But his answer overturned everyone’s expectations.
“The condition is that you accompany me to the Crosen Empire. If you promise me that, I will release all of you unharmed.”
“A-accompany you all the way to Crosen?”
Their eyes widened all at once. It was truly a condition none of them had anticipated. Damon nodded and continued.
“Yes. So many riffraff seeking fame have flocked here that I was just beginning to grow sick of this life. I had already been thinking of setting out on a journey, and as it happens, you came along. My destination is also the Crosen Empire, so how about traveling with me until we reach it?”
As Damon swept his gaze over each of them and continued speaking, a sharp, shrill voice burst out from one side.
“No! No matter what happens, we can’t take a villain like you with us. I’m a princess. How could someone like me travel with a lowly black mage? I’d rather die.”
It was, of course, Yuliana. Kasim and Mitchell looked at her as though she were truly hopeless. They could think of her only as a girl with absolutely no grasp of the situation. If they had followed their feelings, they would have dearly loved to beat her senseless, but both had no choice but to restrain themselves. Mitchell’s reason was that he could not strike the princess he served, and Kasim’s position was that he could not lay a hand on his employer.
And since the matter of allowing the black mage to accompany them was entirely within Yuliana’s purview, the two could only remain silently quiet, cursing her as much as they could in their hearts.
‘Once we get out of Karsel, I’ll make sure I never see that bitch again.’
‘If you were my daughter, you’d be half-dead by my hands already.’
Damon looked at Yuliana with an expressionless face. Yuliana kept shaking her head, as if to say absolutely not. But Damon had already anticipated her reaction.
‘If only you didn’t resemble Daphne, I would have hung you up for a full month…’
But as soon as he saw Yuliana’s face, his heart softened once more. Feeling his anger fade away without a trace, Damon gave a bitter smile.
“Hah. Really.”
Damon had discovered that he was so deeply in love with Daphne that he could not even get angry at a girl who merely resembled her. But there was nothing he could do about it. Even now, five hundred years later, Damon could die with a smile if it were for Daphne’s sake. Daphne was that absolute an existence to him. After thinking for a moment, Damon glared at Yuliana’s face and growled fiercely.
“Then does that mean you cannot accept my condition?”
Yuliana’s answer held not the slightest hesitation.
“That’s right. Under no circumstances can I travel with the likes of you.”
Once the conversation had progressed that far, Mitchell and Kasim simply squeezed their eyes shut. They swore that if they survived this, they would never again have anything to do with a girl named Yuliana…
“Is that so? Then it can’t be helped.”
Damon was not particularly surprised. Rather, he nodded as if he understood and called out to Kasim.
“Hey, mercenary captain.”
Kasim, who had been squeezing his eyes shut, looked at Damon.
“Did you call me?”
“There is something I want to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“Are the people here the entirety of your mercenary corps?”
A bitter look settled over Kasim’s face. It was extremely embarrassing to admit that he did not even have ten mercenaries under him.
“For the moment, yes. But I am continuing to recruit mercenaries, so our numbers will increase significantly before long.”
At those words, Damon folded his arms as if he had been waiting for them.
“Wouldn’t your mercenary corps happen to need a mage?”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
To Kasim, who did not understand, Damon kindly added an explanation.
“A mage with considerable power. The fact that he belongs to the black magic system may be a bit unsettling, but as you know, when it comes to offensive magic, black magic is overwhelmingly powerful. As a bonus, a Dullahan who would not be easily outmatched even against a paladin will come along as well. What do you think? Are you willing to hire me?”
After an explanation that clear, the only ones who would not understand were an orc or an idiot. Kasim’s eyes widened.
“Then you mean you will join my mercenary corps?”
“Precisely. What do you say? Are you willing?”
Kasim hesitated briefly. He was clearly weighing the gains and losses that would follow if Damon joined his mercenary corps. Of course, there was one great obstacle in making that decision: money. Given the current finances of the Kasim Mercenary Corps, he could not even hire a First-Circle magic apprentice. Mages were that expensive. And Damon had seen right through that.
“Ah, don’t worry about compensation. I’ll be satisfied if you give me a reasonable share from the commission fee you receive… To tell the truth, compensation is not that important to me. What do you say?”
Once the conversation had gone that far, Kasim no longer thought about it. No, there was no need even to think.
“I gladly accept your offer. From this moment on, you are a member of the Kasim Mercenary Corps. I sincerely welcome the chance to work with you.”
“An excellent judgment.”
Kasim took Damon’s outstretched hand and shook it vigorously. Though he had suffered considerable hardship because of Damon, Kasim decided not to think about the past at all.
‘I have no idea what this man is plotting, nor what he wants from me, but none of that matters. Judging by his magical ability, if I can accept this man, my mercenary corps will instantly become more than ten times stronger…’
Judging by the circumstances, the black mage seemed to have joined his mercenary corps in order to accompany Yuliana. But whether he harbored sinister intentions toward Yuliana or not had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Appointing mercenaries was entirely the authority of the mercenary captain, and if he became a member of the mercenary corps, Yuliana’s consent was irrelevant to whether he could travel with them. When he turned his head, Yuliana’s expression looked as though she had bitten into a stone. No matter how reckless she was, there was no way she did not know that hiring mercenaries was the exclusive authority of the mercenary captain. Yuliana let out a sigh inwardly, deep enough to make the earth sink.
‘This is truly enough to drive me mad.’
Even while being interrogated, she had continued to feel the black mage’s unpleasant gaze. Just thinking about the eyes of that lecherous, sly old man was horrifying. That was why she had desperately opposed traveling with the black mage, but now there was nothing she could do.
