Chapter 10: Condemned by the Gods
The Mercenary Guild was in chaos.
Arguments and shouting rolled endlessly through the lobby downstairs. As Su Cheng followed the captain down the stairs, a group of mercenaries came stomping up toward them, still bickering over how the reward from a mission should be divided. Their iron boots, still stained with blood, hammered heavily against the steps.
One of them was in the middle of speaking when he glanced up and spotted Kai.
His voice stopped cold.
The others around him immediately fell silent as well.
The two groups brushed past each other. Only after they had walked some distance away did Su Cheng hear the mercenaries start cursing again, each insisting they had contributed more during the mission.
“…Do you know them?” she asked, glancing sideways at the captain. “They looked kind of afraid of you.”
“We had a little conflict when we first arrived two days ago,” Kai replied casually. “Just a misunderstanding.”
Then the conversation shifted back to her assignment.
The matter of the curse was already a private deal between her and Camus. It no longer had anything to do with the Black Flame Mercenary Company.
Which meant the task they wanted her to take now would have to be negotiated separately.
Kai gave her a brief explanation.
“That mage gathering starts next month. We’ll need to travel to the imperial capital.”
Ambergold City sat in the southern region of the empire, while the capital lay far inland toward the center. Even riding magical beasts instead of ordinary horses, it still wasn’t a trip that could be finished in two or three days.
Most mercenaries weren’t willing to travel that far. It was only natural they hadn’t found anyone yet.
Kai looked at her. “If you don’t want to go…”
“I do,” Su Cheng said quickly. “I was already planning to travel and see more of the world anyway. I just… know my abilities are limited. I can only promise I’ll do my best.”
He nodded. “I’ll tell you the details later. First I need to withdraw the recruitment notice.”
They parted ways there.
Su Cheng headed toward the front desk to register as a mercenary.
The mercenary journal was a small, thick leather-bound book. Because it contained embedded magic, it cost two silver coins.
She brought her citizenship papers with her. Technically, they belonged to the original cannon-fodder Su Cheng, but since there were no parents’ names listed, only things like age and gender, she could use them directly without issue.
The guild staff verified her identity, then asked whether she was a mage or a warrior.
She revealed the rank insignia pinned to her chest.
Several nearby heads immediately turned.
Most of the mercenaries here were only first-rank. A few had reached second-rank, but they were much older. Someone as young as her was rare.
The employee nodded and asked her to cast any second-rank spell.
Su Cheng flicked out a wind blade.
A wave of astonished murmurs rippled through the hall.
“…Instant casting? She’s practically third-rank already, isn’t she?”
There were eleven ranks of mages in total:
Mage Apprentice, Novice Mage, Junior Mage, Intermediate Mage, Senior Mage, Great Mage, Magus, Great Magus, Archmage, Grand Archmage, and Saint Archmage.
For first-rank apprentices and second-rank novice mages, advancement depended on whether they could successfully cast a spell of the corresponding level.
And “casting” normally meant reciting the entire incantation aloud.
In other words, an ordinary novice mage would need at least five to ten seconds to cast a second-rank spell like Wind Blade, depending on how quickly they chanted.
With enough proficiency, a mage could cast silently by chanting internally. That was known as silent casting.
Taking it a step further, even the mental chant disappeared entirely.
That was instant casting.
“…Is she even eighteen?”
Someone muttered under their breath.
Someone else moved first.
“Hey, Mage! Have you joined a mercenary company yet?”
Su Cheng had barely taken her freshly registered journal before a recruitment flyer nearly smacked her in the face. A mercenary waved the paper enthusiastically at her.
“We recruit elemental mages year-round, and wind-element users are especially—”
The surrounding mercenaries finally snapped out of their shock and immediately crowded closer.
Just as Su Cheng was considering escape, another burst of commotion rose from the entrance.
A group of young people walked into the guild hall.
They were all finely dressed, carrying themselves with effortless confidence. Similar academy insignias decorated their clothing. Leading them was a handsome young man dressed entirely in white, his already cold temperament made even more distant by the pale color.
The mercenaries around them instinctively stepped aside.
Some even looked respectful.
A few recognized certain members of the group. These were hardened mercenaries themselves, people who lived with blades at their throats every day, yet even they seemed unusually tense.
“…A Nine-Star Battle Master!”
Someone suddenly cried out.
They had recognized the insignia on the white-clad young man.
A fifth-rank warrior.
Only one step away from sixth-rank.
Ambergold City did have experts close to his level, but every one of them was a famous figure well past forty years old.
Battle aura slowed aging, so those people might not look old, but the young man before them still carried traces of youth on his face. And his clothes bore the crest of Southriver Academy.
