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“Of course, even for those who don’t dream of becoming knights, it’s a good opportunity to broaden their horizons by observing highly skilled individuals. For anyone with even a little ambition to rise, this is an irresistible request.”
‘Though I don’t particularly need it,’ added the voice that had regained a bit of confidence.
Of course, the response was cold. Eol, noticing Rohan’s skeptical look, made a somewhat indignant expression. One side didn’t even seem interested, let alone skeptical.
However, no matter how much dissatisfaction built up, he didn’t have the courage to refute it. Eol, trying to calm himself, awkwardly cleared his throat.
“…Actually, it’s not like this has never happened before. While it’s the first time the request conditions have been so loose, there have been a few instances in the past where the imperial palace took mercenaries to subjugate bandits.”
“Hmm.”
Rohan, who had been listening quietly, made a strange expression but nodded. There was still some uneasiness, but since someone who had been in this line of work for a long time testified that it wasn’t unprecedented, there was nothing more to question.
“Thank you for the kind explanation.”
The voice that added, “Well then,” couldn’t pass by so quickly.
***
The parting was as sudden as the unexpected meeting. After diligently expressing their thanks, the two left in the blink of an eye, leaving only a dazed Eol standing there.
Although he had wished to leave this place, in a way he had achieved what he wanted, but somehow he felt strange.
“Huh…”
Nevertheless, what was certain was that he had just overcome the greatest crisis in his not-so-short mercenary life. That was why Eol was now letting out a sigh full of relief.
The two who had headed to the reception desk disappeared somewhere after talking with the staff. But the expression that had sent chills down his spine and even made him break out in a cold sweat was still vividly imprinted in Eol’s mind.
If there was one thing that bothered him… it was the inexplicable familiarity he felt in the face of the guy who had acted as if he was about to drown someone while smiling. As Eol naturally recalled a distant past event, his eyes widened.
“Ah…?”
It was about ten years ago. The reason he still remembered the past was because of the opponent’s attack that he simply couldn’t forget.
At that time, Eol couldn’t use aura, but after honing his skills over a long time, he too became able to use it. With that, he had broken through the wall of B-rank mercenary and risen to A-rank.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t recreate the attack his opponent had shown back then. He could cut through a sword not wrapped in aura, but that chilling something that seemed to slice through the opponent beyond the sword in one breath did not exist in Eol’s sword.
Could that simply be expressed as ‘killing intent’? Eol could definitely answer no to that question. He was more familiar with killing intent than anyone else, having been through countless battlefields.
Rather, it was… closer to ‘death’. The sharp intuition that had always saved him in crisis situations was telling him so.
This is why he couldn’t possibly forget the memory of that time. More precisely, he hadn’t been able to forget. Even now, if he closed his eyes, that shocking attack from back then would be painted in his mind. The power that could split solid metal without even holding a sword, the judges watching in surprise, and – the small child who seemed to be the man’s companion.
“Could it be, that child…?”
The youthful face shape overlapped somewhere. His trembling gaze turned to where the two had disappeared. He swallowed involuntarily.
It was surprising that the child who had looked quite gentle had grown up like that, and the appearance of the man who had instinctively warned him not to dig deeper began to bother him again.
With the comparison subject beside him, the man’s face, which hadn’t changed a bit in ten years, seemed even more bizarre.
“Mister!”
What awoke Eol, who had been standing still as if turned to stone, was the clear voice of a young woman.
A girl approaching with light steps that gave off a strong tomboy vibe filled his vision. She was one of the young mercenaries he had been teaching swordsmanship to recently.
“You said you’d be out soon, why are you taking so long? Everyone’s been waiting for ages!”
“Ah, sorry. I’ll be right there.”
Eol nodded clumsily and belatedly followed the girl. It was then that her subtle voice probed him.
“By the way, who were those people earlier? They were really handsome.”
“Knowing would hurt you.”
“What? No, if you don’t want to introduce them, just say so! Your excuse is so half-hearted!”
A voice full of dissatisfaction followed, but Eol didn’t take back his words. The thought that it would do no good to know those two would not change in the future.
Shaking his head, he brushed off the small thoughts that had been occupying his mind. With a small wish that he would never encounter them again, he left the Mercenary Guild.
