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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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It occurred to me that the training I usually saw might have been quite toned down.
After a considerable amount of time had passed like that…
“Master, it’s finished.”
The troll, unable to regenerate anymore, lay defenseless with red and blue bruises all over its body.
As I approached, it unconsciously looked at me.
I used magic on it.
The troll, whose mental state had literally broken, couldn’t resist my charm.
In a state of half-giving up on life due to continuous pain, it didn’t show any particular movement even as I approached, to the extent that it would have been strange if its mental state had been normal.
Under the charm, it’s already unfocused eyes became even more vacant.
When I gestured, it stood up.
Thud, thud.
‘Fortunately, it understands.’
Since it couldn’t possibly know human language, body language was the easiest way.
“You succeeded with that in one go?”
Athena looked on curiously.
“Kayla prepared it well. Thanks to it having half-given up on life, it was rather easy.”
“…Well, I suppose even I would lose my mind if I were beaten like that.”
Athena answered while shuddering.
“There’s no benefit to staying here long, so let’s leave.”
Although we had the troll, this still wasn’t a good place to be.
It wasn’t because of the danger.
Honestly, with our skills, it wasn’t particularly dangerous.
In fact, while it was a place where intermediate mercenaries and even some advanced mercenaries had to be careful, we had moved unhesitatingly while maintaining our formation.
Although the troll had cleared a path, it still wasn’t an easy place.
However, the troll was a medium-large monster, and compared to lower-ranked trolls, the duration of the charm would inevitably be shorter.
‘It’s harder to cast in the first place.’
Moreover, as its mental strength recovered, it would become increasingly difficult to recast.
As such, it was best to return as quickly as possible.
I made the troll carry the corpses of the dead humans.
“What about… that?”
What Athena hesitantly referred to was the corpse that the troll had been eating.
“Let’s give up on it.”
Only the relatively intact ones could be rescued.
Those severely damaged ones would only cause more pain if brought back.
Upon checking, only two humans were alive.
It was a male-female pair, with the man looking quite old and the woman young.
Besides them, there were three relatively intact corpses in fairly good condition.
Judging by the traces, it seemed about 7 people had been captured.
I inwardly thought it was impressive that it had managed to bring so many alone.
I had the Living Armor carry the survivors.
Although the magic could affect the survivors, I had no intention of being that considerate towards them.
Perhaps because we had the troll in the lead, the giant spiders abandoned the homes they were building and fled as soon as they saw us.
They weren’t complete homes, and half-built ones were no match for the troll.
Moreover, having already experienced being ravaged, their choice could be considered natural.
The same was true for other monsters, and thanks to this, leaving the forest was smooth sailing.
Whenever the troll showed signs of breaking free from the charm, I recast it, and each time, Kayla kept a close eye on the troll.
Fortunately, it couldn’t resist, and we were able to reach the vicinity of the village without much difficulty.
“Athena. Go ahead and let them know we’re coming back.”
“Huh? Ah, right. This is going to be troublesome…”
“Yeah, that’s right. And secure some large logs to make stakes.”
“Stakes?”
“Yes. They should have some. They’ll need them to rebuild collapsed buildings or palisades. I need to borrow some.”
I said this while looking at the troll, and Athena, realizing why I needed stakes, shook her head and replied.
“It’s troublesome in many ways.”
“It’s worth the trouble.”
My reason for sending Athena was that she already had a rapport with the village chief.
She had experienced meeting with him privately to hear information.
After she entered the village and some time had passed, we headed towards the village.
Naturally, most of the undead had been put away.
I only kept out two Living Armors that were relatively less repulsive, and since they were carrying the survivors, it should be fine.
As we approached the village with the troll in the lead, villagers who had already heard the news gathered near the palisade.
The highly tense village chief, who had been staring blankly at the troll at the village entrance, seemed to come to his senses and spoke to me.
“Y-you’ve arrived…”
“The request has been completed. As you can see, it’s under my control.”
At my words, a flash of fear crossed the chief’s eyes.
He looked back and forth between the Living Armor and the troll a few times before speaking.
“Y-you’ve worked hard.”
“Where are the logs I requested?”
“They’ll be here soon. But why the logs…”
“The control isn’t permanent. I plan to request an iron cage for capture from the Mercenary Guild. In the meantime, I can’t just leave it unattended, so I’m going to fix it to the ground so it can’t move at all.”
In simple terms, I meant to pin it to the ground like an insect specimen.
I also wanted to rest a bit, and there was a possibility of problems occuring if I just took it to the castle, so there was no choice.
‘I should give the villagers time to vent their anger too.’
It would probably be a beneficial time.
The village chief swallowed at my words that my control wasn’t permanent, but he nodded when I said we’d keep it outside the village and monitor it properly.
In the first place, the chief had no authority to say anything to us in his position.
While waiting for the requested logs to arrive, I gestured to the troll to bring out the dead villagers.
“These are…”
“There were some who had been kidnapped. It seems they’re people from this village…”
The chief bowed his head in gratitude, apparently not expecting us to have done something that wasn’t asked.
Then, as I had the Living Armor put down the two survivors, I said,
“These two were still alive.”
At the mention of living people, the chief quickly raised his head.
“S-survivors, you say?”
