The Blacklisted Mercenary's Plea
“Priest.”
“Yes?”
We had just left the guild. I was heading to a restaurant to buy dinner for the knight who had helped me when he suddenly spoke in a low voice, revealing an unexpected fact.
“Someone is following us from behind. Do not turn your head. Keep walking as naturally as you can.”
“!!”
Someone was following us?
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“Why would they be following us?”
“...It won’t be for any good reason.”
His words seemed to mean I should quietly follow him. Having no desire to meet my end on the street, I stuck close to the knight’s back as we moved.
“Will there be a fight?”
“I will confirm that now. I’ll find out their purpose in trailing us.”
The knight warned that his pace would quicken from here and told me to keep up, then plunged into the chaotic crowd. Terrified of losing sight of him, I followed desperately. Worried he might lose me, he grabbed my collar and carved a path ahead so I could walk without trouble.
After we finally broke through the throng—
“As expected, they really are following us.”
The knight glanced carefully behind us before speaking. Someone had tailed us from the guild. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. I had tried not to hold prejudices against mercenaries, but everyone knew how rough that line of work could be.
“Are they after me?”
“There’s no need for you to concern yourself. It would be far too lowly and filthy a matter for a priest to know about.”
Priests lost evaluation points if they failed to maintain dignity, yet knights apparently faced no such restriction. I was just beginning to feel a flicker of indignation at the unfairness when—
Shing—
The surroundings had emptied of people at some point, revealing a wide open space perfect for a brawl. The knight sent me behind him and drew his sword.
“Come out.”
“......”
My heart clenched even though I wasn’t the one being threatened; it felt as if my whole body was cringing. If I hadn’t been the target, I would have happily watched the spectacle!
A few moments after the knight spoke, a human shadow appeared. Soon the person who had followed us revealed their voice without fully showing themselves.
“There’s no need to be so wary. I didn’t follow you to fight.”
A woman?
“Your intentions don’t matter. You followed the priest. That alone demands payment.”
Watching the knight radiate killing intent over the simple act of tailing a priest, I felt both reassured and slightly concerned that he might be insane. Of course, he could be speaking harshly while planning only to scold her and send her away. Still, the hostility seemed excessive for a holy knight.
Is there really no dignity-maintenance evaluation? Had we priests been the only ones suffering under that burden?
“I have no business with you. My business is with the priest.”
“......”
I didn’t want to know what it was. Getting involved sounded like it would drag me into something horribly complicated.
The figure lingering in the shadows finally stepped into the sunlight. Even after hearing her voice I had remained doubtful, but the female mercenary I had seen earlier at the guild now stood before us.
“Why me…?”
I remembered she had been the first to speak to me back at the mercenary guild as well.
“I came because I have something to tell you.”
“There is no need for you to exchange words with her.”
The knight stepped forward, blocking any conversation with the mercenary. Growing desperate, she blurted out,
“I didn’t come to harm the priest. I came to ask a favor.”
To save someone?
Wanting to prove her innocence, the mercenary suddenly dropped to her knees on the ground.
“Wait, why are you suddenly—”
“My little sister needs treatment.”
Her family was ill?
“Bring her to the temple. I will treat her.”
It was a simple matter that would be resolved the moment she brought the girl to the temple, so I couldn’t understand why she was acting this way toward me. The female mercenary bit her lip hard at my answer, hesitated, then spoke.
“...Because of my mistake, I cannot enter the temple. That means my sister cannot receive treatment there.”
“Pardon? You cannot enter the temple, you say.”
The temple welcomed any follower of the Sun God regardless of nationality. Yet there was one category of person forbidden from entering.
“Yes. I did something insane. That’s why I was placed on the Blacklist.”
What kind of madness had she committed to end up on the temple’s Blacklist?
That isn’t a list just anyone can join.
Perhaps I should have listened to the knight and ignored her. But it wasn’t she herself who was sick—it was her sister. Hearing that she could not enter the temple stirred pity in me.
I could accept that the guilty party might be denied temple care, but punishing immediate family members as well seemed excessively harsh. Besides, the Blacklist did not officially exist, nor was there any formal rule barring their families from treatment.
