Chapter 102

“Here is the report, milord.”

Count Brant Khalodian frowned as he read the report sent by Jackson from the village.

-Milord, the number of the Black Talon mercenaries of the Black Brotherhood that entered the Khalodanian mountain range was 300 in total, with 42 survivors. We questioned these men and found out that they entered the mountain by walking around our village and they tried to attack the Ainos village. Fortunately, they were ambushed on the way by the Ainos and were chased away. It seems like they were attacked and had to run away helplessly. All the men who came back say that they saw the devil within the forest. The loud sounds of the devil meant the death of men and they were…-

It was an emergency message that was delivered by the messenger with a red flag. All of his staff also joined together to see the report.

“What is going on? Devils? So the Ainos have made a pact with a devil?”

Secretary Hernan Oto and Tax Collector Baril also frowned at the report. They glanced at the count carefully. But Knight Captain Seil spoke indignantly.

“We should punish those men for entering the forest without our permission!”

Hernan let out a sigh as Seil seemed to not realize what the real problem was. Brant seemed to be disappointed at Seil also. He looked at Seil for a moment, then turned to Hernan.

“We should keep this news from spreading.”

“Jackson has detained them in the cells. We should keep them quiet.”

Seil opened his eyes in shock as he heard both Hernan and Baril say the same thing.

“Do you want to kill them all?”

Hernan frowned at the words.

“What do you mean?”

“To stop the words from spreading, keeping quiet… It’s best to just kill… right?”

Seil gestured with his hands on his neck to slice the throat. Brant seemed to be at a loss for words for Seil’s stupidity.

“There are forty-two men. We cannot kill them all. We can just send them to the quarries.”

“Oh.”

Seil, who understood, looked away in shame as he realized Brant was looking at him silently.

“Devils…”

“I think they believe that the Ainos are the devils.”

“That’s what I think too.”

The problem here was not the fact that they entered the forest. The main problem was that they claimed to have seen the devil. Forty-two men saying that they saw the devil in unison was not to be ignored.

‘Ugh. I can’t just ignore them.’

Gurguldas, the descendants of the devils themselves, were still alive somewhere within the mountain range. They were over twelve feet tall with black bodies. They were vicious and aggressive, and they hunted humans for food. The claims of having seen such devils were not to be taken lightly.

“I should go to the village myself. Seil, prepare.”

“Milord! You’re visiting the place?”

“Yes. I will also visit the Ainos village. Prepare for the trip.”

“Milord!”

Hernan and Baril stood up as they were shocked by the sudden decision.

‘He’s going to meet the countess!’

Hernan frowned at the thought.

‘Dammit! She sure was beautiful for him to fall in love so badly.’

Hernan thought about the beautiful countess he saw. Her soft smiles made everyone feel so comfortable. But she was a widow from outside the country. It was a loss for the count to choose such a woman over all other marriage proposals.

‘Should I stop him? No… that will just make the fire burn stronger. I should let him do as he wishes… It seemed like the boy did not like it either.’

Hernan lowered his head as he thought about Joonbum. Also, there were more people who were going to try to stop the count besides him.

“Milord! The mountain range is too dangerous!”

“Are our soldiers so weak? Are they not strong enough to even follow the trails? The trails that the Ainos freely travel back and forth on? Is that what you are implying? Knight-Captain?”

Seil could not even object anymore. Hernan let out a sigh and bowed his head.

“Milord, the trip will take a long time. We will need to tend to our lands…”

“In which we have paid all the debt. There’s not much else we need to decide anytime soon. You can take my place to govern while I’m away. I need some rest too. You know, I think I haven’t taken a vacation for a while! The countess asked me if I was happy once. I nodded at the time, but I’m not sure. I don’t think I am happy.”

Everyone fell silent. Most nobles abandoned their lands to live in the capitals. All they needed was the tax collected from their lands as they enjoyed extravagant lives in the capital. On the other hand, Brant was the man who gave up on every possible luxury he could afford.

Men bowed their heads in unison.

“Please, be careful.”

*

“Haha! So I was…”

“Hey! Get your hands off of me!”

“Ugh!”

“HAH! Look at that slap on your face!”

“Hey! Bring me the honey beer!”

“I want Ainos beer!”

“Me too!”

“Bring fried Brix!”

“I need fried Kuku!”

Joonbum grinned as he looked around the saloon. Nothing had changed and that’s what he liked about it.

‘I wish it was a bit cleaner.’

Everything else was great.

“Room?”

“Yeah. Give me a room, and I need a bath too.”

“One room, dinner, breakfast, and a bath. Half a silver coin.”

The man who swept his sweat with a towel spoke carelessly. Joonbum took out a silver coin from his pocket.

“Sure. This is for two days. Also give me an Ainos beer.”

“Okay. I’m the owner, Malcolm.”

The owner introduced himself with a grin.

“I’m Monte.”

Joonbum gave him a false name. Malcolm nodded and picked up trash from the ground and yelled at the girl who was running about busily.

“Kasil! Third room on the third floor! Guide him there and prepare a bath!”

“Okay! Come this way!”

A girl about the age of seven grinned at Joonbum. They both walked up the stairs to the third floor and walked into a room without any locks.

“Don’t forget to carry any valuables when you leave the room. We don’t have many thieves, but it’s safe to be careful. We don’t pay for anything you lose. You can lock the door from inside the when you go to sleep.”

The girl explained quickly and bowed. Joonbum handed her small silver pieces.

“Oh! Thank you! Do you need ladies by any chance? We have really good ladies. Ladies with big boobies and ladies with big booties. Who do you like? I’ll have them come up here if you let me know.”

Kasil chattered in delight as she was overjoyed by the tip. Joonbum shook his head.

“That’s okay. Just prepare me a bath. Also, I want an Ainos beer and hot stew when I’m done with the bath. Not the regular dinner. Is that possible?”

“Of course! I’ll let the kitchen know. Trust me.”

“Sure. Counting on you.”

Kasil ran out of the room and Joonbum looked around. The room was filled with the moldy smell from the old wood. It was cleaned regularly, but it was far from clean from a hygienic point of view. There was a wooden bed at the side, as well as a small table and chair by the window. Next to it was a small water bottle with a small bowl for washing hands.

‘It’s simple.’

He did not expect much as all of the inns like this were pretty much the same. Joonbum then opened the window to look out at the village. It was weird to stay at the other side of the village when he was at the opposite side not too long ago.

‘It’s too quiet. Why?’

He watched the forty-two men safely arrive at the village. He also saw the guards taking them into custody. But what happened afterward was weird. He thought it would be a huge issue in the village, but nobody knew of this.

‘They should’ve finished questioning. Are they keeping it quiet?’

It was only morning, but it should’ve been the main gossip topic to be talked about at a saloon. But nobody seemed to know about it.

‘It’s probably not that Hectos guy. It should be Jackson who did this.’

It was obvious that Jackson intervened to keep the guardsmen from spreading the news. Joonbum looked around the room and came down to the hall. The hall was filled with people enjoying their drinks.

“Ainos beer!”

Joonbum shouted for the beer and began listening to people around him. But no one talked about the mercenaries.

‘Should I meet Jackson myself?’

“Oh, the bath is ready! Come this way!”

Kasil came up to him and guided him into the bathroom. It was a bit larger than expected, and there was a crude wooden tub filled with warm water inside of it.

‘This is nice.’

He felt warm satisfaction as he entered the tub. It felt very relaxing to dive into warm water that went up to his chin.

‘I should wait it out for a few days.’

Joonbum closed his eyes and began to relax in the water.