Chapter 92. The Western Black Society
“I don’t know much about the Western Branch of the Alliance either.”
After leaving the cleanup to them, Sirius headed to the Gartus Mercenary Corps together with Hwan-Wang.
The mercenary corps’ headquarters was more than a half-day’s ride away on horseback, but they were able to arrive quickly using their light body techniques and flight magic.
“I remember that the branch manager was replaced several times because they couldn’t properly take control of the western region… I wonder what the situation is like these days.”
“Verdian said the same thing.”
The Gartus Mercenary Corps is said to be close to the Western Branch of the Alliance.
However, Lucianna, who the Gartus Mercenary Corps was backing, was using a swordsmanship influenced by the Sword Emperor.
Then, could it be that the Gartus Mercenary Corps has some connection to the Sword Emperor faction?
That was what Sirius was speculating.
“That should be it.”
The Gartus Mercenary Corps’ headquarters was an old fortress.
They had taken control of a fortress that had been used in an old war and abandoned, and were using it as their headquarters.
“What should we do?”
“Is there any reason why we have to go through the main gate?”
Sirius jumped over the fortress wall and went inside.
When they landed in a suitable location, the men who had been roasting meat over a fire inside the fortress looked up.
“What the? Where did you come from?”
“……”
After thinking for a moment, Sirius decided to ignore them.
Today, Sirius had come to the realization that he shouldn’t pick fights while eating.
He had come to teach them manners, so he shouldn’t pick on those guys now.
“Are you deaf? I asked you where you came from?”
The men tried to rush at Sirius.
However, they immediately collapsed to the ground right there.
They had fallen under Hwan-Wang’s illusion magic.
“Those guys were eating too, so that’s not good.”
“I’ll wake up later and eat it again.”
Will he really?
Sirius peeked and saw that the meat was burnt to a crisp.
“It seems to be over there, let’s go.”
“Understood.”
As they continued inward, a spacious dining hall appeared.
There, a middle-aged man with an eyepatch was having a meal with his men.
“I should have come a little slower.”
“That’s right.”
I could feel quite a lot of magical power from the one-eyed man.
It seemed that he had easily surpassed the 7th circle.
“……?”
The men who were eating raised their heads and glared at Sirius and Hwan-wang.
“Don’t mind us and eat.”
“Yes, you should eat properly.”
“……?”
The two unidentified men suddenly appeared and were watching them eat with their arms crossed.
How many people could eat comfortably in this situation?
“I don’t know who you are, but you’re really good at ruining people’s appetites.”
The one-eyed man… Gartus muttered as he wiped his mouth.
“What do you want?”
“We came to teach you the etiquette of not disturbing people while they eat.”
“You guys were the ones who disturbed us just now.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to mind us and eat?”
“Do you think we can eat properly in this situation?”
“We didn’t overturn the table, so you can eat if you want.”
“…….”
“You overturned the table we were eating at.”
Gartus frowned.
“You, are you perhaps Sirius Canisルート?”
The men around him gasped.
“Why are you here……”
“Why? You guys disturbed our meal, so I came to protest.”
“How did you get here so quickly? Even on horseback, it would take half a day to get here from Paramia.”
“There’s a faster way to come.”
“…….”
Gartus glared at Sirius with his one eye.
“It’s flying magic. Did you use that to sneak into the fortress?”
He was half right.
Sirius used light footwork, but Hwan-wang used flying magic.
“Sirius, it seems quite unorthodox to suddenly invade our headquarters like this.”
“Is it orthodox to come to our abode and overturn the table?”
“……”
Gartus bit his lip.
“It seems my subordinates were unable to control their fervor and caused a disturbance. I apologize.”
“Apologize?”
“Yes, as the leader, I am also responsible for failing to properly control my subordinates.”
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Hearing this, the king laughed.
“Still, the leader is a bit better. His subordinates were just blockheads who couldn’t even grasp the situation.”
“Who are you?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“……”
Gartus looked at him with suspicious eyes.
He could tell that he was not an ordinary person, but he could not figure out his identity.
“Anyway, Sirius.”
Gartus turned his gaze back to Sirius.
“Since things have come to this, I’d like to have a serious talk with you. I had no intention of being hostile towards you either.”
“No intention of being hostile?”
“Yes, that’s why I sent someone to talk to you in the first place.”
As he spoke, Gartus leaned forward.
“I sincerely apologize for my subordinates’ rudeness. However, I don’t think we should become enemies over such a matter. If possible, I’d like to maintain a good relationship through dialogue…”
“You’re talking nonsense, Gartus.”
Suddenly, harsh words spewed from Sirius’ mouth.
“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“If you wanted to establish a good relationship through dialogue, you should have given your subordinates proper orders.”
Sirius glared at Gartus and said,
“Your subordinates all came to me fully armed. And they kept accusing me of killing Lucianna and insisted that I follow the rules of the West. Was that also something your subordinates did on their own because they were too hot-blooded?
“……”
“You must have wanted to seize the initiative. Even if that didn’t work, you at least wanted to see how I would react, didn’t you? You were planning to decide your future course of action based on my response, weren’t you?”
Gartus remained silent, unable to say anything.
“But I came here before I even heard the news. So you hurriedly decided on a course of action. You figured you’d start by apologizing and try to resolve things through dialogue.”
“……”
Earlier, he had pretended to take some responsibility, but in reality, it was an act to avoid blame.
Realizing that Sirius was a formidable figure, he decided to shift all the blame to his subordinates in order to resolve the situation through dialogue.
