Chapter 13
Creak—the massive wooden door was pushed open with the groan of its ancient hinges. The Mercenary Guild, shaped like a tavern, was always swarming with people no matter the time. I pushed past the familiar bustle and stopped in front of the bulletin board. The area around me fell silent the moment I appeared.
"......Isn't that Mir?"
"Mir always comes this way to pick requests, so we see her now and then...... but there are so many fakes impersonating her these days. You can't tell unless you know for sure."
A magic beast subjugation request I can finish within a week.
I ignored the stares prickling my skin and rummaged through the board for a request that matched my criteria. Flipping through the densely packed papers over and over, my eyes locked onto a small one.
'Help with the winter magic beast subjugation in Luju Village.'
Luju Village was part of the Chrysis Ducal Residence's territory, a remote border area near the north that suffered constant magic beast incursions. I'd heard it was always plagued by food shortages and poverty because it was too close to the eternal snowfields for farming.
'And the ones showing up are all violent types like Harabana or Vacus, tough to subjugate. Plus, it's winter right now.'
I clicked my tongue. Camping in the cold was grueling enough, but winter made massive magic beasts more active, making subjugations especially brutal. Poor border villages like that often ended up clearing away hundreds of corpses each winter.
I sighed at the reward amount and the glinting gold shield emblem in the corner of the request. A hundred gold. For the difficulty of a winter magic beast subjugation, it was insultingly low—something that would've gotten them reported to a labor board if this world had one. It was probably the best impoverished Luju Village could scrape together, though.
'And a gold shield on top of that.'
It meant only top-tier mercenaries could apply. Mercenaries had ranks too, based on overall success rates, client satisfaction, and achievements. That rank limited which requests you could take. High-reward, high-difficulty ones were reserved for the upper echelons.
'Ranks are marked by shields.'
Iron shields for low-rankers. Bronze for mid. Silver for high. Gold shields went to the rare few with over 90% success rates.
Mercenaries with gold shields didn't budge for peanuts.
'But restricting it to gold shields and offering just a hundred gold?'
It was as good as saying they weren't even trying to recruit anyone.
'Whoever wrote this doesn't know how the mercenary world works.'
I let out a deep sigh without realizing it. Among the gold shield mercenaries I knew, there was only one sucker who'd take on this hellishly tough request with its pathetically stingy pay.
"I'll take it."
That one was me. I slapped the torn-off request onto the counter. Haul, who was mixing drinks behind the bar, glanced between it and me. A knowing smile crept across his lips.
"I knew you'd take this one the moment it went up. Who else but Mir would be idiot enough to touch a request like this?"
"Cut the crap and register it."
He burst out laughing at my irritated urging and snatched up the paper. I'd been a mercenary for five years now, and in that time, I'd built up a decent rapport with Haul here at the guild.
He seemed convinced I was the real Mir amid all the fakes out there.
"Gold shield?"
"Here."
I tossed him the badge from my pocket. He caught the one meticulously engraved with the gold shield, gave it a perfunctory authenticity check, and handed it back.
"Registered. You'll need to head out right now."
"Right now?"
"Deadline's today. Plus, the other participants are about to leave. If you want to go with them, get ready ASAP."
"......Others applied besides me?"
I frowned at the unexpected news. Every gold shield mercenary I'd met was arrogant and greedy. No one came to mind who'd touch this cheap, nasty job.
"Not mercenaries. You know no one in our guild but you would volunteer for something like this."
"You wanna see me draw my sword that bad?"
"Ahem! Knights are joining this one."
"Knights?"
His out-of-left-field comment left me blinking blankly. Haul elaborated.
"The Chrysis Ducal Residence isn't skimping on their own territory, right? They've sent aid squads to Luju Village multiple times, only for magic beasts to wipe them out. This time, they're sending an all-knight squad to handle the subjugation themselves."
"Uh......"
"They're waiting at Luju Village for any mercenaries who sign up for their independent request to join them. But they aren't expecting anyone with pay this low. You'll shock the hell out of them."
Haul chattered excitedly, but my head was starting to throb.
'Chrysis Ducal Residence...... that's my birth family.'
No one knew I was the duke's illegitimate child. Still, it bugged me a little.
'Whatever. What could go wrong.'
The subjugation team was just ducal knights—no direct involvement with the family itself.
"I've got my gear. Just need to eat and I'll head out. Where to?"
"The ducal residence. Actually, I figured you'd take it, so I wired them the second you walked in."
"Hilarious."
"Come on, you know I look out for you."
I playfully rested my hand on my sword hilt, and he grinned cheekily. We'd known each other five years—not quite friends, but we knew each other's quirks well enough. His bright smile coaxed a faint one from me in spite of myself.
"That scrawny thing's supposed to be the mercenary Mir? No way! I heard she was short, but that's a damn kid!"
"At that size...... I could probably take her, right?"
I let the idiots' mutterings slide in one ear and out the other.
'Water's extra dirty today.'
