Savage Ascension: Starting with God-Tier Plunder Ability-Chapter 81: Trust Bought and Sold

Tri-fork Hill Road, Kingdom Camp

"Halt! Where are you coming from!"

Just looking at their faces, Rowan’s peach fuzz hadn’t fallen off and they were all sloppy-looking guys, but they were all armed. There was even someone pushing a cart behind an old donkey. They couldn’t help but stand out.

The reason the soldier shouted loudly was because sloppy guys like these caused big accidents or ridiculous stunts. It was Ulas, a four-year soldier who’d seen idiots try to steal gate hinges from a place guarded by hundreds of soldiers.

Rowan nodded his head in greeting and presented his mercenary badge. Ulas received mercenary badges from the others too. He stared at the mercenary badges and nodded. They were legitimate.

He checked their luggage too. He could see food and necessities inside the cart.

"Going on a trip somewhere? Seeing you came from near Torch Fortress, you must be going to see the southern Golden Plains."

"No. We’re a tracking mercenary group. We came for a commission."

The mercenary group name had already changed. That was because he remembered a simple truth about building reputation - a blacksmith should first be known for making the sharpest swords, and only after gaining fame should he hang his own name above the forge.

It was to most clearly inform the knight that they were a mercenary group for tracking, in order to track the red-furred bear. Of course, they needed to have at least minimal fame.

"Ah."

He nodded. Then he grinned.

"Coming for a commission with little pay, I guess nobody else was calling you. Village friends?"

Looking down on Rowan out of nowhere, Rowan glared at Ulas.

’What kind of look is that...’

Though there wasn’t much left after becoming bones, Rowan had still received the dregs of Gulliver Alastor, who had been the head of a prestigious family in one era. He exuded an aura that an ordinary person couldn’t produce.

It was similar to that of a veteran war soldier who’d spent ten years on the battlefield, and also felt like that of a veteran mercenary who’d rolled around in the mercenary society that was muddier than a mud pit.

"Ahem. I apologize."

If trouble happened, his already meager salary would shrink even more. Interior Minister Shayan’s infamy was widespread. Because of money, soldiers weren’t causing trouble these days. That had gotten even worse after the bizarre incident at Torch Fortress.

Even while apologizing, the soldier never gave up his informal speech. Because Rowan and those around him all looked young.

"Commander! A mercenary group has come for the external commission to secure public order!"

"Let the mercenary captain in."

"Only the mercenary captain can enter."

Rowan entered the military tent without hesitation. The tent fabric he touched with his hand was very coarse. You might die of heat in summer. It seemed to only have winter ones.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Gesilian Faerun."

At Commander Gesilian Faerun’s words, Rowan bowed quite deeply.

"I’m Rowan, mercenary captain of the Tracking Mercenary Group."

"Pleased to meet you."

They murmured background stories to each other. Especially, Rowan had to tell a lot about himself. Because Commander Gesilian knew nothing.

"A mercenary group skilled in tracking. There are many small-scale mountain bandits, thieves, and robbers around here. If you capture them, you’ll be given a bounty of 10 copper coins."

"That’s partly why I came."

Even though Rowan looked quite young, when he spoke crisply, Gesilian told him the basic details about the current kingdom camp. He liked him. Actually, he was also bored. This place was a tedious location.

No great battles broke out, and there were no crazy bastards attacking soldiers. Only peddlers and merchant groups were under threat, so even forming patrol units couldn’t be fun.

Regular army soldiers cost quite a bit of money, so most wore breastplates, so they wouldn’t engage opponents, and their movement speed wasn’t fast either.

"Can you read maps?"

"Yes."

"Then that’s even better."

The location moved to the map on Commander Gesilian’s tent table. There were many axes and swords roughly carved from wood.

"Axes are bandits, swords are robbers. This is the camp."

"Is it okay to show me this?"

When Rowan put on a fairly scared act, Commander Gesilian threw his head back laughing. His work, his information, his power felt great from just that one question, so he felt good.

"If you’re tracking, don’t you need to know where they’ve appeared?"

"Thank you."

He expressed gratitude without hesitation. Commander Gesilian, who got even more excited, told him this and that.

"On the Empire Road there are quite a few large mountain strongholds. There are many that clash with sizable merchant groups and extort taxes."

"Aha! My mercenary group should definitely not go there."

"It’s a bit much to go for 50 copper coins. I don’t expect that either. It’d be a dog’s death."

On the Empire Road there were several large-scale mountain strongholds. Of course there would be small-scale ones too, but if commotion broke out, bandits would pop out from everywhere.

"On the southern Golden Plains road, there are robbers everywhere who’ve lost their fear because small-scale travelers and peddlers pass by often. If you don’t know better, you get everything stolen and chased away, and they say you should be thankful they at least don’t kill you. Crazy bastards."

"Guys who move in small numbers like cockroaches."

"Right. As soon as soldiers appear, they run away with their tails tucked, so they’re hard to catch. The way they climb mountains is no different from foxes."

The place where small-scale robber gangs were located was the junction heading to the southern Golden Plains.

"The Torch Fortress side is the safest road. Because both this kingdom camp and Torch Fortress are operating patrol units."

At Rowan’s interjections and reactions, Gesilian even said what he shouldn’t say.

"Now that Torch Fortress is in chaos over the baby kidnapping incident, our kingdom camp must absolutely... the strategic point of Tri-fork Hill Road... Ah!"

