The Youngest Son of a Notorious Upstart Family (3)
The girl, the youngest member of the Brown Wolf Mercenary Group, found herself unusually idle. Their current employer, the Midas Merchant Group, had provided them with one of their own buildings to stay in. The meals they received weren't exactly luxurious, but they were of a decent enough quality to be satisfying. Meals and lodging within the mercenary group were normally handled on a rotating schedule, yet the girl was the sole exception—permanently assigned to the task, which left her with almost no personal time. One could call it harsh, but the girl didn't mind it much. She knew this was Captain Clark's own way of looking out for her.
A little kid. And a girl, at that. Many members had grumbled about bringing someone like her along as a comrade. But once the girl started shouldering most of the group's tedious chores, those complaints gradually faded. They had realized that if their clumsy harassment drove her to run away, all those annoying tasks she handled would come right back to them.
And so, during this precious free time, the girl was—
Scrape. Scrape.
—completely absorbed in maintaining her weapons. She sharpened the blade of her short sword with a whetstone, then wiped it clean with an oil-soaked rag. It wasn't just the short sword that received her attention. There were two daggers—one with a straight spine and another with a gentle curve—along with a wooden club stained a dirty black, all laid out in the corner.
"...Don't you ever get tired of that?"
"Not really."
Clark, who had been watching her, asked in disbelief, but the girl answered in a flat tone. Her manner of speaking to the captain was remarkably casual for the youngest member of the group, but to Clark, it was nothing new. After all, she had been like this from the moment they first met. He was actually one of the better cases. Most of the other members still thought the girl was a mute who couldn't speak at all.
At first, he'd assumed she was simply awkward with words or had a shy personality. But after observing her closely over the past few months, he had reached a different conclusion. She wasn't responding because she found it bothersome. This little brat was surprisingly talkative, had a nasty personality, and above all—
"More importantly, are you sure this is okay?"
His train of thought was cut off by the girl's question. Clark asked back.
"What is?"
The girl shrugged. "Me. The employer seemed to hate the idea."
"No problem. Who the hell does that bastard think he is, trying to tell me to kick out one of my own people?"
Recalling the earlier incident, Clark made a distinctly displeased face and declared firmly, "Besides, you saw it too, right? The way he was groveling in front of that young master. I didn't know the guy's spine could bend like that. He won't dare open his mouth about this job for a while."
"Even if he doesn't say anything, he'll hold a grudge," the girl said flatly.
Clark found himself at a loss for words. Even he had to admit she was probably right.
"And there must be other members who aren't happy about it either."
Her next observation struck even deeper. Years ago, when the Midas Merchant Group first offered them a contract, it was Clark himself who had suppressed the internal opposition and forced the deal through. During the War of Supremacy fifty years ago, four kingdoms had fought for dominance, ending with the Barhart Kingdom rising as an empire under Ludwig Barhart. Twenty years ago came the War of Judgment, where the Barhart Empire, acting as the continent's leader, clashed with the demon-backed Ivestan Empire across the sea and emerged victorious.
Unlike the past, when countless mercenary groups were formed and legends were born, the current era was peaceful. As a result, the demand for mercenaries had steadily declined. The Brown Wolf Mercenary Group, which once boasted over a hundred members during its founding days, had shrunk dramatically after Clark took over as captain ten years ago. Now, only about twenty remained.
Watching the dwindling requests and the ledgers that recorded losses day after day, Clark had realized there was no future like this. So he had endured the cold stares from those around him and taken the Midas Merchant Group's hand. If they could establish themselves as part of the Midas operation, even if it meant being cursed at, at least his members' lives would be stable.
Yet today, he had suddenly opposed Dorf from the Midas Merchant Group as if he were a different person. Just as the girl said, it was no wonder the long-time members might resent him for prioritizing her over them. He had no defense.
"It's not like I'm giving you special treatment. If it had been any other member, I would've done the same."
At least this much was Clark's sincere truth, without a shred of falsehood. So the girl let the matter drop instead of pressing him further.
"True. If you'd just rolled over and sent me away, they'd have called you a loudmouth who turns into a scared little rat the moment money's involved. That was smart."
"...Do you have some grudge against me?"
Glancing sideways at Clark grumbling like a wounded bear despite his massive frame, the girl thought to herself that they probably wouldn't be staying in this lodging for long.
The next morning, inside the carriage heading out for what was supposedly some charity work, I had spent the entire night organizing my thoughts and reached one firm conclusion.
Ignore anything that can't be helped no matter how much I think about it.
Was this world truly the same as the Planetarium I knew? If so, was I now one of the game's characters? Were there other players besides me?
All sorts of questions had risen and faded throughout the night, but no clear answers came. It wasn't like I had some genius brain that could unravel everything. Thinking too deeply about it would only give me a headache. Therefore, I would set the minor details aside for now and assume this was a world infinitely similar to the game I knew.
