The Siege Proposal
The strongest giantess warrior spoke. “Very well, mercenary. I apologize for doubting your abilities and assigning you an excessive task. From now on, I intend to offer you a proper job.”
“What kind of job?”
“War. If you succeed in this commission, I promise you far greater compensation and treatment than what you received today.”
What Ranea proposed was the occupation of the city called Troopers. A short distance from here stood a castle ruled by a human count named Vairun, and the Elf Empire’s army desperately wanted it. But Troopers was a sturdy fortress, making any assault difficult, which was why Ranea had been hesitating. In a siege like this, the attacking force needed to outnumber the defenders by three or four times. Even then, the real headache lay in the siege weapons and all the other preparations required. Unless this world had massive cannons capable of smashing castle walls to pieces… Wait. Cannons? There might not be cannons, but there was a giantess who could smash walls while picking her nose.
“One thing I’d like to ask. Will any other mercenaries be participating in this war?”
“We are recruiting because we need the manpower, but—”
“I don’t need any of them. Give me all the money you would have spent hiring other mercenaries.”
The moment I finished speaking, Ranea’s eyes widened in disbelief. Not surprising. Sieges were every bit as troublesome and annoying as modern urban warfare. Actually, maybe sieges were still preferable to street fighting? Either way, that wasn’t the important part. If other mercenaries joined in, the slice of pie I could claim would shrink. But if I could drive them all out and hog the entire pie for myself, my pockets would grow considerably fatter. The thought made my mouth water.
“Mercenary, do you think a siege is child’s play?”
“I’m not joking. I mean it. If the contract is properly drawn up, I’ll reduce that count’s castle to rubble right away. You won’t need to prepare any siege weapons. Just trust me.”
“Very well. If your words prove true, I will pay you the ten gold you desire.”
“Platoon Leader…”
“I know. Should you lie to the Imperial Guard, you will pay the appropriate price.”
Having a pretty elf glare at me with such murderous intent was quite the industry perk. Still, I had no reason to flinch. I hadn’t lied, after all. Thus, the platoon leader and I formally exchanged contracts. The manager must have applied some language patch, because I could read and write the letters. Thank goodness. If I’d ended up illiterate here, the embarrassment would have been unbearable.
“As stated in the contract, we depart at dawn in one week. Do not be late, mercenary.”
“Understood. Then I’ll be on my way.”
I left the barracks with Tirga in tow. Seriously, though—how starved were those elf girls that they kept shooting me such suggestive looks? It was getting embarrassing; I needed to get out of here fast.
“What should we do for the next week? Got any good ideas, Tirga?”
“Hmm… I don’t know, Master. How about we go somewhere and beat up some monsters?”
“Do you know what’s around here?”
“No. But does it matter? We can just smash whatever shows up.”
She had a point. I couldn’t logically refute it. If something couldn’t be solved with force, it simply meant there wasn’t enough force. Still, I didn’t want to waste Tirga’s power so recklessly. If I overworked her too much, I might end up facing that unpleasant dwarf again after being thoroughly drained at night. Since it was still daytime, I decided to explore the city properly. I’d already blown up the first village in spectacular fashion, so this time I was determined to enjoy a proper otherworld tour.
Like country bumpkins who had just arrived in Seoul, we wandered through the city.
“Master, someone is tailing us.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know that much. If you command it, I can slaughter them right here.”
“No. I don’t want to destroy this place, so let’s lure them out of the city naturally.”
I didn’t have any detection skills, but if my loyal summon said so, it had to be true. Tirga and I quickened our pace, leaving the city and heading toward a sparsely populated area. As expected, an adventurer party soon blocked our path. There were four of them.
A male knight in splendid full plate armor, cloak billowing, wielding a two-handed sword. He was obviously the protagonist and the party’s core. In RPGs, it was common for the tank to also be the raid leader. A female priest in sacred white robes, a female mage in a pointed hat and robe, and finally an archer. A human archer, at that—usually elves held the monopoly on archery. Still, it satisfied the fantasy romance, and the tank-heal-DPS balance was excellent.
“We finally found you. Not content with turning a peaceful village into a wasteland, you even committed robbery, you villain!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Perhaps you’ve mistaken me for someone else…?”
“Don’t play dumb! We already know everything about the atrocities you and that blonde woman beside you committed.”
Well, we’d been caught. I’d become an irredeemable villain with no room for excuses. Tirga, who had been bored, grinned and began stretching her shoulders and neck, clearly excited. The opponents must have been strong enough to interest her.
“Don’t worry, Master. I’ll trample them all and take everything they have.”
“So you finally reveal your true colors. The time of judgment has come!”
The knight shouted a righteous, sentai-hero line and charged at Tirga. His strike looked fast and powerful, but his sword never touched her. A lightning barrier had formed around her body, and the knight was forced to retreat instead. His blade had tasted the shocking flavor of lightning upon impact.
