Astan reached Cielo Village and parked his freight wagon in the inn's stable.
After dinner and a shower, he sprawled on the bed.
He needed money to live comfortably.
The Payson mansion in Rabin Village stood on a plot of 100 pyeong, with a total floor area of 200 pyeong across its two stories.
One or two people would not be enough to maintain that much space.
'Servants are essential.'
He also needed private soldiers to protect the village.
Unlike cities, villages had no walls.
Small villages generally employed four or five guards.
Rabin Village did not even have those.
'The lord has to hire the guards, too…….'
Should he look for a mercenary in Cielo Village to serve as captain of the guard?
For now, he needed to save money.
After spending the night at the inn, Astan went straight to the Mercenary Guild.
“Oh……? I thought you said you were going to live in Rabin Village…….”
“The mansion I will live in is so old that I need to hire servants first. I plan to stay in Cielo Village and earn money for about two weeks. Could you recommend some requests?”
“O-of course.”
“C~B-grade requests this time, please. I'd like to try fighting three-star magic beasts soon.”
“Three-star beasts are…… really dangerous. You would be better off fighting ten goblins than one orc.”
“I want the experience, so I plan to take any B-grade request slowly and safely. Please show me the C-grade ones first.”
The clerk introduced several requests, looking reluctant.
“Oh, I do not mind if they are some distance away this time.”
He could sleep outdoors.
“Then how about this one? The client wants kobold hides brought back from the forest. We will buy the magic stones as well.”
“Yes, that sounds good.”
“And I expect you would have no trouble with this goblin extermination request either, Mr. Astan…….”
After a moment's hesitation, the clerk showed him a B-grade request.
“A lord registered this one. It asks for a goblin settlement to be wiped out…….”
The settlement apparently held one goblin general and about a hundred ordinary goblins.
Soldiers alone could not deal with the magic beasts attacking from every direction.
That was why nobles hired mercenaries to kill them.
Fighting strength that moved for money.
Mercenaries had their uses, especially when they reduced losses among a noble's own troops.
“That sounds good. I'll give it a try.”
“A goblin general is truly dangerous. It is classified as a three-star magic beast, like an ordinary orc, but it uses fighting aura, as beastfolk and orc generals do. Even parties of B-rank mercenaries do not pick fights with one lightly.”
An Aura Blade could be used only as Sword Aura.
The same was true of the Devil Blade used by demons.
Fighting aura, however, which beastfolk and some magic beasts used, could be wrapped not only around a sword but around the body as well.
“With fighting aura, their physical abilities can double or even triple.”
Of course, tripling applied to an orc general.
A goblin general, classified as three-star, could hardly be that strong.
“Then are there other three-star magic beasts……?”
“Three-star magic beasts are hard to find around here. Red Wolves used to appear occasionally…… but we have not seen any lately. The requests to kill orcs are more than thirty kilometers away…….”
So wiping out the goblin settlement is my only option.
“Most requests that come into a village Mercenary Guild are F~C grade. You have to go to a city to find a proper selection of B-grade or higher requests.”
“Where is the nearest city?”
“About 15~20 kilometers west of here is a small city called ‘Alf.’ If you travel about twenty-five kilometers east, there is also…….”
Alf was the closest.
The others were all small cities, too.
Apparently, he would have to travel at least fifty kilometers to reach a medium-sized or large city.
Of course, that was not terribly far.
A horse or wagon could get him there more quickly and comfortably.
“I will take all the requests you just mentioned for now.”
“……Including the goblin settlement?”
“Yes, please.”
“You will have to pay a penalty if you fail, but please remember that your life is more important.”
Astan nodded at the concern in the clerk's voice and bought five maps.
“Oh, while you are at it, why not find a companion?”
“A companion……?”
“If you will be sleeping outdoors, would it not help to have someone to stand watch? Or…… buying a slave could be another option.”
Not only the Rabadian Empire but every country on this continent practiced slavery.
Of course, abducting ordinary people and enslaving them was illegal.
Yet such illegal slaves were commonly traded in the slave markets of the slums.
The clerk presumably meant legal slaves…… in other words, criminal slaves.
“Enslavement is one of the harsh punishments imposed on criminals. Prisoners taken in war are sometimes enslaved as well. The shackles fastened around their necks make them obey their master's orders…… so you could say there is no risk of betrayal.”
“Hmm…….”
Did he really need to buy a slave?
He was a vampire.
An Intermediate-grade vampire, at that.
That meant he could create thralls.
'Why have I forgotten about that until now?'
Astan smiled faintly and met the clerk's eyes.
“Thank you. I will look into slaves later when I visit a city. Have a good day!”
He had a new goal.
Once he finished the requests, he would go to the small city of Alf.
Turning an innocent person into a thrall would be risky.
The safest course would be to take a criminal from the slums as his subordinate.
