Aiden had been pacing in front of the ‘Hungry Wolf’ for quite some time.
“When is he going to get here…….”
Surely he was not going to stand me up, was he?
Aiden entertained the ominous thought for only a moment.
Before long, Jun’s voice reached him.
“Have you been waiting long?”
“N-no!”
“Really? Then let’s go inside.”
When they entered the tavern, they found it unusually quiet.
The failed Black Forest subjugation had drastically reduced the number of mercenaries.
Of course, it would not be long before the place became noisy again.
After ordering several dishes and taking their seats, the two naturally began discussing the recent subjugation.
“Senior, did you expect the operation to fail?”
“I wasn’t certain, but I had considered the possibility.”
“How did you know?”
“The first reason was the rumors I’d been hearing lately.”
“Rumors? Ah…… I believe I heard that the number of goblins had increased considerably.”
“Right. And the survival rate among mercenaries had also fallen sharply. That meant something unusual was happening in the Black Forest.”
“I see.”
“The second reason was that the captain told me who the commander for this operation was.”
“The commander…… You mean the one who had just graduated from the Imperial Military Academy? Still, since he graduated from the Imperial Military Academy, I thought his abilities as a commander would be reliable.”
“He was still a novice.”
Jun was not particularly disparaging the academy itself.
Those admitted there were prodigies who had overcome tremendous competition, and they were undoubtedly elites who grew with a level of support Jun could scarcely imagine receiving himself.
In fact, Jun had already heard that the main force led by the commander had returned to the fortress without suffering any significant losses.
“I’m not talking about the amount of experience a novice commander has. Someone who graduated from the Imperial Military Academy and was sent all the way to Blackout wouldn’t be incompetent. What I was looking at was his career.”
“His career?”
Blackout.
The abyss beneath the Empire that had unified humanity.
After discovering Blackout beneath the Empire, the Imperial Family had spent an extraordinarily long time trying to conquer it.
‘Was it several hundred years, according to the setting?’
It was an enormous span of time.
An elite commander who had graduated from the military academy could not possibly have been ignorant of that history.
If anything, because it was his first operation, he would have prepared with even greater care.
“The commander probably gathered a reasonable amount of evidence from the rumors too. I’m sure he conducted his own investigation. But budgeting is a completely different matter.”
A simple comparison would be office life.
Even if a newly hired employee had achieved excellent results during training, no company would immediately pour enormous resources into the first project assigned to him.
No matter how good the plan was, it amounted to nothing without the budget to support it.
“But a novice commander hasn’t accumulated any achievements yet. Do you think he could have asked his superiors for a massive budget just to subjugate some goblins?”
“Ah…….”
“That’s why the operation could never have succeeded. It wasn’t the commander who underestimated Blackout. It was the people above him who only looked at reports and numbers.”
Of course, the commander’s own lack of field experience had also played a part.
Had the operation been conducted more systematically, they would not have suffered such a hollow defeat.
“Several pieces of bad luck simply piled up at once.”
“I see…… You thought that far ahead?”
“You can figure out most of it if you pay a little attention.”
Jun waved a hand as though it were nothing remarkable, but Aiden knew how impressive Jun’s way of thinking truly was.
‘This is why I started following him.’
Back when Aiden had still been a Porter—
He had possessed the physical gifts of the Imperial Family and had been confident that he would soon be recognized as a full mercenary.
Even so, Aiden had always treated Jun with meticulous respect because he had recognized the man’s value.
The education he had received while still in the Imperial Family had taught him well how important talented people were.
‘Even putting his magical talent aside, he was never someone suited to being a Low-Rank Mercenary.’
He was a frail man who could get cut by a passing tree branch and become winded after walking only a short distance.
Yet in stark contrast to that weakness, he possessed an extraordinary breadth of knowledge and enough wisdom to put that knowledge to practical use.
“Then let me ask you the opposite question. Why do you want to follow me?”
That was why Aiden could answer Jun’s question without hesitation.
“Because I think I can survive for a long time if I stay with you, Senior.”
“That’s certainly a straightforward reason.”
