Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: I'm Just an Ordinary Porter
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"We've arrived."
The procession of mounted soldiers halted in front of the guild after traveling down the road.
Ian and the others, who had been riding behind the patrol squad, clumsily dismounted with their help.
The patrol squad's Lieutenant Mikhail, who had personally escorted Ian's group all the way from the forest, smiled at Ian as he spoke.
"Is there anything else you need?"
"No, thank you. You've already done more than enough by bringing us here."
Ian lightly grasped his hand and shook it.
"Lieutenant Mikhail. I'll make sure to pass on my gratitude for your help today."
"Haha. Thank you."
Satisfied with Ian's words exactly as he wanted, Mikhail mounted his horse and departed.
The client for this request, Alchemist Louise, approached Ian's side. She watched Mikhail's retreating back, unable to contain her curiosity as she asked Ian.
Not only had they been rescued from a monster horde, but they'd even gotten horses to ride. Louise had a ton of questions about what had just happened.
"What exactly did you show that guy to make him act like that?"
"He's probably desperate for connections himself."
Ian pointed toward the large building to the south, Labyrinth City's city hall.
It was the area farthest from the labyrinth itself, the core district where the city's key administrative facilities and the wealthy's mansions were clustered.
"Usually, the closer you are to that place, the closer you are to the center of power. The farther away, the more you're out of it."
"Ah... So that guy?"
Forget the city itself—even the patrol outside the walls went without saying.
It was typically the post handed to rookie officers with no backing.
"Looks like he didn't catch anyone's eye at the officer academy. He's probably desperate to make at least one connection."
The outer wall patrol was a position where it was hard to even glimpse the faces of superiors.
In that situation, running into an acquaintance of a senior knight from the Defense Bureau? Even if Ian had asked to borrow money, Mikhail probably would've lent it with a smile.
After hearing Ian's explanation and roughly grasping the situation, Louise let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew. At least he has some connections. No fine to pay, then."
That was the most important thing to Louise right now.
She'd said she'd pay anything if they saved her... but everyone had a limit they couldn't cross even in death.
She could negotiate with the guild, but not with a fine.
By contract, even Ian's fine fell under Louise's responsibility. It was the cost of rescuing her.
"I thought I'd go bankrupt before even starting my business."
"You'll have to cover the additional costs."
Ian pulled a single coin from his pocket and showed it to her.
It was the coin from Captain Leona, who had dramatically saved Louise's assets this time.
"I wasn't planning to use this anytime soon. But since I owe her because of it, I should go pay my respects."
"Fine. That's acceptable."
With the accounting settled, Louise entered the mercenary guild first, her face full of exasperation.
Ian followed her inside.
"Ugh..."
"My stomach's churning..."
The squad members belatedly followed Ian into the guild, their expressions sour.
Most had ridden horses for the first time, and it showed.
They'd definitely made the trip faster than walking, but it wasn't an experience they'd want to repeat.
Ian finished the simple rescue report at the guild and handed Louise over to the mercenary guild staff.
The details would be handled between the guild and Louise; Ian just needed to settle up later and collect his pay.
Turning after finishing his business, Ian spotted two groups of mercenaries gathered in the first-floor lobby.
One was the Ian Mercenary Corps.
The other was... the mercenary group made up of Tanya's friends, who had been hired as Louise's escorts for this request.
They were the main reason this job had come up so suddenly, so now it was time to wrap things up with Tanya's friends.
Tanya hesitantly stepped forward, and her three friends approached her as well.
They'd reunited earlier, but things had been too hectic with the escape for a proper talk. This was their first real conversation.
In the middle of the guild, Tanya and her friends stood awkwardly facing each other.
"You guys..."
"Tanya... How are you here?"
"You tell me—where the hell have you been?"
"We're mercenaries... But why are you here, Tanya?"
Ann and Tanya stared at each other, faces full of confusion about why the other was there.
They each had so many burning questions that for a while, they just bombarded each other without any real answers.
A few rounds of frustration at the other's refusal to answer first and passing questions back and forth.
Finally, one of Tanya's friends from the back, a mercenary named Karen, stepped up and stopped the two.
"Hold on. One at a time. Tanya, you first."
Tanya had plenty of questions too, but she agreed this couldn't go on forever.
She nodded as if to say, go ahead and ask.
"Why are you here, Tanya? Don't tell me you became a mercenary?"
"I... lost contact with you guys. I came to Labyrinth City looking for you."
Tanya paused briefly, gathered her thoughts, then explained to her friends.
About coming to Labyrinth City and searching for news of her friends.
