Harun

《Meeting the n.o.ble sisters again》

 “It is safe to say we got stabbed in the back. There is no way the intel would have been leaked otherwise.”

 Seryu and Biryu were shocked to hear the news from Mobius, who just drank a gla.s.s of beer as soon as he entered.

 “You sure about that?”

 “You can bet on it.”

 Mobius rea.s.sured them. Biryu bit her lower lip and and gnashed her teeth recalling somebody’s face.

 “Those intel guild b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, I’m not letting this slip away.”

 Unlike Biryu, Seryu seemed dispirited. She knew the current situation of Baron Thaust Castle, so she was already expecting that the intel had been leaked. The news that Mobius brought was only the confirmation. Admitting that the intel had been leaked, Seryu asked Mobius.

 “So, how many factions are here?”

 “Collecting information as I go around the castle, I figured out that there are three factions that sent their knights here. They are from Duke York, Marquis Seheras, and Marquis Mallon.”

 “And what about the users?”

 “A total of four large guilds have sent their advance party.”

 Mobius candidly told her the intel he collected.

 “Man! Thaust Castle has turned into a playground for users. In the worst case scenario, we’ll be doing all the work and they will take what we’ve accomplished,” Biryu complained.

 Seryu felt sick in the pit of her stomach hearing Biryu’s harsh words. But she knew that her sister wasn’t intending to hurt her feeling, so she changed the subject.

 “They must be looking for a pathfinder, right?”

 “I can’t say for sure. If they have a map of some sort, they would hire a pathfinder. But if they have only the intel about the mine, they should be busy enough looking for the map or any intel about it.”

 “And have you found a mercenary, hunter or a herbalist who’s knowledgeable about the Hukran’s as I’ve asked?”

 “No, unfortunately. I have asked around every corner of the castle to find none.”

 Mobius brought rather disappointing news with sorriness on his face.

 Baron Thaust Castle was a center for herbal markets where mercenaries would often visit, but as it was located near the Huk’ran mountains, it was surrounded by rough terrain, monsters and beasts which made it a hard place for people to leave.

 Since the number of settled population was low, not many mercenaries were from the castle. There weren’t even 50 registered mercenaries in the castle, and excluding a mercenary captain who was grade B, they were not skillful.

 “Even the experienced hunters and herbalists had never entered the center of Huk’ran mountains, and they’re afraid of doing so, calling it the Devil’s Land. Finding a pathfinder would be hard.”

 “That’s a happy feature of misfortune.”

  Seryu gave a light sigh of relief.

 “Pardon me?”

 Mobius asked in confusion, but there was no glimpse of explanation from her.

 ‘It’s been 20 days since we parted with him. He’ll be showing up pretty soon.’

 She was waiting for someone. That was why she was staying at the inn near the western gate, at the second floor where she could see the western gate clearly. That was the nearest gate from Huk’ran mountains. Together, or taking turns, she and Biryu looked at the gate.

 ‘If I can think of one, the others can think the same too. Hmph! But the first one to find the place would be us, Ko-M guild.”

 And they must be n.o.bles like her, who have great finances and power. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to buy the information about the mine.

 Before the real deal of the Golden Battle begins, the user guilds were desperately looking for an opportunity to stick to a faction. As the users were not as skilled as the knights in this world, offering financial support of some sort was the most practical way.

 She knew she wasn’t the only one who thought offering financial support was the best way, but she never thought the information guild would sell that information to multiple people.

 “I have no idea what you are thinking of,” said Mobius.

 Mobius presumed that she must have information that he didn’t know and seeked for an explanation, but she would never say a word about it. Biryu wasn’t saying a

word either.

 Seryu slowed closed her eyes and got absorbed in thoughts. Then she recalled a mercenary with deep, pure eyes and long hair that resembled a lion’s.

 “Huhu!”

 Seryu laughed only to confuse Mobius even more.

 At first she hated seeing that disheveled hair, and now she was remembering it as a lion’s mane. She was now sure that she has special feeling toward that NPC mercenary.

 ‘Strange! Why do I keep thinking of him when he is not even a user? I wonder when he’ll come.’

 There was no sign of him so far.

 “It is not like we can enter the Huk’ran mountains like before, since we’ll end up dying to monsters just like the last time…….” Said Seryu to herself.

 Mobius was talking with Biryu for a moment, then overheard Seryu, then recalled the upsetting memory in the Huk’ran mountains the last time he entered with her, and clicked his tongue. He recalled every moment of how over 300 users with average level of 40 couldn’t survive a week. He made a special deal with Seryu to provide all information he had that she need, but he was not capable of solving such problems.

 The time kept flowing, but they’d stopped talking, absorbed in their own thoughts.