Aiden did not believe that the strong necessarily survived for a long time, nor did he believe that surviving for a long time necessarily made someone strong.
But he did understand that one had to survive in order to have a future in which one could become strong.
‘At least, if it’s this man I’ve been watching all this time…….’
Perhaps he could survive here, in Blackout, the place known as the abyss of the Empire.
That was why Aiden had decided to follow Jun.
Jun’s conversation with Aiden ended sooner than expected.
More than anything else, his body had reached its limit.
‘I really pushed myself too hard.’
As a Mage, there were unavoidable physical disadvantages he simply had to accept.
The other mercenaries had always mocked Jun for returning utterly exhausted after every mission.
Yet in the end, Jun was the one who had survived.
“Haa…… I feel like I’m dying.”
After returning to his lodging and entering his room, Jun looked down at the Mercenary Badge in his hand, distinguished by the bronze-colored stud embedded in it.
It had belonged to the mercenary captain.
“Even thinking about it again, that man died a ridiculously abrupt death.”
The man had regularly belittled and mocked Jun for being a Low-Rank Mage, only to shamelessly seek him out whenever he needed help.
Still, he had not been such utter trash that Jun could not stand dealing with him.
He had also been reasonably skilled, so Jun had expected him to survive for quite a long time.
Unfortunately, the man had entered Blackout in pursuit of greater success.
“Though he was the reason I managed to come here in the first place…….”
Jun had grown accustomed to death.
He had undergone experiences severe enough to leave ordinary soldiers traumatized for the rest of their lives, yet his expression remained calm.
It was thanks to [Unwavering Heart].
“What a useful skill.”
It had cost him a full seven points.
Jun had originally taken it simply to strengthen his mental fortitude, yet it had proved useful in an entirely unexpected way.
The skill was also one of the major reasons he had survived this long.
“Anyway, Captain. I’ll put this to good use.”
Jun briefly prayed for the dead man’s soul.
Then—
“Aiden…… Aiden, huh…….”
At first, Jun had merely thought of him as a useful Warrior.
But as it turned out, Aiden was far more than merely useful.
He was a member of the Imperial Family.
There would undoubtedly be all sorts of trouble surrounding him, but even accounting for that, Aiden remained an exceptionally attractive party member.
If Jun wanted to survive in Blackout, having companions he could trust was essential.
“……How should I make use of all this?”
His body was more exhausted than ever, but his mind was working at full speed.
“Right…… It’s about time I started moving in earnest.”
For the past year, despite possessing the Legendary-Grade skill [Mana Incarnate], Jun had been forced to live as nothing more than a Low-Rank Mage.
For a brief moment, he thought back on that year.
When people heard the word mage, it was easy to imagine the sort of figure that appeared in famous films based on novels—a man dressed in pure white robes and carrying a long staff.
A mere human standing alone upon a bridge against a colossal demon.
Or perhaps a wise old man offering invaluable advice to the protagonists.
But the mages of Blackout—the world inside this game—were quite far removed from such righteous figures.
Of course, if one searched hard enough, there were probably mages like that somewhere……
‘At the very least, my master certainly wasn’t one of them.’
When Jun first opened his eyes in this world, he already had a master.
For all his faults, the man Jun had somehow ended up serving as his master was the one who had taught him a great deal about this world.
-I’ll teach you one truth. There is no such thing as a person you can trust completely.
Those were the words his master had spoken while coveting the heart of his own disciple, who possessed [Mana Incarnate].
After an extraordinary series of hardships, Jun had barely managed to escape his master’s grasp……
But this world had proven every bit as cruel as that man.
Knowledge from the game alone had not been enough to survive.
As a result, Jun had spent an entire year simply adapting to this world.
“Still, that gave me plenty of time to prepare various things.”
Now that several necessary conditions had finally been fulfilled, there was no longer any need to continue living in hiding.
Three days later.
“Yaaaaawn.”
By the time Jun woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
“Damn. How long has it been since I slept this much?”
He had spent the last several months running himself ragged without any real rest.
Ever since joining the mercenary company as a Low-Rank Mage, he had been forced to maintain a relentless schedule without a single day off.
