409 Side Story Mercenaries
The dispatched mercenaries were bewildered. They had amassed so many skilled hired hands and even Grudos to transport them, yet they found out at the town that their bandit gang target had been eliminated.
They're now heading to the village in question to verify that information.
Their convoy ran at full speed to that end. They saw a stagecoach coming from the road ahead, but decided not to stop since they were in a hurry.
All without realizing that the person who decimated that bandit gang was riding on it.
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This extermination squad was hastily brought together once the mercenary guild branch of commercial city got ahold of a certain intel.
The guild has operatives scattered all over highways, that also act as peacekeepers, thus the intel can be trusted.
The guild master rounded up the squad the moment he found out about it. In just one day.
'A certain ex-military personnel had escaped with confidential information and banded together a group of criminals.'
The origin of this intel is shrouded in mystery. However its credibility is guaranteed.
Mercenary Guild couldn't find out who brought this intel and from where no matter how much they probed.
They could have taken a wait-and-see approach here but the guild master quickly gave the final word to organize the extermination squad.
It took half a day to finish the preparation phase once they had gathered enough people.
All done in one and half a day since they obtained the intel. A swift and decisive action.
The guild master was convinced that leaving the issue to fester for too long would bite them back.
"We cannot leave those scoundrels alone. My hunch tells me. Military, confidential information, and the ability to quickly gather people under his wings. This guy is hiding a secret no doubt about it."
Mercenary guild master, Ginbert muttered as he glared at the document in question.
He had sent vice guild master, Vilma to press for answers at the military facility immediately after they received the intel.
This commercial city has military installations belonging to both the kingdom and the empire. A measure taken for peacekeeping. Both countries exert considerable influences in this city.
Tax, goods, flow of people, information and such. Both countries have stationed their soldiers here to obtain and secure all of the above.
A figure of power in the guild was sent to ascertain the veracity of the intel.
If it were an underling, they could have dodged the questions which would possibly expand the scope of damage.
Hence why he sent Vilma, the vice guild master.
That was a correct decision.
The door to his office got knocked and opened before he could gave permission.
The person who entered spoke thus.
"Reporting in. The person of interest was a central figure in the empire. The information he has is confidential indeed. Mainly related to some secret experiments. Apparently it's tied to the incident that befell the empire the other day."
Vice guild master, Vilma reported.
"Okay it's related but that's not what we're going for this time. What's important is this person of interest. What's the best way to kill this man. Any leads on that?"
"Yes, this man could be said to be a successful test subject in strengthening experiments. He is relatively proficient in swordsmanship, and has a history of leading a group of people. That might be how he managed to gather people."
"Guy is a good judge of characters and has the ability to lead people huh... But that strengthening thing sounds like trouble. What's the deal?"
"They were experiments carried out by second price Goldeuro, but we have no more detail as all documents pertaining them have been disposed of."
"Considering how generous the empire is at sharing all this intel, I guess this is part of the plan to diffuse bad reps from that incident huh? 'Us, the empire bear no ill will'. Well fine. That matters not to us. Relay this new info to our men before they took off. Can you make it?"
The two continued on. With a calm look on their faces.
Ginbert grew more wary of the empire.
(So this intel of unknown origin was sneakily drifted up to us by the empire... And we took it hook, line and sinker.)
"The empire has also graciously extended us an offer. They are willing to reimburse all expenses incurred in this matter. Quite thorough. They must be planning to make us of Mercenary Guild from the start. I suppose, it's their way to save face. Unsightly it may be."
"We're not in the buttwiping business though. Well fine, let's just charge extra or several. All that's left is to wait for a job well done."
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
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The reason why Mercenary Guild is so willing to lend their aid is because they found out that this group of bandits have ex-mercenary criminals among their ranks.
Having such people causing havoc would be a bad optic to the guild. The guild master of commercial city branch opted to take the matter upon his own hand.
The fact that it all tied to the intelligence operatives of the empire is not relayed to the dispatched mercenaries.
These mercenaries in question themselves couldn't believe what they heard about what took place once they arrived at the village.
In fact, only those who witnessed it first hand could.
The village elder informed villagers that mercenary guild would take over this matter and had them brought to the bandit gang's survivors.
"We'll take these survivors with us. What about this guy here? He looks like he's wasted away...? Well, with that slave collar on, guy won't cause a trouble. Still..."
The body of what seemed to be the bandit boss. The mercenaries could tell what a threat he must have been from the bulging muscles and his sheer size.
They've brought a bag to carry its head for inspections.
"What kind of guy killed this monster? How did he do it?"
The operative sputtered his words to answer the leader of extermination squad's question.
"How do I put it... Honestly, I have no idea. He came from the kingdom but we couldn't find concrete info beyond that. That person unquestionably decimated this bandit gang, but even though I saw it all myself, I really have no clue how he did it..."
The squad leader pressed for more after receiving that vague answer.
"How old is he? What's he like? Did he have a companion?"
"A, ah. I think he hasn't come of age yet. He came to this village with three women and two men. One of the men had the same collar, as that guy over there. The other one was a coachman."
The operative pointed at the survivor mage before he enumerated the person's features.
"He had, right, black hair, black eyes. I thought that was unusual so it's easy to remember. He hid his face well under his hood but I could tell that much. No doubt about it."
The guild master had a complete dour look on his face when he heard this report later on.
However, by that point of time, this person whom guild master was most wary of had already long left the commercial city.
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