After killing the bandit leader with a single stroke, Roan felt dissatisfied inwardly.
‘···Tch, I guess this bastard wasn’t a Named enemy.’
In truth, Roan had decided to participate in this battle partly because he wanted to test [Half-Ogre Strength], but also because he thought he might be able to obtain a new Skillbook from the fight.
However, even after killing the man who appeared to be the leader of the bandits, no Skillbook had dropped.
Roan clicked his tongue lightly in disappointment.
“E-Eeeek!”
“Sir Knight! Please spare us!”
“Uwaaaah!”
However, perhaps misunderstanding his reaction, the bandits suddenly burst into tears and began begging Roan for mercy.
Roan had only killed the bandit leader because he wanted to obtain a Skillbook. He had no intention of killing the remaining bandits as well.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to explain that, Baldor stepped forward.
“S-Sir Knight! Please wait!”
“Hmm?”
“Killing prisoners would tarnish your honor, would it not?! Please, I beg you to show them mercy!”
Of course, from Baldor’s perspective, he wanted nothing more than to kill every last bandit there.
Many members of his merchant company had died at their hands.
However, he did not want the honor of the knight named Roan before him to be dragged through the mud.
Roan was practically the savior of the Northern Frost Merchant Company.
“Sir Roan, it may be late, but thank you very much! You are the benefactor of our Northern Frost Merchant Company! We would like to repay you for what you have done. Would you please accept our sincerity?”
Afraid that Roan might kill all the bandits before he could stop him, Baldor hurriedly continued speaking.
Roan inwardly brightened.
He had never intended to kill them in the first place.
Pretending to remain composed, he spoke.
“Refusing your goodwill would also tarnish my honor, would it not?”
“Exactly! Torin! Hurry and bring Sir Roan some armor and a weapon! Give him the finest ones we have!”
As befitted a veteran merchant, Baldor had already realized that Roan’s circumstances were not particularly good.
Roan’s leather armor did not fit his body at all, and the axe he carried was so rusted that it looked ready to snap at any moment.
“Y-Yes, Company Head! Sir Knight, would you please follow me?”
“Very well.”
Afterward, Roan followed Torin and received a longsword and an expensive-looking suit of full plate armor from him.
Measured by the prices of his previous life, a suit of full plate armor would have cost well over a hundred million won.
Naturally, Roan could not help feeling as though he had struck the jackpot.
‘J-Jackpot. If they carry things like this around, this merchant company must be far more impressive than I thought.’
Roan was extremely satisfied.
He was delighted both that [Half-Ogre Strength] had proven far more powerful than he had expected and that he had unexpectedly obtained such expensive equipment.
“···Wait. Could I perhaps have one more suit of armor? Even ordinary armor would be fine.”
However, Roan decided to shamelessly push his luck a little further.
Since things had already gone this far, he wanted to obtain armor for his squire, Paul, as well.
“Ah! Of course, Sir Knight!”
Torin readily handed him a suit of leather armor reinforced with iron plates.
It was not as valuable as the full plate armor, but it was still quite expensive.
“Thank you.”
“Oh, not at all, Sir Knight! If not for you, we would all have lost our lives! Everything we own here would have been stolen as well. So we do not begrudge giving you any of this in the slightest!”
Torin bowed respectfully.
He genuinely admired Roan and was also deeply grateful to him.
Of course, when Roan had severed the bandit leader’s head with a single stroke, fear had outweighed admiration for a moment.
“Come to think of it, if I had not appeared, you would have lost everything here.”
“That is correct, Sir Knight.”
“Then··· could you give me just a little more?”
“···Pardon? Ah! O-Of course! What would you like?”
“No, that last part was a joke.”
Roan shook his head.
Shameless though he might be, even he had no intention of demanding more from them.
He was a wandering knight, not a bandit knight.
“By the way, where were you headed?”
Roan asked while glancing toward Baldor.
Baldor and the members of the merchant company were loading the bandits into an empty wagon.
For some reason, the bandits were obeying Baldor’s orders with an almost unnaturally docile attitude.
“···Gasp!”
Suddenly, one of the bandits made eye contact with Roan and immediately climbed into the wagon of his own accord.
Roan felt strangely awkward as he waited for Torin’s answer.
“We are heading to Dragonbane.”
“Hmm? You are going to Dragonbane?”
Roan’s eyes widened at Torin’s words.
Coincidentally, they had the same destination.
After considering it for a moment, Roan made a proposal.
“I am also heading to Dragonbane··· Would you be willing to travel together?”
The suggestion was reasonable for Roan as well.
If he traveled with the merchant company, he would no longer have to eat hard jerky all the time.
Of course, there would likely be plenty of other benefits as well.
“Pardon? A-Are you serious?”
“Why? Do you not want to?”
“Oh, no! Of course not! We would welcome you wholeheartedly!”
