Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 27 (Part 2):

The journey remained peaceful for several days. Peace, for some, meant boredom.

“Damn, this is so boring.”

Kelop spat as he walked, the fourth-rank mercenary boys around him watching cautiously.

Kelop’s brother was a second-rank mercenary in the Tariq Mercenary Corps. Having joined following his brother, Kelop had been a competent third-rank mercenary.

His rash and foul temper often caused trouble, but his brother’s status as a second-rank mercenary spared him from expulsion.

Kelop had one particularly bad habit: heading straight to gambling dens whenever he drank.

This time, drunk and brawling in a gambling den, he broke his arm.

His brother berated him with every curse known, forcing him to participate in this mission as punishment, demoting him to rank 4.

Kelop, who was resisting, received the final notice from his brother.

‘Cause trouble this time, and you’re out of the mercenary Corps for good!’

“Cursed it all! Who does he think he is?”

Kelop gritted his teeth. Without his brother’s backing, his mediocre skills and attitude wouldn’t have been tolerated in the Tariq Mercenary Corps.

Expulsion would mean struggling with menial, dangerous jobs for meager pay.

With a broken arm, there wasn’t much for him to do here. Picking on the young members of the Pace Mercenary Corps was out of boredom and because they were easy targets.

The Tariq Mercenary Corps tacitly allowed Kelop to harass them.

Despite sharing the same mission, the Pace Mercenary Corps, which commanded higher fees and had a better reputation, was a thorn in their side.

To them, harassing a fourth-rank errand boy was trivial. It wasn’t as if they were beating them to a pulp.

Though the two mercenary groups guarded different parts of the convoy, they often crossed paths during breaks.

Errand boys frequently encountered each other while fetching water or gathering fodder and firewood in the woods.

Kelop seized these opportunities. Tripping them, hurling insults and curses, he reveled in Finn’s visibly agitated reactions, finding pleasure in his discomfort.

‘Like they’d dare retaliate.’

Even with a broken arm, Kelop, as a third-rank mercenary, knew the gap between third and fourth rank was significant. Against a fourteen-year-old, he could play around even with one hand.

While Kelop was satisfied with Finn’s reactions, dealing with the other boy was different.

With his delicate appearance and pale skin, Kelop initially mistook him for a noble’s offspring.

‘His name is Helmut? Even his name sounds pretentiously elegant. Looks like he belongs at a ball playing an instrument. Well, a noble’s son wouldn’t be doing rank 4 mercenary work.’

Kelop took every opportunity to provoke Helmut.

But no matter the insult – calling him girly, pretty, or suggesting he must have received flowers – Helmut seemed unaffected, brushing past Kelop with an indifferent face. Kelop felt like he was chasing after a girl who wouldn’t even look back. His irritation grew.

‘Is this kid ignoring me?’

Unlike the clumsy Finn, Helmut skillfully maintained a distance, eluding direct confrontation.

‘There’s always a way.’

Kelop smirked, his mind working best when plotting mischief. He felt confident he could distort Helmut’s impassive face.

“Boys, you’ll have to help me later. I’ll show you a good time.”

After all, they were part of the Pace Mercenary Corps. What harm could touching them do? For the other fourth-rank mercenaries, avoiding Kelop’s wrath was satisfaction enough.

They snickered and agreed to his plan.

That night, the group made camp in the forest, a common practice during escort missions.

Finn exclaimed, “Ugh! This is driving me insane.”

Not wanting to provoke him further, Helmut remained silent.

Truthfully, Helmut was also getting irritated, though not to the point of losing control. It was aggravating.

Ignore it. Avoid it. Simple in theory, but not easy in practice. Why should they tolerate hostility from someone weaker?

Though not yet confirmed, Helmut felt confident he wouldn’t lose.

Smashing someone to silence them was Helmut’s preferred method.

“Isn’t it too much? That Kelop guy, old enough to know better, yet he acts like this.”

“It did seem like he had nothing better to do.”

Even as an errand runner, Kelop seemed to delegate all work to those around him, idly passing time.

“Can’t we do something about it? It’d be manageable with the other three, but having a third-rank mercenary among fourth-rank ones feels like cheating.”

Finn grumbled, frowning for lack of a better plan.

It wasn’t the time for tattling. As the group ventured into increasingly dangerous territories, tension was visible on the faces of Phien and the other mercenaries.

Monsters existed in the human world too. Outside the barrier where Helmut had been found, monsters didn’t appear because it was too close to the barrier.

Though not as powerful or frequent as in the Forest of Roots, encountering monsters on the road wasn’t uncommon. But they were easier to deal with than humans.

In the human world, the more threatening foes were other humans.

Unpredictable human attackers were why Miles chose a route filled with monsters.

Many mercenaries were hired for this reason. Soon, their services would be essential.

Being a mercenary meant risking one’s life. Complaining about harassment at a time like this was mere petulance.

Finn, though a fourth-rank mercenary, understood this much.

“Great, another round of harassment when fetching water.”

Despite his complaints, Finn grabbed the water containers. Better to get it over with sooner rather than later.

But this time, the confrontation wouldn’t end as easily as before.

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