Winterglen (2)
The Winterglen branch of the Mercenary Guild stood in a building made of thick logs, and the place smelled stale and old, as if the air itself had been trapped inside for years.
A hearth burned without pause. Lantern light trembled in the darkness, and a pure white bear’s head hung on the wall.
For all the rustic charm, the damp heaviness in the air felt strangely stifling.
The entrance, where people came and went constantly, was slick with moisture. Every time the door opened, a blade of cold air swept in with merciless force.
The mercenaries gathered in front of the hearth were sheltering from the cold and studying the request board pinned above it.
After taking in the guild hall, Lawrence headed for the empty reception desk.
“Could it be… the shadow mage?”
The clerk, after checking his mercenary plate, looked genuinely startled.
“You know me?”
“Know you? Isn’t that obvious? There isn’t a mercenary gathered in Winterglen right now who doesn’t know your name. The mercenary who took down a wendigo alone. Lawrence, the shadow mage.”
So the word had already spread.
Then again, there had been a great many mercenaries on the escort request.
And the Mistra merchant house had surely filed a report with the guild as well. If the guild hadn’t heard by now, that would have been stranger.
“Have you come about the wendigo extermination, by any chance? If so, the guild welcomes you wholeheartedly.”
“I’m not here for the wendigo today.” Lawrence shook his head. “I’m looking for a sherpa.”
“Hm… Finding one is difficult, even for us.”
“I heard the Winterglen branch is the only mercenary guild in the north. That means you must have a long tradition and a deep history. Surely you know at least one sherpa?”
The clerk made a troubled face.
“The northern tribes don’t live settled lives. They roam the vast north and make their living by hunting. Even for a guild, keeping contact with tribes that are always on the move is hard. Besides, hardly any mercenaries go that far north in the first place.”
“…”
A nomadic people.
No wonder it was hard to find a sherpa.
Lawrence hadn’t known the northern minorities lived that way.
“Then I’d like you to introduce me to whatever guides the guild does know.”
The clerk named one guide after another.
While the introductions went on, one of the men the waitress had mentioned came up.
“And there’s Ralph.”
“Ralph. Is he reliable?”
“Ralph is a man of very few words. If you asked whether he was trustworthy, nine out of ten people would nod. But since his main work is hunting, he doesn’t always take guide jobs.”
“I’d like to know his success rate.”
“He takes on maybe four guide jobs a year. According to the reports, no request he handled ever went wrong.”
In other words, his skill was beyond question.
“There is, however, one problem.”
The clerk frowned as he continued.
“He demands two or three times as much pay as other guides. That’s why he hasn’t taken many requests.”
“Two or three times?”
“Even to show someone the habitat of an ordinary monster, he’ll ask for dozens of silver coins. If you want him to lead you through rough country, or somewhere no other guide knows… well. You’d better be prepared to pay at least in gold.”
“That’s insane.”
It was ridiculous.
No matter how you looked at it, gold was outrageous for a guide fee.
“There are plenty of other guides. You don’t have to insist on Ralph.”
“...No. I’ll meet him first, then decide.”
After some thought, Lawrence gave his answer.
The matter was too important.
It wasn’t something he could solve by saving a few coins.
He could decide what kind of person Ralph was with his own eyes, and that would be soon enough.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The snowy hill near Winterglen was filled with barking.
Mixed in with the drifting dog hair, the thing that kept getting stuck underfoot was dog waste.
At the top of the hill, there were doghouses made from crates.
Oddly enough, the doghouses had four legs, like chairs, so they stood raised above the ground.
Two dogs were tied to each house.
When they saw the unfamiliar visitor, the dogs growled.
A man in clothes made from thick fur, much like the villagers themselves, was tossing fish toward them.
He had a square jaw and a face full of scars.
His body was much larger than Lawrence’s, so much so that he seemed downright intimidating.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Lawrence, a Bronze Plate mercenary. I came here through the mercenary guild’s introduction. Are you Mr. Ralph?”
“…”
Ralph did not answer.
He glanced briefly at the stranger, then stood up and brought over another box.
“Only five.”
“Pardon?”
Lawrence looked into the box.
It was packed with unnamed fish, and the stench of brine hit him at once.
So he understood what the man meant.
