The Necromancer Who Was Despised

If it’s profit, then it’s profit. It doesn’t seem like I’ll be at a loss.

However, I wonder if Kuman has the money to buy all those orcs… .

‘Even if he gives a little less, there’s a way to eventually receive it.’

There was no need to worry about that.

I immediately ran to where the party was.

The two of them had already set up a moderately-sized base camp.

“What happened?”

“It seems like there was a war the day after we left. By the looks of it, it was probably a clash between the orc tribes.”

“In one day?”

Athina sighed as if she couldn’t believe it.

“What will happen then?”

Kyle replied to Kaila’s question as if it was nothing.

“Fortunately, they weren’t annihilated. It seems like they somehow held out.”

“As planned, no, I think we can even expand the plan.”

“What do you mean?”

“They are even weaker than I thought. In particular, the number of hunting party members we were after decreased, and all of their physical conditions are terrible.”

At my words, the two of them seemed to get a sense of what I was trying to say.

“Then… .”

“We might be able to capture all of the hunting party members. Then… .”

“We can also capture the ones who remained in the village.”

“It’ll take some time though.”

It’ll probably be difficult to hand over all of the orcs in the village within the time limit.

‘I’ll just have to negotiate that part.’

Well, although I don’t really feel like it, there was also the method of accepting losses, receiving support from the mercenaries and slaves, and forcefully capturing them.

‘There will be a lot of losses though.’

Even if they’re riddled with wounds, wouldn’t we be able to capture at least half of them alive?

“Anyway, the beginning is the same. No, it’ll actually be easier.”

“Well, you said they’re injured.”

“For now, it’s important to get the first step right.”

That alone will achieve the intended purpose.

The rest is something we can challenge without any burdens.

Since it was about time for the hunting party members to move, we moved to the place we had originally planned.

Originally, we would have had plenty of time, but because we spent some time figuring out the situation, we were a bit pressed for time.

‘It was helpful that we set aside plenty of time.’

Otherwise, we would have ended up wasting an entire day just figuring out the situation.

I meticulously applied the equipment and medicine that removes odors from my body.

After that, Athina hid herself by climbing up a tall tree, and Kyle and I also hid in a slightly distant location.

‘The wind direction is fine too… .’

It’s true that they might be more sensitive since it’s right after the war, but they’re not in such good shape, so it’ll be okay.

As time passed, the hunting squads began their activities as expected.

‘Two?’

The difficulty level was seriously low.

When Kyla looked this way, I nodded briefly.

As expected, the orcs were very sensitive, but they didn’t find us.

The kill zone, or rather, the capture zone. The orcs reach the area we’re targeting without any suspicion.

I gave a short signal, and Athena immediately sprayed the potion that had been sealed with the net.

“Kyaa!”

[Silence.]

The noisy orcs became quiet all at once.

The sprayed potion had the effect of lowering the opponent’s resistance.

They’re orcs who can’t use mana anyway. The whole area became quiet at once.

Before their resistance could grow, I quickly poured out the curse spells.

“[Blind], [Disease], [Sleep]….”

Most of the magic was poured into Silence, so the other curses would be less effective, but since their resistance was also lowered, they would be quite effective.

‘I need to be a higher class to use it properly though.’

The curses are more powerful depending on the class. However, this is more than enough for the current situation.

Puck! Bang!

Before I knew it, Kyla had gone wild and was beating up the resisting orcs as if it was nothing.

Their mouths were wide open, but no sound came out.

They seemed to have the will to resist somehow, but they were surrounded by a tough, heavy net and under all sorts of curses, so they couldn’t even pull out their weapons properly.

In the end, they were beaten up one-sidedly without much resistance and passed out.

“No. It was easier than I thought.”

Athena came down and said after confirming that the situation here had been resolved.

“The other hunting squads didn’t notice.”

It was over more easily than expected.

‘Both of them seem to be in good condition… .’

I took out the map and checked the other hunting squads’ range of movement and their main routes.

‘Their movements aren’t always the same… .’

Even so, there were places they were sure to pass by.

For example… .

‘Like right now, when they’re just about to start hunting… and when they’re returning from hunting.’

“Let’s catch one more team.”

“I thought you would.”

Kyla didn’t object, perhaps because she was sorry that the capture ended too easily.

The reason why hunting could be so easy was not only because of our skills but also because of our thorough preparation, and on top of that, the environment helped, so the capture was very fast.

We put the orcs in the iron cage for capture and sealed their bodies.

We added potion to make them sleep deeply with Sleep, and as if that wasn’t enough, we even gave them sleeping pills.

If you use too much, they might die, but it’s okay for a day or so. They’re such strong guys that even if they get injured, they’ll be fine.

‘How much is this going to cost me this time?’

It wasn’t a loss since it was 2 gold per one orc…

It can’t be helped. If you lack skill, you have to compensate for it with money.

Three orcs were captured on the second hunt. Considering that the remaining hunting group was three, there were about ten adult male orcs left in their village.

I sprayed wyvern incense on the hunting ground, so they shouldn’t suspect anything.

