The Mannani Guard Captain (Last Free Episode)
Where did it go wrong?
‘Why do these people like this kind of thing?’
Zenta threw the bread on the floor and thought to himself.
At first, he simply dropped the bread, but gradually, Zenta became anxious as the expectations of those around him seemed to be turning into disappointment.
Zenta, who had never felt the sweetness of other people’s expectations, could not bear to see them turn into disappointment.
When Zenta threw the bread, there was a small cheer from those around him.
His friends who saw him acted even more violently.
Now it’s gotten to the point where I’m kicking the table.
‘Why doesn’t that woman stop him?’
Zenta was curious about the waitress who was just sticking her head out and looking at him with sparkling eyes.
Instead of stopping us, the waitress brought us beer and even moved an extra table so we could eat comfortably.
The table seemed to be shaking, perhaps because of the alcohol.
‘They want a hooligan.’
Zenta exchanged glances with his two friends. Their innocent eyes, which did not match their fierce appearances, were filled with determination.
‘This is the castle we will have to settle down in from now on. We have to make it look good somehow.’
Since Zenta was a cute rabbit who ran errands, imitating a troublemaker was easier than expected.
You could become a great troublemaker just by talking loudly and making big movements as if you were strong.
Since they were already perfect hooligans on the outside, they were able to act so well.
Ooooh-!
The people around them now cheered without hiding it.
The cheers were so sweet it was hard to come to my senses.
How much fun and chaos did they have?
Squeak-.
The door opened, and the sound was so eerie that Zenta stopped moving.
And what came in was the same vicious man I had seen at the security check.
‘Why is that vicious criminal here?’
Hiccup!
Zenta froze in place.
The man simply walked in, but the hall became quiet in an instant. It felt as if his huge presence was weighing down on the hall.
“hmm···.”
The man slowly looked around the hall.
Zenta followed him and checked the surroundings.
Tables overturned on the floor and bread in a mess.
Broken chairs···.
‘Huh? I’ve never broken a chair?’
Zenta tilted his head.
And soon the man’s gaze was fixed on Zenta.
Zenta suppressed a hiccup at the sight of those innocent eyes that didn’t match his ferocious face.
Eventually, Zenta turned his head away from the pressure and only then noticed that the atmosphere around him had changed.
They looked back and forth between Zenta and the man with sparkling eyes, as if they were eagerly waiting for something.
‘Ah. I see.’
I saw it once.
It was the same look in his eyes as when he had seen the execution of the notorious villain in Karzan. Zenta had also seen the condemned man with sparkling eyes like theirs.
‘So that’s why they cheered for the troublemaker.’
The law required a death row inmate to be executed.
Only then did Zenta understand the situation and let out a small sigh.
Then, a sense of injustice welled up.
They just wanted to look good to their new neighbors.
“You’re working overtime.”
At the man’s deep voice, Zenta quickly brought the beer mug on the table to his lips.
Even if there were three of them, there was no way they could defeat a man of such a large build and with his body covered in iron.
Zenta drank the remaining beer in a hurry, thinking that he would suffer as little as possible. His friends who were watching him also drank along with him.
Soon, they finished their beer glasses and stood up from their seats.
Why does the image of the back of a death row inmate being put on the gallows come to mind?
Why does the man’s large fist look like the cold blade of a guillotine?
***
‘What the heck, you guys.’
I kicked the fallen guys with my feet.
I just touched them lightly and they fell down, screaming in a shallow, unbecoming way.
I thought he was acting, so I hit him one more time, but when I saw that he didn’t respond, I could tell he had definitely passed out.
‘They’re clearly guys who passed the personality test···.’
I was embarrassed that the guys who passed my personality test with 100% accuracy were causing a ruckus at Haena Bar.
‘Was there a loophole? Was one thing not enough?’
I gathered the fallen ones in one place while thinking about what to improve. They were quite heavy because they were quite large.
“Oh, Aaron! You worked hard!”
When the guys fell, Hannah, who had cheered when the table was pushed and broken, greeted them naturally as if nothing had happened.
“What are these guys?”
“They don’t seem like bad people···.”
Hannah pointed to the hole with her chin.
When I turned my head to him, I saw the guys getting up from their seats, coughing. When they met my eyes, they stopped in their tracks, laughed, and placed a silver coin on the table.
‘Those kids are always there.’
