Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Permit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From the city's tallest spire, the bells tolled.
The heavy peals spread out, shaking the streets of Labyrinth City. As if on cue, official notices were posted on every bulletin board lining the roads.
- Monster Invasion Alert
- No entry or exit through city gates without permit
- Price freeze on all foodstuffs and strategic materials
It was the signal that the monster invasion was right around the corner.
Tension hung heavy in the streets on the eve of battle.
Silence blanketed the roads, yet some places grew even noisier in response.
At the epicenter of the clamor, crowds were swarming the mercenary guild.
With normal operations halted, the guild no longer bustled with mercenaries. In their place, guild staff and administrators had taken over.
In one corner of the hectic mercenary guild...
Ian accepted a few sheets of paper in an empty room.
It was a contract entrusting the defense of Labyrinth City's underground sewer to the Ian Mercenary Corps.
- The Labyrinth City Mercenary Guild entrusts the defense of the Labyrinth City underground sewer to the Ian Mercenary Corps until the invasion concludes.
- During the invasion period, the Ian Mercenary Corps will be attached to the defense forces and granted temporary commander ranks.
- ....
"Think it over again."
Someone spoke up beside Ian as he read through the contract clauses.
"Hello, Chris."
"I get the greed, but can you really handle it?"
A guild mercenary he'd crossed paths with before.
Unable to just let it slide after hearing about Ian, Chris offered one last piece of advice, urging caution before the contract was signed.
In truth, it wasn't just Chris—plenty of guild folks were lingering nearby, curious to catch a glimpse of the D-rank group that had snagged the commission.
Chris's warning wasn't baseless concern.
A commission was a double-edged sword.
Taking on the defense meant claiming all the glory if successful...
But it also meant shouldering the blame if it failed.
A D-rank mercenary corps could never afford the consequences.
"Why be a mercenary if you're not in it for the gains?"
Watching Ian's contract alongside Chris was another mercenary acquaintance from a chance encounter: Rebecca.
She'd essentially pulled the strings to make this happen, and now she turned to Ian.
"Isn't that right, Ian?"
"Don't jinx it, both of you. We've already wrapped up the talk."
Camilla pushed the two aside as she entered the room carrying a small box.
Once Ian finished signing, Camilla verified the contract, set the item she'd brought on the desk, and reread the terms.
"From this moment until the emergency alert ends, Captain Ian and his mercenary corps will be incorporated into the central mercenary legion command of the defense forces."
What Camilla handed over wasn't the usual leather pouch for guild pay—it was a finely crafted wooden box.
"Captain Ian, and all members of his mercenary corps, will hold command authority over the mercenary legion in accordance with wartime defense force regulations."
Inside the box lay military rank insignias.
"Here. Yours too."
The squad members who'd followed Ian looked bewildered as they received their own rank badges.
Rin followed behind Ian as they walked through the underground sewer.
Torchlights and lamps hung everywhere in the once-dim passages, illuminating the way brightly.
"This is what you meant by participating? Captain, who the heck even are you..."
Ian had been summoned to the guild and returned with rank badges out of nowhere. The mercenaries still wore stunned expressions as they trailed him through the sewer.
"No, I didn't expect it to go this far either."
The original plan was to join as defense participants in the underground sewer, snag the prime spots, and sweep up as many monsters as possible.
Even Ian hadn't anticipated landing the commission right from the first wave.
"...It just kinda happened."
Rin's suspicious gaze toward Ian deepened.
Command authority? Something you just "kinda" end up with?
Rin glanced down at the rank badge pinned to her clothes.
She'd heard regular mercenaries usually got the same rank as regular soldiers.
Maybe because Ian was the on-site commander, but she and the rest of the corps had received higher ranks than standard grunts.
Of course, these were temporary ranks for mercenaries, so Rin wouldn't get full soldier treatment from the regular army...
But the sidelong glances from tense workers and low-ranking soldiers made her uncomfortable.
Awkward moments kept popping up, like rookie soldiers saluting in panic.