“What the—?!”
“Be careful! I can’t sense any mana, but that woman’s power is dangerous!”
“Leave the healing to me!”
The three women in the knight’s party also sprang into action. A full harem party, huh? Priest, mage, archer—rotating through them must have been quite the experience. I felt a twinge of envy toward the knight. The adventurer party moved in coordinated fashion, attacking Tirga relentlessly. But none of their attacks accomplished anything. The knight’s sword only shocked him every time it struck the barrier. Thanks to the priest’s healing, he endured the damage and kept hammering away with sheer grit. The archer’s arrows burned to ash on contact with the barrier, and the mage’s massive icicles were shattered by bolts of lightning from Tirga’s hands. Their attacks showed no sign of even scratching the barrier, let alone breaking it.
“I thought you might entertain me, but I’m disappointed.”
“What the hell are you? A Demon King? Or one of the Demon King’s subordinates?”
“If you want to know, try breaking through this barrier.”
At Tirga’s provocation, an unknown energy began to swirl around the knight’s sword. Was that sword aura, the kind you saw in wuxia or fantasy stories? The knight leaped high into the air, his sword swelling to an enormous size as if it had become erect, the blade glowing with a golden light. It must have been his trump card. Cracks appeared in the barrier before it shattered completely. Damn it. I’d been treating this too much like someone else’s problem. At this rate, the righteous hero was going to educate me.
“Ho. That was quite the splendid strike.”
“Kuh… M-my body…”
The barrier had broken, but the knight’s powerful blow was stopped cold by Tirga’s two-handed hammer. The two of them locked weapons and began a contest of strength. While the knight gritted his teeth in desperation, Tirga’s attitude remained relaxed. The reason was obvious. Lightning crackled painfully across the knight’s armor—he was being electrocuted through his weapon as Tirga channeled lightning energy into him.
“Feels good, doesn’t it? But can you endure this too?”
Tirga shoved the knight back and grew slightly larger. In sentai shows, villains usually grew when they were in danger or after being defeated—a desperate last resort. But that didn’t apply to Tirga at all. Her transformation was more like a warning that she intended to kill him for certain. The frightened mage and archer attacked, but she remained completely unfazed, not even blinking. Dark clouds gathered in the sky—a sign that something big was coming. Tirga swung her hammer down toward the adventurers. The ground split open with a shockwave, and lightning rained from the heavens. It was the same technique she had used to defeat adventurers in the first village we visited. All three women lost consciousness, while the knight remained awake but writhing in pain, unable to stand.
“How boring. I didn’t even use half of half my power.”
“Still, that was cool, Tirga. You took down that idiot who thought he was some righteous hero in style.”
“Hmph. This is nothing, Master.”
Before collecting the spoils, I approached the knight. He looked terrible, yet it was surprising he was still conscious. A sudden thought flashed through my mind. His unusually impressive sword, that strange technique, and the fact that he was still alive unlike the others…
“Let me ask you one thing. Did you come from another world too? That… Otherworld Survival Project or whatever it’s called.”
“H-how do you know that? Don’t tell me you’re also—”
“Yeah. Nice to meet you, buddy. How’s the righteous hero act treating you? Fun?”
“Shut up. Cough, cough. You’re nothing but a vile villain who slaughters adventurers and destroys villages.”
“That was self-defense. They attacked without listening to a word I said and provoked Tirga. They brought it on themselves.”
“Don’t tell me that woman is also a transmigrator?”
“No, she’s a summon I called with my ability. You should know this if you drew a tarot card—the project participants arrive in this world with strange powers.”
As Tirga approached, the knight muttered that it wasn’t over yet and reignited his resolve. The man who had been sprawled out in a 大 shape struggled to his feet and began crawling toward his fallen sword in the distance.
“That’s some impressive grit. If my mom were here—she’s always nagging me about lacking perseverance—she’d tell me to learn from you.”
“It’s… not over yet…”
“Your entire harem party has been wiped out. What do you think you can do fighting alone? Your party failed.”
Despite the overwhelming disadvantage and having lost both his inhibitions and his twin teammates, he refused to surrender. Was this what it meant to be a righteous hero? Tirga stepped in front of the knight and brought her hammer down on his head. Without a helmet, his skull was instantly crushed. Thus, he breathed his last.
“Master, this is showing proper respect to a warrior. Further mockery would be meaningless.”
Tirga was right. There was no more conversation to be had, no information to gain. Finishing it quickly was the correct choice. Unfortunately, no miracle occurred for the righteous hero. If this were a shonen manga, tears would drip onto the ground and some special power would awaken to defeat the villains.
“Tirga, search the fallen ones thoroughly. Take all the money and anything valuable.”
Time for some enjoyable corpse looting.