Judging from the insignia, people could roughly estimate how long he had studied there. Combined with the academy’s admission age requirements…
“He’s barely twenty, isn’t he?” someone gasped. “And he’s already about to reach sixth-rank?”
“Not necessarily. Some people spend their whole lives stuck between fifth-rank and sixth-rank.”
“You really think someone who reached this level at twenty counts as ‘some people’?”
“He’s way too young…”
While the whispers spread through the hall, the Southriver Academy students continued walking inside.
Murong Yue remained expressionless, seemingly indifferent to the attention.
Then his gaze swept through the crowd and froze slightly.
The students beside him noticed immediately and followed his line of sight.
None of them had gone to the Lin estate that day, and none recognized Su Cheng.
“…She’s only second-rank,” one of them muttered. “What’s the big deal?”
Another student, clearly more informed, suddenly inhaled sharply.
“I heard Senior Murong’s fiancée looked exactly like that…”
“Ex-fiancée.”
Murong Yue interrupted so sharply it almost sounded reflexive.
“Please don’t say it wrong.”
The student went blank. “O-Oh. Right.”
Murong Yue had always been cold and arrogant. None of them had ever seen him react so strongly before.
How much did he hate that former fiancée?
Granted, they’d heard she used to be a useless waste who couldn’t even cultivate battle aura at sixteen or seventeen. It made sense if he had disliked the engagement.
…but the girl standing over there was clearly a novice mage.
Second-rank might not be exceptional to them, but it was still respectable.
And it certainly had nothing to do with being “useless.”
Did Murong Yue simply despise mages? Or did he think anyone who didn’t cultivate battle aura was trash?
The students collectively spiraled into silent confusion.
Warriors and mages looking down on each other wasn’t unusual.
But wasn’t this a little extreme?
While the Southriver students were still speculating, the girl in the crowd merely glanced at them once before turning away again.
She tilted her head up while talking to the tall swordsman beside her, even holding up her mercenary journal for him to see, lifting the tiny book slightly higher.
Murong Yue frowned faintly.
When Su Cheng had broken off the engagement, she’d seemed almost eager about it. Although it looked like she mainly wanted compensation, that still proved she had been dissatisfied with the marriage too.
…Had she already fallen for someone else?
“Hmph. She’s only a second-rank elemental mage. She was never worthy of you anyway.”
A richly dressed young woman lifted her chin disdainfully.
She was one of Murong Yue’s juniors, someone who admired him deeply and treated him as a role model.
The moment the words left her mouth, the black-haired girl nearby turned around abruptly.
A smile spread across her face.
Like a fox spotting an unguarded chick.
Murong Yue: “……”
Before he could speak, Su Cheng had already walked over with an easy smile.
“Hello,” she said pleasantly, looking first at the younger student beside him. “May I ask your surname?”
The girl sneered. “You’re not worthy of knowing.”
Su Cheng studied her thoughtfully.
In the original story, Murong Yue had a junior schoolmate from a noble family who admired him obsessively and hated Lin Yun for it.
That person had said all sorts of nasty things to Lin Yun. Called him lowborn trash. Said he wasn’t worthy of Murong Yue. Compared him to a toad lusting after swan meat.
Later, naturally, they got thoroughly humiliated.
Then eventually murdered by Lin Yun.
And now…
Murong Yue had become a man.
So maybe the vicious junior brother had turned into a vicious junior sister instead?
Or maybe not.
After all, with Murong Yue’s status, there would never be a shortage of people eager to flatter him. Someone attacking her didn’t necessarily mean they genuinely liked him.
She thought about it for a second.
Honestly, she couldn’t even remember the original junior disciple’s name anyway. Even if this girl introduced herself, Su Cheng probably wouldn’t recognize it.
“…Well, if you don’t want to say it, forget it. But Mr. Murong and I were strangers to begin with. Since the engagement has already been dissolved, we’re no different from passing strangers now.”
She paused deliberately.
“And if two strangers have nothing to do with each other, what exactly do you mean by ‘worthy’ or ‘unworthy’? Or are you implying our engagement still exists?”
“Pah!” the girl scoffed. “Look at yourself in a mirror first. What are you? You only got lucky enough to be engaged to Senior Murong in the first place—”
Su Cheng: “……”
The lines really were almost identical to the original cannon-fodder junior disciple.
Like talking to the deaf. Nothing went in. They only knew how to keep spewing nonsense.
“Enough.”
Murong Yue suddenly cut her off.
“Miss Su and I no longer have any relationship. Stop saying things like that.”
The junior girl stared at him in surprise.