Rin had asked Ian if she could just take it off, but he brushed it off lightly: different units meant they were strangers anyway, so ignore them and keep going.
...They'd submitted applications on the exact same day with identical credentials.
Rin watched Ian chatting casually with a defense force officer like some neighborhood uncle.
What kind of guy was he, really?
Rin, Mika, and Tanya exchanged glances, all wearing the same puzzled look.
A few days passed like that, with the Ian Mercenary Corps patrolling every nook of the underground sewer.
The sewer's interior buzzed with construction work to prepare defenses ahead of the monster invasion.
With the sluice gates fully sealed for the work, the channels lay exposed at the bottom. Lights now blazed across what had once been a gloomy, silent underworld.
Innumerable laborers and soldiers hauled supplies back and forth.
The din of construction made the sewer feel like a bustling market street.
Barricade walls went up in planned passages, and crates of defense supplies were carted to designated strongholds.
The squad carried copies of the map Ian had duplicated for them, memorizing the routes as they followed him daily through the twists and turns.
At a junction marked on the map, Ian inspected the terrain firsthand, then pulled an orb from a crate and handed it to Rin.
"Here. Throw it."
"Huh? There's nothing there."
"Practice."
Ian pointed to the center of the drained sewer bed—one of the spots marked as an attack point on the map.
"Th-this thing's expensive! You're just using it for practice?"
"Better than screwing up in real combat. We've got plenty, so don't worry."
Rin hesitated but took the orb and hurled it toward the spot Ian indicated.
It shattered on impact, sparking a small flame that spread slowly across the sewer floor, turning it into a sea of fire.
Ian checked if the orb's range and duration matched his expectations, then nodded.
If the real performance differed from what he knew, he'd have to tweak the plan—but luckily, the specs held up.
"Rin, you're already good at throwing, so you're fine. You two—practice whenever you get time."
Mika and Tanya, watching from behind, nodded with tense faces.
A little later.
While Mika—who'd bombed her first tries—got throwing lessons from Rin, Ian pulled Tanya aside.
"Tanya. Your role in the real fight is the most crucial."
Ian lowered his voice as he spoke to her.
Tanya nodded knowingly.
"Got it! Replenishing supplies at the strongholds without running short, right?"
"No, something even more important..."
Ian had her pull out the map and drew a route on it himself.
A location Tanya knew: a secret room hidden in the underground sewer.
Then he pointed to the crates stacked at a nearby supply point.
"When it's time, I'll signal you. Move the crates marked in red into the secret room and hide them."
"Pardon?"
Tanya eyed the crates Ian indicated. They were packed with expensive orbs.
Seeing Ian whisper, she caught on quick.
He meant skim some off the top.
Tanya swallowed hard, her face tense.
"Aren't these for the defense...?"
"Just log them as used during defense."
Orbs were consumables by nature—once thrown, they shattered and vanished.
A single line—"Consumed in combat"—would erase them from existence.
The only change would be a few mystery orbs added to the Ian Mercenary Corps' inventory.
Watching Ian explain so calmly and quietly, Tanya realized she'd been chosen as the executor for one of those shadowy schemes she'd only heard about in stories.
Being trusted with something this vital meant she was a true member of the corps now, right? Should she be happy?
Tanya's heart pounded furiously.
"We've got more than enough for the defense, so don't sweat that."
"B-but after it's over, don't we have to return the leftovers...? Won't they get suspicious if the stock's too low?"
Ian shook his head firmly.
"Tanya. Budgets aren't supposed to have leftovers."
It wasn't just for Ian's personal gain...
This move tangled complex interests and motives far beyond what Tanya could grasp.
Still, it was an order from Ian, so she'd follow through.
But as the one who'd have to execute it, Tanya couldn't hide her anxiety.
"Um, what if someone sees me moving them?"
"Hand them this. They'll let you go."
Ian held out a small pouch to Tanya.
Let her go just like that? A permit...?
Tanya peeked inside the pouch.
It wasn't a permit, but it served the same purpose.
"......"
Gold coins.