Chapter 26

Chapter 26

“Me! Even two hundred ninety thousand Larks is practically free!”

“Mister, I can do it for two hundred eighty thousand!”

“Two seventy for me!”

“Well now, so there’s this way of doing it too.”

While the one-eyed man marveled, as if he had never seen anything like it, Hawk turned his eyes to the blue-haired, blue-eyed man.

But the man was in no state to open his mouth, because the big man had seized him and clamped his mouth tightly shut.

‘What’s this? Does he not intend to take the commission? But the Marchioness definitely said……’

What was he supposed to do if those people gave up on the commission? Irenea had never told him about a case like this, so while Hawk was flustered.

“Free!”

“Wh-What did you say?”

At the thunderous shout of the woman who had planted one foot on the table, a stunned silence spread over the crowd.

Among the mercenaries staring at her as if to ask whether she had lost her mind, the middle-aged woman with lusterless white hair shouted vigorously at Hawk.

“We’ll go for free! To the Elpiers domain!”

“Th-That, that lunatic……. Hey, Michelle. Have you lost your mind? What kind of mercenary works for free?”

“Bin can’t very well stand by and watch that sight…… so he’ll have no choice, I suppose.”

“Mmph! Mmmph!”

The big man simply slung the blue-haired, blue-eyed man, who was struggling with all his might, over his shoulder and carried him outside.

“At least take one copper coin!”

……leaving behind only that death-rattle of a cry.

“If you’re going to give a service, do it properly. We don’t need even one copper coin, so hurry up and hand over the contract. We’re in a hurry too.”

“In a hurry? What have you got to be in a hurry about?”

“Huh? That, um, right. I forgot that I left a fire burning in the hearth at our lodgings there.”

“……Haven’t you two been down in the capital for almost a month now?”

In a month, a house would have burned down completely, and even the ashes would have been swept away by the wind.

Whether that was so or not, Michelle badgered the one-eyed man into drawing up the contract.

“Here, hurry up and sign too. You said you were in a hurry, didn’t you?”

“Hm, I am. I most certainly am.”

For now, the first step Irenea had spoken of was complete. Hawk examined the contract Michelle handed him and asked, feigning ignorance.

“But the Iron Blood Mercenary Band, you say? The one guiding the way is you alone, isn’t it? I only need a single guide.”

“You needn’t worry about pointless things, kid. There’s no chance of us running out of stamina and dragging at your ankles.”

“I hope that’s true. If you become a burden, I’ll abandon you one by one until only the last person remains.”

In truth, Irenea had told him to be generous with the commission fee when entrusting the job to the Iron Blood Mercenary Band. But…… since the woman herself had said she would work for free, surely that didn’t matter?

‘It’s good to save when you can.’

Thinking that Irenea would probably praise him for it, Hawk wrote “free” in the commission fee box and signed his name with a flourish.

Never imagining that this would come back to hound him for a long time to come.

* * *

‘Those people will probably pry all sorts of things out of you. It doesn’t matter if you tell them everything, but it would be strange to give it all away too smoothly, so answer in moderation, in pieces.’

‘Is there a reason I must travel with them?’

‘Not really. But it’s good for everyone to get acquainted in advance, isn’t it? Those people are my fiancé’s companions. Or to be precise, I suppose I should say people he took in and raised.’

To Hawk, Irenea’s words were law and truth. Even if she had brought home not a debt-ridden count of mercenary origin but a beggar from the slums, Hawk would have served him as his master’s husband.

‘No, a beggar might be a bit much.’

In any case, Hawk had neither the intention nor the right to oppose Irenea’s marriage.

But as a subordinate who served his lord with loyalty, shouldn’t he know in advance what sort of man was to become her husband?

The person Irenea had chosen could not possibly be a scoundrel, but love, by nature, is a blindfold that scatters reason.

‘She said he took them in and raised them when they were young……. If I learn what sort of people these are, I should be able to roughly tell what sort of man the Marchioness’s fiancé is, too.’

As it happened, he had plenty of time.

Because of Irenea’s earnest instruction, he had ridden at full gallop the moment he left the capital, but the schedule was not so urgent that he had to skip meals and sleep, so he did not cut his three meals and his sleep short beyond reason.

If there had been a village along the route the guides gave, he could have stayed at an inn without any trouble.

But the road they had confidently pointed out, saying they could reach the Elpiers domain in two days, ran through a mountain range.

Because of that, late at night, Hawk had to roughly clear the stones from the dirt ground and lay out bedding together with the three men and women.

“Good work running all day.”

“Brrrr—”

They had agreed to sleep early and rise early, so the meal had been settled roughly with dried provisions and jerky.

Having fed the horses, which had labored all day, apples and sugar cubes, Hawk lay down early on the blanket spread on the ground.

The night-watch order, decided by drawing lots, had put him third. He thought it would have been nice to draw fourth, and as he closed his eyes, a small cough reached his ears.

