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The bustling crowds moving quickly through the streets, the noisy sounds originating from them. Unlike other villages that evoked only leisurely and peaceful sentiments, this place primarily gave the impression of a flourishing district. Things that greatly boosted the lively atmosphere were everywhere.
Feeling the wind carrying a faint coolness tickle his nose, Arpel glanced towards where the carriage had departed.
“It seems it’s not too far from here. Shall we go right away?”
Rohan, who had just returned from asking a passerby about the location of the ‘Mercenary Guild’, nodded lightly. Arpel naturally grasped the hand extended to him and began to slowly walk following the one leading the way.
They were currently in a commercial city dominating the western part of the Fides territory. It was quite far from Bemos Village where they had originally been, and the main reason they had come all the way to this distant place was because they had belatedly received news about Leriana.
After hearing that she had already left Bemos Village, the two immediately changed their destination, and this was that place. They had walked to the nearest mercenary guild to gather information about Leriana and plan their future schedule.
After passing through a flourishing district as wide as an imperial road, when they reached the end of a long street, an incredibly majestic stone building came into view. Its overwhelming exterior, certainly one of the most impressive they had seen so far, caught their attention.
“There aren’t any good requests these days.”
“What about that notice from the imperial palace recently?”
“Hah, who would trust those black-hearted bastards?”
As soon as they opened the large door and entered, all sorts of noises assaulted their ears. There were mercenaries discussing requests around long tables, and quite a few people gathered in small groups, piling snacks in front of them and tipping their glasses.
Perhaps because it was a place where all kinds of information gathered. Some were mentioning quite useful information, and among them were even those bringing news about Bemos Village, where things had been settled not long ago.
What stood out particularly even in the noisy guild was…
“Should we go take a look?”
A group of mercenaries swarming like ants to one side of what appeared to be a newly set up request board. Not only Rohan, but even Arpel turned their gaze towards the people exuding an ominous atmosphere there.
“Hmm… No. It’s not related to us.”
Rohan shook his head after considering Arpel’s casually thrown question. Although he was curious, it probably wasn’t anything important. However, the two couldn’t leave immediately.
“Aren’t you two mercenaries too? Where else would you find such a hot topic these days?”
It was because of a voice stopping their steps just as they were about to turn away. Arpel, turning his head, quietly gazed at the middle-aged man who had spoken to them. Rohan’s reaction wasn’t much different.
Despite the two not making any response, the man was confident. The way he shrugged his shoulders and began an unsolicited explanation seemed to suggest he was proud of his own kindness in providing detailed information.
“A mercenary like me might not be needed, but for low-rank mercenaries, this could be a golden opportunity… Gasp?!”
The smoothly flowing explanation was cut off in an instant. More precisely, the moment he looked directly at Arpel’s face, the man’s face turned pale and he shut his mouth. His trembling lips spit out a broken voice.
“Y-You are…!”
His attitude was as if he had recognized who the other person was. Arpel just blinked quietly, not minding, but the clear reaction came from Rohan. His eyes, with a graceful smile, looked back and forth between the two.
“Arpel, who is he?”
It was a statement full of questioning meaning, despite only his face smiling. Only then did Arpel’s body flinch slightly. Feeling the strong force through the gap of their clasped hands along with the chillingly affectionate voice, he reflexively shook his head, sensing something ominous.
“He’s a stranger.”
“Then you’re saying a person you don’t even know pretended to know you-“
“No! No! I’m Eol, Eol!”
An urgent statement burst out from the man.
The darkly sunken eyes were hard to believe belonged to a smiling person. Unlike at first when he had looked down on them as low-rank mercenaries, his actions shaking his head were excessively angled.
Befitting his self-introduction as someone of not bad rank, he instinctively sensed a threat to his life and responded wisely. The survival instinct built up over long years of moving from battlefield to battlefield shone through.
Perhaps because he felt that one wrong move could endanger his life. The man’s eyes, looking towards Arpel as if he were his last hope, shone quite desperately, but…
“…Who?”
Arpel didn’t grant his wish. Or more accurately, couldn’t grant it. Even though he heard the name ‘Eol’, nothing came to mind.
“D-Don’t you remember? We took the rank test together before!”
