Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Michelle was, if anything, in slightly better shape. Heath, who had eaten nothing that morning but the rye bread the guild headquarters provided as standard, refused to let go of his last hope and spoke.

“She might not have given him the whole five hundred million. Ray can just give the money back, after all.”

“Well, I think much the same. She probably gave back four hundred million at the very least. But Ray’s no fool, so he’d have kept the thirty million for the debt.”

Michelle flatly denied the claim that he would have kept at least ten million.

“No, that boy is a fool. That’s why he tried to make a deal with the Second Prince, trusting him.”

“Then what could he do? He needed thirty million Larks right away, so did Ray have any other option? His contract with the countess isn’t finished yet.”

Every commission contract a mercenary signed was sent, through the many branches set up across the empire, to the guild master at headquarters.

When a commission was completed without incident, the contract was stamped as fulfilled upon submission of a certificate bearing the client’s confirmation. Conversely, if a commission failed, the mercenary had to go to headquarters in person and report the cause of the failure to the guild master.

If the cause lay with the mercenary, a crack was cut into the center of his mercenary badge, and if he failed one more commission in that state, the badge would split apart and he could never call himself a mercenary again.

Had Leonard signed the contract with the countess without knowing that the Elpiers family was in debt, perhaps even the master would have taken the circumstances into account.

But Leonard had signed the contract knowing full well that the county was buried in an enormous debt. So the master would not accept the claim that the debt had kept him from protecting the countship.

What was more, the guild master had gone easy on Leonard’s circumstances and had even, as a rare exception, issued him two mercenary badges.

The bell chimed.

“At the very least, we mustn’t blame Ray. The reason that boy accepted the countess’s contract was……”

“Huh? Wait, look over there.”

Michelle’s wistful reminiscence did not last even a single minute.

The hand that had been rising toward Bin’s back, as if to say, “Can’t you read the mood right now?”, stopped because of what he said next.

“That man over there, isn’t he one of Marchioness Blair’s knights……?”

* * *

He had lived in the capital for half his life, but today was the first time he had ever set foot in the Mercenary Guild headquarters.

That was partly because Hawk had spent most of that half-life chained to a back-alley fighting pit, but also because he had never had any business that called for hiring mercenaries in the first place.

‘I thought I never would.’

As Hawk looked around the interior, which looked less like guild headquarters than a simple oversized tavern, a one-eyed man approached and spoke to him.

“You look like a knight who serves some high-ranking person at a glance…… Hm? Blair? Might you be a knight of House Blair?”

A knight’s affiliation could usually be recognized by the crest engraved on his armor.

Hawk, who was about to set out on a long journey, wore tough leather clothing and guards instead of armor. But the Blair crest was engraved on the hilt of the sword at his waist, so it was not difficult to recognize his affiliation.

“That’s right. I’ve come to place a commission.”

“A knight coming in person, now that’s a first. Where is the Blair Trading Company sending a caravan this time?”

The Blair Trading Company, which crossed the borders of not only the empire but many other nations as well, hired mercenaries to escort it every time it set out on a trading run.

Companies hired mercenaries often like this, but there was no other employer who looked after the mercenaries’ treatment and paid commission fees as generously as the Blair Trading Company.

That was also why the mercenaries who had been drinking and idling the time away were now pretending not to listen while straining their ears toward the conversation.

“It’s not for the company. It’s a personal commission. This is my first time visiting the Mercenary Guild, so I don’t know how things work. What do I have to do to hire a mercenary? Do I talk to you?”

“Yes. I’m the receptionist, you see. This way, please. I’ll explain everything very kindly.”

The one-eyed man, with three large scars on his face alone, could smile as kindly as he liked, and it still felt like nothing but a threat.

But Hawk had lived too eventful a life to be intimidated by a face like that, and he followed the one-eyed man, looking around without a care.

“So what sort of job do you want to hand over? If it’s somewhat secretive, we’ll go talk in the room in the back.”

The one-eyed man pointed with his chin toward the tavern beyond the low partition. He meant that if they talked in the lobby, everyone over there would hear.

“It’s fine to talk here. It isn’t a job that requires secrecy.”

“Then let’s sit and talk here. Sally! A drink for our guest…… no, that won’t do, would you care for a glass of cold water?”

“Don’t you have juice? I’d like something sweet.”

The one-eyed man burst out laughing at Hawk, who was being picky even now.

“What, why not just ask for wine?”

“I’m on duty, believe it or not, so no alcohol.”

“A fussy fellow, aren’t you. Sally! A juice over here!”

Hawk sat at a table near the reception desk and sipped his cool juice.

His eyes seemed to be browsing the commission notices pinned to the large notice board, but his attention was directed behind him. Because of the aggression, the killing intent, and all manner of other gazes pouring onto the back of his head.

‘Honestly……’

Having come from the fighting pits, he had no trouble letting off sharp stares meant to provoke. But it was rather irritating all the same, so Hawk scratched his head as he filled out the commission form.

