Chapter 63.2

Her body was covered in countless scars from her long years as a mercenary.

Her red hair, tied in a loose ponytail, swayed in the wind.

Her eyes were a piercing blue, her skin a coppery bronze — a stark contrast to the typical pale complexion of Northern folk.

Her imposing height and bulging muscles made it hard to believe she was a woman at all.

On the surface, she looked to be in her 30s, but in truth, she was much older.

“…….”

The Mercenary Queen, Carpe, extended her hand toward the white hawk descending from the sky.

It was unmistakable. This was the fabled beast of the North, the Winter Hawk.

‘How did the Winter Hawk get here!?’

Doubt clouded her mind. The Winter Hawk’s range was, at most, limited to the North and the central parts of the Empire.

But this place was in the Eastern Region of the Empire.

It was the location of the Great Ragoit Wall, the continent’s largest barrier, bordering the Eastern Wastelands — a savage land that marked the boundary between civilization and barbarism.

For the Winter Hawk to have reached this far, it would have had to be deliberately sent from at least the mid-northern part of the Empire.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Does that mean the Frost Knights are nearby?”

Even though the Winter Hawk was a mystical beast, it couldn’t locate someone as precisely as it had just done.

This could only mean one thing: witchcraft was involved.

It wouldn’t have taken much. A strand of her hair, left behind in the North long ago, would have been enough for the witches to cast a tracking spell.

‘Hmph…’

Her initial sense of nostalgia at seeing the hawk quickly vanished, replaced by a flood of memories she had buried long ago — memories of debts she thought she’d never have to repay.

Her gaze turned toward the hawk’s leg, where, as expected, a small, folded piece of paper was tied.

Rustle.

She untied the message, and the Winter Hawk, having fulfilled its duty, soared back into the sky.

Carpe didn’t even watch it leave. Her eyes were fixed on the note as her expression grew more serious.

“At this point…!?”

Her brow furrowed as she read the contents.

There was only one line written on the slip of paper.

“Disciple, it’s time to repay your debt. Come to the North.”

“…….”

Without a word, Carpe stuffed the paper into her mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed it.

Then, she let out a thunderous roar.

“You piece of trash!!”

It was her first contact with her master in 20 years, and it was the worst kind of message.

“Damn it, you old bastard! You actually did it! You really did it! What a typical Northener move! They’re always so annoyingly meticulous when it comes to things like this!”

Carpe turned to the northwest and roared like a wild beast.

“Disciple?! DISCIPLE, MY FOOT! I was your ‘disciple’ for one measly week, and now you have the audacity to call me that?! And for the record, I don’t even use a sword anymore!!”

On her back was a massive battle axe instead of a sword.

“Aaaaargh! Past me, you idiot! Why did you have to do that back then!? Why did you have to be so reckless!?”

Not far away, a group of her comrades watched her spectacle with cautious gazes.

“Looks like the boss is really pissed off, huh?”

“You can’t tell just by looking?”

“Did that old guy, the Dark Grand Duke, ask her to do something weird again?”

“No, this feels different.”

Carpe wasn’t just any mercenary. She was the Mercenary Queen, and naturally, she was surrounded by loyal comrades and subordinates.

“Shh! Keep it down and focus on collecting the loot!”

“Damn, these orc scouts were loaded. They had more loot than most humans!”

“That’s because they’re Mongar Orcs. No wonder even the Dark Grand Duke took action against them.”

Around the Red Wolf Mercenary Corps, which Carpe commanded, lay the bodies of 20 Mongar Orcs.

These orcs were larger, stronger, and more heavily muscled than ordinary orcs. Their tusks were longer, and their physical power far surpassed that of humans.

Unlike ordinary orcs, these Mongar Orcs were equipped with iron weapons that rivaled those used by Imperial elite soldiers.

Though it wasn’t as strong as Imperial Steel or Northern Cold Iron, the fact that such powerful orcs had iron weapons was no small threat.

“Shouldn’t we start moving soon?”

“Yeah… If the knights see this loot, they’ll definitely throw a fit.”

“Then light up some incense. That should keep them off our backs.”

The mercenaries of the Red Wolf whispered among themselves as they kept an eye on Carpe.

Having spent years with the Mercenary Queen, they instinctively knew that at times like this, it was best to stay quiet and wait.

While she was still shouting profanities, Carpe’s mind was racing.

‘Ignore it! Just ignore it! I can pretend I didn’t see it!’

No matter how much she thought about it, she didn’t owe the North anything.

Technically, she didn’t owe the North — she owed Balzac, that stubborn old man.

***

A long time ago.

When she was still a lowly mercenary, she had crossed paths with Balzac while he was working as an Enforcer in the Demonic Realm.

“Hey, senior knight! Tell me, how do I become a monster like you? Teach me your secrets!”

At the time, she was desperate. As a low-level mercenary, she didn’t think she’d survive for long.

“I’ve got nothing to offer you, but I’ll sleep with you if that’s what you want! Do whatever you want with me!”

Hearing this, Balzac, already an old man at the time, clicked his tongue in disgust.

“With a face like that, where does your confidence even come from?”

“Yeah, yeah! I’m not pretty, I get it! But sometimes, you’ve gotta try something different, huh? Or… don’t tell me… you can’t even get it up anymore?”

But Carpe wasn’t one to be hurt by words like that.

“Forget it. I’ll teach you. You’ve got a bit of potential, after all.”

“Huh? R-really!?”

“You’re headed back to Haven, aren’t you? It’s about a week’s walk. I’ll teach you the basics of mana cultivation and weapon handling during that time. That should be enough to keep you from starving to death.”

“Wait, wait! There’s no such thing as a free lunch! If we end it like this, it’ll just feel unfinished!”

“Hmph. You’re more stubborn than I expected. Fine, give me a lock of your hair.”

“Hair…? You’re into that kind of thing?”

“Idiot. If you ever become famous, I’ll use it to track you down and make you pay me back. Gotta know where you are to call you, right?”

“Oh, I get it! Sure, sure! How much hair do you want? Should I just shave it all off? It’s been annoying me anyway.”

And that was it. That was the only connection she had with Balzac.

Now, 20 years later, he had called in the debt.

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