Chapter 010 : Reunion
In my past life, the Imperial Army had conquered over half of the Kingdom’s continent.
The 4th Corps, to which I belonged, always took on the role of the vanguard, fighting at the forefront.
Even so, there was one region I had never set foot in: the eastern part of the Kingdom, this very Conwell region.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter…
A wide path, spacious enough for two large wagons to pass side by side, cut through the lush forest.
It wasn’t as well-maintained as the Empire’s roads, but it posed no particular inconvenience for travel.
If anything, it had a certain charm…
The quiet atmosphere of the forest contrasted sharply with the memories of the Kingdom’s landscapes, stained with fatigue, screams, and ceaseless cries.
The dissonance made me feel solemn.
Not quite guilt, but a strange sensation.
“Those people…”
I deliberately changed the subject to shake off the emotions trying to bind me.
Jewel, riding alongside me, followed my gaze and looked back.
Four sizable carts were being pulled, each carrying people.
“What happens to them now? They’ve come this far; don’t they get to stop hiding?”
Jewel turned her gaze forward again.
She always had a naturally smiling face, but now that impression was particularly strong.
“They’re being sold.”
“Sold? Where?”
“To their owners, of course.”
“…Owners?”
“Yes. They’re being sold as slaves, those people.”
“What, are you saying they’re trafficking Imperial citizens to Kingdom folk?”
“…Pfft.”
That infuriating laugh of hers. I
swear, if Jewel were a man, she’d have lost a few teeth—molars or incisors—by my hand already.
I suppressed my anger and waited for her response.
“Trafficking. Not exactly wrong.”
Even in my past life as an Imperial soldier, I never had any grand sense of duty.
It’s laughable for a swordsman like me to talk about humanity.
It was just a psychological aversion to the act of buying and selling humans, mixed with a petty sense of patriotism…
That’s about it.
“You’re so nonchalant it’s almost hard to respond. Do you think I’ll just pretend I don’t know?”
“Probably… you won’t have much choice.”
As I furrowed my brow, a loud noise suddenly came from behind.
I immediately turned around.
A man, from who-knows-which cart, had jumped off, thrown off his robe, and was sprinting in the opposite direction we came from.
He looked like livestock desperately escaping a pen.
Crackkk.
A chilling sound nearby sent shivers down my spine.
A memory from my past life suddenly resurfaced.
‘Ice magic!’
Sure enough, the source wasn’t far.
At the tip of Maserin’s outstretched hand, aimed at the fleeing man, transparent crystals were forming.
“………. … …… …, …….”
Maserin, eyes closed, softly chanted a spell.
The sound was so faint it looked like her lips were merely moving.
Shwiiiiing!
An ice shard shot like a dagger and lodged into the man’s leg.
He collapsed, screaming in agony.
“Oh! Right in the leg. Wow, Maserin, your skills are improving by the day!”
Maserin nodded slightly as if in response.
Jewel, mimicking applause, suddenly leaned toward me.
“Hey! Young Master, first time seeing magic? Pretty cool, right? Isn’t it?”
I ignored Jewel’s excited giggling.
Maserin, looking at me, had one corner of her mouth subtly raised.
I was exasperated, but there was something oddly endearing about both of them, and I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
It didn’t last long, though. I had to finish the conversation.
I slowly moved my hand toward the hilt hidden under my cloak.
If Jewel kept provoking me or playing mind games, I was ready to make an appropriate example of her.
“When I first saw those people, I had an uneasy feeling. They didn’t seem like simple stowaways. But I never imagined the Gunbel Trading Company would be involved in something like this.”
“That man was originally a death row inmate. He raped two women, fled, and was caught by the capital’s security forces.”
Jewel, ignoring my gaze, pointed at the people in the carts.
“See that scrawny woman sitting at the front? She went around villages, stealing newborns and throwing them into wells—a truly deranged woman. And that old man was once a notorious swindler in the Genrhr region.”
Jewel listed their horrific records one by one.
All of them were serious criminals officially recognized by the Imperial Court, either imprisoned in the capital or wanted fugitives directly apprehended by the Gunbel Trading Company.
“How is the Gunbel Trading Company handling serious criminals managed by the Imperial Court?”
“Sorry about that.”
Just then, a company member informed Jewel that preparations for departure were complete.
“As much as you’re puzzled, I’m just as frustrated. You probably get the gist of it… this isn’t something you or I can handle.”
Hard to deny. It’s a matter involving the Imperial Court.
Even Jewel, who seemed like she’d never known fear in her life, was subtly showing signs of unease.
I probed further.
“There’s a reason you’re showing me this, isn’t there?”
“…Well, I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
Jewel was completely deflated.
For a brief moment, I wondered if this might be the real face of this infuriating woman.
In any case, I felt drained too.
Clunk.
I released the tension in my thumb, which had been holding the bridge of my nose.
Even before the war, the Imperial Court and the Gunbel Trading Company had a clandestine relationship.
It’s a shocking yet entirely plausible truth.
* * *
As we exited the forest, an open plain stretched before us.
When low buildings began to appear sporadically along the hilly terrain in the distance, a group emerged as if they had been waiting.
“It’s been a while, Princess Gunbel.”
“Sir Roxley.”
The middle-aged man Jewel called Roxley rode alone, armed, at the head of a group of sturdy men dressed in plain clothes.
The armor he wore looked visibly shoddy.
