Chapter 14

“……Yuma, do we really have to raid the Shurel family’s secret vault?”

“Of course. It’s a treasure vault—an actual treasure vault. Puang, you’ve never dealt in medicine, right? It’s not quite as good as mana crystals, but it’s a tidy profit. Naturally, we have to hit it.”

Puang shook his head and stared at the face of the devil—no, Yuma.

The sight of him munching on an apple like it was nothing was exactly what drove Puang insane.

“Anyway, we agreed to take on Cindy. I’m more than satisfied. Miss Cindy handles her work precisely, cleanly—she’s the most perfect employee anyone could ask for. She’s the best. But do we really have to stir up trouble by going after the Shurel family? I know we’re short on cash, but this is a bit much…”

Just as Puang said, Cindy was performing her secretary duties flawlessly.

The moment Yuma gave his approval, Cindy dove straight into the work without rest, displaying superhuman efficiency.

She tackled everything from basic tasks like organizing ledgers and checking inventories, to creating double books for mana crystal operations, managing internal and external confidential lists, and even conducting negotiations.

Not only Puang, but even Yuma was impressed.

“Yes, we have to hit them. The more money, the better.”

“This feels like it’s going to blow up in our faces…”

“Haha, you’re joking, right? For someone who used to smuggle mana crystals to be afraid of something like this?”

“That’s… a bit different…”

“Puang, making a lot of money always attracts trouble. The smell of money draws flies. It’s actually better to attract countless dung flies all at once. That way, they’ll split into factions and beat each other to a pulp until they find their own places to settle.”

It was a scene Yuma had witnessed countless times while living in the Imperial Palace.

Power and money were always intertwined. Neither royals nor nobles could ever be free from their influence.

In the end, what truly mattered was one’s tact and instincts.

“I plan to assemble the strike team within ten days.”

“Miss Cindy said the vault is guarded by sword-expert-level mercenaries. Among our merchants, the only one strong enough to take them on is you, Yuma.”

“Don’t worry. We have a powerful ally, don’t we?”

While Puang was worrying himself sick for days, Yuma had already sent a support request to the Black Wolf Corps.

A simple letter was sent to Matan, and a swift reply came back—along with a person.

“Hey, the boss told me to check what kind of crazy crap you’ve been up to.”

The teasing voice belonged to Malon.

“What happened to you in just a few months? You got so dark.”

Thanks to his tanned skin, Malon looked much more rugged now. He seemed less like someone from the Empire and more like a native of Matan.

“Don’t even ask. After you left, the training got brutal. It’s on a whole different level than anything my dad put me through.”

“You actually look like a proper mercenary now. This your first mission outside?”

“Yeah. First job—thievery.”

Though he spoke mockingly, Malon was clearly excited at the thought of causing havoc at a noble estate.

“Wait, you came alone?”

“One more’s with me. Senior Yugirr. He’s an archer. Never sparred with him, though.”

“They sent just the two of you?”

“That’s plenty. Oh, and Senior Kagor asked if you passed on the message to House Rolmandy.”

“Tell him I almost got beaten to death and leave it at that. And seriously! Stop hanging out with that guy.”

Yugirr had the look of someone better suited to wielding an axe or a mace than a bow.

The enormous grandbow slung over his back made anyone who saw it want to touch it.

“Me. Yugirr. Help you. Secret vault. Take money.”

The handshake he offered Yuma carried bone-deep strength—typical of a veteran archer.

Yuma had never seen him before his regression. Though his speech was a bit simple, he clearly radiated strength.

“By the way, did you find a bride for the boss yet?”

“I’m working on it. You saw Cindy on the way, right? She was a candidate.”

“Ordinary girls like her won’t survive. Dead.”

“I know.”

“And if you don’t find him a bride, you all die.”

“I said I know.”

Yuma spent the entire day showing Malon around the capital.

For Malon, who had only ever known the fishing village of Perol and the Black Wolf Corps’ territory, it was a shocking new world.

