“Is this your first time seeing someone die?”

“Ah… N-no!”

Felid came to his senses and hurriedly responded while desperately holding back his urge to vomit.

“B-but what should we do with the bodies? Ah! Should we notify the people of Brahms? Or…”

“Just throw it somewhere where it’s not very visible. It’s not like we have a shortage of scum like these in the world anyways. Someone will find them one day and take care of them for us.”

Having experienced and seen such a world for half a year, Eugene spoke calmly.

“Yes. Then I will clean it up quickly.”

“Oh, wait.”

Felid forced himself to walk towards the bodies while holding back vomit. The corpses were still spewing fresh blood. Eugene interjected.

“They may have some useful objects on their bodies, so search them.”

“Ah… yes!”

Although Eugene was quite distinct from the knights he heard about, Felid obeyed his words.

‘I thought knights lived by honor and died by honor…’

But like Eugene, Felid only knew about knights from stories. He did not know yet that a knight’s honor was only kept in places with watchful eyes. Whether you were a knight or a mercenary, looting was an essential part of a battle.

*** 

Brahms was a fairly large village.

The farmland and pastures were incomparably vast than those of Broadwin, and dozens of proper buildings could be spotted all over the place. It was a stark contrast from Broadwin, which only consisted of a dozen households huddled together.

‘This is my first time here.’

He had stopped by large villages in other areas during his run in the past, but it was his first time inside the Tywin territory.

“Wow! Wow! Wow!”

Unlike Eugene, who observed the surroundings with uninterested eyes, Mirian burst into continued exclamations while on top of Eugene’s shoulder. Even Felid, who acted mature until now, seemed a little excited to visit such a big village after a long time.

The group continued walking down the wide road for a while, then Eugene stopped in front of a place where skins of animals and monsters were piled up. Eugene walked up to a middle-aged man with a shaggy red beard and a round hat.

“I would like to sell some leather.”

“Hmm?”

Eugene was dressed in a dark mask and emitted a red glow from his eyes, and the merchant flinched upon seeing him. But as soon as he saw the pile of leather on Eugene’s bag, the merchant’s eyes glimmered.

“Is that what you are carrying? All of it is leather?”

“That is right. The chief of Broadwin told me that the red-bearded leather merchant was reliable.”

“Oh, you mean Mister Gev?”

The leather merchant’s expression loosened as he mentioned the village chief’s name. The chief was the only one from Broadwin who traveled outside on a regular basis, and he had mentioned the leather merchant to Eugene. That was why Eugene had chosen to stop at this place first.

“That’s right.”

Eugene laid down the skins of the animals he hunted and the two black wolves he killed before leaving the town of Broadwin.

“Ho-oh. These are skinned rather well. Did you do it yourself? Not half bad. But the black wolf skins are quite damaged, so I can’t give you too much for those. The other ones are in good condition. For all of them…”

The leather merchant stole a peek at Eugene, but he could not gauge Eugene’s expression at all due to the mask. In addition, his red eyes were quite hard to read. They were quite burdensome.

‘Tsk. Given the atmosphere, he must be quite an experienced hunter. Since he’s coming here at the instructions of the chief of Broadwin.’

The merchant finished his calculations in an instant, then spoke coolly.

“Twenty-seven kingdom silver coins and fifty bronze coins! You won’t get a better deal anywhere else.”

“Let’s do that.”

Eugene nodded, knowing that five bronze coins could buy a meal with a mug of beer.

“Haha! You hide your face, but you have a straightforward personality. Here it is.”

Soon, dozens of coins the size of a thumbnail and silver coins, which were twice as large, entered Eugene’s pouch. Eugene was satisfied with the fact that he no longer had to avoid silver coins thanks to Black Scales. 

“This is our first trade, but you seem to know the business. Stop by often. I can proudly say that I’m the best when it comes to leather around here.”

“Hmm, do you have leather robes or anything similar? Something that completely blocks the sunlight, something preferably black.”

“A robe? Ah, well…”

The merchant saw Eugene’s robe, which was essentially pieces of untanned leathers glued together. He quickly searched through his stockpile of goods before pulling something out.

“You’re lucky. I recently came across a very precious object. It’s made of cowhide and lycanthrope leather. It’s waterproof and completely blocks the sunlight. It is quite expensive, but it provides more protection than a decent set of leather armor, so I would say it is worth the money.”

The robe took the form of a long cape. It even had several ornamental straps and fur decorations. Eugene felt rather sorry to even compare his current robe to it. It was a piece of garment that was a result of exquisite craftsmanship. 

“I will take it.”

“Haha! You truly are forthright. Good! I thought I would never sell it in this town anyway, so I was going to send it over to Maren. I like your personality, so I’ll just take eight silver coins.”

“Here you are.”

It was enough money to buy dozens of ordinary clothes, but Eugene presented the silver coins without hesitation.

“Come again!”

Leaving behind the leather merchant, Eugene headed towards a sign engraved with a sword and a shield.

“What are you doing? Let’s go.”

“Ah, yes!”

Felid scurried along at Eugene’s words. He had been dazedly staring at Eugene’s back.

‘That is amazing. Even the chief couldn’t buy and sell this easily.‘

Felid’s respect for Eugene deepened after witnessing the trade just a moment ago. The chief had always struggled with the merchant, while Eugene worked out a deal all too easily.

*** 

After spending around an hour purchasing goods in the market, Eugene left Brahms. He had a new robe, strong boots, and gloves made of cowhide, as well as a helmet that completely covered his face. His appearance was completely different from before. Anyone would assume him to be either an experienced mercenary or a free knight wandering the world.

“Not too shabby, hmm? Of course, vampires are all about silk clothes, but I guess this isn’t bad either.”

