Juan was kicked out of the mercenary guild by the female employee, who basically pushed his back and forced him to leave. The guild’s mercenary grade wasn’t something that could be obtained easily just by winning against a mercenary of a specific grade—it could only be obtained when one had earned enough credit, reputation and skills all at once.

In other words, it was impossible to obtain a silver mercenary grade in a short period of time, unless one made a huge contribution or was a famous mercenary even before he joined the guild.

“They have become a much more demanding group than I remember.”

The mercenaries that Juan remembered from when he used to be the emperor were nothing more than men who were crazy over money, alcohol, and women. It was also common for the mercenaries of various mercenary groups to join Juan’s army. They used to be simple and unsystematic, but they had changed quite a bit over time.

‘Anyway, how am I gonna get to the territory of Durgal?’

The only information Juan had found out about Durgal was that it was a rural village located somewhere in the Manas Mountains. Juan had heard a chaotic rumor about the village—it was said that the forces which rebelled against the empire were caught in a trap there and suffered from mass persecution by the empire. The rumor also said that the survivors had buried enormous amounts of jewels underground, thus the mercenaries or adventurers constantly visited Durgal to search for the hidden treasures. Juan assumed that the rumors about the hidden treasure must be true considering that the Indeterminate Polyhedron had been discovered there.

But that was all Juan knew about Durgal. Juan had never heard of the territory of Durgal before, and he thought it must either be a very small land that wasn’t well known, or it was only established after his death. Juan didn’t think that it was worth wandering the whole mountain range just to look for a small village.

“Hey, you, the black-haired young man over there.”

At that moment, Juan heard a voice from above his head. A woman who had a slender figure and silver bobbed hair was looking down at him with a smile that revealed all her teeth from the terrace on the second floor of the mercenary guild building. She was carrying a huge horn bow made with the horns of an unknown creature on her back.

“Why are you looking for the territory of Durgal?” the woman asked.

“Do you know anything about it?”

“Continue walking and forget it if all you are looking for is nothing more than wealth and fame. There’s no such thing in Durgal.”

“You must know Durgal well, right?”

“Maybe?”

The woman lifted up her hair. Beneath her hair was the stub of her ear that had been cut off. The woman grinned and continued.

“I’ve got things even worse than this underneath my clothes, although I can’t show them to you in the middle of the day. Thank god that the guy who stabbed me in the back was so obsessed with cutting my ear.”

“Is that a wound you got due to going to the territory of Durgal?”

“It sure is. I’m one of the few mercenaries who have made it out of there, alive.”

“So there are dangerous people there.”

“Dangerous people? Hehe. You really are clueless, aren’t you? The guy who cut off my ear was the one I trusted most and could rely on.”

“Then why did he…”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I also want to know why he did what he did. That land just makes people crazy. I was the only one who barely managed to make it out alive from among the group I went with, but I couldn’t go back to where that guy was again. So I gave up all the rewards and ran away from there alone. Usually, only one out of twenty people bring back gold and silver from there.”

“That’s more than I thought.”

“And four out of those five who succeed in getting gold and silver treasures always go back for more. To sum it up, it can be said that only about one in a hundred people can successfully make it out alive from the territory of Durgal. It’s no wonder that the guild limits the access to the territory of Durgal to only silver grades and higher.”

The woman jumped down from the terrace with ease. Upon seeing her nimble movement and the fact that she landed without a single sound, Juan noticed that she was an elf. It took Juan a longer time to realize her identity due to her ear which had been cut off, not to mention the way she was dressed to disguise as a human. Other people besides Juan would be completely fooled.

“So? Why are you trying to go there?” the elf woman grinned as she circled around Juan.

“Why do you want to know?”

“If I like the reason behind you wanting to go there, I’ll lead the way myself.”

Juan’s eyebrows twitched. He didn’t like the idea of having to explain everything to her, but the idea of a ‘crazy elf woman’ made Juan feel uneasy and caused his heart to ache for some reason. Besides, he figured that it would be difficult for him to get there without the elf woman’s help if he could only rely on asking others for the location of the rural territory hidden in the mountains.

