Patrick was crushed. He truly clutched his head, writhing in anguish and torment.
“Damn it, to think these were all lumps of money? How many Trolls have I caught until now? My money! My moooneeey!”
A soldier cautiously spoke to the screaming Patrick.
“You've caught other things besides this until now...”
“Hey, you son of a bitch!”
Before the soldier could finish, Patrick ran to Brian, who was bowing his head to the ground, and kicked him hard. Then he began to stomp on him cruelly again. Brian spoke as if it was unfair.
“Why……. Ugh…. Why are you doing this…… Gak!”
“You bastard, why didn't you tell me before? Why didn't you tell me that thing was worth money!? Whyyyy!?”
“I thought you knew.... Uwaaak!”
“How is a ten-year-old kid supposed to know that?”
He wanted to say, “Then why is a ten-year-old kid catching Trolls?” but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
“Die! Die! I'll tell father you died a heroic death in battle, so just die!”
“Aaaak! I was wrong. Gak!”
Watching Brian being brutally stomped on, the soldiers looked on with miserable gazes.
‘To think I'd live to see the day I feel sorry for that man.’
‘I thought I'd never feel sorry for him even if he was chewed up and eaten alive by monsters.’
‘He's amazing. Truly amazing.’
Until now, Brian had found all sorts of faults with the soldiers to cut their wages and pocketed the difference. He even intercepted the consolation money that should have gone to the families of the fallen.
The soldiers who had suffered so much from Brian were confident they would clap and mock him, telling him to die well, even if he were chewed to bits alive by an Ogre while begging for his life.
But...
"You're weak. Your character is rotten. You have no sense. Why the hell do you even live? Why are you alive?"
“Aaaak! Save me....”
“Don't live! Die. Just die!”
Even as he told him to die, Patrick never hit any fatal spots, thoroughly and methodically stomping on him purely for pain.
Falling from a two-star knight to a slave, being treated as the youngest in the very army he used to command, and on top of that, being subjected to all sorts of abuse from Patrick and getting beaten like this. How could one not feel pity for him?
‘It would be better to just die cleanly.’
‘So this is what it means for life to be a living hell.’
‘Tsk tsk tsk, this is why people should live righteously.’
While training the soldiers and while they worked, what was Patrick doing? Others might not have known, but Patrick was by no means lazing around. He was taking Brian around the fief's surroundings and clearing out monsters.
Diligently, without resting a single day.
‘Monsters or whatever, in the end, they're just harmful beasts, right? Then I should just beat them all to death.’
Having come to that conclusion, Patrick took Brian and roamed the forests around the fief, catching and killing monsters. Of course, in the process, the two-star knight Brian was being worn to the bone, but he didn't care. Anyway, that's what happened...
“So all that was money? Then were Goblins, Kobolds, and Giant Wolves all worth money too?”
“Did you catch a Giant Wolf too? Its hide is very expensive.”
“Kuh...”
Patrick groaned in pain as if he had taken a powerful blow to the heart. He had caught one.
He had.
The problem was that he had caught it by slicing it into dozens of pieces.
‘Come to think of it, that bastard Brian did look at the Giant Wolf's corpse with a hint of regret. Ah... What a waste. Such a waste. My money.’
It was no wonder Patrick felt such regret. The truth was, although the House of Schneider was a noble family, it was a rather poor one.
Baron Schneider didn't indulge in luxury, but there were large expenditures to maintain the military force to protect the fief's people, and the fief's sources of income were merely some grain and medicinal herbs from the forest. On top of that, Baron Schneider collected the least amount of taxes among the neighboring nobles.
In fact, if Baron Schneider hadn't lived frugally and had lived at the level of an ordinary noble, the taxes on the fief's people would have had to be raised several times over.
“My mistake. How many years has it been since I made such a fatal error?”
‘Young master, it's only been ten years since you were born, though?’
The soldier wanted to say something to the lamenting Patrick, but he decided to just watch. And Patrick said………
“Can't be helped. Hey, newbie.”
“Yes…. Cough…. Did you call?”
Brian, who had collapsed, staggered to his feet.
“To make up for the losses so far, we need to move more diligently.”
“By that, you mean....”
“From now on, we'll double the hunting time and go deeper, so guide the way properly. Got it?”
“Just the two of us, young master?”
“Of course. We can't take our precious soldiers to a dangerous place, can we?”
The soldiers listening to Patrick were momentarily moved. Brian, however, was hurt. Brian said urgently.
"It's dangerous, young master. If we go deeper into the fief's forest, monsters that even four-star knights find hard to handle sometimes appear.” "It's fine, it's fine. Even if a truly dangerous moment comes, trust me. I can at least get myself out.” “If you get yourself out, young master, what happens to me?” “Hm? Why are you asking me that?” "..."
“The great Sir Brian Erickson, a two-star knight, will handle it himself, right? Isn't that so?”
"..."
“Wow…, no conscience. Don't tell me a man who's a knight at the two-star level is expecting a ten-year-old kid to protect him? Aren't you ashamed?”
The more Patrick spoke, the redder Brian's face became.
And then………
"Cough."
Brian suddenly collapsed, spewing blood from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
"Woah!"
“What is this?”
“I've never seen someone collapse like this. Eric…… no. Newbie. Hey, newbie!”
The soldiers rushed over to check on Brian's condition, while Patrick scratched his head and muttered.
