Chapter 8 – 2. The First Expedition. (4)
Charlotte opened her eyes. Not from a soft fleece rug, but from a musty leather rug.
…… Oops…….
Raising her upper body, she closed her eyes tightly as she caught the crying goal. The fishy taste of blood wrapped around my mouth once, and at the same time, a terrible stench stung my nose and entered without hesitation. … It felt like my brain was being crushed.
It was still a faint morning. She took a quick glance around her, clutching at the goal. I saw a mercenary chewing on jerky without even wiping the blood off his face in front of a bonfire. The weatherman was on duty.
“Oh, are you awake? You must be tired, but you won’t sleep anymore….”
“… It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.”
Charlotte’s voice cracked. It must have been because he had been screaming and screaming all night long.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness after a while. Then the naked sight of the fort ran into my retinas.
Scattered flesh, organs, bone fragments…. There were several corpses left after being eaten, and even the corpse of a monster that was broken and motionless—.
Oops.
She was fine until she fell asleep, but when she saw that terrible scene again, she almost vomited what was in her stomach. Seeing this, the mercenary laughed strangely. It was a twisted laugh.
She turned her head. Then, with a heavy breath, he recalled the incident he had experienced earlier.
…… Badly…….
Recalling her own ugliness was tantamount to torture for her proud self. Her behavior last night was literally indecent.
To be honest, I was very confused at the time. And I was scared. I’ve seen monsters from far away, but they weren’t so terrible back then. The moment I saw him, my head went blank and I couldn’t think of anything. … Then Allen came. Eat insults And cheeks….
Ah.
Recalling belatedly, Charlotte touched her own cheek as she had been beaten. Oops When he touched his swollen cheek, a sharp pain pierced him.
She had never been scolded, let alone beaten, in her life, and she could not forget the intense shock of the flash in her eyes.
Strangely, my memory of the time before that is vague, but the voice of Allen, who used to scream after being beaten, remained very clear in my ears.
– Don’t go soon, bitch-?! Hurry up and catch those bastards!
… Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn… !
She felt ashamed and resentful, and she was about to burst into tears. To hear such a thing from a coward. How ugly
It was so embarrassing to see people’s faces. Then the defensive mechanism created by her pride kicked in. Because I couldn’t stand it without doing that….
… You couldn’t help it. Okay. Everyone is bound to be embarrassed at first, uh, at first. I definitely prepared meticulously. It was just, I was just embarrassed because it was so sudden. … And the monster looked so hideous. I bet anyone would be surprised. It would have been like that at first. It’s natural for anyone to be scared. … I am, I am, a weak woman. There is a noble lineage there. If you go through something like that, you can’t help but be embarrassed. It wasn’t bad for me. Still, you did it in the end. I finally did it!
Rationalizing her actions, Charlotte got up from her seat and headed towards the place where corpses and corpses were strewn about.
She felt as if she would vomit at the sight of her terrible appearance, but now she had to protect something far more important than her own pleasure.
Exactly, her cracked pride—-.
She tried to pretend to be nonchalant. I’m used to it now At the time, she was a bit taken aback, but now she’s okay. She said she could do much better in the future.
After a while, when the dawn began, people woke up one by one. After circling around the fort, she gave instructions to them with a calm expression as if nothing had happened.
“Take care of the body as much as possible. If there is no torso, even limbs. If you don’t have that, take a keepsake.”
She acted for the dead, but it was an act to cover up her own ugly past.
Much of the respect had disappeared from the eyes of people looking at Charlotte, but she acted that much more calmly. I admit that mistake, but as if claiming that I am not that kind of person originally. … Still, at the end, he came to his senses and gave instructions!
After entrusting the collection of the corpse to her subordinates, she called the officers of the subjugation party. She gathered around her all but six of her captains, who were badly injured.
“… I’m sorry I looked ugly yesterday. My apologies.”
“No, my lord. It’s your first time, so of course it can be embarrassing. Cancer, yes.”
