Ashuban jumped up from the branch and fell with the white frozen sword.

The magical beast flinched for a moment, and then it shattered into pieces and poured down.

"…!"

Schmitt watched the scene from beginning to end with wide eyes.

Ashuban was a man who was born with a desperate talent, not only unable to use mana, but also unable to feel a single bit of mana.

How can you feel it when there isn't even a single grain of mana in your body?

Gustan had even shaken his head, saying it was a body close to a curse.

Even now that he had returned alive, he couldn't feel even a speck of mana from him.

But he suddenly ran as fast as the wind, and now he had frozen his sword white and was cutting down a magical beast with it.

A B-rank magical beast at that!

It was an unbelievable thing, considering that Ashuban had ended up falling off the Mist Cliff with the beast because he couldn't shake off the B-rank magical beast.

What on earth had happened in the meantime?

—Kieeeek!!!

Schmitt's surprise at Ashuban's new appearance was short-lived.

He hardened his expression at the cry coming from a distance.

It was the female.

A momentum that was on a completely different level from the male.

'A-rank!'

A magical beast that is classified as a special individual.

The beast roared at Ashuban, who had killed the male, and charged at him.

—Kieeeek!

'It's dangerous!'

Schmitt immediately grabbed one of the spearheads he carried like a keychain on his waist and injected mana into it.

Woong—

In an instant, a golden spear was created.

Boris, who was being carried on his back, was startled and fell off Schmitt's back.

Schmitt immediately threw the golden spear.

Swoosh!

It flew like a ray of light and immediately pierced the magical beast's chest.

—Kiek!

The magical beast's gaze immediately turned to where the spear had flown from, but Schmitt was no longer there.

As soon as he threw the spear, Schmitt had also thrown his own body.

Schmitt, who was running at full speed, was now shimmering with a golden aura.

Thwack!

Schmitt kicked off the ground and jumped high, and then kicked the beast's head with all his might.

And then, as soon as the beast fell, he broke all its legs so that it couldn't get up again, and then he stomped on the beast's head and crushed it.

"Huu..."

Schmitt gasped for breath.

That was a close call.

The sudden appearance of an A-rank magical beast.

Schmitt, after confirming that the beast was no longer moving, looked at Ashuban.

He was worried that he might have been injured somewhere.

"Ah... to do it like that..."

Ashuban was staring at him with a blank expression.

Regret was dripping from his two eyes.

"...?"

Schmitt was flustered.

Ashuban strode over to him.

Schmitt quickly moved his hands and spoke.

—Brother, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere...

Swoosh—

"...?"

Ashuban passed Schmitt and crouched down in front of the magical beast.

"Ah... it was an A-rank... ah..."

For some reason, he seemed very disappointed.

The flustered Schmitt looked at Ashuban for a moment, and then he trotted over to his side and made a sign.

—I'll give you the magic stone, brother.

Ashuban looked at Schmitt with empty eyes.

"...A magic stone? I don't need it. A magic stone."

Then why are you acting like that?

Schmitt was bewildered.

While Schmitt was awkwardly trying to talk to Ashuban.

Boris shouted.

"Hey! This is not the time for that! Damn it, these things are about to be born!"

"What?"

The two of them rushed to the front of the mantis magical beast's nest.

As Boris said, whether it was because they had sensed their parents' death, or simply because they had sensed a threat, the dozens of eggs were wriggling.

As if they were about to hatch at any moment.

Boris spoke quickly.

"What should we do? Should we block the entrance first?"

Ashuban said in a low voice.

"What do you mean, block it? We can just burn them all now."

"You fool. Do those look like ordinary eggs? They're eggs laid by an A-rank magical beast. They won't even be singed by an ordinary fire. I think we need to call a magician. Can't you call the Red Witch?"

"My sister is busy."

"Then what should we do?"

Fwoosh—

Ashuban created a blue flame in his hand and muttered.

"There's no need to call a magician. My fire is not an ordinary fire either."

It was a strangely unmotivated tone.

But unlike that tone, the flame that rose from his hand was dancing passionately.

