Cardboard Houses Do Not Tear

7 – Catching Thieves (1)

Perrin Village, clearing of the bandits, location of the lair confirmed, minimum number of 20 or less, 30 or less.

A madman who uses mana? Doesn’t exist.

Who was taken away? Twelve girls. One boy.

Wait a minute. What?

No f*ck. Are you a boy? Why?

That’s right. I don’t want to know why either.

Anyway, keep listening. Don’t stop talking

Is there an archer? Five.

Wizard? It must be in the middle of such a mountain valley.

Valuables coming out of the lair?

Money is 5 to 5. We keep weapons, and we take daily necessities like food from there.

Move.

It was quiet in the mountains.

Seeing that I couldn’t hear the sounds of wild animals that I had heard before, I felt that there were people living nearby.

As if I wasn’t the only one who felt this, I could only hear the rustling of someone’s chain armor from time to time, and the tension shared by the group naturally created only silence.

Turb, tumble.

While I could only hear footsteps, let alone breathing, I spoke to the guide next to me.

It was Remes, a young man who had been forcibly armed with a gun as a guide to the thieves’ den after seeing me earlier and spitting out, ‘Isn’t that distant mercenary not a person, but a bear?’

“Mr. Rames, how long will it take to reach the thieves’ lair?”

“Yes. We’ll be there soon. Just trust me, Yuu.”

I can assure you that it was the most unbelievable assurance I have ever made.

But what can I do? The young chief says he knows the mountain roads the best among people alive.

‘Out of all the worthless people who are still alive, they seem to know the mountain roads the best.’

At least his skills were genuine. So I have to believe.

As I continued to climb the mountain path, someone came next to me and started talking to me.

“Ahhh. Do you think I gave you too much work from the first mission? This is your first scout mission, right?”

It was today’s temporary squad leader, a tenor.

“Well, what if I’m the only one with a bow?”

The bow is a tough thing to master. Of course, if you look at the level of our mercenaries, there is nothing we can’t use, but the reality is that they are worse than the weapons we usually handle.

Well, it’s me, Huar’an really wants to use it all over the place, so it can be used as a main weapon, but ordinary mercenaries only deal with darts or daggers that can be thrown into the ground at most.

“That’s right. How come it’s Raymond today, and after Arnold got into it, some kind of bottle went around. Huh true.”

Knowing that they couldn’t attend because they were suffering from a bottle of alcohol from my welcome party yesterday, I tried to lighten the mood.

“By the way, it seems that one idiot got caught this time too? If you look at the detailed information.”

“Well, aren’t all thieves like that? It was better because they were commissioned anyway.”

The process by which thieves collect money is similar to that of slash-and-burn farmers.

I made a suitable den in one place, robbed the pioneer villages around it, and when I robbed all the money and useful resources, I went to another place and repeated the same thing.

What I earn like that comes to the city and I spend it, and then sometimes, like this time, I get caught. And make me vomit it all up

I don’t want to know what happened to the thief who generously gave me information or money.

After walking for a while, Rames sang the tenor.

“That’s right, Tenor-sama. Deyuu comes out right after a short walk.”

Hearing that, the tenor raised his fist and he all stopped. It was a hand signal meaning stop.

“Okay, check everything one last time and go in.”

I organize the things I brought with me.

One longbow with the right tension, eight arrows to be precise.

A quarter staff, and a dagger I grabbed because it was rolling on the floor.

Not all missing or lost.

After adjusting the position so that he could pick it up at any time, he looked at the other squad members.

The mercenaries participating in this clearing are all armed with the most suitable weapons to deal with the bandits.

Most of the mercenaries were wearing arm shields, tardi shields, hand axes and arming swords in anticipation of indoor battles, and daggers were all basic skills.

Of course, there were outliers everywhere.

“Kheu, a bow. Good.”

A hunk full of muscles appeared in front of me and muttered that. Dwarf Northern inspiration.

Swoop, snooze.

“Ahhhhh. Are you afraid? If you’re afraid, speak up anytime. I’ll even eat your allowance.”

Old man Northern, who was put into reconnaissance with me, asked while touching the blade of the axe.

The last bottle he made before leaving his hometown still shines on that blue day.

I laughed and replied to the expression mixed with jokes and sincerity, which I spat out to relieve tension.

“Old man. If I was scared, I went to the north right away yesterday. Or go shepherding.”

“I don’t know why someone like you didn’t leave here.”

“It’s all about the money. Old man.”

“Yes, that damn money. Let’s earn money, assei.”

“Ugh.”

Once I tilted my single-bladed two-handed ax and projected my long beard like the root of my tree, the old man slapped me on the shoulder.

I thought my arm was missing.

“Now, pay attention.”

The time has come. Old Man Northern and two mercenaries stood in front of Tenor, and the assault team lined up behind them.

“The plan is simple. If the recon team first looks and eliminates the danger, the rest of the attack team will jump in and destroy it. The signal is the same as usual, so don’t light a fire.”

It was a very simple plan.

This means that we are given that much discretion.

As a bonus, there are many things we need to do.

“Let’s go.”

“Damn it. Are these thieves or the military?”

A den of thieves, rather than that, the sanchae, which could be called a camp, was quite disciplined.

The patrol team was in a pair of two, and all of the watchtowers that rose on the four sides of the wooden fence were standing one by one, except for the one in front of the gate.

It was fortunate that the door to the wooden fence was open.

Fortunately, this time you don’t have to climb a ladder and do a siege.

“Well, the answer is simple, isn’t it?”