About joining the Ian Mercenary Corps and becoming a mercenary.
About spotting her friends' names on a request by chance and taking it.
Now it was Tanya's turn to question.
"What about you guys?"
"......"
"......"
"......"
The three, who had listened silently to Tanya's story, exchanged glances.
Anyone could see they were clearly troubled.
Under Tanya's urging, Ann was finally pushed forward to answer on their behalf.
"Uh... Well, we were planning to head to Labyrinth City too."
It was the story right after they'd bragged to Tanya about earning money there and left the village.
"Monsters... were scarier than we thought."
As everyone who confidently leaves their village experiences, fighting monsters required far more courage than imagined.
Of course, they hadn't faced monsters directly from the start.
Ann's group had luckily tagged along with a merchant caravan heading the same way and gotten a close-up view of the escorts battling monsters.
...We can't do that yet.
Having seen monsters up close, the three exchanged looks and quickly reached that conclusion.
"Plus, we heard Labyrinth City even gets monster raids..."
The frequency and level of monster appearances were supposedly much higher than in other cities.
That was why Labyrinth City's mercenaries earned higher pay than elsewhere.
Having heard all that before even starting as mercenaries, the three's resolve crumbled midway through their journey.
In the end, their trip halted temporarily in Orsia, the gateway to Labyrinth City.
Compared to Labyrinth City, Orsia had almost no dangerous monster appearances and just enough minor requests for a peaceful city.
The mercenaries here are mercenaries too. It should be similar enough.
The three agreed to start their mercenary work there first.
"We planned to save up money and gain experience in Orsia before moving on."
"But your letter said you became mercenaries in Labyrinth City?"
"We'd bragged so much before leaving—we'd be too embarrassed to admit we couldn't even go."
Ann's face flushed slightly as she answered.
"Why no contact after that?"
"Keeping up the lie about living it up in Labyrinth City felt too guilty... We planned to write as soon as we actually got there!"
"Why didn't you get my letters?"
"Letters? They didn't come. Where'd you send them?"
"To Labyrinth City, obviously..."
The conversation cut off, and silence fell.
"......"
"......"
Tanya's friends—Ann, Karen, and Seria—exchanged glances while stealing looks at Tanya.
Something like a snowball effect had created a massive misunderstanding.
And most of the cause was blatantly on Ann's group.
They'd boasted about earning big in Labyrinth City, but chickened out because it seemed too dangerous.
Feeling guilty about lying in letters that they were thriving there, they'd planned to gain a bit of experience and contact Tanya after truly heading to Labyrinth City.
But who would've thought Tanya would rush straight there like this.
Having heard the full story and understood what happened, Tanya fell silent for a long while.
Ann approached the head-down Tanya.
Before she could say thanks for worrying...
Tanya, head still bowed and fists trembling, shouted.
"You..."
"You?"
"You idiots!"
Tanya's fist flew at Ann.
Yeah, Tanya had every right to be mad. Better let her hit until her anger subsided...
Ann didn't even have time to think that.
Tanya's fist connected before Ann realized, sending her sprawling to the floor.
"Gasp...!"
"W-Wait, Tanya? Calm down a bit..."
"Calm down! Gah."
Not just Ann—even Karen and Seria beside her took Tanya's fists.
"Tanya's pissed—now what?!"
"Th-This feels like the month-long one..."
"I told you to just tell her the truth!"
From past experience, the three instinctively gauged Tanya's anger level and exchanged looks.
This was worse than the one time they'd seen before—the month where she wouldn't speak to them.
Exchanging urgent glances and hand signals, the three decided to grab the rampaging Tanya and calm her down first.
"For now... let's hold her and calm her!"
"Yeah, Tanya. Let's talk... Gurk."
"Hold on... st-stop..."
The three, trying to intervene as Tanya seemed to lose her reason, noticed something off.
Even with all three clinging to her, they couldn't stop Tanya at all.
Tanya... was strong.
Incredibly so.
"That's it, Tanya! Good one!"
"No, at a time like this, use more shoulder... Ow! Yeah, like that!"
The guild's first floor, bustling with mercenaries passing through.
Mercenaries gathered to watch the sudden brawl cheered, calling Tanya's name.
What are they fighting over?
Latecomers who'd missed the start asked nearby spectators, soon joining Tanya's side.
No time for the usual bets that followed such scraps, and without wagering money, it was one-sided.
Tanya's friends all hit the floor rolling in seconds.
Tanya. Level 16.
Ann's Mercenary Corps, made of three E-rank mercenaries, was utterly wiped out by bare-handed Tanya in a mere two minutes.