Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
Sheryl Tusin Ogatorf
After checking in with the coordinator handling the roster and getting a carriage assignment, I was told we still had almost an hour before departure.
"Looks like this isn't something to be settled today or tomorrow."
Normally, nearby subjugation requests left at dawn, arrived before noon, and got to work immediately. Whatever else could be said, there were people in authority who couldn't simply ignore unstable security this close to a national capital. Leaving at almost eleven in the morning was highly unusual in itself.
"I've got a bad feeling about this. Once we arrive, I'll do the talking, so stick with me no matter what."
"Do the talking...?"
"I mean I'll handle the official talking and make it sound convincing. The request is vague in places, there were unfamiliar people at the guild, and even here about half these adventurers feel different from the usual crowd. I can't shake the feeling there's something we haven't figured out."
"Hmm. Was I being too complacent...?"
This smart girl wasn't the type to make a bad decision just because she got worked up. I hadn't even explained exactly why I was suspicious, but the moment I raised the question she set aside her usual assumptions and started examining the problem from every angle, looking for something she might have missed. Was this what happened when a genius received elite education?
"Still, it's better to make mistakes when we're moving as a group like this. We'll only know for sure later, so just keep it in mind."
Sheryl silently nodded in agreement. Even though she'd worked as an adventurer longer than I had, she raised no objection.
That made sense. She still didn't really understand the petty dominance games and unfair bargaining that went on among people at the bottom. Not that she needed to. She'd probably live her whole life without ever needing to understand them, and nothing would go wrong because of it. In any case, whenever a problem had to be solved by talking, I was usually the one who stepped in.
No matter what anyone said, in the end, those who'd try to take advantage of you if you bowed your head made up at least 80% of the bottom rungs of society.
I went over the contract again to avoid any possible mistakes, but there was no mention of a specific chain of command for carrying out the thief subjugation mission. In cases like this, as long as you didn't just run away, you handled things yourself. So there'd be nothing anyone could say about Sheryl and me sticking together. The request reward was structured with a base pay plus bonus per enemy killed anyway, so even if I played it a bit cautiously to feel out the situation, the other adventurers wouldn't mind at all.
"No need to be scared in advance, but there's no harm in being careful."
"I agree."
After one final equipment check and buying some simple emergency rations, the roll call finally finished and the carriage started moving.
The wind was chilly, but since it was a long-distance trip for the first time in a while, just watching the passing scenery kept the journey from being dull. Yeah. Sitting like this brought back nightmares of my military service riding in a deuce-and-a-half. Bad memories of suffering because of one incompetent officer.
A sudden unease crept over me, and I scanned the adventurers riding in the same carriage, but there didn't seem to be anyone whose very presence felt like it would be a hindrance. Of course, those kinds of bastards always looked perfectly fine on the outside before they screwed you over later, so I couldn't let my guard down.
"Hey, mate. You're Eldmia Ega, right?"
"Huh?"
With Sheryl having dozed off and leaving me with nothing to do, I'd been spacing out when the man sitting across from me looked me over with a rough face and spoke up. I tilted my head, half expecting him to start something, but he quickly broke into a friendly-looking grin and offered a handshake.
"I saw you earlier at the guild. Name's Garun. You from the capital?"
"Ogwen originally, but I've been in the capital a little over a year."
So he was a true civilized man who knew how to smile and greet people. I'd thought he was scowling, but it turned out that was just his face.
"It's nothing much, but I figured I should give you a heads-up because of that Dantel and his crew from earlier."
"That petty sex offender bastard?"
"Heh heh heh. Yeah. That bastard. He's originally from the same area as me, Mandeli Port, so I've seen plenty of his bullshit."
"From the way you're building this up, he's a repeat offender, huh?"
"Sharp one, mate."
It was a little weird being addressed like an adult by a man whose face looked roughly my mental age, but I only had my own build to blame. From appearance alone, I could've passed for a baby-faced guy in his twenties. And if Garun was from a port, hard labor might've aged him early too.
