.｡.:✧ Chapter 3 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Huh…?”

The hunter’s hand fumbled at his own neck.

It was a momentary surprise attack.

He never imagined that I would stab a knife into his neck just because the food was unappetizing. His face filled with a sense of injustice before he slowly fell backwards.

A life disappeared so easily that it felt futile.

If he were a trained knight capable of using mana, he might have been able to react.

However, it was not an attack that a mere hunter from a frontier estate could respond to.

Nevertheless, just in case, I had obtained magic and enhanced my physical abilities.

The hunter’s death was inevitable.

‘I’ve dealt with the biggest obstacle.’

Now that the hunter was dead, there was no one who could stop me.

I proceeded to deal with his family as well.

I felt no guilt.

In the past, he had sold me into slavery, and even in this life, if he had seen an opening, he would have undoubtedly sold me as a slave again.

Considering his crimes, it was almost regrettable that I had killed him so easily.

However, using any other method would have been too difficult for me in my current weakened state.

Even though I had obtained magic, I didn’t have the confidence to face him head-on.

‘After all, he wasn’t an ordinary hunter from the beginning.’

As I thoroughly searched the house, I easily found the things I had been targeting.

‘He sure sold a lot.’

Although he was a hunter in a remote area, I was able to secure a considerable amount of money and more than ten identity tags.

‘A human hunter.’

He was a man who hunted not only beasts but also humans.

It was no wonder he was able to sell me to a slave trader.

He had connections from the beginning.

Even though it was a remote area, it wasn’t completely devoid of people.

‘Peasants, criminals, runaway serfs or slaves, vagrants, freemen…’

He had been catching such individuals without any backing and selling them to slave traders.

I was one of those victims.

I only discovered his true nature much later.

To be precise, it was after I had learned to speak and read the language.

‘Hmm… should I use this one?’

I chose the most plausible identity tag among those of the freemen.

‘I don’t recognize any of these names.’

Honestly, I didn’t scrutinize them carefully. I had no intention of using them for long anyway.

As long as I could prove that I wasn’t a runaway slave, that would suffice.

I kept the clothes I had brought from Earth separately.

‘It’s a pity, but…’

Walking around in such clothes would only make me a target.

I took not only the hunter’s money but also his clothes and equipment.

Perhaps because he was involved in human hunting, his equipment was quite adequate.

At this point, it was the best I could obtain.

Even though my body had improved slightly after gaining magic, it was still far from sufficient.

However, now that I had secured equipment, I could barely defeat a low-level mercenary and fight on par with a mid-level mercenary.

That alone was enough to survive among the humans in the frontier.

‘This will do.’

After burying the bodies of the hunter’s family and finishing my preparations, I left the house.

My destination was already decided.

‘Baron Owalan’s territory.’

It was a frontier territory, an undeveloped estate.

Therefore, it wasn’t very large, and as far as I remembered, it wasn’t too far from here.

‘The path… is this way, I suppose?’

I followed the traces of people’s footsteps.

After walking for about an hour, the boundary of the estate came into view.

Memories from long ago began to resurface vividly.

As expected of an undeveloped estate, it was surrounded by wooden fences, but honestly speaking, it was no more than a fairly large village.

‘Apart from this place, there were three or four more villages, right?’

To be precise, there were three villages and one additional area under development.

That was the entirety of the barony.

It was also a very dangerous place, being adjacent to a monster forest.

Hunters, due to the nature of their profession, lived separately, but originally, most of the estate’s residents lived within such villages.

‘Come to think of it, it’s not that small.’

It could be considered quite large among frontier estates.

There was even a castle resembling a lord’s residence, and despite being a dangerous frontier, there were three villages under its rule and one more under development.

It was an old memory, and I had judged it based on Earth’s standards, so I must have thought it was small in the past.

“Halt. Who are you?”

A guard of the village stopped me.

Judging by his attire, he didn’t seem to be a mercenary.

‘Is it a self-defense force?’

When I didn’t answer, the guard’s face hardened.

I quickly responded.

“I’m just a wanderer. I heard there was work to be found here.”

“A wanderer?”

“Ah, yes. I’m not a runaway slave or anything like that. I’m a freeman.”

I showed the identity tag I had prepared in advance while speaking.

“Hmm…”

He had a suspicious look on his face. However, after examining my equipment, he soon nodded.

“Your name is… Jimnis? You aspire to be a mercenary, I see?”

“Ah, yes.”

‘I should change my name.’

