Chapter 26: Gold, Blood, and Stew

Pi shoo shoo shoo swoosh.

The flying arrow fell straight toward the soldiers who were resting comfortably.

“Ugh.”

“Ahh!”

Startled by the arrow that fell into their formation, the soldiers hurriedly raised their shields, but it was too late.

From the enemy formation, a second volley of arrows was already coming.

Pi shoo shoo shoo swoosh.

“Ack!”

The allied swordsmen began to fall helplessly one after another.

Duke Krukd shouted in surprise.

“Hurry, Knights and Cavalry, deploy and sweep those bastards away! Mages, unleash your magic!”

Only then did the Knights mount their horses and charge forward.

The Cavalry followed closely behind.

The thunderous sound of hooves grew louder.

From the enemy side, they were charging to meet us.

Clang clang clang!

Knights clashed against knights.

Between them, the Cavalry on both sides began to trample through the opposing formations.

“Ahhh! My arm!”

“Save me…”

Hell that I had witnessed yesterday unfolded once again.

From the rear, I could see Duke Krukd’s vacant, helpless expression.

That moment didn’t last long as he began to urge the Mages.

“Faster! Use your magic faster!”

Despite Krukd’s urging, I deliberately held back, not revealing the full extent of my abilities.

“Why put in extra effort when we get paid the same?”

Of course, more effort meant a bigger payout if we won, but I wasn’t confident that my powers alone could defeat this overwhelming number of enemies.

“Especially the Knights—they have horses.”

That was why I preferred to cast magic toward the foot soldiers rather than the Knights.

Experience points certainly favored the Knights in combat.

But the armor they wore was equipped with basic defensive magic.

My current attacks couldn’t penetrate it, rendering me little more than a shadowy bystander.

While I was earnestly casting Light Magic, Duke Krukd raged madly.

“What are you Mercenaries doing?! You idiots! Do it right or I’ll kill you all!”

Despite the Duke’s anger over their sluggishness, the Mercenaries remained utterly useless.

“Give them a single blast of magic,”

Krukd finally ordered a Mage.

The Mage nodded and cast a spell directly toward the Mercenaries.

“Cone of Ice.”

A cone-shaped block of ice fell downward through the air.

Boom!

Five Mercenaries caught under it were crushed to death.

Watching this, Krukd’s crazed roar echoed.

“From now on, anyone who disobeys will get hit with magic, so shape up!”

At his words, the Mercenaries reluctantly shifted from passive to active.

Even among the Mercenaries, the number of casualties started to rise one by one.

Krukd’s Mercenaries intentionally moved toward the foot soldiers’ positions.

Their thinking was simple: better to kill enemy foot soldiers than their own Mercenaries.

But they didn’t last long before all were slaughtered.

The enemy magic was merciless, and once they detected the moving group, enemy Cavalry trampled them.

“That’s the end of it, Army.”

I stopped casting magic.

No, I didn’t have to.

The number of soldiers standing still on the Allied side didn’t even reach fifty.

The Cavalry was all trapped, surrounded by enemy Cavalry.

The Knights’ battle had long since ended.

All the Knights on our side were annihilated.

Not a single one survived.

“Ah… this is a disaster, a disaster.”

Duke Krukd, who had been yelling madly until moments ago, slumped down muttering.

Contrary to my expectation that the battle would drag on for days, the war ended in just two days.

“Ugh.”

Hearing a sound from beside me, I turned to see Jenny twisting her body this way and that.

“It’s so boring when there’s nothing to do.”

She said her body felt stiff and achy from doing nothing under the guise of “protecting me,” and was slowly moving to loosen up.

I glanced at her with a faint smile.

“Let’s just eat something.”

I took Jenny and retreated.

There wouldn’t be a proper dinner in the current situation.

It was better to eat whatever we could make from what was in my Magic Bag.

“I’ll do it. I’ve been a Mercenary for years. I can make something simple and quick.”

Really?

For the first time, I had Jenny try cooking.

Until now, I had been relying on the healing herbs given by the Medic or the items stored in my Magic Bag.

So I had high expectations.

If she had even a little skill, I was thinking I could just leave cooking to her in the future.

I took out the ingredients and Jenny started preparing the food.

After a short time, the aroma of something delicious began to fill the air, heightening my anticipation.

“Hey, can we get a bowl too?”

Three Mages approached from nearby.

They had probably been thinking the same as me and, seeing us cook, came over.

I smiled at them and curled my fingers.

“Here, here.”

The Mages quietly placed a silver coin each into my hand.

The four of us sat down together, waiting for Jenny’s meal.

When she finally served the meat stew, we all eagerly took a spoonful.

Slurp

Then all four of us suddenly tossed the bowls aside and hurried into the forest.

“Ughhh!”

Leaning against trees, the four of us began vomiting.

We spent a long while retching and heaving.

When the vomiting finally stopped, one Mage approached me.

“What on earth did you make this with? It’s the worst-tasting thing I’ve ever eaten.”