Ashuban created a blue flame in both his hands, and then threw it at the disgustingly wriggling nest.

"Hey, if you provoke them carelessly—"

Boris was terrified and tried to stop him...

He shut his mouth as he saw the blue flame spread to the entire nest in an instant and burn.

"If you provoke them?"

"...If you provoke them, they'll just burn to death more painfully."

As the nest burned fiercely, cries of "Kieek!" echoed.

But to Boris, who knew their ecology, that sound was like a fanfare celebrating victory.

If they had been born as they were, who knows how many villages would have been destroyed.

No, what's a village?

Even a city with a city wall would not have been free from its influence.

Think about it.

A swarm of dozens of mantis magical beasts eating people and growing up like their parents.

And then they would have more young.

It was a chilling thought.

A disaster that might never happen again could have occurred.

And they had prevented that disaster in advance.

Boris looked at the two people who had prevented that disaster with new eyes.

It wasn't that surprising that the golden kid had defeated the female.

Although he didn't expect an A-rank magical beast to be defeated so quickly, it was only natural since he was a platinum mercenary of Sherwood.

'But that guy...'

Boris looked at the guy who he thought was dead, but who had suddenly come back with his eyes dyed red.

Ashuban was just throwing more blue flames at the nest with a sullen expression.

He had moved the guild's impact meter to the backyard with his sparkling fist, and this time he had dismantled a B-rank magical beast in an instant with a sword that emitted a cold air, and now he had become a magician and was burning the magical beast's nest with a blue flame.

Boris stared blankly at the blue burning nest.

"Wow... it's burning well."

He had definitely confirmed with the mana meter that he had no mana, so what on earth was the principle behind this power?

He thought that if this news reached the ears of the Magic Tower, they might try to capture Ashuban and conduct human experiments on him, just as they had done with the two-faced magic swordsman.

Whether he cared or not.

Ashuban threw the blue flame into the stream as if throwing a stone and muttered sullenly.

"An A-rank magical beast..."

"...."

Boris somehow thought that he looked like a kid who had had his toy taken away.

Boris watched until the nest was completely destroyed and only black ash remained, and then he took out a file and wrote down the results of the request.

※Presumed A-rank request confirmed

—Mantis-type magical beast. A male and female pair.

—The male is B-rank, the female is A-rank.

—The male was dealt with by Ashuban, the recipient of this request, and the female was dealt with by Schmitt, the examiner.

—Special note: A nest was built and dozens of eggs were laid there, waiting to hatch.

—The nest was destroyed by Ashuban, the recipient of the request.

—Method of destruction: Burned everything with a blue flame.

—The respective magic stones and the remaining ash of the nest are attached as evidence.

—Request complete.

***

An A-rank magical beast is an A-rank magical beast, and a platinum rank is a platinum rank.

In the end, you can't just evaluate them by the rank that people have divided them into.

There are differences in strength even within them.

The female was a rather weak one among the A-ranks.

Even if it was after laying a lot of eggs, to be defeated so easily by Schmitt.

"But... it was an A-rank..."

I muttered, sprawled out on the reception desk.

Next to me, Schmitt was moving his hands busily, as if trying to comfort me.

Stop it. Stop it.

Do you think you can heal my wounded heart with that?

No matter how much I think about it, it's a shame.

If that beast had just swung its front legs a few times, the city walls would have cracked.

Considering the danger of the nest, I think the male and female together would have been at the top of the A-ranks.

Regardless of the female's individual strength, a swarm of dozens of cute mantis magical beasts with the potential to grow to A-rank could easily destroy not just a village, but a few cities if they grew up well.

It was a beast like that...

It's a shame. No matter how I think about it, it's a shame.

[Schmitt, was it? That guy is also peculiar.]

"If you say peculiar, he's peculiar. Where else would you find a crazy guy who beats up magical beasts with his bare fists?"

The Heavenly Demon seemed to have quickly forgotten about the magical beast and had instead become interested in Schmitt.

[Disciple.]

"Yes, Master."

[Are the other guys as peculiar as that guy?]

"He's actually on the normal side."