I clicked my tongue and waved my hand.
Then the guys rushed out.
Before the door closed, I could see them greeting each other with satisfied looks on their faces. Among them, a man with a particularly large belly was swinging his fists with sparkling eyes.
It was clear that they were really useless guys.
“Oh, you’re here.”
A washer wearing an apron bowed to me and pointed at me with her hand.
Then, the residue that had been on my body was immediately sprinkled on the floor. The washing machine naturally cleaned the floor with the mop in its hand.
The washing machine was staying at Haenane’s while teaching Kanna, and it seemed like he was quite pleased with his life here, as he had gained weight and had a better complexion than when he had seen her in Karzan.
‘Well, how many gold coins goes into the washing machine?’
Although I spent quite a bit of gold coins out of my pocket on tuition, I didn’t regret it at all.
The price was cheap, considering that Hanna had bargained to hire a wizard, and it was a price that people were willing to pay for human dignity in the dirty Middle Ages.
The refrigerator behind the washing machine came out and showed off what I learned today.
The faces of the trio who had collapsed at the gesture of the refrigerator instantly cleared up. In the process, they all coughed and shed tears and snot, perhaps because they had drunk water, but it was minor.
‘I shouldn’t accept it until it’s perfect.’
“Wow, you’re a genius. You’re amazing. You’re the best.”
I patted the refrigerator on the head and gave it an awkward compliment. The refrigerator, whose lips were furrowed, tried to point at me with its hand, so I quickly grabbed its hand.
Hannah, sitting across from Horo, gently pulled the baby bird, who kept trying to point at me with his finger, into her arms.
“But Aaron, what do you think of these people?”
Hannah asked, pointing to the unconscious trio.
“why?”
“Aaron.”
In response to my question, Hana suddenly sat up straight, leaned toward me with a serious expression on her face.
‘I can never wear a heart protector.’
While he was thinking about something helpless, Hannah continued speaking.
“I saw potential in Kanna’s Ice Beer.”
The corners of Kanna’s mouth twitched significantly at Hanna’s serious words.
“possibility?”
“Yes. At least in the Catholic Castle, Kanna’s iced beer is unrivaled. So we plan to expand further.”
“I see.”
I didn’t know what else I could do in this tiny castle, but Hannah’s big eyes were so serious that I nodded.
After that, Hannah sat the refrigerator on her lap and made long plans.
It seems like a lot of thought went into it, and most of them seemed plausible.
I didn’t really have anything to add since it was obvious that you cared more about Kanna than anything else.
Even though there was a child protection law, it was at a level where it could be passed over at discretion, so it was clear that the best treatment in the industry was given here where there is no child protection law.
It didn’t seem like Kanna, who had been playing dice with tough guys from the beginning, would lose her job, and it didn’t seem like Hanna would exploit Kanna.
“So I’m thinking of changing my name, is that okay?”
“what?”
The subject seemed to have changed while I was thinking about something else. I made a vague ‘hmm…’ sound as if I was listening to him.
“I’m going to change it to ‘Smiling Aaron Rabbit’. In return, I’ll give Aaron a stake!”
Hannah waved her hands up and down with a serious expression, emphasizing the word ‘share’.
‘I don’t think you know what equity is?’
Although I was very suspicious, I nodded since lending my name wasn’t that difficult.
‘Probably to avoid trouble.’
It was clear that if I did business under my name at Cassidy Castle, there would be no trouble.
Of course, people might be reluctant, but that was Hannah’s problem to deal with.
“Payment for ‘shares’ once a week! How about that?!”
I was sure Hannah didn’t know what equity meant.
After receiving my approval, Hannah smiled brightly and grabbed the refrigerator’s hand, shaking it excitedly from side to side. At first, the refrigerator shook it a few times, then pushed my hand away and disappeared inside.
After that, Hannah talked for a long time about ‘How to become the richest person in the eastern part of the empire with Kanna’s ice beer’.
The plan was quite detailed and made sense when I heard it in general terms, so I nodded my head in agreement.
After drinking about five glasses, while ignoring Hannah’s excited words like a puppy carrying a bone, the trio regained their senses and flinched.
“Kkiiik-!”
When the men who had come to their senses made eye contact with me, they were startled as if they had encountered a ghost and let out a shallow scream that did not match their size.
“Calm down! Look closely! It’s not a demon or a criminal, it’s just a scary-looking guard!”
