I clutched my head, overwhelmed by the pounding headache, as I stared at those three ragtag figures.

They were all trembling and had surrendered. To make matters worse, a bright yellow liquid was oozing out from one of their armors.

My mind couldn’t keep up with the situation. What on earth was happening?

‘Why are they so ridiculously weak?’

If I had attacked them with the holy sword, this scenario might at least make sense.

But the holy sword had already been dropped off at the blacksmith for repairs ages ago.

The sword I was wielding was something I had borrowed from Miss Rubia. It might have been expensive, but it certainly didn’t possess any extraordinary abilities.

Yet, that guy fell with just one slash.

The other two looked so terrified that they didn’t seem strong at all.

‘These guys aren’t even bait.’

I briefly wondered if they were trying to lower my guard with decoys before sending in the main force, but a quick check of the area revealed that, besides them, no one else was around in this mountain.

Ironically, as I tried to figure out the bizarre situation, more questions sprang up instead.

I realized that the magic power I sensed from them was alarmingly low.

It didn’t even hit the average for the weakest of the Imperial Army.

These guys were the lowest of the low.

They were definitely not elite soldiers. The magic power I sensed signaled they were just a bunch of losers.

An extermination squad from the Black Fangs sent to catch me.

A legendary organization known for assassinating the Empire’s knight commander, wiping out an elite unit, and even recently erasing the Black Market from existence.

The Empire chose these clowns as their response.

I seriously wondered what could’ve led to such a boneheaded decision.

After some contemplation, I finally spoke up.

Regardless of how ridiculous the situation was, what I needed to do first was crystal clear.

“If you want to live, swear by mana that you will never harm me or my companions.”

I intentionally made the requirements broad.

Simply realizing they’d harmed us in any way would already break the oath.

With that, they wouldn’t be able to report our location or call for reinforcements.

The oath of mana is not taken lightly.

There’s no way to dodge it.

The moment they acknowledged any intention to harm us, they’d lose their lives.

Of course, the seriousness of the mana oath was well-known to everyone.

So, to help these fools make a wise decision, I figured I would have to threaten them with my sword.

I prepared to exude an aura of intimidation.

Then…

“I-I swear by mana!”

Before I even drew my sword, they urgently began speaking up.

They recited the conditions I had mentioned as if they were speed rapping, swearing by mana.

Caught off guard by their ridiculous display, I must have looked displeased, as they misunderstood my expression and started adding even more extreme conditions.

They babbled about committing suicide if they harmed me.

Vowing absolute obedience to whatever I commanded.

Promising to never tell me a single lie.

It felt like they were competing against each other in who could come up with the most absurd vow.

Naturally, my head began to spin.

Did these fools not receive any basic education?

Isn’t it common sense to avoid making such hasty, brainless mana oaths?

And here I was as the leader of the Black Fangs! Is it really okay for Imperial soldiers to surrender so easily?

What kind of dimwits are these?

I stared at them as I pondered this. They kept sneaking anxious glances in my direction.

The first one to speak up was the knight who had lost an arm.

“Um, uh… I’m really sorry, but… I think I’m going to die soon. Could you please treat me?”

Asking the enemy commander for treatment.

I let out a long, resigned sigh before responding.

“Stop the bleeding yourself. The Imperial Army’s standard gear has bandages. Good ones, I might add.”

I knew this because, when fighting the Imperial Army, items drop. Their bandages are among the best recovery items you can find.

Though, battling the Imperial Army makes the game’s difficulty spike through the roof, leaving little chance to use them effectively.

“…I didn’t bring any.”

While reminiscing about moments from the previous game, something incomprehensible reached my ears.

Is he trying to joke right now?

I checked his backpack, thinking this.

…Nothing.

More than half of his standard Imperial Army supplies were missing.

“Forget the bandages, you didn’t even bring food with you?”

“Well, it just… happened…”

“You didn’t forget that you swore by mana not to lie to me, did you?”

The man’s face went as pale as a ghost at my words.

…He must’ve truly forgotten after making that oath.

