Chapter 188: Heracles (13)
After Njord’s group left, the black market turned into a demonic realm that most people couldn’t even approach.
More precisely, a full-scale war erupted between the merfolk pirate crew and various other factions, plunging everything into chaos.
“Hmm… It looks more serious than I thought. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of those black-market merchants around, which is strange.”
“Yes. It seems the rumors are true.”
“Ah, you mean the rumor that nobles are involved in that war.”
Penthesilea nodded at Njord’s words. The merchant whose leg she had broken earlier had said the same thing.
“That’s right, Master! And I can smell it too. The scent of knights and those magic-wielding bastards!”
Aresia, who had just emerged from the rubble of the shattered rock, added her piece.
She lived without much thought most of the time, but when it came to war or battle, she reacted more sensitively and keenly than anyone here.
Even Alcides, who still called her Auntie, acknowledged that part about her.
“Master. Seeing Auntie react like that, it really does seem like a large-scale war is breaking out.”
“Hmm… Then could this be an opportunity?”
“Huh?”
Njord gently patted the head of his cute disciple, who looked puzzled, then spoke with a cold expression.
“Alcides, the time has come for you to gain experience directly killing multiple targets.”
Up until now, Alcides had refrained from killing people as much as possible. This was part of Njord’s educational policy: gradual growth for the young disciple, and hoping he would resemble Athena more than Ares.
However, Njord now judged that it was time to teach Alcides about war and slaughter.
“Aresia and Penthesilea both have plenty of combat experience and have gone through many small-scale conflicts. All that accumulation is probably why you’re feeling anxious watching them, Alcides. So let’s get involved in this mess for now. It’s good for building your experience too. Since this is your first real war, this conflict will be a perfect opportunity.”
“Really?!”
Alcides’ face lit up with anticipation and excitement at his master’s words about experiencing the battlefield firsthand. Getting involved in this war was bound to be a huge deal.
But then he remembered something with a start.
“Uh… But didn’t the captain of the merfolk pirates say something when she sent us off? That we shouldn’t get involved?”
They had received payment from the captain and agreed not to interfere in this matter.
At that moment.
“Ei! What’s a hairless brat like you worrying about? If you’re a man, just say sorry and be done with it.”
“Auntie! I’m not that childish! And you’re a woman anyway.”
“Hmph, you little prick. Whining like a girl—my ears are itching to death.”
“Grr!”
Aresia threw a crude provocation.
She seemed displeased with how Alcides kept bouncing back no matter what.
The still-young Alcides fell for the simple taunt in an instant.
“Haa! Fine, let’s do it!! We’ll see who racks up more achievements in this war!”
“Hmm? Let’s make it by body count, kid. I’m not some weakling like you.”
In the blink of an eye, the training ground turned into utter chaos.
Watching the scene, Njord chuckled at his disciple’s age-appropriate immaturity while stepping in to stop them from swinging fists.
“Both of you, stop it. Aresia, why are you always so eager to pick fights?”
“Master, his reactions are just so fun—what can I do?”
“Grrr!!!”
“Sigh, enough already. And anyway, we’re not jumping straight into the war ourselves. This is just to show Alcides that this kind of approach exists too.”
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
Even while dangling in the air, held by Njord, the two kept bickering—but now they tilted their heads at his words.
Njord let out a wry laugh at their behavior. They acted exactly like real siblings.
Sigh… They really do resemble each other when they fight.
(‘Master intends to stir things up from the outside.’)
At that moment, Penthesilea, who had been quietly assisting Njord, nodded as if she understood.
She looked at the two dangling in the air with pity.
“That’s right. This is a chance to show Alcides the various ways of waging war. As expected, Penthesilea—you’re the only one I can really count on.”
***
Following Njord’s intentions, with Alcides at the forefront, the Aresia sisters carried out numerous operations.
Information warfare through spreading fake news and manipulating decision-making processes, supply-line strikes by infiltrating depots to spread poison and curses, delaying tactics by secretly changing black-market entrances to slow enemy offensives, guerrilla and special operations for assassinating key figures and special forces, hit-and-run guerrilla attacks where they deliberately leaked information to drain and then strike large enemy forces, and so on.
They executed countless strategies.
In particular, Alcides rapidly filled in his lack of real combat experience by systematically experiencing the vast array of military tactics and strategies Njord had taught him.
“Alcides, at this rate, you might even be able to stand up to the goddess of war, Athena herself.”
“Come on, Master. Don’t praise me too much. How could I possibly compete with Lady Athena?”
On top of the enemies’ corpses, Njord stroked Alcides’ head with pride.
He had expected him to gain experience quickly, but not to this extent.
On the hill where Njord and Alcides stood, roughly a thousand bodies lay piled between the rising slopes.
Crater-like pits from explosions dotted the landscape here and there. Scattered across the uneven ground were equipment sliced by sharp blades, and the bodies—seemingly private soldiers of nobles—either roasted with the smell of cooking flesh or impaled on pointed spears, trembling in a hellish scene.
Those still clinging to life on this battlefield could do nothing but distort their faces with terror, despair, resignation, and regret, their eyes silently pleading for mercy.
And the one who had created this entire spectacle was none other than Alcides, who had only just turned fourteen.
Anyone who witnessed it would surely be shocked at the birth of a young demon. Yet Njord spared no praise for his disciple, now fourteen after another year had passed.
This era of heroes.
To Njord, it was no exaggeration to call it an era of barbarism. In any case, this was a time when the death of superhumans was taken for granted.
