The Empty House
After the break known as the Days of Silence finally ended, the days of clashing with monsters felt like a distant dream. Academy life returned in full. The autumn mock battles ended with a perfect 4-0 record for both Kair and me. He claimed he had trained himself to the bone at the estate during the break. “Hmm…” I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of discomfort at that. In this world, you needed to shed real blood, not just sweat, to prove you’d truly pushed yourself. Still, I couldn’t force him into real fights with monsters yet. He had to feel the need himself and step forward on his own. If someone simply followed orders, they’d grow bored of it eventually. “Besides, it’s not time for him to fight monsters yet.”
In truth, aside from mock battles and a few events, actual combat was reserved for after graduation. As long as I spent my three years at the Academy simply training, there was nothing more for me to interfere with. Today was no different. I half-listened through class, killed some time, and headed home. No need to search for a key anymore. I simply reached out and knocked on the front door.
“I’m home—”
My voice carried through the door at a comfortable volume. After a few footsteps, the door swung open to reveal a reassuring smile.
“You’re back?”
“Yeah.”
It was a familiar face, warmly greeting me in place of Reina, who would normally be out at this hour. Rein was holding down the fort alone. After a casual reply, I began peeling off my sun-warmed uniform while glancing around the house. Realizing she was by herself, I spoke up.
“Where’s Reina?”
“She said she was heading to a city called Marnia.”
“Hmm…”
I let out a thoughtful hum at the answer. Marnia lay north of Karsion, even farther than Elhain. Quite a distance. Had she landed a lucrative enough commission to warrant traveling to another city?
“She mentioned she’d be gone for a few days this time.”
Rein continued while I mulled over the city’s name. Whenever Reina left, she made sure to let Rein know where she was going.
“Really…?”
I tilted my head as I replied, adding a few more thoughts to what I’d been considering. If she was staying in another city for several days… “Then it must be a pretty big job.”
Whether it was a day trip or not, both Reina and I spent a lot of time outside because of commissions. Thanks to Rein, those uncertainties had eased considerably compared to before. Even if her role as a housekeeper was mostly in name, she was definitely fulfilling it. The realization made me feel self-conscious.
“I should probably be doing something too…”
Rein was getting paid for her work, and there was no denying how much she helped around the house. In comparison, what was I contributing while living here? Attending the Academy, earning money from commissions, occasionally picking up groceries nearby. If anything, I was more of a burden than a help. At my level, no matter how many commissions I took, the earnings wouldn’t even match a single A-class job. The thought filled me with restless urgency. The moment I shed my uniform, I started pulling on my combat gear.
“Heading out already?”
Rein turned at the sound of fabric brushing against skin, her voice directed at me. I met her gaze briefly while tightening the straps of my gear.
“Yeah. Gonna check if there are any decent commissions.”
The combat uniform felt noticeably heavier than my school clothes. The weight across my upper body gave me a sense of protection.
“Got it. Don’t stay out too late.”
With those worried words, she saw me off. I waved over my shoulder and stepped outside after adjusting my boots.
Inside the bustling mercenary guild, I managed to secure a commission amid fierce competition. The request was oddly specific: capture several young boars alive. At least two, and they had to be one male and one female.
“What kind of mercenary doubles as a chick sexer…”
Odd requests like this weren’t uncommon in mercenary work. As long as the pay was decent relative to the effort, I didn’t complain. Thinking back, my very first commission had felt similar. Monster subjugation requests existed, but they weren’t usually taken on by individuals. Capturing targets alive and delivering them to the client… If the targets hadn’t been villains, it wouldn’t have been much different from slave hunting. “Of course, slavery doesn’t really exist in this world.”
With that thought, I headed beyond Karsion’s walls, carrying ropes meant for capturing beasts. Bears that could take your head off with one swipe of their paw. Packs of relentless wolves. Maybe I’d hunted nothing but those lately, because even when I approached the young boars, they simply stood there staring instead of fleeing. They looked almost cute. If they’d been Hungry Bears, they would’ve already been charging with roars.
“But how do I tell the males from the females…?”
The young boars stared at me, and I stared right back. I’d used the chick sexer example earlier, but if I couldn’t even tell male and female chicks apart, how was I supposed to manage with boars? There had to be a method… The problem was that I didn’t know it. Even though I’d grown up in the countryside, my family had specialized in farming, not livestock.
“Guess I’ll just catch every one I see.”
With that decision, I pulled the thick rope taut. It made a rough scraping sound. I’d expected it to be difficult, but the capture went surprisingly smoothly. At this point, even young boars were easy enough to subdue with raw strength. Maybe all those bears and wolves I’d hunted near the village had paid off.
“Didn’t think I’d feel my growth in a place like this—hyah…!”
“Kkiiik!”
Grunting with effort that cut off my own thoughts, I dragged three young boars to the royal capital’s entrance. At first they’d struggled against the ropes, but they’d eventually given up and walked along obediently. The meeting point with the client wasn’t inside the city but right here at the gate. Apparently, bringing live monsters into the city required some kind of permit. So even when mercenaries were hired, the handoff happened at the entrance.
“Good work, kid. You’ve got a knack for this! Two females and one male…”
“He can tell just by looking.”
The client glanced at the undersides of the tightly bound boars and muttered the sexes without hesitation. Undersides… That probably meant checking their genitals, like with people. Even if I only realized it now, the commission was already out of my hands. I received more than twice the money I would’ve gotten from slaughtering the boars and delivering them to a butcher, and the day’s work ended without issue.
“Now that I think about it…”
Holding the ten or so silver coins I’d been given, a sudden thought struck me. Did this mean I wouldn’t get any hunting experience? In this world, you only gained levels by killing monsters. The experience from monsters near the capital wasn’t worth much anymore, but taking on random commissions like this left nothing behind except your rank. Game characters who could devote themselves entirely to hunting without worrying about living expenses… They really had been blessed.
Afterward, I waited in the long line at the guild, submitted the completed commission, and returned home around sunset. Just as Rein had said, Reina was away in another city. As the sky outside the window turned orange, Rein came to greet me.
“You’re back early.”
“Early… am I?”
“Yeah. When you’re late, you’re really late, you know?”
I tilted my head, not feeling much difference from usual, but Rein immediately countered. Probably because the sun was just starting to set beyond the window. In reality, it was only a difference of a few dozen minutes. While I was lost in thought, Rein spoke again.
“Want to eat dinner right away?”
“What? But Reina’s still—”
I started to reply, glancing around out of habit, then stopped. Even though I’d just been told she’d be gone for several days, I’d instinctively looked for Reina.
“…Oh, right.”
“Idiot.”
Before Rein could even finish her retort, I let out a sigh of realization. The sight of me forgetting something I’d been told just that afternoon made Rein draw out the word “idiot” in a scolding tone. It was around then that I became unavoidably aware of it. Right now, the only people in this house were Rein and me. Without the owner present, the two of us were spending the night in the same space. With just one person missing, the atmosphere had grown incredibly awkward. We couldn’t meet each other’s eyes, even in our loungewear, and kept staring at the floor as we walked. I didn’t know what to talk about either. No matter what we said, the conversation never lasted long. It seemed Rein had started feeling self-conscious too, because she spoke to me far less than usual. Faced with this sudden, strange mood, I cried out inwardly.
“Reina, please come home soon…”