Haroon v6c2

《Betrayal》

Haroon quickly headed to the training camp after saying goodbye. He found a way to get the funds for the items Bell wanted, and he's got a new goal - the ancient dungeon. He felt like he was walking on the clouds. The way to the main peak of Huk'ran was a very steep and dangerous path, but he practically ran up the mountain in about two hours. He rested near the peak and looked down on the original camp.

“I wonder if they are still there?”

Looking down on the training camp Marquis Suleiman’s Red Eagle Knights overtook, Haroon decided to spy out instead of going around. The news that the gemstone mine has been found on the west Huk'ran Mountains must have spread, so there was a chance that they could have headed to the gemstone mine since they teamed up with the users. He carefully headed to the training camp and noticed the mountain path from the peak down to the training camp was smoothed out.

‘This can only mean a great number of people regularly took this path.’

The path was full of grass, but now it was clearly forming a path. Haroon climbed down while trying to hide his presence. He climbed down close enough to a point where the main gate of the camp was visible to find a familiar face. He was wearing the signature armor of the Huk’ran Knights. It was once worn by Viscount Evans; it was light armor with a symbol of the head of a red jackal engraved on the chest. Huk'ran Knights must have reclaimed the camp somehow. Haroon revealed himself and the knight guarding the gate noticed him.

“Howdy! If it isn’t the Mercenary Captain of the Gusts of Wind!”

“Hahaha! Indeed, it is! I’m back.”

Haroon couldn’t remember the knight’s name, but he was definitely a familiar person. He had a delicate face that didn’t really suit to be a knight, and he was one of the youngest.

“The people of the Knights including my Lord Viscount Evans and the members of the Gusts of the Wind have been waiting for you. Oh, your members actually have gone out down to the valley to hunt the monsters as their training at the moment. I humbly urge you to meet my Lord first.”

The knights had skyscraping pride to look down on the mercenaries, but he couldn’t find it from that knight. It was pleasing as he knew that proved how honored the Gusts of Wind is.

“Thank you. Have a nice one.”

“They are in a meeting so I assume everyone would be there. We don’t have someone to guide the way for you, though. Oh, right! I suppose you already know the way.”

He sure did. He snuck in this camp to get them out of there.

“Yeah. Goodbye.”

Haroon walked down the huge camp that revealed its belly skin to the strong sunlight and headed to the headquarters. It was the building he rescued the chief executives including the viscount from. The door was opened wide as if it was welcoming him. There was a long table with the seats taken by the chief executives, and they were debating on something serious; he could feel the heat of the argument from the outside.

“We need to make a move.”

“I agree. We cannot wait forever for Her Royal Highness’s work to be done!”

“We will not, without any order!”

The knights were passionately asserting their opinions, and Viscount Evans was sweating to stop them. Hall found this embarrassing so she looked and found Haroon was there. Though she was taking a corner seat, she was there for the meeting.

“Captain Haroon!”

Hall shouted and jumped out of her seat to run out to the entrance. She ran like she would throw herself in Haroon’s arms, but she stopped right in front of him and welcomed him.

“You finally came. I was so worried because we heard nothing from you. Your members told me not to worry about you, but I couldn’t stop imagining the worst…….”

How should he describe this feeling? A strange inspiration that he has never felt coiled his body. It wasn’t just about being thankful for welcoming him, but his mind was boiling up with emotion. Seeing Hall’s white neck, who was looking down and blushing after not finishing what she was saying, a mysterious emotion sparked through his body like a lightning.

“I-I’m sorry if I kept you worried. There was dragging me that I needed to take care of”

Haroon stuttered, and this was rare for him. There was some heat coming from his face too. But such an awkward feeling didn’t last long. People in the presence weren’t patient enough to see the mysterious reunion of the two.

“Hahaha! This is the most welcoming face I have seen in days!”

Viscount Savaan Evans came out of the building to welcome him as if it was a return of the prodigal son. The chief executives of the knights too seemed glad to meet him again.

