Magicless Extra: The Villain’s Survival Method – Chapter 9.2

The mercenaries of the Mercenary Guild basically had the authority of quasi-police in each country.

They were sometimes hired as vigilantes in towns where it was difficult to deploy troops, and they also had the duty to defend against monsters if a town or city was attacked.

Because of that, the Mercenary Guild had a principle of not participating in wars in order not to take sides in wars between countries.

The guild that exploited such a niche market was the War Guild. There, they accepted war mercenaries who wanted to participate in the war, guaranteed higher profits, and supplied mercenaries to any place that needed troops for war.

Because of that, there were sometimes fights between mercenaries belonging to the same War Guild. . . . However, the War Guild had to accept this because they had drawn up a contract regarding this from the beginning.

‘𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. . . .’

The Empire was located on the Titan Continent, the largest of the three continents, and was the strongest military power even on Titan. The population was also enormous, and thanks to the development of steampunk technology and magitech, it had achieved a civilization that surpassed any other country.

In addition, when Imperial citizens reached the age of 20, they were required to join the military and serve for one year. That’s why many people were making a fuss trying to get into the academy. Even the children of aristocratic families could not avoid military service, so in order to become a military officer rather than a private, they had to graduate from the academy.

‘𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦. . . .’

Military officers were divided into non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers, and commissioned officers were selected only from the Imperius Academy located in the capital Central. The remaining non-commissioned officers were selected from academies in ordinary cities.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘖𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳’𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵. . . . 𝘛𝘴𝘬. . . .’

As he entered the Mercenary Guild building, a large hall came into view. The hall was prepared with dozens of tables and chairs arranged in rows like a restaurant, and many mercenaries were sitting there passing the time.

Oswald, who immediately approached the counter, asked the receptionist to register as a mercenary, and was asked to present his identification.

“Here. . . .

“Hmm. . . . Winchester?”

He had the look of a nobleman, and in particular, a border count of the Winchester family, who was known for his name, but why would he become a mercenary? However, the receptionist soon seemed to think that he did not need to bother with such things and handed Oswald the documents for issuing a mercenary certificate.

There was a place to fill in various personal information, and Oswald quickly filled in that part.

“Do you have a rank certificate?”

The rank certificate referred to the rank divided into Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Master Knight according to ability.

The institution that recognized this rank and issued rank certificates was the Chaos Invasion Defense, aka CID.

Upon graduating from a general city academy, the Iron Knight rank was issued, and in the case of graduates from nationally recognized academies such as the Imperius Imperial Academy or the Imperial or Royal Academy, the Bronze Knight rank was issued.

“No.”

Of course, he had not graduated from the academy and had not gone to the CID to take the rank test. . . . There was no rank certificate.

“If you do not have a rank certificate, you will unconditionally start as a Wood Mercenary. By the way, please note that there are restrictions on requests if you start as a Wood Mercenary.”

“Yes?”

Wood Mercenary. . . . It meant a rank lower than Iron Knight. The Mercenary Guild also classified mercenary ranks according to CID ranks, and CID also made a treaty to reflect the ranks obtained from the Mercenary Guild in their own ranks.

Anyway, Oswald, who was unaware of the existence of Wood Mercenaries, was in despair.

“By any chance. . . . What kind of requests can Wood Mercenaries receive?”

“Simple errands, non-dangerous requests.”

“. . . . . .”

Monster-related requests seemed to be out of the question.

‘𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴?’

Mercenaries could also receive bounties for eliminating criminals from the Mercenary Guild, but they could also receive them from Sword, the Imperial Police. However, the difference between the two was that the Mercenary Guild only took a 5% commission, while Sword took a 30% income tax.

A moment later, a mercenary certificate with a leaf-shaped design representing a Wood Mercenary was issued.

“Sigh. . . .

Oswald looked around the Wood Mercenary request board just in case. . . .

“Ugh. . . .

From finding a cat to laundry, cleaning, and running errands, all sorts of chores were written on it. Among them, the so-called high-paying requests were mostly really cheap things. . . .

Upon checking, it was said that in order for a Wood Mercenary to be promoted to an Iron Mercenary, they had to solve 20 Wood-rank requests and complete a three-month basic training course at the mercenary training center, and they would be automatically promoted. The only other way was to get an Iron Knight rank certificate from the CID. . . .

‘𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺. . . . . . .’

Oswald eventually turned his attention to the bounties. Among them, what could Oswald himself solve? He soon fixed his gaze on one thing.

‘𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳. . . .’

It was a serial killer based on the British serial killer ‘Jack the Ripper’ in the game.

For Oswald, who had countless 「Final Chapter」 play experiences, it was a very suitable bounty criminal.

‘𝘋𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘦?’

He had already experienced arresting Jack the Ripper several times in the game. Since the bounty was a whopping 1,000 gold, he had often arrested and turned him in when he needed money in the early stages.

‘𝘈𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘎𝘪𝘭𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. . . . 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘗𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵?’

Anyway, the reason why he had a bounty of 1,000 gold was because he only targeted the young ladies of aristocratic families. He used a method that could even be called a hate crime, in which he crucified them after mutilating their entire bodies.

Currently, there have been a total of 21 incidents, and not once has he been caught.

‘𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦’𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵.’

Because Jack the Ripper was a high-ranking Sword officer. He was able to avoid capture because he was in a position to check all of Jack the Ripper’s investigations and know how to evade them.

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