The man standing in front of us was someone we all knew from reading Berserk. The Count, who later becomes an apostle after seeing his wife participating in a heretic orgy. Which to be fair, would drive any man insane.

He looked very similar to his appearance in the manga except he was a little slimmer but not by much. He still had that huge sphere of a head. His wife also looked exactly like she did in the manga, smallish stature with wavy black hair and a pretty face.

"Yes?" I answered.

"I wanted to personally thank you for helping us out today. To think we would be attacked by bandits on the day I decided to leave most of my knights at home." he said, with some anger on his face.

"Seems like too big of a coincidence if you ask me." I added.

"Indeed, I was thinking along the same lines. Well, no matter, my knight captain promised a reward for your help and I plan to honor that. But, I wish to hire you to escort us back to my hold. I don't wish to take any more chances, not with my wife here."

"Sounds good. We were heading that way, so it works out for us."

"Though I am curious as to why a mercenary group such as yours has only six members?" he asked.

"Why do you think we're mercenaries?"

"I noticed the symbol of an owl on your shoulders. I don't recognize the symbol as any kingdom's army, and considering peasants don't travel in full gear, it's an easy guess." he said.

"Phew, good eye. Except, we consider ourselves an adventurer party and not a mercenary party." I said.

"Adventurer party? I've never heard of that." he said with a puzzled look on his face.

"Well, it is something unheard of considering we're probably the first. Like a mercenary party, we make our coin by being hired for jobs. Except, unlike a mercenary party the jobs we take are more varied than sieging a hold or fighting a war. We take jobs ranging from exterminating a bandit group to tracking someone down. Escorting a client is also a part of the jobs we take. That doesn't mean we won't siege a hold or fight a war, we just do it differently than a traditional mercenary party.

Of course, I don't think this profession will ever take off since those who do it have to be strong and skilled enough to survive with a small number of members. But then again, maybe it will since the payment required is less than if given to a mercenary party." I explained to him.

"Interesting. Instead of an army, an elite group of warriors. If executed correctly, the damage they can cause is more than a mercenary party." he said reading in between the lines of my explanation to which I smiled.

"Exactly."

"Honey, maybe you could hire them for that?" said his wife.

"Yes, you're right. The chances of success would be greater and the pay would be less than hiring a mercenary party or the cost of using my own men."

"If you have a job, we'd like to hear it. We're traveling to find employment so we're free to take up a job right now." I said to him.

"Very well, but let us wait until we reach the hold. I'd rather not talk about it out in the open."

"Okay, are you still hiring us for the escort job as well?"

"Yes."

"Good, we're ready to move when you are." I said to him.

~~

The trip back to the city was calm the entire way, though Amelia did tell us that someone was following us. Fortunately for them, they decided not to engage us, probably having seen Guts take out the bandits.

As we arrived at the city and made our way towards the castle, the people were saluting the Count. They didn't welcome him with fervor but they didn't look like they hated him either.

'Not surprising considering most lords during this time look out for themselves first. And it's better than when he becomes an apostle.' I thought to myself as I took a look around the city.

The city looked like what your typical medieval fantasy city would look like. Buildings made of stone with red/orange tile with pointed roofs and towers and the streets paved with cobblestone. Wooden signs hung off buildings to indicate what the shop was with vendors along the main street trying to sell their wares. It wasn't much different compared to the other holds or cities we had been to.

As we approached the castle, we were able to see that it too looked like a typical castle. A rampart surrounded the castle, situated on a hill to overlook the rest of the hold. Pointed spires typical of medieval castles with one or two keeps. Honestly, it wasn't much to look at compared to modern architecture but it was nice.

Arriving at the gate, we were escorted to a room where the Count holds meetings while his wife went away, to see their daughter most likely.

"Now, then. Please, sit." said the Count as he sat down in his slightly raised chair.

"Don't mind if I do." said Uzui as he plopped down without any decorum to which I slightly smiled before sitting down.

"As my wife mentioned earlier, there is a job that I would like to entrust your party with. Originally, I was going to either hire a mercenary party or take care of it myself, but I've decided to hire you." he said.

"Okay, what's the job?" I asked.

"Recently, some bandits have taken over a small castle. How they did it is beyond me, but they did. And it is now my duty to wipe out the bandits and bring the castle back under my control. I've sent some scouts to see what the situation is like and they have reported back to me accounts of human sacrifice and cannibalism." he said with a grim face.

"Bandits doing human sacrifice and cannibalism? That doesn't sound like bandits."

"Indeed, I thought my scouts were lying so I sent another group of scouts who reported back to me the same thing. Apparently, this group of bandits practices pagan rituals."

"Interesting, but taking back a castle, huh? How many bandits?"

"Originally it was only fifty, but now I do not know how many survivors, if any, have been converted to their ways."

"Phew, that's a lot of bandits. The price won't be cheap."

"How much?"

"500 gold coins plus any valuables we find in the castle, within reason."

"450, no valuables."

"500, no valuables."

"Very well. The castle is a day's ride away to the north. Are you riding out today or tomorrow?" he asked.

"Today. We'll ride through the night and tomorrow we'll be able to launch a night raid, but we'll need horses." I said to him.

"You will have them. Good luck."

~~

After getting our horses, we stocked up on some essentials and rode out. We only stopped to rest for 2 hours before we continued on our way to the castle. Fortunately, nothing happened on the way and we were able to reach the castle an hour after dark.

"Okay everybody, let's try to keep this quiet for as long as possible. If you don't know if the person is a combatant just knock them out and move on. Amelia, you'll be our long-range support, get on top of the tallest spire, and stake out there. Yoruichi, you take her and support her. Uzui, you and Guts go in from the left and right respectively, while Ciri and I will go in from the front and back.

We'll take out anyone outside before we move inside. If things get loud, take care of things as fast as possible. Keep your head on a swivel and be careful." I said to the group.

"Wow, you're really starting to sound like a leader. It's cute." said Yoruichi with a smirk.

"Alright, alright. Let's move out." I said with a small smile as we all moved to our positions.

Once in position, I sent a message on the chat to tell everyone to start the operation. I first used my tk to fly to the top of the rampart before climbing over. Taking a look around I noticed there was a pair of guards patrolling to my left. Sneaking up behind them, I took out two daggers before plunging them into their necks, making sure to catch them with my tk before they fell to the ground.

Then I sent a pulse of tk to see where the rest of the guards were and noticed they were the only two on the ramparts near me. Confused as to where the rest of the people were, I started moving around while continuously using radar. That's when I got a message on the chat from Guts, Uzui, and Ciri that they each only took out two guards.

Matt: Seems like they're all gathered somewhere, probably in the main hall.

Amelia: Yep, no one else is on the ramparts.

Yoruichi: I can sense more people. They're all together.

Matt: Okay, let's all move towards the hall then.