Now that he had officially been accepted into the mercenary corps, the reality was that she would have to keep looking at that unpleasant face. For Yuliana, it was truly beyond exasperating. To make matters worse, Kasim approached and poured oil onto the burning fire.
“As you have seen, a powerful mage has joined my mercenary corps. I believe it will become much easier to protect Your Highness’s person. Therefore, we will take even greater care in your protection from now on.”
Kasim subtly avoided Yuliana’s fierce glare as she said nothing. At that moment, his heart was echoing with swelling delight.
‘No matter what it takes, I must keep that man in the mercenary corps as long as possible. I don’t care if he’s an unparalleled villain or a murderer. With him, I can spread the name of the Kasim Mercenary Corps throughout all of Arcadia.’
He did not know what story lay behind it, but Kasim was obsessed with spreading his fame far and wide. Even if that were not the case, however, the addition of a mage was something every mercenary corps leader dreamed of. In truth, it was only natural.
Since ancient times, mages had always belonged among the highest class of talent. Unlike swordsmen, who could become strong through effort even without aptitude, magic was a discipline thoroughly dependent on talent. One could not learn magic through effort alone. Thus, mages were inevitably far rarer than swordsmen.
In particular, finding a useful mage for a mercenary corps was literally like plucking a star from the sky. It was extremely difficult for mages with weak physical strength to endure the harsh life of mercenaries, and generally speaking, mages wished to belong to royal courts or knight orders, rarely choosing mercenary corps. The greatest reason was that they received little recognition there.
Of course, since mages displayed tremendous power in group battles, mercenary corps lured mages with large sums of money. But those who gathered were only worthless trash who had not even reached the Third Circle. A proper mage would not come to a mercenary corps no matter how much money was offered.
Back when Kasim had belonged to a mercenary corps, the Thunderbird Mercenary Corps had a total of four mages serving with them, and the strongest among them was only a Fourth-Circle user. Even so, because that mage was of considerable help in battle, the Thunderbird Mercenary Corps had kept him by paying him a huge salary. Recalling that fact, Kasim stole a glance at Damon’s face.
‘I haven’t experienced much of him, but this man is the real thing. At the very least, he is an expert above the Sixth Circle. Bringing in someone like this is the greatest luck of my life. And for such a small salary, at that.’
Ignoring the uneasy gazes of the mercenaries under him, Kasim quietly spoke.
“Then please make your preparations. The road to the Crosen Empire is long…”
“Very well.”
Damon, answering readily, went inside to gather his belongings.
After receiving back all their weapons and luggage from Winslot, the party came out of the cave first. Winslot had already brought all their horses and tied them near the cave entrance. But a little while later, when Damon emerged after finishing his travel preparations, the party was scared out of their wits.
“H-heavens…”
Amazingly, Damon had loaded Winslot with a mountain of baggage and stood him beside himself. Judging by the situation, he seemed to intend to take him along as a porter. It was so absurd that Yuliana once again fell into hysterics.
“Are you in your right mind, saying we should travel around with that monster? I would rather terminate the contract with your mercenary corps. Even if I have to travel with only Mitchell, I absolutely cannot tolerate that thing.”
Of course, Kasim was not particularly willing to travel around with a Dullahan either. It was no different from carrying around a sign that said, “We are extremely evil villains.”
In truth, Yuliana terminating the contract was something Kasim would have welcomed. He had already received the entire commission fee in advance, so he could simply part ways here and look for another job. But his conscience would not allow that, so Kasim silently approached Damon.
“Are you planning to take this fellow with us?”
“I am. Is there a problem?”
Seeing Damon nod, Kasim made a troubled expression.
“That may be somewhat difficult. We ourselves do not mind, but other people will find it extremely strange…”
The words suggesting they leave the Dullahan here simply would not come out of Kasim’s mouth. His true intention was to coax Damon into remaining with the mercenary corps by any means possible. Therefore, under no circumstances could he offend him. Contrary to his expectations, Damon nodded readily.
“Is that so? Then will it be fine if I make sure this fellow is not seen by people?”
Kasim quickly nodded.
“Y-yes. If necessary, I will prepare a carriage.”
Generally speaking, mages were not very friendly with horses. Mages were a race utterly distant from physical exertion… Recalling that the mages who had belonged to his former mercenary corps always traveled by carriage, Kasim thought he would have to prepare one even if he had to scrape together money he did not have. But unexpectedly, Damon shook his head.
“No, there is no need for that. I am rather good at riding.”
Kasim’s face brightened at once. For him, who was always pressed for money, nothing could be more welcome than hearing he did not have to purchase a carriage. Of course, there was no way Damon, who had once been an outstanding martial artist, could not ride a horse.
“Then I will deal with this fellow immediately.”
As Damon formed hand seals, Incresia appeared in midair. Seeing the wavering rift in space spread open in the air, the party’s eyes widened all at once.
“Wh-what is that?”
They had never once seen a magical vault before. Of course, the same would apply to humans throughout all of Arcadia. Paying no mind to the party’s reaction, Damon gave Winslot an order.
“Go in. And come out only when I call you.”
“Kraaaaah.”
Letting out a strange cry as if he understood, Winslot threw himself into Incresia without delay.
“What is this?”
Seeing Kasim approach Incresia with curious eyes and try to peer inside, Damon was horrified.
“You’ll be in serious trouble if you touch that. Even I cannot enter that place. There is no breathable air inside it, so only undead can enter.”
Startled, Kasim drew back his hand. Watching him, Damon calmly closed Incresia. Then he turned back to the party and gave an awkward smile.
“Think of it as a place to store the Dullahan temporarily. Then shall we set out?”
“Y-yes, let’s. Then please ride that horse.”
Answering haltingly, Kasim picked up his luggage.