How to Live as a Wandering Knight

Kaegal had a remarkable memory for the names, compositions, and biographies of several mercenary bands serving under the emperor. He didn’t miss a single word.

“Kupperman, the lieutenant of the Angry Bear Mercenary Group, is addicted to dice gambling. He goes to the tents of other mercenary bands twice a week to play. When he goes, he takes two talented slaves with him, who are nicknamed One-Arm and One-Eye. If the mercenaries ask, pretend to be friends.”

“That’s amazing.”

“??”

Kaegal looked at Johan in surprise at his praise. His expression seemed sincere.

“Are you serious?”

“No… Isn’t it amazing? It’s amazing that you remember all this.”

“I think it’s more amazing that you can speak the ancient imperial language and the Eastern language, and you’re good at math.”

Kaegal said in a puzzled tone. This kind of memory was a natural talent that grew naturally if you lived as an assassin for a long time.

Assassins who don’t know how to read can’t remember things by writing them down, so they have to remember things this way in order to do their job.

In comparison, his ability to read and write letters or count was much more amazing. Kaegal was especially envious of Johan’s numerical skills. How could he measure the area of land or count the days so quickly?

“Why don’t you both just move on, since you’re both so great?”

Caenerna said sarcastically. Kaegal nodded without any complaint.

“But master. Are you maybe tolerating her?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve never gotten angry, no matter what Caenerna-gong says.”

“Why would that be because of her? It’s because I’m an assassin.”

There was no assassin who did not believe in superstition. The longer an assassin lived with a sword in his hand, the more he relied on superstition and mystery.

Kaegal, who lived without a single fear in the world, respected real wizards like Caenerna. You never know when a prophecy of death will come out.

“I’m an old assassin who believes in superstition. Didn’t you know that you shouldn’t argue with wizards?”

“Uh. . .”

Johan was lost in thought. Thinking about it, he seemed to have argued with wizards more than he had respected them and been careful of their mysteries and curses.

Caenerna, Before they became close, didn’t they throw sharp insults at each other?

Kaegal clicked his tongue.

“I must have forgotten to teach you the most important lesson, Johan. Don’t be friendly with wizards. Keep your distance from them. Don’t make them angry. Don’t insult them. What else is there?”

“Isn’t there anything about not killing wizards?”

“It’s okay to kill them. As long as you kill them before they cast a curse. Oh, right. Don’t flirt with wizards.”

“You could have just told me not to get involved with wizards.”

Caenerna, who was listening, couldn’t hide her displeasure and twisted her lips. That assassin was interfering with the friendship she had built with the count.

Of course, this attitude of avoiding getting involved with wizards was a very classical and orthodox attitude, and Caenerna didn’t mind it either. It was helpful when working as a wizard.

However, if he made unnecessary and influenced the count, that was a different story.

“But master.”

“What?”

“It’s strange to say this now, but I’m also a wizard.”

“. . .Don’t come near me.”

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Keagal took out the agate stone he had put in his pocket, threw it in the direction he wanted, and offered a simple warding prayer. It was a natural thing to do before an assassination, but he was more serious than usual.

He had gotten too close to the wizards, and he wanted to wash away the bad luck.

“Let’s go.”

The group descended into the camp under the cover of night. The guards around the tents of the lords and nobles were fairly strict, but the guards around the other mercenary groups were not as severe.

There was a sense of confidence that no one would dare come when there were so many soldiers gathered, but mercenaries were generally quite lazy in this regard.

The priority was to take care of their own bodies and rest, and if someone was so conscientious as to set a guard for weeks or months, even if it might not be useful, they would not be a mercenary.

As a result, the camps were easy enough to enter any tent if you slipped in under the cover of darkness.

The next problem was to get from the outer camp to the inner camp.

“We’re from the Raging Bear Mercenary Group. We need to get a piece of the action before the one-eyed b*stard takes it all.”

“Bullsht. It won’t be that easy this time.”

The guards at the gate didn’t even bat an eye at the familiar name. Kaegal quickly passed through the outer perimeter of the camp using the names of the mercenary companies he had memorized.

“It’ll get more difficult from here.”

Kaegal said as he looked at the camp ahead of him.

While the mercenary companies filled the outer perimeter of the camp, the inner part was home to the tents of the feudal lords and nobles. The atmosphere here was not as noisy as it was outside, where the mercenaries wandered around the camp selling goods, borrowing money, and drinking.

“Of course, master must have someone he trusts here as well, right?”

“Don’t come near me, wizard. Of course, I have something planned.”

Kaegal walked forward and called out to a servant.

“Tell Your Excellency Count that Gutsal from the Ghoul Executioner Mercenary Group has something to say to him.”

“Yes, sir. I understand.”

Johan was puzzled.

Gutsal was probably a senior member of the mercenary company who looked similar to Kaegal.

But if the count calls him in, it’ll be a hassle, right?

‘𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?’

No matter how high-ranking a count is, he would be likely to kneel if a knife was held to his throat. His own life is more important than the emperor’s life, isn’t it?

“I’m sorry, Your Excellency the Count is currently at a banquet…”

“Is that so? Then can I wait here?”

“Of course. Please come this way. We will prepare some simple snacks and drinks for you.”

The servants were quite careful when dealing with mercenaries.

Of course, it was fine to just kick and whip a mercenary who came from nowhere and had never heard of his name.

However, if he was a lieutenant of a well-known mercenary group, it would be no good if they got into a fight. Even nobles treat large mercenary captains well so as not to harbor unnecessary grudges, so of course the servants had to be careful.

