Kaspar was the captain of the Red Axe Mercenaries, a group actively operating in the Dukedom of Viseche. As the name of the group suggested, his weapon of choice was a large axe, and he was nicknamed the Red Axe because his axe would always be soaked red with blood every day. Kaspar had been employed in territorial disputes between lords, and he had even defeated several renowned knights. In addition, he had participated in evil land subjugations and had made quite the name for himself. Before he knew it, he became the captain of a mercenary group with more than a hundred men.

Unfortunately, a popular mercenary captain with so many subordinates was an ideal target for the nobles to keep in check. In particular, the Dukedom of Viseche was made up of numerous small territories, so the lords were even more cautious. Although they called themselves a group of mercenaries, if things turned for the worse, they could transform into bandits capable of easily taking over territories and castles. As such, Kaspar had been thinking about moving to another nation to avoid the lords or simply attacking and occupying a decently-sized territory. But all of a sudden, he had received an urgent request from the Bemos territory a couple of months ago. It was a request asking for the extermination of monsters in the Bemos territory due to a sudden, significant increase in their numbers.

The Bemos territory was a fairly large power in the Dukedom of Viseche, and they even possessed an evil land. Kaspar judged it to be an opportunity. He would accept the request and look for an opportunity to occupy the Bemos territory or capture the nobles of the Bemos territory to extort a large sum of money from them. However, his ambitious plans crumbled before they even began.

There had been simply too many monsters in the Bemos territory. Moreover, they weren’t only formidable in terms of numbers. Rather, each of the monsters was stronger and fiercer than the monsters they had ever encountered in evil lands. The most shocking thing was that the monsters were moving in an organized fashion.

As soon as the number of casualties passed thirty, Kaspar fled. He then headed to the City of Moyna and spread the news regarding the reality of the Bemos territory. This was because he had to inform the various nobles of the shocking situation he had never experienced while serving as a mercenary for more than a decade. However, the nobles of Moyna reacted strangely to his words. Rather than becoming shocked and preparing for the situation, they acted nonchalantly. In fact, there were even several nobles who acted as if they had already known about the situation. This was especially the case with the unofficial, indirect leader of the city’s nobles—Baron Lusa.

Baron Lusa pretended to praise and encourage Kaspar in front of others, but he asked to hire him in secret. However, the baron’s purpose in hiring Kaspar wasn’t to eliminate the monsters of the Bemos territory. Rather, Baron Lusa offered Kaspar 300 silver coins every month as a salary to serve him.

Kaspar had been planning to rest for about a month, so he accepted the offer. And as he gathered more men while taking a break, he received the first order from his employer. The King of Maren had led an expedition from the Dukedom of Maren, and he was instructed to keep them busy for a while.

Kaspar had once been the leader of more than a hundred mercenaries, and he had faced countless nobles in battle as well. For him, such a mission was a piece of cake. There was nothing easier than provoking knights from prestigious noble families and luring them into a trap before destroying them. Moreover, it was said that there were less than fifty warriors in the group from Maren, so it was an even easier job. Even if all fifty happened to be knights, the geography of the area would make it difficult for horses to move around. As such, they could not possibly do anything against Kaspar and the Red Axe Mercenaries, who were basically the natives of the surrounding areas.

As such, Kaspar led his men in high spirits. Although he was following Baron Lusa’s orders, he had his own purpose as well. He would increase his own reputation by defeating and capturing the King of Maren, then trade the king for a huge amount of ransom.

If he did well, he could even become a real noble.

Kaspar thanked the gods for the great fortune that had landed in front of him as he left the Lusa territory. However, what awaited him were—

Kuwweeeeeghhh!

Kieeeek! Kieeeeeeeek!

Kuwwwwuugh!

—Hundreds of crazed monsters rampaging in his direction. And it wasn’t an army composed of just lower-ranking monsters like goblins, but it was a group with even lycanthropes and trolls. The entirety of the Red Axe Mercenaries had to be mobilized to face even two or three such monsters.

However, that wasn’t the end of it…

Guwuuuuuughh…!!!

Kaspar and his subordinates hardened like statues as a terrible roar resounded. It felt as if their very souls were frozen. An ogre with two heads wielding a black iron bar was coming toward them at the rear of the rushing monsters.

