First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 43
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 43
Woooooooong-!
Along with the light of warp magic, we arrived in Buehern.
It was a deserted back alley.
The walls were covered with dirty graffiti, and stagnant puddles of rotten water pooled on the ground.
Unlike teleport, warp can only be cast after installing ‘warp points’ in advance.
Kise said he had installed this one when he previously visited Buehern.
He liked it because no one passed through here.
‘Well, it would be troublesome if we dropped into the middle of a crowd.’
The warp point in the Imperial City being in the middle of the forest was for the same reason.
“Haaaaah…”
Having exhausted a massive amount of mana using warp, Kise staggered like a limp squid, unable to keep his balance.
Diago let out a “Heave-ho” as he supported the wobbling Kise.
Merry glanced at the red-haired mage with what seemed like pity.
Step, step.
The four of us moved our feet along the back alley.
Before long, we witnessed several shabby people lying on the ground sleeping or gulping down bottles of liquor.
No, was that drugs rather than alcohol?
They all looked wretched and ragged, gaunt as if they hadn’t eaten for days.
‘A slum?’
This was a sight I’d never seen in the Imperial City or Harten.
Merry leaned close to my ear and explained.
“The Imperial City has thorough management since it houses the Imperial Capital, and Harten is too small for slums to form. In contrast, most cities have slums like this.”
I see.
It made me realize anew just how blessed an environment I’d grown up in since my reincarnation.
Just then, one of the men sitting on the ground drinking staggered to his feet.
He stared intently at Merry and rushed at her, laughing maniacally like a dog in heat.
“Woohoo! A woman! A woman!”
Oh dear.
I shook my head from side to side.
I quietly prayed for the man’s soul.
Crack-!
With the sound of something being crushed, the man’s body flew through the air.
Looking closely, his right cheekbone was deeply caved in.
The man flew several meters before landing face-first on the ground with a splat.
Merry lowered the leg she had extended.
A few drops of blood clung to the tip of her heel.
“Tch.”
Merry glared at the slum dwellers with contemptuous eyes.
“Let’s get out of here quickly. I don’t want to stay any longer.”
“Ah, yes, let’s do that.”
I answered politely.
Looking back, I saw Kise and Diago also flinch and quickly pick up their pace.
After turning a few corners, we were soon able to emerge onto a wide main street.
The street scene was similar to other cities.
Street stalls and vendors scattered here and there sold appetizing food.
I could also see merchants soliciting customers.
The average height of the buildings was lower than the Imperial Capital but higher than Harten.
“Riode’s Eldest Son hasn’t arrived yet?”
“No, he should arrive in about 3 hours.”
“Good. Then let’s eat first.”
We entered a restaurant near the city gate.
It seemed to be an establishment that combined a restaurant and inn.
We would wait here appropriately, then start surveillance from the moment our target entered the city.
Then when he left the city, we’d follow him, knock him unconscious, and disguise ourselves. That would be it.
“Let’s wait a little longer.”
Three hours passed.
The target still showed no signs of entering.
Six hours passed.
The target still showed no signs of entering.
The sun set and dusk settled in.
The target still hadn’t entered the city.
Unable to bear it any longer, I let out an angry shout.
“Damn it, you said he’d be here in 3 hours! Is the information even correct?”
Merry pulled out a map from her bosom and tilted her head.
“That’s strange. By our calculations, he should have arrived by now…”
Something must have happened.
Whether he was attacked on the way or his carriage broke down.
Some variable must have occurred.
Otherwise, there’s no way he wouldn’t have entered Buehern by now.
“Should we go look for him?”
At Diago’s suggestion, Kise shook his head.
“I think it would be better to wait a little longer…”
“I wasn’t asking you. I was asking His Highness the Prince.”
“…”
“Wouldn’t it be better to go look for him?”
We would move further east from here.
Since we needed to follow the direction Riode’s Eldest Son was coming from.
That meant getting further away from Nelbern, the location of the castle dedication ceremony.
‘I suppose it doesn’t really matter.’
If problems arose, we could just instantly teleport to the Imperial Capital using Kise’s warp magic.
Even if we failed to steal his identity, we still had Plan B.
If necessary, we could just hide and wait near the castle dedication ceremony.
“Let’s go look for him. Bring out the armor.”
* * *
In the dim forest.
A one-eyed man whose face was covered in scars bared his yellowed teeth and laughed.
“Kehehehe…”
The leader of the Red Wolf Organization, Kenta.
He was a famous bandit in this area.
He would capture people who wandered around near Buehern without knowing better, rape them, or sell them as slaves.
For those who seemed to have no value as slaves, there was also the method of harvesting and selling their organs.
Either way, money could be made.
But the most profitable method of all was capturing carelessly traveling nobles as hostages and demanding ransom.
Just like today.
“Kehehe, I’m lucky today.”
Before his eyes, a young man with his hands and legs bound by rope was kneeling and trembling.
“P-please spare me. Please spare me…”
“Kahahaha! Spare you, of course. Yes, naturally I should spare you. So, what’s your name?”
“J-Jerbran de Riod.”
In truth, Jerbahn hadn’t lost his mind and embarked on the journey without any escort.
He had ten guards that his worried father had assigned to him.
However, Lord Riode’s escort knights were no match for them.