Not dying of old age from illness. But dying because someone bumped shoulders on the street and turned out to be a mana user, or because a roadside beggar was secretly a curse sorcerer, or because a child was trampled by a noble’s carriage—such things happened constantly.
Moreover, Njord was certain.
If Hera’s gaze ever turned toward Alcides in the future, the examples above would seem like a mere drop in the bucket compared to the horrifying fate that awaited him.
“Well done. Alcides, you already know this, but you aren’t destined to live an ordinary life. Many will surely take notice of you. Scenes like this will become nothing at all. No—in fact, if you grow just a little more, slaughtering an entire army single-handedly will become easy for you. So from now on, you need to get used to this kind of sight. It’s cruel, but necessary.”
As his master said, Alcides was still young, but standing on the hill, he wasn’t oblivious to just how brutal and horrifying the scene he himself had created was. He simply chewed over his master’s words and understood them.
He had known he was special even before meeting his master.
Living an ordinary life was probably the hardest task in the world for him.
That was why his master looked at him with those eyes.
“Yes, don’t worry, Master. No matter what adversity comes, I can overcome it. Who do you think I learned from?”
“Right, of course you can. You’re going to accomplish feats that will leave your name in history.”
The two looked at each other with mutual trust.
However, the teachings between the young but special disciple and the master—who was a god pretending to be a mage—did not last long.
Because far off in the distance, a blood-soaked woman came running, shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Hey! Master! And you little brat!! Come look over here. I found something important!”
Njord clicked his tongue as he watched Aresia yelling from the bottom of the hill.
Where had she sold off the communication device he’d given her, screaming loud enough to burst eardrums?
“Sigh. Alcides, don’t ever turn out like that. Because of her, my headaches never go away. She’s supposed to be a slave in name only, but she acts like the master.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll never grow up to be like Auntie.”
Hey!!! Over here, hurry up and come!!!
Aresia was now shouting loud enough to shake the entire hill.
Unable to take it any longer, Njord plugged his ears and clamped his hand over her mouth.
“Be quiet for once. What could be so urgent that you’re making this much racket?”
Mmph mmph mmph!
Of course, that alone wasn’t nearly enough to silence Aresia’s cries.
“Fine, I’m coming. I’m coming!”
In the end, Njord had no choice but to raise both hands in surrender and move.
He walked while shouting just like Aresia.
Alcides gave a small laugh at the sight and followed after him.
Hoping these fun days would continue for a long time to come.
***
What Aresia had discovered amid all the chaos was truly unexpected but genuinely important.
“Hmm… This really is important.”
“Ha, see? Master, I told you it was important.”
“…….”
Njord felt an urge to smack her for her shamelessness in getting angry instead.
(‘How many times have you caused trouble and then lied saying it was important?!’)
But no matter what, he couldn’t bring himself to hit her this time just because it was annoying.
Because she had truly made an important discovery.
“Lord Njord, this emblem belongs to the Minoas family of Orchomenos.”
“Right, your sister actually did something useful this time.”
“But there’s something strange. The ones who had been stirring up chaos in the black market while hiding their identity are now openly revealing their emblem. That’s clearly suspicious.”
Njord agreed with Penthesilea’s opinion.
After dozens of raids with no clue about their identity until now, this sudden reveal was something they needed to be cautious about.
(‘Probably… something like an invitation. There’s a magical scent on the emblem engraved on these two items. Aresia probably ate the magic circle without realizing anything, though.’)
“The important part is that they’ve figured out our identity too. Looking at the traces of magic, it’s a double-layered structure. There was likely a surveillance spell embedded in the magic circle Aresia consumed.”
“Then… is it real war now, Master?”
“Probably. Well, it’s a bit laughable for just four people to talk about war like that.”
“Master, I’ll prepare.”
“Good. Let’s see what methods they’ll use.”
***
Njord’s group’s guess was spot on.
The current civil war in the black market was already spilling over beyond its borders, and many nobles were participating in it.
Most nobles knew just how much money and influence the merfolk pirates’ black market held.
Because of that, they wanted to completely drive out the merfolk pirates this time and take control of the place themselves.
The problem was that the merfolk pirates’ strength far exceeded expectations. Born enduring the pressure of the sea—unlike humans—they possessed powerful physiques and overwhelming mana blessed by sea gods.
On top of that, from the always-warring nation of the merfolk came all sorts of belligerent sea creatures, and even some mermaids.
In essence, the currently unified merfolk pirate crew was capable of facing an entire nation.
That was why.
Even though Njord’s group was small in number, every single one of them was exceptionally strong, and their movements ended up inflicting far greater damage than expected.
Enough that it was hard for the enemy to stay silent.
“We’ve finally caught their tail. If it weren’t for Lord Teleos, we’d still be completely in the dark about those damned bastards.”
“Oooh, as expected from the young master of the Minoas family.”
“Haha, you’re giving me too much credit. Did I do this alone? It was all thanks to everyone’s help.”
—As expected of Lord Teleos. So beautiful, yet strong and intelligent, and humble too.
—Indeed, wasn’t it Lord Teleos’s idea to use those fish freaks as a shield in the battle against them?
—Mm-hmm, turning those disgusting bugs into something useful—I never would have thought of that.
“Come, Lord Teleos. This way, please.”
And so, with the nobles’ praise ringing out, Teleos of the Minoas family revealed himself.
With a feminine face, lips tinged with red, a sharp jawline, pale skin, and a naturally peach-blushed complexion, he was a beautiful man whose allure could captivate even the gods.
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