Torin exclaimed hurriedly.
Although Company Head Baldor’s opinion was important, he was certain Baldor would not refuse to travel with Roan either.
If they traveled alongside such a powerful knight, they would no longer have to fear bandits.
“Then let us do that. But could you wait a moment? I have a companion.”
The companion he was referring to was his squire, Paul.
By now, Paul was probably craning his neck while waiting for Roan to return.
“Of course. We were planning to recover the bodies of our fallen before departing anyway. Please go ahead!”
Roan immediately went to fetch Paul.
And so, the wandering knight Roan and his squire Paul joined the Northern Frost Merchant Company.
***
The sky after the rain was pouring down an unusually clear light.
Time passed, and before long, two days had gone by since they joined the Northern Frost Merchant Company.
“Hehe···.”
“You little rascal, Paul. Do you like it that much? You keep touching your armor even while eating.”
“Yes, Sir Roan! I’ve never seen such fine armor before!”
Paul answered Roan’s question with a broad smile.
Roan was a poor wandering knight.
Naturally, his squire Paul had also lived in rather miserable circumstances until now.
To exaggerate slightly, he had looked more like a poor boy from the slums than a knight’s squire.
But Paul looked completely different now.
After all, he was currently wearing the armor Roan had given him as a gift.
It was the leather armor reinforced with iron plates that Roan had received from the Northern Frost Merchant Company.
“Thank you so much, Sir Roan!”
“You little rascal, you’re going to wear my ears out. Just how many times are you going to thank me?”
“Hehe, but I really am grateful!”
In truth, Paul had initially tried to refuse Roan’s gift.
He believed that he had contributed nothing to saving the Northern Frost Merchant Company.
However, when Roan told him, “If you are my squire, you should at least wear something like this. So put it on,” Paul eventually accepted the gift.
Once he did, however, Paul absolutely loved it.
“Hah. Then make sure you thank the Northern Frost Merchant Company as well. That originally came from them.”
“Yes, Sir Roan! Thank you very much, Company Head!”
“Hohoho, not at all. I am simply glad that you like the armor.”
When Paul politely bowed his head toward Baldor, Baldor answered with a hearty laugh.
At the same time, his eyes gleamed as he looked toward Roan.
He liked the knight before him immensely.
It was not simply because Roan was the benefactor of the Northern Frost Merchant Company.
‘Ha, what an extraordinarily noble character he possesses!’
Knights and squires normally maintained a strict relationship of superior and subordinate.
If the knight told the squire to die, he died.
If the knight told him to live, he lived.
That was the relationship between a knight and his squire.
By contrast, Roan and Paul seemed exceptionally close.
That meant Roan possessed excellent character.
It was truly rare to see a knight who treated his squire as humanely as Roan did.
Especially in times such as these.
‘When he killed the bandit leader with a single stroke and seemed ready to slaughter all the remaining bandits as well, I thought he was merely a knight mad for bloodshed···! It seems I completely misunderstood him! Sir Roan is a knight of such admirable character!’
Then why had Roan tried to kill all the prisoners back then?
Even at the cost of tarnishing his own honor?
‘Wait···! Could it be that he acted that way for our sake? To comfort the souls of the merchant company members who were killed by those bandits···!’
Once someone began viewing a person favorably, everything about them started to look favorable.
Baldor gradually began interpreting every action Roan had taken in the best possible light.
He found himself wanting to grow closer and closer to this knight.
“···Squire Paul, the armor certainly suits you well. But I must say, the one who looks even better in his armor is Sir Roan.”
At that moment, Torin, Baldor’s close aide, spoke with a smile.
In fact, his words were true.
Roan was currently wearing the full plate armor, and his appearance could be described in one word as overwhelming.
The silver full plate armor fit Roan’s physique perfectly.
The thick breastplate firmly protected his chest and abdomen, while the wing-shaped ornaments on the shoulders made his imposing posture stand out even more.
The pieces of armor covering his arms and legs were flexibly linked together, providing complete protection without hindering his movements.
Since they were eating, his helmet rested on the table, and its design was especially striking.
The sharp lines running down the forehead and nose were reminiscent of an eagle’s beak, while the sections protecting the cheeks were decorated with delicate patterns.
A silver feather ornament adorned the top of the helmet, making it seem as though it would grant him an even more dignified appearance when worn.
The armor’s design also matched Roan’s weapon remarkably well.
The longsword hanging at his waist created a peculiar harmony with the armor.
Its hilt gleamed silver, maintaining a similar tone to the armor and giving Roan’s overall appearance a greater sense of unity.
Taken as a whole, Roan’s equipment shone with such majesty that it seemed like something worn by a legendary knight.
The members of the merchant company could not stop admiring Roan’s appearance, and his mere presence seemed to give them a tremendous sense of security.
Paul’s eyes in particular were filled with admiration for him.