"What did you just say?"
"Um… Sir Eugene and the Tiwyn family have already signed a contract with me. Here are the contract for the disposal of magic stones and monster by-products, as well as the new letter certifying Sir Eugene as the legal agent of Lord Tiwyn."
Pretsella's hand trembled as she took the documents Billmore handed over with blinking eyes.
She had intended to meet the knight named Eugene in person and sign the contract herself—but before she could even do that, everything had already been finalized.
And on top of that, the terms weren't bad for the Phaelin Trading Company at all. No, they were actually quite favorable.
"We've agreed to provide a loan of five thousand silver coins with the rights to three dungeon subjugations as collateral. It's a two-year repayment plan. During the repayment period, we've been granted full authority over the refinement and sale of magic stones produced in the Tiwyn territory dungeon, and as for the monster by-products—"
"I understand. Haa…"
As Pretsella let out a long sigh, Billmore tilted his head in confusion.
This was an excellent contract by any standard—so why was the vice manager sighing?
"Vice Manager, are you dissatisfied with the contract terms?"
"I like them. It's just… whew, it's nothing. Go back to your work. And please call Mr. Grail for me."
"Yes. Understood."
Billmore stood up and was just about to open the door when he suddenly remembered something and turned back.
"Oh, right. I saw Grail heading to the mercenary guild a little earlier."
"The mercenary guild? Why?"
"He said he was going to meet Sir Eugene."
"What? Why would Sir Eugene be at the mercenary guild?"
"Oh! You haven't heard yet. A group of roamers has appeared in the eastern outskirts forest. The city recruiter is assembling a subjugation force, and Sir Eugene intends to participate."
"I see… Understood—oh, was Grail alone by any chance?"
"He was with Tebin. And I don't know where he got it from, but he also took along an unbelievably handsome horse. Fully armored with barding and everything…"
Bang!
Before he could even finish speaking, Pretsella sprang to her feet and dashed out the door.
"What's with her? Did she suddenly need the restroom? Well, at least no one can complain about my performance anymore. Heh!"
Still clueless, Billmore tilted his head as a bright smile slowly spread across his face.
* * *
After stopping by the inn and fully equipping himself, Eugene left the gates of Maren City with the mercenaries in tow.
Clip-clop.
The horse gifted by the Phaelin Trading Company fit Eugene's tastes perfectly.
He didn't know that much about warhorses, but since they had proudly said it came with a pedigree certificate, it was surely an outstanding mount.
And just the price of the horse alone—excluding the armor—amounted to a staggering three hundred silver coins.
They said that except for a tiny number of great nobles, no one could even dream of maintaining a knight order or cavalry unit. A proper knight truly was a money-devouring monster.
"Your skill at handling horses is impressive, Sir Eugene."
"It's nothing special."
Eugene replied dryly to Partek's admiration.
"See? I told you to listen to me! Heh heh heh!"
Mirian, who was sprawled arrogantly atop the warhorse's head, grinned smugly. The horse had been named "Silion" after one of the spirit lords.
Though Eugene didn't answer, he silently agreed.
A short while earlier, following Mirian's advice, Eugene had intimidated Silion.
Strictly speaking, it was less intimidation and more domination through a vampire's innate aura of fear—but regardless, a perfect master-servant relationship had now been established between Eugene and Silion.
With Eugene's superior vampiric physical abilities added on, he might not yet have achieved perfect unity between man and horse, but he could already ride as well as an ordinary knight.
"Hey,, Silion. You sure are a lucky fellow. Our master here, you know—he's absurdly good at scamming people! And what, he even rips troll heads clean off! He does everything! You've got a reserved front-row seat to success with a master like him! Blood Count Eugene! Dark Count Eugene!"
Prrrt!
As if it understood Mirian's nonsense, Silion nodded its head.
Astonishingly, Silion could not only see Mirian, a spirit, but even seemed to understand her words.
According to Mirian, certain special animals and monsters could see spirits—and Silion was clearly one of them.
"Is it because of its extraordinary bloodline?"
As he was thinking that, a group of mercenaries who had gone out to scout voluntarily came running back at full speed.
"Sir Eugene! It's bad—very bad!"
"Bad?"
"Sir Madrica, who set out ahead of us, has been surrounded by the roamers! Most of the mercenaries are either dead or have fled, and Sir Madrica is fighting alone!"
"Let's move—now."
