Chapter 688
Should I Give You a Chance? (3)
The King of Mercenaries.
If it had been any other day, he would’ve laughed in his opponent’s face. Because it was an impossible notion.
The King of Mercenaries? What a ridiculous thing to say. There had never been such a person in all of history.
If he hadn’t lost in the duel, he would’ve punched him and told him to stop spewing nonsense.
And yet...
‘Why did those absurd words stir something in me for a moment?’
Tyran stared blankly at Julien.
‘Ah…’
He, too, had once thought like that when he was young.
The nobles used the Demonic Abyss as an excuse to exploit people, and those who refused to be exploited became bandits and ran amok.
In the end, the powerless lived on, constantly suffering with no dreams or hopes. No, the world was such that even those people turned on each other like animals.
There were a few decent lords, sure but far too few. And even they were quickly devoured by the other lords.
‘If only I had power…’
As a child, he had promised himself that even if he gained strength, he wouldn’t live like that.
But what about now? He had become a noble’s dog, tearing down other nobles on their behalf. That childhood resolve had long since faded.
He craved nothing but greater power and wealth. It felt natural, since all those with power lived that way.
And now, someone stronger than him was talking about saving the world. He was claiming he would lead every mercenary in the world.
Of course, it still sounded like a foolish dream.
But...
If it was a man with eyes like that, eyes that didn’t waver maybe, just maybe, he could change the world even a little?
Tyran shook his head furiously. Then he growled as he glared at Julien.
“You’re just a rookie mercenary, dreaming big. Even if it’s a dream, it has to be something plausible to be taken seriously. Who are you trying to kid?”
“……”
Tyran sighed. He could ignore the nonsense about saving the world, but the fact that he’d lost the duel was indisputable.
Many mercenaries had watched the duel. Making a scene now would only wound his pride further.
“I lost. As promised, I’ll join the Julien Mercenary Corps. So go on, save the world or become the Mercenary King whatever you want.”
He was too proud to act disgracefully. It was a shame to set aside his ambitions, but he had decided to dream a new dream.
“Well, it’s impossible, but it might be a fulfilling one.”
Julien smiled at Tyran’s response.
He untied the rope from his wrist and held out his hand to Tyran.
Tyran stared at Julien’s hand for a moment before grabbing it and standing up.
At that, the Julien Mercenary Corps erupted in cheers.
“Yiaaaaah! The Captain won!”
“Captain’s the best! He’s the man who’ll become the King of Mercenaries!”
“Julien Mercenary Corps is the strongest!”
Everyone was in an uproar. Tyran, who they had believed to be the strongest, had lost to their own captain.
Seeing him fight so desperately, his entire body covered in wounds, left a strong impression. They also realized for the first time that one could fight so magnificently even without using mana.
Osval shouted with a tearful, moved expression.
"This man, Osval, will follow Captain for the rest of his life!"
"Woooooooah!"
The cheers of the Julien Mercenary Corps didn't stop ringing out. The Ironclad Lion Corps members looked at Tyran with dazed expressions.
To them, Tyran had been the strongest - even invincible! They had taken great pride in following such a commander.
But now, he had been defeated in a single duel. They couldn’t believe the corps would be disbanded over just one match.
Tyran, looking a little regretful, spoke to everyone.
"I lost the duel. As promised, the Ironclad Lion Corps will disband and join the Julien Mercenary Corps. Anyone who doesn't like that can leave."
Even if the corps as a whole could be absorbed, he couldn’t force individuals to stay. That was the law of the mercenary world.
Mercenary groups that were more akin to criminal organizations wouldn’t tolerate desertion so easily, but at least the Ironclad Lion Corps wasn’t one of those shameful bands.
It was only then that the members of the Ironclad Lion Corps accepted the reality.
A man as proud as Tyran would never disgrace himself by denying the results or going back on his word. They trusted that much in him.
"I’ll... come along too."
Zark, the vice-captain, spoke up first. Following his lead, the rest of the Ironclad Lion Corps also agreed to join the Julien Mercenary Corps.
After all, for them, it made far more sense to remain in a large mercenary group than to start from scratch elsewhere.
True to their simple mercenary nature, things were quickly wrapped up. The members of the Julien Mercenary Corps shouted with glee, bursting with excitement.
"Yiaaaaaaah! We’re the biggest mercenary corps now!"