“Still…… it does feel a little empty.”
The other members of the mercenary company had constantly looked down on him.
And yet, as the saying went, even resentment could become a form of attachment.
Their faces suddenly came to mind.
Especially Popkin, whom Jun had killed while he lay defenseless under [Sleep].
“……I suppose feeling this way is a luxury after abandoning everyone else just to survive.”
But there had been no other choice.
The rules governing mercenary companies were simply that ruthless.
How many times had Jun nearly been killed over the past year because he had carelessly said the wrong thing?
During that year, he had learned the hard way that even when stepping forward to speak, one first had to judge the situation carefully.
“That’s enough reminiscing about the past.”
Perhaps because he had spent three entire days doing nothing but eating and sleeping, his body had recovered considerably from the brutal journey and the Overheat that had left him completely drained.
Jun rose from his bed and checked the time.
“I should get going. Hopefully Aiden hasn’t changed his mind.”
Obtaining a frontliner of Aiden’s caliber this early was no easy task.
He could not wield Aura yet, but even reaching the stage of enhancing the body with Mana was something one normally did not see until at least the 2nd Tier.
Finding a frontliner who was also trustworthy was even more difficult.
‘In that sense, meeting Aiden was practically a stroke of fortune.’
Jun did not trust Aiden down to his very bones, but at the very least, the man he had observed over the past month belonged among those Jun considered reasonably trustworthy.
Aiden had also demonstrated his integrity on several occasions in the game.
When Jun arrived in front of the ‘Hungry Wolf’ at the appointed time, he spotted Aiden leaning against a pillar.
‘He looks like a retriever waiting for its owner.’
His generally scruffy appearance somehow reminded Jun of an abandoned pet dog.
“Ah, Senior!”
As soon as Aiden noticed Jun, he approached with a bright smile.
The two entered the tavern together, and unlike three days earlier, there were already quite a few people inside.
They ordered some food and alcohol, took their seats, and casually caught up with one another.
Only after the food arrived did Jun get to the point.
“I’m thinking of running a mercenary company.”
“You’re going to run one yourself, Senior?”
“Right.”
“I think that’s a good decision.”
“…….”
“What is it?”
“No, this is going to sound like a strange question, but…… I’ve felt this for a while. You seem to have an extraordinary amount of faith in me.”
“Ah…….”
It was the kind of trust Jun had never experienced even back on Earth.
Having someone believe in him was certainly pleasant, but if that trust became too blind, it could be uncomfortable in its own way.
At Jun’s question, however, Aiden gave a bitter smile.
“After leaving the Imperial Family and living out in the world, I realized that life wasn’t nearly as easy as I had imagined.”
Naturally.
Even Jun, who had once been nothing more than an ordinary office worker, had faced countless threats while adapting to this world.
“But you were the first person I met after coming outside who continued showing me kindness without demanding anything in return.”
“It wasn’t exactly without expecting anything.”
Jun was no philanthropist.
He would hardly have shown kindness for absolutely no reason.
‘Having at least one person who was friendly toward me increased my chances of surviving.’
But Aiden shook his head.
“I know why you treated me well, Senior. But compared to everything I received from you, I hardly did anything for you.”
“I appreciate you saying that much, but…… Hmm.”
Jun suddenly remembered how he had considered whether to kill Aiden while the man lay unconscious in the forest, and guilt stirred inside him.
After all, Aiden had also been one of the reasons Jun managed to escape the forest.
Had Jun tried to get out alone, it would have been extraordinarily difficult.
“You’re praising me so much that I don’t even know what to say.”
Jun cleared his throat and changed the subject, explaining his plans for the future.
“First, I’m going to take over the mercenary company. I’ll register the existing White Whale Mercenary Company under my name.”
“Can ownership of a mercenary company really be changed that easily?”
“Good question. Like you said, taking over a mercenary company normally isn’t easy. Under ordinary circumstances, at least.”
As he spoke, Jun pulled the Mercenary Badge from his clothes.
It was the badge with the bronze-colored stud embedded in the center.