“I’m late.”

“Come in already. We were anxious to hear the news from the world outside of Huk'ran anyways.”

Haroon followed him into the headquarters. Evans made him sit right next to his seat.

“What happened here while I was gone? I almost would have gone to the other camp.”

“Haha! Red Eagle Knights embarked on the journey for the gemstone mine so we were able to reclaim this empty camp. They climbed down the mountain in the southwest direction, and according to the knights who went to Thaust, it seems they have reached the gemstone mine. ”

Baron Holyon answered for him.

“I think they are right. The gemstone mine is confirmed to be in the midwest of the Huk’ran Mountains and that’s the biggest talk in the town. Influential figures and some participants of the Golden Battle too are headed to the mine.”

This news stirred up the table. They have confirmed that the gemstone mine has been found, and they assumed that Red Eagle Knights went to find the gemstone mine, but they never knew the details. Haroon didn’t bother to tell them that he was the one who offered a guide to the gemstone mine. They might figure it out later, but he heard that some knights were suggesting to get to the gemstone mine. If anything goes wrong, he will be guiding Huk'ran Knights to the mine, but it was too dangerous there. Considering those countless ferocious lump orcs, not to mention the iron snakes, these knights should never go to the mine. If they get killed by them, Imperial Princess Briella and Devron will have no chance in the battle.

“According to a reliable channel, unidentified poison-using monsters are living in the area. Also, there is a race of orcs with horns on their head over the Huk’ran Mountains. Their common warriors are twice stronger than a normal orc, and their squad leader that leads about 5 orc warriors is equivalent to an expert warrior. We Gusts of Wind fought a few of them as we get here, but we couldn't deal with them by normal means. There are hundreds of thousands of them living in the Huk'ran Mountains. Unfortunately to these monsters, a few orders of the knights and a guild of three thousand outlanders got annihilated.”

“Is that true, Captain Haroon?”

Evans asked for confirmation.

“Yes, it is. Outlanders lose a portion of their ability when they die, but they can revive. They spread the news.”

Silence spread over the table on their grave faces. They also knew the presence of lump orcs. The north of the Huk'ran where the camp is was a habitat of the wyverns so it wasn’t easy to run into the lump orcs, but they were easily found on the south of the camp. They had the experience of losing a number of their men to those devil orcs when they first set up the camp. But now that they have known that there are hundreds of thousands of them, this greatly discouraged them. Especially after knowing that there are unidentified monsters near the mine, they couldn’t get any motivation to get to the mine.

“Well, we should stand-by here, like you said, my lord.”

Chief Knight Baron Milson weakly commented. He and his knights have been persuading Chief Magician Baron Holyon and Chief Leader Viscount Evans.

“Do you know which order of the knights was killed?”

“I do. The knights of Marquis Sheoriji who are in the fifth prince camp, Count Alson from the eight princess camp, and Count Mendosa who support the seventh prince camp.”

Haroon told them what he heard from the TV show.

“Strange how there is no one from the powerful parties.”

Evans said to himself. Hilton tilted his head, too.

“Indeed. There is no one from the first princess party when they are the strongest. One of their supporters, County Putorin isn’t far from here.”

“He is not the only one. County Mylan, which is known to be supporting the first princess camp, is only two days away by horse from the Castle of Baron Thaust. There is no way they would miss a chance like this. This just doesn’t sound right.”

Haroon knew something was off listening to their comments.

‘I wonder….’

He was sure of his new idea. Those camps thought to be the strongest forces would be aiming for the ancient dungeon in the silent land, not the gemstone mine. They would have sent the guild of outlanders as the pioneers and their orders of knights as the backup. Haroon realized the information guilds were behind this.

“Anyways, if it wasn’t for you, we would have lost a serious force. In fact, most of the knights were suggesting to go to the gemstone mine. We hesitated because there was no order from Her Royal Highness Briella, but I couldn’t ignore the loyal advice of the knights and this agonized me for days. If you didn’t come or you came late, we could have gone to the gemstone mine. We only considered a way to get some funds, and we never knew cunning the situation would be”

Evans seemed to have agonized deeply on it.