And in that case, the biggest problem was something else entirely.
The sheer number of deadly death flags lurking in this world!
Planetarium's appeal lay in its vast scenarios and diverse events. From a gamer's perspective, it was thrilling—there was so much to enjoy! But from the viewpoint of someone who actually had to live in that world, it was nothing short of a minefield. Just counting the shadowy forces behind the scenes, there were already more than three. There were at least five catastrophe-level events that would affect the entire continent. If I factored in events I hadn't experienced yet and the planned expansion packs, simply hiding away because I hated danger or trying to avoid everything wouldn't cut it.
I didn't need to personally resolve every single event, but I had to be prepared to confront the major, critical threats head-on.
And to do that, what I needed to do was clear.
Recruit allies!
Planetarium was certainly overflowing with dangers, but it also had elements scattered everywhere to overcome them. The most representative of those were the existence of players and the various companions a player could recruit.
I'll make full use of the 'Greedy Debauchee' template's abilities to gather and strengthen allies. Then I'll deal with those damned events.
It would be a long journey, and the end was so distant it was impossible to see. But rather than trembling in fear and wasting this hard-won second life, it suited my personality better to fight with everything I had.
That said, if the 'Hero Assembly' template was applied, does that mean the protagonists from other templates are somewhere in this world too?
Since the selectable protagonist templates basically possessed top-class potential within the setting, they would be tremendous assets if they existed.
But their genders and names are all random. How am I supposed to tell them apart?
One hurdle after another. I let out a sigh.
After traveling by carriage for roughly three days—the ride was surprisingly smooth and comfortable, far better than I'd expected—we finally arrived at the territory that had placed a massive food order with the Midas Merchant Group. The first impression I got could be summed up in a single phrase.
A dying village.
The streets were nearly empty, creating an eerie desolation. The market stalls, which should have been displaying various fruits and ingredients, were covered in nothing but dust. The few people we did encounter had faces worn down by fatigue and poverty. The looks they gave us were a strange mix of hostility, fear, and faint hope.
"The owner of this territory and our trading partner, the Baldwin family, was originally a prestigious knightly house. The lord earned recognition from the old royal family for his loyalty and martial prowess, and the territory's knights and soldiers were among the finest in the region."
Seeming to read the question in my eyes, Dorf Brams began to unravel the story.
"But that very strength became the beginning of their downfall. Young Master Chrome, are you familiar with the War of Supremacy?"
I recalled both Chrome's memories and my past life's knowledge as I answered.
"It was a war fifty years ago in which the four kingdoms located in the central continent—Barhart, Morian, Spero, and Nahart—fought one another for supremacy. In the end, Ludwig Barhart, who ascended to the throne at the young age of fifteen after the previous king's death, led Barhart to victory. He's the current Emperor."
After all, the reason the current Midas family had become such sudden upstarts was because they had skillfully ridden the wave of chaos when the new empire was born. In a way, that war was what had given rise to our family.
"Correct. The current head of the Baldwin family and his forces fought fiercely under the old Spero royal family. Because of that, they suffered devastating losses in defeat. The lord and most of the territory's key figures died, and the once-mighty elite soldiers were nearly wiped out."
Hmm. That was certainly a massive blow. A family that had thrived through military strength had lost its very core.
"But that was decades ago. Could the aftermath really reduce the territory to this state?"
"Of course, that wasn't the whole story. The Baldwin family's next lord, who remained in the territory, struggled for decades. By the time he passed it on to the current lord, things had recovered to a fairly decent level."
But misfortune, they say, always comes in succession.
"Five years ago, a major earthquake struck this region. The quake itself caused few casualties, but the problem was the series of poor harvests that followed across the surrounding lands."
Dorf continued with a sly, almost greasy expression.
"By the time they realized there was a problem with the spring that served as the territory's water source, the surrounding soil had already been ruined beyond repair. To make matters worse, disease began spreading among the residents. The collapse happened in the blink of an eye. The only reason it hasn't gotten any worse is because the lord has been pouring money into bringing in food and medicine from outside."
"And our merchant group is the one supplying that medicine and food?"
"I told you, it's a charity project."
Calling that charity? No matter how you looked at it, that seemed completely shameless. Well, I suppose that's why people called them upstart trash and a money-crazed wicked family. I was confident I wouldn't be surprised at all if these people had sabotaged other suppliers to monopolize the trade, or if they had taken advantage of the other party's desperation to charge several times the normal price and rake in the profits. I hadn't expected them to do honest, fair business in the first place!
Still, if Dorf was telling the truth, the lord had already been draining his own assets for several years to feed the territory's people. Was there no financial problem? Well, no matter what, he was a noble and a lord. He wouldn't have placed an order if he had no money left, right?