Mercenaries (2)
Mercenaries (2)
Hearing such an absurd story, the female mercenary growled at the newcomer.
"Who the hell are you? Don't interrupt when things are just getting fun!"
"I can't simply walk away when I see the weak suffering."
"What do you mean, weak? You have no idea how much of a nuisance this little rat has been to us. And you—stop right there!"
While the cloaked mercenary and the psycho woman bickered, I tried to slip away to the side. Unfortunately, I was spotted.
As the psycho woman pointed her sword at me while I crept away, the newly arrived cloaked mercenary stepped in front of me to block her.
Indeed, this was a good, meddlesome mercenary.
"Do you think I'm joking just because I'm talking to you? Die!"
With her path blocked, the psycho female mercenary rushed forward, swinging her sword.
At the same time, the cloaked mercenary drew the sword from the scabbard in their hand.
Flash!
A flash of lightning erupted before my eyes.
"Ugh!"
The psycho woman, who had charged in, staggered back in a daze.
The cloaked mercenary was indeed highly skilled. An ordinary mercenary would have struggled to avoid a strike like that.
"To think you have the skill to dodge my sword, yet you waste it bullying a mere child! Have you no shame?"
"Damn it, I almost died! And what do you mean, a child? What the hell are you talking about?"
The two mercenaries were saying completely different things about me.
One knew my skills and therefore didn't think of me as a child, while the other hadn't seen what I could do and seemed to assume I was a child based on my build.
No, even so, this person sounded quite certain that I was a child. Was there some other reason?
The thought briefly crossed my mind, but my eyes had been fixed on one spot for a while now.
I couldn't take my eyes off the sword from the moment the cloaked mercenary drew it from its scabbard.
Unlike its scabbard, the sword itself looked extremely antique.
It was so well maintained that its swing looked almost like a flash of lightning, and the sword itself resembled those from the Old Empire that I had seen in history books.
But I wasn't staring at the sword in a daze because it was the kind I'd seen in history books.
It was because of the crest engraved on the blade.
The crest of a bird soaring toward the sun.
It was definitely a crest I'd seen in my past life.
At the entrance to the cave beneath the ruins, and in the abandoned cemetery.
The words Adria had spoken at the cemetery that day came back to me.
"I think if you thrust a sword into this hole, it would fit perfectly... If you push a sword into it, won't the mechanism activate and reveal a hidden treasure chest?"
She'd said this while looking at the hole in the bottom of the coffin.
It had been idle chatter, something she'd babbled to distract herself from her anxiety in a bad situation. I'd simply brushed it off at the time, but seeing a sword engraved with that exact same crest brought Adria's words back as vividly as if I'd heard them yesterday.
I didn't know if she was right, but regardless, I had finally found the crest I'd been searching for all this time.
Just then, as I stared blankly at the sword, the female mercenary's voice reached my ears.
"Damn it, why are they taking so long? Some really annoying nuisance has shown up."
I snapped out of it. This was no time to stand around.
This was my only chance. I started running toward the mercenaries' district.
"I told you to stop!"
Naturally, the female mercenary rushed forward to stop me. And, just as naturally, the nuisance blocked her path again.
"Let the child go!"
"You bastard!"
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Lightning flashed again, and the sound of clashing swords rang out.
It was a shame. If only I had a better sword, I wouldn't have to run away like this.
To think I couldn't pay back what I'd suffered in my past life this time, either.
Even though we'd met a few months earlier, I was confident that I'd worked hard and grown stronger than I had in my past life.
Yet, because of my complacency and impatience—and my poor sword—I ended up fleeing like this, with my back to a stranger.
Was it because of the wound? My steps grew heavier and heavier as I ran.
"Damn it! He got away! You, just you wait! Once the others get here, I'll chop off your limbs and stuff you like a trophy."
"What a truly wicked person. To go so far as to coat your sword with poison inside the city. If the domain soldiers catch you, you won't get away with just a fine!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Are you even a mercenary?"
The two of them kept trading barbs as fiercely as they clashed swords.