Every time the barbaric bandits before his eyes swung their swords and axes, the guards’ heads exploded one by one.
In the end, everyone in the carriage, including the coachman, died and only he survived alone.
Jerbahn knew that the bandit hadn’t spared his life for no reason.
‘They must want ransom money…’
That was the most hopeful outcome.
It was a million times better than being sold as a slave or having his organs harvested.
The only problem was that his family wasn’t very wealthy.
His father would surely scrape together every last penny to raise his ransom.
But what if that amount wasn’t enough?
What if even after gathering all the family’s assets, it still fell short of the ransom the bandits demanded?
It wasn’t difficult to predict what would happen to his future.
“Uuuuu…”
Jerbahn kept making whimpering sounds from fear and terror.
“Shut up!”
Each time, the bandits would enthusiastically beat his body with whips.
Crack! Crack!
Jerbahn sobbed even louder from the pain of his skin tearing.
‘Someone…! Please, someone save me…!’
That’s when it happened.
With rustling sounds, someone approached through the grass.
Four silhouettes revealed themselves.
Three wore full plate armor including helmets, and the remaining one had a robe’s hood pulled up, so none of their faces were visible.
“Damn it, I had a feeling when I saw the carriage abandoned over there, but what the hell is this situation?”
The one wearing only a robe spat out a crude curse.
Judging by build and voice.
They seemed to be a youth who hadn’t even passed their teens.
“Who the hell are you guys?”
The one-eyed leader, Kenta, gripped his axe.
He prided himself on being quite skilled.
He had reached the early stages of 4-star aura after all.
Indeed, even the soldiers assigned as guards by noble families hadn’t been a match for him and his subordinates.
However, even with his senses, he hadn’t noticed their approach at all.
Not until they parted the grass and revealed themselves.
‘These are dangerous bastards…’
His instincts were sounding an alarm.
Telling him to flee from this place immediately.
But wasn’t he a bandit who lived and died by bluffing?
He absolutely couldn’t show an unsightly appearance in front of his subordinates.
Actually, if he and his subordinates fought together, it didn’t seem like they would lose.
The other side had four at most.
Meanwhile, his side had dozens.
“Hey, One-eye.”
When the robed figure’s mouth opened again, Kenta involuntarily flinched.
There was something in his voice that commanded the entire gathering.
“I’m in a really bad mood right now. You bastards have delayed my plans by several hours. But since I’m generous, I’ll give you a chance.”
“A chance…?”
The figure spread the space between his legs and continued speaking.
“Come here, crawl through between my legs one by one. Then I’ll kill you without pain.”
Grind.
Kenta frowned and gritted his teeth.
“That little shit…!”
He couldn’t just stand there after hearing such an insult to his face.
“What are you doing!”
He raised his axe high into the sky and shouted.
“Kill them all!!”
Waaaaaaah!!
Dozens of bandits simultaneously screamed and charged forward.
The vibration from their stampeding feet alone felt like it could shake the mountain.
Jerbahn was seized by a feeling of despair watching that scene.
Though they seemed to be wearing quite expensive armor, there were only four of them.
Too few to face the bandits who had overwhelmingly crushed even Lord Riode’s guards.
However, the mysterious intruders remained calm even watching the bandits charging like a wave.
“You want to do it? Or should I?”
“Why are you even asking that? We can do it together.”
Even exchanging incomprehensible dialogue with each other.
That’s when it happened.
The largest man among the three in full plate armor drew a massive spear from behind his back.
It was a mysterious long spear that clearly emanated an extraordinary aura.
He took his stance, let out a rough battle cry, and thrust the spear forward.
“Haaah!”
That was all.
Kwaaaaaaaaa-!
Jerbahn couldn’t even see what happened.
Only bright clusters of light shot from the spear tip filled the air.
But the carnage that followed was beyond the word tragic.
“…”
A scene as if a dragon had swept through the area.
The earth was carved out cylindrically following the wave triggered by the man’s spear.
Not a single living bandit remained above that crater.
Unrecognizable organ fragments and brain matter.
Pieces of flesh scattered everywhere, resembling a scene from hell.
In the center of the crater lay Kenta’s one-eyed patch, torn to shreds.
“Uh, uhhh…”
“Ah, ah…”
Even the bandits lucky enough to escape the impact range had to sacrifice an arm or leg as the price for surviving the shockwave.
The bandits who couldn’t react died with massive holes punched through their torsos.
One strike.
It was just one strike.
With a single strike from the man before them, over 80% of the Red Wolf Unit had fallen.
The bandits’ eyes trembled.
‘What is this.’
What the hell just happened?
Am I dreaming right now?
“Kraaaaaaak!”
Unfortunately, that question was the bandit’s last memory.
Flames that suddenly ignited in mid-air devoured the bandit’s head.
Hissssssss-
“Kraaaaaaaah!”
“S-save me! Hiiiiiek!”
Along with the sound of flesh cooking, the screams of the surviving bandits echoed like a melody.
Soon the forest was engulfed in massive flames.
However, the fire only burned the bandits’ heads, never spreading to the grass and trees.
As if controlled by someone’s hand.
Jerbahn could tell that this hellish inferno was caused by magic cast by one of those people.
‘Just who are… those people.’
Caught by a fox, only for a tiger to appear and bite the fox to death.
Jerbahn trembled in terror.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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