Chapter 104: People on the move

“Run.”

“Run?”

“Only running?”

“That’s how I start. You can go back if you don’t like it.”

Joonbum was awake early in the morning after his four hours of sleep. The two men however, were still in their dreams.

“No? Go back.”

They were yawning endlessly as Joonbum dragged them out, but they shook their heads and came to their senses as Joonbum looked stern.

“R-run! Yeah!”

“Let’s run! But to where?”

“I’ll run first. You two will follow everything I do from now on. I will show you everything I do and it’s up to you to follow and learn. Let’s go!”

Joonbum began walking. He began flexing different parts of his body while walking through the village for quite some time as the two men followed him from behind.

‘What is this?’

‘This isn’t training.’

Daryl and Louise looked disappointed, but that was when Joonbum began to speed up. Both of them didn’t seem to notice as they did not hide their disappointment. Fast walking didn’t mean anything to them. However, as soon as they realized their breathing had quickened, Joonbum had sped up again, now to a slight jogging speed.

As dawn came, Joonbum was now running quite fast ahead of Daryl and Louise.

“Ugh!”

“Argh.”

Both men were out of breath and full of sweat. They could not think of anything as they tried their best to keep up with Joonbum. Soon, they dropped to the ground and began throwing up.

“Haha, they got a good teacher.”

“It’s gonna be hard for a few days.”

“They’re lucky.”

“Starting with running? That’s nice.”

Some onlookers watched them and mentioned that they were lucky.

‘This is lucky?’

‘What part about running is good?’

Both men couldn’t understand what was going on. Joonbum ran one more lap, then approached them.

“What are you doing? Go ahead. Run. Don’t say you’re done running after that. You think a mercenary is some easy job where you just need to walk around with a merchant and go to a saloon at night? 90 out of 100 new mercenaries die. The 10 who survive are those who trained to have better endurance.”

“Ugh. Is that true?”

“W-wow…”

“Run. If you want to become stronger, you need endurance and stamina to do anything. Control your breathing.”

Joonbum spoke eagerly, then started running again. He was now speeding up, not minding those who were following. Daryl and Louise tried their best to keep up the pace.

‘It’s good for the first day.’

Both had good physiques. What Joonbum liked most was their age. They looked older, but they were young enough to not have any experience and they could learn from Joonbum.

‘I’ll train them well.’

“You will start using the sword once you can keep up with me on the running. You can always quit if you don’t like it.”

“Y-yes sir!”

“We will, sir!”

“Go run then.”

Daryl and Louise began running again with pale faces. Joonbum pulled up a water bucket from the well and sprayed it onto himself before he started running again. He also needed to run for himself.

The training became more intense as the days passed and Daryl and Louise barely managed to do it. The week quickly went by.

*

“W-What! How?”

Jackson was shocked. His eyes were wide open and his jaw dropped. But he quickly corrected himself and bowed.

“Sir Joonbum Christos.”

Joonbum nodded.

“Rise.”

“Yes, sir!”

‘He’s wise.’

Joonbum thought about Jackson’s calm expression. Joonbum opened his mouth with a cold, insolent voice.

“So, you locked up those scums?”

Jackson bowed a little and answered,” By scums, you mean…”

“Forty-two scums. They ran away out of my grasp.”

‘He knows!’

Jackson began to grow tense. His mind raced with his thoughts.

‘They went into the mountain range to assault the Ainos village. He said he lives there so he must’ve known. But if…’

Joonbum spoke out as Jackson fell silent.

“It’s so easy to earn money. I guess they want to pay me more compensation. Or else why would they send another group of people? It was quite a lot this time.”

‘Ugh, this man wants more money again?’

Jackson already knew why the Black Talon went into the mountain range. Their purpose was to pillage the Ainos Village. He already knew this noble in front of him was the reason why.

‘No, there was a request to kill them this time.’

Another purpose for their attack was to assassinate the countess and her son, Joonbum Christos.

“How much should I ask for mental compensation for an assassination attempt?”

Jackson frowned.

“Y-you want compensation?”

Joonbum grinned.

“Of course. What can a nameless noble from another country do? Nobles of this country won’t let me do anything else. The Donian Merchant Group doesn’t just consist of some lowly merchants, do they?”

Jackson shook his head and let out a deep sigh.

“I am sorry, sir. But it won’t be that easy this time.”

“Explain.”

“Those men claim that they have seen the devils.”

“What?”

“All forty-two of them claim the same thing. That they have seen the devil.”

Joonbum narrowed his eyes. He was thinking about the witch trials of the medieval times.

‘Devils. Well, they can think of it that way.’

Jackson continued as Joonbum thought.

“We found out that they were trying to pillage the village and assassinate, but the problem is that they claim to have seen the devils. The lord wants to keep quiet on this matter as he is on his way to take care of it with his hands.”

Joonbum, who was listening, asked, “Is that such a big deal?”

“Yes. There will be bloodshed. Even the Ainos cannot avoid it.”

Bothered the words, Joonbum asked quietly, “You are underestimating the Ainos.”

“No, sir. We are talking about the religious group, Horun, from the Chreetan Empire. I know the Ainos are powerful forest dwellers, but the Horun have millions of followers. They can burn the entire mountain range to eradicate the devils.”

It was beyond expectation. Burning the entire forest was a real problem.

‘I guess there are lunatic zealots here too. But…’

Joonbum glared at Jackson.

“I know I have been living in the mountain for a long time. It will be unnatural for the Horuns to claim that the Ainos are now the devils. I also heard that the empire trades for the potions too.”

Jackson nodded at the words.

“Yes, but we have forty-two men saying the same thing. The Donians will not stay quiet once they find this out. Even the nobles who are backing them will do the same thing. Then it will be easy for the Horuns to make a move. They will at least make the Ainos succumb to the Donians and keep the trade with the bad terms.”

Joonbum understood what Jackson was saying. He was definitely very wise.

‘It’s amazing that he can think that much.’

Jackson was like a treasure to him. He was a genius.

“Quit this job and serve me.”

“What?”

Jackson, who was bowing his head down, looked up. He looked surprised and confused.

“Hmm? Looks like you like it then. That’s decided. Oh, and I heard that Hectos is your brother-in-law? Hm. I will take him in also. He’ll be good once we teach him one thing or two.”

Jackson’s eyes opened in shock.

“I-I am-”

“You like it, right? I’ll wait until the count arrives and talk with him to deal with those scums.”