The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Chapter 10: Beat him, Don’t beat him, Beat him (1)

Kane Rogues, a cousin one year younger than Ghislain, was the heir to the Rogues County, located a little distance from Ferdium. He was pretty large and robust, which made the people of Rogues territory place high expectations on him. For Ghislain, Kane was both his only friend at the time… and also the one who tormented him the most.

Kane often visited Ferdium, but with the festival taking place, it was inevitable that this guy, who loved to play, would show up.

‘Right! How could I forget about him?’

As he watched Kane’s sly grin, old memories came flooding back. The two of them were troublemakers of the same sort, but their reputations were slightly different. Kane was arrogant and violent, but people didn’t look down on him. He was always so confident and bold that some even praised him for his spirited nature.

In contrast, Ghislain was always treated as a petty and inferior kid.

‘Because of him, I always got more flak.’

Kane often humiliated him, crushing his pride at every turn. Ghislain endured too many shameful situations because of him.

And that wasn’t the end of it. Even when they hang out together, Kane always treats Ghislain like his subordinate. Sending him on errands was a given, and whenever Kane got drunk and lost control, he’d swing his fists at the slightest displeasure.

The more Ghislain suffered such humiliation, the more his anger piled up, and he’d take it out by tormenting the people of the estate or causing accidents.

‘Hah, just thinking about it is embarrassing.’

Ghislain let out a self-deprecating laugh as he rubbed his forehead. He couldn’t go up against Kane back then, so he vented his anger elsewhere. Outside, he was too afraid to make a sound, but inside the estate, he’d bark orders and act tough, earning him nicknames like ‘Room Tyrant’ or ‘Room Swordmaster.’

‘Ugh, why was I like that?’

Crouching down, Ghislain reminisced about those times, plucking petals off a flower one by one. Kane, watching him, frowned.

“What the hell? You didn’t hear me? There’s been talk that you’ve gone completely nuts, and it looks like they were right.” Kane sneered.

Ghislain stood up, dusting off his pants, and gazed at him blankly. Kane, wearing a baffled expression, approached him and whispered,
“Did you not prepare what I told you to? I came all the way here to have some fun, but you’re acting weird today. Did you take something by yourself or what?”

“Ah… preparation.”

At Kane’s words, Ghislain finally remembered and nodded.

Right, every time Kane visited, he always ordered Ghislain to prepare alcohol and women. It was supposed to be for them to have fun together, but what kind of friendship was that? To Kane, Ghislain was just an easy target to exploit.

Kane tapped Ghislain’s cheek and said, “Yeah, let’s drink and have a blast for the first time in a while. After all, we really get along regarding that, right? This is what true friendship is all about.”

In other words, he intended to roam around and torment people.

Kane was just as insolent as Ghislain, and he caused a lot of trouble. Harassing the maids was a common occurrence, and he was also notorious for beating soldiers for no reason.

Since the Count of Ferdium was almost always away on expeditions, Kane roamed freely through the Ferdium castle under the pretense of being a relative. Ghislain, the heir to the territory, was practically his subordinate, so there was nothing to hold him back.

When Ghislain continued to stand there absentmindedly, Kane yelled in frustration.

“Ah, what’s wrong with you today! Huh? Why are you reacting so slowly?”

“…….”

“Hey, are you not going to answer? Did you suddenly lose your mind? Did you eat something bad?”

“…….”

“Hey! Ghislain! Snap out of it!”

Kane growled, shoving his face right up to Ghislain’s nose. His escort knights hurriedly restrained him, whispering,

“Young Master, many eyes are watching. Please calm down a bit here.”

“It would be better to speak with Lord Ghislain in a quieter place.”

This was the Ferdium territory. It wouldn’t be good if rumors spread about Kane tormenting people, so for now, they pretended to hold him back. There was always a more secluded place where he could vent his anger later. The knights didn’t even bother to hide their real intentions.

Experiencing such a ridiculous situation for the first time in a long while, Ghislain rolled his eyes in confusion.

‘What should I do?’

It wasn’t worth it to crush a brat who picked a fight with him. Besides, it had been a while since he maintained some dignity as the King of Mercenaries, so it felt somewhat beneath him to personally deal with a brat like this. It had been a long time since anyone dared to challenge him. And even if they did, his subordinates usually took care of it.

‘I’ll need to pick up a capable subordinate soon.’

Although it was embarrassing to respond to every little provocation, ignoring it would also hurt his dignity as the King of Mercenaries.

‘Finding someone is one thing, but…’

Ghislain subtly glared at Kane.

‘Should I beat him up? Or just leave him alone?’

After some deliberation, he decided to try his newly found amusement with flower petal fortune-telling. The results were always clear, so he occasionally relied on it. Ghislain picked up a flower and began plucking its petals, predicting Kane’s fate.

‘Beat him, don’t beat him, beat him, don’t beat him. Beat him. Don’t beat him?’

Seeing Ghislain with a peculiar expression, plucking flower petals, Kane frowned.
“What the hell are you doing right now…?”

“Hah, you’re lucky.”

“What?”

Ghislain threw the now bare flower stem behind him and continued, “You rude bastard. Since you’re a guest, I’ll let you off this once. You should be thankful to the flower petals.”

“W-What?”

Kane blinked in confusion before regaining his composure.

“People keep calling you crazy, so maybe you’ve actually lost it… You’re just an idiot who takes out your anger on people weaker than you. Isn’t that right?”

Kane’s words became harsher by the second. Even the passing servants stopped to watch the spectacle. Despite their growing audience, Kane didn’t stop hurling insults in his rising anger.
“Why aren’t you lowering your gaze? You think you’re actually strong now because you’ve been spreading lies about beating a knight?”

“…….”