The fight had already tilted completely in one direction.
In both sword skill and the power of their blades, the cloaked mercenary was utterly dominant.
Yet the fight didn't end quickly. Because their opponent's sword was poisoned, the cloaked mercenary couldn't land a decisive blow.
As the two fought, the whistling sound that had been echoing in the distance drew closer and closer.
"Hoho, looks like everyone's arriving. Instead of that dwarf who pissed me off, I'll have to play with you."
At the female mercenary's words, the cloaked mercenary's movements faltered. They seemed to be hesitating over something.
It looked like I would have to resolve their dilemma.
Whoosh!
I threw the half-broken sword with all my might and shouted at the cloaked mercenary.
"Attack!"
Both of them were startled by my voice.
That was only natural, since the guy they thought had run away had returned.
But the two of them also seemed to be highly experienced.
"How dare you!"
Clang!
The female mercenary managed to block the sword flying toward her.
"Ugh! A sword imbued with mana?"
But she hadn't anticipated the force packed into the broken sword.
The flying sword knocked her back, ruining her stance. In that instant, she crumpled beneath the cloaked mercenary's lunge.
"Ugh, you..."
With a few clichéd parting words, the female mercenary collapsed.
I limped over to the two of them.
"I thought you ran away?"
"I intended to, but I couldn't."
I shook my head at the mercenary's grating voice. My steps had grown heavier and heavier as I ran toward the mercenaries' district, until I finally stopped. Then I turned back and ran, limping through the darkness of the alley.
No particular reason came to mind. I just didn't want to run away.
So I secretly returned, hid in the darkness of the alley to watch the fight, and threw my sword to help.
Thinking about it calmly, it was a truly foolish thing to do.
She had nothing to do with me, and we'd only met once.
Did I naively think I should help them back just because they'd helped me? Or was it because I'd discovered the crest, a clue to the tomb?
It was a relief that things had turned out well, but regardless of the reason, it hadn't been a smart move.
"You didn't kill her."
The gaze beneath the cloak seemed to grow a little stern.
"For a child to speak of killing someone so easily..."
As expected, this person spoke in a way that didn't suit a mercenary.
Seriously, even nobles wouldn't say such things. Had this person spent their whole life playing in some flower garden?
I picked up the half-broken sword lying nearby.
The remaining blade was cracked in every direction.
It was completely useless now.
Unfortunately, the female mercenary's poisoned sword was nowhere to be seen. Where had it gone?
Clutching the ruined sword, I walked over to the fallen female mercenary.
The whistling grew closer, and now I could hear shouting, too.
There was no time.
I stood before the fallen female mercenary and swung the sword down.
I aimed straight for her neck.
Clang!
But the sword failed to pierce the female mercenary.
Another blade blocked the broken sword, shattering it into pieces.
"Why did you block me? She's a woman who tried to kill us."
"Seriously... what is this country coming to..."
After muttering something strange, the cloaked mercenary pointed behind us.
"People are coming. I don't know what's going on, but you shouldn't get caught by them, right?"
The cloaked mercenary grabbed my arm and started running toward the mercenaries' district.
I obediently ran alongside them.
It was already too late.
My sword was shattered, and with this meddler in my way, killing the woman before they arrived was impossible.
Still, making someone with an injured leg run like this...
"That woman is Noah, the mercenary, right? The vice-commander of the Red Bear Mercenary Corps."
They hadn't been ignorant of their opponent's identity. The cloaked mercenary had known all along and only pretended otherwise.
"I heard she's a mercenary famous for her terrible personality, but seeing her in person, the problem seems much worse than that."
It wasn't just a personality issue, of course. It was an insanely dangerous problem. So why did you stop me!
"But even if she's that kind of woman, if the vice-commander of the Red Bear Mercenary Corps dies in a place like this, things are bound to get incredibly troublesome."
"Neither you nor I would be able to stay in this territory anymore. If things go wrong, we might be hunted by the Red Bear Mercenary Corps for the rest of our lives."
Wow, for someone so meddlesome, their words were surprisingly logical.