“I’m planning to kill someone there.”

The elf woman opened her mouth wide and clapped her hands upon hearing Juan’s answer.

“If that’s the case, you couldn't find a better place. I won’t ask you who you’re trying to kill since that sounds too personal.”

“So you’ll guide me there?”

“Sure thing, if you pay the right price, that is. I am a mercenary after all.”

Juan sighed with his arms crossed. He didn’t think paying her would be a waste, but having a conversation with this woman somehow made Juan tired.

“How much do you want?” Juan asked.

“Ten thousand gold pieces,” the elf woman said with a big smile.

At that moment, she quickly took two steps back from Juan upon seeing him placing his hand over his short sword. The elf woman didn’t erase the smile off her face and shook her head.

“Whoa, whoa, don’t try to cut off my neck all of a sudden. If you can’t pay ten thousand gold pieces, your head will be enough. Am I right, ten thousand gold pieces? I know that you’re the one that the Church is desperately trying to find and offering a reward of ten thousand gold pieces for.”

“I never tried to hide it—I only wondered why they are still looking for a young child. How do you know about this already?” Juan said with an eerie smile.

“I get my information quickly, thanks to my connections,” the elf woman laughed loudly and continued speaking. “I have lots of friends, especially in Hiveden as there are a lot of jobs for me over there. I heard an interesting story from a friend there. I won’t ask how a thirteen-year-old boy turned eighteen in just a day. I have learned from the territory of Durgal that there are many things in the world that you are better off not knowing about.”

“If you want my head, shoot your shot. I won’t stop you.”

“Well,” the woman elf shook her head. “I’m not trying to fight you, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces. How would I dare to fight someone that’s worth ten thousand gold pieces?”

“Then what do you want?”

“If Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces don’t want to pay me in advance, I’ll still guide you to the territory of Durgal. If you happen to die in there, I’ll cut off your head, just like my ear. Let’s say that you’ll pay later, why don’t we?”

“What if I survive?” Juan asked out of pure curiosity, as he didn’t think even for a little bit that he would die.

“Then the fact that you survived will be enough to pay the price. So what do you say? Is this an acceptable condition for you?” the elf woman said as she looked at Juan with a mysterious smile on her face.

The elf woman smiled a broad smile and held out her hand.

Juan suddenly felt that he was intertwined with crazy elves too often as he looked at the elf woman’s eyes which were filled with madness and confusion. However, he didn’t think that her suggestion was a bad one, especially when he never even considered dying in the territory of Durgal.

“Alright,” Juan said.

While Juan nodded his head, he didn’t hold the elf woman’s hand, causing her to retrieve her hand awkwardly and smile.

“My name is Swallan. I hope we get along well until we arrive at Durgal, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces.”

***

Unlike her tone and behavior that made her look crazy, Swallan was a gold-grade mercenary, someone who surpassed the silver grade. This fact didn’t surprise Juan, as he already knew that her skills far surpassed the man whom he had beaten up in the guild.

What did surprise Juan were the exceptional reactions of the people around her when she took up the task of getting Juan to Durgal. She directly got Juan, who didn’t even have a mercenary grade, on a carriage that would take him to the territory of Durgal. She also sold Juan’s horse for more than it was worth, and she even made the carriage leave earlier than intended when Juan made a fuss. Any and all issues which seemed to be problematic to resolve were simply neglected by people hearing the words ‘it’s Ms. Swallan’s request.’

“Who are you?” Juan asked with suspicion.

“I’m a competent mercenary. Worth paying ten thousand gold pieces, aren’t I?”

Swallan answered Juan as if it was nothing, then pushed Juan into the carriage.

Everything happened in an instant—Juan departed for the territory of Durgal.

The sound of the wheels of the carriage clattering was monotonous, and the landscape of the red wasteland passing by relaxed Juan and Swallan.

