Capítulo 141: Chapter 141
"Are you finished with your work?"
As soon as Ian stepped out of the tent, the mercenaries perked up like meerkats, one by one raising their heads.
They regarded Ian warily, yet with a hint of curiosity.
It wasn't an unfamiliar sight to Ian.
While magic wasn't particularly special to him, for ordinary people, it was as miraculous as it was fascinating.
"Yes. That guy was certainly a vile wizard."
No sooner had Ian finished speaking than the mercenaries fell to their knees, shouting:
"We, we have nothing to do with that bastard!"
"That's right! He threatened us! He said he'd steal our souls!"
"We've only been mining gemstones this whole time! We haven't done anything wrong!"
The mercenaries rushed to deny any connection with the demon wizard.
It was a wise decision.
Now that the demon wizard was dead, there was no reason to side with him.
Ian had no intention of squeezing the mercenaries dry either.
Even a cornered mouse will bite a cat. These armed mercenaries, if they felt trapped with no way out, would grit their teeth and try to kill Ian.
If there were no witnesses, there'd be no punishment.
"I see. I understand."
"Oh...!"
As the fearsome wizard lent an ear to their words, the mercenaries' faces brightened.
This wizard looks noble, judging by his fine appearance! (He's not)
He even listens to the words of lowly folks like us!
"It seems the demon wizard has amassed quite a bit of evil."
"Y-Yes! That bastard is a real piece of sh*t!"
"I knew it at first glance!"
The mercenaries tore into the demon wizard Walter like a pack of dogs.
Anyone who didn't curse the demon wizard here? A revolutionary.
To avoid being lumped in with the demon wizard, cursing him as a son of a b*tch was an effective method.
"What's been happening here until now? Spill everything without a shred of lies."
When Ian said that, the mercenaries seized the opportunity and began their story.
It wasn't a complicated tale.
The Jubal Mercenary Band consisted of their leader Jubal and his behind-the-scenes supporters...
"What?"
As Ian made a dumbfounded expression, the mercenaries brazenly replied.
"Well, the captain's a bit dumb, isn't he? He can't run a mercenary band alone, so there are people who help him."
'That's not helping, it's exploiting, you bastards...'
Simply put, the Jubal Mercenary Band was a group that lived off the combat prowess of their captain, Jubal.
Jubal might have been slow-witted, but he wasn't ill-natured.
If there's someone strong, obedient, and kind-hearted, why not exploit them?
Not doing so would be like admitting you're not a medieval person.
The mercenaries, true to the medieval average, made Jubal fight while they pocketed the money from behind.
"Hehe."
"..."
Judging by their sheepish grins, they didn't seem to realize what they were doing wrong.
In truth, Ian didn't need to be picky about it.
This wasn't a post-apocalyptic world devoid of law and order... it was a medieval fantasy world.
If anything, it was amazing they didn't enslave Jubal outright.
Just taking in and feeding a socially vulnerable fool was something in itself.
In fact, the mercenaries seemed to take pride in considering themselves Jubal's protectors.
"But that demon wizard bastard wiped out all the band's officers and turned us into slaves."
"So that's why you were occupying the bridge?"
"Yep! We've been mining amber here."
It was quite the nuisance.
Usually, there were plenty of stepping stones, but on rainy days like today, it was no different from blatantly blocking the road.
"You've managed to avoid the lord's notice, I see."
The mercenaries insisted they were just "mining amber~", but...
A group occupying a perfectly good bridge and being stubborn about it - how were they any different from bandits?
They were no different from thieves in how they negatively impacted merchants and passersby.
It wouldn't be strange for a righteous lord to show up with his knights.
"Ah, this is a border region, so there's no lord managing it."
"..."
Ian let out a deep sigh at the abysmal state of medieval law enforcement.
Right. If it's not my land, why bother managing it?
Why go through the trouble of bringing soldiers to land that isn't mine? Let the desperate ones deal with it themselves!
But if word spread that amber was being mined here, lords would surely appear.
Nobles have a knack for sniffing out the scent of money.
'So he was planning to eat and run.'
Ian accurately read the demon wizard Walter's thoughts.
The Empire is vast, and empty lands are plentiful.
No matter how much land the nobles have claimed, there are always empty spaces that don't attract attention. This was possible due to the pitiful population of the medieval era.
People like Walter, who mine gems in empty lands and then flee, existed everywhere.
'He did well to find a place with hidden gems. Did he get help from demons?'
Ian's curiosity grew a bit more.
If Walter had been mining amber, where did he store the mined gems?
"Hmm. Where did you store the mined gems?"
"Well... about that..."
A mercenary replied with a troubled expression.
"The monsters that demon wizard controlled took them somewhere."
"Monsters?"
Ian tilted his head slightly but didn't find it strange.
Birds of a feather flock together - an evil wizard could form cooperative relationships with evil creatures.
In the past, when Ian met the manticore, he couldn't accept its proposal and they became enemies.
Flipped around, that meant if he had accepted the manticore's proposal, he could have become friends with it.
Walter was the kind of guy who casually killed people to learn demon magic, so it wouldn't be strange for him to ally with any kind of evil monster.
"Hmm..."
Curious...
Very curious!
Ian found it hard to suppress the curiosity typical of wizards.
Amber was a good catalyst for magic circles. Where would someone use large quantities of mined amber?