Still, wasn’t this a little rude for a first meeting?
Ralph, box in hand, walked to another doghouse.
Wordlessly, he tossed fish to the dogs.
Well, what could Lawrence do?
He was the one asking for help.
It wouldn’t hurt to make a good impression.
He took the box and moved to a nearby kennel.
At first, the dogs who had barked so fiercely merely twitched their noses at the smell of fish, then began wagging their tails.
Lawrence threw them the unnamed fish.
But the moment he started feeding them, he ran into a problem.
Whenever he tossed a fish in, only the larger dog would snatch it away.
The one tied beside it was too weak to compete and never got to eat.
Of course, both of them were hungry.
In the end, the dog that lost the struggle picked at the scattered scraps left behind.
“…”
The sight bothered him for some reason.
There were still plenty of fish left in the box.
The dogs that had managed to monopolize the food, and the ones left only with scraps, both kept wagging their tails hard as if asking for more.
Someone grabbed Lawrence’s hand as he was moving the box.
Ralph.
He repeated the same words.
“Only five.”
“If you feed them like this, the other one will starve.”
Ralph’s expression did not change.
“That is the law of nature.”
“Starving to death because someone else takes the food is natural?”
“The weak are prey. The strong survive.”
“…”
Lawrence let go of the box.
The owner was the one who had chosen this method; it was hardly his place as an outsider to interfere.
It did not take long to finish feeding the dogs.
By the time the box was nearly empty, Ralph was sharing food with the dogs in a large enclosure.
Inside were small puppies.
Each one had a fish in its mouth, and they were stuffing themselves greedily.
“So these ones get food shared out evenly.”
“They’re pups.”
Once he had emptied the rest of the box, Ralph headed home.
It was another log house, much like the mercenary guild building.
He left the door open as if to say, Come in, and stepped inside.
“Excuse me.”
Ralph’s house was barren and plain.
Instead of a hearth, there was a brazier in the center of the room.
Ralph kindled the fire and set a pot over it.
Lawrence took a seat opposite him.
Soon warmth began to spread through the small room.
“Drink.”
“Thank you.”
What the pot held was tea.
He didn’t know what it had been made from, but the scent was strongly bitter.
“I only feed the dogs once every three days.”
Ralph, warming himself with the tea, said, “A full dog will bite the others to death.”
“You deliberately give them only a little so they stay hungry?”
“Once they taste blood, even puppies will bite each other to death. Dogs like that will eventually attack their master too.”
“...So there’s a reason behind the way you raise them.”
“Dogs have rules too. It’s only natural for the higher-ranked ones to take more of the food.”
The north had its own way of doing things.
After listening carefully to Ralph, Lawrence nodded.
“I heard you were looking for a guide. Is it because of a monster?”
“No. I’m looking for a village.”
He had finally gotten to the point, even if it had taken a little time.
“I’m looking for Reindeer Village.”
“You’re looking for a difficult village.”
Ralph set his teacup on the floor.
“The people of Reindeer Village are a highland tribe that moves through the snow mountain region. It’s not the sort of village you can guide someone to just because you know where it is.”
“Are you saying there’s no way?”
“If it were any other time, yes.”
It was too early to be disappointed.
He wasn’t finished yet.
“But it’s spring now. At this time of year, the people of Reindeer Village come down from the mountains and spend some time interacting with outsiders. You picked the right season. If you travel up by dog sled, it’ll take a little over a week to reach Reindeer Village.”
“That’s a relief. Then may I ask you to guide me?”
“Before that, I’d like to discuss payment.”
In the end, everything came down to money.
Lawrence clasped his hands together and spoke.
“I’ll be the only one going to Reindeer Village.”
“One client. Deadline?”
“If possible, I’d like to leave as soon as possible.”
“As soon as preparations are complete, then.”
Ralph seemed to think for a moment, then raised a hand.
“You can’t reach Reindeer Village without a dog sled. If it’s just you and me moving together, ten dogs will be enough to pull it.”
“That’s more dogs than I expected.”
“Anything can happen on the snowfields. Dogs and people are no different. Even if a few of the dogs get hurt, as long as the others are safe, they can still make it back to the village, even if it’s slow.”
“Fair enough. Safety can’t hurt.”
It was an environment where you couldn’t travel by carriage.