"Yes, sir!"
The mercenaries who already knew Eugene, including Partek's group, ran forward with confidence. Those seeing Eugene for the first time ran with uncertainty in their eyes.
"It's a complete mess. An absolute mess."
Thinking that he'd been agreeing with Mirian far too often today, Eugene stared toward the edge of the forest.
Half of the mercenaries who had departed earlier with Madrica were gone.
They had most likely been killed or had fled. Even the ones still fighting didn't look to be in good condition.
First of all, the number of goblins was overwhelming. And instead of crude wooden clubs, most of them were armed with iron weapons such as sickles and daggers.
Even so, if it were only a two-to-one fight, the mercenaries could have handled it. But with three or four goblins clinging to each mercenary, they were being pushed to the brink.
Madrica, at least, was holding out brilliantly with his superb mounted swordsmanship.
"Orcs!"
Having noticed the newly arrived Eugene and the reinforcements, the orc warriors—who had been firing crossbows from behind the goblins—charged straight at Madrica.
The sight of the orcs running forward, gripping double-bladed battle axes in both hands with their long braided hair whipping in the wind, was utterly terrifying.
"Sir Eugene! The orcs seem to be planning to capture Sir Madrica and drag him into the forest!"
"Capture him?"
"They can ransom off a knight. And if that fails, just taking his horse and equipment is still a huge profit. Sir Eugene, we don't have time!"
By then, the orcs had already blocked the path ahead of Madrica's horse.
The startled horse reared up on its hind legs and stopped, and two orcs rushed in from both sides.
Having already used all his spears, Madrica resisted with his longsword, but facing three opponents at once, he was clearly struggling.
"Partek, take these men and save the mercenaries. I'll go help Sir Madrica."
"Yes!"
More than thirty mercenaries who had followed Eugene charged forward with loud shouts.
Originally, fewer than ten men had volunteered. But once it became known that Eugene was the knight who had played a major role in the dungeon gate subjugation in Tiwyn territory, everything changed.
As several mercenaries who had fought alongside him joined without hesitation, the others who had been hesitating also poured in one after another.
"Sir Eugene will handle the orcs!"
"Just kill the goblins!"
"Uwaaaah!"
Leaving the mercenaries' war cries behind, Silion galloped across the plain.
"Fast!"
So this was the true power of a pedigree warhorse!
Amazed at Silion's speed—which surpassed even his own full sprint as a vampire—Eugene took a spear from where it was secured beside the saddle.
"Run! Run! Yiii-haaa!"
Listening to Mirian's shouts as she clung to Silion's mane, Eugene mounted the spear onto the throwing device and leaned his body backward at an angle.
Hearing the thunderous sound of hooves shaking the ground, one of the orc warriors surrounding Madrica snapped its body around toward Eugene.
"Graaagh!"
The orc's roar, filled with ferocious pressure, shook Eugene's eardrums.
To oppose it, Eugene drew out the full power of his vampiric aura, and his eyes burned even redder.
"This is!?"
In that instant, Eugene sensed that the formless wave of energy he had released shot forward and struck the orc warrior.
"Fear."
Eugene worried that Silion might get startled, but as if to prove that he was no ordinary horse, the beast paid it no mind and charged forward without hesitation.
"Haaah!"
Letting out the breath he had been holding, Eugene hurled the spear with all his might.
Whiiish!
The 1.5-meter javelin shot out like an arrow.
In the blink of an eye, it flew over thirty meters and pierced straight through the Orc warrior's chest.
"Kuaaaargh!"
The Orc, whose chainmail was pierced clean through, let out a resentful scream and was thrown backward.
At the sound of their comrade's scream, the remaining two turned their heads at the same time.
In that instant, Madrica—who was no incompetent knight—did not miss the opportunity.
"Kyaaah!"
Madrica's longsword, which had completed a full arc through the air, came crashing down on an Orc's shoulder.
At the same time, riding the charging Silion and closing the distance in a flash, Eugene swung the battle axe he had drawn at a diagonal.
"…!?"
Overwhelmed for a moment by Eugene's far more powerful killing intent, the Orc froze stiff.
Crack!
The final Orc, his neck nearly severed by the battle axe, was flung away without even managing a scream.
'Good. If I keep using my killing intent subtly like this, it'll be extremely effective.'
And combined with a charge from Silion clad in barding, the destructive power would be tremendous.
