Mercedes V1C8

 Chapter 8 - Straying

    The ogre, who was defeated by Mercedes, showed no intention of resisting. On the contrary, he knelt down and offered his neck as if accepting death. He almost looked like a servant in front of his master, which left Mercedes feeling confused.

"That's very noble of you. I did win the battle, but I didn't think you would submit to me like this." (Mercedes)

"Strength is the only and absolute law for us ogres. We show respect and loyalty to those who have defeated us. You are the winner. Therefore, you have the right to do as you like to me.... and of course, including the right to kill me. I'm ready to give my life to uphold the laws of my kin."

    Mercedes was on guard, ruminating the ogre's words in her head.

Come to think of it, I do remember such a description in a book. It's said that ogres are dangerous monsters, but if you can defeat them in a duel, they will become your loyal servant who will never betray you for the rest of their life.

However, they will only recognize the first person who defeated them as their master, and that loyalty will never change. Therefore, even if you defeat an ogre, if that ogre already has a master, they will not serve you.

Maybe I’ve found what I’m looking for....

    Loyalty coming from a human's mouth was not worthy of trust at all. Humans were quick to betray others for their own greed. But Mercedes thought that the loyalty of a monster, backed by instinct, was worth considering.

A human pledging loyalty to another human is completely different from an animal instinctively following the leader of the pack. The former will betray, but the latter will not. There may be times when they fight for the position of pack leader, but they would not suddenly sneak up on you and attack you while pretending to be loyal in the middle of a hunt. But people do it because they have the wisdom and desire to do so.

If we're talking about wisdom, this ogre also possesses it, but loyalty that comes from instinct is worth trying and is attractive. Just as wisdom doesn't completely suppress the desire for food, sleep, or sex, if the instinct to 'follow the strong' is stronger, even if he is thinking of betraying me, there should be some warning signs before he acts on it.

    Mercedes pulled back her sword and looked at the ogre. She was trying to get some reaction from him, but the ogre didn't even move.

It's easy to kill him, but if it's true that he will never betray me, it would be such a waste.

"Then let me ask you: will you become my hands and feet from now on and follow all of my orders?" (Mercedes)

"If that's what you want."

"Very well, then wait there." (Mercedes)

"As you command, My Lord."

Unexpectedly, I managed to secure a baggage carrier. I can't trust him yet, so I'll observe him for a while. Putting that aside, I need to check on the merchant and his escorts.

The escorts are....  it's already too late for them. They are all dead. Even though vampires have excellent regenerative abilities and life force, we are not immortal.

If it were the vampires from the story I saw in my previous life, even if you behead them or stab their heart, they would come back to life like nothing happened. The vampires in this world aren't built like that. Unfortunately, the only one still alive is the merchant.

"It's over. Can you stand up?" (Mercedes)

"Oh.... Thank you.... Thank you so much.... I thought.... I thought.... It was all over...."

    The merchant was trembling and shaking while thanking Mercedes over and over again.

Even so, he is a terrible state. His body is so emaciated he looks like a skeleton. It's obvious that he hasn't eaten for days.

"From what I see, it looks like a merchant and his hired escorts.... The escorts have been wiped out, though." (Merchant)

"Yes, that's right.... As you may have guessed, I run a trading company.... It's called the Trainu Trading Company.... Do you know it?"

"I don't know much about it, but it's one of the largest trading companies in the country, isn't it?" (Mercedes)

Trainu Trading Company is one of the leading trading companies in this kingdom of vampire, based in the city of Bruto. In fact, the large general store where I shopped the other day is also owned by the Trainu Trading Company. If his story is true, he must be the head of that great trading company. How could such a big shot be dying in this dungeon?

“So, what is someone like you doing here?” (Mercedes)

"In recent years, my company has been taker over by other companies, so when I heard that whoever conquers dungeons would be rewarded with an enormous amount of wealth, I hired the best Seekers in this city and set out to conquer this dungeon."

Those who conquer the dungeon will be rewarded with wealth. This fairy tale-like story is well-known among the Seekers. In fact, there have been several cases in the past of Seekers conquering dungeons and bringing back gems, gold, silver, and other treasures, so this story is not completely far-fetched. It is believed that a mountain of treasure lies deep within the dungeon.

"I hired three parties of renowned B-rank Seekers. Each party consisted of four people and had a proven track record and experience."

B-rank is the highest rank of Seekers that can be hired normally. Most A-rank Seekers or above are exclusively employed by the country or nobles, and because they are given priority in receiving requests sent to them from above, they are not easy to hire, no matter how wealthy a merchant they may be. So even though he had spared no expense in hiring three parties, a total of twelve people, to conquer the dungeon, he could only hire B-rank Seekers.

"It was going well until halfway through, but.... once we got past the tenth floor, the monsters' strength increased dramatically. Even so, we still managed to reach the bottom floor, but that was a mistake.... My escorts had exhausted their strength and tools just by reaching there, and they were killed one after another...."

    The merchant must have remembered something terrifying, as he hugged his shoulders and trembled.

"It's too dangerous to go any further --- who was the first to say this? But since we still have some strength left, I thought we could go a little further."

That kind of thinking was a red flag. He should have retreated when his escort gave a warning. He made a mistake in judgment.

"The remaining escorts and I decided to retreat immediately. However, the bag loaded with food became too heavy during the escape, and we ended up throwing it away when we were about to be caught."

    Mercedes was about to ask if he had any vials of blood, but she already got the answer.

It would be a miracle if bottled blood still remained intact in that chaos. They are fragile and take up a lot of space. It's safe to assume that they were damaged or destroyed.