He had heard that a dog sled was the only means of transport.
This, too, was wisdom born from surviving the savage north.
“I’ll need one gold coin up front. One more gold as the success fee. That covers the dog sled and everything needed for the guide work. If you pay a total of two gold, I’ll take you to Reindeer Village.”
For a moment, Lawrence was speechless.
Two gold?
Had he heard wrong?
Not one gold, but two?
“What did you say?”
“The fee is two gold in total.”
“...”
No, he hadn’t misheard.
This expressionless man genuinely thought two gold was a reasonable fee.
“May I have a moment to think?”
“Take as long as you want.”
Lawrence covered his mouth with one hand.
The truth was, he did have some room to spare.
The escort request alone had earned him ten gold.
If he paid two gold to the guide, he would still have eight left.
And the payment he had received after finishing the Magic Tower’s work was still untouched. Even the money he had gotten from selling the horse Emily gave him had been in gold.
But just because he had money to spare did not mean he should waste it.
He needed to avoid spending hard-earned money all at once whenever possible.
Still, the amount was the amount.
Maybe he should look for another guide.
If he had something to compare it with, he would at least know whether this was expensive or just the going rate.
And yet Lawrence quickly shook his head.
He had learned about Ralph through the waitress at the inn, yes, but the introduction itself had come through the mercenary guild.
If there had been any issue with his fee, someone would have said so already.
In other words, it was expensive, but still a reasonable price.
Two gold.
Two gold, then….
After a long hesitation, Lawrence nodded.
“All right, Mr. Ralph. I’ll hire you for two gold.”
“One gold is the advance.”
Ralph accepted the gold coin Lawrence handed over.
“Once your departure preparations are finished, contact me through the mercenary guild.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as the dog sled is ready.”
“About how long will that take?”
“No longer than ten days, at most.”
Ten days. If he thought of it as preparation time, it wasn’t bad.
He also wanted to buy leather armor instead of his brigandine.
And he wanted to buy some potions in case something unexpected happened.
Of course, he did have the holy water Yerina had given him, but unless the injury was severe, he wanted to avoid using it if possible.
It wasn’t the same as a potion he could simply buy with money.
Even if he paid extra, there was no guarantee he could obtain more holy water.
“Understood. Contact me once everything is ready.”
Lawrence extended his hand.
Ralph silently took it.
The palm that gripped his felt like solid stone.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Leaving Ralph’s house behind, Lawrence headed back down into the village.
Finding Winterglen’s smithy was easy.
He could hear the hammering from far away.
The searing heat was so intense it seemed to melt even the snow.
Within the village, only the smithy blazed with fire.
“You’re looking for armor?”
“Yes. Is there anything good that can stand up to the cold?”
The blacksmith wiped sweat from his face again and again as he answered.
“There’s no option here except leather armor. Iron armor would be suicide. If bare skin touches it, it’ll stick right on. If you take a hit in that state, your skin tears apart. Though, there is armor with iron plates added over the leather. It’s expensive, though.”
“Could you show me that expensive armor?”
He went inside and brought out a set.
Lawrence examined the armor the blacksmith carried out.
It was leather armor with a faint white sheen to it.
Inside, metal plates had been sewn in, much like brigandine.
The leather was so thick that none of the metal’s usual coldness came through at all.
“What kind of leather is this?”
“Winterbear leather. Those things survive blizzards just fine, so their resistance to cold is excellent.”
“Winterbear… so there are bears in the north, too.”
“I’d like to ask the same thing in reverse. Is there any place where there aren’t bears?”
Now that he thought about it, bears could be found just about everywhere.
Or there were monsters comparable to bears.
“May I try it on?”
The blacksmith nodded.
Lawrence removed the brigandine he had been wearing and slipped the winterbear leather armor over his clothes.
It was much lighter than the brigandine he had worn until now.
“Not bad.”
“Not bad? Your standards are high, aren’t they. Something like this lets you walk around with your head held high anywhere.”
“How much is it?”
“One gold.”
It certainly wasn’t cheap.
Still, since he’d be active in the north from here on out, it didn’t feel overpriced.
He sold the brigandine he had been wearing at the smithy.
After haggling enough to knock off five silver, Lawrence headed for the next shop.