The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 17

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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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The Strongest in Our Neighborhood (17)
“Commander, Commander! Something’s happened!”
“What’s all the fuss about so early in the morning?”
“We were eating breakfast earlier when we overheard merchants talking about suspicious people looking for the Maximus Mercenary Company. We went to check on the company’s base and…….”
The two soldiers began with what they’d heard from the merchants that morning, then reported everything they’d witnessed at the Maximus Mercenary Company’s headquarters just moments before.
The guard captain Cruduwan, upon hearing his men’s account, hurriedly assembled the soldiers.
Once some fifty soldiers had gathered, he led them toward the Maximus Mercenary Company’s base.
As they arrived at the mercenary company’s headquarters, three carriages were just departing, surrounded by mounted mercenaries as an escort, and on the lead horse rode a man bristling with weapons and a Dverberg man beside him.
“Halt!”
At Cruduwan’s shout, the carriages emerging from the mercenary company’s base came to a stop.
“What is the matter?”
When the man on the lead horse asked, Cruduwan advanced with his soldiers but stopped at a measured distance from the carriage.
It was a distance where the soldiers’ arrows could inflict maximum damage.
“Just now, two of my men brought word of grave trouble at the Maximus Mercenary Company. So all of you—dismount from your horses and carriages, throw down your weapons, and lie flat on the ground. If you don’t, my men’s arrows will turn you into sieves.”
Jang Gain observed the twenty or so soldiers with drawn bows and deliberated for a moment on what to do.
‘These are third-rate soldiers at best, and even the captain and his aide are only first-rate…… Should I kill them all and force our way through? But that would make this whole affair much bigger than it needs to be…….’
Killing those blocking the way would solve the immediate problem, but afterward, various fiefdoms could assemble soldiers to form a punitive expedition against them.
With that thought, he naturally grew more cautious.
‘Breaking that fellow’s resolve first, then negotiating with the lord—that’s how we spill the least blood!’
He’d encountered similar situations many times in the Demonic Sect, and a solution quickly came to mind.
“Guard Captain, I’m Kalien. We met once when I paid respects to the commander before. You remember, don’t you?”
While Jang Gain was deliberating, Kalien rode forward and feigned familiarity with the guard captain.
“I know you’re subordinates of Maximus.”
“The company’s in utter chaos, so we desperately need your help. We’re grateful you’ve come to assist us.”
“What happened?”
“We went into the Creraliron Mountain Range and found some Dverberg living there without paying taxes, so we captured their children. But this morning, these two attacked the company, killed the commander and several comrades, and looted the treasury. And as you can see, we were just transporting the Dverberg children back in these carriages.”
Kalien emphasized the part about them not paying taxes.
Upon hearing Kalien’s words, Guard Captain Cruduwan drew the sword from his belt and pointed it at Jang Gain.
“Is what this man says true?”
Jang Gain watched Kalien swiftly switch sides and let out a soft laugh.
He’d already anticipated that he would do exactly this.
“It’s true enough, but there’s something I don’t understand.”
Jang Gain deliberately rode forward as if he didn’t notice Kalien, Druug, and Beulpu moving toward the soldiers, and he continued speaking.
“What is it you don’t understand?”
Guard Captain Cruduwan frowned slightly at Jang Gain’s untroubled expression.
Usually in such situations, people showed signs of intimidation or cowered before him, but he displayed none of that.
‘Could it be that he’s not afraid of so many soldiers?’
“You spoke of capturing the Dverberg living in the forest as if it were only natural because they don’t pay taxes—is that right?”
“Yes. Those who neglect their duty to pay taxes may be made slaves according to the kingdom’s laws.”
“Are the minority tribes living in the Creraliron Mountain Range subjects of the kingdom?”
“Those who pay taxes are subjects of the kingdom; those who don’t are not.”
“If they’re not subjects of the kingdom, why should they be bound by the kingdom’s laws? You’re just saying that because they’re weak, you’ll capture them and make them slaves as you please.”
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
“So in the end, the law is simply the word of the strong.”
As the two spoke, Kalien, Druug, and Beulpu had moved nearly to the guard’s position.
Jang Gain nodded inwardly at the three.
He needed a target for a decisive show of force against the guard captain, and they’d positioned themselves perfectly for that.
“Hey, you three. Where are you going? I told you to escort the carriages, didn’t I?”
“You mad fool! Can’t you see the situation we’re in?”
“No matter how strong you are, what can you do against this many guards?”
Whiiiiiii…….
Upon hearing the three men’s reply, wind began to rise slowly from Jang Gain’s body.
“You think the guards will protect you…… but what can be done? In my eyes, you and the guards are all the same.”
The rising wind twisted into a vortex, quickening until it became a fierce, churning whirlwind.
Only then did the guard captain realize something was amiss and quickly gestured to his men.
“I clearly told you to disarm and surrender, but you quibbled over my words, and now you make this foolish choice! Fire!”
“Fire!”
Shwik, shwik-shwik-shwik…….
In an instant, some twenty arrows flew toward Jang Gain.
Whirrrring, crackle-crackle…….
But the Whirlwind already swirling around Jang Gain’s body was accelerating violently. In an instant, it drew in the surrounding air and scattered the rain of arrows in all directions.
Crash!