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard the rumors. I laughed for ages. Do you really think anyone’s going to respect you for lying like that? Should I remind you of your place?”

“…….”

Ghislain suddenly realized just how much he had changed.

‘In the past, I would’ve knocked him out the moment he called me an idiot. I must’ve really grown up after dying and coming back to life.’

“Hey, what are you doing? Not answering? Do you want me to rip your mouth open?”

‘Stay calm. I’m an adult now. There’s no need to fall for the provocations of some brat…’

“Hey, you idiot!”

In that moment, Ghislain’s right hand shot out like lightning.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

Kane clutched his face, caught completely off guard by the sudden punch. Ghislain looked down at his right hand in admiration.

‘I only thought about hitting him, but my hand moved all on its own.’

Kane, still covering his face, screamed.

“You crazy bastard!”

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

“Young Master!”

As Kane staggered again, his escort knights rushed to his side in a panic. Meanwhile, Ghislain looked at his left hand this time, wearing a look of admiration once again.

Kane, now red in the face, took a step back and drew his sword.

“I’m going to kill you!”

“You can’t, Young Master!”

The escort knight quickly blocked Kane’s path, whispering softly.

“There are too many eyes watching right now.”

Indeed, a crowd of servants, maids, and soldiers had gathered, murmuring as they watched the situation unfold. Kane scanned his surroundings, gritting his teeth in frustration.

“I’m the one who got hit in front of everyone, and you’re telling me to just put up with it?”

“Challenge him to a duel. That should work. Besides, he was the one who attacked first.”

The knight spoke with a meaningful expression. Kane hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“A duel… Yeah, that’s better.”

If he humiliated Ghislain publicly, that bundle of inferiority wouldn’t be able to stand it. And on top of that, he might even get the chance to break a bone or two and cripple him for good.

Kane immediately pulled off his glove and threw it at Ghislain’s face.

Whoosh.

Ghislain dodged the glove easily, making Kane’s face twist even further in anger as he shouted, “A duel! There are rumors all over the castle that you lied about beating Jamal and Philip! You’ve tarnished the dignity of the nobility, and then you attacked me for daring to question the truth!”

At Kane’s sudden declaration, Ghislain widened his eyes in surprise and pointed to himself with his finger.

“Duel? With me? Are you serious?”

“Yeah! You’re not going to chicken out now, are you? A lot of people are already watching!”

“Wow…”

Ghislain felt a strange emotion wash over him.

A duel! He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been in one. Even Aiden, one of the top seven on the continent, had chosen to fight cautiously during their last battle.

The Continental Seven were like that—beings so powerful that no one could guarantee a victory in a one-on-one fight. Yet here he was, getting a duel challenge from this child among children.

‘Let’s just go with the flow. Have I been overthinking everything because I suddenly returned? My head’s been a mess trying to plan for the future. It’s hard to adjust.’

It might have been the dissonance between his past life’s memories and his current body’s abilities. He needed time to get used to it but had been too impatient.

‘What happens to that guy in the future again?’

The Rogues County had sided with Ferdium during the endless territorial wars and ended up falling alongside them. After that, Kane disappeared without a trace. In his past life, Ghislain had gathered that much information and then lost interest.

He was too great of a person to let bad memories from his youth traumatize him.

Still, though Kane was hopeless, Count Rogues had at least been loyal.

‘Fine. For Count Rogues’ sake, I’ll give his son a little lesson this time. After all, you only grow when you get properly taught at the right age. I went through a lot because I was just as immature back then.’

Having made up his mind, Ghislain threw his glove at Kane’s face.

Kane scoffed and tried to dodge it, but the glove changed its trajectory mid-air and hit him squarely in the face.

“Huh?”

The crowd around them stifled their laughter.

“You… You bastard….”

Kane’s face flushed red with anger. Just as he was about to burst into a fit of rage, Ghislain spoke calmly.

“Fine, I accept your duel. I was going to let this go since I’ve been wrapped up in all sorts of financial planning lately, but… Oh, wait.”

Ghislain’s face lit up as he suddenly remembered something he had forgotten.

“Hey, pay me back the money you owe me.”

“What? When did I borrow money from you?”

“You’ve been borrowing little by little from me, haven’t you?”

Kane used to extort money from Ghislain whenever he could. Even the small allowance Ghislain had received as the heir of a poor territory was taken by Kane.

“If you add it all up, it should come to a thousand gold.”

Kane was shocked and shouted at the outrageous sum.

“A thousand gold?! I didn’t even take a hundred gold from you!”

“Oh, did you? Well, either way, you borrowed money from me, right? If you add interest, it comes to a thousand gold. Pay up. I’m in need of some cash right now.”

In truth, even a thousand gold wasn’t enough for the things Ghislain had planned. He needed at least ten thousand gold to handle just part of it.

But since there was no way Kane had that kind of money, Ghislain decided to settle for a thousand gold.

‘It’s a small amount, but money can grow. The important thing is to get started.’

Completely unaware of Ghislain’s thoughts, Kane looked at him in disbelief and shouted.

“You crazy bastard! What the hell are you talking about? What does your need for money have to do with me?! Besides, that wasn’t even a loan, that was money you gave me to thank me for being your friend! Don’t you know about ‘friendship fees,’ huh?!”

Seriously, did people need to start paying to make friends these days?

‘Friendship fees? What kind of nonsense is that? I was just being a sucker.’

Ghislain shook his head.

Now that he thought about it, the memory was clear. He hadn’t wanted to give the money, but Kane had forced it out of him with his fists.

“People who take by force always say things like that. Well, whether you want to pay or not, once this duel is over, you’ll have to cough it up.”

Ghislain raised his fist and grinned.

“After a few punches, even money you didn’t have tends to show up.”