I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[011] Seeing Through the Mercenary’s Tricks
Whenever people gather, conflict inevitably arises.
Even more so among young, hot-blooded warriors.
That’s when a leader becomes essential.
When voices clash and cross, someone must unite and command them all.
The same applies to Mercenary Groups, so naturally a leader emerges to guide the collective in such operations.
Typically, a Mercenary Group’s leader is either the highest level or commands the largest faction.
In that sense, Lehiman, the captain of a small Mercenary Company, was perfectly suited to take the leadership role in this Merchant Caravan escort mission.
‘…at least, that’s the template.’
I observed the Mercenary Captain approaching me from the corner of my eye, studying his appearance.
One of the essential skills for veteran Belheim players—gauging an opponent’s combat prowess by their equipment alone.
Yet something felt distinctly off about the Mercenary Captain’s attire.
Pointed, horn-like Gothic-style foot armor, chain mail torn and tattered in places, ornate noble-styled gambeson—equipment with absolutely no unified aesthetic.
‘He wields a longsword, so he seems like a typical strength or agility-focused warrior… but why equip an arm guard when he’s not even carrying a bow? And that ring—no one but a mage would have any use for that….’
From a veteran’s perspective, this was the epitome of inefficiency!
Though I couldn’t say it made no sense whatsoever.
In the medieval-to-Renaissance era, assembling a full plate armor suit cost as much as a house, so it was common for wandering mercenaries to scrape together coin by coin and gradually acquire equipment piece by piece.
Still, I couldn’t fathom why they’d prioritize foot armor—which offered minimal protection—over a helmet or breastplate, the true core of defense.
As I continued my analysis, the Mercenary Captain walked straight toward me.
“I’m Lehiman, captain of the Blue Bird Mercenary Company. And you are?”
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Doran. I’ve only recently arrived in the city and have no affiliation. I apologize for acting on my own….”
“Never mind that. …So you’re the escort the client hired? I didn’t expect much from a non-combatant, but you fought surprisingly well. What’s your level?”
The Mercenary Captain cut me off and asked bluntly in an authoritative tone.
What kind of etiquette was it to demand someone’s level upon first meeting?
Yet I detected something unexpected in the Mercenary Captain’s expression.
｢The Mercenary Captain is watching you warily with sharp eyes!｣
‘Why?’
Why would a man of the Mercenary Captain’s standing keep such close watch on me?
I couldn’t fathom it, but my mouth was already moving.
“Three….”
“What?”
“My level is around 3. I’ve faced Kobolds a few times back home, so I thought I’d step in—I’m glad it proved helpful to you all.”
“I see… Low level, and for a black-haired fellow with bad luck, you’re pretty capable. …Next time, don’t charge in like that without warning. Collecting corpses is a hassle, after all.”
Upon hearing my level, the Mercenary Captain waved his hand dismissively as though he’d wasted his time, and returned to where his companions waited.
A youth raised only within an isolated town wouldn’t be out of place with a single-digit level.
‘Better to be cautious than sorry.’
Malton’s eyebrows twitched upon hearing my lie, but he held his tongue.
* * *
It had already been four days since we departed the Port Town with the mercenaries.
As we emerged from the long Forest and reached the Grassland, exhausted mercenaries began collapsing one by one onto the grass.
By this point, it would be normal to see the city walls in the distance, yet we still hadn’t reached the city.
The reason being….
“We’ve safely endured the fourth monster assault of the day!”
“It’s extremely rare for monsters to attack so persistently! What on earth is happening in this region?”
Ever since we departed from the Port Town, we’d been under constant assault from monsters.
“Have these monsters gone insane? How many times is this now?”
“This is the fourth time today. They came charging at us like we’d murdered their parents, eyes blazing with fury.”
“But does it make sense for this many to swarm us? The Knight Order regularly culls the monsters in this region. You’d think you’d need to scrape together every monster nearby just to get these numbers….”
“Maybe they mistook your face for a fellow monster and came to rescue you?”
Dry laughter erupted from the Mercenary Group.