The group entered the tent next door and received a bottle of mediocre-quality wine, as well as large pieces of cheese, dried beef jerky, and bread. It looked like the kind of food that servants often ate.

“See? I told you not to disturb them, so those guys won’t come in. Even if they did come in, they would probably think that they left after waiting.”

Excellent.

The group changed into servant clothes and snuck out behind the tent. The night was dark, and the light and noise decreased as they went inside. They could instinctively feel that they were getting close to the emperor’s domain.

“. . .Damn it.”

“?”

“They changed the guards! No, who changed the guards when the emperor fell? If there is a loophole and he is assassinated, how will they take responsibility!”

Johan and Caenerna looked at Kaegal with puzzled expressions. But Kaegal was very serious.

“Isn’t that tent across the way where the emperor is staying?”

“Yes. But there are mercenaries patrolling around here, which weren’t there before. It looks like some stupid noble ordered them to do it.”

Usually, mercenaries were not allowed to patrol around the emperor’s tent. The Emperor was a suspicious man, and he would never allow armed mercenaries to come near him at night.

What if they were bribed or betrayed?

However, the emperor had fallen, and Biorarn thought he had to prevent a possible assassination. He did not suspect the lords of the west or the south. He suspected the emperor’s vassals.

Biorarn assigned the most reputable mercenaries to patrol the area around Kaegal’s position. This was not an effective or perfect method, but it was enough to slow down Kaegal’s progress. Even the most sophisticated cogwheels can be stopped by a single pebble.

“Let’s just kill him and get out of here.”

Kaegal said, tapping his sword. Johan stopped, thinking that he might do just that.

“No. I know him.”

“. . .Wait. Wait a minute.”

Kaegal stopped Johan from stepping forward.

“Is he your father or something?”

“No, but…”

“Then what if he betrays you when you call out to him?”

“That would be annoying, but he’s not that kind of person.”

Johan’s voice was filled with confidence. Kaegal couldn’t help but be weakened by his bold attitude.

“What guts he has.”

Kaegal knew that Johan had the ability to handle people. Even though he was in a separate fiefdom with his older brother, who was the eldest son, and his younger brother, who was the favorite, he was able to gain the support of the serfs in the town. He must have a natural talent for winning people over.

However, the current situation is that we are trying to go to the emperor’s tent, right? In most cases, the opponent would rather choose to ignore Johan’s proposal rather than betray the emperor.

“It’s been a while, Mahreet.”

“. . .Sir Knight?!?!”

Mahreet, the head of the mercenary group called the Prophet, was startled by the face of Johan, who appeared out of the darkness.

“Evil spirit, go away! I won’t be fooled. Where are you impersonating Sir Knight?!”

Johan slapped Mahreet on the cheek instead of speaking. As soon as he was hit, Mahreet remembered the feeling of being exorcised by an evil spirit.

“Sir Knight?!”

“Yes. Thank you for remembering. Do you remember saying you would repay me for my kindness?”

Johan had once exorcised an evil spirit that had been used on Mahreet with his magical powers. Mahreet was very grateful and vowed to repay the kindness.

“Yes, I remember. Sir Knight. I must have wanted to meet Sir Knight because I had a strange dream.”

“What kind of dream did you have?”

“I had a dream that a dragon was burning down a fiefdom.”

“It just sounds like a nightmare where a dragon appeared.”

Johan thought so, but he didn’t bother to point it out.

“I want to go in here. Would you mind moving aside?”

“. . .Of course. I will stop anyone who tries to come in.”

Mahreet didn’t bother to ask why he had come or what he was going to do. Sometimes, it’s better not to know too much.

Mahreet ordered his subordinates to wait nearby and shoot anyone who came, even if they were the emperor’s child.

“It’s done. Let’s go in.”

“. . .Stay away from me, wizard! What kind of magic did you cast?!”

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“From now on, it’s better if I take the lead.”

Caenerna said in a calm voice. The emperor’s encampment was a place lined with identical tents, not only harboring all sorts of evil and vicious mysteries.

The court wizards serving the emperor had cast various spells to ward off night intruders, in line with the emperor’s paranoid nature.

Thanks to this, it looked completely different from other feudal lords’ encampments (fiefdoms).

There were no torches lit, no guards on watch, no slaves or servants bustling about. . .

Just an overwhelming dark silence without a single light.

Even slaves or servants who had been with the emperor for over ten years did not wander around outside the tents recklessly.

“What did master originally plan to do?”

“Planned to set fires everywhere.”

The method thought of by Kaegal, who couldn’t rely on wizards’ help, was simple. But its effectiveness was certain. It would attract attention, but with the surroundings turned into a sea of fire, would any magic remain?

“If we don’t know the emperor’s location, wouldn’t that be meaningless?”

Instead of answering, Kaegal drew a dagger with complex patterns engraved on it and cut his palm. Drops of blood fell and pointed in one direction.

“I couldn’t trick the emperor, but I could relatively easily trick the wizard who worked for the emperor.”

“Eastern magic?”

The spell that made the dagger remember the enemy and then found out where it was by feeding it blood was a spell that the witches of the East cast.

“That’s right. I bought it from a witch for a lot of money. Now that the emperor has fallen, the wizards who have something to hide will probably stay close to the emperor if they don’t want to be caught.”

Johan nodded. It was a reasonable inference.

At that moment, Johan’s arm began to burn hotly. It was the part where the dragon’s blood had touched.

“What is it?”

While Johan was flustered, the spells that were cast near the camp began to melt in the opposite direction as if they were afraid of the dragon’s blood.

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