“Ah.”
Only after hearing this desperate statement did Arpel recall a certain man. Not long after meeting Rohan, he had taken a rank test to become a mercenary. He remembered at least the fact that someone had been his opponent then.
Of course, that was all.
He couldn’t remember the name, face, voice, or skills. Given that nothing came to mind, it seems he wasn’t a particularly outstanding person.
When Arpel nodded, confirming it was him, Rohan withdrew his suspicious gaze from the man, Eol. Just as this small incident seemed to be settled…
“But how come your face hasn’t changed at all over such a long time? You look exactly the same as back then.”
Eol, having escaped the life-threatening fear, seemed to have regained normal thinking belatedly as he stared at Arpel’s face and expressed his doubt. It was a natural curiosity for him to have. Even he himself couldn’t escape the passing of time.
Perhaps because it was such an intense memory, deeply engraved in his mind, Eol could tell that the Arpel standing before him hadn’t changed at all from his memory of nearly ten years ago. His face, still devoid of any expression, looked almost inhuman.
To him, Arpel calmly replied.
“I have a youthful appearance.”
“…Pardon?”
Bewilderment settled in his eyes. His moving lips looked like they might burst out with something like ‘Does that make any sense?!’, but it ended up being just a wish. The creeping sensation climbing up his spine rang another warning bell.
“…I-I see. You really do have a youthful appearance.”
It was the instinct that had saved his life countless times in life-or-death situations. Eol decided to follow it strictly and didn’t express outwardly the doubt rising to his throat. In fact, not pressing further might have been his saving grace.
Cold sweat ran down the back of his neck even though the other party hadn’t said anything. He even began to have a strange premonition that being caught between these two might be the crisis of his lifetime. His rolling eyes were busy carefully surveying the surroundings, as if looking for a chance to escape.
He cursed his survival instinct countless times, which he had trusted so much but hadn’t given any warning until he spoke up. Just as he was inwardly vowing several times never to meddle unnecessarily again in the future…
“I have something I’d like to ask.”
Rohan stopped him. Eol, who had to return his body to its original position after having tearfully stepped back slightly, turned to look at him with an awkward expression. The one fortunate thing was that what could be read in his eyes was pure curiosity.
“Ask me anything, I’ll answer everything!”
It was a statement bordering on servile. Rohan, smiling gently, nodded towards the request board where mercenaries were still gathered.
“That opportunity you mentioned earlier, could you explain it again?”
“…”
He regretted his earlier outburst, referring to them as ‘low-rank mercenaries’.
Although Eol kept his mouth shut for a moment, he had to painfully open it at the gaze that seemed to urge him on. This was because the man who had asked the question exuded an aura just as unusual as Arpel, whose face hadn’t changed bizarrely.
“Uh, recently a escort request came down from the imperial palace. It’s a request that doesn’t discriminate based on status, qualifications, or rank… The pay isn’t bad either, so that’s why so many people are gathering there.”
“You said earlier that you didn’t need it yourself, right?”
“Well, that’s because the relationship between imperial knights and mercenaries isn’t very good. So there are more guys who feel uneasy about it than you might think.”
“I’m sure you called it a ‘golden opportunity’…”
“Ugh…”
Rohan, asking various questions in a soft voice, showed no sign of missing anything. Although at first he had thought it was unrelated to them, listening to Eol’s words gradually piqued his interest.
Given that it was decided they would have to face the Emperor in the not-too-distant future, it was better to know at least roughly about the movements of the imperial palace. It would have been strange to miss the opportunity to have someone well-versed in the mercenary industry explain.
“Do you know what the difference is between mercenaries and knights?”
Rohan shook his head. Arpel also seemed to have no knowledge. After checking their expressions, Eol finally continued speaking slowly.
“Knights can only be those who use Aura, but mercenaries are not like that. If you have average skills, you can become a mercenary regardless of whether you have Aura or not. Of course, your rank would be low.”
The explanation didn’t end there.
“There are countless cases of people who wanted to become knights but failed due to Aura and turned to becoming mercenaries instead. No, there are quite a lot more than you might think. For them, meeting the imperial knights directly and seeing their swordsmanship could be considered a golden opportunity.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