"Captain Julien is the best!"
"How did we get this big so fast? Hahahaha!"
Amid all the cheering, only Ghislain stared blankly at Julien.
‘King of Mercenaries?’
That’s my title, isn’t it?
He had been hammering mental discipline into Julien every day, urging him to become the center of the world but he had never told him to become the King of Mercenaries.
Julien was meant to be the world’s savior, not a mercenary.
Still, it seemed Julien had set his own goal to become the center of the world in his own way. In that sense, it wasn’t such a bad thing.
Ghislain smiled brightly.
‘The goals you set for yourself are always the strongest.’
He was someone who would eventually have to leave. He didn’t know how long he could deceive the world and remain in this era, but the stronger Astion’s level grew, the closer the time of parting would come.
And now, Julien had finally set a goal for himself. Ghislain couldn’t help but feel proud.
‘Fine. You be this era’s King of Mercenaries. That’s a great goal to have.’
Ghislain had planned to establish a foothold while working as a mercenary anyway. If Julien was going to do it, he might as well go all the way and become the most influential mercenary in the world.
"Julien! Julien!"
The mercenaries kept chanting Julien’s name. Julien gave a sheepish smile, but his legs gave out and he collapsed.
He had lost too much blood, and the dizziness hit him hard.
"Julien!"
Deneb rushed over in a panic. With a deeply worried expression, she poured out her divine power and began healing him.
"Are you okay? Are you really okay?"
"I'm fine, so don’t worry too much."
"Are you sure? Your whole body is covered in wounds!"
“I told you, I’m fine.”
Deneb still wore a worried expression, while Julien kept smiling. A strange atmosphere passed between the two of them.
Deneb had always taken good care of others. So Ghislain had never thought much of it. But... something about how she acted when Julien was in danger or hurt felt different.
That realization hit Ghislain for the first time, and he stared at the two of them suspiciously.
‘Wait, this is seriously weird. No way… could it be?’
The answer came from within his mind. Astion, whose cultivation had grown, could now surface more freely than before.
― You didn’t know? After two years together?
‘Didn’t know what?’
― They like each other.
‘What the Seriously?’
After a short silence, Astion spoke again, sounding dumbfounded.
― …You really didn’t know?
‘…Since when?’
― Since forever. It’s always been that way. Deneb used to take care of Julien all the time.
Astion gave a brief rundown of their childhood.
Julien had been an orphan, treated like a nuisance in the village. The one person who consistently looked after him had been Deneb.
― Think about it. Even if Julien’s a bit soft, could a kid who went through all that hardship, got betrayed by the villagers, and lived like that ever grow up saying he wants to save the world? It’s a miracle he didn’t turn bitter.
‘Mmm…’
― Every time he was about to go astray, Deneb reeled him back. That’s how Julien grew up right.
‘Then what about Deneb?’
― Who knows? She’s just been like that since birth. Just a naturally kind human being. Maybe that’s why she awakened her divine power? Kyle even said she was blessed by the Star of Suckers.
‘Hrrrrmmm…’
In short, Julien had the heart he did mostly thanks to Deneb.
‘So that’s why he ended up with such a grand dream to save the world?’
― Well, that’s because of me.
‘Ah.’
― Originally, he just wanted to help people, live kindly and make sure others didn’t go through what he did. That kind of thing…
‘Right, and then some possessed guy claiming to be a prophet came along talking about saving the world, huh?’
― Yeah, so I started talking to him all the time, gave him a bunch of knowledge, and as he got stronger, his dreams started to grow too.
‘Ahhh, I see…’
It all made sense now. These kids with humble dreams had been fired up by Astion, and their ambitions had ballooned.
And now, those grand ambitions were on the verge of becoming reality. All thanks to a few kids from a remote village.
It was kind of amazing when you thought about it. As if some vast, unknowable current really did exist beyond human understanding.
While Ghislain was pondering such lofty thoughts, Astion clicked his tongue and said,
― Seriously though, can’t you tell just by looking? How can you not know? Have you even been in a relationship before?
‘……’
― Be honest.
Ghislain quickly fired back with a flustered excuse.
‘I… I had a fiancée once. I’m not like you kids. I was a grown man, alright?’
They had tried to kill each other, but still he had one. Not that such an excuse would fool the sharp-witted Astion.
