Chapter 20

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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On the outskirts of the imperial capital.

Pearl City, the harbor town where ships bound for the southern continent docked.

At the popular pub , said to be the gathering place of the strongest mercenaries around, it was crowded with people again today.

“Breaking news! Breaking news!”

A woman with bandages wrapped around her neck burst through the door.

Everyone’s eyes turned to her, but she didn’t care and ran straight across the tables to the bartender.

“Commander! Huge, huge! This is a reeeal huge incident, seriously!”

At that voice, the man sipping gin at the bar slowly turned around.

Messy black hair under a hood.

Meeting the cold eyes aimed at her, the woman opened her mouth.

“They say some new mercenary company passed through the gate? The problem is that the founder is……!”

“Here we go again.”

At that moment, someone beside her cut in.

Another man with dark blue hair tied up was looking at her with distaste.

“Livia. Do you truly not know the phrase ‘the age of great mercenaries’?”

One of Livia’s eyebrows rose.

“What?”

“I’m asking if it isn’t an everyday occurrence for brat mercenary companies to be formed at the registration office. Is it really necessary to steal the little commander’s rest time over a trivial story like that?”

Livia’s eyes flashed.

“……Why are you picking a fight again, you lunatic bastard? What would a damned bastard like you know about what kind of news I brought back!”

At the sharp insult, the blue-haired swordsman, Victor, looked at Livia.

“Who knows. Whatever the news is, it’ll be the same in that it isn’t anything special.”

“You bastard, I swear……”

It was when Livia pulled her sword from her waist.

“Victor. What Livia says is true.”

Another person appeared through the entrance of the bar.

The one who came in opening the door was a man with short silver hair.

With luxurious-looking orbs hanging all over his chest, the man strode over.

And he stopped in front of the one who until now had been called “little commander.”

“It seems an oddball has appeared, little commander.”

The whole pub went quiet as if cold water had been thrown over it.

Instead of the “little commander,” Victor quickly asked back.

“An oddball?”

“Yeah, a mage. And a fairly powerful one too.”

Victor’s expression blanked for an instant.

“What do you mean by that? Are you saying a mage formed a mercenary company now, Aleric?”

“That’s right.”

Victor furrowed his brow.

Mages were rare in Talochium these days.

That made sense, because becoming a mage required both innate talent and acquired effort at the same time.

They had to be born first of all with a large amount of magical power in their bodies,

then afterward they had to train until they could transform magical power into the shape they wanted,

and also learn to freely control it outside their bodies.

The problem was that the number of people who could do that was extremely limited.

‘Wasn’t that why all mages were monsters?’

In fact, every mage Victor had ever met in his life had been at least a little out of their mind.

Of course, the Aleric right in front of him was the same too.

Looking at the “little commander,” Aleric continued.

“But that oddball seems to handle a somewhat unusual attribute.”

Every mage had what was called an “attribute.”

In Aleric’s case, he was a water-attribute mage who used orbs, and he had heard there were even people with more incredible attributes among the mages belonging to the imperial palace.

But an unusual attribute?

“What attribute is it?”

At Victor’s question, Aleric looked at him.

“That oddball is a necromancer.”

“A necromancer?”

He had never heard of a mage with that title.

If he had to be precise, it would be more accurate to say he had heard of it, but had never known whether it actually existed.

“What in the world does that mean? Then what attribute exactly does he handle?”

“I can’t say for certain. But if I had to guess, there’s a high chance it’s a dark attribute. They say he summoned a skeleton.”

The surroundings that had been quiet turned uproarious in an instant.

A dark-attribute mage?

That existence, which had never once appeared in history, suddenly showed up and summoned a “skeleton,” a summon that had only existed in legend?

“Is that true? That thing.”

At that moment, the one who had kept silent all this time finally opened his mouth.

It was the man whom Victor, Livia, and Aleric had all continued calling “little commander.”

The man slowly swirled a glass with a little liquor left in it and stared directly at Aleric.

“I’m asking if it’s verified information.”

