Garcia is a city of prosperity.
Various jobs have emerged, and with that, the range of choices for shaping one’s future has gradually expanded.
Among them, there was a job that was considered vulgar by the nobles but highly regarded by the citizens: the Mercenary Guild.
Lately, the Mercenary Guild had been bustling more than ever.
To the point where Darwin, who usually spent his days ogling the luscious backsides of women strolling through the streets outside the window, had no time for such leisure.
“Why is there so much damn work…?”
People were either sending requests via letters from the capital or coming directly to the guild.
Normally, there would be at most a dozen or so requests in a day, but for some reason, the average had been increasing every year.
“…Sigh. When am I gonna get all this posted?”
Darwin sighed deeply as he stared at the piled-up requests like books stacked on a shelf.
The request board was already crammed with unprocessed cases; there wasn’t even space left to post the newly arrived requests.
In an emergency measure, they had stuck them all over the guild walls, but now it looked like you couldn’t even see the wood panels anymore.
If only they would decrease a little, but looking at the requests that were still untouched from last week, you could tell the situation wasn’t improving.
It wasn’t supposed to be this busy.
Only…
“Where the hell are those drunk bastards?”
Because the mercenaries who used to hang around the guild drinking all day had recently gone missing.
With over a dozen mercenaries suddenly absent, even Garcia’s largest mercenary guild found it hard to quickly replace the manpower.
“Damn money-obsessed bastards…”
Requests like transporting supplies needed for village development or cleaning up monster corpses.
Not exactly the kind of work mercenaries would enjoy.
I mean, if they liked that sort of thing, they’d probably be cleaners instead of mercenaries, right?
But the pay was ridiculously high, even for simple cleaning tasks.
“Hurry up and come back already…”
While sticking up today’s requests on the wall, Darwin kept muttering how he wished the mercenaries would return soon.
After all, things wouldn’t calm down enough for him to ogle the ladies on the street until the requests started getting processed.
Darwin grumbled again.
Still, his hands didn’t stop moving; there was just too much to do.
Ding!
The sound of the guild door opening made Darwin turn his head while holding a request slip.
“Welcome… Oh wow…”
Standing at the guild entrance was a rare sight—a white-haired girl named Sirius.
Darwin, who had been frowning until now, broke into a broad grin as he approached Sirius.
He thought Sirius was there to make a request.
After all, female mercenaries weren’t common, and her build wasn’t particularly large either.
Moreover, her delicate appearance gave no hint of being a mercenary.
When Darwin reached Sirius, he lowered his voice as solemnly as possible and asked,
“What kind of request brings you here?”
He didn’t expect anything big.
After all, at first glance, Sirius didn’t look like a noble.
He figured she’d probably ask for something trivial, like finding a lost pet.
However, contrary to Darwin’s expectations, Sirius wasn’t there to make a request but to take one.
Swish!
Sirius pointed at the densely packed request slips on the board.
Then she said,
“Money.”
It was only then that Darwin noticed the sword in Sirius’ hand.
‘This can’t be real…’
While it was true that female mercenaries were uncommon, Darwin had seen a few come to the guild to pick up requests.
All the women who came were adults, with well-trained physiques capable of handling mercenary work.
They clearly had the physical condition necessary for mercenary jobs.
But this young mercenary, with skin that seemed untouched by sunlight and a petite frame, was a case Darwin had never encountered during his time working at the guild.
“You’re saying you want to take on a request, right…?”
Nod. Sirius’ head moved slightly.
At the sight, Darwin’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly in confusion.
Regaining his composure, he cleared his throat and began speaking again.
“What kind of request do you plan to take? If I may recommend, maybe start with something easy…”
Darwin scanned the request slips several times, trying to find something simple.
However, before he could reach out, Sirius grabbed one of the slips posted on the board and handed it to Darwin.
[Northern Recon Escort Mission]
– Estimated Difficulty: Moderately Hard– Reward: 3 Silver Coins
“Th-this can’t be done!”
Darwin jumped in shock as he read the contents.
“No matter how high the reward is, this is practically suicide! There are many bandits in the north!”
There was one absolute rule in the Mercenary Guild.
That was the freedom for mercenaries to choose their missions, and guild officials were not allowed to interfere with those choices.
This was ostensibly to guarantee the free choice of mercenaries but secretly served as a way for the guild to avoid responsibility.