Transformed into a single vortex of wind, Jang Gain leaped from his horse and flew straight toward the commander, cutting the throats of Kalien, Druug, and Beulpu in one swift motion as he passed.
Slash, slash, slash.
“What—what in…”
The terrified commander hastily raised his sword and swung it at Jang Gain.
Clang!
The moment blade met saber, the sword erupted in black sparks and flew skyward, while the saber carved through the protective collar around the commander’s neck and bit into his skin before stopping.
“Rrgh—gasp!”
Crack.
Jang Gain, who had planted himself on the horse’s head, extended his left hand and seized the commander’s helmet. His fingers punched through the iron, boring into the gaps and crushing down on the skull beneath.
“Aagh! Aaagh…”
“If I were to draw my blade straight across right now, I think your head would separate from your neck. What should I do about that?”
The commander stared up at Jang Gain, trembling violently, his eyes shaking.
“Rrgh—p-please! Spare me!”
“In your estimation, do you think your soldiers—shaking as they are with spear and bow in hand—pose any real threat to me?”
The commander, having heard Jang Gain’s words, barely managed to turn his eyes toward his men.
His terrified soldiers hadn’t even thought to loose their arrows. They simply stared at their commander with gaping mouths.
‘These pathetic fools… Hnn! Even if they did shoot, it wouldn’t threaten him in the slightest, but I should do something, anything…’
“Well? Aren’t you going to give your men orders?”
“What—what orders should I give?”
“What?”
“W-what orders should I give?”
Think about it yourself. If you don’t want your head separated from your neck, what order do you suppose you should be giving?”
“Everyone—lay down your weapons! Now! Didn’t you hear me? Lay them down!”
As the commander shouted, his men lowered their spears, bows, and swords.
“Good. Now what comes next?”
“I will personally guide you and your companions out through the fortress gate. Aagh! I will guide you!”
Jang Gain tightened his grip on his fingers, and blood began to drip down from beneath the commander’s helmet.
“No—don’t do that. If you do, I’d have to worry about future reprisals. Take me to your lord instead. I’ll settle this directly with him.”
“Your—Your Lordship! There’s no need to involve His Lordship… Aagh! I understand. I’ll bring you at once.”
Jang Gain squeezed the commander’s head once more, then turned to look at the mercenaries beside the carriage, who stood in stunned shock.
“What are you doing? Collect their weapons!”
“Yes—understood!”
The mercenaries set about gathering the soldiers’ weapons. Jang Gain descended from the commander’s horse, drew his Inner Force to its peak, and unleashed the Lion’s Roar toward the forest beyond the fortress walls.
“Sabeol! Sabeol! Come here!”
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
As the Lion’s Roar, suffused with Inner Strength, rippled outward, space itself shook with a thunderous boom.
“Hah! F-fear!”
Several soldiers collapsed on the spot, while the commander nearby staggered backward like a drunken man.
‘H-he infused his voice with an Aura and unleashed Fear through it!’
But the person most shocked by the Lion’s Roar was Jang Gain himself.
He had used the Lion’s Roar before, but never with such volume and resonance.
‘My Inner Strength has grown, but not to this degree… Could it be because the wind and I resonated together?’
* * *
“Baron Zavedra, our Baron Daparon has said he will raise his share of the Sentron Mine from twenty percent to fifty percent beginning next month.”
“What! We only raised it from twenty to thirty percent a few months ago, and now he wants fifty? This is banditry, not negotiation! Don’t you think this is too much?”
Zavedra, the Baron and Lord of Hailong Fortress, erupted in anger upon hearing what Daparon’s envoy had said.
The Sentron Mine lay at the foot of Sentron Mountain, which formed the border between Zavedra’s barony and Daparon’s domain of Daiaran. The mineral vein had first been discovered in Zavedra’s territory, but it extended into Daparon’s lands—so as the vein was developed further, Daparon’s share had to be raised accordingly.
“Our Baron recently sent an investigation team to Sentron and discovered that far more of the mine has been developed than you had reported. For that reason, he is demanding a strong adjustment to his share.”
“Far more developed? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“It is what our investigation team has already confirmed.”
“I don’t know what that investigation team saw when they came sneaking around, but the ore being produced from the currently developed sections is clearly more than ninety percent from my territory. Daiaran’s share isn’t even thirty percent.”
“That is merely your one-sided claim. In any case, our Baron demands fifty percent of the share beginning next month, and if this is not carried out as stated, he will take what is rightfully his by force.”
When the word ‘force’ escaped the envoy’s lips, Zavedra’s face twisted.
Daparon’s knights and soldiers numbered much the same as his own, but the real problem was that Daparon had Sir Dimitrion—one of the kingdom’s Ten Swords—in his service.
It was inexplicable why a man capable of commanding the position of Knight Commander even in an earl’s or duke’s household would swear loyalty to a baron like Daparon, but the simple fact was that with him present, such outrageous coercion became possible.
“Taking what is rightfully his by force! What kind of absurdity is this!”
“I have come as an envoy, but in reality I am merely here to deliver our Baron’s decision. If you believe this is absurd, take it up with our Baron himself.”
Zavedra’s face fell into an expression of bewilderment.
If their strength were equal, he would do the same. But it wasn’t, was it.
“Then we shall take our leave.”
Once Daparon’s emissaries had finished their business and withdrew, Baron Zavedra kicked his chair aside and rose to his feet, snorting through his nose.

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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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