Book 14 Chapter 12

Platinum Mercenary Corps,

In the Northern Empire (3)

"Lynn, you know what?"

"Shut up."

"I'm hungry."

I've heard that exact phrase 31 times so far.

"Baby animals stimulate their mothers' maternal instincts to get fed quickly. Should I try that?"

"Don't."

"Wah, I'm baby Lista, I'm hungry. Mama Lynn, please give me food."

That such a lunatic is a hero, insane, the world is in chaos. No, why is it really chaos? It leaves me speechless.

Tonight's dinner was squirrel.

If you find a snowy field littered with gnawed pinecones, you'll know it's a squirrel's hunting ground.

If you set a trap there for half a day, you can catch about three or four like this.

The hides are carefully stripped and made into fur. Squirrel fur is popular and sells well at a decent price.

"But are we really going to eat with these guys?"

I glanced sidelong at the mercenaries as I poured cooking ingredients into the pot.

The archer tied to the tree stump was gazing at the distant sky, and the woman was still in a coma.

To have been hit so hard in a vital spot…

"We have to take responsibility for them until we hand them over to the Inquisition."

"If these guys go back alive, they might blab about us."

"Then we'll just deal with them again when that happens."

When I was thirteen, I thought that was the magnanimity of someone with power. I would later realize it wasn't magnanimity.

Lista's mindset was…

…a compassion that, because she possessed power, she could afford to have and indeed must have.

"And I don't think this archer will talk about us."

"How do you know?"

"Just a feeling."

Lista brought the squirrel hotpot that I had generously ladled onto a plate to the archer. She even boldly untied his bindings.

"Lynn's cooking is truly delicious, so please enjoy it thankfully."

In any case, even if he tried to escape, he would quickly be caught by the barrier I had set up around us.

Even without a barrier, Lista could likely use her footwork to put him in the same predicament as his companion in a mere second.

The archer accepted the bowl but didn't touch the food. Regardless, we had our own meal.

"Squirrel eyeballs are a delicacy. You absolutely have to try them."

"Hmph~ Playing tricks again."

"What? Surely, the Papal-sanctioned hero doesn't think the Northern food culture is uncivilized and barbaric, does she? This sounds like a problematic regional discrimination remark, doesn't it?"

Lista, who had been looking painfully back and forth between the squirrel eyeball and my eyes, finally put it in her mouth and started chewing.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh."

She seemed so moved by the taste that tears even came to her eyes.

"It's a relief you enjoyed it. Gizella really loves those too. But I'm not eating them."

"?"

"Because I think Northern food culture is barbaric. So I don't eat them."

Lista's expression turned icy, and she started scolding me, as if threatening to spit all the squirrel eyeballs she was chewing back at me.

"@$&@*$&^@&*^$*!&%^&*^@*#&*!#*$@!&#*@&#*&!@#&*@!#^@$*^@!%&*^@*!"

"Ack, alright, alright already! Ah, just calm down!"

In the end, I also had to eat an eyeball.

"Ugh, S-bal…"

"Gyu?"

That wasn't swearing. It was an apology for eating something delicious by ourselves, except for S-bal. If it sounded like a curse, then your mind is full of abyss.

Anyway, to get back to the cooking, you remove the entrails, finely mince the meat with cartilage. Add pine needles and wild vegetables, then boil it into a soup.

Even without specific seasonings, the pine needles and wild vegetables provide a pungent aroma and flavor, making it reasonably palatable.

"They say hotpot dishes developed in the cold North, so that's why Lynn is good at making these kinds of dishes."

"That's true, but it's also just because we're poor."

"Because you're poor?"

"There are many mouths to feed, but not much meat. But if you make it into a soup, everyone can eat it deliciously."

If major incidents like [Bandits sighted!] had occurred a little more frequently near the Magic Tower, it would have provided us with much more meat.

Those guys at the Magic Tower…

I wonder if they're eating well. If someone like Gizella is on duty, mealtimes that day would be incredibly painful.

"Wow! It's really delicious. So tasty! Where did you learn all this?"

Lista's mouth widened as she took a large spoonful for the first time.

Lista was always like this.

Generous and heartwarming praise in any situation… she was the kind of person who would somehow find a way to praise even if she were eating dirt. That's why it reminded me of everyday life with the Dean.

"Because I lived in the mountains. I was often on cooking duty."

"Isn't it easier to catch things like squirrels with magic?"

"The Dean told me not to."

"Why?"

Did he say that watching even these animals live their day to the fullest, we should never give up on life, no matter what?

Honestly, I hated it.

I hated both hunting and cooking.

Because I thought reading magic tomes or math books was more valuable at that time. That's why I often got annoyed without realizing it.

- Oh, seriously, I cut my hand. I told you we could just cut it with telekinesis, why do you make me use my hands?

It wasn't something to get annoyed about, so why did I get annoyed? I could just use magic, so why did I get upset about being made to do this? It was really such a trivial matter.

- Lynn, does it hurt, getting cut by a knife?

But the Dean…

- You now understand how easily a tool like a knife can hurt someone, don't you?

Instead of scolding my immature self, he gave me even gentler lessons.

- Magic is the same. No, it's even more so. So remember this pain. And always think about how you should use magic.

