Chapter 59
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Distance of the Heart
-----------------------------------------------------------------
...An unfamiliar ceiling.
Ann slowly opened her eyes in bed.
She was one of Tanya's friends rescued from the troll's territory.
Ann sat up, feeling strangely awkward due to the unfamiliar sleeping arrangement.
As a mercenary, sleeping in uncomfortable places wasn't anything new.
But the place where she had opened her eyes now was uncomfortable for entirely different reasons.
A plush bed. A spacious room.
It was a room far superior to the inns they had stayed at in Orsia.
She couldn't even imagine how much it would cost to stay in such a high-end inn for a night, as she had never set foot in one before.
"Ah.... Right."
Ann recalled the offer from yesterday. Ian, the leader of Tanya's mercenary corps, had proposed arranging a place for them to stay for the night.
At the time, she had imagined it would just be a regular inn room.
...She never expected it to be a place like this.
A belated thought crossed her mind that maybe she should have just refused.
As Ann awkwardly looked around the room, the other two soon woke up as well.
Karen and Seria wore the exact same expression as Ann, exchanging glances and gauging each other's reactions.
What if they accidentally broke something and had to pay for it?
With that worry in mind, they all cautiously got out of bed.
Just as they were spending the time awkwardly like that, there was suddenly a knock at the door.
"Are you all awake?"
"Y-Yes!"
Everyone in the room flinched and replied.
After hearing the response, the door opened a moment later, and someone entered the room.
The one who entered was a mercenary with red hair cascading down and fierce eyes.
It was the person who had sliced the troll in the forest yesterday in one stroke. Lia.
"The leader says he has something to discuss, so if you're up, get ready and come out."
"Yes! We'll be right there!"
They all quickly got up, finished preparing in an instant, and followed behind Lia.
The three followed Lia up to the upper floor where Ian's office was.
...Climbing stairs.
The three who had only done mercenary work in Orsia couldn't comprehend that a single mercenary corps owned such a massive building.
A mercenary corps with a better building than the mercenary guild in Orsia.
As everyone swallowed nervously with tense faces, the office door opened, revealing Ian.
The heavy atmosphere quietly emanating from inside the room seemed to press down on their shoulders.
Is this the caliber of people who can become mercenary leaders in Labyrinth?
Cold sweat trickled down Ann's back.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Y-Yes! Thanks to your consideration...."
Ian looked over the three in front of him one by one.
Aside from being Tanya's friends, they were just ordinary, typical E-rank mercenaries.
Ian hadn't spoken to them directly, but he had roughly grasped their situations from his conversations with Tanya.
Having come all the way from Orsia meant they planned to operate in Labyrinth from now on.
"You three, do you have any plans going forward?"
"Uh... N-No, not yet."
When Ian asked, they all shook their heads in panic.
They didn't even know much about Labyrinth yet, so of course they had no plans.
Ian briefly made eye contact with each one to check their abilities.
They weren't exceptional compared to the common mercenaries at the recruitment office, but they were adequate.
Ian made a proposal to Tanya's three friends.
"How about working here?"
"Us?"
Ann, who hadn't even considered it, asked back in surprise.
Ian nodded.
As the mercenary corps grew, they now needed support parties beyond the main party at the center.
The main party couldn't take on requests indefinitely due to stress and fatigue.
While the existing first-string parties focused on growth and handled important requests, it was time for a second-string party to handle low-level requests, material gathering, and field scouting.
There were exactly three of them, a suitable number.
It was also good that they weren't level 1 but had reasonably leveled up.
Due to the nature of the second-string, they would have to go on requests independently without Ian accompanying them, so complete beginners would require time to train personally.
Having heard Ian's proposal, the three exchanged glances in an instant and immediately replied.
"If you give us the chance, we'll work hard!"
Ann bit her tongue mid-sentence and groaned.
She blew it....
The three instinctively sensed it and glanced at Ian, but fortunately, he didn't seem to mind Ann's slip-up.
Instead, as if on cue, Ian brought up one condition with a serious face.
"But there's one condition."
"Yes, anything... we'll do anything!"
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Ann had that gut feeling.
What kind of condition would be required to work in a mercenary corps like this?
It was an opportunity she couldn't miss, so she had to fulfill it even if it killed her.
"Make up with Tanya."
She blew it....
Lunchtime.
Ian Mercenary Corps members and Tanya's three friends, who were still guests, sat together at the table.
"Leader, here."
"Thanks."
Tanya smiled as she placed a bowl in front of Ian.
"Thanks, Tanya."
"It's been a while since Tanya served us!"