Kaspar came to a realization at that moment.

What had landed in front of him wasn’t a lucky break, but the greatest misfortune of his life.

***

“116 mana stones. As for the by-products…”

Baron Lusa nodded with satisfaction after listening to the report of a territorial knight who had just returned from subjugating the evil land.

“Great work. It’s more mana stones and by-products than before. The casualties are fewer as well. I can see how hard you’ve worked, sir. Please go get some rest,” Baron Lusa said.

“Yes, my lord. However…” The knight looked around before bending over slightly and lowering his voice as he continued, “I heard that you hired more than a hundred mercenaries. And that you’ve sent them off somewhere. Are you perhaps preparing for a territorial war?”

Baron Lusa responded, “I have other uses for those mercenaries. You don’t have to worry about it, sir.”

“Oh, is that so? I understand,” The knight saluted before leaving.

Baron Lusa leaned back under the care of his maids and grinned.

‘Since there are 120 of them, it should be more than enough to tie them down for a while. The King of Maren is supposed to be a knight of honor, so he shouldn’t attack preemptively. And even if there’s a fight, there won’t be that many casualties.’

It was said that the actual number of troops in the expedition was around 30 to 40. Even the King of Maren would be at a loss when a group of mercenaries outnumbering them by many times picked a fight with them. Baron Lusa had no idea what the King of Maren had been thinking to bring a booger-sized group to resolve the monster uprising, but it was ultimately a good thing for Baron Lusa.

‘That mercenary captain. He won’t sell me out, would he?’

Baron Lusa frowned slightly as he recalled Kaspar, then soon shook off his worries. Kaspar wasn’t an idiot; he was a rather ambitious man. The mercenary captain should know well that he couldn’t mess with Baron Lusa if he wanted to keep working as a mercenary in the city of Moyna and the nearby areas. Moreover, he had been compensated five hundred silver coins for an easy task of bothering the King of Maren and the expedition for six days.

There was no doubt that the sellsword would do his best to complete the mission.

“Haha…”

Baron Lusa laughed in satisfaction without realizing it. The inland was in turmoil because of the monsters, but the nearby areas, including the City of Moyna and the Luna territory, were at peace. Moreover, the dungeon of the Lusa territory was the only evil land that could be subjugated normally, so everyone was starting to depend on him as the days went by.

“It’s all thanks to His Highness Voltaire. Of course...”

It had been the greatest decision of his life to align himself with the crown prince. Duke Viseche, the monarch of the dukedom? The man had done nothing for himself and the Lusa territory except receiving taxes every year. As such, there was no reason to stay faithful to the duke and the dukedom.

“However, Crown Prince Voltaire has supported my independence and Moyna’s independence.”

Indeed, was there a reason why he couldn’t become the king of a dukedom? Even the King of Maren had wandered as a free knight before becoming a duke and a king, so why couldn’t he do the same? After all, his bloodline was much more noble and pure.

“His Majesty Lusa the King…” Baron Lusa muttered while shaking with excitement. If he faced lucky encounters in the future and Crown Prince Voltaire gave him even more support, then he could even think of seizing Duke Viseche’s—

“M-my lord! My lord!” The guard captain of the castle rushed in, shattering Baron Lusa’s sweet imagination.

“Tsk! What is it? Keep your dignity!” Baron Lusa shouted with an irritated voice. However, the guard captain raised his voice regardless, although he would have apologized immediately in normal circumstances.

“T-there’s trouble! M-monsters… The roamer monsters have entered our territory!”

“What? What’s the big deal about that? Why the fuss?” Baron Lusa said. The Lusa territory was large. As such, there was also a considerable number of monsters in their territory. Although they stayed in areas devoid of human activity, if he had to count, there should be a good number of monsters in the—

“There are hundreds of low-ranking monsters alone! All of them are armed! And there are lycanthropes and trolls as well! My lord!” the guard captain exclaimed.

“W-what did you say?”

“A-and…”

That wasn’t the end?

What else was there?

Baron Lusa stared with his jaws agape as the guard captain continued, “T-the mercenaries… The Red Axe Mercenaries have been annihilated!”