“I am very confident with the abilities of my order of knights, but with the poor equipment of ours, including armor and weapons, we would have lost men to those horrible creatures.”

Evans let out a sigh of relief. The others were sweating, too, realizing the same.

“We could have benefited a lot from a few gemstones, though.”

“Tell me about it.”

And they still weren’t over with it.

‘Oh my god, it’s disgusting how ambitious the title emperor can make…….’

Haroon let out a sigh, seeing how they reacted. He felt the desperate desire for power hidden behind what they believe to be loyalty. How many extreme golden battles have killed, for the desire to climb the ladder of the class covered with a nice wrap named loyalty for their lords? Maybe the Golden Battle is held regularly as the way the royal family or the assembly of elders used to control the nobles effectively, taking advantage of their greed, he thought. If the lord they serve becomes the emperor or the empress, their class would be shifting from commoners to nobles, lower-ranking nobles to high ranking nobles - this allowed the society to change dynamically without getting stale. But most of the commoners and serfs were suffering from regularly repeated golden battles. Except for some inheriting nobles under the direct control of the royal family or the assembly of the elders, most of the territories owned by the nobles were exploited for the preparation of the Golden Battle, barely keeping commoners alive. It would be still better if men over 15 were not drafted into the army for the battle; the gender imbalance of the number of males being less than half of the number of females continued for over a thousand years. Due to the fear of death, commoners escaped the territories of the nobles. For this reason, the empire has strictly prohibited people to move to the royal territory or the territory of the nobles under the assembly of the elders, and those who broke this law were immediately executed or degraded to slaves. But the commoners still escaped to the royal territory or the territories of the monsters. Serfs, too, bet their lives to escape from badly exploited territories. One of the important requests for the mercenaries was chasing down the villages the runaway commoners or serfs had established, and handing them over to the nobles. Nobody knew how many that kind of village was over the whole empire.

Ending his stream of thoughts, Haroon put a bag on the table.

“I was not sure how you would be doing in terms of food, so I bought some food for you. This is fifty sacks of wheat, meat from twenty cows, and some dried vegetables.”

This turned the mood of the table upside down.

“Oh my goodness! In fact, we were struggling with food and we had to spare the knights’ training time to hunt for food. You have done a great job.”

“Captain Haroon, thank you. You have relieved one of our concerns..”

“Hahaha! We couldn’t even get our hands on a bread crumb! You saved us.”

Haroon was proud of seeing them welcoming food. Even Knights were human beings who had to eat.

“We were planning to get to Thaust Castle to sell the leathers we have. Thank you very much.”

“I’m glad I could be a help.”

“Hahaha! You have once saved our lives, and now you have saved our stomachs. Now we are in serious trouble paying back what we owe.”

The atmosphere of the table of the chief executives couldn’t be any brighter.

“I hope you are doing alright?”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

Haroon and Hall took a stroll around the camp after lunch. Hall looked at Haroon deeply; she must have worried deeply about him.

“Your members had a great time. Just as how harsh the training was, they improved a lot now they wouldn’t fall behind competing with the knights or fighting the monsters. We wondered if there is a secret to your training, so we knight even follow your members into the streams to train their movements. ”

“Did they?”

Haroon smiled pleasantly. He could visualize how much his members invested in training.

“I have gone through a lot of training since I was a kid, but I have never seen anyone train like them. Even my father and chief executives are impressed by them.”

“Hahaha! Firm body and skill is the only thing we mercenaries can rely on, and that’s why we train to death. We mercenaries don’t have any background or sponsors, so that is all we can do. They know very well that it is the only thing that can save their life.”

“Oh my, that is not very nice how you put it. You know how her highness Briella and lord Devron believe in you, Captain Haroon, and your Gusts of Wind. We Huk'ran Knights are your brothers, too. And there is me too.”