“Let’s go,” Murong Yue said, turning away. “Silverwing should already be here.”
The mercenaries nearby collectively sucked in sharp breaths.
Silverwing was one of the empire’s famous mid-sized S-rank mercenary groups, packed with elite fighters and even tied to the royal family through certain collaborations.
Raising a mercenary group’s rank was incredibly difficult. The higher the rank, the harsher the requirements.
Across both northern and southern continents, there weren’t many S-rank mercenary groups at all.
Su Cheng, however, already knew what was happening.
Among Silverwing’s members was a very young genius whom Southriver Academy wanted to recruit into their Sword Arts Division.
It wasn’t exactly poaching. An academy wasn’t the same as a mercenary company. Being a mercenary and attending school didn’t really conflict with each other.
Mercenaries didn’t spend every single day on missions, and talented students certainly weren’t expected to remain inside the academy every waking hour.
Especially not geniuses like them.
The academy gave exceptional freedom to students with real talent.
That person hadn’t rejected the invitation.
Instead, they had specifically invited Murong Yue to meet them because they wanted to see the youngest prodigy in the Sword Arts Division for themselves.
Since the other party had stated they didn’t want to meet academy teachers, Murong Yue had come with only his junior students.
Su Cheng glanced at him thoughtfully.
So now you know how to listen to people, huh?
Then why did you bring a whole crowd of old men when you came to break off the engagement with me?
The junior girl noticed her expression and immediately sneered again.
“Lord Xiao Lan of Silverwing is younger than you by several months and already sixth-rank—”
Su Cheng said nothing.
In the original novel, Xiao Lan had also been a stunning beauty. Later, she became Murong Yue’s close confidante before eventually meeting Lin Yun, leading to a whole arc full of rivalry and jealousy between her and Murong Yue.
Still, Lin Yun hadn’t participated in this first meeting between Xiao Lan and Murong Yue.
At this point in time, he should still be taking entrance exams somewhere.
Su Cheng turned back toward Murong Yue.
“Did you tell her about the contract?”
“If you didn’t, then technically you broke the agreement. But if you did…” She smiled faintly. “Then I suppose I’ll be asking her for the money.”
The junior girl clearly knew nothing about any contract. Most of the other students looked equally confused.
Only two people suddenly turned pale.
They had accompanied Murong Yue to the Lin estate and witnessed Elder Li’s death firsthand.
Because it involved a god, neither of them had dared spread the story around.
Which meant everyone else still knew absolutely nothing.
They didn’t even know Elder Li was dead.
“What nonsense are you talking about?” the junior girl snapped. “What contract?”
Murong Yue opened his mouth to answer.
But Su Cheng had already pulled out a stack of papers from her pocket and waved them lazily.
“Yes. A contract. Black ink on white paper.”
“Really?!”
The girl lunged forward and snatched the papers from her hands.
Then she tore them apart.
Battle aura exploded outward, grinding the scraps into powder.
As a fourth-rank Battle Commander, her movements were unbelievably fast. At such close range, an ordinary mage would never have reacted in time.
After destroying everything, she lifted her chin smugly.
“I don’t care what contract it was. Now it’s gone—”
Her voice stopped abruptly.
Because there wasn’t the slightest trace of panic on Su Cheng’s face.
Su Cheng sighed.
“Even if I don’t understand why you’d tear up a mercenary recruitment flyer…” she said thoughtfully, “that kind of behavior tends to earn divine condemnation.”
Heat spread across her palm.
Even without pulling back her sleeve, she knew the scale-shaped mark representing contracts had already appeared.
At this moment, what was happening had entered the domain of divine authority.
Just as she suspected.
The God of Contracts might tolerate loopholes, manipulation, deception, and people exploiting wording to ruin one another.
But outright tearing up a contract?
That clearly crossed a line.
Or perhaps violated a taboo.
Which meant even destroying a fake contract still invited punishment.
And—
A divine favored could trigger that punishment.
Su Cheng took two slow steps backward.
“Lord Contract hates idiots who don’t honor agreements,” she said lightly. “Honestly, that feels pretty understandable?”
The junior girl’s expression froze.
Her hands suddenly became transparent.
Thin fractures spread across her skin, jagged and uneven like tears splitting through paper.
“No!”
The flesh on her arms began peeling away.
Muscle fibers shredded apart like torn scraps of paper, spraying blood-red fragments into the air.
“Help me—!”
She staggered backward.
Every step sent more pieces of her body scattering loose.
An invisible force crushed down on her chest, collapsing it inward. Ribs snapped one after another with sickening cracks that scraped across the guild hall like broken branches in winter frost.