Rows of shops tightly packed together, magical lamps lighting up each house at night. Yet, to him, it all felt strangely fake.

The two of them sat on a hill overlooking the capital.

“Not too long ago, we were just a couple of bumpkins from a fishing village.”

“Yeah. Now you’re part of the Black Wolf Corps, and I’ve become a power player in Puang’s merchant guild.”

“Be honest. What are you scheming?”

“Just keep this in mind. Ten years from now, a massive war will break out. We both need to get stronger before then. You and me both.”

“What are you, some fortune teller? You’ve been weird ever since you hit Mero. I can’t tell if you got smarter or just lost it.”

“Just make sure you survive until then. There are monsters in the Black Wolf Corps you haven’t even met yet. And there are even more out in the world.”

During the Dragon-Horse War, you’ll become a monster like Hugo. But this time… so will I.

Swallowing his words, Yuma led Malon back to the mansion.

The Shurel family’s secret vault lay in their territory in the Poulin region—about ten days by carriage from the capital.

The strike team consisted of Yuma, Cindy, Malon, Yugirr, and Kog.

It was a strange combination.

For some reason, Yugirr and Kog hit it off immediately.

They spent the entire carriage ride chewing on jerky and chatting amicably.

Yugirr would sometimes mumble incomprehensible things, yet Kog understood him with surprising ease.

“There should be about five sword-expert-level mercenaries,” Cindy said.

“That means there’s way more money in there than it takes to hire five sword experts,” Yuma replied.

“That’s true… but I also heard the Shurel family keeps the mercenaries’ families as hostages.”

“Disgusting nobles and their filthy tricks,” Malon spat, hocking a glob of phlegm.

There’s not a shred of tension in this crew, Yuma thought.

But truthfully, he felt more excitement than fear.

Hugo wouldn’t recklessly endanger Malon, who was destined to become a pillar of the Black Wolf Corps.

And Yugirr clearly looked like someone Hugo had personally hand-picked.

She said she got the location from a drunken Shurel noble… but I’m sure it came straight from the Imperial Court. There’s no way we could interrogate the Shurel nobles to verify it anyway.

Yuma glanced at Cindy as he thought to himself.

The Shurel family’s secret vault was located in an old fortress on the outskirts of their territory.

Originally, it had belonged to the noble who once ruled the Poulin region—but after losing the territorial war, the fortress had been abandoned.

The Shurel family had repurposed it as both a hidden vault and a place to bury their various atrocities.

“...You could call it the byproduct of ruling through fear. I heard the number of commoners killed there after the Shurel family’s victory was… quite high,” Cindy explained.

“Figures. That’s where they’re storing all the drug money, right?” Yuma asked.

“He got drunk and swore it to me himself.”

“We didn’t come all the way out here trusting a drunk noble’s oath—we trusted you, Cindy.”

“If there’s nothing in there, I’ll sell my own body to make the money back.”

“Let’s go check it out. Kog, stay here and rest for a bit. We’ll come back for you once the job’s done. If you don’t get a signal from us before dawn… head back to the capital. It’ll mean we’re dead.”

“That. Won’t. Happen,” Yugirr rumbled.

Leaving Kog behind, the group quietly moved through the forest, equipped with their prepared gear.

Despite his large frame, Yugirr moved faster and quieter than anyone else.

Cindy, surprisingly, didn’t hide how accustomed she was to night operations. She had deliberately toned down her abilities to make herself look like a well-trained but ordinary assistant—someone competent, but not suspicious. No one would ever guess she was part of the Imperial Special Forces.

“Is there anything you can’t do, Cindy?” Yuma said casually.

“When you grow up as a bastard in House Rolmandy, you learn to handle all kinds of situations,” she replied.

So she really believes she’s a Rolmandy bastard, Yuma thought, remembering Hella Roze wearing that sorrowful expression as she’d spoken of “White Butterfly.”

It took about an hour to reach the fortress.