Among them, the one who got hit by me during the checkpoint was the first to come to his senses and calm the rest down, but something about what he said didn’t make sense.
“Everyone, come over here and sit down.”
After the trio calmed down, Hannah sat them down at the table next to her and started talking.
“So, the broken table and chair… and the cost that wasn’t calculated because the guests ran away in shock earlier….”
Unlike when she spoke to me, Hannah explained everything step by step, pointing it out one by one, in a clear voice.
“So this isn’t a common opportunity… There’s something called a stake… And this is in the form of a cholerancha….”
Hannah said it as difficult as she could, mixing in every word that seemed familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere. The trio nodded, blinking.
‘These kids are fools.’
I tried to give them a little encouragement, but the trio were already completely absorbed in Hannah’s words.
When Hannah explained the concept of initial investment and risk, and why their salaries had to be small, I exclaimed, “Wow!”
‘The Three Fools.’
It’s a good thing I met Hannah, if I had met a bad guy I could have been dragged across the Kirton Mountains and put on a ship to hunt the Kraken.
At that time, the washing machine brought bread with stir-fried meat and vegetables on it.
I took a quick bite and it was quite tasty. It was so good that I didn’t feel bad about spending money on it.
While I was eating diligently, Hannah poked my arm with her finger.
“Aaron? You never make that kind of face when you eat my food.”
Hannah squinted her eyes and glared at me.
“Huh? Hannah’s cooking is just so-so.”
“···What do you mean by just so-so?”
Hana opened her eyes wide at my answer and asked back.
I opened my mouth, wondering how to respond in a refined manner.
“Hannah’s cooking is a little bit below average.”
Hana narrowed her eyes at him.
“1 silver!”
Hannah glared at him, swinging her fist up and down with more force than usual.
“Yeah, whatever.”
I looked at him and stuffed the rest of the bread into my mouth.
It was definitely much tastier than Hannah’s meat bread.
***
The rain that had not come for a while poured down as if there was a hole in the sky.
Because of that, it was dark as night even though it was clearly dawn.
I looked up at the sky, where I couldn’t even see the tip of the sun, and was hit by the cool rain. The thick raindrops roughly hit my body, and I felt like the things on my body were being washed away.
It didn’t feel bad.
The now familiar smell of sewage was masked by the smell of rain, making my nose feel refreshed as if it had cleared up.
I held out my palm, gathered some rainwater, washed my face, and pushed my wet hair back. The coolness made my slightly hazy mind come back to me.
“Captain, it’s raining cats and dogs.”
At that moment, Kel waved his umbrella around and greeted me.
The guy smiled broadly under an umbrella with four roses on it. His smile was quite annoying.
“Does the umbrella look good?”
I followed suit and laughed and held out my hand.
“No, didn’t you take it last time too? Where did you put it….”
Kel, his eyes wide open, hid his umbrella behind him.
“I gave it to you. I’ll use it for a little while and give it to you.”
“No, you said you’d give me just a little bit… Didn’t you give me the last one too?”
“You said to take it. Oh, sir. It’s raining.”
“You’re already soaking wet, so just get some. The people in the church say that they deliberately get wet because it’s a blessing from God…”
“I’m an honorary monk. Honor. If I keep doing this, I’ll catch a cold. Then you’ll go to hell. Huh? You can see the gates of hell? Huh?”
“What kind of cold is this that even the devil can chew on… Really….”
Kel grumbled and handed me the umbrella.
The sight was so funny that I deliberately giggled out loud and twirled my umbrella around to make it look as annoying as possible.
The rainwater that had been pooling at the tip of the umbrella scattered around and bounced off the guy’s chest armor.
Kel, who had his umbrella stolen, lowered his head and got soaked by the rain. My mouth twitched as I wondered if he was crying.
“Actually… I expected that?”
Kel fumbled around behind his waist and unfolded something. It was a much larger umbrella with a single large rose drawn on it.
The already soaking wet Kel guy laughed ‘Hoo hoo…’ under his newly opened umbrella.
It was just as stupid as a skit, but the guy’s smile was quite deep, probably because he thought he had hit me hard.
“This umbrella is different from other umbrellas that use regular wooden frames because it uses old trees… Like this! Even if you shake it like this, it’s fine….”
The Kel guy smiled wickedly and waved the umbrella he was holding, showing off. Every time he waved the umbrella, the rainwater that had accumulated on it flowed down to the left and right.