“Yes. They haven’t regained consciousness yet due to the giant spider’s poison, but they should wake up by tomorrow at the latest.”
If their condition had been much worse, I would have called for a doctor, but it wasn’t that bad.
However, the chief seemed to think differently and quickly called for the village doctor, who immediately took the two away.
“H-how should I express my gratitude…”
“It’s fine. I did it along with the job. Just write the completion certificate properly.”
“O-of course.”
As if wanting to handle it right away, he signed the request form and handed over the completion certificate.
I could receive the payment minus the commission just by handing this over to the Mercenary Guild.
Meanwhile, the requested logs arrived, and I asked Kayla to sharpen their ends.
I then drove these completed stakes into the limbs of the troll, which I had made lie face down.
“Kuuuaaaaargh!”
The charm broke instantly due to the terrible pain, and the troll thrashed about, but it was of no use against Kayla’s violence.
After subduing it, Kayla drove in the stakes one by one.
Soon, the troll’s eyes once again became half-dead.
After driving stakes into every joint, it could do nothing but twitch.
‘It can hardly regenerate now.’
It would be fine if we fed it, but I had no intention of doing so.
‘The bleeding has stopped well.’
It would die if left for a long time, but since we had sent someone through the village chief, it probably wouldn’t be left for too long.
At most a day?
A troll wasn’t a monster weak enough to die in just one day.
“Let’s rest until someone comes. The first shift…”
“I’ll do it.”
Baldur stepped forward, and I nodded.
“Go ahead.”
I told him that even if the villagers harassed the troll, as long as its life wasn’t in danger, he should let them be.
Baldur nodded as if he understood my meaning.
We headed to our assigned lodgings, and as soon as we entered the village, several villagers rushed towards the corpses.
Loud wailing could be heard, and Athena kept looking back.
She too seemed to imagine their pain, having family of her own.
‘She did actually lose her parents.’
At the same time, looking at her tightly clenched fist, it seemed she was vowing never to end up like that.
She still had her younger sister left, after all.
We returned to our lodgings and took sufficient rest, and when evening came, the village chief visited our lodgings along with Baldur.
It seemed he had switched with Athena.
Puzzled by the sudden visit, I allowed them to enter.
I ordered Baldur to rest and sat facing the village chief in the living room.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to express my gratitude and apologize.”
The chief stood up and bowed deeply.
“I want to apologize for the rudeness I showed on the first day. I didn’t know you were such a person…”
“No. It’s something I accepted when I chose to become a warlock.”
I didn’t even care.
That level of rudeness didn’t even count as rudeness.
“I’m sorry and grateful. And… I heard you allowed us to vent our anger on the troll.”
Apparently, a bereaved family member, unable to bear seeing their family returned as corpses, had thrown stones at the troll in anger.
The chief, terrified since the troll was essentially my property, had tried to stop them, but Baldur had explained the situation.
“As long as it doesn’t die, it’s fine. If it can alleviate even a little of the grief of losing their family, that’s enough.”
“…I wonder if you’re really a warlock. Considering the undead I saw during the day, you must be, but…”
The chief shook his head and expressed his gratitude once again.
“On behalf of the people of Normary Village, I express our gratitude.”
Instead of words, I showed modest reluctance as if it was a bit burdensome.
After a moment of silence, the chief provided new information.
“The two survivors you rescued are fortunately in good condition. The doctor confirmed that they should wake up by tomorrow at the latest.”
“It’s giant spider poison, after all.”
“The doctor said the same thing. Did the troll head to that area?”
Although there wasn’t much good in hearing it, since he asked, I conveyed the facts as they were.
Hearing that they had essentially been stored as food by giant spiders, the chief’s hands trembled.
“That’s why we couldn’t bring back two of the bodies.”
“…Thank you for telling us.”
After hesitating for a moment, the chief spoke.
“As a token of gratitude for the kindness you’ve shown beyond the request, if you visit our village in the future, whether for a request or not, we will always provide lodging and food.”
“That’s very kind of you.”
“I’m sorry that this is all we can do for you.”
Honestly, this alone was enough.
It could be considered more than the outcome I had aimed for.
Starting from here, rumors about me would spread to various places.
For a warlock, about whom rumors couldn’t easily spread, if that warlock acted unlike a typical warlock, rumors would spread even faster.
‘Because it’s interesting.’
There might be some who would bother to confirm the rumors, but I just needed to get through the initial period well.
Additionally, the chief conveyed words of gratitude once more on behalf of the people of Normary Village, especially the bereaved families, and said that they might visit later when they had stabilized.
I told him that we would have to leave the village early because of the troll, and the chief nodded as if it couldn’t be helped.
“Still, won’t you visit us once later? If they come then, please don’t refuse them.”
“I have no reason to refuse.”
The conversation proceeded in a warm atmosphere, different from when we first visited, and after a light chat over tea, the chief returned home late at night, apologizing for the intrusion.
After he left, I felt that we had successfully completed our first request.
‘If it goes like this, we might be able to start in less than a month.’
I felt quite satisfied.
When it became late at night, Kayla left the lodgings to switch with Athena, and around dawn, I switched places with Kayla.
As I was watching the day break, Baldur came looking for me.
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