― Okay, but like… have you actually been in a relationship, or not?
“……”
Struck by the brutal truth, Ghislain was at a loss for words. Dark chimed in from the side.
― Master’s never done anything like that! It’s because he only likes fighting! I’ve seen it all, he was alone even in the womb!
Dark had seen all of Ghislain’s memories, even from before his regression. And shockingly, this once-mighty man had a relationship count of zero.
“……”
With Dark around, Ghislain couldn’t even lie.
Astion and Dark, now gleeful at having found a weakness, ganged up on Ghislain with teasing jabs.
― Pwahaha! No wonder you couldn’t tell, even watching from the side! So, you do have things you’re bad at!
― All you ever do is eat and fight! Do you even know how a girl thinks? Huh?
“……”
Ghislain felt wronged. Honestly, he had always had too much on his plate.
Before his regression, he had to seek revenge. After regressing, he had to dedicate everything to stopping the ducal house and the Salvation Church.
Just when things seemed to finally settle down, he ended up in another era. Not knowing when he might be kicked out of this world, he had to raise Julien quickly.
How could he possibly have time for romance? And here they were, mocking him without understanding his noble cause!
‘I just… didn’t have time for romance because I was busy.’
― Pfft, what a convenient excuse. Just admit you couldn’t do it.
― Master, that’s a lame excuse. If you didn’t have time, you could’ve cut down on training or fighting!
Ghislain, a genius of strategy and tactics, refused to fight a losing battle. So instead of arguing, he simply sealed the two away in the Realm of Will.
― Aaaagh! What the- this is my body! Don’t lock me up!
― Kyahhh! Let me out! I was wrong!
It finally got a bit quieter. Ghislain took a deep breath and calmed his frustration before asking Kyle,
“Did you know those two liked each other?”
“Yeah. Why? Wasn’t it obvious? It’s been like that forever.”
“...No, actually, I knew too.”
So, it was just me who didn’t. The whole world already knew.
He had just been too busy to notice. It wasn’t because he was oblivious to that kind of thing. Definitely not.
“Hmph… well, it’s not a big deal.”
If they liked each other, who was he to stop them? In fact, it might make them more protective of each other, which wasn’t a bad thing.
After all, people grew stronger when they had someone to protect. Hadn’t Ghislain himself been the same?
So, there was no need to worry too much.
Julien and Tyran were quickly taken to the infirmary. Though most of their external injuries were healed using the potions Ghislain had, they had lost a lot of blood and would need several days of rest.
The two merged mercenary corps were awkward at first, but soon grew close.
They had to work together going forward anyway, and with such powerful officers leading the Julien Mercenary Corps, there was no rejection or contempt between them.
During that time, the officers of the Julien Mercenary Corps held repeated meetings to solidify the structure of the organization and plan their next moves.
Once things had settled a bit, Tyran spoke up.
“We were originally scheduled to take part in an upcoming territorial war with Count Crest. The formal request should arrive soon. What do we do about it?”
Ghislain answered nonchalantly.
“We hadn’t signed a contract, so it doesn’t matter. Even if we had, the Ironclad Lion Corps has disbanded - no obligation to follow through.”
“Count Crest won’t just let it go. He’ll try to drag us in one way or another to bolster his forces.”
“And if he doesn’t let it go, then what? Is he going to fight us? If so, we can take him on.”
“……”
Tyran fell silent for a moment.
Count Crest was the strongest lord in the region. When he called, no mercenary would refuse.
Yet this guy was saying, without a care, that he’d fight him if it came to that. Just how fearless was he?
Noticing Tyran’s stiff expression, Ghislain smirked and added,
“If he picks a fight with us first, all the better.”
“Better… how?”
“Yeah. If we want to grow the Barony of Nodehill and our mercenary corps, war’s the best way. Time is short, so we want things to move quickly. If they hand us a justification, it’s the perfect opportunity.”
If they could consume the territory of the most powerful count in the region, it wouldn’t take long to expand their influence across the entire kingdom.
If that happened, Julien could become the center of this kingdom in one leap.
Ghislain genuinely believed that. It was a golden chance to accelerate everything.
But to Tyran, Ghislain’s bold reply sounded completely different.
‘Is this guy actually insane?’
Tyran began to regret joining the Julien Mercenary Corps.