'I was planning to put the slums' criminal organizations under my heel someday anyway.'
He needed to gather evidence of the crown prince's and Cecilia's crimes.
Most intelligence organizations were run by criminals.
That meant their information from the shadows might be more reliable than the imperial court's information.
“Let's go.”
Astan climbed into the driver's seat. He bought a tent, traps, and food for camping, along with weapons for fighting, then followed the map.
-SKREE!
“……Come to think of it, magic beasts can become thralls, too.”
Astan caught a large goblin and sank his fangs into the back of its neck.
'Fuck…….'
It did not feel good.
It smelled a little, too.
Well, did magic beasts ever wash?
Cursing inwardly, Astan threw the goblin to the ground.
THWACK—!
-SKREE…… KEK…….
The creature sprawled on the ground, twitching and convulsing.
A little later, its convulsions stopped, and it slowly rose.
It knelt on the ground before Astan and bowed its head.
-SKREE…… SKREEE…….
Creating thralls came with several restrictions.
One of them was…….
'The target must be weaker than me.'
The number of thralls he could create was also limited by his demon grade.
An Intermediate-grade demon could have thirty thralls; a high-grade demon, one hundred; a top-grade demon, five hundred; and a Demon King-grade demon, three thousand.
As the grade rose, the number of thralls that could serve under one increased exponentially.
'I'll deal with them when I return to the village.'
Apparently, killing a thrall with his own hands would not earn him experience points.
SQUELCH—!
-SKREEE!
SQUELCH—!
-SKREE……!
Astan turned five goblins into thralls.
They guarded the freight wagon and followed him.
In two days, Astan killed some fifty goblins and thirty kobolds.
He also hunted twenty-seven Giant Rats and twelve Killer Rabbits, both one-star magic beasts.
“Keep watch around here and wait for me.”
-SKREE!
The goblins nodded to show they understood.
Astan took the freight wagon back to Cielo Village.
Rina, the clerk at the Mercenary Guild, cried out in astonishment when she saw what he had brought.
“A-again, in only two days, you completed three E-grade requests, two D-grade requests, and three C-grade requests. We will purchase the magic stones as before, if you would like…….”
“Yes, please sell them for me.”
“Of course.”
Rina hurriedly handed him the payment for the requests and the magic stones.
“That comes to 1,840,000 wid in total.”
“A cloth pouch, too, please.”
“That will be 100 wid.”
“All right.”
Astan put the money into the small cloth pouch and left the guild at once.
“I'd better rest a little before I go.”
He had already paid for a week's stay at the inn.
Astan went in, showered, lay on the bed, and slept.
As the sun was setting, he ate dinner, then went back to his room and slept again.
He rose at around five the next morning and left the village.
-KEK?
The goblins hiding in the undergrowth showed themselves.
“Let's go.”
-KEK!
With the five goblins, Astan traveled 1~20 kilometers and entered the forest where the goblin settlement lay.
-SKREE!
“Hmm? That way?”
-SKREE!
Did the goblin know where the settlement was?
Perhaps it had caught the scent of its own kind.
Or perhaps it had belonged to that settlement.
Astan drove the wagon where the goblin led him.
“……We will have to go on foot from here.”
The wagon did not seem able to go any farther.
Step. Step. Step.
“Four of you guard the horse and wagon. You keep guiding me to the settlement.”
Astan left four goblins by the wagon and set off with the one serving as guide.
-SKREE!
After traveling about 1~2 kilometers, the goblin pointed somewhere.
Astan crouched and slowly followed the direction of its finger.
Rustle-
When he drew back the undergrowth, a small village came into view.
It was about 200~300 meters away.
Not far.
“……There are a fucking lot of them.”
Astan gave a small, hollow laugh as he looked at the settlement.
-SKREE?
“Wait here. I'll be back.”
-SKREE!
Astan drew the sword he had bought in Cielo Village and approached the settlement.
His steps were unhurried.
-SKREEE! SKREE!
Several goblins who saw him shrieked wildly.
Were they warning the others of an attack?
That was exactly it.
Goblins came pouring toward him.
Astan grinned at the sight.
“Look at all that experience gathered in one place.”
The goblins felt a chill at Astan's smile, but still gripped their weapons and hurled themselves at him.
-SKREEEE—!
Did that mean they wanted him dead?
As dozens of goblins rushed out of the settlement, Astan kicked off the ground and swung his sword.
WHOOSH—!
The Sword Aura of a Swordmaster coating his blade turned some ten goblins into shreds of flesh in an instant.
SPLASH—!
Fountains of blood burst from their own kind, and the goblins hesitated for a moment.
“Ahahahaha!”
Astan rampaged as he pleased, carrying out a massacre for the first time.
They were only two-star magic beasts.
How could they possibly stop an Intermediate-grade demon like him?!
Just then,
-ROOOAR!
A thunderous cry came from deep inside the settlement.