Mercenary Group
I was not in a particularly good mood.
I had a home, yet I could not return to it. For Iria, who had never once left the alleyways since transmigrating into this body, there was nowhere else to go.
I really shouldn't have eaten that knight, should I?
Last night's decision to touch a member of the knight order had become the root of all this trouble. I had never expected them to move so aggressively.
Iria walked the streets for a while, lost in thought.
...No.
There had been no other choice at the time.
I had not been in my right mind to begin with, and I knew from experience exactly what happened when this body lost its reason.
When Iria lost her sanity, disaster followed.
Had that not been precisely what occurred a year ago?
She was a monster who could not maintain her reason without consuming human flesh.
If she had not eaten that knight that day, she would have caused a far greater catastrophe.
Besides, this was not the first time the knight order had involved itself in her affairs.
A long tail was bound to be stepped on eventually. For the past year Iria had been steadily pursued by them.
It was something that would have happened sooner or later. The only difference was that the man she had killed yesterday happened to be a knight, advancing the schedule a little.
The alley had grown somewhat dear to her, but leaving it for a few days would not matter much.
It would be inconvenient, of course, yet today she had money. The wallet of the knight she had eaten last night had been thicker than expected.
Late in the evening, Iria wandered near the alleyways and stepped into a tavern that still had its lights on.
She simply did not know the roads outside the alleys well enough. Under the pretense of ordering a drink, she intended to inquire about an inn where she might stay for a few days.
"One of your most popular drinks, please."
She took a seat and ordered whatever came to mind.
The server handed her a menu, but she was still unfamiliar with the writing of this world.
She had studied diligently for a year, yet there was still far more she could not read than she could.
Even so, the server did not readily bring her any alcohol.
Did they think she had no money? Iria shook the thick wallet for them to see, but nothing changed.
The young woman with the kind face offered an apologetic smile.
"Um, miss? I'm terribly sorry, but could I see some identification?"
"Ah."
Iria nodded in understanding and reached into her pocket.
Not the wallet she had stolen from the knight yesterday, but her own original one.
She rummaged around.
"Hmm..."
Where had she put it?
"Just a moment."
Refusing to accept the reality of the situation, Iria thrust her hands into both pockets.
But there was only so much one could grasp of something that did not exist.
It was gone. Nowhere to be found.
She turned out the small pockets this way and that, yet nothing changed.
"..."
A brief silence. Then—
"I am an adult. Please look at my academy uniform."
Iria pointed to the white uniform she wore.
Students who entered the academy were generally adults. For that reason, the uniform itself sometimes served as proof of identity.
But as always, there were exceptions. The server looked troubled.
"I'm truly sorry, but we've received reports of underage students coming in from time to time. I'm afraid I can't serve alcohol simply because you're an academy student."
It was the sort of day when she had wanted to drown the sorrow of losing her home in drink.
Spring still carried the lingering chill of winter. She had been thinking that if she ended up sleeping outdoors, she would at least do so thoroughly drunk so the night would feel less cold.
Regrettable, but there was nothing to be done. With a slight furrow of her brow, Iria ordered something else.
"...Then a lemonade, please."
The drink arrived sooner than expected.
A wooden cup filled with a pale yellow non-alcoholic beverage sat before her.
Sitting in a tavern packed with drunks, quietly sipping a pathetic lemonade, did nothing for her mood.
The surrounding gazes prickled a little. Not enough to truly bother her, but still.
Iria took a sip from the cup and turned her eyes back to the server. It was time to get to the point.
"Is there an inn nearby where I might stay for a few days? I have money."
"If you leave the shop and walk east, you'll find an inn called the Red Moon. I can't say whether they have any vacant rooms right now, though."
"Is it that crowded?"
"Well... a mercenary group from the neighboring village is staying there at the moment. I honestly can't guarantee there'll be a free room."
Nothing was going her way today.
Driven from her home, wallet lost, and now even the inn had no space.
With a sense of helplessness, Iria poured the lemonade into her mouth. Instead of the bitter burn of alcohol, a bright lemon flavor spread across her tongue.
So it was to be sleeping outdoors after all.
She emptied the cup and exhaled a sigh that still carried the fresh scent. In a place with already poor public safety, the question of where she would spend the night was already weighing on her.
Someone spoke to her then.
"Need a place to sleep?"
Iria turned her head toward the voice. It was the man who had been casting sticky glances her way for some time.
A rough face, a massive muscular build, and a completely bald head. Easy enough to remember.
He sat down beside her and clamped a scarred hand onto her shoulder.