Hall sulkily said. The coquettish air of a mature woman wafted from her and shook Haroon’s mind. He could smell such a captivating scent from her, which he has never felt before. He inhaled the scent deeply in and shut his eyes tight. It was so sweet he felt his body floating and a little dizzy.

‘Wow, they were right about the women. Who could have expected this from the ice queen Hall?’

Haroon took a deep breath as it felt like he was suffocating from the mysterious scent from her, then he took out something he prepared for her.

“Right. I almost forgot Huk'ran Knights are the Gusts of Wind's reliable brother. I will be careful with my words next time. And this is my present for you.”

“You brought me a present?”

Her widened eyes couldn’t get any cuter. She looked at the present he took out full of excitement and thrill, and her face turned red to the strong sunlight.

“This bracelet is blessed with beauty. It has an amazing effect on beauty, and that is something, but I bought it because it is beautiful.”

It was the bracelet he bought at Thaust Castle. It was a rare item with the effect that the wearer doesn’t get constipation, their skins are improved, and it prevents fine wrinkles from forming; it wasn’t popular for the users, but it was a precious item for female NPCs. While he was shopping, he was lucky to get it at a comparably cheap price from a user. That user got it from a musk fox and he was excited to learn that it was a rare-class item, but it wasn’t easy for him to find a buyer. It didn’t enhance mana capacity, have any blessing, or healing effect so for the users it was merely a decorative item. He opened a vendor for the users for a few days, but he didn’t get to sell the item so he handed the item to Haroon at twenty golds. If he sold it to the empire auction, he could have easily earned 50 gold. The bracelet had a delicate and exquisite pattern overlaying top of each other, and it had small mana stones made by processing semi-precious gemstones mounted - it was surely an eye-catching bracelet. Smiling, Hall touched the bracelet for a moment but soon pulled her hands back.

“Uhm…… Do you want to put it on me?”

“Oh!”

He realized he needed to put it on her when he’s giving an accessory as a present to a woman, so he quickly held her hand. He could feel that she was trembling. This was making him feel weird. With absolutely no experience, this perplexed him, but he shut his eyes tight and put the bracelet on her slim and white wrist. She stared at her bracelet as if she was charmed by it.

“It’s so magically beautiful bracelet. Thank you so much. This is…… this is my first time getting a present from a man.”

The way she faced him only to avoid his eyes but to look at her bracelet, talking in a shy and trembling voice, looked so beautiful to him. He almost opened his mouth to ask her if she is the same Hall he has been traveling with. Her long neck turned pink and that came into his eyes.

“I’m glad you like it.”

He felt uneasy about how sensitive she was taking his present, and he was uncomfortable with the atmosphere. The way she looked at her bracelet was full of affection. Her beautiful face that he had never seen as a woman came deep into his mind for the first time.

‘Why am I acting like this? First to Bell, and now to Hall. I must be going insane.’

He was captured by the restlessness of his mind he had never felt before. It was the same reaction he felt from grown Bell. His heart beat hard, and his body burned like a fire. His lips felt dry, and his chest felt burning. He wanted to be with her, and closer. He could even see her before his eyes. He was perplexed with the unfamiliar feeling, but he didn’t dislike such a sweet feeling, only perplexed. He had no one to ask for advice for such a feeling, so he didn’t know what the feeling was all about, and how he should react to it.

“Wow.”

He let out a sigh, lightly so she wouldn’t notice. He was afraid that she would notice the way he was.

“I'd better get going..”

Haroon quickly left the spot. He couldn’t tell how he would act if he stayed with her any longer. Could he have fallen in love with Hall? He didn’t know, but he was very conscious of her who would be watching his back.

“Haroon…….”

He heard her quiet voice, but he ran to the accommodation that he was told his members were at.

“Woah!”

He took a deep breath at the building. He was feeling some heat as if he ran with his breath held. Seeing how he was sweating hard, something was definitely not right.

