But none of that mattered if I could evade it. Wide-range attacks were nice and all, but the bigger the spell, the longer they took to cast. It had also been obvious where he was aiming. As long as I knew where the spell would land, all I had to do was step aside before the wave hit me.
Plus, powerful incantations like that needed time to charge, so he wouldn’t be launching a second one right away. And while there were some crazy bastards out there who made names for themselves on the battlefield with their impossible casting speed…
“Urk…! That I should be forced to resort to drawing my sword for the likes of a stray dog!”
…Yeah, there was no way could a guy of this caliber pull it off. In a flash, I broke through his defenses, carrying my momentum from my crouched position to spring up with my sword. The commander moved his blade sideways to block my attack—but that wasn’t good enough.
With a shrill clang, I knocked his weapon into the air. Everything went quiet and dark. It was like time had stopped, and I was watching it all from underwater. I saw my opponent’s face—the face of the man whose sword I had just slashed away—instantly fill with fear and dread. This was the moment he realized that the guy he’d written off as insignificant was going to kill him. I saw that expression often. Thinking nothing of the pitiful look in his eyes, I introduced the man’s fat gut to my boot.
“Oof!” He twisted his bearded mug with a gravelly grunt and fell on his ample rump.
I looked down at him without skipping a beat.
“Ah…ahhh! Why must I…to the likes of a barbarian for hire like you…?!” Anger mingled with the terror in the stout man’s eyes as he glared up at me.
That was another look I saw every day. Furious eyes, tense with fear. But it’s not a face I saw only in my career as a mercenary. It was an emotion that filled my entire life.
But the moment he saw the glint in my eye, anger got the better of his fear. “Y-you bastard! How dare you look down upon me…you plebeian!”
Plebeian. It was one of the insults people often hurled at me. Shorthand for people who had no magic and couldn’t cast spells. They were plebeians… And apparently, I was one of them. I know it’s pointless to wonder about, but if I had been born with the gift of magic, I probably wouldn’t be making a living on a battlefield like this.
“Huh… Well, now I’m curious: Just how does it feel to look up at a plebeian like me?” Being called that didn’t faze me; I was used to it. But I asked the question calmly just the same. Lord Top Shit was looking up at me, a baseborn man he had mocked. It was quite the pathetic turn of events, so I kinda wanted to know how he felt.
“Sh…shut up! You…you must have cheated! Filthy plebeian, boasting a victory you won by mere chance!”
Oh well. Looks like I’m not getting the answer I wanted.
Cheater. That was another insult I’d heard all too many times. With a sigh, I grabbed the nobleman by his lapel and stuck the point of my sword against his throat. The man’s anger once again gave way to fear as the redness in his face vanished in the blink of an eye.
“Eep! Y-you bastard…! What are you doing?! Unhand me!”
“Just for future reference, what exactly did I do to cheat? I’m sure that information could help me a lot going forward.”
“Y-you’re…you’re actually going to kill me? A filthy mercenary…is going to kill me…?”
This guy just isn’t gonna give me any answers, is he…?
I happened to notice a wet patch between his legs. I scrunched my nose at the foul stench.
What a waste of time. I guess that’s partially on me for messing around.
“Pathetic piece of shit,” I spat.
But the nobleman only trembled in response. I guess he’d lost his will to sass me.
“Oh well. When you’ve got an answer, give it to me on the other side. We’re both goin’ to Hell, after all.”
“W-wait! Please! No…!”
I yanked my sword away…and blood gushed from his neck with tremendous gusto. I must’ve cut through his windpipe—words failed him. The only thing that passed his lips was a wet, gurgling noise. I released his collar, and the man’s ample body sank into the bloodstained earth with a squelch.
Meanwhile, a triumphant roar boomed behind me. “Exquisitely done! That’s our Savage Fang!”
“What a massive upset! Ooh, we’re gonna get fucking hammered tonight!”
My mercenary buddies sang my praises, one after another. In our line of work, brawns and body counts were everything. It was lame but simple. And I kind of liked it for that.
I turned back to my adoring fans with a cool, emotionless smile.
“You’re coming to the party tonight, right? C’mon, my guy, you’re the man of the hour!”
“Eh… I’ll think about it.”
“This guy’s cool as ice, eh? Lighten up, ya just slaughtered a commander in the royal army. At least crack a smile, Envil.”
One of my mercenary buddies—whose scraggly stubble was completely unlike the epic beard the slain commander sported—walked over and clapped me on the shoulder. His name was Adan. He and I went way back. And he was one of the few people I could call a friend.
“Heh. Don’t get too excited and let loose tonight. Your baby’s due any day now, isn’t it?”
“Ouch. I thought we were friends.” Adan snorted and awkwardly scratched his cheek. When he acted like that…it was really hard to hate the guy.
When you’re a mercenary, your soul goes feral sooner or later. But Adan hadn’t changed a bit. He was still a normal man who loved his wife. But even regular guys like him had to work as mercenaries for money—and for their country. The only thing we couldn’t change was that the enemy we were hired to fight was Eltania.
Eltania was in the middle of a civil war that had been sparked by their evil queen’s tyranny. The steep taxes she levied and the bloody purges she enacted had incited her people to revolt in anger. They’d raised an army of rebels and were attempting to overthrow the monarchy.
So that was how things were in Eltania right now. Most of us mercenaries had been hired to fight alongside the citizens in the rebel army.
And technically, I was a former citizen myself…
“Hmph… Guess I’ll spare ya the lecture for today,” I told Adan.
“Ooh! So you are coming to the party, then! I’ll save ya a seat—you’d better be there!”
When Adan noticed our mercenary buddies were leaving the battlefield, he scurried away with them, looking back over his shoulder many times. I slowly followed behind my restless friend, watching him run.