 “Who’s that pal? Is he a mercenary?”

 Mobius was thoughtlessly watching out of the window and exclaimed seeing a man pa.s.sing the west gate. The west gate, one of the four gates of the Baron Thaust Castle was the least used one as it lead to the Huk’ran mountains.

 He’d seen some herbalists and hunters using the west gate, but his look suggested that he was not one of them. Mobius too, has been watching the west gate wondering why the n.o.ble sisters were watching it.

 At his words, Biryu looked out of the window, and yelled out a cheer as she springs to her feet.

 “Sis, it’s the Gusts of Wind! That turn-off captain! He really came like you said!”

 On Biryu’s excited words, Seryu opened her eyes and stuck her head out the window. It was him. His members were not with him, but that mercenary with intense-aura was the man she’d been awaiting for.

 “Quick! After him!”

 The sister’s faces were full of smiles rushing down the stairs.

 “Wait! Who’s that pal? Do you know him?”

 Without getting an answer, he followed them. Thankfully, they were quick enough to catch up with the man.

 “Nice to meet you. It seems like you’ve just arrived.”

 “Long time no see.”

 The man gave a curt reply to Biryu’s greeting. He wasn’t even looking at her, but there was no change of expression in Biryu’s face.

 “Are your members fine as well?”

 “Yes, fortunately.”

 Even to Seryu’s question, he gave a curt reply. She didn’t get to make proper eye-contact with him, but it seemed like she didn’t care much about it.

 ‘Who is he?’ Mobius asked.

 Even though he has been hired by them for a long time, he has never seen them acting in such a way.

 Though Seryu was a bit better than her sister Biryu. Biryu had a filthy temper. They were no different from the n.o.bles of this world. Overconfident, and supercilious.

 And yet, they were glad to see a man who was utterly indifferent of them. Even that filthy tempered Biryu seemed troubled dealing with him.

 He also noticed another unusual thing. He has never seen a man not being moved by those sisters’ radiant looks.

 Knowing that it would be rude to do so, he walked up to the man and leered at him out of curiosity. He couldn’t see the face because of the man’s long hair. But the tall height, and rather thin body type was ironically giving off an intense, powerful impression.

 ‘He is a mercenary?’

 He was now sure that the man was a mercenary. A mercenary who’s been through a rough journey. He could tell from the smell of blood from his b.l.o.o.d.y armor.

 “Can we talk for a second?”

 “What talk? I’m a bit busy here.”

 He was giving a curt reply once again, but Mobius saw no filthy temper from the sister’s faces that he expected.

 “I would like to make a request.”

 “A request? What sort?”

 “It is not something we can talk about in public. But I can tell you that you

you don’t want to miss it.”

 On Seryu’s words, an expression came up on his face.

 “Alright. But I have some business to deal with right now so tell me where you folks stay. Let me hear what request you want to make while having dinner.”

 “I knew it. I’ll wait for you at Marmont’s Saloon near the west gate.”

 “Got it. Well then.”

 The man walked away toward the herb and leather market. Seryu and Biryu looked at each other with satisfied expression, and nodded.

 “Who is he?”

 “Hoho! He is the man who will be our pathfinder.”

 Mobius’ eyes lit up on Seryu’s words. Through experience he learned that he couldn’t trust Biryu’s but Seryu’s words

 “That pal?”

 “He is capable of such task.”

 “Yeah. He’s a bit annoying but he is a real skilled merc.”

 The sisters’ words were full of a.s.surance, and it made Mobius even more curious about the mercenary.

 Mobius met these n.o.ble sisters in the intel guild, so it wasn’t like he’d known them for a long time. But at least he knew they didn’t trust their guild members. He didn’t trust her guild members either, especially after they got ma.s.sacred in the Huk’ran Mountains.

 “He is well aware of paths in the Huk’rans, and treats those monsters like pieces of cake. We need him or this will all be for nothing.”

 “You mean the monsters in the Huk’ran mountains?”

 Mobius was good enough to fight a knight, and yet he had to run away from fighting the orc with two lumps and he barely survived by using the recall scroll the sisters gave him. He couldn’t easily believe her words.

 “That’s right. If it is him, he can take us to the place.“

 “Yeah, it is just that he is a bit tempered,” Biryu added.

 Mobius noticed that Seryu was still looking at the mercenary and tilted his head. Her eyes were full of some feeling.

 ‘Hmm. Is that right?’

 Rolling his eyes, he made a subtle smile.

Though he had arrived at the herb market, he couldn’t decide which way to go and stopped at the entrance. It was because he couldn’t think of any way to get the intel he wanted.

 ‘Should I look for a library or a bookstore?’