Swallan leaned against the window to take a nap, almost as if she was sleeping in her own bed. The same was true of other mercenaries in the carriage.

The mercenaries who had to travel quite often used public carriages like this one, but its speed was rather disappointing for Juan.

“It’s too slow. Why are we on a carriage when we could be riding our horses?” Juan asked as he woke Swallan up by kicking her feet.

“Because this is the only way to safely get to Durgal, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces.” Swallan yawned loudly while stretching. “Only a madman would suggest going to the territory of Durgal with just two people, not to mention the complicated directions. It’s better to ride a carriage with many people. So you should get used to the shaky carriage trip, Mr. Ten thousand gold pieces.”

There was nothing Juan could do about it despite his complaints, as Swallan was the guide leading him.

‘Then, I guess I have nothing better to do other than check the condition of my body.’

Juan checked the condition of his mana heart with ease. When his body had been reconstructed in Hiveden, most of the mana that stayed separate inside his body had fused together as one—the emperor’s own mana, the mana from Talter’s blood, Grunbalde’s gray cloak, and even a part of Nigrato’s mana had all been absorbed and fused into his body.

Although Juan hadn’t been able to fully accept all the mana into his body due to the limited capacity of his current body, it was still quite the progress. Juan had also mostly recovered the mana that had been stolen by his original body when he had visited the Imperial Palace.

‘But the problem is that the nature of the mana has changed.’

When the enormous powers fused under the leadership of the emperor’s mana, their natures changed from the way they used to be originally. For example, Juan could no longer use the power of Talter’s blood as that blood had been completely fused and mostly lost its original properties. But if he wanted to, it was still possible to explode its power to a certain extent, such that it was a bit weaker than before. The same was true of Grunbalde’s gray cloak and a part of Nigrato’s power.

It was different from magic—Juan was now able to access a small portion of the powers that used to be unique to the gods. However, the power gained in this manner was definitely far from the power that he wielded as an emperor.

Juan couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. While Juan would no longer have to worry about losing control of the powers as they had already lost their egos, Juan felt a slight anxiety about his original mana being contaminated and corrupted, and thus completely different from before if other types of mana continued to be fused into it like this.

‘I don’t know what the side effects are.’

Juan didn’t know what kind of reaction his mana would show when he regained his original body one day; the properties of his mana could end up becoming very different by then.

Thinking that it would be better to watch the condition of his body for the time being, Juan decided to practice being able to handle the unfamiliar mana with ease inside his body.

***

The journey to Durgal was now in its second day. The surrounding scenery was rather boring with only red wasteland and rolling dust, and the mercenaries eagerly waited for the carriage to stop so that they could stretch their stiff bodies. Whenever the carriage stopped for a while to give the horses some rest, everyone was busy making a fuss to come outside to stretch—except for Juan.

“Excuse me, Ms. Swallan.”

While everyone was moving their stiff joints, one of the mercenaries spoke to Swallan.

“Huh? What is it?” Swallan asked.

“Um, well. Who is your companion?”

“Does he bother you? I thought he’s been quiet.”

“I mean, he is quiet… but he is too quiet, don’t you think? All he’s been doing for two days straight is sitting quietly with his eyes closed other than the times he drinks water.”

“And he has black hair too, huh?” Swallan grinned.

“...That too, yes. Other mercenaries also feel uncomfortable to see a guy from beyond the border acting unpleasantly.”

“He’s not the type to harm anyone, so just ignore him.”

The mercenary returned with an unsatisfied expression.

Swallan turned her head to look at Juan, who was still sitting in the carriage. His expression was calm, but no one could figure out what he was thinking. It was natural for others to feel uncomfortable about Juan, as it would even be hard to tell that he is breathing unless you took a closer look at him.

Swallan looked at Juan’s face for a long time, and gently reached out her hand toward his nose. As soon as her fingertips were about to touch the tip of his nose, Juan suddenly opened his eyes.

“Someone’s coming.”