The next day arrived, and everyone gathered for the debriefing. With the mercenaries at the centre, the army from una had surrounded them. At a nce, it felt like the mercenaries were being taken hostage, and were prepared to get sacrificed to calm down the raging beasts.


    The only thing was that none of them was carrying weapons, or else the mercenaries would have wiped the floor with them.


    After a few more minutes of waiting, Nico finally arrived with the rest of his team. Unlike thest time Ashton saw him, the suprememander was dressed in armour, befitting his stature.


    "Firstly, I would like to show my gratitude towards you brave mercenaries who answered our call for help," He said, "Your support in such a grave situation is something the people of Zanna would never forget. That said, I''m not going to lie and say all of us will survive this trial of the gods."


    As he said that, a live map of the forest was disyed in front of them. Ashton immediately noticed that something was off. The horde''s size was muchrger than they had been told while epting the job.


    The murmuring around him showed that he wasn''t the only one to notice the discrepancy. At that moment, Ashton realised why the guards were stationed around them.


    "This cunning son of bitch." Ashton mumbled under his breath.


    "Don''t worry. I got a reply from E and Otiga." Anna reassured him, "The n has been set in motion. The second this fool tries to stab us in the back, they''ll take action against him."


    Ashton nodded and focused on the quarrel between Nico and some mercenaries.


    "Do you take us for fools?" The man roared over the crowd of murmuring voices, "The size of that horde is more than ten times what was mentioned in the contract!"


    "I know how you feel," Nico interjected, "however, just like you, we received this information just an hour ago."


    ''I''m sure you did,'' Ashton scoffed.


    A person would have to be aplete moron or have beenpletely charmed by Nico to believe his words. Ashton''s [Heartbeat Sense] had already confirmed Nico was spouting lies left and right.


    It was highly likely that the Ocuunians were well aware of the horde''s size and knew the mercenaries wouldn''t help them if they revealed the truth.


    So they decided to fool everyone into thinking that the horde of regr size, which was about a thousand beasts, when their numbers were more than ten thousand at the very least.


    "Lying to the mercenary association, they sure are quite bold," Ashton mumbled.


    "But the association verifies the job requests like these before issuing them," Laihud replied.


    "Not necessarily," Vimur chimed in, "They only do it for fairly new clientele. However, since countries and cities throughout una get attacked bi-annually, they likely took their word for it."


    Ashton nodded. Although he knew the mercenaries would feel wronged by the association, Ashton understood why the association decided to save resources by unnecessarily sending people on una to confirm the legitimacy of the same job request over and over.


    At the same time, if any mercenary made it off the and reported Nico''s betrayal to them, things would be over for Nico and una altogether. After all, the association would cklist them, and they wouldn''t be able to hire legitimate mercenaries again.


    "So that''s why he decided to have us surrounded by the guards," Ashton mentioned.


    "These bastards do not intend on letting us go back," Anna concluded Ashton''s words.


    "Once beasts are repelled, they can report us ''Killed-in-action'', and no one would ever know the truth of what happened to us. These sly bastards!" Vimur gritted his teeth but kept his voice on low.


    At this moment, the army men surrounding the mercenaries threateningly took a step towards them. At the same time, Nico continued, "Sadly, since the contract binds you, you can not leave until the first phase of the job ispleted."


    "Bullshit!" The man spat on the face of the soldier next to him and pushed him out of the way, "I don''t care about the rest of you, but I''m not tolerating his BS anymore-"


    Bang!


    Following the resounding gunshot sound, the man fell to his knees while staring at the gaping hole in his chest. No one couldprehend what happened there.


    They all turned around to see Cyclops had shot the man down and walked up to join Nico on the stage. At that moment, everything became obvious to Ashton.


    Why had Nico requested help from the cult, and why had he rushed to protect Cyclops from getting killed? unians and the Cult had been in cahoots all this time and yed the mercenaries like fools.


    "It''s been a long time, brother!" Cyclops proudly proimed while hugging Nico.


    "Indeed it has been," Nico replied, smiling before leaving Cyclops to take charge of the ''debriefing''.


    "Why the long faces? Do you think I''ll kill you all? No way~ I''m not that kind of a man. But I will give you a way out of this mess." Cyclops said whileughing, all the while pointing at Ashton.


    "Anyone who kills him and brings that subus to us would be allowed to leave. However, if you decide not to fight, I''ll feed you to the beasts lurking around the city walls!"


    Ashton''s soldiers immediately formed a perimeter around him and his lieutenants. Although Ashton was touched by their action, it was unnecessary. The mercenaries, excluding Nico''s soldiers, outnumbered them 20 to 1. It was unfair... For the mercenaries and the cultists, that is.


    Ashton broke the makeshift barrier and calmly walked out in front. Nico couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows when he saw Ashton''s calm expression. It was almost... frightening.


    "I''m not here to beg for our lives or to tell you not to attack us," Ashton had the widest smirk on his face, "Do what you want to. I won''t me you for trying. But I would like to tell you something.


    "Firstly, no matter your decision, they n to kill all of us. Without a shred of doubt. Secondly, I''m somebody even someone like the Phantom couldn''t kill, so take that information and do what you will."


    "Andst but not least," Ashton said while opening the gates of [Valha] behind him, "anyone who raises their weapon against us dies. That''s my word."