‘That was quite a scene I have made against an NPC.’

Blaming himself, he entered the building. He was afraid that his members could have seen him with Hall on the way back from the training for lunch. He suspected his members would come out from nowhere and tease him. Haroon looked back, thinking that Hall could be looking at him from a distance, multiple times. He was blushing.

—

His members returned to the accommodation after lunch.

“Captain!”

Teeno leading the way, his five members burst open the door and looked for him.

“You are late! We were worried about you!”

“Nice to meet you, Teeno. I was busy. A lot of things happened after they found the gemstone mine in the Huk'ran Mountains. It took longer for me to deal with the other things.”

“I’m just glad to see you are alright.”

Teeno welcomed him with a warm smile. It was a great expression on his face. It seemed there was a lot to catch up on.

“Hahaha! Philip, Have you been well?”

“Of course. The tan on your face tells me you haven't gone through much!”

Philip jokingly said with a sunburnt face. The training must have worked well for him - he looked very relaxed.

“I seriously thought you ran away.”

“Stupid! Why would he run away? He never took a penny for my treatment”

Gitan and Ritrina continued with the joke, and they too seemed very relaxed.

“I thought you ran away with the money you got from the leathers. I don’t really care about it, but you got me worried when you haven’t fully cured us yet. I finally got to do something in the battle.”

Serinn, too, seemed to have trained a lot. He could feel the air of a warrior from her.

“I’m glad you seemed to have gone through a lot of training. Great work.”

He decided to distribute the money he got from selling the leathers. He thought they would love it because they were finally getting paid for what they have been through.

“Here is your share for the leathers. I got five thousand golds for the leathers. The Huk'ran monster leathers were worth twice or even thrice compared to other regions. And Serinn did a great job on butchering and taking great care of them, so they were sold at a high price.”

Five thousand golds surprised them. Except for Teeno, the four wankers were the children of the owners of great mercenary guilds, but they have never had so much in their own hands.

“I have spent fourteen hundred gold purchasing clothes (including underwear you have asked for), potions, medicines, consumables, and food. We haven’t agreed on any ratio for distributing our earnings on byproducts, so I decided we all should get the same cut for the remaining thirty-six hundred Golds. You will get six hundred golds, each.”

He gave them their cut in Mithril coins, which are worth a hundred Gold each. With six Mithril coins each in their hands, they couldn’t speak but tremble. Teeno, too, was trembling even though he had been a mercenary before. They have never earned such a huge amount of money in such a short time, so they were greatly moved.

“I never thought I would be earning this much money.”

Gitan, the most cowardly person in the group, suddenly looked down and spoke with a watery voice.

“Yeah. It has been only three months since I have become a mercenary, and now I have a fortune in my hands. I should consider being a mercenary again.”

Philip was feeling emotional too. This was his first time earning any money, and it was much greater than what he expected. He was paid for his sweat and his sufferings as a mercenary, so the way he looked at the money couldn’t be the same as before. But Haroon felt something was off when he heard him.

“Me too. Now I’m thinking maybe being a mercenary is better in this way.”

Ritrina’s words confirmed that he wasn’t imagining it. Haroon looked at Serinn.

“But we are now knights, yo! We will be semi-nobles after the official appointment! This is a whole new level compared to the mercenaries people shun! We can earn this money at any time when we become knights!”

Serinn ridiculed Ritrina with a serious look on her face as if she had become a knight already.

“Wait! A knight? What are you talking about?”

There was a quick shift in their expressions when they heard Haroon. Teeno was especially stealing glances over Haroon’s face, feeling troubled.

“The Chief Leader invited us to be the knights.”

Philip was so proud talking about it

“So?”

Haroon’s face lined. He couldn’t even imagine this could happen to him.

“We accepted his offer right away! Let’s be serious, you would have accepted it too!”