The real issue was that the Blacklist existed in practice, and no priest would accept those on it—or their relatives. Showing mercy carelessly could earn the wrath of one’s superiors. That was why the mercenary’s desperate plea made sense.
“Can’t you just look at her once? I’m not asking for myself. My family is suffering. Our Ena did nothing wrong. Her only crime is having me as her older sister!!”
The way the mercenary wailed over her sister’s inability to receive care because of her own sins was heartbreaking. Yet the temple’s rules were strict. Even I could not bend them.
When I remained silent, the anxious female mercenary grew even more frantic.
“I’m sorry for being rude to you at the guild. I thought you were just like the other priests. But you weren’t. You tried to treat those men even after they fainted from fighting each other. Couldn’t the compassion you showed those bastards be spared for our Ena?”
So that was why her attitude had changed. My attempt to heal the collapsed mercenary must have been what moved her.
“This is everything I’ve saved through blood and sweat. I’ll give it all to you. Please, just look at her once.”
“......”
She pulled out a heavy-looking money pouch. It was unfortunate, but I had received far larger sums than that before.
At her earnest plea I turned to the knight. Taking my glance as a signal, he spoke.
“This is the consequence of the crime she committed. If I witness you approaching the priest personally again, I will kill you in retribution.”
“Priest, please!!! I admit I sinned, but I believe in the Sun God!! I swear by Him that I follow His will, so why can’t my sister receive treatment?!”
“Do not come any closer!”
The knight finally swung the sword he had drawn. The mercenary did not dodge.
“Ugh!”
Slash—!
She deliberately threw her body into the blade. Her right shoulder was cut open, clothes torn, blood streaming down. Yet she continued to cling to me with blazing eyes, as if the sword held no terror.
“Then kill me instead. If I’m dead, the blacklisted family member disappears, so you can treat Ena, right? If you simply swear to the Sun God, I will die here without regret.”
“Value your life. Your sister would be devastated to hear such words. Besides, no priest grants treatment in exchange for a life. So please leave. I cannot fulfill a request like this.”
“If you won’t even take my life, then what am I supposed to do?! Ena is dying! She can’t get a single treatment because of me!!”
“I’m sorry.”
I told the knight it was time to go.
“That wound looks serious. Please at least apply some medicine. Don’t leave it untreated.”
After saying what little I could, I turned away.
“Let’s return, Sir Knight.”
“Yes.”
Having refused her request as well, the knight no longer threatened the mercenary.
“Please… I’m begging you like this! I’m asking you to save a person!! How can you call yourself a priest?! Aaaagh!!”
Her desperate screams echoed in my ears as we walked away. I asked the knight,
“You know that woman, don’t you?”
“...She once sneaked into the temple disguised as someone else to get treatment for her sister.”
“She must have tried every desperate method she could think of.”
“It seems she attempted the same thing at other temples. She is not a good person. Do not get involved with her. It would be wise to forget what you heard today as well. Nothing good will come from entanglement with someone like her.”
“Yes. I understand.”
If the knight said so, it must be true. I answered obediently and quickened my steps.
The dark night. For a mercenary, the standard routine was to visit the guild in the morning to find work, then spend the evening drinking at a tavern before ending the day.
Coarse curses, raucous laughter, belches, and the sour stench of vomit—it was a tavern scene every mercenary knew intimately.
Yet for her it had been a long while since she last saw it. She had always spent her evenings caring for her sick sister instead.
“Damn it all.”
But tonight, of all nights, she could not bring herself to face her sister. How could she look the child in the eye when she was the reason for her suffering?
She drank until her body could barely stay upright. The high-proof liquor burned her throat.
Thud— The previously empty seat beside her was suddenly occupied.
“So this is where you were.”
“...Leave while I’m still asking nicely.”
Because her work was dangerous, the mercenary profession was overwhelmingly male. Female mercenaries were rare to begin with, and since she was fairly attractive, several men had already sat beside her while she drank, tried to flirt, been rejected, and slunk away. To those who wouldn’t take a hint, she had pressed a sharp dagger to their throats as a warning before continuing to drink.
“You’ve had quite a lot. I didn’t expect you to be here, so it took me a while to find you. They say mercenaries come to places like this at night, and it looks like that was true. It would have been troublesome if you hadn’t been here.”