It had to be a battlefield.
One might think it was for magic training, but in that case, they would just buy from merchants to solve the problem.
What madman would occupy a mercenary band to mine gems needed for magic training?
'Should I look into it?'
Ian thought it would be good to investigate the whereabouts of the missing amber.
Gems are always useful to have on hand.
They're used for drawing magic circles and for trading with nobles.
If he had amber, it might be useful in rescuing Inglan.
'First, I need to sort out the situation here.'
He needed the mercenaries' help to find the amber.
But currently, the Jubal Mercenary Band was in utter disarray.
Ian decided to calm Jubal down first.
The mercenary captain, Jubal, was sobbing like a child.
"Waaaaaah~"
"..."
Watching a grown man wailing on the ground was honestly pathetic.
Even without a sign on his forehead saying "I'm an idiot~", anyone could tell he was a fool at a glance.
"The demon wizard stole your soul?"
"Yes... that's right."
The mercenaries answered gloomily.
Though not as much as Jubal, they too were clearly worried about that aspect.
As a scholar, Ian felt pure curiosity.
Stole their souls? What does that even mean?
As far as Ian knew, the souls of Heaven's Faith believers ascend to heaven after death.
There, they face judgment for their earthly deeds, with sinners imprisoned in hell and the righteous enjoying luxury in heaven.
'A method to steal souls?'
Ian didn't know such a technique.
Eredith hadn't taught him, and he had little interest in that area anyway.
If he studied necromancy, his knowledge might increase...
But he hadn't met a necromancer yet, so he hadn't had the chance to learn.
"The demon wizard bastard gathered us at night and summoned a demon. Then he told us he'd offered our souls, and if we wanted them back, we'd better work properly..."
"Hmm."
Ian tilted his head slightly.
Demons are evil beings, and they might covet human souls.
But is it possible to hand over someone else's soul so easily?
'It seems impossible.'
The soul is strongly protected by the body. Bluntly put, the easiest way to obtain a soul is to kill the body.
Yet these mercenaries were perfectly alive.
It's not like he killed them and offered their souls...
To extract only the soul from a living person and offer it?
"Come here for a moment."
"Ah, yes!"
Ian checked the mercenary's condition with holy magic.
If he had been affected by a demon or if something was wrong with his soul, there should be some reaction.
But...
"???"
The mercenary's soul was perfectly fine.
"Um... Mr. wizard."
Unaware of this fact, the mercenary spoke glumly with an expression like a sad frog.
"Am... am I going to die now?"
"...!"
He said his soul was stolen, but it was actually fine?
Then there's only one answer.
It's not that a kind-hearted demon returned the souls for the dead Walter's sake... No!
They never had their souls stolen in the first place!
'This is totally...'
Ian paused for a moment, dumbfounded.
It was a method he'd seen many times before.
Yes.
The act Ian routinely performed on medieval people.
It was wizard fraud!
These poor mercenaries didn't even know whether the demon wizard had really taken their souls or not.
Well... they're just mercenaries after all!
When a terrifying demon appears and shouts, "I'll take your souls!", they can only tremble in fear and think, "Oh no! It's been taken!"
It kind of made sense.
He'd wondered how souls could be taken from living bodies. They simply weren't taken at all.
"Sob... I want to see my wife's face back home one last time!"
The mercenaries seemed to think that having their souls stolen was similar to contracting a fatal disease.
Since they didn't know what it meant to be soulless (...), they were just worrying arbitrarily.
Ian approached Jubal, just in case.
"Jubal?"
"... What is it."
Jubal mumbled in response.
He looked just like a troll speaking human language.
'As expected.'
Ian checked Jubal's condition too, but again, there was nothing wrong.
In other words, the demon wizard Walter had pulled off a massive scam on the Jubal Mercenary Band and then died.
'Well, that's what wizards do.'
Ian felt a bit awkward about criticizing Walter.
Wasn't scamming medieval people Ian's specialty(?)?
Ian went around pulling wizard scams too. There was no reason Walter couldn't do the same.
"... Are you afraid because you've lost your soul?"
When Ian said that, Jubal's eyes widened.
He had given up on his soul.
But when Ian suddenly mentioned it, he was shocked!
"M-My soul is already lost, isn't it?"
"Well. I wonder?"
Ian spoke meaningfully.
Jubal straightened his posture and looked at the young man before him.
Eyes as calm as a lake. Hair as black as night...
And an aura of flowing with mystery!
He was no ordinary wizard!
"N-No way!"
Jubal stammered.
"Can you retrieve my soul?"
Jubal fell to his knees before Ian and cried out.
"If you return my soul! I'll serve you as my benefactor for life!"
As Jubal made a fuss, other mercenaries began to gather one by one.
They all wanted the same thing.
"Oh, Master Wizard!"
"I want to live and return to my hometown!"
"Please help us!"
To recover the souls stolen by the demon wizard!
Ian sighed deeply and said.
"Haa... That's not an easy task..."
"...!"
Ian said it wasn't easy, not that it was impossible.
That simple difference excited the mercenaries.
Maybe... they could recover their lost souls!
"W-What do you need?"
"We'll do anything you say! Please help us! Mr. wizard!"
The mercenaries clung to Ian's trouser legs.
Perhaps because of this...
No one noticed Ian's strange smile...
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