Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 162 (Part 1)

Unlike the Lizardmen who perceived Larry as a “subject of vigilance,” to pickpockets, Larry was merely a “careless sponsor who couldn’t manage his money.”

The moment Larry showed up, it ignited competition among the pickpockets. He was a money pouch anyone could steal from—whoever took it first, it was theirs.

“Isn’t it annoying to get pickpocketed? Like, everytime?”

“That’s how you learn.”

By sunset, Larry had returned. Judging from his sour expression again, he’d probably been pickpocketed once more.

“Damn it. How do they even pull it off?”

“You’re back?”

“Yeah. Ugh.”

The way he grumbled to himself showed how vexed he was. Rodin gently ruffled Larry’s head, seeing how frustrated he was.

“It happened again, huh.”

“I don’t get it. I swear I was being careful the whole time, but in just a moment, my money pouch vanished.”

“Just think of it as charity. They must be having a hard time too.”

“If it were charity, at least I wouldn’t feel this pissed. Ugh.”

The constant pickpocketing was also partly due to Larry’s personality.

Larry had a tendency to completely block out his surroundings when he focused on something.

Once he began reviewing mercenary requests, he wouldn’t notice anything unless someone physically shook him. Even during sword training or fighting Lizardmen, he would concentrate solely on the task at hand.

“Try to think positively. What else can you do? Oh! Did you hear anything while you were out? Things seemed a bit chaotic.”

“Ah, right. The Marquis of Richmond arrived. Over 500 people came with him, including knights and soldiers.”

“Hmm, so he must’ve thought the Marquis of Rotten might try something rash.”

“Looks like it.”

Not following the rules during a territorial war wasn’t just a problem for one’s opponent—it was something that would draw criticism from their own kingdom’s royal family and nobility. Naturally, it meant the results wouldn’t be officially recognized.

That’s why, once rules for territorial battles were set, they were generally followed. That was common sense.

However, the Marquis of Richmond had heard that the Marquis of Rotten wasn’t originally from this world.

So, he figured he couldn’t judge him by modern standards alone—and came fully prepared.

“Then won’t the Marquisate of Richmond be left defenseless?”

“You think the Marquis of Rotten is aiming for his territory?”

“Not the territory, per se… but maybe the treasure hidden in Prince Harrison’s secret room.”

“Wouldn’t he have taken that with him?”

Rodin didn’t think the Marquis of Richmond would’ve left behind the statues and the pendant. Knowing what caused the curse incident, he likely came prepared.

The real question was whether the Marquis of Rotten knew about that. If he did, he’d go after the Marquis himself—but if he didn’t, he might target the Richmond estate.

“Yeah, probably.”

“Oh, right. Prince Harrison is dead. I heard he was assassinated by a maid.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Apparently, he did a lot of bad things. There were a ton of nasty rumors about him.”

The news that Prince Harrison had died had spread widely throughout the Richmond Marquisate.

The added twist of him being assassinated by a maid made it all the more intriguing, and there wasn’t a soul in Richmond who hadn’t heard.

But this was the Aramia County—far from Richmond—so rumors traveled slowly here.

“The Marquis of Richmond must be in a foul mood.”

“It’s not like Prince Harrison’s death has anything to do with the Marquis of Rotten, but… wouldn’t he want to take revenge anyway?”

“Most likely. He’s probably itching to vent his anger somewhere. Don’t go outside. Better not to run into him until he leaves.”

It wasn’t likely that the Marquis of Richmond would take it out on Rodin or his group. After all, Rodin had uncovered the curse and solved various issues in one go.

Still, avoiding someone in a bad mood was the smarter move. There wasn’t anything to gain—and you might lose something.

“There’s a request, though.”

“What kind of request?”

“Not right now. It departs in a month. But… it’s a request to go to the Western Continent. What do you think?”

“Western Continent?”

A request to go to the Western Continent wasn’t anything unusual. The Central and Western Continents had active trade, so such requests weren’t rare.

Plus, following the Aram River downstream would eventually lead to the sea.

With a sea route, it was easy to reach the Western Continent directly, which meant that requests involving it did occasionally come through the County of Aramia.

What puzzled Rodin was that this kind of request had now been given to Larry, who was still just an Iron Badge Mercenary.

For long-distance requests like those to the Western Continent, iron-rank mercenaries were rarely used. Normally, they’d assign multiple Copper Badge Mercenaries and one or two Silver Badge as leaders.

“The job’s basically guarding the cargo. I’d be watching over it the whole way to the Western Continent. That kind of work usually goes to iron badge Mercenaries, I heard.”

“Do you want to take it?”

“Yeah.”

“The Western Continent, huh… isn’t it a bit far? You’d be doing cargo duty on top of it too. Sounds like a pain.”

Rodin gently tried to dissuade him, but Larry’s expression didn’t change.

Larry had a bit of homesickness.

It wasn’t like he wanted to return home to live, or meet people from his hometown. He simply wanted to see how things had changed after all these years away.

“Hmm, let me think about it.”

“Don’t take the request, Brother. I’ll go alone.”

“You miss your hometown… don’t you?”

“A little. Not like I want to live there again. Just… just want to see it, just once.”

Rodin understood Larry’s feelings. He, too, had visited his hometown once after leaving the special forces training center.

It wasn’t because he particularly missed his family. Besides Sierra, there wasn’t anyone he felt close to.

Even when he heard that his father, mother, and older brother had died, he wasn’t that moved. The stronger feeling came when he saw the village again.

And yet, he still had wanted to see his hometown at least once. Back then, he hadn’t really understood why. But now he did.

Back then, Rodin had been suffering from homesickness.

“Alright. Let’s keep an eye on the situation. Just don’t apply for the request yet.”

“Got it, Brother. There’s still a lot of time until departure. I’ll think it over some more.”

“Good.”

That day’s conversation eventually made its way to Bianca.

Strangely enough, Bianca didn’t feel any nostalgia for her hometown. Her reaction—“What would I even do there?”—left Larry feeling a bit taken aback.

*

Hyung_Otaku2

•