When A Mage Revolts

A day after the events in the forest.

"Weird, Derek has been inside for so long, why is he not back yet?" The mercenary guard looked into the forest in confusion as he stood outside.

"What has that got to do with us?" His companion said nonchalantly, "It’s hard to deal with rich people, let them enjoy themselves. Soon enough, we’ll return home with fat pockets"

"You wish. If they don’t pay us, we’ll be screwed. We would have stood around for so many days for naught."

Without Derek’s supervision, the guards outside the forest had become lax. Many of them were curious as to what was happening in the forest, but nobody could be bothered to actually go inside to investigate.

But…

Suddenly, a war cry broke the calm atmosphere.

"Go! Slaughter every single person here!"

The mercenaries guarding the forest were stunned.

What the hell was happening?

They were confused because the shout did not come from inside the forest, but from the opposite direction.

They looked behind them and saw a horde of men charging at them from afar. They were dressed like these mercenaries - wearing leather armor, wielding great swords; some even had bows and pistols. They looked bloodthirsty, appearing as if they had experienced a hundred battles.

But the most noticeable thing was the badges on their chest.

On one side they wore black swastikas, on the other side, were badges with swords and flame.

The illegal mercenaries guarding the forest were shocked.

"Damn! They’re from the Mercenaries Association!"

They did not even bother retaliating and started running. It was as if someone threw a weasel into a pen full of chickens; they retreated as quickly as the tide. Even the huge ones that stood two meters tall ran like ducklings, not looking back.

"Fuck… wasn’t our position supposed to be a secret, how did the Mercenary Association find out?" One of them spat as he ran.

The Mercenary Association did not slow down their pursuit and continued charging towards the escaping men.

The slower ones were quickly caught but did not dare to resist, immediately putting their hands up to surrender to the Mercenary Association. The Association continued to chase after the rest, as if ready to totally crush them.

This sudden attack brought an abrupt end to the "Seven Days of Hell", causing it to last for only half of its intended duration

Whilst this was going on, to the south of the forest, in Raleigh.

Benjamin stood inside his own room, looking towards the sky as if thinking about something.

"The Mercenary Association should have just arrived. Those bastards should be running like rats by now. The kingdom’s laws do not allow for their existence, those caught by the Mercenary Association are as good as dead!"

"Right. It really is a good idea."

Benjamin nodded.

He would not have thought of this plan.

After killing Derek, he planned to use the underground path to escape, completely ignoring the illegal mercenaries guarding the outskirts. But, shortly after he left the forest, he ran into Barrow who brought along the mages as reinforcements.

Barrow was also the one who thought up the plan to report them to the Mercenary Association.

Because of his money problems, he ended up fighting in rings illegally. After spending so much time in the underground organization, he was very clear about the ties between the Mercenary Organization and the illegal mercenary group. After realizing that Benjamin had changed his plans, he suggested using the Mercenary Organization to help them clean things up.

Benjamin was overjoyed at the suggestion.

It was truly a great idea. Reporting the underground mercenary group to the Mercenary Organization would really help him.

Those underground mercenaries that were caught would not leak information about Benjamin’s appearance. As a new party is introduced, it would shift the attention of the merchants and organizers towards the Mercenary Organization… in other words, it would shift their attention away from Benjamin and the mages in Raleigh.

Thus, upon returning to Raleigh, he immediately wrote a report to the Mercenary Organization.

Using this huge and powerful organization, he could officially and completely end this "Seven Days of Hell".

Not to mention that he had been able to loot around eight thousand gold coins. He could properly host an exhibition now!

As for the mercenaries in front of him…

Benjamin

The whole "Seven Days of Hell" only had around twenty plus participants. By the time the wealthy merchants got through them, only sixteen remained.

He had a plan for them.

"How many of you can’t show your face in Rayleigh?" Benjamin asked.

The mercenaries looked at each other but did not speak.

Benjamin saw this, and explained, "I’m not trying to do a background check, if it’s not possible for you to show your face in public, I can arrange something for you to do."

Hearing this, the mercenaries hesitated before half of them raised their hands weakly.

… This many? Benjamin sighed to himself.

Alright… Since most of them participated in an underground ring, he should have suspected as much.

After counting, eleven out of sixteen of them had a history in the city and thus, it was not convenient for them to move around in Rayleigh. The remaining five were innocent and did not offend any debtors, so no one would give them any trouble.

What should he do now?

"How about this, the eleven of you pack up, I will send you out of Rayleigh at night." After some thought, Benjamin spoke, "Isn’t Randt to the south? Change your surnames, cut your hair, then try to draw some scars on your faces. You should be able to move around freely over there."

Hearing this, the eleven were confused.

"How should we… move around?" Barrow asked.

"Do anything you like, just be cautious. "Benjamin said," You can live and enjoy your own lives, but when the time comes that I need help, I expect you to come along and follow my orders."

Even though he had already planted his curses, he did not want to turn them into slaves.

Since enslaving these mercenaries did not bring him much benefit, he might as well let them have their freedom. He still had his curses implanted anyway, so he could call them back anytime he liked.

Barrow did not think they would receive so much freedom and was stunned. The eleven were equally shocked and did not say anything, nodding their head lightly slowly.

"Go make preparations. Be careful, don’t get spotted." Benjamin said.

With this, the eleven turned around and left.

"As for you five…" Benjamin said, "You are all staying behind in Rayleigh. You lot have got to be even more careful than them - don’t move around together."

Edmund scratched his head and asked: "What should we do?"

"Go become independent mercenaries. Follow what they do, change your surnames, and try modifying your faces." Benjamin replied, "You have to all be prepared when the time comes, I will summon all of you too."

The five mercenaries nodded.

Benjamin then added, "Don’t be overjoyed. Even though we are safe now, but you could be faced with dangerous tasks in the future."

"Of course." Edmund and the others suddenly knelt before Benjamin. They spoke seriously, "We are but filthy mercenaries, and we can’t hope to compare to knights. But our lives were saved by you, so naturally, we will use them to serve you."

Benjamin was not used to this kind of treatment, and quickly made all of the kneeling mercenaries stand up.

But...

To be honest, being treated this way… it felt good, no?