 Soon, he shook his head. Not only because he wasn’t sure if such historical data would exist, but he doubted that a public library would exist in a baron level castle, even though Baron Thaust Castle was bigger than other baron castles due to the herb market.

 Also, he had no intention of using the intel guild yet.

 The only way to find traces of the Legendary Throwing Knife Master was by finding clues as he travels around.

 ‘I guess I’ll earn nothing if I just keep standing here.’

 Haroon walked into the market that was occupying more than half of the square.

 Baron Thaust Castle was the place that the merchants from every part of the Empire and even from nearby kingdoms would visit, so there weren’t many people that looked like users. Just like how people said it was famous for its herb market, there were more stalls and shops that sell herbs than anything. Even more than the residential buildings. Bigger shops had various types of herbs displayed by purposes, either well dried and chopped into small pieces or in wads the size of small beads. Some were displayed in the open while some were stored in bottles.

 Since Haroon was not entirely unrelated to herbs, they drew his interest. He’d learned herbalism because of Brat, and though it was his first time seeing them with his own eyes, he knew the appearance and their purposes. He kept glancing at the stalls and herbs displayed, but he couldn’t decide if he should buy them or not. It was because he wasn’t sure if they were real or fakes with visual tricks used by the merchants.

 Eventually, he visited every stall and shop and ended up buying nothing. Coming out to the center of the square, Haroon sighed.

 “Well, this is hard.”

 “What’s so hard?”

 A voice startled Haroon and made him turn around. There was an old man watching him. The old man with grayish white hair with his face filled with wrinkles was smiling like a kid.

 “Uhhh…”

 “I’m asking what a young man, like you,

like you, is finding it so hard. What is it that made you sigh so hard that it reached this old man’s ears?”

 Haroon chuckled for a moment. He was a nosy man, who seemed bored to death and nosy enough to hold up a complete stranger to talk.

 “Huh! First you sigh and now you are laughing at an old man?”

 The old man seemed upset that Haroon chuckled at him. He apologized without any hesitation.

 “I’m really sorry. I was thinking something else.”

 “I don’t care whether you’re sorry or not just tell me why you were sighing so deeply. You’ll make me die form curiosity”

 Haroon was right about his first thought of the man.

 He was surely a curious old man who always meddled in others’ affairs. Despite how old he looked on the outside, it was amazing how loud his voice was, drawing the attention of everyone around them. Feeling uncomfortable with the eyes of the crowd on him, Haroon wanted to leave the place. So he decided to quickly deal with the old man.

 “I was looking for good quality herbs, but I don’t have an eye for it, so I was concerned about that.”

 He was not entirely lying. Since he was looking for herbs to make the antidotes.

 “Ehem. Is that so.”

 After thinking for a moment, the old man suddenly grabbed Haroon’s hand.

 “What the-”

 Startled, Haroon tried to pull his hand free, but he couldn’t as the old man’s strength was unexpectedly strong.

 “Pal, I’m telling you that I’m guiding you to the herb shop that only sells top quality herbs. You can trust me that the quality is high, and the pri- well, the price is high too but you can trust the quality.”

 “Huh?”

 “Did you eat your ears or something young lad? Just follow me.”

 Haroon got led by the old man and his strength, and was being dragged like a horse being sold on the horse market.

 The old man’s walking was unexpectedly fast. Normal people wouldn’t be able to follow him if they didn’t run, but Haroon was soon able to keep pace after using Messenger Walking. If the old man had said that the price was cheap, he wouldn’t have followed him. If the quality is high, of course the price would be high as well. But he needed to check if his words were true.

 The old man dragged Haroon to a shabby shop located in a backstreet.

 Haroon was in a remote area where the merchants from outside the castle wouldn’t even come to, but there were shops that sell herbs and other stuffs.

 ‘I guess these are the ones that residents use.’

 Though there were not many people walking in that alley, their outfits suggested that his guess was right.

 “Hey, it’s me!”

 The old man shouted confidently walking into the shop. The voice was so loud that Haroon worried that it might collapse the building. The reply from inside made him smile though.

 “Dang! I haven’t seen your frowzy mug for so long that I thought you were dead, rotting in the deepest part of the Huk’ran mountains!”

 Also an old voice, but full of power.

 “What? Look at this d.a.m.ned rude kid yell the s.h.i.t out of me but not showing his face!”

 “A kid? Did you just f.u.c.king called me a kid?”

 The one who came out from the inner room was an old man with a rather strange body shape.

 His belly was larger than a pregnant woman’s, he was holding some kind of a straw cutter that he uses to cut herbs in one arm, while the other arm was just dangling from his shoulder, shriveled up like a dried twig. Moreover, there were three creepy scars across his face that made him look like a devil.

