Command Training
Braham had gone back, saying he needed to speak with Dofnik — but the mercenaries he'd brought with him remained at the mansion.
"I brought more than I expected, given how urgent it was… Just pick as many as you need and send the rest on their way."
These men had originally been the ones Braham was screening to guard Joseph's estate. Then word had reached him that Dofnik had gone looking for Joseph, and they'd armed themselves in a hurry and come along.
Maybe I should've just told him to take them back…
Now that the threat from Dofnik had evaporated, there didn't seem to be any real need for a hand-picked batch of mercenaries. Guards for the mansion were necessary, of course — but that was a problem you solved by hiring a single mercenary company. As it stood, it felt like the accessory was costing more than the thing it was supposed to protect.
I should at least look them in the face before I send them off.
With that, Joseph went downstairs. The mercenaries, however, were nowhere to be seen.
"Jiren, did the mercenaries leave?"
"They're gathered in that room, sir."
"What?"
Joseph's gaze turned toward an unused room on the first floor. It was a space whose purpose hadn't been decided yet, holding little more than a few tables and chairs.
"…They've just been sitting in there this whole time?"
"Yes, sir."
Joseph's expression turned puzzled. He didn't fundamentally trust mercenaries. They moved for money and nothing else — loyalty didn't enter into it. You never knew which way a blade would turn if they spotted an opening. The ones he'd met so far had been sloppy compared to castle regular soldiers, and more than a few of them had been outright thugs.
And yet those same types were sitting quietly in an empty room?
Did Braham pay them a fortune…?
He opened the door and found a dozen or so rough-looking mercenaries clustered together in a room that wasn't particularly spacious. The sight was so bizarre that Joseph let out a small, incredulous laugh.
"Good day, sir!"
"Good day."
Greetings came from all around as Joseph stepped in. Ordinarily someone of captain rank would have come forward as representative, but they'd been pulled as the useful ones from various companies, and there was clearly no central figure among them.
Their clothing told the same story. Mercenaries generally paid for their own armor, but they never forgot to display their affiliation — a company emblem carved into the chest, a strip of red cloth wrapped around the shoulder, that sort of thing. These men showed no such common markers at all.
"You've been here this whole time?"
"We were waiting, sir. You hadn't given us any orders yet."
One of the mercenaries answered and bowed at the waist. His manner was quite deferential, and Joseph's expression grew somewhat puzzled.
What's this? They don't look like mercenaries — they look like soldiers from somewhere.
The fact that they were being so deferential was only natural. Joseph might have seen mercenaries as half-thugs, but these men weren't fools just because they lacked an education. Anyone dense enough to swagger around in this situation had already been filtered out by Braham.
They had a fairly clear idea of who Joseph was. It was because of the Malacca Mercenary Troop, which had vanished without a trace the day before.
The Malacca Mercenary Troop didn't socialize much with other companies, but their reputation was well known. They mainly took collection jobs from merchant guilds, and merchant guilds weren't idiots — they didn't hand that kind of work to just anyone. At minimum, their skill was guaranteed. And those men had disappeared overnight, sold off to a slave trader — a rumor that had been circulating through the mercenary guild since dawn. They'd raided the Kerbe Merchant Guild and been completely cleaned out by a mage who happened to be there.
Then, immediately after that news broke, the head of the Kerbe Merchant Guild had pulled skilled mercenaries.
Anyone with a brain could put it together. The mage standing in front of them was the mage from the rumors.
On top of that, thanks to the ice artifacts, Joseph's name was quietly spreading through Caladon — from nobles' servants to merchants, from those merchants to everyone else. The rumor itself was only that a mage who made artifacts was in the city, but given the circumstances, figuring out that it was Joseph wasn't particularly difficult.
So every mercenary in that room was thinking the same thing.
I have to get noticed. No matter what.
This mage wasn't widely known in Caladon yet. But it wouldn't take long for his name to spread through the city. They intended to catch his eye while they still had the chance. Wealth, fame, and power — opportunities to be employed by someone who had it all didn't come around twice.
"We'll follow whatever you command."
Lento of the Faye Mercenary Group spoke as if he were a soldier, putting particular weight on the word whatever. There were mercenaries from other companies as well, but no one shot him a look. If anything, they hoped the mage would pick up on Lento's intent.
If we don't make an impression, he might send us back on the spot.
