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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“And even if the Owalan Barony had grown and passed that criteria… they probably would have established a temporary branch rather than a formal one.”
“Why? Didn’t you say a branch could be established if they met the criteria?”
“As I said, the Mercenary Guild inevitably has close ties with the territory’s owner. I even said that taking control of a branch is like a small territory war, right?”
“Then what’s the best way for higher nobles to handle lower nobles? Isn’t it simply not giving them the power to resist?”
“…Then Siglen…”
“Yes. Their Mercenary Guild branch would have created a temporary branch.”
This wasn’t a bad deal for the Siglen branch manager either.
After all, it meant their own power would increase.
As Siglen grew stronger, the branch closely associated with it would inevitably become stronger too.
That’s why, although the Mercenary Guild officially claimed neutrality, in most cases, the local branch manager was no different from a vassal of the local lord.
“It’s complicated…”
Even if you just considered the Mercenary Guild, excluding knight forces and standing armies, it was this complex.
Nobles had many other weapons besides this.
‘Factions, which are a combination of connections and blood ties, economic power needed to hire mercenaries and develop territories, and even diplomatic ability is one of the nobles’ weapons as they’re sometimes closely connected with foreign countries.’
Honor and justification were also their weapons.
It was difficult for me to acquire such things.
Becoming a noble in one generation was impossible unless there was considerable chaos, and even if one became a noble, they wouldn’t be properly recognized.
Unless it was for temporary use and disposal, one could never approach the core of a faction.
Light relationships might be possible, but deep connections or the most important marriage alliances would be absolutely impossible unless one was at least a lower noble.
Even with high economic power, what could be done with money was limited, and diplomacy was out of the question.
Even foreign countries rarely sought to establish proper relationships with newly risen upstart nobles.
Amidst long-established houses proven through years of dealings, what I could exchange with them was inevitably limited.
Without such power, even if I became a noble, honor and justification would become a noose strangling me instead.
As such, the only ‘power’ I could acquire was personal strength, which is why I was trying to grow as much as possible as a warlock.
While having this conversation, I found the carriage sent from Normary Village, showed the request form to the coachman, and was able to comfortably arrive at Normary Village while riding in the carriage.
The coachman was terrified when he learned I was a warlock, but hearing that there were four advanced mercenaries and one of them was an advanced expert, he had no choice but to take us to the village.
The coachman guided us to the village chief, who was the village representative, and the chief also first warned me when he heard I was a warlock.
“You’ve officially accepted the request, so if you do anything improper, the Mercenary Guild will hold you accountable for that crime.”
“Don’t worry. So, where are our lodgings?”
“There’s a separate annex where hired mercenaries stay. It’s currently empty, so you can use that.”
It seemed the existing mercenary group had withdrawn.
‘Well, looking at the state of the village, it would be hard to stay.’
Normary Village was quite a large village.
Like the pioneer castle of the former Owalan Barony, it had proper palisades, and its size was enough to tell that hundreds lived there at a glance.
Part of the palisades of such a village had been damaged, and several buildings could be seen collapsed.
Yet they hadn’t been able to deal with the invading troll, so the request was essentially a failure.
On top of that, they had suffered heavy damage from the troll… I thought that mercenary group might be disbanded.
‘In a world with almost no insurance…’
For reference, although the Doriem territory had six villages of this scale, it still couldn’t compare to the great lords.
Even Count Siglen, whom we had fled from, was a powerful figure who owned four castles.
Although the Siglen County was on the frontier, it was one of the real nobles that could exert some influence even in the capital.
It wasn’t for nothing that they possessed a Magic Tower and hippogriffs.
In contrast, Viscount Doriem only owned a single castle, and the scale of that castle was different.
Even though it was quite well-known, its class was different from the great lords.
‘I heard he has ambition though.’
As I had these brief idle thoughts, we entered the designated lodgings, and Athena immediately voiced her complaints.
“Here and there, it’s all ‘warlock, warlock’… Sigh. Suspicion is the default.”
She seemed displeased with everyone’s wary attitude towards me.
“I told you it would be like this.”
“…I just heard about it, but after actually meeting Inha, my perception changed a lot.”
Kayla smirked at Athena’s somewhat excusing words.