Anyway, from Garun's friendly explanation, Dantel was a thoroughly rotten bastard. Around Mandeli Port he was infamous for pestering every woman he saw, to the point that some towns had blacklisted him outright. Clearly there was no hope of reforming him. As Garun talked, though, it sounded as if far more people than I'd expected had come to the capital from that region. Once the gossip wound down, I couldn't resist asking him about it.
"But did something happen over there? From what I hear, a lot of you seem to have come up. That's not a common thing, is it?"
"Huh? You're surprisingly out of touch with outside news, mate. It's the Demon King's Army, that's what. They've completely wrecked the port."
Unlike Garun, who answered so nonchalantly, I froze, my eyes wide open.
"Well, mate, working as an adventurer I'm sure you knew it could happen, but... the front line that's held for seven years finally cracked. From what I heard, something like a detached force broke through. By the time I last saw the place, you couldn't even call it a port anymore."
I'd just assumed we were holding out somehow, but it seemed the threat from the Demon King's Army was actually getting more and more serious.
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With nothing else to do during the ride, Garun answered my questions pretty enthusiastically. Most of what he told me was bitter and grim.
He said towns near the front heard almost nothing except news of a battered front or another defeat, aside from the occasional victory report. Those rare victories were big enough to keep the line barely holding, but if you sat in a tavern and listened to the talk, you'd wonder how the kingdom was surviving at all.
"Maybe that's why all sorts of monsters have been showing up lately. Stories you can barely believe—like a swordsman who wiped out an entire company from the Demon King's Army alone, or the funny one where a hidden unit from the Demon King's Army got caught in the area spell someone used to kill a Demon. One of the few upsides is that you never get bored."
"Everything else you're saying sounds like a downside."
"Isn't just being alive an upside? With things like that, I wanted to live a bit longer, which is why I came to the capital. But the atmosphere here's totally different. Heh heh heh. Though looking at this subjugation request, it seems it's not entirely different either."
Sure enough, with his years of adventuring experience, Garun had also sensed that this request was a little unusual. After sharing plenty of other stories and information, he hopped out the moment we reached our destination, gave a casual farewell, and simply went his own way.
"Let's meet again after we've killed them all."
He was so damn cool about it that his rough face suddenly looked downright manly. We'd talked enough that he could easily have suggested teaming up, so walking off like that probably meant he was pretty confident in his own skills.
"He was a pleasant guy, different from how he looked."
"Whoa, shit, you startled me!"
Sheryl, who I'd been convinced was still dead asleep since she'd rested her head on my shoulder and hadn't moved a muscle, got up and stretched the moment Garun left.
"If you were awake, you could've at least sat up. I couldn't move a bit and now I'm sore all over."
"Thanks to that, I slept well."
It wasn't the answer I wanted at all, but it was obvious saying more would be useless, so I just stretched and jumped out of the carriage too.
"This request really is a bit strange."
"Tell me about it. They're dropping us off right in the open, village and all."
I'd thought we'd start by getting off near an inconspicuous forest and encircle it as we moved in, but the carriage stopped at the wine farm. Unless the place called the forest ruins was underground, they'd be able to learn of our arrival without any difficulty at all. As I turned my gaze, wondering what else there was, something I really didn't welcome at all caught the edge of my vision.
"Fuck."
"Why?"
"Look over there. A field encampment?"
Sheryl's expression hardened slightly as she turned her eyes in the direction I pointed.
"Are they planning to use the adventurers as cannon fodder?"
Sheryl asked, but it was a situation where I couldn't be sure either.
"Can't tell just yet."
I had naturally assumed that a wine farm near the capital would be owned by someone at least of noble rank. I had also expected that, given the request had gone to a second issuance, it would be at a level that couldn't be handled by private soldiers. But I hadn't expected them to set up and prepare a field encampment as if they were waging a war.
Were our opponents really just thieves?
"Looking at the way the camp is laid out... it seems designed to keep watch on the forest."
Sheryl's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she offered an analysis worthy of a knight commander's eldest daughter.