1.
The day for the D-class mercenary group, Black Wolf, and its captain, Nahan, was surprisingly peaceful.
To begin with…
“…Finally, it’s over.”
Garbage disposal.
After emptying the trash cans in their horrific state, the team members who had gone out for dawn training returned.
“Captain!!”
“It’s… finished.”
Considering the maggots writhing in the trash cans and the smell, I wanted to throw a punch, but…
“Thank you, Captain!”
“It’s… refreshing.”
Seeing the foolishly cheerful faces of the unit members, my anger subsided completely.
We’ve got another 12 bad endings to prevent before things get messy, so together we must endure. Offering food, I nodded.
“…Alright, good job.”
“Whaa! Did you see that, Hanlyang!? The captain praised me!”
“Rejected. It’s for everyone… here.”
Look at that, they get excitedly over a casual compliment.
Of course, when I casually throw out a compliment like that…
“…Hmm? If you want something, you should ask for it. How about we re-rank the team?”
“Luna. Easy… here.”
“You’re really!!”
Then, predictably, they start an unnecessary argument, so I interrupt with raised shoulders.
“Both of you, stop it and sit down.”
“Yes, sir.”
“…here.”
Right, good job listening.
Anyway, after this meaningless compliment and their argument, when the meal is about to start around this time, she comes down from the second floor.
“What a ruckus in the morning.”
Her voice is full of benevolence, but due to the atmosphere, it’s freezing.
<Tap>
Finally, the woman descended the last step of the staircase and glanced at the dining table with a smile.
“With the captain here, how dare we…”
Her snow-white silver hair shimmering like stars.
Her golden eyes glittering like treasure.
The crimson longsword hanging at her back.
‘<Black Wolf> Vice-Captain, Laktea.’
Even after a month since her possession, her extraordinary beauty was still hard to get used to.
Anyway, her descent was a signal that she was about to reprimand the members, so I quickly pulled out another chair and added.
“I’m fine, come and sit down.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Unlike the other members, Laktea followed my words instantly, and with her, the meal began for the <Black Wolf> mercenary group.
This ‘meal’ consisted of only a watery soup with a bit of meat and hard pieces of bread.
“But, Captain, your cooking is really good, right?!”
“Agreed… here.”
Luna and Hanlyang devoured it like they hadn’t eaten for days, and even Laktea, who was always expressionless, wrinkled her eyebrows during meals.
“Captain, how exactly do you make this?”
“I’ve told you. Roast meat, hard vegetables, soft vegetables in that order and then boil. It’s all about the sequence.”
One step at a time, if you take your time, there’s nothing you can’t achieve.
That’s how I, a regular 25-year-old Korean man who served his military duty, am surviving fine as a mercenary captain.
However, Laktea still asked curiously while tasting the soup carefully.
“But when I tried the captain’s method, it didn’t taste this good.”
“Of course, Laktea. Because you followed my words too literally.”
Because you roasted the meat, the hard vegetables, and the soft vegetables all together on the campfire and boiled them in the same pot.
“…Ugh.”
“Captain?”
“Ugh-wa, you should try this too, Laktea.”
“Ah, thank you.”
At the memory of that taste, there was a bout of dry heaving, but I quickly smoothed it over and asked.
“By the way, is that mission Red gave us still pending?”
Red,
is the manager of the Babylon Mercenary Guild branch.
[
-Uh, what’s with this orange request sheet?
-A-class request sheet?
-Damn, why did you give it to us?
-Ah, don’t worry. It’s nothing much. Just assassinate a false prophet. By the way, most are B-class so, be careful.
]
She was a crazy woman who handed an A-class mission to our D-class mercenary group.
[
-Hah! Am I insane?!
-…This is strange. Are you Nahan?
-How can I pass up such a valuable mission? Here, the <Black Wolf> is leaving.
]
She seemed to have a personal relationship with the <Black Wolf> mercenary group, so I accepted it to avoid being found out for the possession.
“Still, it’s probably better to decline, isn’t it?”
<Twitch.>
The moment the question ended, all three members stopped eating and looked up.
“T-that is…”
“Luna, keep your mouth shut… here.”
Everyone but Laktea was watching her reaction, and after a short silence, Laktea slowly bowed her head.
“I apologize, Captain. I should have dealt with it earlier to prevent you from worrying. I’m sorry.”
“Ah.”
I finally understood.
‘Are you apologizing because you didn’t come back and reject it before I mentioned it?’
Well, if the captain of the <Black Wolf>, myself, personally goes and says ‘we can’t handle this due to our inability’, it wouldn’t be a good image, so.
Anyway, as Laktea didn’t do anything wrong, I chuckled and patted her bowed head.
“It’s fine, so go and deal with it well.”
However, her and the rest of the team were still silent, looking at me and asked.
“Captain, should we return this time?”
“We can do it… here.”
Little rascals.
They’re eyeing the easy mission where we just return the mission form.
‘…But this matter involves that sharp Red.’
Still, Laktea is more reliable than the foolish Luna and Hanlyang.
After finishing my thoughts, I turned my gaze from the two and whispered to Laktea.
“Don’t get hurt and come back safely.”
And the next moment…
“…Yes, Captain.”
Laktea smiled.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Among the smiles that she had only shown to me until now, this one was the most splendid and beautiful.
2.
A dark, underground chamber.
Candles illuminated the space, but there were certainly over a hundred people related to the matter.
At least, the fortunate point was that the followers who could be taken as hostages had not gathered yet.
Even if there were hostages.
“…Isn’t this just a simple task of clearing out these guys, yet the request sheet is crimson.”