They were all laughing, but the deep exhaustion etched across their faces couldn’t be hidden.
Even I was astonished by the monsters’ relentless persistence.
“These monsters have truly gone mad….”
This was absolutely perfect!
Could there be a better leveling opportunity than this?
Without having to exhaust myself searching for monsters, they came to me!
Even when surrounded by monsters, Malton steadily covered my back, and if things got dangerous, I could always shift the burden to the Mercenary Group.
Moreover, with new monsters constantly attacking, I didn’t need to worry about experience penalties from hunting the same creatures repeatedly.
The Mercenaries looked a bit worn out, but that wasn’t my concern.
Thanks to this, my level had skyrocketed from 8 to 13.
Such insane growth speed that I was experiencing dizziness from the rapid leveling.
On top of that, building rapport with Malton was excellent news as well.
After wiping away sweat and grime with a damp cloth, I set up a makeshift tent using Malton’s waterproof canvas, and he straightened his back to speak.
“Hmm… I’m getting a bit peckish. I was thinking of having dinner before it gets too late. What will you do?”
“I’ll prepare it today as well. Let’s eat together.”
“Oh…! Is that alright?”
“You’re even lending me the tent, so this much is only natural. Do you happen to have any spare spices or herbs?”
“I thought as much and gathered some on the way here. Will this be enough?”
“Yes, just give me a moment.”
I built a campfire and received the aromatic herbs and meat that Malton had procured from the forest.
Today’s dish would be skewered Lesser Rat meat.
An ordinary person would recoil at the thought of eating rat meat, but in Belheim, such sentiments were a luxury.
‘Let’s see… these twigs should work as skewers….’
I threaded the Lesser Rat meat—which I’d already cleaned and gutted during our journey—onto the skewers and placed them over the campfire.
Rat meat is lean, so the key is to cook it quickly to preserve the juices.
First, I seared the surface with high heat, then cooked the interior through.
To finish, I finely chopped the herbs Malton had prepared, sprinkled them over, and added a pinch of salt….
“Oh…! What, what is this fantastic food?! I merely grilled Lesser Rat over fire, yet it tastes like this… the charcoal aroma has soaked in, and it’s truly delicious…!”
“How is it? Doesn’t this compare favorably to what they sell at street stalls?”
“Of course it does! To create such flavor with such simple ingredients… could your mother be a chef?!”
“…It’s not as though delicious food can only be made that way, is it?”
“Then your father must be a chef!”
“Well, that’s… never mind. Let’s just leave it at that.”
For outdoor dining, this was remarkably excellent.
Compared to the mercenaries who simply hurled unskinned meat into a pot and called it stew, this was far superior.
‘Do those fools only know how to grill and boil?’
As I endured the mercenaries’ gazes, drawn like moths to the sizzling aroma of roasted skewers, I suddenly sensed someone approaching.
I slowly lifted my head to see the Mercenary Captain walking toward me from the center of the campsite.
The Mercenary Captain approached with an ill-fitting smile plastered across his face.
I reflexively hid the skewers behind my back, but he paid me no attention and instead addressed Malton.
“My apologies for interrupting your meal. Do you have a moment?”
“Of course. …Would you prefer we move elsewhere?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. …I heard you’re a famous Elf Adventurer in this region, and you certainly live up to the reputation. Your skill in combat against monsters is exceptional. I was told elves are all hopeless and selfish, but you’ve surprised me.”
“Haha, it’s true that elves tend toward individualism. But I simply did what was naturally expected of me as someone who accepted the request, so there’s no need for thanks.”
Malton answered with a good-natured laugh.
The fact that he didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow at this greenhorn mercenary’s impertinent prattling spoke volumes of his magnanimity.
Having observed Malton for ten years at his side, I could tell he found the Mercenary Captain utterly contemptible.
Yet the Mercenary Captain remained completely oblivious and continued speaking.
“You seem like an elf with some manners. I like that. Ah, and this is a humble gift from me—please accept it.”
The Mercenary Captain produced a bottle of liquor from his breast and forcibly emptied Malton’s waterskin before refilling it with the spirits.