He stopped talking and exclaimed. He realized his slip of the tongue. Soon he made a very scary expression. Then he raised his hand to stop Rowan for a moment, turned around, and brought a bottle of liquor and two cups.

"I made a slip of the tongue."

"I won’t tell anyone."

"When coins change hands, even locked mouths open. Don’t make me a fool."

"..."

He took a sip of the liquor in the cup. Gesilian told him the reason why Rowan should keep his mouth shut.

"When you open your mouth, the name of the person who opened it gets mentioned. If you want to do hard labor for life... I won’t stop you."

He also said very scary words. It was a punishment of being sentenced to hard labor until death. Most people got it when they infringed on the interests of the establishment - treason, rebellion, civil war crimes, etc. Or it was considered a punishment given when you did something considered terrible, but in reality it was up to the nobles or judges.

Hearing those words, Rowan objected.

"On the contrary, I’m suspicious of Commander Gesilian. Aren’t you deliberately leaking words to me and planning to pass information to others for money? It’s all been created through very meticulous calculations."

"Wh-what!"

His body jolted greatly. That meant, in reverse, Rowan could also do such things.

"You..."

"How can you pick up water that’s already been spilled? Trust between us crumbles from just one word like this."

Rowan drank the liquor. It wasn’t good to follow Gesilian’s words straightforwardly. If this was already foreseen, he should at least pretend to bite Gesilian with words once. That way he’d look for a different target.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. Of course, I have no such thoughts at all."

"Neither do I."

Gesilian took out a silver coin from his chest. If you were a noble, you naturally had wealth different from those below. Of course, more than 80% of a noble’s wealth was physical assets, with the remaining 20% being cash assets.

If you didn’t spend wildly, of course cash would keep piling up so it couldn’t help but be enormous, but when calculated by month or every other month, the income alone had those proportions.

"I hope it’s a quiet day. In the end, under the law, aren’t nobles on top?"

He even told him a truth of the world. It was no different from saying he was scared. Rowan snatched the silver coin like a miser while smiling broadly.

"I won’t reveal it even if I go to the grave."

While saying that, he poured out unnecessary words. It was to make him believe he’d fallen completely for the silver coin.

"Our Tracking Mercenary Group was formed less than a week ago. We didn’t come for nothing to eat 50 copper coins. Compared to that, isn’t 1 silver coin very large? I’ll never forget today’s grace."

"That’s fortunate."

He waved his hand and issued an order to leave. One silver coin was nothing, but nobles always considered it important that there was meaning in giving money to those below. This incident would be something he’d want to forget.

’A slip of the tongue for nothing... tsk.’

He was assigned a tent in a remote part of the camp. Rowan unpacked in the tent and fell into thought.

’Baby kidnapping? What’s happening at Torch Fortress.’

Just hearing it, it was an ominous incident. He felt uneasy for no reason.

In the meantime, the other party members received food rations from soldiers and brought food. Because they also knew the commission fee was low, the commission included room and board.

"Oh. This is pretty good?"

The food they received was quality, contrary to their worries. The grain powder had good color as if just ground. Even though they were dried vegetables, they gave one carrot or potato per person. It wasn’t even jerky, it was smoked and wrapped in leaves.

It was an unbelievably abundant meal. Outside, this much was gold. Gold.

’Is he a good commander?’

The food the soldiers ate was proper enough to think that. Meat, vegetables, and even grain powder to make soup. It was perfect. It was a shame there was no bread.

"I asked a soldier, and bread costs extra even for soldiers."

"Really? Hmm..."

Only then could Rowan understand the reason they received quality food. It seemed they paid extra separately to the farm or hunters through bread.

"The price is reasonable too."

For 3 copper coins, they got hard wheat bread that four people could eat sufficiently. Rowan tore the hard outer bread. He enjoyed tearing it raw.

"Doesn’t your mouth hurt?"

"I enjoy this texture."

As soon as they ate an early dinner, Rowan led the greenhorn mercenaries into the forest at night.

"I-I can’t see anything."

Bearded Doren’s voice even trembled. Beside him, Bedri giggled.

"It’s time to adapt to the darkness, how can you tremble!"

Rowan shouted harshly. He quite enjoyed this. Should I say it was fun? It was work he did to give them confidence. This time was training time to experience various terrain in the dark forest.

"The important thing is you must step firmly no matter what terrain. When you slip or your ankle bends or tilts a little, don’t force yourself to balance."

"Won’t we fall then?"

"Human sense of balance is better than you think. You’ll just slip."

Time passed in an instant. When Dono poked them, they’d jump in surprise. Rowan didn’t overdo it. He pulled the greenhorn mercenaries out before they felt bored.

"When will we get used to it."

Sweating profusely and roughly wiping his whole body with a wet towel, Large Shield Espin grumbled.

"We’ll go out and look for enemies at dawn tomorrow. Go to bed early."

"Yes."

"Understood."

Rowan lay down on the floor. Thanks to the tent blocking the wind and the furnace inside emitting heat, the sleeping quarters were comfortable.

’I can’t wait to see how much these guys grow.’

He was thinking of carrying as much as possible to boost their confidence, then when the knight came, going to catch the red-furred bear that had become a hundred-beast.

’If they run a success story without any failure, even greenhorns will come to regard their skills as more impressive.’

Of course, he planned to draw out their capabilities as much as possible. Because they had to track not just an ordinary beast, but a hundred-beast that had eaten a hundred people.