In the history of Earth, before canned food appeared, the bottled storage method invented by Nicolas Appel from France was highly valued, but this also had the problem of the container being easily damaged. That's right, bottles are easily broken and are not suitable for long-term storage or carrying. That's why canned food was introduced.

"Struggling with hunger and fatigue, we desperately escaped from the bottom floor and then we finally made it back here. However, there was a monster that continued to chase us."

"Do you mean the ogre?" (Mercedes)

"Yes.... without being able to do anything, the already strong ogre killed the weakened escorts. If you hadn't come, I would have been a corpse by now."

    Twelve B-rank Seekers were killed. Hearing this story, Mercedes realized even more the importance of increasing the number of companions. In that sense, it was probably good luck that she was able to defeat the ogre.

Considering that I was able to defeat the ogre by myself with plenty of strength to spare, he is probably one of the weakest monster in the bottom floor. He was able to wipe out the escorts because as the merchant said, they were completely fatigued and weakened. Even so, he should be a valuable fighting force in the future.

"Let's go back to the surface for now. I'll accompany you and.... the ogre over there, what's your name?" (Mercedes)

"I don't have a name. Call me what you like."

Does this mean I have to give him a name? It's hard to decide on the spot. The first thing that comes to my mind is Ashura, but that's his species. It's too straightforward for a name.

What should I do? An ogre who uses a lot of weapons.... a lot of weapons.... Speaking of which, that reminds me of Musashibo Benkei somehow.

    Mercedes pondered for a bit, but couldn't think of any other good names, so she decided to go with this one.

He's big and uses a lot of weapons. I think that name suits him.

"Then your name is Benkei from now on." (Mercedes)

"Benkei.... is a good name. I shall remember it." (Benkei)

"Then, Benkei, carry those fallen Seekers over there." (Mercedes)

They're already dead, but I want to at least return them to the surface.

    Thinking this, Mercedes had the ogre - Benkei - carried the bodies. They probably wouldn't want to be carried by the one who killed them, but Mercedes thought it was better than letting their bodies rot in a place like this.

"Can you stand up? Umm...." (Mercedes)

"It's Trainu." (Trainu)

"Mr. Trainu, if you can't stand, I will lend you my shoulder." (Mercedes)

The merchant's name is Trainu. He apparently named his company after himself.

    Mercedes urged Trainu to stand up, but he showed no signs of doing so. He seemed to have lost even the strength to stand up after spending days on the run with an empty stomach.

If we continue like this, he will starve to death before we reach the surface.

    Mercedes took out some choco crunch imitation wrapped in paper from her bag and unwrapped it.

The paper commonly used in this country is sheepskin paper or parchment. However, although it is called sheepskin paper, it is actually mass-produced using monster skin, not skin of sheep. There's no need to go to the trouble of skinning precious livestock, as monsters spawn endlessly from the dungeon. There is also paper made from plants in this world, but it is not as commonly used as sheepskin paper.

There are several reasons why plant-based paper replaced parchment as the mainstream paper, but one of the reasons is the difference in cost performance. The production process of parchment is laborious and expensive. Meanwhile, the amount of parchment that can be obtained from one animal is limited. It would take the skin of several animals to make one book. In the Middle Ages, one book was a high-quality item worth millions in modern value.

Therefore, it was natural that plant-based paper, which is a cheaper and more abundant in terms material, would become mainstream. In fact, plant-based paper can be made from weeds, so unless we wipe out all plants and turn the land into a wasteland, it's safe to say that the raw materials for producing plant-based paper are nearly infinite.

 So, why is parchment still the mainstream in this world? The technology to make plant-based paper already exists. You would normally think they would switch to it, right?

    Mercedes concluded that the reason for this was because there was plenty of ‘material’ to make parchment in this world.

As mentioned before, the raw materials for the parchment used in this world are not livestock but monsters that spawn endlessly from the dungeons. In other words, the cost of materials to make parchment is almost free. It's very unlikely that they'll switch to plant-based paper in this situation.

"Here, eat this. It will make you a little better." (Mercedes)

"Umm.... is this perhaps animal droppings...?" (Trainu)

"Don't worry, it's not animal droppings." (Mercedes)

That's a terrible first impression, but I guess I can't really blame him.

    The choco crunch imitation that Mercedes created with her half-baked knowledge certainly did not look appetizing and it indeed looked like solidified animal droppings.

    Trainu sniffed the choco crunch imitation before hesitantly put it into his mouth. A moment later, the doubt disappeared from his face, and was replaced by a shocked expression.

"This.... has a strange taste. It's sweet, but also bitter. This is the first time I've ever eaten this.... No, I think I've tasted this somewhere before...." (Trainu)

 

    Trainu continued eating the choco crunch imitation one after another, and in no time, he had finished them all.

"It seems that you like it." (Mercede)

"Umm...." (Trainu)

"It's Mercedes." (Mercedes)

"Thank you, Miss Mercedes. By the way, where did you get this?" (Trainu)

"I made it myself. I couldn't find high-calorie and tasty emergency foods in the stores, after all." (Mercede)

"You made this yourself?! That's amazing. I'd really like to hear how you made it.... Of course, it won't be free. 50% of the sales will go to you...." (Trainu)

"That sounds like a good offer, but let's talk about it after we get out of here." (Mercedes)

As expected of a merchant, even in this situation, his eyes lit up when he saw the money tree. However, this is inside a dungeon where it is not surprising for a monster to appear at any time. It's better to talk about that sort of thing after we get outside.

    After telling him that, Mercedes lent Trainu her shoulder and headed toward the outside.