In my first life, I had simply used my own name.

I had planned to do the same in this life as well.

“You’ve come to the right place. There’s plenty of work to be found here. Being adjacent to the forest and all.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Although it was dangerous, there was indeed a lot of work to be found. Seeing how he changed his tone as soon as he judged that I could be helpful to the estate, I could tell that the frontier was truly underdeveloped.

‘The rewards are insufficient compared to the risks, so not many people come here. It can’t be helped.’

Simply put, it was a place where the cost-benefit ratio wasn’t balanced.

As a result, the discrimination against outsiders was relatively low.

‘There were only two mercenary groups active in this area, right?’

One was a medium-sized mercenary group hired by the lord to protect the other villages, and the other was a small mercenary group employed by a slave trader to guard him.

Their combat power wasn’t exceptionally outstanding, but they shouldn’t be underestimated either.

In this world, very few nobles had a standing army.

Therefore, apart from self-defense forces, most nobles hired professional combat personnel, namely mercenaries.

‘Maintaining a standing army requires tremendous expenses.’

The mercenary groups hired in such a frontier estate could only be low-level mercenaries.

‘The leader would be, at best, a mid-level mercenary.’

There was a high possibility that they were at a similar level to me.

The reason my current combat power wasn’t lacking was due to this environment.

Judging that I was quite useful, the guard briefly warned me not to cause any disturbance and allowed me to enter the village.

Despite being a fairly large village with a population of several hundred, people cautiously observed me, perhaps because outsiders were rare.

Ignoring their gazes, I took a stroll around the village.

‘Found it.’

Finding what I was looking for wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated.

‘Ha. It’s almost the size of a mansion.’

I had a hunch.

As I approached closer, I understood.

This was the place.

If the largest building in the village was the lord’s castle, the second largest was none other than the slave trader’s building.

Seeing a mere slave trader residing in the second-largest building in the estate, I could once again grasp the extent of his position.

‘He must have connections with the lord.’

In a noble’s territory, the lord’s authority was absolute.

It was obvious, if you thought about it.

Letting out a small sigh, I headed towards the man’s building.

Ridiculously, there were guards protecting the slave trader’s mansion.

Judging by their attire, they seemed to be mercenaries.

“Halt. You, who are you?”

“Ah, I’m a wanderer…”

“Those clothes. That equipment. Isn’t that Nenson’s?”

I flinched.

Nenson.

It was the name of the hunter I had killed.

Exam

“Speak. Those are definitely Nenson’s equipment, aren’t they?”

At the mercenary’s words, who was standing guard, I couldn’t find a suitable response.

It was the truth, after all.

However, I didn’t panic.

“That’s right.”

“Why do you have Nenson’s equipment? Could it be…”

The man’s face hardened at my affirmation.

“Yes. I killed him and took it.”

“How brazen of you.”

“I had no choice but to be brazen. It was self-defense.”

Self-defense.

At my words, the man’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Self-defense, you say?”

“You know his profession, don’t you?”

Human hunter.

Based on my search of the house, it seemed he also hunted ordinary beasts, but that wasn’t the important part.

“Ha, so you’re saying he tried to capture you, and you killed him? And you took the equipment as compensation?”

“It’s the spoils of war.”

“Nenson wasn’t someone to be taken lightly, though.”

“Well, he was no match for me anyway.”

This was also a form of self-promotion, so I spoke with confidence.

“It seems that person was connected to this place, which is why I’m mentioning it.”

“…Huh. Not only did you kill him, but you’re also trying to take his place?”

“My specialty is slightly different, but I don’t think it’s a bad proposition.”

Pfft.

At my words, the mercenary let out a ridiculing laugh.

“Well, it’s certainly not a bad deal for our employer.”

Fortunately, it seemed that this mercenary and Nenson weren’t on extremely close terms.

‘I suppose they were just acquaintances.’

That was a relief for me. I had no intention of causing unnecessary friction either.

“Nenson must have lost his touch. I remember him as someone who wouldn’t mess with people he couldn’t handle.”

“Well, I was the one who was attacked first, so I don’t know much about him. I guess my equipment was poor at the time, so he underestimated me.”

“You dealt with Nenson while your equipment was subpar… Alright. I’ll relay the message to the higher-ups for now. Wait here.”

Fortunately, things went smoothly.

No, from my perspective, it was even advantageous that the other party recognized the hunter’s equipment, as it led to a higher evaluation of me.

It didn’t take long before the mercenary returned with someone else.

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