From the look of things, whatever problem they didn't know about had already been resolved. Meaning this mage had no particular reason to hire them. And there was no way they were going to just turn around with an Ah, is that so. That's unfortunate. Well done, then.
For those reasons, contrary to Joseph's expectations, the mercenaries' discipline was razor-sharp. And that intent was actually catching his interest.
Now that I look at them, it'd be a waste to send them back.
Men who looked seasoned at a glance were waiting for his orders. Thinking about it, gathering this many of them in one place didn't seem like an easy thing.
Braham said he'd cover the commission fees…
Since things had turned out this way, he wanted to get something useful out of them.
The artifacts are finished. Braham said he'd help with the mediums. And the problem with the Silver Ice Merchant Guild is resolved now…
Joseph pondered for a moment. Various things had happened, but as a result, everything he needed immediately was already in place. So even if he wanted to extract something from these men, nothing plausible came to mind.
"Joseph, sir."
Derik called to him carefully from behind.
"Givra and Toban have returned. Which room should they go to?"
"Ah, right, then…"
Joseph started to answer, then stopped. He stared at Derik for a moment.
"…?"
When Joseph trailed off, Derik looked puzzled, then checked his own appearance.
Did I do something wrong?
Contrary to that worry, Joseph was thinking something else entirely.
Could I use this opportunity… to train the private soldiers a bit?
He didn't mean combat training. They'd already received the basics from Refn, who'd been a decurion at Valois Castle. What Joseph had in mind was training as commanders.
It was still early, but he was drawing a fairly large picture. Once he started expanding his faction in earnest, he'd naturally take on additional private soldiers. But at that point, unlike now, he wouldn't be able to manage them all personally. That's when he'd need officer-level people to run them. And that would naturally fall to the ones he had now — Derik, Auk, and Jiren.
Practicing how to manage soldiers, in preparation for that… wouldn't be a bad idea.
Joseph turned his gaze back to the mercenaries. They were still waiting for his orders.
"…I'd like to give you a commission other than mansion security. Is anyone available for that?"
When he carefully broached the subject, the mercenaries could be seen glancing at each other. Joseph immediately brought Derik forward.
"I'd like you to help with command training for my private soldiers…"
"Sir?"
"…?"
The mercenaries understood what he meant. They'd gauged the private soldiers' level when they entered the mansion. With their youthful faces and high-quality armor, at a glance they looked like the sons of some wealthy notable who'd paid a mage a fortune to be taken on as retainers. But there was a subtle trained quality to their movements and reactions. They couldn't tell exactly, but they had the feeling these kids would be stronger than your average mid-rank mercenary.
Their skill is sufficient, so he wants to use us to develop his private soldiers' command ability.
It wasn't a particularly pleasant commission. Regardless of the mage's private soldiers' level, it ultimately meant being managed by kids a good ten years younger than themselves. About a third of them had experience leading their own mercenary companies, and the rest were well-regarded within theirs. Being told to go under some young soldier left them speechless.
And it seemed the private soldier himself was equally unhappy with Joseph's actions. His face had gone red, and he was looking this way and that. Separate from his loyalty to Joseph, the current situation was a bit much. It was like watching an overbearing parent hunting for someone to look after their child.
…Mages really don't understand people's feelings.
The mercenaries looked at the private soldier with a touch of pity and started glancing at each other. You could tell they were conflicted — whether to swallow their pride, train under this poor private soldier, and catch the mage's eye, or to say that was going too far and leave.
Then a mercenary standing at the very back spoke first.
"I have no objection."
Soon others began speaking up one by one. When people are glancing at each other it's one thing, but once someone charges ahead, people get urgent. Beating the competitor next to you becomes more important than your own pride.
"I'm fine with it as well."
"Me too…"
Before long, everyone had agreed. Joseph looked slightly surprised.
They're actually going for it.
Given that he'd thought of mercenaries as somewhat thuggish, he'd expected more than half of them to refuse on the spot and walk out.
Well. Good for me.
He could feel Derik beside him burning with embarrassment, but it couldn't be helped. When would he get another opportunity like this?
"How did you intend to go about it, sir?"
While he was thinking that, one of the mercenaries asked. They understood the desire to develop command ability. But this was just a mansion in a large city — all you could really do was drill. Looking at this mage, he wouldn't have hired them just for that.
Indeed, Joseph seemed to ponder for a moment, then nodded and asked back.
"…Is there a place nearby where demonic beasts appear?"
Demonic beasts. At those words, the mercenaries' expressions began to grow subtly complicated.