“It’s just that carrying too much weight is, you know… heavy. We thought we could snag supplies locally if we needed to…”

‘Sounds like they plan to rob anyone they can find.’

The average Imperial soldier hasn’t changed from the last game until now, I mused as I scrutinized them.

Those clueless expressions.

There’s no way they could be faking all this nonsense. And you can’t cheat the mana oath.

These poor guys are just thoroughly ordinary Imperial soldiers.

The epitome of stereotypical soldiers.

“Why on earth are you even here?”

I asked them.

Even if the Black Fangs are notorious, it’s hard to believe they’d send such utterly incompetent troops.

If I had to take a guess, they probably just stumbled into this situation.

Perhaps they were passing through for another mission and got the timing wrong, mistakenly believed to be elite soldiers out to kill the Black Fangs.

That’s the only reasonable explanation I could find for this ridiculous scenario.

“We were ordered to eliminate a group suspected of being the Black Fangs…”

But apparently, that wasn’t even the case.

The Empire genuinely sent these losers to take on the Black Fangs.

I felt embarrassingly naïve for having overvalued the Empire. Were these fools even in their right minds?

They accurately deployed these guys here, which implies they knew we were active in this area, right?

With such top-notch intelligence, they tracked our movements and came up with this response?

‘It can’t be that the Emperor has gone senile…’

Unless that cunning old man has taken up knitting, there’s only one logical conclusion.

Somehow, vital information got miscommunicated.

It appears we’ve been mistaken for a phony Black Fangs group. A shockingly lame excuse for one at that.

Should I call it ineptitude or competence? After all, we are indeed not the real Black Fangs.

It was like trying to catch a bull while accidentally snatching up a rat.

“Excuse me,”

While I was lost in my troubled thoughts, a timid voice interrupted my musings.

“It hurts so much… I really think I’m going to die…”

The burly man was on the brink of tears.

After deliberating for a moment… I finally picked up the severed arm.

While I didn’t view these guys in a favorable light, it seemed like the best course of action.

If I blindly chose to kill them, it might just land me in unnecessary trouble.

They were merely orders to eliminate a group pretending to be the Black Fangs. If these low-ranking soldiers ended up dead, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

Killing these guys and risking our cover being blown was not worth the hassle, right?

I let out a deep sigh, reattached the severed arm to the stump, and cast a healing spell.

Strangely enough, the wound healed almost instantly. I had anticipated it would take at least a few minutes—was my healing magic this effective all along?

“Th-thank you!”

He excessively bowed his head and expressed his gratitude.

“Go and report that you’ve dealt with the people who appeared to be the Black Fangs. Just say they were common imposters.”

As soon as they heard my words, they began to cautiously retreat, sneaking wary glances at me.

I was on the verge of letting them go when…

“Wait, you all better stop right there.”

Then it struck me.

Come to think of it.

This just doesn’t sit well with me.

Even though I preferred peaceful methods, healing and then sending off people who intended to attack us seemed a bit off.

I mulled it over for a moment… then spoke up again.

“When you receive orders like this, you usually don’t wrap things up right away, do you? How much time do you usually slack off?”

“Not too much… When we’re dispatched far away, we often stretch things out for about a week or two after finishing the job. It feels like a loss working hard for such a meager paycheck.”

I looked at the man, who narrowly avoided death by forgetting the no-lying condition, with an amused expression before opening my mouth again.

“You’ve got… a fair bit of time left.”

If I send them off right away, people might suspect something since they’d have finished their task unusually quickly.

Moreover, judging by their demeanor, I had doubts about whether they could even act convincingly. They certainly seemed in need of some training.

And, critically… we had been short-handed lately. And right now, in front of me, were potential workers.

Workers who could take on the dirty, backbreaking jobs, allowing our people to get some much-needed rest.

I smiled at them.

The men, unable to follow the sudden shift in my expression, awkwardly smiled back with tears welling up in their eyes.

They still didn’t seem to grasp the full reality of the situation.

“Well then, how about you all spend the leftover time doing some community service?”

Coming here was of their own free will, but leaving would be a whole different ball game.