“So, Gartus, let me tell you my plan.”
“Sirius…”
“As of today, the Gartus Mercenary Corps is disbanded.”
“What?!”
Gartus’ eyes widened at Sirius’ declaration.
“You’ve been receiving excessive escort fees from various families, including the Granz family. And you resort to threats when they try to cancel the contracts?”
“That’s….”
“Moreover, there are suspicions of collusion with the local bandits. It seems almost certain to me.”
They extort a huge sum of money for escort under the pretext of protecting against bandits.
And they share that money with the bandits.
It was a common practice.
“I’ll leave it to my direct unit, the Cheonrang Sword Corps. Those who are useful will become members of the Cheonrang Sword Corps as they are, and those who are not will become laborers in Palamia.”
“….”
“This is my policy, Gartus.”
After finishing the story like that, I waited for Gartus’s reaction.
However, someone other than Gartus reacted first.
“How dare you…!”
A young man sitting nearby jumped up and shouted.
“Do you think our mercenary group is at the same level as the insignificant organizations of Palamia? We have the western branch of the alliance behind us! Are we going to fall for such threats….”
“You fool!”
Then Gartus raised his voice.
“Sirius is the man who destroyed the eastern and southern branches one after another. Do you think he’ll be scared just because you mention the western branch?”
“Ah…!”
“Don’t make me lose my temper, and shut your mouth.”
After snapping at him like that, Gartus let out a long sigh.
“Sirius, as you can see, most of the black merchants in the west are idiots. They’re hot-blooded and like to act tough.”
“I guess so.”
“Most of them charge in without caring how strong their opponent is. That’s why… even if you subdue us, the others will keep charging in.”
“Gartus, I’ve already figured out that this place is such a region.”
Sirius said in a cold voice.
“So you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll take care of it.”
“I see….”
Gartus slowly got up.
And when he raised his right hand to the side, a subordinate nearby hurriedly got up and handed him a large object.
It was a heavy greatsword.
“Sirius, I’m a man with a keen eye among the black merchants in the west. That’s why I was able to survive and make a big organization.”
“….”
“However, I can’t just bow my head to you here without any resistance. I have my pride too.”
Gartus’s eyes flashed as he held the greatsword with both hands.
“I can’t just hand over the Gartus Mercenary Group that I’ve built up enduring all kinds of humiliation. If you want to take it, kill me and take it.”
“I understand, Gartus.”
Sirius also drew his jagged sword.
If the opponent came out to fight so fairly and squarely, it was right to respond to it.
“No one interferes!”
Gartus jumped up, shouting like that.
The table shook with the aftermath, and the sound of plates breaking on the floor could be heard.
“Hup!”
Kukung!
Along with a thunderous sound, the greatsword fell.
It was an attack that aimed to cut Sirius in two with one blow.
However, Sirius was the one who caused the thunderous sound.
“Ugh…!”
Kwakang!
The rugged sword imbued with the force of thunder extended as fast as lightning.
He had moved later than Gartus, but the speed at which he swung his sword was much faster than Gartus.
After fending off the heavy greatsword, Sirius dug right into Gartus’ back.
“Ugh…!”
Blood spurted out from Gartus’ spine.
Even so, Gartus did not give up.
He shouted and drew up his magical power.
He pulled out the magical power of the 7th circle to the maximum and created an extremely powerful magic sword.
“Haap…!”
At that moment, there was a change in Sirius’ blade.
The blue lightning disappeared and a pure white cold settled in.
The second stage of Cheonrang Shingong, the force of the White Wave.
The extremely cold energy that could freeze everything cut through the air.
Kwakjik!
As the swords clashed, a strange sound rang out.
The magical power that had been deployed on the large greatsword froze.
Gartus was shocked, but he didn’t have the余裕 to grasp the situation.
He was preoccupied with responding to Sirius’ sharp movements.
And the moment Gartus raised his greatsword to block a blow aimed at his shoulder.
Crack!
Along with a sound that Gartus had never heard before in his life, the greatsword broke.
No, it shattered.
The cold energy that Sirius had spread froze not only Gartus’ magical power but also the blade.
In that state, Sirius gave it a strong shock, so it couldn’t help but shatter.
“Keuk!”
Jjoak!
Sirius’ sword dug into his right shoulder.
Blood did not gush out. The cold energy immediately froze the wound.
However, Gartus had no choice but to drop his sword and fall to his knees.
“Huk, huk….”
Gartus exhaled roughly.
He lifted his head with difficulty and looked at Sirius.
Sirius silently stared at Gartus.
And beyond that… his subordinates were looking at Gartus with tears in their eyes.
“Sirius… sir.”
After kneeling properly, Gartus bowed his head.
“I will disband the Gartus Mercenary Group and surrender to you, Sirius. You may take my life, but please spare the lives of my men.”
It was the appearance of a man who had admitted defeat.
“Stand up, Gartus.”
Sirius said in a calm voice.
As expected, Gartus’ swordsmanship was similar to Golgotha’s swordsmanship that he had encountered in the East.
So… Gartus learned swordsmanship from the disciple of the Sword Master.
“When the treatment is over, let’s finish the meal together. We were both unable to finish our meals.”
“……!”
“Let’s talk slowly while we eat.”
As Sirius sheathed his jagged sword, Gartus bowed his head deeply once more.
“Thank you for your mercy!”
Then the other subordinates rushed out and knelt down with their heads bowed.
The Western Black Knights were such people.