“That looks better. Let’s change it.”
I held out my hand again.
“Oh, really-!”
Kel, as if he hadn’t thought about it, scrunched up his face and screamed.
***
Thud thud thud-.
Razbeth bit his lip nervously, annoyed by the sound of the heavy raindrops.
Razbeth didn’t hate rain that much.
No, in some ways I liked it.
However, there was a prerequisite.
Razbeth only liked to watch the rain fall outside, when he was indoors and didn’t get wet at all.
Although technically Razbet was indoors, it was strangely raining.
‘I made two holes in the wall so they can come in from either side.’
Razbeth muttered a curse as he wiped the rainwater splashing on his face with the cloth lying next to him.
Although his identity has not yet been determined, Razbet adds weight to the theory that ‘Aaron is a former building demolition contractor’ that one of the residents had mentioned.
‘How come there was no sound when they drilled such a big hole?’
Razbeth stared at the hole with a sullen expression.
Then I checked the magic envelope in my hand.
‘Ethan···.’
Contacting Ethan was simple.
Ethan’s ‘Sword that Stabs the Necks of Enemies’ mercenary group had branches all over the continent, and there was one in Platon Castle, a little way from here, so if I sent it there, I was sure to get a reply.
‘But why did you call it Karzan City instead of Cassadic Castle?’
It was difficult to understand the man’s intentions at all.
‘By the way, why haven’t I received a reply?’
It’s been a few days since I sent him a bunch of wanted posters.
He loves showing off his intelligence capabilities so much that I needed a reply within a day…
‘Isn’t this kid thinking of something else?’
What if he notices first and strikes first…
Swaaaahh …
At that moment, the wind blew hard and the rain that came in through the hole in front drenched Razbeth.
Razbeth closed his eyes and took a deep breath to control his rising irritation.
That was when.
Beep-beep-.
The white dove, soaking wet, has returned.
Razbeth hurriedly caught the dove and untied the barrel tied to its leg.
Inside the can were the usual wanted posters, and on each poster was written the name of the person requesting the request and information about the person on the wanted poster.
Since he didn’t need anything else, Razbeth only checked Aaron’s wanted poster.
‘···Why are there so many nicknames?’
If you look closely, there are quite a few people with more than three nicknames, but Aaron’s wanted poster had more than ten nicknames written on it.
‘Sand-spitting bastard, sand-eating bastard… Are there bastards here too? Judging from the amount of sand stories you have, you must be from the western part of the empire.’
There were only nicknames I had never heard of.
Since Razbet only operated in the eastern part of the empire, the western part of the empire could not have been known unless it was a big shot like Ethan, who was a ‘king’.
‘It’s useless.’
Because of the high expectations, Razbeth’s beautiful forehead was furrowed.
I was planning to find out the identity of my opponent, sell all the information to where he is found, and then run away…
‘First, let’s take what we can.’
After making up his mind, Razbeth took out the potion, fed it to the pigeon, and placed the enchanted envelope into the barrel on the bridge.
Then he took out a small yellow can and a black can from his bosom and let the pigeons smell the incense.
The dove flew out again.
The rain was falling heavily, but I wasn’t too worried.
Because it was a pigeon that paid that price.
At that moment, a whirring sound came from behind.
Thinking that the man had come again, Razbeth reached into his chest to take out his hidden weapon.
And then I turned around calmly, and it wasn’t that guy, but a goofy guy shaking his wet hair.
As the tension eased, irritation filled the space.
“You! Why are you walking around there when the door is open!”
“Huh? It’s a little more comfortable here… Ah! Razbeth! I’m not ready yet! Razbeth is beautiful, but she has a dog-like personality….”
“what?”
For a moment, Razbeth doubted his ears.
Soon, Razbeth realized that the guy’s gaze was fixed on his chest and took out the weapon hidden in his right chest.
“Too aggressive… too provocative!”
And he pulled the handle, pointing at the guy who was still whining.
Taang-.
The magic built into it flew out and hit the guy square in the stomach.
Euaaaah-.
The sight of the guy jumping up and down, holding onto the spot he had been hit by, made it seem like the ten-year-old slump was going away.
Although it was a huge amount of money to spend on a magic tool that could only be used three times, it was well worth it.
Then, the wind blew from behind and this time my back got completely soaked.