Aleric bowed his head respectfully.

“It is certain. I heard it after digging through the holy knights’ communications network.”

“Yeah, is that so……”

The man trailed off as if intrigued.

“I wonder where a guy like that popped up from. I thought the top ranks had already swept up all the mages.”

“That’s why I think he got the nickname oddball. Up until now, there hasn’t been a case of a mage directly forming a mercenary company, has there?”

Mages were usually in the position of being “scouted” by mercenary companies.

Because no matter how powerful a mage was, they couldn’t lead a battle due to the limits of mana.

In a mercenary company, structurally, it was difficult to give the position of commander to someone who couldn’t lead combat.

‘But an unknown mage formed a new mercenary company?’

That meant he was insanely confident in his skill, or that he really was that strong.

Aleric laid several sheets of paper down in front of the commander.

“Agabert?”

Interest flashed in the commander’s eyes.

The mercenary company, .

At present it had four members.

First he saw the name of Basto Faerix, formerly the vice-captain of ,

“Nordix and Veil?”

He knew nothing about those two.

Then with high probability, that meant they were insignificant small fry.

But the last one.

“Necromancer King……”

His gaze stopped on the word written out clearly.

Then a smile slowly spread at the corner of his mouth.

“What’s this, this bastard. No way, is he hiding his true name right now?”

Eyes colored something between green and brown curved, and then loud laughter rang through the pub.

“Ah…… he’s quite a funny bastard, isn’t he.”

Necromancer King.

Everything about this man was interesting.

From the fact that he had suddenly popped out after hiding all this time, to the fact that he handled dark-attribute magic that had never existed before.

Even the fact that he was already going around with nicknames like oddball and necromancer felt fresh.

And the information written at the end was……

“Necromancer King, huh. He must’ve named himself that, right? That’s insanely funny.”

The man snickered for a long while, then put the papers down.

He placed both arms on the bar and slowly looked around the pub.

“Wow, now you all are going to have to get nervous a little too. Right?”

Absurd laughter, sighs, and curses broke out here and there.

But the man just shrugged it off.

“You guys were already having a hard time fighting for ranking spots because of me anyway……”

He lightly fluttered the paper in his hand.

“But what are you going to do if this one already looks unusual? I hear he goes around in the form of a four-year-old girl.”

The pub stirred.

“Sounds like quite a lunatic. I wonder if he’ll come charging up the rankings soon.”

The only one still relaxed was the man.

At that sight, the commander of , ranked second among the imperial mercenary companies, opened his mouth.

“How laughable! Aren’t you the one who should be nervous too?”

At the hostile voice, the man slowly turned toward Reaper.

“Even if you’re number one right now, no one knows how long that glory will last! Don’t act so arrogant.”

“……Ah, this one’s pretty funny too.”

“What?”

The man crookedly raised one corner of his mouth.

“Friend, do you think if I slip, you’ll be able to take number one?”

“Y-you bastard!”

“If you’re a mercenary, you shouldn’t just use your body like an idiot. You should use your head, Reaper.”

The man tapped his temple with his index finger.

Then, imitating a noble sort of voice, he said to Reaper,

“Stop daydreaming and accept reality a little. If you keep rubbing me the wrong way, I won’t leave even a single magic stone behind for you to eat from.”

Reaper’s face turned red and blue.

Unable to contain his anger, he slammed the table with a bang, but the man only gave a crooked grin and brushed past him.

Many others followed behind him.

They were the man’s subordinates, the members of the mercenary company to which he belonged.

Inside the pub, now gone hollow.

Reaper ground his teeth hard.

“Th-that……!”

Tesetan Veronio, that damned bastard!

He was infamous for being unlucky to deal with, but no one could openly oppose him.

That was because he was the commander of , the unshakably number one-ranked mercenary company,

had never once fallen from first place in the individual ranking since he appeared,

was a powerhouse called the strongest in the current world, and at the same time,

“That madman!”

was someone widely rumored in the industry to be a lunatic.