He had a bad feeling.
It was his first impression when the captain of the mercenary group, to which he belonged, came back laughing with a new mission.
“A goblin subjugation?”
Goblins.
They were the epitome of trash mobs and sometimes appeared as mid-bosses in dungeons designed for newbies.
But that was only in the world of games.
Where Jun was, this was reality.
“Why the long face?”
The mercenary sitting next to him asked after noticing his crumpled expression.
“…It’s nothing.”
However, despite this, Jun didn’t voice his thoughts.
Expressing a negative opinion about the mission the captain brought in was practically the same as undermining the captain’s authority.
If he wasn’t careful, he could be expelled from the mercenary group or severely beaten according to the mercenary’s rules.
“What is it? Come on, just tell me. You know I can keep a secret.”
But his companion persistently asked Jun.
His name was… Popkin, I think?
He had joined this mercenary group a month ago and he was a skilled swordsman.
Having received various pieces of advice from Jun at the time of his joining, he quickly adapted and became one of the few mercenaries who were friendly toward Jun.
Though he tended to look down on Jun as a weak mage.
Jun quietly voiced his opinion.
Instead of conveying a negative view of the mission itself, he spoke in a way that highlighted the need for caution.
“This subjugation mission. The operation area is the Black Forest.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“It’s true that goblins are easy opponents, but the Black Forest has many problems.”
“Do you know something about the Black Forest?”
“A bit.”
As a veteran player in his previous life, there was no way he wouldn’t know about the Black Forest which was an early game setting.
“The Black Forest is basically a dense forest. It also has a lot of natural resources.”
This was one of the reasons the empire decided to bring in a large number of mercenaries to clear the Black Forest.
But there were many monsters inside it. Goblins were especially numerous.
“The main weapon of goblins is poison.”
“But it’s just paralysis poison, isn’t it?”
As befitting their reputation as trash mobs, goblins didn’t possess exceptional physical abilities.
Instead, they had enough intelligence to combine poisons and their main weapon was paralysis poison, just like Popkin had mentioned earlier.
“But the Black Forest has many poisonous plants. And they’re quite toxic too.”
Moreover, the trees were all huge with plenty of hiding places and the food supply was good. So their high reproductive rate meant that their numbers were bound to be considerable.
However, when he heard this, Popkin tilted his head in confusion.
“But they are cannibals, so their numbers should be limited, right?”
He shared his knowledge of monsters as a skilled swordsman.
But Jun did not agree with his opinion.
That’s only when there’s no food.
This didn’t apply to the Black Forest where food was abundant.
However, Jun didn’t hastily share his opinion.
Even though Popkin was one of the few mercenaries here who listened to him, he didn’t trust him completely.
These ignorant mercenaries hated having their knowledge contradicted.
They were typical examples of the strong bullying the weak.
Since Popkin had such tendencies, it was not wise to argue against his opinions.
What if I end up getting stabbed from behind during a battle?
In fact, Jun had seen and experienced such a scene with his own eyes, so he was certain about this part.
“Well, it’s not a bad idea to be well-prepared. Make sure to have at least a low-level paralysis resistance potion ready.”
“Hmm… Are you charging for the materials this time too?”
“Of course.”
“Tch. Okay.”
Popkin who seemed to pay little attention walked away.
“Well, there’s no need to worry about goblins that much. Only a weak mage would worry like that.”
Though he muttered quietly, Jun heard it clearly.
Even so, Jun shrugged it off lightly.
“It’s all a matter of personal choice.”
Just when Jun was about to stand up, a voice came from behind him.
“Senior, could you explain what you just talked about in more detail?”
“Oh, Aiden.”
The person speaking to him had joined a month ago, just like Popkin who had left earlier.
However, the difference was that he initially joined as a porter.
“This is my first mission, so I’d like to hear more details.”
He proved to be more skilled than expected. And in the end, he earned recognition as a full member in just a month.