"Kyaaak! Kyaaak!"
Thud!
As an Orc tried to flee with blood gushing from its shoulder, Madrica's longsword plunged into its back.
"I owe you a great debt for this!"
Shaking the blood from his blade, Madrica turned his horse's head with flair.
"You're Sir Eugene, right? I, Ron Madrica, who served for many years as a squire under Sir Kapran, swear by my name that your noble conduct and outstanding valor today truly embody the ideal of chivalry, and any man who walks the path of the sword should take you as a mirror—eh? S-Sir?!"
"There are still goblins left. Stop talking and join the others quickly."
"Oh! Right!"
Even in this situation, Madrica had tried to go on with a long speech, but he hurriedly chased after Eugene.
As soon as Eugene and Madrica joined the battle, the fight with the goblin horde ended rather anticlimactically.
On open plains—where cavalry could display their greatest power—there was no way a bunch of goblins could withstand knights charging on warhorses clad in armor.
Simply riding at high speed and smashing them with spears and swords was enough to send the goblins scattering in panic. The mercenaries were able to finish off the fleeing ones with relative ease.
When the mercenaries confirmed that the remaining ten or so goblins had fled madly into the forest, they shouted a cry of victory.
Then came the time to exercise the victor's rights.
At Madrica's command, the mercenaries gathered the monsters' weapons and the goods they had looted from the villages.
Meanwhile, Partek and a few others were stabbing into the bellies of the larger goblins with daggers.
Unlike Orcs, who were demi-humans and did not possess magic stones, goblins—being monsters—even among the roamers, occasionally carried magic stones inside them.
"Sir Eugene! We found six magic stones!"
"Good work."
Compared to what he obtained from dungeon raids, this was barely anything, and the stones were tiny as well, but Eugene put them all into a leather pouch.
"Hey, Sir Eugene."
"Hmm? What do you need?"
"Well… it's just that…"
Madrica, his armor smeared with blood, cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking in a formal tone.
"I wish to apologize for my earlier disrespect. Though I have not yet formally received my knighthood, I take pride in pursuing honor and chivalry with all my heart and strength. In my eyes, you are the very model of true chivalry, and one whom all who follow the sword should take as their exemplar—"
"That's enough. Once the battlefield cleanup is finished, deliver this to the recruitment officer. I'm new to Maren, so I don't know the proper reporting procedures."
As he caught the pouch Eugene tossed him, Madrica nodded vigorously.
"Oh! Leave that to me. In any case, let's have a drink together next time. I'll treat—how about even today—"
"Sure, next time. I'll be taking my leave now."
Having no desire whatsoever to share drinks with such a talkative knight, Eugene tugged gently on the reins.
"Farewell! You were truly magnificent today, Sir Eugene! Let's be sure to meet again!"
Leaving behind Madrica shouting cheerfully in the blood-soaked battlefield, Eugene returned to Maren with Partek and the others.
* * *
"What do you mean you bought and handed over the horse so quickly?"
"You told us to hurry with it, Deputy Manager. And Sir Eugene was extremely pleased too. He specifically asked me to convey his gratitude to you."
"Of course he'd be grateful—he received a horse worth three hundred silver coins for free! I'd be over the moon too."
"You were the one who told us to gift it—why are you reacting like this now? Did something happen?"
With a deep sigh, Frechella replied.
"That knight already finished the contract with Mr. Billmore. And on terms that are quite favorable to our guild."
"What? Then from the start, before he even came to our guild…"
"That's right. Billmore said he already dangled the bait back at Castle Tiwyn."
"What?! Then why on earth didn't that Billmore fellow tell us something so important sooner?"
Raising his voice in disbelief, Grail received a bitter smile from Frechella.
"It was an opening dungeon raid. We were short on manpower, and the success rate was less than fifty percent. With his performance already lacking, Billmore couldn't afford to boast based on mere assumptions."
"Oh…"
"He said he was surprised himself when the knight actually showed up. And he never imagined that House Tiwyn would sign a long-term contract in exchange for a loan."
"Hah! Then does that mean we didn't even need to gift him a horse in the first place?"
"Yes. There was no need at all to buy him such an expensive warhorse, either."
"…."
The cost of their premature excitement was heavy.
Yet because the contract they had secured with Sir Eugene was so favorable, neither of the two could quite bring themselves to laugh or cry.
(To be continued in the next chapter)