Chapter – 30
Rama Len tossed the seal engraved with his signature somewhere onto the desk and rubbed his forehead.
The throbbing pain in his head was nearing its limit.
It came with the job, after all.
As the head of Silver Bridle, one of the top three largest merchant guilds in Vachenia, the problems that tormented him were always piled up everywhere he looked.
The moment he let his guard down, rival guilds would bare their fangs, trying to gobble up his shares.
Foreign nobles, puffed up with self-importance, would have him work and then conveniently “forget” to pay his fees.
And even hired agents would lurk about, trying to uncover the identity of their mysterious guild master.
But right now—
If someone were to ask what troubled his head the most, he could answer without hesitation.
The disciple of the Sword Saint, currently out there in the square, swinging swords with random mercenaries.
“Woooah!”
“He won again!”
“How many wins is that now? At this rate he really might become Vachenia’s strongest! Hey, awesome stuff, friend!”
“Since when were you friends with him?”
“Any strong and cool guy is our friend! Aren’t you calling him your friend too? Friend!”
“Wahahahaha!!!”
His building and office weren’t built with particularly thick soundproofing, but even so, there was at least a full block between him and the open space in the central plaza.
That’s how loud the commotion was.
It was like everyone out there had swallowed a train whistle.
Len pressed his tired eyelids with his fingers.
The Sword Saint’s disciple.
Lee Woo-hyun.
He hadn’t revealed his name to the Free City yet.
As far as Len knew, no one here realized he was the Sword Saint’s disciple.
Even Len himself hadn’t been fully convinced until Woo-hyun admitted it—his identity would remain veiled for some time.
For now, he was just some wandering swordsman.
But he was already a celebrity in Vachenia.
What started as mercenaries grumbling about some young brat flaunting his sword skills had long since turned into them politely asking if they might exchange a bout with the “monster” who’d appeared.
A city wearing the name Free naturally had its shadows; lawlessness existed like the flip side of a coin.
Precious goods required power to protect them.
Merchants invited dependable and easy-to-manage people, and over time, the port city naturally developed elite adventurer and mercenary groups.
And that man was beating all of them.
Rubbing his temples, Len thought back to when he first met Woo-hyun.
It had all begun when Woo-hyun had tried to leave, and Len casually brought up one topic.
The Mercenary King.
“You said… the Mercenary King?”
“Yes. As in, the one known as the king of mercenaries. He took on one of my requests and set out. He should be back soon. Within half a month at most. Why? You weren’t interested in anything else, but this caught your curiosity?”
Len had grumbled, but Woo-hyun didn’t mind.
He quietly rested his chin on his hand and seemed to ponder something.
It was the same look merchants had when weighing goods on a scale—deciding what held more value.
It was clear the title Mercenary King stirred something in him.
At least more than any of the previous matters did.
After a brief moment of thought, Woo-hyun decided to stay in Vachenia for a while.
Probably until he met the Mercenary King.
Len couldn’t help but wonder what fortune this man might bring him.
Just having him stay in the city felt like a stroke of luck.
Back then, he had no idea things would turn out like this.
When had it all gone wrong?
Certainly, when Woo-hyun first sparred with some third-rate mercenary in the open square, it had been fine.
He’d actually found it amusing, even interesting.
Maybe after the next match?
No, that one was fine too.
And the next.
Everything seemed fine for a while.
But at some point—absolutely—the mercenaries fixated on him. One by one, they stopped accepting guild requests, acting as if work didn’t matter, obsessed only with challenging him.
This was very bad.
For once, Len resented that Vachenia was such a city overflowing with gold and honey.
Here, even mercenaries had enough savings to live comfortably without working for a day or two—hell, for a month or two.
Whenever Woo-hyun fought a well-known mercenary, they even set up betting pools, thinking this time he’d finally lose.
The only ones still working were the bottom-tier hacks—utterly unfit to entrust with guild business.
If this kept up, his talk about Woo-hyun bringing him fortune would ruin his own guild.
A guild as large as Silver Bridle wouldn’t collapse from a few days of mercenaries neglecting work—but Len was annoyed that the guild’s impressive momentum had stalled even for a moment.
In five years—ten at most—he expected Silver Bridle to become Vachenia’s top guild.
While lost in thought, Len realized the hallway outside had grown loud.
Heavy footsteps thudding against the ground.