A member of the reconnaissance team, Zach said.

“You can build one watchtower first, then shoot them all with your bow.”

No sh*t, what do you mean?

“Me? That? Really?”

“It’s possible.”

“What did we say to fly in the sky, what did we do? I’m asking you to do what you can.”

Villian sympathized with Zach’s absurd words, and Zach pushed harder because he wanted it to be this time.

“Well. I can’t catch the old man. I’m alone. Young guys should do it.”

Old man Northern also nodded and suddenly pretended to be an old man who couldn’t even afford it. I was dumbfounded.

Are these nobles still awake from the alcohol they drank the day before? They all make me put a gun on me.

But I couldn’t help it. Because I was the only one with a bow.

“Then let’s do this. Everyone pay attention.”

***

f*ck!

“Kreukreuk!”

First.

“No, the enemy-“

Peeing!

“Ugh.”

Second.

The two of them, shot in the neck by an arrow, fell off balance outside the barrier, silently, making only the sound of boiling blood.

At the same time, I sent a hand signal.

Took! Thud!

The scouts, who were waiting under the wooden fence, managed to retrieve the body.

Although the old man Northern was short, there was a cute steamer whose corpse’s limbs dragged on the floor, but the male golfer G-House’s iron rule of ‘don’t touch what isn’t there’ made it go unnoticed.

“Let’s go.”

After I quickly joined the scouts, we entered the fence.

Jack was at the forefront, and Old Man Northern at the end.

As I noticed earlier on the high ground, there were log cabins built here and there inside the wooden fence.

Zach and Villian were quite good at stealth and reconnaissance, so we only moved between the gaps as they guided us.

Sasasak. There was a slight sound of the soil being rubbed, but there was no problem moving because it was all covered by moans and sounds of eating and drinking from inside the log cabin.

Has it been that long?

Poof.

‘Stop.’

A hand signal was received from Zach, who was in the front.

And when I listened closely, I heard a sound. There were at least five of them, judging from the roaming around.

“So, I grabbed the madman by the head and poured myself a drink.”

“…The story at the gambling house…”

“Did you hear the story of the viscount’s knight who used his waist to survive from the orcs? hehehehe!!”

It was difficult to subdue without making a sound.

Perhaps this was the same for Jack, he raised his hand for a moment and waved his hand toward the other alley.

Swish, swish.

‘Over there.’

It was the right choice.

Our mission was not to wipe out, but to subdue the patrols and watchtowers, so there is no need to take risks.

Walking around like that, we only intercepted the patrol team.

―Puff!

“Big!”

Out of the shadows, Billian quickly dragged me into the alley with only his arm out.

After a while, the bandit saw that his comrade had disappeared and came this way. It was an unobserved complaint.

“What is it? Hey. Are you peeing?”

The old man Northern had already done it, and Jack did it a little while ago.

“The boss told me not to pee on the wall of the house the other day.”

So this time it was my turn.

“I told you to get rid of that habit of peeing outside in the bathroom.”

Tok, talk. I gently hit the ground with the handle of my dagger.

The bandits are coming this way.

Sureuk.

Suddenly, he pulled out an ax from his waist.

I don’t know if it’s instinct or what, but he seemed to feel uneasy.

“Hey, don’t play around.”

“……”

“You bastard, where did you go-“

He came closer.

I rushed at it without making a sound. The guy’s eyes widened.

The color red on the road is eye-catching. Had to be subdued only with his hand.

Puck!

Grabbing him by the larynx and slapping him, he covered his mouth with his free hand.

“K-Kellock.”

The unsteady screams that could not escape through the gaps in my hands soon turned into coughing.

Who are you? Who made the coughing noise?

Somebody suck a dick, you asshole. Be quiet and have a drink.

And about his struggles, somewhere in the log cabin, he gave his impressions through a small talk.

Amidst the sound of ridicule, only the sound of something being filmed could be heard continuously.

―Quack! Knock! Knock!

“Ugh…”

The tenth.

The dagger was definitely more effective. In the current situation, the quarter staff was just a hindrance.

As far as I can remember, these guys were the last of the patrols.

“Okay, let’s move.”

Speaking softly, this time I took the lead.

“Hey, that’s a human. It’s a monster.”

I heard someone’s impression behind me.

***

Wooddeuk!

“Quack!”

Eleventh.

The sentry’s head was hollowed out.

I lowered the quarter staff I was holding. The oil in his hair on the tip of the long stick glistened.

Certainly, a long stick was better than a dagger now.

After subduing the sentry, we have to dispose of the corpses to go to the next watchtower, but we don’t know the patrol round time, and there’s no one to take us under the watchtower.

That’s why blood shouldn’t flow as much as possible, and blunt weapons were effective to stop the bleeding.

And yet, no alarm sounds meant this judgment was good.

Unfortunately, everyone in the watchtower today went to the bathroom and didn’t come back.

I said while wiping the staff with the sentry’s clothes.

“By the way, Old Man Northern must have done better, right?”

Zach looked to one side and nodded his head.

“I guess so.”

Looking at the watchtower on the other side, I saw something stained red. It was the ax day of inspiration.

“I guess so.”

We signaled to the assault team outside.

Sureuk, sereuk. There was the sound of something breaking through the grass.

Instantly, I saw the mercenaries coming closer and closer at a trot, and I saw them splitting into each log house as they passed through the wooden gate.

“It’s a raid!!!”

I heard someone shouting, and I heard the sound of metal clashing.

“Catch and kill them all!!!”

The tenor’s voice came from afar.

The sweep has begun.