‘A knight and his retainers.’
A familiar sight from the Kingdom’s daily life. It almost felt nostalgic.
“Heh heh. Our princess grows more mature every time I see her. I’ve said it before, and I’m not joking—seriously consider marrying my second son. Then we wouldn’t need to bother with all this trouble, would we?”
“That’d be an honor. I actually mentioned the marriage proposal to my father… but you know how he is. So stubborn. It’s not easy to persuade him.”
“As expected of an Imperial old fogy. Well, this Kingdom’s generous knight will just have to wait. Hahaha!”
Jewel dismounted and exchanged warm laughs and greetings with Roxley.
She deftly humored the old Kingdom knight’s banter.
I don’t have that kind of finesse.
If someone held a sword to my throat and told me to do it, I’d rather choose death.
“Let’s take a look, then.”
Roxley, with the serious demeanor of someone inspecting goods, walked among the carts, carefully examining the people onboard.
He looked like a plump mole waddling along.
“These will do!”
His deliberation was brief.
Roxley tapped one cart twice with his hand. He laughed heartily, clearly satisfied.
“You’ve got an eye for quality, Sir Roxley.”
“Hahaha! Thanks as always, Miss Jewelina. Quite a hefty toll, isn’t it?”
“I think so too. Hope it doesn’t cause you any trouble.”
The word “toll” grated on my ears.
Just then, Roxley’s retainers began pulling the prisoners off the cart.
Some Gunbel Trading Company members stepped in to assist.
‘They’re in sync.’
I sat on my saddle, arms crossed, silently observing.
Looking around, I was the only one idle.
The prisoners in the other carts, when they accidentally met my gaze, averted their eyes as if they’d seen a ghost.
‘…This is stifling.’
The journey was longer than expected.
I had to camp with the company members for two whole days.
Like the first deal with Knight Roxley, the remaining three carts were sold off in a similar manner.
Jewel didn’t take material payment from them.
It was literally just the right to pass through their territory.
And so, the Gunbel Trading Company and I had ventured deep into the Conwell region.
“Is the company’s business done now?”
Behind Jewel and me at the front, empty carts rattled noisily as they followed.
Not all were empty.
One cart carried wooden crates covered with a large, thick cloth, like a disguise.
I didn’t particularly want to ask what was inside.
“No. There’s one last, most important stop left. It might even be the destination you promised, Young Master Bihen.”
The time to part ways with this cunning woman was approaching.
I was curious about what kind of schemes the Gunbel Trading Company was pulling in the Kingdom in collusion with the Imperial Court, but that couldn’t be my priority now.
‘Still, thanks to Jewel, things have gone smoothly.’
I came all this way blindly chasing traces of chivalry.
Like someone possessed, without any clues or evidence.
In that reckless regard, I was truly the Cervantes of the Empire.
“Vice-Leader! Vice-Leader! It’s dangerous…!”
A company member acting as a scout came rushing back from afar, urgency in his voice. He couldn’t finish his sentence.
Fwoooosh!
Flames slashed diagonally across the man’s body, engulfing him in an instant.
The horse, now carrying only a lower body in the saddle, panicked and galloped out of sight.
‘…’
Then I saw them: five mages approaching slowly in a horizontal line from the front.
The reason I could tell they were mages at a glance was because of my cursed Benkou family trait, the ‘Curse of the Spectral Body.’
“How dare you set your filthy feet on this land—!”
The mage in the center shouted abruptly.
He soon enveloped both hands in flames.
“Burn to ashes, all of you!”
The flames in his hands rose slowly, morphing into harpoon shapes before hurtling toward us.
“Everyone, take cover!”
Jewel shouted as she dismounted.
In that instant, I sensed this wasn’t the first time the Gunbel Trading Company had faced such a situation.
Boom—Crash! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The once-silent field was now struck by what felt like lightning.
Fire arrows relentlessly pounded the ground.
‘That level… hmm, at least 4th Circle?’
I recalled memories from my past life while finding a suitable place to hide.
I had that much leeway.
‘It’s been a while, so it’s a bit fuzzy.’
It didn’t matter if I wasn’t sure. Does a top predator bother distinguishing every prey beneath it?
Crackkk.
Maserin formed ice crystals in her hand, preparing to counterattack.
I still couldn’t tell if she was a mage or a swordswoman—such an enigmatic rookie.
“Young Master Bihen! Stay hidden for now! Reinforcements should arrive soon!”
Jewel shouted from under the cart with the wooden crates. To me, it looked like she was desperately protecting that cart.
“Reinforcements out of nowhere?”
“It’s hard to explain right now! Anyway…”
Boom—Crash!
Jewel and I turned our heads simultaneously toward the sound.
Maserin, hit by something, was rolling on the ground some distance away. She still seemed alive.
‘That’s gotta hurt.’
It wouldn’t be bad to keep watching this leisurely…
I asked in a relaxed tone.
“Jewel, need some help?”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. You don’t know much about Kingdom magic. It’s dangerous, so just stay put…”
Jewel answered without looking at me, her eyes fixed forward. Meanwhile, I slowly stood up.
‘Let’s see.’
Maserin and the company escorts were dodging the mages’ flames, looking for an opportunity, but it was clear they were outmatched.
‘Time to rack up some karma.’
Those mages might serve as offerings for my achievements, just like Brandt.
Kiiing!
I drew my sword.