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There was an overwhelming lack of entertainment in this era. People had to find their own entertainment. Occasionally when Johan was bored, he would adapt stories from A Thousand and One Nights and tell them to the mercenaries. They would be so entertained that they seemed to want to die listening.
The Sultan’s sex life far away was useless, but it was fun to listen to.
“Gilsina seems to be near.”
As the sea began to appear next to the mountain, the mercenaries intuitively felt that Gilsina was near. Stopping on a suitable hill, a beautiful port city was visible below.
Some of the mercenaries unconsciously whistled. Among them, there were few who had actually seen Gilsina, only heard about it.
“It looks freaking unique.”
“I’ve never seen buildings like that before in my life. Is that Oriental style?”
“That’s not an Oriental building, it’s a building that has been passed down since the ancient Empire.”
“Now, isn’t that hunting something?”
Everyone was puzzled by Johan’s words. Their eyesight was not as good as Johan’s.
“What do you see?”
“It looks like they have ballistas lined up in the port.”
Soldiers hiding and silently waiting with huge iron crossbows for sieges seemed to have been prepared all over the port. You could tell what they were doing at a glance.
They were trying to hunt the sea dragon.
‘𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.’
It was understandable. If trade was cut off for just one day, the damage would snowball. They couldn’t just wait until Johan arrived.
Also, there was no guarantee that Johan could definitely catch it. They had to try whatever means they had.
Above all, if they caught it before Johan arrived, the profits were unimaginable. Johan himself would feel meaningless, but the city people could end with gratitude and gifts like ‘𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳!’ Although some gold would be spent, it was petty cash compared to the city’s rights.
“Uh. . .then shouldn’t it be considered a failure?”
“I guess you have a point there.”
Hearing Johan’s reply, the mercenary made a disappointed expression. The other mercenaries quickly agreed with what Johan said.
“I thought the same, Count. As a follower of monotheism, cheering for the monster isn’t something we should do.”
“As expected, the Count can’t be compared to such a vulgar fellow. . .”
The mercenaries seemed offended that their own thoughts were exposed, and intensely condemned their comrade. The mercenary who had spoken up first made a wronged expression for being labeled a son of a b*tch for no reason.
‘𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵.’
Johan looked down with expectant eyes. He had heard and read a lot about it, but seeing it in person was incomparable.
𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐚𝐤━
A galley ship departed from the harbor, heading towards the horizon. Johan sensed the people on the ship were scared and nervous. That was natural, since they knew what they were getting into.
After sailing some distance, a massive front limb suddenly burst out from under the seawater, grabbing onto the galley. Even for a relatively large ship, getting shaken around like that was extremely dangerous.
A giant mutant marine iguana. In Johan’s standards, that was the best way to describe the sea monster. Calling that thing a ‘dragon’ didn’t seem right. . .
━𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞!
The ballistas hidden around the harbor fired. With a loud sound, massive arrows flew towards it. People who thought they had struck true cheered.
But the beast was clever. Like how Johan noticed something off about the people on the ship, it likely sensed something as well. It immediately dove under, avoiding the attack.
“!”
Incredibly, one of the arrows managed to pierce its body, staining the seawater with blood. But no one expected a single arrow could take down a monster like that.
“. . .It looks like that failed.”
A mercenary with sharp eyes muttered. While not seeing as clearly as Johan, he grasped that something had gone wrong out there on the sea.
“Did we just make it angry for no reason?”
“Let me say again, it wasn’t because of what I said?”
“Damn these foolish city people. . .”
“What can you do about it?”
“What to do about it? Go down there and talk to them.”
Johan shrugged his shoulders. For hunters tasked with slaying the beast, a blunder like that was extremely irritating.
But Johan stayed composed. From his seasoned conduct, the Mulc House scions felt a sense of reliability.
A knight amongst knights, who had hunted many monsters in the past, and would continue hunting many more in the future. To such a knight, a setback like this likely didn’t faze him.
‘𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘸𝘳𝘺, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸.’
🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸
𝔞ᴡ𝕖𝕓𝔰𝐭𝔬ʀ𝙞𝙚𝕤.𝚌𝘰𝙢
Those who came out to welcome Johan had expressions that were extremely frustrated. On the day the new count was coming, they had to show their failure after recklessly going out to hunt. . .
“Did you not believe me when I said I was coming?”
“A-Ah, no.”
In fact, it was true they did not believe it.
It was because Johan moved around disguising himself and his mercenaries.
Originally, there should have been continuous rumors about where Count Yeats came from, where he went, where he moved. . .
With none of that and just silence, from the perspective of the city council members, suspicion was inevitable.
━𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠?
━𝐇𝐞’𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝. . .
In fact, from Johan’s perspective, it was a proposal he could refuse at any time.
No matter how great a knight, he would not volunteer to catch all the monsters. Refusing depending on the situation and circumstances was natural.
Even if Johan refused, the city was not in a position to start a rebellion, they had to say ‘𝘖𝘩 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵’ if he refused.
‘𝘈𝘩, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.’
Understanding the situation from the words of the council members, Johan smiled wryly. He could not believe this misunderstanding happened because he moved without putting up his banner.
However, since the other party made a mistake, they had to realize it themselves.
“We wanted to inflict as much damage as possible on the beast before Your Excellency arrived.”
“So did you?”
“. . . . . .”
“. . . . . .”
One of those who came out to welcome them rolled their eyes and opened their mouth.
“Actually, Count. . . Recently there were suspicious mercenaries wandering around asking about Your Excellency. They spread unpleasant rumors, so we thought it would take more time for Your Excellency to arrive. Please forgive us!”
A mercenary listening from behind murmured.
“Are there guys like that too? They must be swollen bundles of kelp.”