Meaning, if you chose the mission yourself, dying was your own fault, not the guild’s.
Though Darwin knew this better than anyone, he wanted to dissuade Sirius even if it meant breaking the rules.
“Let me recommend something else to you.”
As Darwin neatly folded the slip Sirius had taken, she pointed to a phrase written on the guild wall.
There, the guild’s rule was boldly inscribed:
– All mercenaries are free to choose their missions –
Darwin was momentarily flustered but quickly regained his composure and thought of an excuse.
“That’s true, but… uhh… Initially, this mission can’t be done alone. The client specifically requested a minimum of two… no, three people!”
Just as Darwin tried to add another excuse, the doorbell rang again.
“So, it’s fine as long as there are three or more, right?”“Rick? What the hell do you mean by that…?”
The man called Rick approached them and snatched the request slip from Darwin’s hand.
“Hmm. Three silver coins… Is this per person?”“Yeah… it is.”“Oh? Then I’ll take this kid along.”“What? Don’t say ridiculous things!”“The one talking nonsense is you, Darwin. Aren’t you the official who doesn’t follow the rules?”
Darwin lost his words. After all, the guild’s rules were absolute.If Rick reported this incident to the guild master, Darwin could lose his job.
No, he definitely would.
“Little miss, wanna go on a mission with big bro?”Rick’s question earned a small nod from Sirius.
“See, Darwin? She wants to go. Why are you stopping her? You’re really a bad guy, aren’t you?”
Rick mocked Darwin conspicuously, standing beside Sirius.
Darwin clenched his fists tightly.
“Hmph, but two people still isn’t enough! Like I said before, we need three at least!”“Don’t worry about that.”
At the same moment, a girl with brown hair appeared behind Rick.
Darwin widened his eyes and exclaimed,
“…Dana.”“It’s been a while, Darwin.”
Dana.
Darwin’s ex-girlfriend and…
“Adding my girlfriend makes exactly three.”
…Rick’s current girlfriend.
*
Unusual chaos erupted in the Monster Forest.
Swords clashed everywhere, but it wasn’t just swords. Mercenaries wielded various weapons, fending off the waves of monsters one by one.
“Dammit! Now I get why the pay was so high!”
A mercenary shouted as he slammed his mace into a monster’s mouth.
They thought it was just about moving cargo and disposing of bodies, but no one mentioned they had to pass through the Monster Forest.
Somehow, they managed to arrive at LaBrana, but neither the cargo nor the client was anywhere to be seen. Instead, the client suddenly announced plans to return to the empire.
Regardless of how reckless mercenaries might be, this went too far.
Not only the mace-wielding mercenary but everyone except Seto felt the same way.
After defeating the monsters, Seto and the mercenaries decided to camp in the forest.
Inside a small tent set up near the campfire, the mercenaries gathered together to discuss.
“If the content differs from the request, we should make a big fuss when settling accounts upon reaching the empire. We deserve at least double or triple the payment, don’t we?”“Right. Exactly.”
Among the gathered mercenaries, Hans, the oldest, quietly devised a strategy.
“And after that, we file a complaint with the guild. The request content was completely different! If we push this, they won’t be able to refuse us. Without us, the guild wouldn’t function, right?”
Once again, the mercenaries nodded in agreement.
Actually, they could’ve abandoned the mission when they reached the edge of the Monster Forest while heading to LaBrana, but since they had already traveled such a distance, they decided to use it to their advantage.
“At any rate, let’s hold on until tomorrow morning when we reach the forest trail—”“Is someone there?”
A shadow appeared outside the tent.
The mercenaries exchanged glances and opened the tent.
“What is it, sir?”“I noticed you worked quite hard today, so I prepared a small meal.”
A sweet aroma wafted into the tent.
The mercenaries’ noses twitched repeatedly at the smell, which they rarely encountered in the forest.
Having only eaten stale bread and dried meat for a while, the tantalizing scent made them drool uncontrollably.
“Would you care to eat?”
Everyone nodded.
The mercenaries eagerly slurped up the rich soup filled with sweet chunks of fruit.
Midway through, one of them asked Seto,
“Will you not partake, sir?”It seemed odd to see him sitting on a tree stump, merely watching them eat.
“I don’t fancy fruits.”
Seto waved his hand and smiled faintly.
“Please, enjoy yourselves.”
