Chapter 12: Siege of Buinyu Fortress (4)

‘Tonight the guard captain secretly sent his son out of the city.’

Then one of the scouts took the boy hostage and the castle fell easily.

The captain loved his son dearly and, unable to withstand the threat, opened Baron Buinyu’s gate.

‘I’m sorry to whoever earned that merit, but that merit this time around….’

He was determined to claim it himself.

Shatien planned to pile up as much fame as possible whenever he had the chance.

This night scouting assignment was, in the end, part of that same plan.

‘Damn. I’m late.’

The rendezvous Jacri, the Centurion, had given him was the front gate of the camp.

But far off already, the scouts had assembled and were checking their search gear. Seeing the baby-faced Shatien show up out of nowhere, the scouts tilted their heads.

“What’s this? Who’s that kid?”

“Why’s he here?”

Soaking up those doubtful looks, Shatien offered a greeting.

“I came from the Mordo Mercenary Corps. I was told to volunteer for the night scouting party.”

“Huh… you?”

“You look young at a glance. Don’t tell me you’re a rookie.”

They asked, half-skeptical, and Shatien answered with a sunny smile.

“Yes, I am a rookie… but I serve as a senior mercenary and a core of the Hundred-man Unit.”

Even at his calm words, the scouts’ eyes stayed dubious.

“Mm….”

“If you’re a rookie, you’re a rookie. What’s this ‘senior’ bit? Did they slap on a title to pull the wool over our eyes?”

The veteran leading the scouts shook his head with a look of open annoyance.

‘I get that they hate the job, but they really sent a rookie? Unbelievable...’

It even made him think the Black Raven Mercenary Corps despised Count Bellua’s forces.

Scouting took seasoned skill. It wasn’t something just anyone could do. Moving quietly, gathering intel in the dark, adapting to every kind of variable.

All of that took experience.

But a rookie?

How much would they have to teach him?

This wasn’t support, it was dead weight.

‘Yikes… I can see exactly what you’re thinking.’

At their blatant displeasure, Shatien gave a wry smile. Sometimes everything got decided without a word being spoken.

Like right now.

‘In the old days I might have gotten mad at this kind of treatment…’

But living a second life had piled up experience, and he didn’t.

If anything, he understood how they felt. How unpleasant and irritating this must be. But it was all a misunderstanding.

Only the outside looked young. Inside him lived an old man who had lived twice as long as they had.

Without changing expression, Shatien decided to start by doing things properly and well.

First came the basics of scouting, camouflage.

“I’m late, so I’ll hurry and get camo on….”

The veteran, who had been grumbling and looking for a way to put Shatien in his place, trailed off mid-sentence.

‘Huh… already?’

Because Shatien was doing it without being told.

He fetched a lump of charcoal from a nearby brazier and smeared it on his face, helmet, and sword on his own.

“I’m all done.”

Shatien checked that his blade wouldn’t glint even in moonlight and spoke.

‘Mm, properly done. Not bad.’

The veteran was rather taken aback.

There was nothing to nitpick. The other scouts felt the same.

“Oh, nicely done.”

“So you aren’t completely clueless after all.”

They tossed in words of praise, and at last started to put away those dismissive looks.

“Haha. It’s the basics you’ve got to do, right?”

Shatien grinned affably.

They’d part ways after one job, but if they were working together anyway, getting along was best.

Besides, he wanted something in this scouting run, so he needed to win them over a bit.

And he had one sure-fire trick that was hard to refuse right now.

“Also… By any chance, have you all eaten?”

“As if. At this hour, how would we find anything to eat?”

“They told us to come right away, so we just ran over….”

White bread and dried jerky.

He had set some aside on his way here. Not enough for four to eat their fill, but enough to put something in an empty stomach.

–Gulp.

Seeing it, the scouts swallowed. Even in peacetime it was rare, and here it was on a battlefield.

Better yet, they didn’t have to pay for it, some stranger was offering it.

Thanks to that, even the prickly veteran grew flustered and asked carefully.

“Are you sure you can give that to us? It’s valuable.”

“It’s fine. Really.”

Shatien shrugged. If he could buy favors from them cheaply, it was a bargain.

“Then I’ll gladly accept.”

“M-Me too!”

Since there wasn’t much, the meal was very short. But the satisfaction seemed to be the best. The scouts smacked their lips and looked regretful.

“That was really good.”

“Thanks for the food.”

“Yeah. Drop by our barracks sometime. We’ll treat you to a decent drink.”

The mood warmed up, completely different from before.

Then the veteran spoke as if something had just occurred to him.

“Come to think of it, we don’t even know your name. What is your name?”

With one small kindness, their way of speaking to him turned informal to formal.

“Shatien.”

