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“Oh my.”
Johan poked Deosam’s body with his sword. It was an obvious threat.
Within the mercenary group camp, no one came forward even though he was wielding a sword at the group commander’s body. Deosam was horrified.
“What. . . what is this, Count?”
“I’m checking if the sword is working well.”
“No matter how high your status, you cannot do this. If I call people outside now. . .”
As he was speaking, Deosam’s eyes widened. He realized one thing as he was talking.
“. . .Did these b*stards betray me?!”
“Don’t get too angry. It’s not good for your health. The curse must have been scary.”
“Damn those who will receive this curse! All the curses on earth and underground. . .”
“Cursing like that won’t do much good anyway. Stop the pointless talk and make a choice. If you tell the truth properly I’ll let you live. If the curse is lifted and your body gets better, you can lead the mercenary group again. But if you keep talking nonsense, I’ll have no choice but to test how well this sword cuts on your neck.
Don’t test my patience.”
“. . . . . .”
Deosam sweated profusely then opened his mouth.
“. . .Keep the secret.”
“Alright. If you want me to dig that desperately. . .”
Johan raised his sword. Deosam desperately shouted.
“I’ll tell! I’ll tell everything! Please forgive me, Count!”
“There. Should’ve done that from the start.”
Deosam hastily confessed everything.
While happily plundering territories, they discovered a suspicious temple underground in a village.
The doctrine strictly forbids the plunder of such temples and recommends proper procedures for subjugation, but mercenaries would never follow such principles.
More than anything, relics from the ancient Empire contain countless treasures that could overturn one’s life. There was no way they would stand by watching those things get confiscated and burned by the doctrine.
The mercenary captains took only mouth-heavy slaves into the temple. And they swept out all the gold, silver and valuables inside.
“What happened after that?”
“. . .Yes.”
Then they started dropping one by one. All those who had set foot in the temple.
Of course they couldn’t confess to the doctrine or priests either. If unlucky, it could lead to excommunication. Who would confess something like this?
“. . .Looks like I’ll have to retrieve those treasures.”
“Who’s going to do that?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it myself.”
“. . .?!”
Deosam was surprised by Johan’s words. He had never even imagined it.
To enter a cursed pagan temple?
He was confused whether this knight was too brave to be afraid or just simple-minded.
“What, do you have any complaints? Do you still regret the treasures?”
“No. . . no! If you help me, I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life. I swear to God.”
“Of course you should. After the curse is lifted, I expect your loyalty.”
Deosam kept nodding. Even if he had to become Johan’s slave to lift this curse, he could accept it. The curse was so painful.
“Give me the location of the temple and the names of everyone who went there.”
“Yes. . .”
Johan was not only trying to lift the captains’ curse, but more than anything, the fact that it was a relic from the ancient Empire piqued his interest.
A treasure from the ancient Empire!
Of course the mercenaries had swept everything away, but the mercenaries had no eyes to discern. There was a high chance they missed something.
🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸
𝙖𝐰ė̇ʙsᴛ𝐨𝐫𝕚ė̇𝔰.𝕔𝘰𝐦
Johan headed to the camp of another mercenary group staying nearby with his guards and the elites of the Gorgale Mercenary Group.
Before Johan could shout, the mercenaries of the Gorgale Mercenary Group yelled loudly.
“You blind fools with no eyes! Kneel down at once if you don’t want the count to pass this camp! If you want to lift the curse, kneel down miserably!”
𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐝!
Since the rumor had already spread to other places, the mercenaries hurriedly knelt down. The curse seemed to be terribly scary.
Johan did the same thing he did in the Gorgale Mercenary Group. Cleaning the dirty stuff, separating the injured to treat them separately. . .
The rumor was so well spread that there was no need to take away the leader’s sword and seal. Johan’s words alone carried tremendous authority.
“All done.”
After properly disguising the cart full of treasures, Johan headed to the temple entrance with his guards. There was a secret entrance underground in the ruined town.
“But, master.”
“?”
“What if the curse is not lifted even though we returned this?”
Geoffrey asked as if worried. Johan answered briefly.
“Then I guess we’ll have to kill all the cursed guys, what can we do?”
“Indeed. . .”
Geoffrey nodded. It was meant to be a joke, but Johan was slightly embarrassed as he took it too seriously.
‘𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘭.’
He couldn’t keep waiting forever if the curse wasn’t lifted. Time would not wait forever.
“Light up the torch.”
“Yes, it’s so creepy.”
What the mercenaries had mistaken for a pagan temple was an underground tomb from the ancient Empire era. Narrow passages intricately intertwined in a complex way. Skulls and coffins were abundant.
However, finding the way was not difficult. Johan focused on the aura of magic with his eyes closed. Like the flow of air, the aura flowing through the tomb was heading in one direction.
“Cou. . . Count!”
“?”
“There, there’s a monster! A monster!”
One mercenary screamed, wielding his sword. However, Johan saw nothing. At that moment, Johan acted quickly.
𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐩!
Johan grabbed the mercenary and slapped his cheek hard. Then he shouted fiercely.
“Get a grip!”
“Uh. . . uh. . . uh.”
Whether it was because of the violence or the power in his voice, the clouded eyes of the mercenary regained their color. Only then did the mercenary look around and say,
“Where did that monster go?”
“You were cursed. Did you have any weird thoughts?”
“. . .Uh, that. . . I wondered if I could secretly take some treasures if there were any good ones here. . .”
“I see. Everyone, do not have any greedy thoughts.”
Seeing that only this mercenary was affected unlike the others, his impious greed was surely the cause. At Johan’s words, the mercenaries nodded their heads in fear.
However, after that, a few more people affected by the curse appeared. Whenever that happened, Johan would slap their cheeks and bring them back to their senses. Thanks to that, the mercenaries were slowly regaining their composure.
“It’s no big deal?”
“The slap hurts like hell, but. . .”
Following the flow, a huge hall appeared. The aura gushing out from the pagan statue was fluctuating and flowing toward the empty space, like magnets attracting each other by force.
Johan picked up the statues himself and put them back in their original spots. He also returned the other treasures accordingly.
When all the work was done, Johan briefly bowed to the pagan statue. It was customary etiquette. As someone with absolutely no religious faith, he could do something a believer would never have done.