 “I brought you a customer. Never, ever, overcharge him. He seems like a good pal.”

 “C’mon you d.a.m.n thing. Have you ever seen me overcharging my customers? Just don’t hold your hands to me saying I gotta pay the ‘commision fee.’”

 Seeing the two old men, Haroon knew they were very good friends, though their words might be rather rough.

 “Welcome. I’m Kartz. I don’t know what this herb-gatherer-who-is-so-haggard-and-fake said to con you but we only trade the highest quality herbs so don’t worry aboutdon’t worry about it. We even dispense some medicine so just give me a word if you need anything.”

 “Oh, thanks.”

 Kaltz was smiling, which was actually quite hard to face.

 “Yeah, so what are you looking for?”

 “I need some antidotes. I need the best ones that can detoxify anything.”

 After Brat evolved into her current form, her poison damage became much stronger so he had to prepare the best ones even if they were expensive.

 “There is no such thing!”

 After listening to Haroon, Kartz shouted and turned his back. Perplexed, Haroon stared at his back.

 “You f.u.c.king idiot. Your a merchant so you gotta trade with the customer, and now what the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”

 “There are no such antidotes to detoxify anything. I mean, I cannot make it. I ran out of materials.”

 That answered Haroon’s question.

 “What about the ones I gave you this summer? There were a s.h.i.t ton of detoxifying herbs!”

 “We’ve use them all.”

 The old man’s face distorted at Kartz’s answer.

 “d.a.m.n it. We don’t even last half a year with that amount? Shoot, I can’t enter the Huk’rans anymore.”

 “What do you mean? What do you mean you can’t enter the Huk’rans?”

 Kartz turned his body again and faced the old man, surprised.

 “You don’t know what s.h.i.t is happening in the northern Huk’rans. What are those things again, whatchamacallem… The lumped orcs, they’re mad. I don’t know what is going on with them but they are mad and hunting everything they see that moves. Thanks to that my a.s.sociates are injured. Even the famous hunters are not going close to the Huk’rans.”

 “That’s odd. Why? Those lumped orcs maybe tempered but usually they don’t leave their region.”

 “h.e.l.l if I know. On top of that, now this castle is filled with suspicious people looking for herb gatherers and hunters who know the Huk’ran mountains well. Is this the mine thing again?”

 Hearing the two’s conversation bothered Haroon. It was probably because he killed the tribe chief.

 “So that’s why the merchants were complaining about not getting good herbs?”

 “Yeah. We herb gatherers’ might starve to death. I’m telling the others not to, but now that the harvesting season is close I’m afraid the fellows who ran out of food will enter the Huk’rans and get hurt.”

 The two old men gave deep sighs with serious faces.

 ‘I mean, h.e.l.l if I knew a chief, that great tribe chief would really fall asleep from Brat’s poison!’

 Haroon had to find another way to get the antidotes.

 “Excuse me.”

 “What is it?”

 “I’ll gather the needed herbs. Then would you make the antidotes?”

 “What?”

 Kartz and the other old man’s eyes widened.

 “What do you know about the Huk’rans?”

 “I was on my way down from the Huk’ran mountains. With the leathers of the monsters I hunted in there.”

 Haroon put down the bags he had on his back. The first leather he pulled out was a lump orc’s leather.

 “Is this- is this the leather of a lump orc? Who are you?”

 Haroon showed his arm and his bracelet that identifies him as a mercenary.

 “My name is Haroon, the leader of the Gusts of Wind. We entered the north of the Huk’ran Mountains because of a request, and I climbed down to sell these leathers and buy the herbs to make some antidotes.”

 “Hm. You are a mercenary. And by north of the Huk’rans, you mean?”

 They were asking if he really was coming from Huk’ran Mountains. Haroon hesitated for a bit, determining whether to mention Huk’ran knights or not.

 “We escorted a VIP to the camp in the middle of the mountain that has the highest peak.”

 “Hmm, is that right…..”

 They looked at him with strange eyes, then looked at each other giving eye-signals.

 “How strong are you, I mean, you and your members?”

 “I’ll show you these leathers of shabel tigers and lump orcs. We even hunted two gryphons.”

 Haroon pulled some leathers out and showed them to them, as it seemed they were doubting him.

 “Man! He wasn’t lying!”

 “These surely are of the lumped orcs. And even gryphon leathers?”

 The two old men exclaimed, examining the leathers. And at the same time, they stared at Haroon with bright eyes.

 “Follow me.”

 It seemed Kartz made a decision. Following him, he entered the inner room, thinking…

 ‘This smells like a quest.’

Translated by Channy_
Edited by Tom and Kmatt