The crumbling structure, left to rot as it was, exuded a chilling atmosphere.

“Feels like ghosts could pop out any second,” Malon muttered.

“Still, are five sword experts really enough to guard treasure like this?” he asked.

“‘Only five,’ huh. That’s exactly how someone from the Black Wolf Corps would think. By normal standards, sword experts are plenty strong. If their record is clean, they’d qualify to take the Imperial Knight exam right away,” Yuma said.

“I know. I just thought… it seems a bit light for a treasure vault.”

“Security costs money. And five sword experts are already overkill. Who would ever mount a full-scale raid on this place?”

Malon nodded, understanding.

“The key is to work quietly, but leave flashy traces behind.”

“Is it even possible to quietly take out five sword experts?” Malon asked. He’d sparred with master-class warriors in the Black Wolf Corps, but this was his first real operation.

“If they’re sword experts, then yes. Easily.”

In the future, Malon would grow into a warrior who could defeat a hundred ordinary swordmasters without breaking a sweat.

Even now, as a promising sixteen-year-old, taking down five sword experts alongside Yuma was more than doable.

“If. Enemy. Strong. Then. All of you. Protection,” Yugirr said with a toothy grin, like he found the situation amusing.

“Wait. Stop,” he whispered, motioning for the team to get down. He raised his grandbow and scanned the surroundings.

Is that… an arrow?

Yuma had seen many famous archers in the Empire—knights who’d earned their titles through their skill on the battlefield. Some could shoot five aura-imbued arrows at once.

But this was something else entirely.

The iron arrow he saw looked like it had been carved from a massive chunk of steel. The arrowhead was the size of a man’s fist—closer to a spear than a normal arrow.

Without so much as a tremor, Yugirr drew his bowstring taut and aimed into the darkness.

“Huup.”

Paaang!

A sharp crack echoed like a wet towel slapping the floor. The air itself seemed to warp around the arrow’s trajectory.

The bolt pierced through two trees before finally stopping.

“Cindy. Said. Five. Earlier,” Yugirr remarked.

“Ah, yes,” she replied.

“Now. Four.”

Yuma and Malon approached the trees to confirm. A Shurel mercenary was pinned to the trunk, impaled alongside the arrow.

The enchanted chainmail he wore, which would have withstood several ordinary arrows, had been utterly useless.

“His hand position. Look. He was. About to. Whistle. A signal,” Yugirr observed as he retrieved the arrow. He yanked the massive iron bolt from the tree with one hand, making cold sweat run down Yuma’s spine.

Malon, too, looked at Yugirr differently now. He’d always thought of him as a goofy “big brother,” but this was… something else.

“Not tired, bro?” Malon teased, a proud grin on his face.

Yuma was quietly surprised. A corpse lay right in front of him, yet Malon acted unfazed.

He’d seen countless brutal scenes during the wars, but Malon was still just sixteen. Unlike Yuma—who had already lived through everything once.

“Tired,” Yugirr replied simply.

The Empire really misunderstood Matan… someone like this exists, and I’ve never even heard his name.

Even Cindy couldn’t hide her astonishment at Yugirr’s display of strength. This wasn’t a feigned expression—it was genuine shock.

“If this scares you, former bride candidate, then you’re in trouble. Our boss beats this guy with one hand,” Malon said.

“Not. One hand. Use. Foot. Too,” Yugirr added.

“Of course you use your foot, bro. Gotta move somehow.”

“You’ve become such a Black Wolf brat, Malon,” Yuma chuckled.

“Hey, it’s cool! I’ll be like him soon,” Malon shot back with a grin.

They quickly buried the body with some dirt and branches before heading for the fortress entrance.

The Shurel mercenaries still hadn’t realized that they were being hunted.

“The rest. Four. You handle,” Yugirr said flatly.

He’s testing Malon’s ability to handle missions, Yuma thought.

He’d already planned for Malon to take the lead in eliminating most of the sword experts.