Eugene didn’t know what silk was, but it was clearly a very expensive material, seeing that Mirian was always trying to satisfy her greed through Eugene. For Eugene, however, the best clothes were ones that were durable and properly blocked the sunlight.

‘Since dwarven-made weapons are only available in the cities, I’ll hold onto this for the time being.’

The weapons of the mercenaries only netted him two silver coins. Most of them had been cheap goods. However, he was able to obtain two silver coins since he had so many of them and adding on an extra silver coin, he purchased a decent short sword.

The short sword, also known as an arming sword, was originally paired with a shield. It was a symbolic weapon of the mercenaries.

‘If I want to look like a knight, it would be best to get a long sword, but it costs too much money and I’m not well versed in swordsmanship. Anyways, I should purchase a horse first when I get some more money.’

Any knight would have their own horse. However, even the cheapest of steeds cost over 50 silver coins, while he only earned 29 silver coins from selling all the animal leather and the mercenaries’ weapons. Moreover, they weren’t warhorses for knights, but plain, regular horses.

“Sir Eugene, are you not going to hire any mercenaries?”

Felid did not doubt Eugene’s skills, but he heard stories that knights usually hired mercenaries to assist them in combat or to perform chores.

“We aren’t too uncomfortable right now and I don’t have enough money. It would be ridiculous to spend a silver coin to employ two idiots.”

“Ah, I see.”

Felid bowed his head and shut his mouth. He had been about to say that Lord Tywin would surely compensate that amount if he was officially recognized as the lord’s illegitimate child. 

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Eugene and Felid resumed their journey towards Lord Tywin’s castle.

*** 

“Hmm. Is it usually this easy to learn to write and read?”

“Well… You’re just extraordinary, Sir Eugene.”

The bonfire crackled while emitting a warm haze. The ground next to the fire was full of scribbles and erased marks.

“I am?”

“Yes. It took me two days to memorize and write all the letters. Besides, the grammar and whatnot… It took me more than 15 days to figure it out somewhat. It’s amazing that Sir Eugene finished it all in a couple of hours.”

“Really? Hmm.”

Eugene felt satisfied. Although he had never been certain, he always had a hunch that he was quite smart. When he first ran away in his past life, he always looked for deserted places in the beginning. But after two or three months, he realized it was better to hide in crowded places. As such, he overcame several crises while staying mixed in with humans using his judgment and improvising.

At least, until the templars showed up. He had no information available to him regarding the holy knights.

Anyways, Eugene thought he would have lasted less than a month, let alone half a year, if he had a bad brain. But seeing as he learned reading and writing so quickly, he realized he wasn’t just half bad, but pretty smart.

“Tell him to try it one more time. Just once more! Ah, I swear I can memorize it as well if I can see it one more time. Come on! Just once more!”

While Eugene mastered basic grammar as well in just a couple of hours, Mirian whined because she could not even memorize all the letters.

“You’re not cheating, are you? I can’t even memorize all the letters, but you’re telling me you can already write them? I don’t believe it. I don’t believe you!”

“Oh, yeah.”

After remembering something, Eugene searched for and took out a piece of parchment. It was the letter written by the village chief of Broadwin to Lord Tywin. Eugene read the letter out aloud while Felid looked on with curious eyes.

“My lord Sir Tywin. First of all, I apologize for having to convey this news. It is due to my inattentiveness and inability that this has happened. In fact…”

Felid nodded while listening to Eugene’s voice and checking the chief’s letter with his own eyes. 

“…As such, I requested a knight named Jan Eugene to escort Master Felid. I have never heard of the Eugene family before, but given their unusual appearance and skills, they seem to be a descendant of a fallen knight or a noble family. Of course, I wanted to hire mercenaries to do the job, but please understand the situation of our poor village. The loyal servant of our gracious Lord Tywin, Gev.”

“You’re great. It’s perfect.”

Felid was overjoyed.

“Really?”

“Yes. I think it was even better because you have such a nice voice, Sir Eugene. By the way, it is a neat letter. The chief wrote very well.”

“Is that so?”

Eugene had no way of knowing whether it was well written or not, as he had just learned to write not too long ago. He just accepted Felid’s words for what they were.

‘That’s that.’

Eugene glanced at Mirian, who was floating in front of him with a shocked expression.

“…..Ah!”

Mirian stood unmoving in the air absent-mindedly, then suddenly shook her wings.

“I knew all vampires were con-artists! You almost had me fooled there for a second. Wow! You made up a story like that in such a short time. I’m sure you’ll get ahead, Eugene.”

The spirit made a fuss while pretending to be calm. She even forced a smile on her face. The corners of Eugene’s mouth lifted in a smile.

“Haa!? What’s with that rotten smile? What’s with that funny look you’re giving me. Why are you looking like that! Am I funny? Do you find this amusing? Huh!? Kieeeek!”

Eugene snatched Mirian out of the air like a flying bug, then placed her inside the leather pouch. 

“Oh, was there a mosquito? How stupid. To think they would choose to hang around Sir Eugene.”

“You’ll always find moronic creatures wherever you go.”

“Kiek! Kieeee…”

Eugene closed the pocket and cut off the defeated cries of the spirit, then raised his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think someone is coming.”

Eugene sensed nearing presence. His five senses were much more sensitive during the night than during the day.

The sound of rolling wheels. A total of six pairs of footsteps. The smell of leather and oil… were they mercenaries?

After a while, the group that alerted Eugene’s senses arrived. Two carts, and six men, who seemed to be mercenaries.

“There were others. Hello there, friend.”

A big man raised his hand. He was at the forefront of the group. His tight leather armor had multiple pouches, and he was armed with a short sword and a circular shield.

‘He’s wearing a chain mail inside as well. He’s not ordinary.’

After leaving the town of Broadwin, Eugene had encountered the first ‘real mercenary.’