"She doesn't know my face, and she completely mistook you for a kid, so as long as we don't kill her, things will quiet down soon."
From the perspective of an ordinary mercenary who didn't know my true identity, that was a natural conclusion.
I also preferred to keep things quiet.
My plans were finally starting to take shape, so a commotion like this wouldn't do me any good.
Killing her would have been fine, but keeping her alive wasn't too bad for my plans, either.
"More importantly, why were you being chased? It didn't seem like she was chasing you just because she's some simple pedophile."
Being chased for a reason like that would actually be pretty terrifying.
"It seems I overheard something I shouldn't have. She chased me, claiming I was eavesdropping."
"Hmm. Overhearing a conversation... So you aren't just a simple kid, either?"
Uh-oh. Had my simple explanation caused a misunderstanding?
"A kid who evades pursuit by multiple mercenaries, approaches me without my noticing despite having an injured leg, throws a sword, and even imbues that sword with mana... And that kid just happened to overhear a conversation?"
Oops. Since I'd shown off my skills, my excuse didn't work.
"Well, I don't regret helping you, but since things turned out this way, I can at least hear what happened as payment for my help, right?"
Just as the cloaked mercenary asked, we managed to enter the mercenaries' district.
It was still incredibly rowdy here. In fact, as the night deepened, the district seemed to grow even noisier.
"By the way, do you know me?"
"I saw you earlier. Don't you remember me catching that pickpocket for you?"
As expected, they recognized me.
I took off my cloak.
"You really are a pretty boy. You look so much better without the cloak."
Indeed, the more they spoke, the more their tone changed.
'She doesn't seem used to altering her voice.'
I looked at her face, still hidden beneath her cloak, and spoke.
"Since you already know my face... how should I address you? Miss? Ma'am?"
At my words, she stopped dead in her tracks. She seemed flustered.
"I'm busted?"
Her awkward voice returned to its natural state.
It was a slightly neutral, husky voice. But it was definitely a woman's voice.
"An awkward tone like that is bound to get exposed if you talk too much."
"I guess so... I tried to be careful, but I must have gotten too excited."
Which part had gotten her excited? Her meddling? The battle?
In any case, just like her, there was something I wanted to hear.
"Where are you staying? It's too late tonight, so I'll come see you another time. I need to repay you, and I'll also tell you what happened."
I had many questions, but other matters were urgent right now. For now, I needed to find out where she was staying and meet her again later.
Fortunately, after hesitating for a moment, she told me where she was staying.
It was another inn a short distance from here.
"Coming around dinner time should be fine. If I go out, I'll let the owner know what time I'll be back, so just ask."
After making the appointment, she slipped a bottle of medicine into my hand and left.
Inside was a fairly high-grade medicine, specifically for treating wounds.
After thanking her, I sat in a corner of a building and applied the medicine to my wound.
The bleeding stopped, and bubbles immediately rose from the wound.
It was good medicine. Too expensive to give to a child she'd just met.
Though I found it strange, the pain in my leg subsided considerably thanks to it.
After checking my leg, I headed for the inn where Adria was waiting.
Martin was nowhere to be seen at the inn, and Adria was waiting for me alone.
Fortunately, she seemed to be in a good mood.
"Brother left first because he had some urgent business."
Hmm, I have a feeling that "urgent business" is because of me...
"We talked a lot for the first time in a while. Brother has changed a lot, but at the same time, he hasn't changed at all."
On the way back after leaving the inn, Adria kept rambling about her conversation with Martin.
Unfamiliar mercenaries passed by, searching for something, but no one paid any attention to the two of us, who looked like siblings.
Once we left the mercenaries' district, the crowd thinned out, and as we approached the temple, the streets grew completely deserted.
"Ah, that's right. I told Brother about the secret passage. He said he'd come to visit when he has time later."
In the end, she'd told Martin about the secret passage.
Even though it had happened several months earlier, in the end, nothing had changed from my past life.
I smiled inwardly.
The cogs were turning, locking perfectly into place.