Veteran guild mercs wouldn't dare trash-talk me like that, but today was full of clueless fools running their mouths. Scanning the guild slowly amid the weird vibe, I spotted why.
'Heard a foreign mercenary band was visiting soon. Guess it's today.'
That explained all the exotic faces—they were outlanders. They wouldn't know about the time I'd half-wrecked the guild fending off punks who picked a fight with me, so I let it slide.
"Are you insane? Shut her up before you get us all killed! I don't wanna get dragged in!"
"All you empire folk cowards or what? Scared of a little girl?!"
A few pale-faced guys tried reining in the loudmouths, but the noise only grew.
'Whatever. Let 'em figure it out.'
Trash talk like that was kid stuff to me. I calmly munched my ordered dried seaweed sandwich, which only made Haul fidget anxiously.
"......We just renovated the guild recently. New chairs and tables all around."
"Spit it out."
"Please don't fight inside......"
I gave a light smile to his pleading sigh and swallowed the rest of the sandwich in one bite.
"Don't worry. I'm not a kid. No need to fight over nothing......"
A spike of instinct. I jerked my head back, dodging whatever was flying straight at it.
Crack!
It was clearly a glass thrown hard enough to punch a hole in the wooden wall on impact. I stared blankly at the shattered shards and the whistling hole letting in outside air, then sighed.
'Infused with mana.'
A normal glass couldn't smash through wood like that. Hurling an object laced with mana at my head? Clear intent to kill.
"This brat's the Mercenary King Mir?"
The area went dead silent as Haul grimaced in annoyance. One man stood from his seat—a hulking brute with a foreign face and clear malice toward me.
He strode over.
"Ha! Unbelievable! How's a scrawny weakling like you swinging a sword? You'll snap your wrist just picking one up!"
He shoved my shoulder roughly with his massive paw, clearly trying to knock me down. But I'd sensed the incoming glass and wrapped myself in mana—he didn't budge me an inch.
I ignored his stunned ass and casually addressed Haul.
"Thirsty. Get me some iced water."
Haul, low on combat prowess, might get caught in the crossfire just standing there. Asking for unnecessary iced water was my way of getting him clear—his face went white.
"You don't mean......"
"Don't make me say it."
"Damn it...... if you're gonna fight, take it outside......"
Haul glanced around the shop with worried eyes, muttering about not wanting to clean up corpses, and shuffled inside.
"Y-You bastard!"
Infuriated that I hadn't flinched, the guy gnashed his teeth and drew an axe from his back, pointing it at me. I stared him down without sparing the blade a glance.
"What's the problem?"
"I can't accept a punk like you as the Mercenary King! You get a gold shield and I'm stuck with silver? Beat you here, and I'll take gold!"
'Inferiority complex type.'
I sighed. His self-proclaimed silver rank and the way he gripped the dagger suggested he wasn't totally hopeless, but every word dripped with resentment.
"Not interested in fighting."
"Ha! Scared?"
'Worried I'll kill you by accident if I don't hold back, idiot.'
Annoyed, I turned away to sit, signaling I was done. He took it as an insult and slammed his axe into the floor in rage.
"You little shit! Dare ignore me?!"
Whoosh!
I ducked the wild axe swing with a slight tilt of my head. It wasn't even fast. Enraged, he started flailing it wildly.
Bang! Boom!
Furniture shattered under his blows. I clicked my tongue at Haul's paling face but easily evaded every attack. This was child's play to me.
"Rat bastard!"
Face red, breathing ragged, he hurled the axe at me in fury.
'Stupid. Never drop your weapon.'
Mercenaries didn't let go of their blades unless they had no choice. I tsked, leaped aside from the flying axe—
Thud!
—it embedded in the floor where I'd stood. In the next instant, I used the handle as a springboard, launching myself at him. Our faces met head-on. I unleashed my full killing intent.
"Hiiik!"
Black smoke like poison mist filled the building. As everyone held their breath, I focused it all on him. His muscles spasmed, unable to handle the pressure.
"Next time, make damn sure you know who you're messing with."
I muttered flatly and clamped my black-gloved hand over his mouth. My black aura surged wildly into him, latching onto a nerve straight to his brain.
"I'm Mir."
Thud!
The giant crumpled helplessly. I crossed the heavy silence and plopped into a chair.
Mercenary King Mir. The name weighed a ton.
'I started this for the money. Never wanted it to get this big.'
Even so, I loved the sword and took pride in this name. I couldn't help it. I adored the whisper of steel through air, cherished and hated the black aura blazing at my blade's tip, and found joy in protecting my precious ones with it.
To me, "Mir" was proof of the desperate years I'd spent guarding those I loved.
"Crazy......" Haul emerged with the iced water, gaping at the trashed interior from the axe rampage. I snatched the glass from his dazed hand, downed it in one go, and grinned.
"I just dodged. Make him pay for the damage."
I tossed crumpled bills on the counter and stood.
"Take care, Haul."
I brushed off the stares and walked out.
"......That damn bastard!"
Haul's bellow—unclear who it was for—echoed thunderously behind me.