"Hmph."
Tanya's friends thanked her too, but she ignored them without even looking at their faces and returned to the kitchen.
"......"
"......"
"......"
Afternoon break time.
Ann cautiously approached Tanya in the break room.
Mika, unable to stand watching the three, had come over and listed the places and shops Tanya used to frequent, making the plan perfect.
"T-Tanya! Wanna go hang out together?"
"Drop dead."
"......"
Ann was chased out of the break room without uttering a single prepared line.
Ian, who had been watching from the sofa in the break room, looked up.
...The problem he had given Tanya's friends as an entry test didn't seem like it would be resolved easily.
A few days passed like that.
There were plenty of empty rooms, and the cost of a few more people staying didn't make a dent, so Ian didn't particularly mind.
But for Ann and her group, who had already been staying for free for several days, it felt like time was truly running out.
Thinking that things wouldn't resolve at this rate, Ian finally went to find Tanya late at night.
"Sigh...."
"Something bothering you?"
"Ah, Leader."
Tanya, who had been quietly passing time in the kitchen, hurriedly stood up.
She sometimes spent time alone in the kitchen like this when she couldn't sleep.
At Ian's suggestion to talk for a bit, Tanya hurriedly prepared a spot and brewed tea.
In the slightly cramped kitchen not ideal for relaxing, the two sat close together and began talking.
Tanya, who had been pondering, brought it up first.
"Um, I heard you're hiring my friends."
"If you don't like it, there's nothing to be done."
"No.... It's not that I dislike it, but you didn't hire them just because of me, right?"
"No. We happened to need more people, and they fit perfectly."
Tanya could roughly guess why Ian had come.
Her attitude probably made it seem like she had soured relations with her friends.
"Truth is, I'm not that angry about it."
Tanya fiddled with the teacup warming her hands, murmuring.
"Of course, I was a bit mad at first.... But in a way, thanks to that, I got to meet you, Leader... and everyone in the corps."
When she had just arrived in Labyrinth, she had only hoped everyone would be safe somehow.
It felt like simple venting of anger.
Like them leaving her behind and going off on their own.
Or not properly informing her and lying.
Including their reckless greed that put them in danger.
She had told them not to do anything dangerous when leaving the village.
As she poured out such stories, Tanya gave an awkward smile.
Thinking about it this way, it really had just been venting anger.
Tanya let out a sigh and said to Ian.
"I'll make up with them soon.... It must be troubling you too."
"You could stay mad a bit longer? Everyone's enjoying the show quite a bit."
Maybe because they were old friends, Tanya's reactions showed quite a new side rarely seen.
Watching Tanya and her friends was amusing in its own way.
Hearing that and imagining how it looked to others, Tanya blushed in embarrassment.
"Um... Tanya?"
"...Ann?"
After finishing the short talk, with Ian leaving first.
As Tanya headed back to her room, she discovered her friends hiding nearby, waiting for her.
"Tanya. Take this."
Ann approached with a tense face and held out a gift to Tanya.
"This is...."
"I haven't saved enough to open a shop for you yet, but for now...."
What Ann offered was something vaguely familiar in Tanya's memory.
A cookbook set.
It was something traveling merchants occasionally brought to the village, but unlike regular books, these specialized ones were prohibitively expensive, so she had never dreamed of buying one.
Even with an E-rank mercenary's pay, it must have taken considerable resolve to save up for it.
They had been apart for a while, and there had been some misunderstanding in between....
But Tanya realized her friends still hadn't forgotten their thoughts about her.
"......Thanks."
Tanya smiled brightly and accepted her friends' gift.
Only then did they feel that the emotional distance that had briefly separated them had closed again.
To celebrate their full reconciliation, Tanya took her friends to her usual shop.
A small, quaint shop near the guild house street.
A few tables, interior decorated with personally grown flower and herb pots.
A cake shop.
A space that emanated a serious aura of intimidation for an E-rank mercenary to enter.
"Come on. Let's sit here."
"T-Tanya.... Is it really okay to just come into a place like this?"
They all hesitated but followed Tanya and sat down.
Tanya entered casually and sat as if it were familiar, exchanging greetings with the shop owner like old acquaintances.
The female owner at the counter greeted Tanya warmly and remembered the previous request.
"Ah, Tanya. The herbs you asked for last time came in."
"Oh, really?"
"Should I send these to the mercenary corps building too?"
"Yes. If you find more, please get those as well."
Tanya nonchalantly pulled gold coins from her pouch and handed them over.
"......"
"......"
"......"
A serious emotional distance formed again between Tanya and her friends.