“Master is special. You’ll come to think the same as them when you meet other warlocks.”
“…Is it that bad?”
“Imagine beyond that.”
I didn’t refute Kayla’s words.
No, I couldn’t refute them.
It was actually true.
I had been prepared for this from the moment I chose to become a warlock.
‘Still, I have to endure it if I want to rise.’
It couldn’t be helped.
This was the only way for me to acquire extraordinary power.
I felt a sense of how times had changed as we unpacked in the lodgings.
I had long forgotten how the village chief had been wary of me.
He hadn’t cursed at me, just given me a brief warning after learning I was a warlock.
If I responded to every such minor reaction, daily life would be impossible.
In the past, when I operated in the Doriem territory, I had never used a place like this.
‘Usually, we used inns.’
Even then, if our earnings weren’t good, we had to sleep outdoors.
But now, just for accepting a request, we were provided with all sorts of conveniences.
Indeed, it pays to have power.
‘Enduring until 4th class before coming out was certainly a wise choice.’
After we each chose our rooms and unpacked, we gathered in the living room for a brief meeting.
“The problem will be finding it first.”
It seemed no one was thinking of just waiting in the village.
That was natural.
It was just a troll.
It wasn’t like during the monster wave when monsters were everywhere, this request would be over once we entered the forest and hunted the troll.
Honestly, Kayla alone could handle the troll if there were no interruptions.
“They said it was to the west, but we’ll have to go and see. Still, it’s a medium to large sized monster, so it shouldn’t be hard to find traces.”
“I’d like to know a bit about the monster distribution in the area. If we ask the village chief, do you think he’ll tell us? It is our request after all.”
Athena spoke as if somewhat doubtful.
It seemed the village chief’s wary attitude towards me was bothering her.
“He’ll tell us what he knows, but it won’t mean much.”
“The territorial fights around here are really fierce.”
The monsters’ territories constantly changed, and fights broke out all the time.
This got worse as you went north, because of the neutral zone up there.
‘The neutral zone was originally part of the Monster Forest.’
However, it had become a battlefield between the Holy Empire and the Alliance, resulting in a significant loss of Monster Forest territory.
Currently in a state of ceasefire, the part that was once Monster Forest territory had become the present neutral zone, which was why competition among monsters intensified as you went north.
‘That influence extends here too.’
Even though decades had passed since the neutral zone was formed, its aftereffects were still being felt.
It wasn’t for nothing that the dungeon owner we had raided was 6th class, and if we hadn’t used trolls, it would have been quite a tough journey.
Therefore, creating a map of the Monster Forest like we did in the Owalan Barony days was nearly impossible.
‘Even if we made one, we’d only get terrain information, and monster related information changes constantly.’
It needed to be rewritten every quarter at the shortest, or once a year at the longest, and a single village wouldn’t have that capability.
It wasn’t for nothing that they had suffered this much damage from failing to predict a single troll’s attack.
Hearing my explanation, Athena asked,
“Then isn’t it dangerous to enter the forest?”
“Not to that extent. Occasionally higher-level monsters like this pop up, but most are still goblins, trolls, orcs, insect-type monsters, etc., like in the lower areas.”
“I see.”
“But are you really planning to capture the monster? Wouldn’t it be better to avoid it if you’re aiming to become a certified warlock?”
“It’s fine as long as it’s not a full-time job. There’s a reason for it too.”
There was some basis for a warlock doing various things to improve their image.
Of course, most warlocks didn’t do this.
‘It can backfire and make you look weak.’
I wouldn’t have done it if it were goblins or orcs.
However, trolls had enough value.
“And as I said, if it doesn’t work out well, I’ll just kill it and discard it. There’s no need to try too hard.”
I was just trying to seize opportunities as quickly as possible.
“Then in the end, we’ll just have to face it head-on.”
“Understood. In that case, I’ll just rest today.”
“Still, I’ll ask the village chief about various things just in case. You’re wary, but I’ll be relatively less so.”
Kayla declared she would rest to manage her condition, and Athena, though displeased, seemed to think it necessary and said she would go see the village chief.
Actually, normally it was standard to visit the client and gather information related to the request, but because they were so wary due to me, we had come straight to the lodgings, so gathering additional information wasn’t a bad choice.