The other two Mages nodded vigorously at his words.

“I don’t know either. I thought I was giving something edible, but how could it taste like this…”

I returned their silver coins.

No, I had to, just to ease my conscience.

When I looked back, Jenny was quietly eating the same food she’d made.

The three Mages and I could only gape dumbfounded.

From that day onward, I decided.

I would never ask her to cook again.

Even if it was a hassle, it was better if I did it myself.

***

The next day, we began collecting bodies on the enemy battlefield.

More precisely, this was the spoils of the victorious side.

The soldiers started by gathering the Knights’ bodies first.

They stripped off armor, collected helmets, and loaded swords onto the wagon.

Their movements were cautious.

Knight armor was expensive, so naturally, their handling was careful.

Even the rigid corpses had to be forcibly straightened to remove their gear, making the work difficult and delicate.

Once the Knights’ weapons were collected, more soldiers emerged from the Castle.

This time, they collected the foot soldiers’ belongings.

They rushed to the largest pile of bodies at the center and gathered all the corpses to one side.

They stripped off armor, gathered weapons, and set fire to the piles.

The smell of burning bodies spread throughout the barracks.

The scent was strong.

It was the first time I smelled burning corpses.

It was so pungent I had to cover my nose.

Not just me—everyone did.

The cleanup took half a day.

A task that began in the morning only ended around afternoon.

Meanwhile, the enemy foot soldiers were still bustling about.

They had formed a large table in the center.

Duke Krukd and Duke Ivok headed there.

Shortly after they arrived, a shout burst from Krukd’s mouth.

“No, what war reparations…”

Just hearing those words, I knew.

The war reparations were nowhere near enough.

Unlike Duke Ivok, who spoke calmly, Krukd kept raising his voice.

From the bits I caught, it sounded like the Gold Mine had been handed over, and even the mountain surrounding it had been crossed.

On top of that, with the reparations, Krukd had lost far too much.

“Damn it!!”

Alongside Krukd’s anguished roar, I saw Duke Ivok turn his back with a satisfied expression.

That was the end of the negotiation.

If this had been a war between nations, just witnessing the negotiation alone would have been thrilling.

But this battle ended far too one-sidedly.

The defeated side had no choice but to watch helplessly.

Duke Krukd left the Castle, his footsteps heavy and slow.

In the morning, several soldiers arrived and moved the Duke’s wagon with caution.

Surviving Mercenaries followed behind.

Jenny and I silently followed them as well.

***

It wasn’t until the next day that payment was made.

The Mages were paid first, and upon seeing the amount I received, I smiled bitterly.

“Sorry, Mage. This is all the territory’s wealth we could squeeze out for you.”

From the expected 10 Gold, only 2 Gold remained, and I held 8 Gold in my hand.

He said that among the various parties, the Mages were in a relatively good situation.

Duke Krukd, still sulking inside the Castle, was the reason.

The war reparations from the territory battle were huge, but after paying all the Mercenaries’ wages, nothing was left.

On top of that, all the soldiers who participated in the battle became unpaid laborers and left his hands, so the Domain Citizens had to pay taxes.

Even this was a bitter pill, but with the loss of the Gold Mine and the territory surrounding it, the Duke’s heart must have been torn apart.

Naturally, the funds available dwindled further.

“Understood.”

Without any fuss, I took the money.

Even this was a fortune.

After two days of work, 8 Gold was an incredible profit.

Knowing this well, the other Mages accepted their money silently.

They exchanged brief greetings with me, then mounted their horses and rode away.

After the Mages, it was the Mercenaries’ turn.

Seeing the Mercenaries swarming in, I made space and climbed onto Toma’s back.

Jenny mounted her own horse and slowly moved with me.

Before long, a shout came from behind.

“Shit! Search!”

“Let’s take whatever we can.”

“What do they expect us to do with our dead comrades, these bastards.”

The initial promised amount for the Mercenaries was 1 Gold.

But after the defeat, the treasury was depleted and their income dropped to 70 Silver.

That’s why the Mercenaries rioted, claiming the promise was broken.

“Sigh…”

I couldn’t help but sigh.

Even if they wanted to rob the Krukd Dukedom, there was nothing left to steal.

The Mercenaries raged, demanding the shortfall.

But the Duke was a nobleman and they were commoners; it was meaningless.

“I’ll report this officially to the Mercenary Guild.”

No matter what, that was all they could do.

Even if they told the Guild, nothing would likely change.

Instead, the Duke’s reputation would plummet, and next time, no Mercenaries would come to support him.

I took one last look at the fading Duke’s Castle.

A strange feeling stirred in my heart and passed.

I learned a lot from this war.

And felt a lot.

Things that can’t be put into words.

“Solo-nim?”

Jenny approached and grabbed my arm.

She had spotted several Mercenaries heading this way and was urging me.

“Let’s go…”

From the first war, I learned many things.

Among them, the scariest was, without a doubt, Jenny’s cooking skills.