“Uaagh…!” Baron Lusa collapsed on the spot with shock.

***

Keeeeeek! Kieeeeeeek!

The twin-headed ogre’s mind was filled with the orders of its master as it stared at the fleeing monsters.

- Drive the monsters away with the beowulf warriors. When the beowulf warriors stop, you stop as well.

- If the monsters start slowing down, kill only the ones at the back.

- If armed humans attack you, kill them.

The twin-headed ogre was faithful to the orders of its master. That was why it had stopped alongside the beowulf warriors.

“This should be good, right?”

“Right. But who the hell were those guys from before?”

“The mercenaries? I’m not sure. Did they notice that we were luring the monsters?”

“Kuhe! They were brave and honorable for mere mercenaries of the continent. They tried to stop us knowing well that they were going to die, right?”

“I guess so, right? I commend their courage, but I felt kind of sorry for them, so I shouted at them to run away.”

“What? Dog-brain, you know how to speak the language of this place?”

“I know the taste of meat, but not the language. I just shouted in our language.”

“I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have understood the language of Brantia. So they probably had no idea what you were saying, right?”

“Yeah. That’s why they attacked me when I shouted. So, I just beat them up instead.”

“Is that going to be a problem? The dark lord said not to attack people.”

“They’re all dead, anyway. And I only beat them up. The ones who killed them were the monsters.”

“Then that should be fine.”

“Right? Kyah! I’m feeling like meat! Let’s go get cooking!”

“Hey! Ogre, you come with us too!”

“I don’t think that bastard understands what you’re saying.”

“The dark lord ordered it to follow us. It was doing super well with that.”

“Then we can just go.”

“Let’s go!”

“Let’s go! Let’s go grill meat!”

“Meat!”

The twin-headed ogre stood still behind the drooling beowulfs, then started to follow after them with large steps. As such, the two-day chase finally came to an end after they crossed multiple mountains, forests, and fields. Naturally, that was only from the beowulf warriors’ perspective. From the perspective of the Lusa territory, they were literally facing a sudden invasion of hundreds of monsters like thunder on a clear day.

***

“…So the Lusa territory’s in turmoil.”

Eugene grinned after hearing about the Lusa territory’s situation from Edmund. The knight had returned exactly according to Eugene’s schedule.

“That’s good. The City of Moyna won’t stand still, right?” Eugene said.

“That should be the case. According to what Sir Buildemain had said, the leadership of Moyna and Baron Lusa seemed to be riding on the same boat,” Edmund answered with an uncomfortable expression.

Edmund spoke cautiously, “By the way, Your Majesty...”

“What is it?” Eugene said.

Edmund continued, “About the Lusa territory. Even if their lord has wronged Your Majesty, the people there…”

It appeared that Edmund was worried about the innocent people of the territory. It was fully understandable for him as an orthodox knight to worry about the people. However, Eugene gave a cold smile in response, “I only care about myself and my people, Sir Edmund.”

“…!”

“I don’t care what happens to the Lusa territory. Honor? Mercy? Why do I have to show such things to someone who has been acting like a dog? An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The people of the Lusa territory should blame themselves for serving the wrong lord,” Eugene continued.

“I made a slip of the tongue. Please forgive me, my lord,” Edmund hurriedly said.

“No, it’s fine. However, sir, just worry about me and my people from now on. That’s how I am, so that’s how you should be as well. In that sense, don’t show mercy when we’re dealing with the Roman Empire’s yellow bastard and his henchmen. Remember that you’re my knight, sir.” Eugene said.

“I will commit that to my memory.” Edmund bowed as his heart burned with emotions.

“Then let’s get going,” Eugene said before turning around. The dungeon of the Bemos territory was waiting for him. He began to wonder what kinds of monsters would be waiting for him inside the dungeon, and what kind of spirit was living in the water source of the Bemos territory. But above all else, he wondered…

‘The demons and the demonic creatures. Especially the humanoid ones…’

Eugene smiled when he recalled the demons who had cast challenging eyes toward him from the other side. He wasn’t sure why, but he had a hunch that they would inform him of something related to his past. And judging from the amount of time that had passed thus far, he had a hunch that the demons and demonic creatures had to have already started crawling out from the corridor.