“Ahem, ahem!”

He had already noticed the presence circling around him, so Hawk opened his eyes without any particular surprise. The one standing before him was Michelle.

“Did you want to say something?”

“It’s just, I can’t sleep, you know.”

Michelle sat down beside Hawk without even asking permission. After wavering over what to do, Hawk finally sat up.

‘Not being able to sleep sounds like an excuse……’

Sure enough, Michelle thrust the liquor bottle in her hand in front of Hawk’s eyes.

“If this is fate, it’s fate, so how about a light drink?”

“I appreciate the thought, but I’ll decline. I’d rather not retch on horseback tomorrow morning.”

“Come now, don’t be like that. This is really rare liquor, you know. It’s brewed by the nomads out in the desert……”

“Is it brewed from apple cactus flowers?”

“You know it? Then you must know how rare it is!”

“Rare? This?”

At Hawk’s tilted head, Michelle’s mouth dropped open.

“What’s that reaction? That reaction like you’ve had it more than once or twice?”

“That’s right. Three or four times, I think?”

“How? Were you actually from the nomads?”

Hawk waved his hand lightly.

“Have you forgotten where I work? Not only liquor brewed in the desert, but even liquor brewed from the eternal snows of Illum is lying around everywhere.”

Opening trade routes that had not existed, whether over mountain paths or sea lanes, and starting exchanges with many nations, was an achievement Irenea had accomplished in a mere three years.

She had an uncanny knack for knowing exactly what a given country needed. From the weeds that grew everywhere in the empire, she made medicine to cure the desert’s endemic diseases and sold it, and to countries where many froze to death for lack of firewood, she sold coal.

In the process, she could have made more profit than necessary if she had wished. But instead of that, Irenea gave it up and bought the trust of that country’s king and people.

And on the foundation of that trust, she began brokered trade between nations that had never exchanged with each other.

That was not all. At the ports where she could anchor, Irenea built hotels and, separately from the brokered trade, started a cruise business.

The cruise ship’s itinerary, which left Illum, passed through the Kon-Ile-Tem Federation, Parodia, and Milos, anchored at the Debora Coast in the south of the empire, and then returned in reverse order, took about two months.

Lest tourists who had left their homelands feel homesick, Irenea had decorated the seven islands of the Debora Coast like a desert, a jungle, and a snow country.

Of course, since the power of magic had vanished, it was impossible to transplant even the climate.

But Irenea did her best, styling everything, from the architecture and the flowers and trees to the clothing, speech, and even the food of the staff who worked there, as close to the respective country as possible.

So it was only natural, in its way, that rare liquors obtainable only by traveling to those countries were rolling around the Blair marquis’s manor.

Even now, Blair’s merchant ships were sailing between many countries, diligently carrying goods from each land.

“Liquor brewed from eternal snow, you say? Surely not Snowal wine? Is that what you mean? And it’s lying around everywhere?”

“Is that so surprising?”

“Of course it’s surprising! You’ve drunk that too? What did it taste like? Well? Well?”

“Nothing special……. It was just bland.”

“Bland! Liar! My legendary liquor could never be that!”

At Michelle, who was practically wailing, Hawk scratched the back of his neck as though he did not know what to say.

“If I’d known it was such a legendary liquor, I should have brought a bottle.”

“Bring a bottle? Doesn’t one bottle of that go for at least two hundred thousand Larks? How could you bring something that expensive?”

“My master is a generous person. Only where food is concerned, but if you say you want some, she shares it readily.”

“Oho……. Is that so? So at least she isn’t stingy with food?”

Hawk instinctively realized that she had just given Irenea a good mark.

‘Ah, I see.’

Just as he was trying to gauge what sort of man Irenea’s fiancé was through these people, they were trying to find out what sort of person Irenea was through him.

Learning that he himself was about to become Irenea’s mirror, Hawk’s slouched spine straightened.

As if she had noticed the reason, Michelle asked, “By the way.”

“How old are you?”

“Why ask my age all of a sudden……? Twenty-two.”

“Well, well, I kept thinking you were young, but you’re a complete whelp! Listen, you brat, you may not have known because I look so youthful, but I’m forty-five this year, forty-five!”

“Youthful……? Hm, I don’t think you need to worry. You look exactly your age.”

“What was that, you?”

He hadn’t even said she looked old, but Michelle flew into a rage.

“I look my age? You knew I’m old enough to be your mother, and you still talked to me like this and that? Just because you work under a noble, you think you’re a noble? Huh?”

“Strictly speaking, I am a noble.”

“What?”

Hawk pulled the thin chain around his neck and drew out the pendant he kept tucked inside his clothes. It was the pendant that proved he was a baronet.

“My master granted me the title when she knighted me.”

This was precisely the reason Hawk had been able to escort Irenea.