Judging by the quality of the bottle’s label, it appeared to be extraordinarily expensive alcohol….
He’s just giving it away?
I regarded the Mercenary Captain with suspicious eyes, but Malton laughed heartily and shook his waterskin as if in gratitude.
Once the Mercenary Captain departed satisfied, I pressed him in a low voice.
“Malton, what on earth were you thinking accepting that alcohol? It looks suspicious to anyone with eyes….”
“Haha… well, what kind of adventurer would turn down free spirits? I’ll share some with you too, so have a drink!”
Malton spoke in a loud, cheerful laugh so that all the mercenaries in the campsite could hear.
Yet beneath that jovial tone, his cold gaze was quietly pouring the liquor onto the grassland.
“Shh….”
Malton smiled at me with his index finger pressed silently to his lips.
* * *
In the dead of night.
I jolted awake from where I had been lying quietly in my bedroll.
I thought I’d heard some commotion outside a moment ago….
“…Are they gone?”
As I quietly crawled out of the temporary tent, the dreamlike night sky greeted me.
The dazzlingly brilliant moonlight, the deep blue Milky Way, the shrill chirping of grasshoppers….
A scene that could have been pulled straight from a fantasy game trailer.
But the blistered palms from overswinging my sword, the muscle soreness, and the headache from the sudden level-up quickly dragged me back to reality.
“…This is hardly the time to indulge in idle contemplation.”
I downed a gulp of cold water to shake off my drowsiness, then surveyed my surroundings.
My instincts, honed through years of training, had been sounding alarms ever since I noticed the Mercenary Captain’s peculiar demeanor and equipment.
Sure enough, something strange caught my eye almost immediately.
‘…Why is it so dark?’
The area was far too dark.
Looking around the Campsite, I could see no campfires, no torches, no lanterns from sentries standing watch.
Moreover, it was clear that several people had vanished from the Campsite.
The Tents where people should have been were completely empty.
‘Deserters… they’ve fled…!’
A chill of foreboding washed over me.
I hurried back to the Tent, woke Malton, and explained everything. He grasped the situation immediately.
“I see. The Mercenaries have vanished without a word… That is certainly strange.”
“You don’t seem very surprised. Did you anticipate this?”
“When the Mercenary Captain offered me that drink, I sensed he was plotting something. Didn’t you feel the same?”
“….”
“…Then let’s move at once. Do you have any idea where the missing people went?”
“No, I’m afraid not….”
“Then we’ll search for them together.”
Malton emerged from the Tent, lit a lantern, and surveyed the Campsite.
But discovering where the missing people had gone proved not difficult at all.
After investigating the area around the empty Tents, I soon found footprints leading into the nearby Forest.
“…Judging by the number of footprints, there are three people? Including the missing sentry, that would make five. Quite a few, indeed.”
“The mud clinging to the grass blades hasn’t dried yet, so it hasn’t been long. Is it possible they left in haste due to some urgent matter? Perhaps they fled from something?”
“If that were the case, they would have made a commotion, and we surely would have noticed. Besides, the stride is narrow—they deliberately moved quietly to avoid waking others.”
“As I suspected….”
“…And one of these footprints in the dirt belongs to the Mercenary Captain. Do you remember the foot guards he wore? When the metal covering’s dimensions exceed the shoe size, the decorative front point leaves this kind of pattern on the ground.”
Malton pointed to the front of the footprint, where a wedge-shaped mark had been carved sharply into the earth.
I too remembered the Mercenary Captain’s foot guards distinctly.
It’s equipment rarely worn unless you’re a cavalry soldier vulnerable to leg attacks.
‘So it really was plundered from knights…?’
That would explain why the equipment lacked any unified consistency.
“So what should we do now? It feels wrong to simply ignore this and move on….”
“I think we should follow them. The fact that they extinguished the campfires and disappeared quietly suggests their intentions may be dubious.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Very well. It’s better to move together than to stay here. Though I think it would be wise to wake the others and prepare for contingencies.”
I headed toward the center of the Campsite where the Mercenaries slept, alongside Malton.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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