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Karem saw Gordon fight exactly twice.

The opponents were a young mossy boar and a Grizzly Beaver.

The overwhelming might he displayed, although Karem could only see faint silhouettes because they were too far and fast, was sufficient to evoke admiration from Karem’s lips.

And finally, he witnessed the full power of the Swordmaster against a person.

“You idiot. Just a—hahrgh—”

That was all he could see.

Only the result.

Before the words of the Thief Leader were even finished, the head fell to the ground.

Before the blood could even splash down, Gordon appeared behind the corpse that was left behind, merely flesh.

And just before the blood touched his body, Gordon vanished again.

He disappeared in the direction of the utterly bewildered thieves.

Dozens of footprints stamped down almost simultaneously on the snowy ground.

Bang, bang, bang.

“What the—”

“Only one!?”

“Kargh—”

The body, cleaved diagonally and kicked away, flew like a cannonball and hit two men.

Before the body even touched the ground, Gordon’s sword had already split apart the arms, legs, and torso of five thieves and was ready to split the next target in half.

A lone lion among a flock of sheep.

No, that was an insufficient description.

Fallen leaves in the autumn wind.

Limbs scattered like wilted leaves, human bodies crumpled like wheat stalks during harvest.

Over a hundred years in total.

As several lives were so easily snuffed out in an instant, the thieves, other than the few who noticed to flee the moment their leader was killed, began to tremble in fear.

“It was supposed to be an easy and simple job! Easy and simple!”

“But there’s only one target! Gather together! Surround him—”

“KYAAAAAH!!!”

The few who had a bit of sense attempted to rally the thieves for a counterattack, but the moment those voices arose, Gordon changed targets, stopping whatever task he was doing.

Kakakakak!

The body of a thief clad in armor flew back, scattering metal fragments everywhere.

Even while doing something absurd, Gordon had another thought on one side of his mind.

‘This is going to make a rumor.’

As he was cutting down the remaining thieves who hadn’t managed to escape, Gordon’s gaze was already on the footprints left by those who fled and his remaining companions who were using the others as bait to escape.

The opponents weren’t Swordmasters or even magic users.

Slaughtering them all was a piece of cake, but pursuing every fleeing thief was absurd, even for a Swordmaster.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be impossible given enough time.”

It simply didn’t add up in terms of costs.

Both as a mercenary and as a knight.

Let alone if we were to score Gordon as his escort right now, it would be a solid zero.

The point of an escort is to protect the person being escorted.

Not to slaughter the enemies.

In fact, some of the thieves were having different thoughts and were attacking the wagon caravan.

They thought capturing a hostage would somehow work out for them.

“Well, I’m sure it’s fine.”

Gordon nonchalantly kicked a rushing thief aside.

He glanced back at the wagon surrounded by a transparent ice dome.

*

*

*

There are certain things that people can never give up.

The Englishman who declares war because someone let their cart sink into the sea.

The Italian who rages at the sight of an iced Americano and pineapple pizza.

The French and Turkish who worship bread like a religion.

These differences naturally arise when comparing countries alone.

Let alone people with personalities as varied as the stars in the night sky, it was only natural that what they couldn’t give up would be different.

For Catherine, cooking was one such case.

Today’s snack was cupcakes filled with jam.

Cupcakes baked beforehand by Mary in Winterhome, filled with jam and topped with vanilla buttercream.

No, one could say it was a magic tool in itself.

The cupcakes looked incredibly delicious.

“But still, how is it possible that the sword remains intact after all that cutting? No, wasn’t that armor just split in two moments ago?”

“The short instance when the blade touched the target allowed the aura to expand. As for the durability issue beyond that, he must have handled it somehow. Little kid, you can’t see it, though.”

As he said, there was no way to see the aura or anything like it.

Hmpf. Karem grunted as he took a bite of the cupcake.

Though the cupcake was somewhat dry, the sweet and tangy raspberry jam combined with the buttercream that retained moisture even after a while moderated its texture and made it soft.

“Mm.”

Karem turned his eyes away from the thick, bright-red jam.

There, a horrific scene unfolded.

They say witnessing a scene that far exceeds imagination makes one become numb.

Karem was exactly that at this moment.

“But how can you eat a snack in such a situation?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Are you actually asking that?”

The red puddles left by the thieves who had become what they were.

The shards and remnants flowing from their bodies.

A sight that would make an ordinary person’s legs go weak, faint, or throw up.

And Gordon, who kept widening those traces every time he showed up.

“What? Are you asking if I can eat a snack in front of those corpses?”

“Is that all you’re concerned about?”

Karem shifted his gaze and turned to the back of the wagon.

Bang! Clang! Kakakak! Rumble! Bang! Bang!

“….! I…what…!”

“…!? …What the…!”

“Magic….! Hurry up and…!!”

The thieves who had been surrounding the wagon moments ago were currently battering against the transparent ice barrier born from Catherine’s gestures.

At first, the party felt uncomfortable seeing such a hostile scene.

However, desensitization happens with repeated stimuli.

Before long, the adapted guards, wagered against each other, gave up as Gordon moved too quickly and began to rest alongside Catherine. The servants and maids also took suitable breaks with the guards.

Watching this, the thieves became furious and pounded even harder on the dome.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“What’s going on? You all seem way too relaxed?”

“What’s the hurry in this situation?”

“Uh, we’re surrounded by thieves right now, aren’t we?”

“That’s true.”

“And some of them are attacking us.”

“That’s also true.”

“But you’re having snack time so calmly?”

“You prepared this snack, didn’t you? Besides, you’re eating too.”

‘That’s technically true.’

At a loss for words, Karem momentarily found himself dumbfounded.

It was his suggestion to fill the cupcakes with jam and top them with cream.