“Is the process of commissioning mercenaries always this…… peculiar? At this rate, a delicate person couldn’t even hand a job to a mercenary.”

“Ha ha, that’s only because you’ve got a sword at your waist. Mercenaries are a breed that can’t stand boredom, you see.”

“Bored twice over and they’d send a man to his grave.”

There was one more reason they were watching Hawk with such curiosity.

A noble’s knight.

Most of the time, the purpose for which such people hired mercenaries was to find someone to dirty their hands in their place.

In a word, they were looking for a pawn to use and discard.

But for that purpose, they mostly sought out mercenaries in the dead of night or the early hours of the morning, at secret hours. A knight who came openly to headquarters in broad daylight like this to hire a mercenary was rare.

“I’m done.”

“Let’s see, let’s see. What sort of help has our knight come all this way for…… Hm?”

The one-eyed man checked the purpose of the commission and raised one eyebrow.

“You’re looking for a guide to take you to the Elpiers domain?”

Hawk drained the rest of his juice and nodded.

Without noticing that the people listening in from the back had started at the words “Elpiers domain,” the one-eyed man tilted his head to one side.

“If you only need a guide, you wouldn’t have had to come all the way here……. Where exactly in the Elpiers domain are you headed?”

“The lord’s manor.”

“Hm?”

It wasn’t a hidden ruin, and it wasn’t a place with rugged terrain. Why would anyone need a mercenary just to go to a lord’s manor?

Noticing the question on the receptionist’s face, Hawk scratched the back of his neck hard and explained.

“There are circumstances, and I need to get there as quickly as possible, even a day sooner. I need someone to guide me along shortcuts, and an ordinary guide would tire out quickly, so I’m looking for a mercenary.”

“How many days do you have to make it in?”

“There’s no fixed deadline…… I just intend to hurry as much as I can. And I should mention that I plan to bring a carriage.”

“Hmm, then it will be a bit hard going…….”

Adding a carriage to a schedule that demanded haste did change things somewhat. They couldn’t take the narrow roads.

“Is it truly a simple guide that you want? What I mean is, do you need someone to guard the carriage?”

“Ah, the carriage will be empty, so no guarding is needed. Though if we run into bandits or the like along the way, it has to be protected so it doesn’t get wrecked.”

“I see. But why have you left the commission fee blank?”

“As I said earlier, this is my first time hiring a mercenary, so I don’t know how much to pay for this commission. What’s the average going rate?”

“For simple guide work, the fee varies by distance and time. But if the schedule is urgent, you have to pay extra for the hardship that comes with it, so……”

The one-eyed man tapped the table with his index finger as he studied Hawk’s face.

“I’d say you need to pay two hundred thousand Larks.”

Hawk was well aware that it was a price quoted to fleece him first. Even so, he nodded. What was more.

“Three hundred thousand Larks.”

“What?”

“In exchange, I want to hire someone who can leave right now. As I said earlier, the schedule is urgent.”

“Well, well, at three hundred thousand Larks, everyone and their brother will want to……”

“Now that’s good news! Hey, mister! I’m from the Elpiers domain! I can get there with my eyes closed!”

“Don’t make me laugh! What this one says is hot air, so don’t believe him. I’m not from there myself, but I’ve been in and out of the place until my soles wore through……”

“Two days to the Elpiers domain, guaranteed! I can even eat my meals on a galloping horse!”

“Just eat? I sleep too!”

Three hundred thousand Larks was a month’s wages for a shop employee in the capital’s busy district, or a little more.

That they could earn it for just a few days of guiding was enough to make the mercenaries, who had been eavesdropping, raise their hands one after another.

“You shameless bastards! A guide job for the Elpiers domain should naturally go to us! We lived there for the past three years!”

Hawk watched the blue-haired, blue-eyed man who shouted this, pretending not to.

‘So that’s the man.’

At the table where he sat were one more man and one woman.

A white-haired woman who kept her right hand under the table out of habit. And a muscular man with dark skin and a considerably large frame.

There was no mistake. They were the very people who had caused a commotion at the front gate of the auction house.

‘If you go to the Mercenary Guild headquarters, you’ll be able to see the people you saw at the auction house yesterday again. There’s no way they won’t be there. Kiri investigated.’

‘If the receptionist asks whether you’d like to go inside, just say you’ll talk in the lobby. If you say within their hearing that you’re going to the Elpiers domain, they’ll probably find some way to take the commission themselves.’

“Wow……. My boys aren’t usually this eager. As expected of a knight of Blair. Your generosity has to be acknowledged.”

“It seems there are quite a few bored people here.”

Hawk pretended to think for a moment, then said this.

“Then how about this? I think I’ll hold an auction for the commission fee, starting now.”

“A commission fee auction?”

“I did call out three hundred thousand Larks, but…… who will be hired for two hundred ninety thousand Larks?”

At those words, silence fell among the mercenaries who had their hands raised.

But it lasted only a moment. The Mercenary Guild headquarters soon turned into a pandemonium.