Pursuit (Part 2)

Fortunately, the other man had only wanted to escape and had no intention of killing Ian. After knocking Ian's sword away, the mercenary glanced at Roar, who was already close at hand, hurriedly dug in his spurs, and tried to keep fleeing north.

Unfortunately, his horse had been slowed during his struggle with Ian. He could not regain top speed in time, and just a few seconds later, Roar caught up and drove a sword through his back.

Seeing this, Ian finally let out a breath, though he was still shaken by what had just happened.

He could hardly believe that someone as cautious as himself had charged the enemy so recklessly. When his horse had broken into a full gallop, all reason had vanished from his mind, as if every hormone in his body had turned into adrenaline.

It reminded him of a description of cavalry charges—unbridled horses carrying drunk men.

Shaking his head, Ian resolved never to take such a risk again, then began reflecting on his first real battle since entering the world of Ice and Fire.

He could not exactly say his performance had been commendable. At best, it had been utterly humiliating.

During the battle, his mind had been almost completely blank. Although the system had given him the memories of the riding and swordsmanship skills a Sellsword Knight should possess, those memories had not coordinated with his body at all. He had no muscle memory whatsoever and simply did not know what to do next.

That was certainly related to his lack of real combat experience, but it also revealed another issue—the stats on the panel were extremely unreliable.

He was already considering having Roar train him systematically again in his spare time.

When he looked back, Roar had already led the fleeing man's riderless horse back to the other mercenaries' corpses and was sorting through the spoils with Keith.

But Ian's attention was not on the loot. He was studying the two knights' equipment.

For once, Ian did not feel like cursing the game's designers, because this reward was truly incredible.

Clearly, the equipment that came with the S-Class NPCs rewarded by the system was all top-tier. The armor went without saying. When Ian had seen Kammel's lance strike Keith, his heart had nearly stopped. Yet it had failed to pierce Keith's defenses.

Although Keith had successfully evaded so that the lance tip struck the heavily protected plate on his left shoulder, the fact that it had held under a charge at that speed proved that Keith's plate armor was among the finest of its kind.

Then there were the warhorses. Roar and Keith were both fully armed, yet they had caught up to Ian—who had effectively already been defeated by the enemy—only a few seconds behind him. That meant their horses were a full grade better than even his fine-bred mount!

For the style of those damned game designers, such a setup was an exceptionally rare display of generosity.

Soon, Roar and Keith finished gathering the spoils—two horses, an exquisite longsword, more than ten Gold Dragons along with a large bag of other coins, and a suit of plate-and-mail armor.

Of course, calling it plate-and-mail was a bit generous. It was merely chainmail with a metal plate added over the chest, somewhat like the one Stannis Baratheon wore in the Game of Thrones TV series.

Ian could not understand that at all.

Stannis might have been poor as dirt, but he was still a king. Would it have killed the director to give him armor with better defense? Even if he absolutely had to wear plate-and-mail, shouldn't it at least have been like the kind Zhao Yun wore in the film "Red Cliff"? (Then again, why was Zhao Yun wearing plate-and-mail more than a dozen centuries early?)

In any case, after that humiliating display, Ian no longer felt particularly secure in his flashy Fine Robes. He took off his outer garment, pulled the bloodstained gambeson from the dead Kammel's body, and put it on without the slightest disgust.

With Roar's help, he then changed into the plate-and-mail armor. Ian and Kammel had similar builds, and the armor unexpectedly fit him perfectly.

After quickly finishing all this, Ian finally gave the order to turn back and ride for the salt mine near Lord Harroway's Town.

When they returned to the salt mine, the battle there had not yet ended. The surviving mercenaries had split into two groups, three on one side and four on the other, confronting each other. Both sides looked utterly exhausted.

Clearly, after Kammel left, the situation had spiraled out of control again. The mercenaries had likely formed small groups based on their usual relationships and were fighting over the gold bars.

Three of them were gravely wounded. Even if their respective little groups won the final contest, they probably would not receive any share of the money.

The arrival of Ian's group shattered the brief balance between them.

The mercenaries looked at the bloodstained swords in Roar and Keith's hands and seemed to realize something. In that instant, perhaps countless thoughts flashed through their minds.

Fight to the death? Turn and run? Or kneel and beg for mercy?

All of those thoughts came to them, but none mattered, because Ian had already given the order to attack.

Everything was too late.

The battle ended in less than a minute. The two knights cut down the mercenaries who still resisted as if harvesting wheat, then dismounted and finished off several others who had long since fallen nearby with grievous wounds.

Only after confirming that there were no survivors did they begin searching for spoils.

Throughout the entire process, Ian kept his eyes fixed in another direction.

There, the night swallowed the last traces of the setting sun. Against the ink-black curtain, a brilliant map of stars slowly emerged.

Perhaps somewhere in that starry map was a distant blue planet, a place with no merciless executioners, no mercenaries kneeling and begging for mercy, and no weeping or wailing from those being hunted down.

There was a harmonious society, a stable legal system, and a dead game designer named Xia Ze.

Soon, Ian's group finished tallying the second batch of spoils.

This time, Ian ordered most of the items discarded. He kept only Kammel's family sword—a fine Hand-and-a-half Sword—two exquisite daggers, three adult Riverlands horses, and Kammel's plate-and-mail armor.

Of course, there was something even more important—money.

Kammel's and the mercenaries' own money was almost negligible. The most important things Ian's group had recovered were the two payments of mercenary wages Ian had paid out himself, along with Harui's remaining eighty Gold Dragons.

Ian placed all the gold bars into the Auxiliary System's inventory, while the remaining five hundred-odd Gold Dragons went into Roar's bag.

Afterward, they left the mine and went to the nearby Green Fork River to wash the blood from their bodies.

"Can you tell me why you were so confident that you could turn Kammel's personal guards against him?" Roar suddenly asked Ian as Ian washed his clothes.