Only one person would barge in that rudely.
A troubled look flickered across Len’s face—then quickly brightened with sudden inspiration.
As they say, use barbarians to fight barbarians.
Not that either of them were literally barbarians, but letting the two collide would surely improve the situation.
Moments later, the office door exploded inward.
Len stared blankly at the nearly flattened piece of wood and sighed.
“Good grief. Can’t you enter like a normal person?”
“Rama Len!”
“Yes, yes. Did you complete the request successfully, Mr. Hugen?”
Hugen.
A massive man, in every sense.
A vest for a top, baggy pants, and thick muscles bulging visibly beneath—towering two heads above Len’s already-above-average height.
Staring at those writhing muscles too long felt unhealthy for the eyes.
Len tried to figure out why Hugen was so furious.
“You tricked me!”
“…Excuse me? Trick you? Me?”
He wasn’t completely guiltless, but he pretended ignorance.
It was crucial for his continued survival.
A weakling like him would surely be hovering between life and death if he took even one punch from those monstrous fists.
He had no intention of becoming crippled.
“There was a centaur!”
“…What?”
Hugen.
The Mercenary King.
He was bad with words.
No—he simply couldn’t be bothered. He said whatever he wanted, however he wanted, completely unconcerned whether anyone else understood.
If someone got frustrated and scolded him, he’d just raise a fist and tell them to “figure it out.”
If possible, Len would’ve liked to put a leash on him.
Hugen would probably use that leash to swing him around.
“Centaur? As in the half-human, half-horse race? What were they doing there? And what happened?”
“They tried to overpower me so I smashed them to bits!”
“…Poor centaurs.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“They were decent enough fighters—fun, actually—but the problem came afterwards! I went through hell! You said it was an ordinary ruin! Bullshit! Why were there so many damn traps?!”
“Traps? Magical ones too?”
“There were.”
Len didn’t ask how he handled them.
He could see fresh scars on Hugen—ones he hadn’t seen before.
Burn marks, crushed skin, slashes—one of them even ran clean across his torso.
Barely visible under his clothes, but definitely not mild wounds.
Had the ruin been that dangerous?
The place had been discovered through several rare ancient scrolls—so it wasn’t going to be easy—but even so, the fact that Hugen returned injured shocked Len.
It explained why he had been late.
“I almost died.”
“That’s a lie, right?”
“…Yeah. Fine. Not that close. But it was annoying and exhausting. I like fighting things that breathe. That stuff? Hate it.”
“Ah, yes, Mr. Hugen. Unfortunate. How was I supposed to know the ruin had traps troublesome enough even for you?”
“Hm.”
“I’m not a prophet, you know.”
“It’s not that, but you’re always scheming something.”
“So now I’m a villain…”
After working with him a few times, Hugen—who used to clap Len’s shoulder saying he was a good guy—now openly treated him as a suspicious schemer.
It made Len a little sad.
Well… he had used Hugen a lot.
And profited greatly.
But that was his life-insurance fee.
One misstep, and those tree-trunk arms would fold him in half.
The Mercenary King finally calmed down, having vented his anger.
He seemed convinced Len hadn’t deliberately sent him into a deathtrap.
Scratching his head, he took a tiny gem from his pocket and placed it on the desk.
A golden topaz, no larger than a grain of millet, scattering a strangely sorrowful light around it.
“Found that in the center of the ruin. I almost walked past it. You’re always after these tiny specks, huh?”
“Yes. They’re of particular interest. In any case, thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. I got paid.”
Len had paid a big reward.
A month ago, when Hugen suddenly said he wanted an island in the southern sea, Len seized the opportunity and proposed this ruin exploration.
He decided not to think about how much he’d spent buying that island.
If he worried himself into an ulcer, he wouldn’t be able to run a guild.
“So, anything fun happen while I was gone? Any strong guys show up?”
Of course he sensed it immediately.
When Len mentioned Woo-hyun, Hugen brightened and looked ready to sprint outside at once.
Len silently offered prayers for Woo-hyun’s soul.
Hugen was undefeated. Len couldn’t imagine Woo-hyun beating him—not even slightly.
“Oh, and about the door you just broke—please compensate me. Do you even know how expensive that door was—”
“Nope! But it can’t possibly be as expensive as the generosity I’ve shown you!”
Len closed his mouth.
Because he wasn’t wrong.