“Do that. While you’re at it, get a map too. We might not know the monster distribution, but terrain information would be good to have.”
I roughly knew the area, but it was an old memory and I only knew the entrance area, so having a map would be better.
Normally, maps were treated as strategic resources, but in such dangerous areas, they were often created unofficially.
‘It’s not extensive, and it’s a map of the Monster Forest after all.’
It was an unavoidable thing, so this much was actually overlooked.
Nenson had secretly created one too, and I had done the same.
Of course, if you get caught by the lord creating one on a territory scale, you’d face map confiscation, treatment as a spy, torture, and execution in that order.
Baldur hadn’t said a word throughout the meeting, and when the brief meeting ended, he parted with me and returned to his room.
The information Athena brought back from visiting the village chief wasn’t much.
Still, she had managed to bring back a map, so it wasn’t a bad result.
The next day, we packed our gear early in the morning.
Since we planned to return within a day, we only packed equipment, food, and the map Athena had obtained.
“…Didn’t they say the attack was yesterday at dawn?”
They had come to the Mercenary Guild right after the troll returned.
It was quickly registered, and I had taken the request as soon as it came in.
“There should be traces. Let’s go right away.”
I led the group immediately towards the Monster Forest, and before long, we were able to find traces of the troll.
The traces were clear enough that even those not used to this kind of thing, unlike me or Athena, could easily find them.
Trolls were medium-large monsters, and this one hadn’t even tried to hide its traces.
“But this… What should we do?”
Athena looked at me with an expression that said this had become troublesome.
“Here, it seems to be giant spider territory?”
I remained silent at Athena’s words.
Indeed, it was understandable that Athena felt it had become troublesome.
‘Giant spiders…’
Although we lumped them together, there were various types depending on the species.
Broadly, there were those that built homes with spider webs and hunted from there, those that didn’t build homes and wandered around hunting, and those that lived in burrows and claimed the surrounding area as their territory.
Their hunting methods varied.
However, basically, in the Monster Forest, areas called giant spider territory usually referred to places where web-building types gathered and lived.
These had extreme differences in combat power when outside their territory versus inside.
Honestly speaking, homeless giant spiders couldn’t even defeat a giant ant in a one-on-one fight.
But it was a different story for those with homes.
They demonstrated monstrous strength, hunting not only giant ants but also goblins, trolls, giant mantises, and even orcs.
Because of this, when it was time for giant spider offsprings to create their own territories, sometimes the monsters in the area would surround the giant spider territory and beat down any that came out.
‘In a way, they’re similar to magicians.’
They were relatively weak in unprepared situations, but exerted several times more power in prepared spaces.
Of course, there were no fools who compared magicians to spiders.
On top of that, they had poison, making them quite troublesome to deal with.
Because of these characteristics, no mercenary went hunting in giant spider territory.
Although their exoskeletons were weak and didn’t fetch much money, their poison fangs and spider silk were quite valuable.
‘The cost-effectiveness doesn’t match up.’
With the skill needed to go there, one would hunt other monsters instead.
No matter how good the money was, it wasn’t as important as one’s life, and while it was profitable, it wasn’t worth risking one’s life for.
‘It would be different for those who can use mana…’
But there were no such beings around here.
In other words, the giant spiders in this area could be considered a “chicken rib” – not worth eating, but a pity to throw away.
‘And a troll went into such a place…’
Although giant spiders treated even orcs as prey within their territory, it was a different story when it came to trolls.
‘Being medium to large sized, spider webs hardly affect them, and on top of that, trolls are quite resistant to poison…’
In a way, they could be considered natural enemies.
So it must have entered without hesitation.
“What should we do? Should we pursue?”
“…Sigh. We have to.”
It was regrettable that I couldn’t use proper fire attribute attack magic.
‘If it were fire-based, spider webs wouldn’t be much of a problem.’
With a priest, even detoxification would be possible, which would be perfect.
After all, giant spider venom alone wasn’t as strong as one might think.
Originally, it wasn’t meant to kill, but to paralyze prey or put them in a state of suspended animation to keep them fresh.
Therefore, detoxification wasn’t that difficult.
The reason it was valuable was that it was used as an ingredient in various concoctions.
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