Jun personally considered him more capable than Popkin.
“Well, it’s not difficult.”
Unlike Popkin, Aiden did not ignore Jun.
Even after becoming an official member, he still called him senior and followed him around like a loyal junior.
“It’s just as I said. This mission is likely to be quite tough.”
Therefore.
Jun explained things differently than he had with Popkin.
“Why do you think so?”
“Let’s take an example. An adult with a sword and a child with a bow. Who do you think is stronger?”
“Obviously the adult, isn’t it?”
“Right. But what if we change the conditions? An adult with a sword versus ten cunning children with bows who know the area well?”
“Hmm…”
Aiden seemed to understand a bit more and nodded his head.
“That’s it. The current hunting party is underestimating the Black Forest. Oh, and don’t go around saying I said this.”
“Haha… I’m not that tactless.”
Jun firmly added to Aiden who was laughing awkwardly.
“As I mentioned earlier, if you want to survive, get yourself a proper low-grade paralysis resistance potion.”
“But the price…”
Aiden who had just become an official member didn’t have much money.
“Tsk. How much do you have?”
“This is all I have for now.”
Aiden held up three fingers.
“Thirty thousand gold coins?”
It was far from enough to buy a finished potion. Potions made by certified mages were that expensive.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Can you give that to me? I’ll see what I can do.”
“Understood.”
“Ooh.”
Aiden handed over the money he had taken out of his pocket without hesitation.
Seeing this, Jun suppressed the smile that threatened to spread across his face.
Aiden was worth the trouble after all.
I guess I’ll have to visit the merchant guild after a long time.
***
“Jun! Where is that bastard!”
“Bring me a potion!”
“Argh!!”
Shouts echoed from all directions.
Meanwhile, fellow mercenaries who had fought alongside him for the past few months were falling and bleeding from the goblins’ poisoned darts.
But what Jun felt was.
Anyone listening right now would think I am in charge of handing out potions for this group.
After he cast the Second Circle spell [Wind Cutter] from a short distance, Jun clicked his tongue lightly.
The situation doesn’t look good.
Just as Jun had predicted, the battlefield was turning against them.
Although the mercenaries were tirelessly slashing through the goblins and moving swiftly,
There are just too many of them.
The dense forest was filled with goblins.
With that many goblins continuously shooting poisoned darts from blowguns, the situation was dire.
Of course, the mercenary captain wasn’t foolish and had instructed the members to prepare paralysis resistance potions, but most mercenaries either didn’t prepare or brought cheap potions at best.
The reason was simple.
The cost of proper paralysis resistance potions was quite high.
Not that the cheap potions were bad.
Because of their low price, the mercenaries couldn’t expect them to be very resistant. But they could hope for some efficacy.
And they would have sufficed for the paralysis poison of ordinary goblins.
But that was only when facing ordinary goblins.
“What kind of poison is this strong…!”
“Damn it! My arm won’t move!”
Unlike the outside world, the goblins living in the Black Forest of <Blackout> had high resistance to poison and used potent paralysis poison.
Eventually, Jun who was observing the battlefield pulled out a low-grade paralysis resistance potion he had prepared from his clothes.
“Haah, what a waste.”
Better to drink it now than to save it and never use it.
Jun emptied the potion bottle in one gulp, maintained his composure amidst the surrounding shouts, and continued to observe the battlefield.
These skills are really helpful.
Thanks to [Keen Eyesight] and [Unwavering Heart], Jun had the presence of mind to analyze the situation even in this life-threatening chaos.
“As expected, this subjugation battle is lost.”
The battlefield was already being overrun, and the expression on the face of the commander responsible for this operation was not good.
(TN: Not captain of the mercenaries, but a commander of soldiers.)
“Retreat! Retreat!”
Sure enough, the commander shouted those words not long after.
Idiot. We’re already surrounded.
Since Jun was a mage, he stood at the rear of the group, but the frontlines were already thoroughly decimated like grain threshed in a mill.