"Pretty little thing like you... runaway, are you? Want Uncle to put you up for the night?"
Snickers rose from the men who appeared to be his subordinates. Members of the mercenary group the server had mentioned, no doubt.
Iria read the memories of the man whose eyes met hers and gathered information.
The one sitting next to her was a 3rd-Class Mercenary. The two behind him were each 4th-class, it seemed.
Mercenaries all looked rough, but they were not truly bad people.
Unlike criminals who committed evil out of pure malice, these men were formally hired and paid for their work.
That did not mean they were kind, however. Being moved by money also meant they would do anything if the price was right.
Throw in a little extra pay and they would probably kill someone for you.
In fact, a fair number of mercenaries were former knights who had been expelled after causing some incident or other.
So what business did such men have with her? Iria asked out of genuine curiosity.
"What business do you have with me?"
He had offered her a place to sleep, yet she knew better than anyone that nothing in the world came free. They must want something from her in return.
To discern it, she tried to read a little more of his memories, but unfortunately he no longer met her eyes.
His gaze was fixed not on her face but on the thighs beneath her skirt and the area of her chest.
The bald man kneaded her shoulder with a lecherous hand. It was the touch of someone who had done this more than once or twice—sticky and clinging.
"Oh, nothing much. You already know, don't you? Just come to our room and spend a nice night with us. You get a place to sleep, we get to feel good. Mutually profitable, right?"
The subordinates behind him snickered again. I pondered the reason for a moment.
The pondering did not last long.
"..."
So that was it.
In the end they wanted her body as well. Men truly were such pitiful creatures.
Before falling into this world, Iria herself had once been a man, so she was not incapable of understanding.
It was simply that the target this time was the wrong one.
Though she wore a human form, Iria was not human. The foolish mercenary had failed to distinguish her from one and approached a monster.
Iria nodded.
"Very well."
No matter the form it took, she stood to lose nothing.
I followed him because he said he would put me up for the night, but a rather large problem arose.
"What are you looking at?! You wanna die?!"
For one thing, the inn the bald man led me into had been entirely rented out by the mercenary group he belonged to.
"Edwin, you bastard, you brought another woman again? Think about the people sharing the place, will you?"
"What's the big deal? Looks like I'm not the only one who brought someone. Check this out. An A-rank woman, no less."
As a result, the atmosphere inside was extremely rough.
Several fierce gazes turned toward me. I was not particularly frightened, yet not a single person looked easy to handle.
My original plan had been to eat the bald man and his subordinates, but I realized I risked making an entire group into enemies.
If I kill them, I'll be found out immediately.
Killing people was not as simple as it sounded.
Traces had to be erased, and the memories of those nearby had to be adjusted.
And that was not all. The bodies needed hiding, and slipping away unnoticed with this many people around would be difficult. It was never just a matter of killing a few people and being done.
So I decided to cancel eating the bald man.
I was not that hungry anyway. Gaining a warm place to sleep with a roof over my head was satisfaction enough.
"Come on, this way."
The bald man and his subordinates guided me to an empty room in the inn.
It was cleaner and more spacious than I had expected. At the very least, the facilities were better than the place I had been living.
I immediately lay down on the bed, and that alone made me feel remarkably good already.
If I closed my eyes in a place like this, sleep would come easily, I was sure.
Making myself so thoroughly at home the moment I entered left the bald man who had brought me looking more than a little flustered.
"Hey. Aren't you getting a little too comfortable?"
"This is my room from now on. All of you, get out."
"What do you mean by—ugh!"
I seized the bald man by the collar and locked eyes with him.
In the tavern there had been too many watching eyes, forcing me to restrain my power, but in a place cut off from the outside the situation was different.
As expected of a mercenary, his mental defenses were a bit higher. I calmly raised the intensity of the illusion.
The fierce light in the bald man's eyes began to fade little by little. Soon his body would relax and the strength would drain from him.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?!"
"...Be quiet. You'll let the sound leak out."
Having subdued the bald man with ease, I turned my gaze to his subordinates.
In truth, it would not matter even if the sound leaked. Outside, the burly mercenary uncles were in the middle of a drinking party.
Any ordinary noise would be drowned out by their booming toasts.
Thus subduing the remaining two was just as simple. One by one I met their eyes and placed them under my control.
They would spend a deeper night than ever before. They had fallen into a powerful illusion they could not break free of on their own.
I pointed a finger at the firmly closed door and commanded them.
"If you're that lonely, go to the next room and enjoy some camaraderie."
Just not in front of me.
I received some fan art.
Thank you.