[Is that so?]

The Heavenly Demon smiled with satisfaction.

[I'm looking forward to it.]

I answered confidently.

"You won't be disappointed in that regard."

Knights usually have similar values, so they look similar at a glance, but mercenaries all become mercenaries for their own reasons, so they tend to have strong individualities.

Among them, Sherwood is at the pinnacle.

In short, they're all crazy.

It was only because the leader and my sister were there that they were somewhat controlled.

If not, they would have exploded long ago.

...Come to think of it, isn't that my role now?

Damn it. Did I make a mistake by creating a mercenary corps?

At that moment, Boris came to the reception desk, fumbling with some documents.

"Congratulations on officially becoming a gold-rank mercenary. I hope your words and actions will also have the dignity that befits it."

"Alright."

Schmitt clapped his hands next to me.

—Congratulations!

Boris asked.

"Are you going to register the mercenary corps right away?"

"I have to. Why else would I have gotten a gold rank?"

Schmitt asked with wide eyes.

—A mercenary corps?

Come to think of it, I haven't explained it to this guy yet.

I'll have a lot to talk about while eating later.

"I'm going to re-establish the Sherwood Mercenary Corps. Are you in?"

Schmitt smiled brightly and nodded.

—Yes!

"You have to."

Boris held out a document.

"Sign it. I've already taken care of the rest."

"Oh."

It seems he had been working while sleeping.

I immediately took the quill pen the guy handed me and scribbled my signature.

"Done?"

Boris nodded and took the document.

"Done."

I shot up and got on top of the reception desk.

"As of today, I announce the revival of the Sherwood Mercenary Corps! It's the beginning of a legend! Play the music!"

"Get down, you crazy bastard."

I immediately looked at Schmitt.

"Schmitt. Be my comrade! Rejection can be done in the afterlife."

Schmitt smiled like an innocent kid and nodded.

Boris clicked his tongue and handed another document to the guy.

"I knew it, so I prepared it. Golden kid. You sign here too."

And so, at the same time as the founding of the Sherwood Mercenary Corps, the first member was born.

Everything was going smoothly as planned.

"Hahahaha!"

I burst out laughing with my arms crossed.

Boris hit my leg.

"Ah, you crazy bastard, get down!"

"Alright."

"You were on the verge of death just a moment ago... Tsk. You bastard."

Flick!

Boris threw something sparkling.

When I caught it and checked, it was a gold tag that was sparkling with a brilliant golden light.

"Gold Rank"

"Ashuban Sherwood"

"Oh! So this is a gold tag!"

It was extremely brilliant.

I was gently biting it with my teeth to see if it was real gold, and then Boris held out his hand to me.

"Give me the money."

"How much?"

"5 gold."

"What? Why is it so expensive?"

"Do you think a gold tag is a joke? It's originally that expensive."

"Crazy."

"Ah, and with the cost of establishing the mercenary corps, it's a total of 10 gold. Give it to me."

"This is tyranny! It's oppression against Sherwood!"

Boris stared at me blankly.

"You can't give it to me?"

"Cut my stomach, you thief. Does this amount make any sense? You can take my soul, but you can't extort my money."

Boris said in a nonchalant tone, organizing the documents.

"I knew it, so I've already processed it with this request fee."

I blinked for a moment and then asked.

"Wasn't that amount far from 10 gold?"

"I increased it. We dealt with an A-rank magical beast and its nest, so we should get at least that much. I've already applied to the guild headquarters. The client and the guild will split the cost."

"Hmm."

He was scribbling for a long time, so was that what he was doing?

I felt like I could understand why this guy wasn't fired even with his terrible personality.

"What are you looking at? You bastard."

"...."

At that moment, the door burst open and Shushruta stormed in like a storm.

"I heard everything! Ashuban! You said you would put my name in first!"

"Ah."

I looked at Schmitt, who was hurriedly filling out the application form.

The application form was already gone from his hand.

It was in Boris's hand.

The guy looked back and forth between me and Shushruta, and then stamped it with a bang.

"Application complete."

...This bastard.

(End of Chapter)