At this rate, few mercenaries would survive the retreat.
“Ugh!”
At that moment, Jun noticed someone.
It was Aiden who was making quite an impact among the mercenaries.
He had been hit by poison darts here and there, but thanks to the potion Jun had prepared for him earlier, he was still moving well.
“Hmm…”
However, his movements were slower than usual.
The potion only grants resistance, not immunity.
Just then, Aiden who seemed to have heard the commander’s order to retreat turned around and made eye contact with Jun.
When the latter gestured for Aiden to come over, Aiden slowly retreated and approached him.
Aiden’s help was essential if they were to survive this place.
“Senior, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, but you know the situation isn’t good, right?”
“…Yes.”
Since it was his first mission, Aiden had been moving eagerly but he also knew well that the situation was dire.
“The captain has also fallen.”
Jun clicked his tongue at Aiden’s bitter words.
“Tsk… I wondered why I hadn’t seen him. He always managed to survive, but I guess his luck ran out here.”
“By the way, we heard the retreat order. What are you going to do?”
“It’s already too late. Escape is impossible.”
“What?”
“Look, those green dwarves have already finished surrounding us.”
“Oh…”
Only then did Aiden look around and notice the glowing yellow eyes surrounding them.
“The regular soldiers might somehow escape, but the mercenaries are doomed.”
More than half of the mercenaries hired for this operation were already dead or writhing on the ground after being paralyzed by poison.
“It’ll be hard for us to get out of here too. You’re already showing signs of paralysis poison.”
Aiden’s arms were trembling slightly.
It was a sign that the resistance limit had been surpassed.
“Then… what should we do?”
“We need to play dead.”
“What?”
“I’ll explain the situation later. [Sleep].”
“Wha? Sen… ior…?”
After Jun placed his hand on Aiden’s head and chanted a spell, Aiden’s body wavered and fell.
“Phew, why does this guy have such strong magical resistance?”
It took him quite a bit of magical power. Or rather more than he expected.
Of course, for Jun who had the [Mana Body] skill, it was like taking a cup of water from a lake.
In any case, the spell was successful, and Jun carefully laid Aiden down and gathered rotten wood and weeds from around them.
After placing them over Aiden’s body, Jun was about to camouflage himself in the same way when—
“H-Hey, Jun.”
“…Popkin?”
It seemed like he had somehow survived the battlefield, and a blood-soaked Popkin appeared before him.
Most of the blood was from goblins, but quite a bit of it was Popkin’s own.
Due to the symptoms of the paralyzing poison, his entire body seemed to have stiffened.
Popkin who was facing death forced a smile and said,
“You, p-potion. You have, one, right?”
Perhaps he was stuttering from the paralysis. Popkin looked at Jun with bloodshot eyes.
Jun sighed inwardly at the sight.
Is it because I took [Potion Making] to boost my reputation? These guys think I’m a walking potion warehouse.
Jun’s expression turned cold as he looked at Popkin.
“Hand, it, over. Now.”
He wasn’t asking for permission.
The friendly light that Popkin used to have for Jun was long gone from his eyes.
To Popkin, Jun was now just a target for plunder.
“What if I can’t give it to you?”
“Then, you die!”
As if he had been waiting for this moment, Popkin lunged at Jun. He thrust his sword toward his heart in a surprise attack.
Thud—!
But his sword was suddenly blocked by a translucent wall.
“……?!”
At the same time, Jun’s incantation echoed briefly.
[Sleep]
“You, you…!!”
Unlike Aiden earlier, Popkin’s body collapsed easily without much resistance.
Looking at the fallen Popkin, Jun let out a heavy sigh.
“Stupid bastard. I told you to be prepared.”
Jun stabbed a self-defense dagger he kept into the neck of the sleeping Popkin, discarded his body nearby, and began to finish camouflaging himself.
“Seriously, what a f**ked-up world.”
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