The Empire’s top wanted criminal, White Sword Demon, probably wouldn’t be deterred by it.
“Because even such easy tasks make the Empire struggle, it keeps making me greedy. Just killing the Emperor would probably make things easier, huh?”
Click.
The White Sword Demon pulled out the sword from his back and fastened it to his waist.
“But don’t worry. Since he asked me to wait, I’ll wait.”
Tock, tock, tock.
“Always at the captain’s side.”
The sound of footsteps echoed through the cave. At the entrance of the cult leader’s office, one of the two guards on duty frowned and muttered.
“…Sir, isn’t that a woman?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“It’s over there at the entrance.”
“Huh… Damn it, don’t report this. I’ll handle it.”
Even in this dim darkness, it was clear she was a beauty. The senior guard approached her confidently, thinking:
“Whatever she is, she’s probably a follower. Before passing her to the cult leader, won’t it be fun to have a little play? If only I can sweet-talk that overly honest junior…”
Approaching the woman, the man grinned and raised his hand.
“Hey, are you lost? Let me—”
Chrrrreugh!
“—Huh?”
As the senior guard’s vision swirled, he started sinking swiftly.
Amid the chaos of all senses, he could clearly see the bright white aura and the fierce red glow beneath it.
“Wasn’t this clearly an assassination request?”
“…”
“Haha! Sorry for killing you before asking, but did you know? I wasn’t exactly expecting an answer.”
Then the man finally realized.
‘…This is the end.’
Not just for me,
“But since Red annoys me so much, even though it’s a disguise, they’re way too disrespectful to the captain, so…”
Everyone involved is doomed, too.
<Tap>
With that, the cleanly severed head fell to the ground.
“Anyway, since there won’t be any witnesses, even killing them and taking them away will be fine.”
KA-BANG!
Taking that as the signal, the White Sword Demon swept through the place within seconds.
“Cult leader?”
“Pl-please! Huh-uh… S-save…!”
“Looks like you’re still alive. Lucky. Where do you throw away the trash here?”
“? Over there.”
<Tear.>
<Tap.>
“Thanks. I’ll leave the cleaning up to you.”
The separate waste disposal was perfectly done.
3.
It had been an hour since Laktea’s departure.
“Luna’s sleeping, and Hanlyang is practicing some meditation in the cave. So, we’ve got about three hours? This is the perfect time.”
After checking my surroundings again, I quietly opened the main quest window.
─『Main Quest』─
◆ Just Survive.
: Prevent all the bad endings and rescue <The Hero> and <The Emperor>.
◆ Prevented Bad Endings.
: So far… [3 / 15]
◆Reward
:Return to the original world.
The status window still emitted a pale light without any changes.
As usual, I spent the day waiting for another bad ending prevention, but unfortunately, there was no progress.
“Come to think of it, I have three now?”
After checking the only updated information <Prevented Bad Endings>, I opened the info window.
【Savior – Accessing information about the requested person based on <Nahan>‘s request!】
【Name: Nahan】
-Alias: Incompetent Mercenary Captain (Temporary)
-Rank: C-class Mercenary (Temporary)
-Info: A man who was sold to the underworld by his poor parents when he was young. He managed to survive despite the odds and rose to become the captain of the D-class mercenary group – <Black Wolf>.
【Next information access requires… [3/3] bad ending prevention. (Condition met!)】
During the early morning training of Luna and Hanlyang, a new window did appear, but
“-Damn it, who chewed and spat out food into the trash… Ugh!! Isn’t recycling that hard?”
The state of the garbage cans distracted me, and I accidentally skipped it.
Fortunately, in this world’s system window, as long as the meaning was understood, it reacted even without precise commands, so after a moment of thought, I began,
“Um… <Recheck Info>?”
【User – <Nahan>‘s request denied.】
To re-check the information, a total of <5> prevented bad endings are needed.】
Unfortunately, it was rejected.
‘Some pieces of information seem to have a time limit.’
Though disappointing, I learned something new about the system.
“A, does touching work?”
Finally, with no other option, I reached out to unlock the information in my window.
The tap confirmed,
As expected, touching worked,
【Unlocking new information and skills about <Nahan>!】
【Progress: …1%】
The pale characters in the system window changed with a soft glow.
“It’ll take some time.”
But, it’s not a big deal.
Anyway, I have plenty of time.
“Then, what should I do while waiting for the next year?”
The C-ranked mercenary who doesn’t want to fight is surprisingly idle.
With such thoughts about the upcoming slow healing life, I was slacking off when,
BANG!
The base of the <Black Wolf Mercenary Group> door was violently pushed open and someone rushed in.
“Has the captain finally lost it!?”
“Excuse me?”
Rose-like red hair,
Ruby-dazzled eyes,
And a clean, slightly tanned skin.
“When you simply requested to kill a bishop, and you wiped out the entire church, what are you going to do about it!?!”
“Is that me?”
Her name is Ruby Red.
She is the manager of the Mercenary Union Babylon Branch.
… But,
“It’s now said that all the corrupt nobles’ funding lines have been cut because of the captain!!”
<Why are you calling me the captain?>
.
.
.
[<Black Wolf Mercenary Group>]
-Alias: Incompetent Mercenary Group (Temporary), Garbage Collection Spot (Temporary), Mercenary Kindergarten (Temporary)
-Rank: D (Temporary)
-Members
◆ Captain: <Nahan - ???>
◆ Vice-Captain: <Laktea - White Sword Demon>
◆ No.1.
◆ No.2.
◆ No.3. <Hanlyang – Tal>
◆ No.4. <Luna – Persona>
◆ No.5.
.
.
.
◆ No.6. <Ruby Red - ???> (New!)
