The Extra Wants To Live

Darian, the leader of the Salgarez mercenary company, felt like he was having a nightmare.

'A punitive force carrying the Emperor's flag? Tumaria has gathered troops at the border. Are they really planning to start a war?'

He knew that since these were troops dispatched directly by the Emperor, they would definitely not be incompetent men.

They might have sent imperial knights, or a commander from a prominent family could have brought troops from a powerful family to further his career.

No matter how skilled the Salgarez mercenary group was, they could not contend with such a force.

And if these imperial troops were sent to the gray area of the border, there was no way Tumaria would let it pass unnoticed.

They would bring more troops and cause trouble. From then on, no one would care about the Salgarez mercenaries.

But how come it's so quiet?

"Captain! The Tumaris are attacking from the north!"

"...What?" Darian was left speechless by the news that followed.

He thought it wasn't true, but what if it really was?

'... Hardion and Tumari really joined hands? For something like this? So quietly?'

Darian shut his eyes tightly.

Now that the fighting had come to a halt due to Emperor Madius' policies, the mercenary company's operating funds had reached their limit.

The weekly wages gradually decreased, and now it had become difficult to even maintain the mercenary group.

They can't disband a mercenary group.

They had been fighting as mercenaries for a very long time, generations, and all they could do was fight. Even if they wanted to leave Dabron and settle somewhere else, they couldn't.

They were tied down by a contract and their operating funds were slowly drying up, so they didn't have the money to even try to move.

Perhaps Govan, the Marquis of Davron, intended to slowly disintegrate the Salgarez mercenary band and then absorb them.

'You fucking noble bastards.'

There was little Darian could do to protect the Salgarez mercenary band he had inherited from his father, so he ended up jumping into the gamble.

Darian's gamble was unexpectedly successful, but the problem was that it was too successful.

Davron remained passive in response to Tumari's sudden deployment of troops, which allowed him to plunder the surrounding villages with gusto.

Just a little more, just a little more… After moving, in order to secure a place, he tried to loot a little more. And then it came to this.

Standing on the edge of a cliff, he could only watch as the sharp blade of the spear pressed down on him.

"Captain! What are we going to do?"

When Darian didn't give any instructions, the other mercenaries got frustrated and grabbed him, urging him on.

Darian was too young. He was a mature man in his thirties, but he was still a child compared to his father, who had led the Salgarez mercenary band for over forty years.

Darian gritted his teeth as he was pushed by the rough hands and words pouring down on him. It can't end like this.

"Get a good grasp on them! We'll break through at one point, so find their weak points!"

Only then did the mercenaries start moving hurriedly at Darian's direction. In the past, they would have done everything on their own without any instructions, but with the generational change, everything was creaking.

Fortunately, however, they had extensive combat experience and were well versed in the terrain of this rocky hill, fortifying it.

Thanks to this, they could buy time by preventing them from digging in like crazy.

Otherwise, they would have been penetrated long ago.

If they have time, they can do it step by step, but if he lack experience, he will stumble in unexpected situations.

That is the limit of a commander with ordinary talent. If he could have carried out everything as planned in his head with unhindered command here, he would not have remained as a mercenary leader, but would have been promoted by Goban and become a noble.

The mercenaries moved along the rocky hill, and soon information arrived to Darian, who was anxiously waiting for a report.

"What? Really?"

"Yes! I saw it with my own two eyes!"

Darian seemed to cling to a thread of hope, but also felt faintly anxious, at the fact that both Hardion and Tumaria had sent out only 15 troops, most of whom were ordinary soldiers.

"There are only three strong ones among the Tumaris, and the rest are just soldiers. But I can't even get close to them. I don't know what hit them or how."

"What about Hardion?"

"There are three knights in full plate armor, and the rest are soldiers. They don't seem to have any intention of attacking. They're just blocking the road."

In this narrow canyon, three knights in full plate armor are like a steel tank. They are absolutely impenetrable.

"But there's one strange guy."

"A strange guy?"

"He is carrying the Emperor's flag, and he is wearing a cloak with the Imperial emblem."

"… What the hell! They're royalty!"

Darian screamed, hitting his helmeted head hard. It's the end. Even if he break through the enemy lines, there will be troops outside to protect the royal family.

"But that guy, although you can't see him well because he's wearing armor, he was really short. He was hiding behind the soldiers and walking around holding only a flag."

"… Are you saying that he is a child?"

"Yes."

Darian bit his lip while clutching his head.

He didn't even realize that the blood flowing from his torn lip was pooling on the tip of his chin. There's no way back anyway.

They won't accept surrender either. No, they may accept their surrender and then publicly execute them in a horrible manner.

"… I'm taking that guy hostage."

"Can we escape?"

"We can't just die."

Darian made a decision. "Everyone heads south."

He planned to take the royal family hostage and escape. If he kept going like this, he was going to die anyway, so he would struggle as much as he could.