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CHAPTER 24
THE MYSTERIOUS YOUNG MAN II
Since a few days I became the royal guard of an important person, but it was not until recently, that I realized how important. In front of my eyes lord Argent defeated a commander of Iren, and not just any commander, but a subordinate of the Demon General.
When he hired me I thought it was partly because of Ryuuji's tranquility, but now I realize that it was only for that. Now every time I see him I feel that it's me who is protected. When I train Ryuuji through him, I feel that there is nothing I can teach that he wouldn't do better.
It's been only three hours since we went down the mountain, but we stopped on the trip. According to Mr. Argent, the trip will be long and we must maintain Ryuuji's training on a regular basis, so it will be normal to stop two or three times every day.
When we stopped the first time I asked honestly.
"You sure I'm the one to train Ryuuji?"
"Trust me captain, its better if you train him than if I do it myself".
At that moment I thought of an old saying. They say that if you jump a bigger and bigger rock every day, the day will come when you can jump even a mountain, but if you start with the mountain the only thing you will achieve is to hurt yourself. As I see it, lord Argent is the mountain and we are the rocks, it isn't possible for him to train Ryuuji because his level is too high.
While we were training Ryuuji, Mr. Argent stopped to read a book on a rock. I must admit that I was distracted by watching him, I had never seen anyone read so fast. It is almost as if he only look at images one after the other, the pages move in a continuous flow.
He suddenly stopped. He looked everywhere for a moment and then approached me.
“Captain, tell your men to prepare. We are surrounded”.
Even for someone who lived many years as an adventurer, even I couldn't perceive the presence of someone else.
Even Mr. Argent's senses are sharper than ours. For a moment I thought he was wrong, then I felt the presence of a dozen people around us.
While I made silent signals, Mr. Argent said something to the young Ren, surely to reassure her, since no one but him can talk to her.
Then the people around us approached and let themselves be seen. It was a group of armed men. Mr. Argent watched them for a moment, and then addressed one of them.
“I remember you. You were the ones who had infiltrated Galia”.
"My name is Zilan, and we are effectively part of the force that infiltrated Galia on the orders of Iren's soldiers".
Although the man spoke with bravery, he couldn't hide the cold sweat that ran down his face. He had also seen Mr. Argent beat Jemur. Now that I look at them well, despite outnumber us three to one, they all keep their distance.
And his eyes are not fixed on me or my men, who carry weapons and armor. But all their senses are set on lord Argent.
"What is the reason you were waiting for us here?"
The man he was talking to staggered for a moment, and then knelt. The others imitated him.
"Humbly, I ask you to allow us to serve you".
The man said these words while trembling. Around us all the other mercenaries kept their eyes closed, afraid of what might happen.
“Correct me if I'm wrong. You made a deal with the soldiers of Iren, in which you had to finish off the defenses of Galia and in return you would receive the people of Galatea and Galia as slaves, in addition to probably taking possession of their belongings. Let me assume that you charged in advance, but the conquest of Galia was canceled, and now you fear the possibility that Iren's men will claim what they gave you”.
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The man's eyes faltered a moment.
“Well, of course. That if the one who had canceled the attack had not been Iren's own commander. So I assume that you should not have to face any kind of retaliation.
What leaves me with a question, what is the real reason for you to separate from them and come to me?
Depending on your response, I may have to cut your necks right now”.
The man hesitated once more, and trembling, stared at lord Argent.
“We had to run away. We originally thought we were going to have the spoils of two cities, but we only had one. Then the thing got ugly when the most veteran members wanted to take the best part”.
So it was an internal fight. Well, mercenaries are not the most reliable people in the world.
“And then you came to me for help. Forgive me if I think you are not very smart”.
I don't consider myself a very intelligent person, but the stupidity of these men obscures everything I have seen.
“But you're lucky. I don't feel like shedding your poor blood. You came to me to save you, and I will do that. Giving you work”.
The stunned faces of the men showed that they didn't understand what he was saying.
“What I am saying is that I am hiring your services, mercenary gentlemen. And you are lucky, because you will never find a better salary than the one I am going to give you”.
The hesitant expression of the men brightened at those words. Around us they were on their knees and with their eyes closed, began to shake their heads up and down in thanks.
Among them, the one who spoke directly with lord Argent came crawling to him, and kissed his shoes. A sign of how desperate they were, and how much relief those words gave him.
"I am not interested in your thanks, I want you to tell me everything you know".
“We will tell you everything! Everything! From what the men of Iren ordered us, to what our boss said and where we were taking the slaves of Galatea!”
The man wasted no time in telling us everything he knew. I will not lie, hearing information about the people of Galatea struck me a lot. Andreu and Khaden showed joy and relief knowing the whereabouts of the townspeople ... After all they are alive.
" Ahh ".
◆◇◆◇
"So what will we do now?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Now that we know where they take the people of Galatea".
Lord Argent looked at me for a moment, then his eyes looked at the others, and he said.
“We are less than 20 people. They are ahead of us for a week at least, not forgetting how many other dangers there are in the city where slaves are trafficked.
Do you really think we can do something about it? Or do you even trust his words? As far as we know it could be a trap”.
What he says certainly makes sense to me, but my head and my heart don't reconcile. Now I know that the townspeople are alive, even where they are. I can't help feeling the desire to go there, but I know perfectly well that I can't do anything. Just as I couldn't do anything the day Galatea was attacked, I can't do it now. Nor could I do anything when Iren arrived in Galia.
Now that I think about it. When I met Ryuuji, I thought he was the strangest person I had ever seen. A noble foreigner who doesn't know how to speak any of the languages of the region, carrying a sword that seems dreamy, and occasionally exhibits demonstrations of superhuman strength. But after meeting lord Argent, I realized that was nothing.
Despite being an adult, he has a youthful appearance, and a prodigious cunning like no others. Not to mention that there seems to be no end to the money he posses.
I haven't met many nobles, but even they must have limitations. But that doesn't seem to apply to lord Argent. As if that were not enough, he made a plan to deceive the soldiers of Iren and even managed to defeat the commander who directed them.
I think he is the real mysterious young man I've met.
“Our destination has not changed. We will continue on our way to the academy”.
"Understood".
"And about the mercenaries, don't take your eyes off them".
"As you order".
It's true. I don't know what I expected. For a moment I thought we were going to rescue the people of Galatea.
◆◇◆◇
Mercenaries are suspects, especially the man who spoke to me. Contrary to what it may seem, he's a Half. He cannot hide it from the monocle.
This tells me that he is not as stupid as he seems to be. I don't know who he works for, but I assume his true intentions are to keep an eye on me.
I may have drawn too much attention with the incident of Jemur and Iren's soldiers, but I can use this in my favor.
If information is a powerful weapon, disinformation is even more so. I'm sure he thinks he deceived me, but I will take advantage of him.
It's time to test one more merchant skill. In TLO there was a secret stat called <
If people let themselves be influenced by money, before they know these men they will have sold me their loyalty.
On the other hand, I had no problem making the others swallow the excuse of training Ryuuji, so that I could rest. After all, my stats aren't made for walking without stopping. I thought that after moving away from Galia I could have some Half bring us closer to the academy, but these mercenaries interrupted us.
I hoped we were alone to reveal Ren's identity. After all, I can always manipulate them. But things would get difficult if the people of Galia, like the director, knew that the Halfs are already on my side.