Mercenary’s Contract – Part 03
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Translator: Kell
“Yup, that’s me.”
When the dust settled, we were surrounded by dozens of roughnecks, each carrying a weapon.
Squinting against the bright sun, I saw a beautiful, inanimate face that seemed to match the inanimate voice. On her back was a huge shovel, the kind used by grave diggers.
The adjudicators of Dea Ignis do not use actual weapons as weapons. However, I wasn’t expecting one to use an actual shovel. It fit her hobby of burying people alive, though.
“First a scythe, and now a shovel,” I muttered.
Corruption looked at me. Her face brightened like a child’s. “Haha. You look like a dimwit,” she said. “I’d be ashamed to show my face if I were you.” She flashed an innocent smile.
My lips twitched. I was used to being ridiculed, but it still bothered me. In fact, I was rather pissed off.
“Do you even know what you’re doing?!” I barked. “We’re escoring a witch to Lutra Cathedral!”
I was about to stand up when I heard the sound of something sharp cutting through the air. I quickly shifted my body. Something grazed my cheek and stuck itself deeply into the dry ground.
I thought it was a knife, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be another shovel. However, it was much smaller than the large one she was carrying, the kind you used in gardening. It was as sharp as a knife, but it was no doubt a shovel.
“It lacks discipline, Secrecy,” she said. “This is your slave, right? How dare a filthy animal talk back to a priest. It’s gonna pollute the air. Tell it not to breathe when I’m around, please.”
Wow, this chick hates me to the bone. Do all adjudicators have this urge to verbally insult Beastfallen whenever they see one?
There were many things I wanted to say, like “I’m a mercenary, not a slave,” and “I’ll die if I hold my breath that long,” but I knew when to keep my mouth shut.
A knight stood up. “What is the meaning of this, Gravedigger?! Didn’t you see the Knights Templar’s emblem? It doesn’t matter if you’re an adjudicator. Attacking us is a clear act of treason!”
“Treason? That’s my line, Knights Templar. Secrecy knew that I was looking for the silver-haired witch, but he hid her from me. Not only that, but he also spent the night with her. It’s no use playing dumb. I’ve got testimony.”
The priest frowned. “So you haven’t heard from the Church yet? That explains why you moved too fast.”
“Your voice is too low, Secrecy. If you’re going to give an excuse, do it louder, while wailing and begging for your life.”
“A grave accusation. I don’t know who tipped you off, but they’re mistaken. The witch you are referring to is this one right here, isn’t it?”
The priest stood up. Brushing the dirt off his clothes, he put his hand on Zero’s hood and pulled it off. Her long, silver hair cascaded down, glistening under the intense sunlight.
It felt as if time had stopped for a moment, perhaps because Corruption was holding her breath.
“Ah,” she said.
I understood how she felt. Anyone who wasn’t prepared to lay eyes on her beauty directly would react like this.
After a while, Corruption finally pointed at Zero. “Who’s that woman? Is that… the wanted witch?”
“It’s a bit complicated, but yes, she is the wanted witch. As you can see, we have her in chains and are in the middle of taking her to His Excellency. I sent a message to the Church. They should’ve sent a notice this morning that the witch hunt was over. So what are you doing here?”
“Her beauty… is certainly bewitching…” Corruption didn’t seem to hear the priest. She was staring at Zero intently.
The witch stared back at her with blood-curdling indifference.
Letting out a sigh, Corruption gave a tight smile. She took a deep breath and suddenly began laughing like a madman.
“Okay, I see. You didn’t double-cross me. I just jumped to the wrong conclusion. I didn’t know the witch hunt had ended, cause I haven’t received word from the Church yet. Really sorry about that, Secrecy. You’re the most loyal person to the Church I know. I was a little bit too rash. Please accept my apology.” Suddenly, Corruption grabbed her huge shovel with both hands and swung it over her shoulder.
A defenseless knight’s head was right at its trajectory.
“No! Stop!”
Metal hissed through air. There was a dull sound as bone was crushed and flesh was cut, and the knight rolled on the ground. Blood rained down as we watched the scene in stunned silence. The other knight was frozen on the spot.
“I will turn you into an actual traitor with my own hands!” Corruption sneered. “Then I will judge you!”
The priest responded with a stiff smile. “You will kill me and submit a false report to the Church?”
“It would be more convenient for the Church that way. Reception from the public would also be favorable if a single adjudicator killed the witch and obtained the book. An adjudicator’s life doesn’t amount to much. If in the end things go the way the Church wants, I’ll be acquitted with a single reprimand.”
