11 – Episode 11
#11
What went wrong in this world?
Like a wizard exploring the mysteries, Ian started to identify the cause of Emily’s twisted concept of hygiene.
It was not hard to figure out.
Firstly, some people in the Middle Ages really thought that water was dirty. Proudly, Emily was one of them.
‘Water is full of chalk, mud, parasites… It’s really dirty!’
A strikingly diligent medieval person in terms of hygiene.
In modern terms, they would always carry hand sanitiser and alcohol, and manage hygiene only with personal items. They only acknowledged rainwater from the sky as the true water.
Water from other lands? Oh, it’s dirty. It’s polluted.
However, looking at people scrubbing places with disinfectants, they would think ‘they might catch the plague’, just like modern people do.
Seeing people who really only drink rainwater, most of the other medieval people would think ‘they’re crazy’.
Most simply scooped up whatever water they found from the well, spring, or river, and drank it casually.
Of course, they didn’t think the water was clean, but rather thought ‘it’s dirty but should be fine if boiled’.
In reality, if you just drink from wild water sources, you’d quickly suffer from parasitic infection or food poisoning. So naturally, the correct way is to boil the water before drinking.
However, the Rabbit Foot Merchant Group that Ian was with had not built a fire for a few days now.
If you walk a little further, the road ends, and it was because of a judgment that Emily made, thinking that it would irritate Drake if she lit a fire for no reason. In other words, Emily made a highly logical judgment that she couldn’t use dirty water that had fallen on the ground without boiling it. To top it off, the second reason was that Emily was a prostitute (not an insult). Most of the men she met did not show any resistance when she mixed her saliva with theirs. No, they actually seemed to enjoy it when Emily licked her lips and spat saliva. That’s why Ian had judged that it would be fine. “Amazing. You medieval bastards.” “… What?” Ian decided not to tackle the issue of hygiene anymore. It would only hurt his pride. “Next time, you wash the dishes and bring water in the pot.” “But, Master Wizard. Water…” “I’ll boil it, so just bring it.” Ian grumbled as he took his own bowl. He felt uneasy, as if the damned woman had spit in it. While walking, Ian stealthily collected water and wiped his bowl again. “Master Wizard, it’s time for a meal…” “What?” “hehehe! Ah, no, nothing!” Rik now looked at Ian openly as if staring at a monster. Ian, who had always used honorifics, but felt that Rik’s reaction went too far, had no desire to use honorifics anymore. So, he blurted out what he felt. “Old man, do you have a problem with me?” “No! No! How could there be any problem! hehehe.” Rik gave a fake smile. It was the smile of that hierarchical system that he had shown several times in front of the nobles. Ian realized that Rik had completely turned his mask around and decided not to give his heart to Rik anymore. “I thought we could be companions.” In a society with a hierarchical system, anyone couldn’t easily become friends. It is a common description of friendship that surpasses social status in fictional works, but it becomes a topic because it is difficult to achieve in reality.
“Magician, does the meal suit your palate?”
“Do you find anything uncomfortable?”
“Just tell us if you need anything done!”
Ironically, since distancing himself from Rik, the flattery from the laborers and mercenaries increased significantly.
Accustomed to a class system, they instinctively recognized that Ian was the most powerful authority here.
The eccentric performance of magic shown by Ian also helped to solidify his position.
‘What is this really?’
Ian presented an image that was hard to comprehend.
There was never any special treatment when he spoke politely. But after he showed anger once, they seemed ready to rip off any piece of them just to butter him up.
Ian still didn’t know.
That what moved the human heart was not warm compassion, but cold fear.
“Magician, here is your water!”
Emily, who was previously rebuffed by Ian, now approached him with a much more servile attitude.
As someone of a low-born status, she had no hesitation in serving those above her.
“Gather some branches and start a fire.”
As Ian commanded, a laborer made a craven face.
“But sir…won’t the drake see the fire?”
The worker’s gaze was solely on Ian.
The original employer, Rik, didn’t even register in his eyes.
“Just light it for a moment, don’t worry.”
“Yes, I will start it right away!”
The worker promptly started a small fire. They didn’t know if the drake would come, but they followed the magician’s order. The trust in the magician was immense.
Even if Drake showed up, Ian believed he would somehow resolve it.
However, Ian… had no particular thoughts.
‘It will be fine.’
Given that descent was now imminent. If nothing had happened until now, he presumed nothing would occur later either.
And Drake was no forest ranger. Would he fight to the death just because they started a small fire?
In front of the small fire that Ian had created with dried grass, he chanted a spell.
“[Taolara].”
As soon as Ian finished speaking, the flare caught fire dramatically.
It was a spectacle, an enigma in itself, how a sizeable fire blazed from a bundle of small branches.
Ian boiled the water Emily had fetched.
“Ohh!”
“This, this is real magic!”
Each of the mercenaries made a comment at witnessing the mystique before their eyes.
“Shut up. It’s noisy.”
“Yes! Mr. Wizard!”
And when Ian cursed at them, the mercenaries seemingly satisfied, shut their mouths.
‘Sadistic bastards.’
I don’t understand why they like it when a wizard swears at them. Emily finished the dishes nervously with the hot water.
“Yes… this is it… cleanliness! This is what I wanted!”
Ian took the warm plate and laughed wickedly.
Having ordered Emily to wash the dishes with the bubbling hot water, the sight of the wizard amused by her struggling!