“Talking nonsense while eating snacks.”

Mary carefully placed one of the cupcakes she sliced into few pieces into Catherine’s mouth and glanced at Karem.

“Is there really anything more important than snack time right now?”

“No, people are dying.”

“We’re not the ones suffering, so it’s not too important, is it?”

“No, well. Uh, huff.”

“Stop with the nonsense and eat the cupcake.”

Like a bizarre instance in a city of the blind where one-eyed people are the abnormal ones.

As the only ‘normal’ person, Karem felt frustration creeping in and reluctantly sat down, starting to vent his feelings into the cupcake.

“Guess I was hungrier than I thought?”

“Nom nom, gulp. This is just venting out.”

“Venting? So you weren’t particularly hungry?”

Mary reached to move a piece of the cupcake that was in front of him.

Just as her hand neared, Karem quickly pulled the plate closer to himself.

“No. Actually, I think I’m hungry!”

In his growing years, turning his back after eating always led to hunger.

Though not as much as Alicia, Karem could eat more than usual for his age, even much more.

Cooking is truly hard labor.

“With bloodshed ahead and that scene behind, what’s the taste of the cupcake you’re eating?”

“Honestly, it’s delicious.”

“For someone who just said it was uncomfortable, you seem calm, eh?”

“Well.”

Karem bit into the cupcake.

Inside that crumbles like a sandcastle wet with water were the refreshing and sweet-tangy raspberry jam and a smooth scent wafted from the light buttercream.

“I’m not new to seeing corpses.”

To say that death is as close to everyday life is an exaggeration.

Sure, it was much closer than in his past life.

Whatever the case, the moment he turned away from the tedious present life was during the time when Moston Village where he was born and raised was attacked by a group of monsters.

The sights he witnessed during that process.

After fleeing from ghouls, the mercenary attacked by a griffin.

A number of experiences corrupted by the horrific images from his past life.

“Anyway, despite clearly being in a life-threatening moment, being this comfortable feels too strange.”

“Then you just have to get used to it quickly.”

“No, there’s no way you can just get used to something like this—”

“Simple, really. Just be noisy and eat your cupcake while watching that sight.”

Catherine shook her head and pointed her finger aside.

Before long, the loud sounds had faded, and the thieves battering against the barrier were exhausted.

“…Dodge!”

“….Run! …Get out!”

The panting thieves turned pale and gripped their weapons tightly, running away as if they had never been exhausted.

Karem, wondering what was going on, turned his head toward the clear sound repeatedly coming from the front.

When he locked eyes with Gordon, who had been battering the barrier, Gordon yelled.

“Get this… off me…!”

Seeing that, Catherine lightly tapped the ground with her staff, and the ice dome enveloping them melted away like snow dispersing in the wind.

Before the protective barrier vanished completely, Gordon, who jumped up, grumbled while snowflakes swirled around him.

“While someone’s toiling, you’re all so leisurely enjoying snacks.”

“What? There’s a good show to watch, so it would be rude not to. Besides, ‘tormenting?’ Doesn’t seem like a start of decline, does it?”

“I’ll correct you. It’s not toiling, it’s working hard.”

“Same difference.”

“Oh, the wizard is quite something.”

With exaggerated gestures as if he didn’t mind at all, Gordon sat down and dramatically held his chest while plunging a bloodless longsword back into its sheath, while Mary placed a plate full of cupcakes in front of him.

“By the way, Gordon. Can we just leave the bodies like this?”

“Naturally not.”

Gordon gulped down three or four cupcakes the size of a fist and shook off the crumbs.

“First, let’s eat these, and then we can get the guards or attendants to clean up.”

“Before that, doesn’t it seem like monsters or wild beasts are coming?”

“They’ll only come after we leave.”

He picked up another cupcake from the plate.

With one hefty gulp, he swallowed while mumbling.

Karem, who had been asking questions, was left speechless upon seeing that scene.

In a moment, half of the plate had vanished.

“Huh? What? Cupcake? You’ve still got your share left.”

“No, that’s not it. Isn’t it going to choke you by eating like that?”

“Huh? Choke? Whose?”

“Yours, yours. You just shove it in without even chewing.”

Despite being filled with jam, not to mention, topped with soft, light buttercream.

Still, the density of the cupcake wasn’t any less.

Moreover, even with the jam and buttercream, watching that soft yet grainy texture of the cupcake go down like a wet sandcastle made Karem’s throat dry.

The one responsible for that ridiculous act, Gordon, appeared bewildered.

“What is the problem, I don’t get it at all.”

“Speaking of which, mercenary.”

Catherine, with a disinterested expression, looked at Gordon and tapped her finger.

“No, thinking about it, with a title now, I should be calling you Baron.”

“Finally, there’s a change in my title?”

“Right. But did you seriously slack off just to eat the cupcake?”

“Would I even do that? Even if I’m not a magic user, after all, an enemy is still an enemy. I dealt with the remaining ones for certain… huh?”

Crackle—twitch.

Gordon’s head jerking back startled him and suddenly, his hand had gone to his sword’s hilt.

“It’s autumn now, isn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah, what about the monster attack?”

“That’s not it.”

Gordon fixed his sharp gaze on the spot he had been standing just moments ago.

The corpses of the thieves. No, those that had been thieves were slowly.

Clearly rising again.

Gordon couldn’t hide his shock.

“Undead occurrence? In Iceland during fall?”

Catherine, blinking in disbelief at the unexpected sight, asked suspiciously.

“Mercenary. Did you slack off because you were lazy?”

“Me? Seriously?”

“Did you slack off in order to eat snacks?”

“Is that what you think of me!?”

As he tried to rise back up and draw his weapon, Gordon shouted back.

 

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