Haroon took a deep breath. He felt his heart beating violently. He could see what was going on. After they have rescued Huk'ran Knights, Savaan Evans must have seen how skillful they were getting and offered to join the knights. Huk'ran knights were short on people. So when he saw how dedicated and the potential they were, he would have made such a shocking offer. To be honest, Serinn and Teeno were too weak and had low potential to be the knights, but he couldn’t have made an offer to only three of them. The Gusts of Wind was the savior of their life. And Teeno had a long relationship with Devron, so he couldn’t have said no to it.

Ashamed, Teeno turned his back.

“So you have made a decision, without even talking about it with your boss?”

Haroon’s low voice suppressed the atmosphere.

“We can be the glorious knights! Who would refuse to be a knight that everyone praises instead of being a mercenary just to be shunned and eat food on the street doing the toughest job? And yeah, we are a mercenary guild, but there are only six of us, and what power do you have among us to stop us from being the knights?”

Haroon felt gloomy to hear Philip’s overconfident statement.

“Yeah, he is right! Remember how we first formed the mercenary guild. We had to follow your choice because of your antidotes! Remember the first mission we had? Yeah, that surely made us stronger, but you insisted on your opinion and risked our lives for that mission!”

Serinn’s words cut through his flesh like a knife. He hated her in the beginning, but he began to like her on the way so he has done a lot for her; this hurt like his own flesh was getting cut out.

“I don’t have many complaints, but it was quite exhausting. You know, I have to carry everything being the muscle.”

“I have some but I will shut up since I didn’t pay anything.”

Even Gitan and Ritrina helped. Haron breathed in deeply, seeing how ridiculous it was getting.

‘I was so naive to think I might be able to achieve something with them, how pathetic!’

Is this what being betrayed feels like? He felt so much pain. He didn’t spare a penny for them, and he even gave up leveling so he could train them and give them real battle experiences. His heart broke listening to them.

“I’m sorry, Captain.”

At least Teeno soothed his mind a bit. He knew what kind of situation Teeno was put in, so he felt nothing for him. But he felt unfortunate for his future, especially when he finally got to live a free life. He was a middle-aged man. There was no way he was going to be a knight with that age.

They didn’t know how tough a knight’s life can be. Knights were not born but made after a thorough brainwash for their lord and a great deal of training. The order from their lord was absolute for them. They may have a good life in peace, but in a time like this, when the Golden Battle is going on, their lives are like a lamp light against the wind. The nature of the Huk'ran knights was more of a middle point between the knights and rangers, but they had to wear heavy armor like plate armor and charge at the enemy in the frontline. To a coward like Gitan, or the other two non-muscular female members, he just couldn’t see it from happening. Four of them, excluding Philip, just didn’t suit to be knights. It was clear that they will get different roles, but it was uncertain if they still would give them the knighthood.

“This is ridiculous.”

Haroon let out a sigh. He was worried about their future, not realizing they were wearing the clothes they don’t fit, rather than being angry about the betrayal. Without saying a word, he took out the items he bought for his previous members from the magic bag. Their underwear, ordinary clothes, daily necessities, and some items he bought as presents. He had a bundle of jerkies he bought for Gitan, too. He decided not to get the food, potion, and armor made with lump orc leathers. They didn’t need it anymore. And lastly, he took out four antidotes that Kartz made for him.

“The antidote I got this time is the best in the world, and it will draw out any toxic poison from your body. Since you have been taking antidotes, I think there won’t be much poison left in your body so don’t eat it yet but eat it when the symptoms redevelop, or when you are poisoned.”

When they saw the items Haroon thoroughly prepared for them, their faces grew grim. Haroon refused to be a knight as opposed to what they expected. He gave a word or two of advice, and with that, it was clear that he had absolutely no interest in being a knight. After giving a few more pieces of advice, he did the last thing he had to do. He took out the magic bracelet, the mark of the captain of mercenaries, and crossed their names with a tip of a knife. This mark was to represent the end of a relationship with them. He stood up, and he left his last word to them before he carried the bag.