“Ah, Shatien. That’s a good name.”

“But I feel like I heard it somewhere. Shatien… Shati… huh? No way, that Shatien?”

Hearing his name, the scouts who had been nodding suddenly jolted and exclaimed.

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

Shatien blinked at their stronger than expected reaction.

Why would scouts from Count Bellua’s army be startled at his name?

“Didn’t you earn merit in this battle?”

“Hm, that’s right. The bread and jerky you’re eating came as a reward for that merit as well.”

“Ahhh! I knew it.”

“So you’re Shatien the Swordbreaker.”

“?”

Swordbreaker? It was a title he’d never heard before. Somehow a nickname he didn’t know had appeared behind his back.

He had a feeling it wasn’t a particularly pleasant one. And he turned out to be right.

“Damn it. We should have guessed when he said he was from the Black Raven Mercenary Corps. A ‘senior mercenary’ at that age.”

“Indeed. Wow. Pleased to meet you. Word’s spread through our whole unit. I hear you break your sword in every fight, but that comes from how good at fighting you are. Haha.”

“Right, right. They even say you’re the mercenary corps back-breaker too, hehe.”

At the patrol’s nonsense, the veteran clicked his tongue and barked.

“Tsk tsk. Should you really say all these things to him right now? Especially after he fed you bread and jerky.”

“A-Ahem. I’m a bit thick. Sorry.”

Their banter made Shatien chuckle despite himself.

A nickname with that kind of meaning… in a way, it was pretty good fame.

A bit of misunderstanding in it, but being talked about often was better than not.

‘Nothing wrong with that I suppose.’

The higher his renown, the more chances he would get for good commissions from nobles. Those precious chances to build ties with high-born clients.

But that was for much later.

There was something to do now.

“All right, now that we’ve filled our bellies, shall we get moving!”

With that, Shatien stood.

It was time to scout.

* * *

‘Hm, this doesn’t look like we’re going where I know?’

Watching the scouting party keep heading up into the mountains, Shatien thought so.

From what his friend, who had earned the merit on this same mission in the past, had told him, they had seized them not in the mountains, but in the flat forest adjacent to the west gate of the walls.

If they kept going like this, they would go far astray and miss them entirely.

‘Looks like me joining knocked something off track.’

With that thought, Shatien decided to step in. He had, by chance, already prepared a suitable pretext.

“I have something to ask.”

“What is it, Shatien?”

“I think we should head somewhere else, not here.”

The veteran frowned as if to say, what nonsense is that.

“Somewhere else huh. Where? And why?”

Luckily, the bribe from earlier seemed to have worked. The veteran didn’t dismiss Shatien with curses. Shatien pointed upward.

“Please look at that.”

At the tip of his finger was a tree with rough gouges in the bark. Seeing the marks, the veteran was badly startled. They were very dangerous signs.

“T-That’s a bear’s mark, isn’t it?”

“I’ve been seeing them for a while. I counted at least four myself. Looks like they’re more frequent around here.”

Which meant the scouting party had entered a bear’s habitat.

The veteran understood at once and broke out in a cold sweat.

Bears tore humans apart.

With nothing but their paws, unlike people with weapons.

“We need to get out of here.”

“Yes. That’s why I mentioned it.”

But not everyone agreed.

“Isn’t it possible the delegates sneaking out of the camp, or enemy spies, missed those? In fact, you’re the only one among us who’s seen them, Shatien.”

This scout balked at the idea of turning back now and sweeping a wider radius after coming this far.

But Shatien shook his head.

“Anyone who lives in this region would know a bear’s range. And messengers or spies wouldn’t loiter in front of a predator’s habitat when safer paths exist.”

At his clear logic, the scouting party nodded.

“True….”

“Sounds plausible, right?”

“Then where do you think they went?”

“Somewhere without bears and good for hiding. The plains are wide open and you get spotted. The mountains are risky because of bears. That leaves exactly one choice.”

Yes, exactly one.

The vast forest near Baron Buinyu’s castle. Everyone seemed to arrive at the same thought.

“That’d be the forest.”

“Right. The forest. There is a band of woods there.”

“I’ve heard there’s a flat path inside the thick trees, so locals might know a quick route.”

Once their thoughts aligned, they moved quickly.

Shatien and the scouts came down from the mountain and headed to the woods near the west gate.

It was indeed the perfect place to flee.

“Mm… it truly is dense.”

“The moonlight barely gets in.”

Thanks to the trees soaring sky-high, the forest was very dark.

They couldn’t light torches while moving stealthily, so the darkness felt even deeper.

On the flip side, it meant anyone who knew the lay of the land could move more easily here.

And before long, that guess hit the mark.

–Snap!

In the still forest, the sound of a branch breaking rang out.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.