From afar, no one would have seemed crazier than the wizard.
Witnessing Ian like this, the mercenaries trembled in fear again.
‘Dishes with that boiling water…!’
‘A real wizard. So eccentric…!’
‘It seemed a little odd before… but he’s a decent guy now that I look at it, isn’t he?’ Through the mercenaries’ eyes, Ian was ‘authentic.’
For a couple of days, the mercenary captain, John, had been in a bad mood.
“Cash. Did you think about my offer…”
“Didn’t I say it was unnecessary?”
‘That b*tch.’
Simply because he was making no progress with the pretty Cash.
If everything went according to plan, he should be meticulously persuading Cash in private every night and waving his mighty status over her like a stick.
But simply put, Cash doesn’t regard this mercenary as anything significant.
She disregards everything John says and intends to her business.
John was genuinely pissed at her insolence.
Are Captain John’s words not worthy of respect? Is what I’m saying humorous to you?
I am John, the captain of the brotherhood, drenched in blood, John.
By spurning the mediocre and dismissing the incompetent… That’s how I claimed this position.
Hey, Cash. Even I have pure intent
There is nothing special about being a wife in this era.
Once you get pregnant, how can you escape with a pregnant body? Then you just have to live together. Once you’re attached, you can’t even think of escaping.
It’s all about being a mercenary. Isn’t it all about getting a pretty wife and living well?
So, I’m trying to catch a beautiful wife…
“Hey, what about the cash?”
“Well, we have it, sir?”
If I take the cash, I’ll share a portion with my subordinates. That was the agreement.
But as we reach the end of the road, the subordinates don’t seem to be moving.
“It seems like rape might be necessary…”
“What?”
“I mean… We’re not even criminals…”
John looked at his subordinates who suddenly transformed into virtuous gentlemen and was bewildered. What is this? Did they all attend a moral lecture on group s*x with Saint Francis Xavier in their dreams?
Has the beautiful past where they ravaged rural girls like a herd of wild beasts on the vast field been completely forgotten?
But John quickly caught on to the situation.
“Are you scared?”
“Well, it’s not that…”
“You’re scared, you bastards!”
The subordinates, they’re all aware of the magician’s suspicions!
When Lick was the leader of the pack, there was nothing to fear. Lick and Cash were both men, and as long as the mercenaries carried out their assigned missions, they couldn’t touch each other.
But now that the magician had become the center of the group, things were different.
That black-haired magician was a notorious psycho, as the common rumor of the world spoke.
It’s only natural to be cautious of someone who can’t be predicted.
Trying to flirt with a woman only to end up at odds with a wizard is an act of utmost stupidity.
“These idiots! You’re going to miss out on a precious woman like cash because you’re terrified of a mere wizard?”
“What’d you call a ‘mere’ wizard?”
The mercenaries shuddered. They were afraid of the wizard.
The reasons why the mercenaries feared the wizard were two-fold.
First, if a wizard took a dislike to someone, rumors that they’d be cursed flew around. Just like a superstitious mercenary, they were sensitive to curses.
The second reason was more practical.
Wizards were tightly bound with the nobility. A slight offense could ruin one’s life.
No matter how young they appeared to be, they were not to be underestimated. Who knows what great wizard or noble Ian could be friendly with?
“Also, look at Cash. She doesn’t look like a commoner, does she…?”
“That’s why we need to claim her right now!”
John was insistent.
“If she’s a noble in hiding, why is she hiding? Just because she would reveal her nobility, wouldn’t she be screwed?”
“Why don’t we investigate further after we descend…”
“Wouldn’t she escape by then?”
His subordinates meekly shook their heads. John’s explanation was difficult to accept. It was all just an excuse to take Cash.
“Alright, fine. Captain.”
But John’s status as their leader hadn’t changed, even if he had become a lustful bird.
A leader should be able to flex some power. What’s the point of being a leader without it?
Albeit, a wizard’s potential interference could pose a problem. But if they acted covertly, they might get away with it. After all, wasn’t the wizard just as unfamiliar with Cash as they were?
“When are we going?”
“Tonight.”
“If everything goes south, we will pretend we didn’t know anything. I will take over as the next captain.”
“Fine. You chatter too much for someone who is supposed to help.”
Having run out of time, John decided to surreptitiously seize Cash that very night. His innocence had been trampled so much that he decided to turn into a thug out of desperation.
In the dead of night, when all are asleep.
A group of mercenaries, who were on guard duty, begin to move covertly.
“Where’s Cash?”
“He stepped away for a bit to take a leak.”
“Damn, it’s as if the heavens are on our side.”
With a broad smile, John stealthily followed behind where Cash had gone.
The rustling echoed.
There was something wriggling in the darkness. It looked like a silhouette of a person.
‘…?’
John’s eyes widened.
‘What the…?’
It wasn’t Cash. It was too large to be Cash.
It was a stranger.
An unknown stranger was lifting Cash as if he was nothing…?
“Who’s there!”
One of the mercenaries yelled out.
The moment John realized the situation.
“Assassin!”
A flying dagger pierced the darkness and penetrated the throat of the mercenary.
“W-what?”
Bleeding profusely, gushing like a wine bottle when the cork is removed, the mercenary’s subordinate chokes down his fear.
A three-second mental freeze.
Then.
“Hey! You son of a…”
From Noble mtl dot com
John’s face twisted like a demon’s as he pulled out his Arming Sword and rushed at the monster.