Chapter 18
“Have you ever killed someone before?”
Step, step.
Chaud walked forward nonchalantly, swinging his longsword in a wide arc.
“Scum like them aren’t any different from monsters.”
Watching him approach, Erica suddenly thought of her master.
That jarring contrast between ruthless hands and gentle warmth.
There was someone else who said such chilling things with complete sincerity.
“…Do you think I’m a psychopath or something? I don’t just kill people because they upset me.”
“Really? Well, I am a psychopath, so I think I’ll just kill everyone here.”
Chaud declared in a low voice.
Erica stared at the boy with the refreshingly innocent face, trying to gauge whether he was serious. Then she gave up.
Instead, she rotated her wrist.
She adjusted her grip on the sheathed longsword in her right hand.
Around them, bandits were raising their weapons, exuding a murderous aura.
“Chaud, just stand back. I’ll take care of this.”
“Can you? I’ll help. There’s over thirty of them. Maybe forty, counting the ones behind the trees.”
Can you? That was definitely a provocation. He had a hobby of pushing buttons.
“Just don’t get in the way.”
Erica gave him a look full of disdain and then launched herself off the ground.
Taah!
Whoosh—
It all happened in an instant.
Screams and the clash of weapons erupted around them—a complete chaos.
Clang! Clang!
Thud—!
“Aaaagh!!!”
Dust billowed as people rolled, dodged, and were shoved onto the dirt ground.
At first, Erica had tried to avoid bloodshed and used only hand-to-hand combat.
But after slamming a few of them into trees with heavy throws, she realized it made no difference—they bled anyway.
This was going nowhere. She didn’t want to see blood, but…
‘I’ll just use the flat of the blade!’
Shing—
She drew her longsword.
Whoosh— With fast, elegant arcs, it cleaved through the air.
Slice—!
At every glinting tip of her blade reflecting the sun, bulky men dropped with a thud, one after another.
It was swordsmanship passed down by Phetenik, who once basked in the glory of Tenearha for half a lifetime.
Though her master lived freely, the deep-rooted chivalry within him never faded.
The techniques she learned from him were precise—far too refined for a mere mercenary.
Elegant.
Unbound.
And dignified.
Tap.
Thud—!
“….”
Chaud silently watched the strange contrast.
His eyes, lit with intrigue, stood out amidst the ruckus.
Erica wasn’t just good with a bow.
“Why are you so good? Are you some kind of invincible flying squirrel?”
It was unclear whether he was talking to himself or meant for Erica to hear, but he kept chuckling in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Chaud’s own swordplay was nothing to scoff at.
Slash!
He swept away anything annoying in his line of sight. He moved so fast it was almost invisible.
He didn’t even bother wiping off the blood, too focused on following Erica’s movements.
Anyone who got in the way of his view was mercilessly cut down.
Unlike Erica, who used only the flat of her blade, Chaud showed no mercy in his strikes.
“N-no, please don’t—urk!”
“R-run—”
Slash!
Thud!
Two S-class mercenaries, swinging their swords seriously—there was no way to resist them.
It didn’t take long for the forty-something bandits to collapse and roll across the ground.
Even the ones who tried to flee were dragged back.
“This one’s the last.”
It was a clean sweep.
An unexpected extermination of the Hithers Bandit Gang.
* * *
Extermination of the Hithers Bandits!
If this had been a formal request posted on the guild board, it would’ve been at least A-rank—and paid in gold.
On top of that, they’d also completed the merchant caravan escort—essentially fulfilling two overlapping commissions.
After running wild for a while, Erica began to feel they should’ve been paid.
“Tsk…“
Two high-value S-rank mercenaries had just volunteered their services for free.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“When we get to Dangtus, we will surely repay this favor!”
“Thank you so much!”
Repay this favor, they said. Erica nodded, satisfied.
They hadn’t signed any formal contract, but it looked like the merchant group was planning to give them some kind of reward.
“Oh no, there’s no need for that. Well… if you’d like to repay me, just come to the Southern Mercenary Guild headquarters in Dangtus.”
No need to give an exact address. The guild HQ was large and well-known.
Clank. She picked up her dirtied longsword.
Scrape— She pulled the edge of her upper garment and used it as a cloth to wipe the blade.
Wiping her weapon with her own clothes was a habit of Erica’s.
As she yanked her shirt taut, her toned abs were briefly exposed.
She’d never cared about modesty. After years of rolling around as a mercenary, it just came naturally.
“Erica, what are you doing?”
Chaud frowned and suddenly yanked her shirt down.
“Huh?”
“Your stomach was showing.”
“…?”
Why shouldn’t her stomach show?
She glanced around to assess the situation. Still didn’t get it.
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why? Your bare skin was completely exposed just now.”
“…?”
She slapped his hand away.
“So what am I supposed to do about it?”
Still looking confused, she shot back and turned away.
The caravan had mostly reorganized.
Near-death experience or not, the merchants were quick—they had a delivery schedule to keep.
“We’re departing!”
She climbed back into the wagon.
Neigh—!
The wagons began to move. The rhythmic sound of hooves clattered around them.
In the third wagon compartment, Erica and Chaud sat facing each other again.
Same seats, same posture as when they first left.
The only difference—
“Chaud.”
Was the bloodstain smeared across Chaud’s cheek.
“…You’ve got blood on your face.”
“It’s not mine.”
Obviously not.
How could someone who gets his face busted up claim to be a swordmaster?
“Well, I don’t want to look at it. Wipe it off.”
At Erica’s scolding, Chaud finally wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.
He didn’t even do it properly.
“I didn’t use aura at all, so it was hard to control my strength. That’s why the blood splattered.”
He gave an excuse.
What a weird thing to explain. She didn’t even know where to start questioning it.
The bloodstain didn’t matter. It was common for mercenaries to get splashed with blood.
But why didn’t he use his aura?
Her master had done the same, but he was an eccentric. He said it wasn’t fun unless he balanced himself out manually.
Was Chaud also balancing himself for the same reason?
“Do you normally not use aura?”
“Normally I use it all the time.”
“…?”
“I rarely don’t use it. Just having it faintly coat my sword feels nice.”
His serious expression, like he was some kind of aura-lover, made it clear—manual balance-tweaking was something only Phetenik did.
Chaud used aura like it was an extension of his own body.
“Then why not now?”
“Because I thought you didn’t like it.”
That answer caught her off guard.
“…What?”
“You hate it when I use aura, right?”
“….”
Erica was speechless. Her lips parted slightly in surprise.
From the beginning, this conversation had made no sense—but clearly Chaud had thought a lot about being rejected as a permanent partner.
“Was I wrong?”
Given how accurately he’d guessed—
“…You’re right.”
“Wow, I didn’t think so, but I was actually right? How am I supposed to feel about that?”
Chaud frowned and ran a hand through his hair.
His thick fingers raked through his locks.
“I thought I was being charming, but it turned out to be a minus? That’s… that’s just mean.”
He murmured in disbelief, leaning back against the seat.
His ocean-colored eyes calmly pleaded his innocence.
The small teardrop-shaped beauty mark under his eye somehow made him look even more wronged.
“Have you seen aura other than mine?”
“….”
“Why are your eyes shifting? Of course you have. You recognized mine instantly as aura.”
“…I have seen it.”
“Where? You’re from the South—hard to believe you’ve seen Tenearha aura techniques.”
“Our guild master.”
He is charming