“I would like to be a mercenary who can roam the world freely, rather than being a knight who will live or die by the order of the lord. I might get shunned instead of their respect, but my freedom is the most precious value that I will never exchange with anything. I was very attached to you guys and I feel very sad I have to let you go. I tried my best, and now it’s clear that I don’t have any authority and I am not acknowledged as a boss. I am very sad and angry, but I respect your choice. Just stay safe and be the knight you want to be.”

“Captain! Shouldn’t we hold a farewell party?”

Serinn used her coquet moves and grabbed his sleeve, but it never worked for him once, and it wasn’t going to work this time.

“Goodbye is better short! You are determined to be a knight, so I hope you will do your best to become a great knight.”

Haroon looked at each of them and headed to the door. Teeno started crying, without making a sound. Haroon knew very well what kind of situation Teeno was put in, but he already have made a choice.

“Goodbye Teeno. It hasn’t been long, but it was really great to have you around. Stay safe, and I hope I’ll be seeing your wife and kid the next time we meet.”

“....Captain!”

Teeno was sobbing; he couldn’t say anything but ‘captain.’ He was born a slave, and he finally got the freedom he deserves, and it was very painful for him to see that his freedom got bound once again by someone else’s greed. He burst open the door because he felt he would burst into tears if he didn't, and he came out. Hall was standing on the other side.

“C-Captain! I was just trying to help…….”

It seemed she didn’t think this was how it would go. It seemed like she strongly urged Savaan to recruit his members as Knights. She must have thought it would greatly benefit Haroon and the Gusts of Wind. But things went completely opposite to her expectations. She never thought he would leave resolutely; her face was smeared with anxiety and sorriness.

“I have an urgent business and I need to get going. I hope you will stay safe and achieve great work. I lost my members so I don’t think it will be easy for me to help Her Highness. Knights have their job, and so do mercenaries……. Well, Goodbye.”

He couldn’t face Hall anymore; there were too many mixed feelings. As he walked towards the gate, he used Messenger Walking. He felt so much pain he just wanted to leave the scene.

He felt better when he was with his previous members, but now that he was out of the building, his mind was filled with sorrow. Two knights guarding the gate saw Haroon rushing out of the gate with a big on his bag and a sword in his hand. They tried to talk to him, but when they saw his serious face, they rushed into the camp.

‘Damn it! I never wanted to get betrayed again, and this is why I tried to not get attached to them.’

A tear came out of his eyes. He couldn’t help but blame himself for getting attached to them. He knew with his life that he couldn’t get anything by blaming others. Just when he was about to reach the end of the opening and enter the woods, he heard a voice calling him from behind.

“HAROON!”

He looked back and saw Hall. She heard that he left. Viscount Savaan Evans, Baron Holyon, and Baron Milson were following her. He wanted to just ignore them and avoid them using Messenger Walking, but he stopped because of his feelings for her.

“Captain, wait.”

Haroon took a deep breath and looked directly at Hall.

“What is it?”

She had her usual cold expression on her face, but she ran all the way here so she was panting and her face was red.

“I…… I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to take your members away. I just heard it was their dream to be the knights from one of the knights they were friends with, so I was only trying to get it for them.”

Hall spoke with a trembling voice, without being able to look at his face. That made more sense now. His members surely had infinite possibilities and they were growing fast, but except Philip, they all needed to train hard to be experts. Recruiting such unskilled members as knights immediately must have been out of Hall’s Kindness, or connection with Devron or Imperial Princess Briella. Haroon was emotionally very disgusted but rationally didn’t want to blame Hall or Savaan. Based on what she said, they have done it with a good heart. It was their hospitality. They weren’t looking down on the Gusts of the Wind or attempting to absorb it. But Haroon, pursuing freedom, lost his members to them. Except for Bell and Jinsoo in the real world, he lost the people he trusted and could rely on. He and the four wankers began as an ill-fated relationship, but as they traveled together they have been through thick and thin together.