The two temporary sophomores, who were more lousy than Charlotte, exaggeratedly raised their voices and said that. Even the captains, who had already passed the crisis, flattered the power again as if they had forgotten about yesterday. Whether she did well or not, she has a county family behind her. Allen just nodded his head lightly without saying a word.
The timid attitude bothered her the most, but she forced herself to turn off her nerves and looked at her officers.
“Since we defeated the monsters, we won’t be out here for a while. Now that the mission seems to have been completed, how about returning quickly? There are many wounded.”
“You are right.”
Everyone agreed with Charlotte’s opinion. All the executives agreed, so preparations for the return were carried out swiftly.
· · ·
… I was overexcited.
It was Allen’s first self-assessment.
It deserved applause for overcoming the fear of death in the first battle and giving instructions from behind the mercenaries, but it was definitely a problem that excessive selling was poured out of excitement.
It would be the right attitude for Danju, who leads the mercenaries, to calm down the excited mercenaries by remaining calm until the end….
However, the members of Allen-Mercenary Corps had a slightly different opinion from Danju’s cold self-evaluation.
“Yeah, I really didn’t know that. As expected, the saying that a person’s true face is revealed in a crisis is perfect!”
Who could have imagined that an aristocratic kid famous for being a coward could do such an active job? Even Aiden, who had eaten some study abroad materials, hardly felt any discomfort with Allen’s instructions. There might be disagreement about the way she gave instructions, but the content was certainly beyond reproach. Considering that this is the first trip, it can be said that it is the birth of a new star.
Perhaps thanks to that, although he suffered serious injuries from having his arm torn off, the Allen-Mercenary Corps was the only one among the mercenaries belonging to the subjugation party without any fatalities.
“What is the true face? It was just something I had to do as a sober, but what? And you guys followed my instructions well too. That’s more appreciated.”
Allen didn’t bother to paint my face. Because he felt that he lacked a lot.
Anyway.
His unexpected reputation soared, while Charlotte’s highly anticipated reputation plummeted.
Although he came to his senses at the end, because of the ugliness he showed in the middle. Her henchmen noticed and restrained her mouth, but it was difficult to completely block people’s light snouts.
[Brilliant] [Efficientism] [Calmity] [Narcissism] [Greed] [Masochism]
(He wants to hide his ugliness. My hamstrings are numb. My throat is sore. My ankles are sore. …)
… I don’t think it’s too bad for a first time. Is it necessary to go so far?
Of course, I got angry and slapped him at the sight of him trembling in fear, but he did a good job after that. Didn’t Allen also panic when she saw the monster for the first time? Unless you’re a very courageous person, everyone will be like that at first.
Exactly… , The battle with the monster was far beyond imagination.
It didn’t end with a list of simple sentences like those seen over the monitor.
In the scene of flesh and blood, I had to overcome fear, constantly think, make quick judgments, and scream at my throat.
Allen clearly realized that the position of sophomore did not simply end with the title of owner of a mercenary corps.
“I am ready.”
“… Oh yeah?”
The punitive force is ready to leave the mine fort. After a while, they cleaned up the fort and left.
The atmosphere of the returning subjugation party was quite different from when they first came here. In particular, Charlotte’s expression, which was overflowing with confidence, was now gone.
Allen thought about offering Charlotte a word of comfort, but soon gave up.
… I am also a newbie, what comfort is comfort. Let’s worry about my future.
Besides, for kids who are full of [Narcissism], Modest consolation could actually have the opposite effect. In a way that I dared to presumptuously say something like you. In particular, there would be nothing good to offend Charlotte, who wants to hide her own ugliness.
Allen went under a dense tree. The sky, which had been cut open by logging, was quickly covered by thick leaves.
Woo woo.
He let out a long breath. With the relief that he finally got out of here, and at the same time, the regret of not being able to do better.
Here, the first rite of passage.
Through this experience, he realized that the world of [Guild masters] Is never easy.
Clearly, heavy determination and firm conviction were required.
To survive here-.