After resting at the base camp and looking around the situation, it seemed that the hunting group was leaving today because the internal situation was poor.

‘They’re going in groups of two.’

This time, too, when two groups were captured, the iron cages were full, so I decided to leave for now.

“This is…”

“There are nine. If you give me more time, I can capture more.”

Kuman couldn’t close his open mouth as he looked at the orcs I had captured.

“How on earth…”

“Kyla is very competent.”

“You’re not an ordinary hunter.”

It wasn’t surprising that he was amazed, as I had completely erased the traces of black magic.

“Kyla is competent, but that alone doesn’t explain it.”

“I was a little lucky. I found a weakened tribe. If you need more, I can get them. But you have to give me more time.”

I added that there would be mostly female and young orcs.

“About the size of a small tribe…”

Kuman’s eyes lit up.

He probably wasn’t expecting much from me at the watchtower.

But if I show my abilities here…

“Okay. Capture as many as you can. I won’t buy them as soon as they come. The price… I’m sorry, but it’s hard to give you the same price as now. I can’t predict how And much the watchtower will buy, and to be honest, my finances are limited.”

I thought he would.

Even Kuman wouldn’t have tens or hundreds of gold.

“I’ll settle this payment properly, but it’ll take time to capture the ones that come after this.”

Depending on the watchtower’s request, Kuman said he would buy adults for 1 gold and 50 silver, and young for 1 gold.

This was a good deal. I didn’t have to worry about their condition, and they even paid 1 gold for the young. It was still a better price than average.

“It’s a bit disappointing that the settlement will be delayed.”

“I’m sorry about that. But I didn’t know you’d be able to capture dozens more.”

The more dangerous the work, the less likely you are to postpone the payment. This is especially true for mercenary work or capture work like this.

You brought the goods but didn’t get paid? That’s tantamount to a declaration of war.

That’s why Kuman was a little more humble than before.

“I’ll settle it all at once as soon as I get paid from the watchtower.”

“Even so, it’s a bit late. Hmm… How about this? Instead of cash, we trade goods.”

“Do you need anything?”

Kuman asked with a slightly brighter face.

“I’d like to have my own land and house in the development.”

“…Land and a building?”

Kuman’s face turned a little serious.

Even though it’s called land and a house, the true owner of the land is the lord. So in reality, you could call it a building with land usage rights.

“Yes. In order to do that, you need a title….”

“That’s not difficult. Hmm… Land and a building….”

Knock, knock.

Kuman, who had been tapping his thigh as he thought for a moment, soon opened his mouth.

“Alright. I’ll hand over one of the things I have. Including the title, the price will be 20 gold.”

For the price of a building in a frontier territory, it could be considered very expensive, but this is unexpectedly cheap.

Although it’s a development territory, it’s still a building inside the development castle where the lord resides, so even if it’s worthless right now, as the territory develops, the price will increase exponentially.

In addition to that, there are developed villages and villages that are being developed, so outwardly, it seems like a territory that will grow in the long term.

Since I’m even receiving citizenship, it could be seen as cheap.

‘To begin with, most of the buildings inside the development castle are the lord’s property.’

It’s practically the concept of borrowing from the lord, not buying like I am.

It wasn’t something you could easily buy even if you wanted to.

‘Instead, I’ll have to pay taxes….’

At the longest, it’ll be a year. That much is fine.

Since I just settled down, I’ll probably get a reduction for a while.

“I’ll receive the payment with the orcs I’ll bring later.”

“Let’s do that.”

I immediately received the payment of 18 gold for the 9 this time, and I’ll pay the remaining amount for the land in installments.

I decided to go to the Demon Tower and receive the remaining payment.

From Kuman’s perspective, he was able to properly seize a big opportunity, and from my perspective, I was able to obtain a building inside the development castle faster than expected, so it could be said that it was mutually beneficial.

‘I didn’t know I’d obtain it this quickly.’

According to plan, I was only going to rent a warehouse, and not even one that I owned. I was only going to be able to do that after a few months….

‘I got lucky.’

The building I’ll obtain this time… will later become the foundation for making my dungeon out of the collapsed territory.

“How did it go?”

“The transaction went well. Just hand them over to Kuman as you catch them. The price dropped, but I made more than that in other benefits.”

I revealed that I obtained a building inside the development castle and that I’ll soon have citizenship.

“Ugh… I really want to go inside. Tia would be safer if she was there too.”

“You can’t for the time being.”

“I know, but….”

If Kuman were to find out that I was freed from slavery and regained my health, things would get annoying.

I suddenly recovered from an illness that even a high-ranking priest couldn’t identify?

‘People would definitely get suspicious.’

Since I can’t even reveal my identity, I can’t do something like that.

I also wanted to keep Athena hidden as much as possible.

So, even though I obtained a house that I myself inside, I only planned on going back and forth with Kyla.

‘I also have to dig a basement….’

It’s urgent that I achieve Class 2.

“I used some of the payment to reinforce my equipment. I ordered them separately from Kuman, so go find him later.”

In the name of preparation, I even bought things for Athena.