Savage Ascension: Starting with God-Tier Plunder Ability-Chapter 66: Together, Not Protected

’What should I choose?’

[Ranger’s Survival Method]

[Slave’s Trap Making (Wood)]

[Gold-chasing ranger’s instinctive archery]

[Bull Fighting’s Heavy Armor Operation Know-how]

They all had their merits. In this world with abundant forests, Slave’s Trap Making (Wood) was useful and frequently applicable. However, Rowan leaned toward heavy armor operation.

Solid heavy armor would definitely give him a significant advantage in future fights. A warrior who skillfully operated heavy armor with practical know-how was better than one who used it clumsily.

’It’ll be later, but... let’s think of it as an investment.’

Black smoke wrapped around him and stole his vision. Rowan entered deep into the black door and fell asleep.

Even after waking, the three didn’t let down their guard. They roused themselves with simple fruit and water, then moved on.

"They’re even out this far."

Yuval gritted his teeth. At a crossroads a day and a half from Mushroom Mountain Village, they saw people preparing breakfast while roasting something over a campfire. One of them looked familiar.

"One of the village youths who tried to rob us."

At Rowan’s muttering, Yuval answered.

"That bastard’s name is Ken. He led the gang."

Yuval was excellent at observing and remembering faces. That’s also why he could play the captain role. Mercenaries had to set up shop and operate anywhere. Sharp observation could rightly be called an essential virtue for a mercenary captain.

Of course, mercenary groups that just planted their butts in one region weren’t to that degree. The Skull Mercenary Group were bounty hunters who moved around frequently, and traveling between regions meant inevitably meeting more people.

’Son of a bitch.’

Rowan cursed. He felt Ken deserved blame for a good portion of their hardship so far. Including Ken, there were six village men.

"What do you want to do?"

Rowan politely deferred to Yuval, as a courtesy. He wasn’t the captain here. Merein wouldn’t see it that way.

"We’ll ignore them. Aren’t we tired right now?"

Yuval made a wise judgment. Battles weren’t always won. No matter how pathetic those six were, numbers were king. Rowan nodded. Even with his animosity toward Ken, he didn’t think about killing him.

It was different from killing Keireon and Sen. When he killed them, he’d been certain he’d have the black dream.

Ken, on the other hand, was a total nobody.

The group ignored that crowd. They passed through more forest. Meanwhile, Yuval pulled the cart alongside Rowan and said,

"I’ll return the fifty copper coins we received as an escort fee. I’ll hand them over during rest time."

"What? What do you mean?"

It was unexpected.

"Just what I said. In the current situation, you’re no different from a mercenary doing the same work. It feels like we’re together rather than me protecting you."

Rowan nodded. Nothing bad about that. Instead, he appreciated that Yuval’s choice showed considerable thought.

"You don’t need to go that far, but I’m not the type to refuse money."

"Heh heh."

When Rowan made a coin-counting gesture with his hand, Yuval laughed.

’He pulled the cart without hesitation. This is the right move.’

Yuval was aligning himself with Rowan’s disposition. Normally he wouldn’t make this choice, but to gain Rowan’s favor, he’d acted in accordance with Rowan’s straightforward nature. Even though fifty copper coins weren’t small money, Yuval had reason to get close to Rowan.

’Only Merein is left as a member.’

At least until reaching Torch Fortress, it made sense to have Rowan working with them for contingencies. He needed to become a companion of sorts. That was the territory of colleagues, not customers. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

During rest time, he received fifty copper coins.

"No going back on this later."

"Yes."

Rowan pocketed the money. Apparently Yuval wanted to maintain better relations with him. Merein didn’t say much while watching this. For now, Rowan was a good combatant. The difference one more person made was huge.

If only one person traveled, you could kill them and that was it. If two traveled, kill one and one remained. But three? Even killing one left two. Two was threatening. It was also the mercenary group’s iron rule. Not just the Skull Mercenary Group’s rule.

It was a mercenary rule spread by word of mouth through taverns and inns where people living by the sword gathered. Form mercenary groups with at least three people.

This also meant enemies would form groups of three or more too. Because the rule of three was quite famous. Because mercenaries loved to chatter when drunk.

Yuval, Merein, and Rowan finally got the cart on the road toward Torch Fortress.

The struggle was no small matter. Rowan didn’t dwell on Mushroom Mountain Village. He wanted to focus on something far more productive than revenge.

After a day or two, when they reached areas Yuval knew well, he even found a suitable spring to wash up. Water fell from above like a small waterfall, and animals were quite visible nearby.

Crackle!

The sound of burning wood filled the air as they set up camp at the spring. Many people used this place, so finding firewood nearby was hard, and there were many burn marks around.

Rowan caught a rather sturdy roe deer with the wolf Dono and crow Kaiya. Rowan didn’t think deeply about the contradiction of ordinary roe deer living in forests teeming with incomprehensible monsters.

He buried the innards shallowly in the ground and submerged the meat in the spring to drain the blood. He collected fresh water from upstream for drinking.

He boiled the water without fail.

"Why do you boil water?"

Merein struck up a conversation. Rowan didn’t do the stupid thing of mentioning the unfamiliar word "hygiene." Instead, he smoothly lied, saying he’d often caught colds, so he always wanted to keep his body warm.

They filled their bellies well. They only posted someone on night watch until midnight and at dawn. The responsible Yuval said he’d wake up on his own at dawn, and Rowan decided to stay up a bit longer.

Because Merein’s condition wasn’t good. Even with training, a woman’s body inevitably had some difference from a man’s. Though she had more muscle than most women, Merein’s relatively low body weight meant she struggled more than anyone when pulling the cart.

Rowan was being considerate. Merein jokingly called him Sir Knight to express her thanks. Most men didn’t do such things.

Giving women a pass was no different from saying look at my crotch at night. Give and take. Thorough selfishness prevailed. This world didn’t even have the concept of selflessness to begin with.

Of course, individual thoughts varied widely.

Rowan’s action of wordlessly volunteering wasn’t necessarily admirable—depending on the situation, it could make him seem like a lust-crazed bastard.

When Merein said as much while drinking, Rowan was greatly disgusted. When he shuddered, shouted, and drew a knife-sharp line, Yuval found it so funny he spat out his drink while laughing heartily.

"Not a hunter, but a lover. A lover!"

Yuval’s dad joke also made the atmosphere awkward. As if this always happened, Yuval seemed perfectly fine laughing alone at his own joke.