‘Why does it go through both sides···.’
Razbeth trembled in annoyance, then yelped, “Eek-” and pulled the handle again, aiming at the idiot who was shaking.
Taang-.
Aaaah!
I’ve only used it twice out of three times, but it was worth it this time too.
‘But the nickname that ruined the kingdom… what does this mean?’
Razbeth tilted his head as he recalled which of the man’s nicknames particularly caught his eye.
At that moment, the stupid guy stopped panting and screaming.
‘This kid is unnecessarily stubborn.’
Razbeth pulled the handle once more.
Kkaaaaaaah!!
But two gold coins flew away.
It was worth it.
***
‘You’ve come all the way to this remote place.’
‘Aesongi’ Dune scratched his head with his fingers, looking at the large castle wall in the distance.
“Cathedric Castle is a castle that has recently become famous for the flying spirit of its lord, Baron Pulpouts, and for the beautiful appearance of his daughter, known as the Flower of the East.”
Darbun, the ‘Nightmare Eater’, kept chattering and clicking his pale jawbone even though no one asked.
‘The one who eats nightmares… must be someone whose mouth never stops talking.’
All the way to the border, that guy kept talking next to me until my ears started bleeding.
Why does the baby who speaks with his mind move his jawbone and make a clicking sound every time he speaks?
“Huh? Oh, you must have been curious, judging by the look on Dune’s face. Why don’t you pour it all out at once in the meeting, but send it out sequentially like this?”
‘I don’t care, kid.’
Still, because he was her boss, she nodded while controlling her facial expression.
“Hmm… Now that you’ve reached the ranks, I guess you should know. A huge group like us who live in the shadows receives guidelines from the Empire. In fact, it doesn’t make sense that we survived an invincible empire that swallowed up most of the continent. I don’t know why, but if we just follow the guidelines, the Empire turns a blind eye to us to some extent. It’s like the relationship between a common back alley gangster and a manager. Of course, only the executives like us know this. If the lower-ranking people know, it’s obvious that things will be a mess, right?”
After that, Darbun continued to be stubborn for a long time.
“And there are more than one or two things we have to worry about, right? Warlocks and demon peddlers are so rebellious that they don’t even eat… And that knight hunter from last time! As a senior officer, you should feel a sense of responsibility like a senior officer, but you didn’t move until you had eaten all the corpse of a single knight! He even said you were going to smoke it! Ha! Those who are hungry are so stupid… Oh, I didn’t say that to Dune! Dune is a perceptive demon peddler!”
Darbun said, cracking his pale index finger. Dunn nodded, trying hard to avoid making a face that kept getting wrinkled.
“Anyway, that means efficiency! It’s a matter of efficiency! Anything that ruins the company as much as investing too much manpower···.”
Knock knock.
Dune thought seriously about it.
Rather than the nickname ‘Aesongi’, wouldn’t it be better to be nicknamed ‘the one who broke the head of the skeleton that broke the neck of the floating skeleton’ or ‘the one who caused a rebellion’?
“Okay, everyone, since our bones are rotten, let’s wipe up the rainwater right away! When else will we, the ones who can’t breathe, come together like this? Let’s all get together and show the fear of the ones who can’t breathe! Let’s break the prejudice that we, the ones who can’t breathe, slow down because it rains! Okay, when we do it one by one, let’s do it! Knock knock! Knock knock! Us!”
Now, at the sound of a ‘click click’ that could be heard in groups, Dune fiddled with the hilt of the sword on his waist.
Hard!
Dune thought seriously as he looked at the dimly visible Castle of Cassidy in the heavy rain.
Knock knock!
I think the nickname ‘the one who broke all the heads of the floating skeletons’ would be the best.
“We who do not breathe! We are not affected by the rain! Our bones do not rot! We are the ones who do not breathe!!”
The skeletons vibrated as if resonating.
Dune tried to hold down the sword that was halfway out and carefully read the paper he had received from Darbun.
‘One inquisitor, one abbot, one knight, and a total of 43 soldiers. The outer guard is 36 people. One rogue guard sergeant? I’m not kidding, why is the guard sergeant listed separately?’
It was clear that the floating skeleton was up to some mischief again.
Dune nervously scratched the area near the ‘guard’ with his fingernails.
Anyway, those who don’t breathe tend to not be serious about anything, so they didn’t get along with Dune.