Corruption shouldered her bloodsoaked shovel. It looked like she was carrying a sword; a single movement, and she would be ready to attack. The priest gripped his staff, but I doubted Corruption would give him time to transform it into a scythe. He had his strings, but it would be difficult to use it against someone who knew about his tricks.
The tense atmosphere seemed to cool the scorching air. Looking around at the wannabe bandits surrounding us, I tried desperately to think of our best move.
Could we escape from a bunch of people with carriages on an unobstructed plain? To put it bluntly, our chances were awful.
The bigger problem was the Divine Annihilation Machine they had in their carriage. I couldn’t imagine what kind of weapon it was, but it had at least as much range as a bow.
Then suddenly the surviving knight let out a delayed scream. Hands shaking, he drew his sword and swung a desperate slash at Corruption. Shifting her body a little, the adjudicator evaded the attack, and the knight flopped onto the ground from the momentum of his missed swing. Corruption dug her shovel into the knight’s leg. The knight cried out in pain. Laughter erupted all around.
“Stay put, you useless knight. I’m not going to kill you. You have a role to play.”
“A role? Curse you, traitor! I will never bow down to you— Aaaah!”
Corruption ruthlessly twisted the shovel in his leg. Blood gushed out, and the knight screamed, clawing at the ground in agony.
Corruption looked down on him, wearing a delighted look. “The story goes like this,” she began. “Secrecy captured the witch Zero, but while escorting her, her beauty captivated him, causing him to slaughter the Knights Templar and attempt to escape. Then, with information received from the public, I arrived at the scene and captured the traitorous adjudicator, along with the witch.”
Frowning deeply, the priest tapped the staff in his hand with his finger. Rather than irritated, he seemed to be thinking about something. But Corruption ignored him, and continued explaining the plot she came up with.
“His Excellency will be pleased and bestow upon me a special reward. For example, the lair of the fallen witches. It was a beautiful place. I’ll take it as my own property. The first to sleep there will be the beautiful witch who was revered as the land’s chief in the past. And then you.”
“I see. I get it now.” The priest raised his staff overhead and pressed it against my neck. “How about this?” he said. “I captured the witch Zero, but my servant Beastfallen was captivated by the witch and slaughtered the Knights Templar guarding her. I was about to be killed too, when you saved me.”
“What?” I looked at the priest. For a few seconds, I was stunned. “Whaaaat?!”
Did he just fucking double-cross me?! Wait a sec. I guess we weren’t really friends in the first place.
Corruption blinked a few times, taken aback. A second later, she burst into laughter. “I get it. You’re going to hand over the witch, and in exchange, you want me to spare you. I thought you were a little more stubborn than that.”
“No adjudicator would want to commit suicide with a witch and a Beastfallen. And I’m not interested in credit in the first place. As long as the witch is captured and the book is in the Church’s hands, that’s enough for me. I think it would make things easier for you as well if you had the testimony of a fellow adjudicator.”
“What a brilliant betrayal,” Zero said. “I am impressed.”
“In case you didn’t notice, he betrayed us!” I bellowed.
There was only one option now: take their carriage and escape.
I rose to my feet, Zero in my arms, and with a single swing of my arm, I knocked down a few of the mobs. I jumped out of the circle and leapt towards the carriage.
“Running away?” Corruption uttered casually. “What a foolish beast.”
Corruption lunged at me. Sensing a life-threatening danger, I pulled out my sword and shielded my neck. With a heavy metallic clang, a jolt ran down my arm. She put all her weight on her downward swing. Despite being slimmer than the priest, her attack packed quite a punch.
Having received the attack at an akward position, I couldn’t immediately decide how to counter.
“That chain is in the way.” Corruption spun her shovel and thrust it into my arm.
But the wound was too shallow. The tip only lightly pierced my muscles; it didn’t reach my bones.
As expected, she’s weak. Only with a large swing combined with her weight could she produce a lethal blow.
I can get away from her.
An ear-splitting boom rocked the earth. My mind knew that something exploded close by. The shockwave was so immense that it blew my body backwards. After rolling on the ground, I quickly stood back up.
“Mercenary!” Zero’s shout reached my numbed ears. We were chained together, but her voice sounded distant.
“Damn it, where’d she plant explosives?! If I wasn’t a Beastfallen, I’d be dead!”
I shook my head at the smell of gunpowder. I was about to rub my nose, when I felt something off.
“Huh?”
There was nothing past my elbow. Not only that, but blood was spurting out of the joint, dyeing my whole arm red, dripping and flowing onto the ground.
“Wh-What the… Is this a fucking joke?! Was that explosion really that powerful?!”
The moment I realized that I lost my arm, my mind began working at high speed. I’m losing too much blood. I have to stop the bleeding. But while I do that, she’ll kill me. Calm down. Analyze the situation.
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