“Bleeding from the seven orifices. It's been a while. Brings back memories.”
It was something one often saw in the martial world back in the day. It was a phenomenon often seen in those who conversed, traded, or negotiated with Jin Cheon.
‘Are those people from back then doing well? They shouldn't be. They should all be dead.’
Even reborn in another world, his top-class personality remained unchanged.
Who is there that hates money? Of course, most people like money. But in Patrick's case, he had been unusually obsessed with money since his past life.
No, he had no choice but to be obsessed. First, the Twin Dragon Sect was a dirt-poor, penniless sect. It didn't run businesses like a major sect, nor did it receive sponsorships.
The entrance fees from a few trainees were all they had, and that was barely enough to maintain the sect. In the midst of that, his Master was like the incarnation of a pushover, who didn't know the value of money and would generously spend any little bit he got helping those in need.
Under such adverse conditions, Jin Cheon did his absolute best to somehow manage the sect's finances. If a treasure appeared here, he would run for it; if spirit medicines appeared there, he would run again...
While other masters of the martial world wore silk clothes, drank expensive liquor, and sat in places with fine scenery, laughing and enjoying themselves, the great hero of the righteous path, the Radiant Dragon Grandmaster, was busy earning money. But even after earning money, there was another problem. Senior uncle, I'm hungry.
Senior brother, my training uniform is worn out. My disciple, do you not feel pity for the plight of the poor? He thought he was going to go insane.
The Radiant Dragon Grandmaster, praised in other sects as a dragon rising from a stream or a great hero of the righteous path, was just the head of a household inside the Twin Dragon Sect, who had to work diligently to feed the chirping baby birds crying out in hunger.
‘Kuk, just thinking about that time brings tears to my eyes....’
Mhm, thinking about it again makes me sad. Anyway, being that kind of person, Patrick couldn't help but be sensitive about money. The Schneider family he was reborn into was noble, but not fabulously wealthy.
Rather, it could be classified as a poor noble family. He hadn't paid much attention before because of many unsettling events, but now that he was stepping up for the family in earnest, the problems caused by the lack of money began to bother him one by one. The rusted equipment of the soldiers.
The butler and maids wearing clothes with worn-out parts patched up. Looking closely at the mansion, there were more than a few spots where broken parts couldn't be properly fixed and were just patched up with wooden planks.
‘No. I can't live like a penniless beggar again.’
Having been born a noble for a change, shouldn't he eat well and live well? From the moment he learned that monsters were worth money, Patrick's mind was filled with greed.
“Giant Wolf, Troll, Ogre, Dragon. Anything is fine, so find one quickly. Quickly.”
“Young master. I am not a monster hunter. A two-star....”
“Find something by the end of today. If you can't?”
"..."
“You die. You're dead.”
His eyes were filled with sincerity. "I will definitely find something.” In front of Patrick, Brian searched every nook and cranny of the forest floor and trees, tracking the monster's trail.
He too was a man who had long served as a knight of the Schneider Fief. He was quite skilled at recognizing the tracks of monsters.
However...
‘Damn it, why can't I see anything? I need to find something quickly.’
It's always like that. Things that were once common are hard to find when you're actually looking for them. That's just how it is...
“Found it! Young master. I found it.”
"Oh? Really?"
Surprisingly, in this field, Brian showed quite a capable side. However, there was a problem. He found a trail, but……
“Young master. This is a Sa. Saber Tiger.”
Brian's voice trembled. He found something, but it was too big of a catch.
Saber Tiger.
It was one of the most dangerous beast-type monsters, known as the terror of the forest. Brian, who found the tracks of such a Saber Tiger, trembled in fear, while Patrick....
“Is it expensive?” asked this.
Brian flinched for a moment but soon collected himself and spoke.
“Young master. This is a monster. I'm talking about a massive tiger that hunts and eats Trolls.”
"Oh? A tiger? The hide must be expensive, right? It is expensive? It's expensive, right?"
“Yes. The hide is expensive, and so are the fangs. It is expensive, but. Please listen to me first....”
“Track it quickly. If we lose it, you're dead.”
“Young master. I'll say it again, a Saber Tiger is truly dangerous. It would be better to give up on this one and find another.”
“Give up?”
“Yes. This is really dangerous. I know you are strong, young master, but one wrong move and we could die. Please, my loyalty....”
“Newbie. Newbie, my dear newbie.”
Crack. Crack.
Patrick cracked his neck from side to side, then placed his hands on Brian's shoulders and said with a pleased expression.
"Newbie, think carefully."
“... About what?”
“Honestly, what you're worried about right now isn't my life, it's your own, isn't it? Right?”
“That's not it. I...”
"It's fine, it's fine. It's only natural for a person to value their own life the most. I won't get mad over something like that."
"..."
Of course, he had hit the mark. If Patrick had said he would hunt the Saber Tiger alone, Brian would have cheered him on enthusiastically, thinking, 'Go fight and die.' But since he had to go with him, he had to try and stop him this desperately.
To that Brian, Patrick said with a bright smile.
“...”
“But, newbie?”
"..."
“Right now, what's threatening your life? Is it the Saber Tiger? Or is it me?”
"..."
“Think carefully. Thiiiink carefully.”
“I will track it.”
Brian had no choice but to take the lead, tears streaming down his face. Throughout all ages, East and West, violence was truly convenient.