The hand that was serving new soup into Lista's empty bowl suddenly stopped.

- I told you, that's not how you use power!

I had pledged to follow all of the Dean's teachings, and thought I had, but I hadn't truly followed any of them.

So…

That's why…

The Dean couldn't help but make such a sad face that day. Damn it, oh, damn it…

When I go back…

When I eventually return to the Magic Tower…

I must apologize. Even if I have to kneel, I will apologize for everything.

"Wait, a Papal-sanctioned hero? Hearing the name Lista, I had a hunch…"

At that moment, the archer reacted to our conversation.

A sense of wariness instantly arose.

Lista was traveling incognito, hiding her identity and power. It wouldn't be good for someone to discover her.

"What's wrong?"

Lista smiled calmly.

"I heard you gathered a hero's party and set out on an expedition, so why are you here?"

"For recruiting companions."

"Recruiting companions, huh."

The archer glanced at me.

"So that's it. But is it true that Kyes, the current Archer Lord of the Hwangha Office, has joined your party?"

"You know Kyes? No, as an archer, it's impossible you wouldn't know him. He's called the greatest archer of all time, after all."

"I knew him even before he became that."

"How?"

The archer spoke with a sigh that seemed both desolate and sad.

"He is my lifesaver…"

The archer then remained silent for a long time.

I thought the incident was over.

But just as we were finishing our meal, he suddenly took his first spoonful and began to speak.

"We were originally active in Trident Point."

Trident Point.

It's a trident-shaped cape, also known as the Eternal Wetlands, where an alarming number of Abyssal Labyrinths are scattered.

The best mercenaries, those searching for artifacts or rare monster ingredients, gather here.

"One day, a stooped old man came to find us while we were on a labyrinth expedition. Our captain said it didn't seem like his real body. He had turned a person into a puppet. His voice was definitely bizarre."

"A puppet?"

"I received an immediate stop order from the captain and fired an arrow… but the arrow stopped before it reached him. I couldn't for the life of me understand the nature of that power."

I interjected.

"Like my magic? That's just telekinesis."

"No, it was different. Yours bounced off. That… it looked as if there was a different space between him and the arrow."

A different space?

Is that possible?

No, this guy definitely has less knowledge of telekinesis than I do. It must just be telekinesis magic.

"That guy, who subdued all of us with just magic power, faced our captain… and they had a conversation."

According to the archer, it went like this:

"- Hey, how long are you going to waste your time looking for artifacts of uncertain origin? It's a pity to let time be so cruel to such a pretty face."

"- Shut up, what do you want?"

"- This is called [King's Flesh]. It's similar to an artifact in that it's a source of infinite power, but it differs in that it can be easily found anywhere on the continent."

"- Flesh?"

"- Don't you want to become strong instantly? The more you collect these, the more god-like power you can possess. You don't need to serve any king, emperor, or god. You can become gods yourselves."

"- !"

"- Whether you keep it all to yourself or distribute it among your subordinates, do as you please."

The wizard then handed over a piece of flesh the size of a grown man's index finger to the captain of [Roar of the Grizzly Bear] and left.

"A piece of flesh the size of a finger?"

The pieces of flesh we'd collected so far were only about the size of boogers. If that's the case, is it an aggregate of about 30-40 of them? That would be incredibly powerful, wouldn't it?

"Who the hell is that guy?"

It seems the captain of [Roar of the Grizzly Bear] asked the same question as I did. The answer was this:

"- The Strongest (最强), the strongest wizard."

At that, Lista tilted her head and then glared intently at me. Even the ungrateful S-bal guy glanced at me, narrowing his eyes.

"Gyuu…"

"Guys, what's with those looks?"

"Lynn, what kind of trouble have you been causing wherever you go?"

"No, it wasn't me! It really wasn't. I'm truly wronged."

Was it really me? For a moment, I felt as if I had truly done such a thing, and broke out in a cold sweat.

Did I cling too much to [the strongest wizard] and accidentally cast magic in my sleep? Huh? Why?

But I knew absolutely nothing about puppet magic. Could it be that thanks to my genius talent, I became able to use it without even knowing it?

"Don't you know what happens if you're caught by the Inquisitors? You wouldn't want to become the legendary mercenary corps [Slayers], who waged war against the world, would you?"

The [Slayers] Lista mentioned were a legendary mercenary corps that existed 200 years ago, known as the strongest and worst in history.

Their captain reportedly slew 11 imperial dragons and killed two or three Fae-Quarriors.

Of course, there are many who say it's fiction because it's full of such absurd tales of valor.

"I don't know about that. But the power of that flesh is real. Having actually used it, I know better than anyone. The day is not far when the strong throughout the world will shed blood to claim it. Our captain foresaw that future and participated in the flesh-grabbing war first."

"I will hand you and your companion over to the Inquisition. I'll personally ask for leniency, but the confession process won't be easy. And of course, if you get caught collecting flesh again after that, we won't show leniency either."

"You don't need to ask for leniency. Kyes, my brother, and Aena, my sister, somehow saved my life… I realized after meeting you that I've been living quite shamefully. I deserve to die like this."

The archer bit his lip, his eyes filled with a pathetic despair.

"Even after what happened to him because of us, my brother became a member of the hero's party following the Archer Lord, but I…"