new business.

Ever since Wendy found out about the auction’s existence, she had been chewing on her nails in worry for days.

‘What should I do? How should I report this?’

It wasn’t like he had embezzled public funds. He wasn’t forcing people to work for free.

He had worked hard to build a new business, and he was using the profits to employ people.

This guy maliciously never touched the items that Belinda would take back. He sneakily grabbed and sold only the ones he planned to dispose of after assessing their condition.

No matter how much they were to be discarded, selling the lord’s items without permission was a huge no-no. Yet, it’s quite ambiguous.

Ideally, she should have reported it from the start to prevent it. But now, the situation had grown too large, and it was impossible to report.

Claude couldn’t help but grin as he glanced at Wendy’s expression.

‘Hehe, does your heart waver a little? With so many people involved, it must be difficult to report.’

From the scribes to those selling the items, everyone was working tirelessly, without sleep. Everyone was doing this voluntarily, so there was no basis to stop them.

Wendy had no idea how to handle this matter.

It was wrong, but it wasn’t a major wrongdoing. In a way, she could gloss over it. She knew she should stop it now, but the atmosphere made that difficult.

Claude leaned in and whispered to Wendy.

“Just let it go; it’s already too late. You’ve been just spectating for a long time now. What are you going to do now that it has come to this?”

When Wendy glared at him, Claude turned his head quickly. He really was an annoying prick.

Claude hadn’t just assigned tasks to scribes. There were other figures nearby waiting expectantly.

“Alright, everyone! The writers are working hard, so let’s gather the painters too.”

These were none other than the painters from the Penris Territory. Claude scanned over the painters he had summoned under his command and frowned.

“Are you guys not drawing proper portraits? I’m getting too many complaints about the corrections being too excessive from those who know the lord’s face!”

The painters bit their lips at Claude’s words. Honestly, it felt unfair. The one who forced them to draw it extra handsome was Claude.

He even checked the work personally and approved it. But as soon as complaints came in, he acted like he didn’t know.

He truly was a shameless guy.

“In any case! Ah! You need to redo them! Got it? This time, let’s minimize the artificial beauty!”

“Understood.”

“Anyway, we’ve received a lot of refund requests, and many have asked for reworks. So scrap everything done so far and draw them again! Is that clear?”

“B-but we’ve made about five hundred copies!”

“Whether it’s five hundred or five thousand! This matters to our credibility! So you all need to stay up all night to redraw them!”

At those words, the painters turned pale. The one with the least credibility was shouting about credibility. They really wanted to give him a solid punch.

Claude clenched his fists and shouted.

“Come on! Stay strong! If we push ourselves, we can do it! Now let’s run hard today!”

Claude cheerfully encouraged the painters.

Without even realizing who was truly charging toward them right now.