Merchant Noble is out (2/3 chapters for today)
Escape
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Within a few hours of the all-out attack, Leo’s army was almost entirely destroyed. Although small skirmishes with the remaining forces continued, the overall battle was considered settled, and the nobles sent small squads into the mountains to search for Leo.
“Hey, did you hear? Leo apparently has horns.” (??)
“I’ve heard rumors that he’s eaten people before.” (??)
“That’s terrifying. I hope we don’t run into him. Please, let us not meet him.” (??)
The soldiers of the Viscount Rubicon Household, who had come under Louis’s command, were chatting like this while searching for Leo.
Each noble sent a squad of 10 people, and they continued their search for Leo as they climbed the mountain slopes. The soldiers were told that most of Leo’s men had been wiped out, so they should be fine, but searching for enemies in the dark, without knowing if anyone was out there, made them fearful.
After searching for a while, they saw some light in the distance.
“There’s a light coming closer.” (??)
The soldiers were frightened, and all drew their swords.
“This is the Viscount Rubicon Household. Who goes there!” (??)
“It’s the Baron London Household.” (??)
The person holding the light responded.
Since there seemed to be 10 of them as well, it was likely an allied search party. The soldiers were relieved and put away their weapons.
“Thank you for your hard work. The Baron London Household was supposed to be in charge of the northern side, right?” (??)
“Yes, that’s right! But we got lost in the darkness of the night. Thank you for your help.” (??)
“No problem.” (Soldier 7)
It wasn’t the first time a unit had gotten lost tonight. Since it was midnight in the mountains, it couldn’t be helped, but they were worried that these mistakes might provide an escape route for Leo.
“Well, of course, you’d get lost searching in the middle of the night. Why not wait until the sun comes up to search?” (??)
“The nobles are racing to capture Leo.” (??)
“Ah, I see. No wonder the nobles are so anxious.” (??)
*Rustle*
The soldiers suddenly stopped talking. They heard footsteps from above. Was it a beast? No, it was definitely the footsteps of a human. Was it another search party from a different noble? No, there were no lights. There was no way a search party would move in the dead of night without lights.
No way…
The soldier holding the light fearfully raised it to illuminate the surroundings. There they were. About 10 paces up the slope, four figures could be seen.
It was Leo. It had to be Leo. Beside him were the shadows of a large man, a medium-sized man, and a woman.
“Eek.” (??)
When they found Leo, they were supposed to blow the whistle each search party had been given. However, the soldier holding the whistle was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t move.
Leo slowly descended the slope. Illuminated by the light, his face, looked ghastly pale and eerie.
“From what I can see, there are 10 of you. It seems you’re searching for me in groups of 10, and you’re the ones responsible for this area.” (Leo)
The calm tone of his voice only intensified their fear. The soldiers, too scared to speak, could only nod. Some brave soldiers drew their swords, but in response, the three behind Leo also took up their weapons.
“Wait.” (Leo)
Leo stretched his arm to the side, signaling for the three to stand down.
He then turned back to the soldiers and spoke quietly.
“You know the strength of my soldiers, don’t you? I don’t want needless bloodshed. Could you step aside?” (Leo)
The soldier at the front struggled to suppress his trembling voice as he responded.
“T-There are more than 10,000 of us, led by Louis-sama, in this mountain. N-No matter how strong a demon you are, you can’t win against 10,000 soldiers.” (??)
“Yes, that’s true. If all the soldiers searching this mountain were to gather here, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But at the very least, I can take care of the 10 in front of me.” (Leo)
Leo glared at the soldiers. His tone remained calm, but his eyes radiated a murderous intent that made it seem like he could kill at any moment. The soldiers were even more terrified.
“You’ll be praised as the unit that discovered Leo. However, you yourselves won’t be able to receive that praise. Because I’ll kill you.” (Leo)
Leo had perfectly grasped the soldiers’ fears. Seeing their hesitation, Leo pressed on with a new proposition.
“Arc, that.” (Leo)
The man called Arc by Leo handed him a bag. Leo threw the bag at the soldiers’ feet. The sound it made upon landing told them it was filled with gold.
“In this bag is everything we currently possess. There’s more than 100 gold coins in there.” (Leo)
“100 coins…” (??)
The soldiers looked into the bag in disbelief, and sure enough, it was stuffed to the brim with gold coins. That was 10 gold coins per person. As they were mostly farmers, they had never owned that much wealth in their lives.
If they fought, they would certainly be killed. However, if reinforcements arrived in time, Leo would be defeated, and the soldiers would receive the honor of discovering him. Though, for common soldiers, who weren’t knights, honor after death meant little.
On the other hand, if they let Leo go, they would receive a fortune. They could live comfortably for a while. In the darkness, no other unit had likely seen Leo. They could bury the fact that they encountered him entirely by their own choice.
If Leo had killed their families, burned their lands, and set their homes ablaze, they might have fought. But, fortunately or unfortunately, the Viscount Rubicon Household was located at the far western edge of the kingdom, and they had suffered little to no damage from Leo. There was no reason for them to risk their lives fighting Leo.
“Thank you. I owe you.” (Leo)
Leo and his three subordinates passed through the now-silent soldiers who had cleared the way without saying a word.
“Hey, hey. You understand, right? We didn’t see anything. We saw nothing.” (??)
After Leo and his party had left, the soldiers resumed their ‘search for Leo’ as they continued up the mountain.
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