“My father wants to recruit you to Huk'ran Knights. As an official knight! You have everything to be qualified! Not to mention Her Highness, but you have a special relationship with sir Devron, and you have saved my life, too. No one will object to you from joining the order!”

Haroon shut his eyes. His previous members must be thinking that they have become the knights, but it seems they were more like knights in training. And there must have been a great opposition as well.

‘This isn’t going to be easy for them.’

His hatred for them melted away to some extent. They became knights as mercenaries, whom the knights disliked. It would have been better if they were commoners; traditionally mercenaries and knights were treating each other like cat-and-dog. It was crystal clear what they would be going through.

“I was born to hate being subordinate to someone. I want to freely live my life, with my will. ”

“B-But mercenaries are not treated as human beings.”

Hall was very disappointed.

“What people think doesn’t matter to me. Everyone has their own value they pursue, and they all think differently. Not everyone lives with good clothes, delicious food, and praise from others. Even with hard rye bread, cold water, and no honor, if I live doing what I want with free will, I am happy and satisfied with my life.”

This was another aspect of life Haroon was trying to achieve by getting strong.

“Her highness Briella and lord Devron need you, Captain Haroon. They have nothing but a feeble force like us. You have amazing abilities you haven’t even revealed yet. Please help us, I beg you!”

Haroon took a deep breath. He found out why Hall showed such hospitality to his members. Recruiting them was only a pre-plan to get him recruited. She must have thought of him as a person full of love. Haroon suppressed his emotions from erupting like lava, and slowly and clearly spoke out his thoughts.

“Look, I am not educated so I don’t know many things, but I heard being blessed for great people is what someone needs to achieve great work. In terms of connections, I believe Her Highness Briella is very blessed. She has loyal minions like you, Hall, or your father.”

He paused there and took a deep breath.

“But to win from the Golden Battle, you will need a lot of people from different backgrounds. You will need smiths to make weapons for you, mercenaries and assassins, and even rogues to do the dirty jobs that the knights can't. Knights have their part as knights, and Her Highness will need aid from mercenaries like me.”

He paused there again, took a deep breath, then continued.

“I have made a promise with sir Devron. That I will grow my mercenary guild big enough I can be a help to the great work he is trying to achieve. But the plan went wrong from the beginning. I trusted my members whom I trained with everything I could so that they could be the cornerstones of the guild, but being knights snatched their minds away. I am very disappointed with the nature of humans, so badly that I don't even want to develop a guild anymore. Of course, I will help even if I am alone if there is something I can do. But it won’t be as great a help as sir Devron wanted me to give. Please give them my regards. And forgive me for not giving a proper goodbye to the knights I have sworn the brotherhood. Goodbye.”

Haroon turned his back and slowly walked into the woods. But no one could stop him. Only the belated regret turned into tears and rolled down on Hall’s cheek.

“We were too impatient with this one. We should have counted that Sir Devron would have realized his potential. He recruited Haroon already. Captain Haroon was truly right about the roles, though. There is no way knights would be enough to achieve great work. Just like he said, we would need a spectrum of people. Sigh, I can’t believe I have made such a mistake. This is solely my mistake; I sat my hands on his members as knights in training too early without even talking with him and collapsed the mercenary guild. Sigh! I can’t believe I have chased such a great person away. How would I face her Highness and sir Devron?”

Viscount Savaan Evans dropped his face and powerlessly turned his steps. Baron Holyon followed gloomily; he promoted the plan with Hall.

Hall cried, again and again, looking at the woods Haroon disappeared into. Belated remorse and self-reproach overwhelmed her. She ruined the great work, but more than that, her heart that bloomed to Haroon was vomiting out scarlet blood. She wanted him to have a status high enough to be with her for the future she imagined. She wanted him to make a great contribution and win the honor and be respected by everyone. That was why she aggressively helped Baron Holyon’s suggestion.

‘What should I do now?’ she questioned herself.