Unlike an ordinary Mercenary Badge, that mark indicated that its owner was the head of the mercenary company.
“But if you meet a few conditions, it isn’t that difficult.”
“Conditions?”
“Yeah. You only need three things.”
Jun popped the last of his food into his mouth and grinned.
“Money, a little ability, and the right circumstances.”
“Transferring ownership of a mercenary company…… Well, it isn’t particularly difficult.”
The clerk behind the counter at the Mercenary Guild spoke while handling the Gold Jun had passed over along with the Mercenary Badge.
“Still, there are a few conditions.”
“Ability?”
“And the number of members. You need at least three people.”
“Ability, huh.”
At the clerk’s words, Jun quietly moved his Mana.
“Would this be enough?”
FWOOSH!
A flame burst into life above Jun’s palm in the blink of an eye, illuminating the interior of the Mercenary Guild.
“You were a Mage? And that casting speed and firepower…….”
The clerk quickly nodded.
“That’s more than enough. Would you mind telling me which Magic Tower you belonged to?”
The clerk lightly shook some of the Gold Jun had handed him as he asked, but Jun shook his head.
He appeared to be thinking about selling the information to an intelligence guild or something similar, but Jun had no interest in indulging him.
He had no intention of taking such a risk merely to save a little money.
“I refuse.”
“A shame. Then what are you planning to do about the number of members? You’re one person short of the minimum needed to register the mercenary company.”
At that, Jun handed over more money.
“He isn’t here right now. Just register his name first. His name is Cheol-su.”
“Charles? Understood. I’ll register him under that name. Are you planning to keep the mercenary company’s current name?”
“Yes.”
“Very well. The White Whale Mercenary Company now belongs to you.”
Jun accepted the Mercenary Badge the clerk handed back to him and left the Mercenary Guild with Aiden.
Aiden clicked his tongue in amazement.
“Was it really that easy?”
“Money makes the world go around. Though it hurts that I just burned through 600,000 Gold.”
The money Jun had painstakingly saved had vanished in an instant.
It certainly stung, but earning money from now on would not be particularly difficult.
“That’s just how the world works. Things aren’t as complicated as you imagine. Blackout, in particular, is always short on manpower. They don’t scrutinize every little detail the way they do outside. That was the third condition I mentioned—the right circumstances.”
“I see…….”
“Now we can finally start running the mercenary company in earnest.”
“Um, Senior. Who was this Charles you mentioned earlier?”
The name had originally been Cheol-su, but Jun did not bother correcting the misunderstanding.
Instead, he spoke with a faintly wistful expression.
“He exists. The eternal friend of South Korean students.”
“South Korea?”
Could that perhaps be the name of the Magic Tower Jun had refused to talk about earlier?
“Anyway, let’s go. We need to find a job.”
There were three main ways for mercenaries to obtain work.
One was to accept a commission posted by the Mercenary Guild.
Jun, however, ruled out that option.
“Aren’t jobs from the Mercenary Guild the safest?”
“They are safer in several respects.”
For the most part, clients who posted commissions through the Mercenary Guild had clearly verified identities.
That might not sound important, but it was.
A client’s Reputation could help mercenaries assess the danger of a mission, and the chances of being cheated out of payment were significantly lower.
“But that safety comes with disadvantages. Most notably, it’s difficult to strike it rich.”
Clients also demanded mercenaries whose abilities matched the commission.
On the surface, the current White Whale Mercenary Company had nothing impressive to offer.
Naturally, they would only be able to obtain simple, poorly paid assignments.
“Anyway, that means we’ll choose the second option. For reference, the third method is out of the question from the start. That’s when mercenaries are forcibly conscripted for a fortress defense battle.”
“The second method would be…….”
“We find the client ourselves.”
“Ourselves?”
“Right.”
“But with only the two of us, I’m not sure how good a commission we could obtain…….”
“That’s my job as the mercenary captain. Just trust me and watch.”
“Understood.”
As Jun finished explaining, they arrived in front of a certain trading company.
“The Gilenne Trading Company?”
“That’s right. This is where we’ll find a prospective broker who can connect us with a client.”