***
“Welcome. We’ve been waiting for you.”
Meanwhile, the two who had entered deep into the Mercenary Guild guided by the receptionist… were facing someone all too familiar. A hand waving gently was full of welcoming sentiment.
The staff member who had acted as a guide had long since left quickly. A faint bewilderment settled in Rohan’s eyes as he stared at the empty doorway.
“Why are you here?”
‘In case of emergency, come here,’ he had said, once providing a list of branch locations of the Mercenary Guild. Among the various branches, he had marked those that were lending a hand to Lexia’s plans.
This place was one of them. He had come directly to get information about Leriana and to plan future schedules.
However, he hadn’t expected Lexia to appear in person. He had only one body, and the branches were spread all over the empire. Given that he was also acting as the head of the Mercenary Guild, wouldn’t it be strange to meet him every time?
He had only intended to talk to the branch manager, but what was actually in front of him was Lexia. Perhaps because his brightly smiling face looked so carefree, Rohan was feeling an inexplicable annoyance towards him.
A voice full of laughter answered Rohan’s question.
“I heard information that something unusual was happening in a village on the outskirts of the Marquis’ territory. I roughly knew where you two were headed, so I thought it might be related to that commotion. Now that I see you, I think I did well to come here in advance.”
He naturally wouldn’t know which territory or village they were going to since he hadn’t been told about this revelation. But Lexia knew.
In other words, this meant he had been tailing them. Arpel’s gaze naturally sharpened. Perhaps feeling the unusual gaze directed at him, Lexia awkwardly chose to turn his head and avoid those eyes.
Unfortunately, his face still felt prickly, as he could still feel the fierce gaze.
“…We don’t have much time to talk, so shall we start with why you came to see me?”
His skill in changing the subject was top-notch. Although he was still averting his gaze slightly, his voice was as eloquent as ever.
It seemed to be passing over well like that, but…
“Is it perhaps about Leriana?”
A carelessly thrown comment ended up inviting trouble. He had finally mentioned Leriana without being asked.
“…Why don’t you just openly assign someone to follow us?”
“What? No, this is a misunderstanding. Even I wouldn’t go around digging into things like this. I maintain at least a minimum level of courtesy with my business partners!”
As Arpel, who had been expressing his dissatisfaction only through his gaze until now, finally furrowed his brow, Lexia, feeling a threat to his life, hastily shook his head. At this rate, he might disappear without a trace.
He desperately looked to the only one who could stop Arpel, but it was of no use. The half-closed eyes were more likely to encourage than to stop, certainly not the eyes of someone who would intervene.
Noticing that clear distrust was evident in both their eyes, Lexia let out a deep sigh. A breath full of indignation slowly escaped.
“Leriana visited here yesterday. The knight lady was with her too. I just heard the story roughly from those two.”
“Leriana…?”
“Yes, when I mentioned you two, they seemed a bit off? So I took a guess that it might be related. So this is purely my skill, my skill!”
Only after repeating his claim of innocence several times did Arpel’s icy gaze thaw a little. Lexia, seeing this, openly let out sighs of relief, but quickly regained his composure.
Showing a picture-perfect smile like when they first met, he playfully began.
“So, what do you want to know?”
“I want to know where Leriana went.”
“Hmm…”
Rohan answered seriously to the light question. Lexia, turning to look at him, let out a small exclamation while staring at the golden eyes shining brilliantly as if containing sunlight. The image of Leriana, whose mood had been quite down, came to mind as well.
Still, the fortunate thing was,
‘…Now that I think about it, I don’t think there’s any need to worry.’
That he didn’t need to worry about their relationship. When he had met Leriana, he had been concerned that there might be discord between them… but judging by Rohan’s expression, there seemed to be no need for unnecessary worry.
“That’s easy.”
Leriana and Casia had set out to deal with the remaining branches of the Salvation Church, and Lexia had planned the optimal route for them. So it wasn’t difficult to tell him Leriana’s destination.
However, there was one curiosity he wanted to resolve before telling him.
“Can I ask just one thing in return?”
Lexia’s gaze turned to Arpel. His voice, asking without even waiting for an answer, was full of curiosity.
“Why are you wearing a collar?”
And so, the topic that everyone had avoided talking about directly was thrown out as the main subject.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
