The Silver Wolf's Kindness
The ground shook with heavy stomps that I could feel even while dangling from the cliff.
"Aaaagh! Where the hell did that snake brat run off to? Just you wait till I find him!"
"The light orb that attacked you is right here, along with the snake that bit your butt and bolted."
"Kwaaaak! Enemy of my butt!"
Rai, why did you have to bite his butt of all places? Still, the voice sounded like it belonged to a pretty powerful man.
I bit a real sturdy one!
Good job!
For a moment, I heard the two of them bickering above me.
"Hey! Grab this!"
"Hold on tight."
Along with the woman's voice, something like a thick vine dropped right in front of me.
I had no strength left in my hands, but I wrapped it around my feet and body as best I could and somehow managed to cling on.
"Pulling now!"
The line I gripped shot upward with surprising ease. The cliff that had looked impossibly high closed in an instant, and I finally touched solid ground as if by some miracle.
The moment my feet met the earth, every ounce of strength drained from my body.
I was helpless. My knees buckled against my will, and I collapsed forward. I'd never felt such pure happiness in my life.
I was alive.
"Oh my, it's a child? Hey, are you all right?"
"No wonder she felt so light."
The two people gazing down at me with concern were a massive, hulking man and a woman with an unusual hair color and sharp, intelligent eyes.
From the voice, the woman seemed to be the one who had first spotted me.
"Good heavens! Your body's like a block of ice."
The woman with silver hair and dark skin was a complete stranger, but the moment her hands pulled me into her arms, I burrowed into her embrace like I'd been waiting for it all along.
I clung to her with the same desperate relief I'd feel in my mother's arms and couldn't stop the sudden flood of tears.
"Hic... huuung! I thought I was going to die...! Huuuuk!"
"It's all right now. There, there. You must have been so frightened."
I stayed buried in her arms, sobbing uncontrollably, when Rai's scream cut through my mind.
Uwaaak. Master! H-help... me...!
"You wicked little snake!"
Shaaaak! How can a mere human be this strong?!
"Why is this thing so damn tough!"
The giant man was wrestling with Rai, his arms—each as thick as most people's thighs—bulging with effort. He twisted the snake, slammed him against the ground, and growled with every move.
"Is this snake yours?"
"Sniff... Yes. His name is Rai."
"That explains it. He suddenly bit Kenta and ran off, then acted like he wanted us to follow. He must have been trying to signal that his owner was in danger."
"Aren't you surprised that I keep a snake?"
The casual way she asked if he was mine felt strangely new. Most people never even considered that snakes could have owners.
"We're mercenaries. Nothing strange about someone raising a snake."
"Mercenaries raise snakes?"
"We raise all sorts of things. I'm Anelia of the Shabel Mercenaries. What's your name? Where are your parents?"
"My name is Jeanie. My parents are back home. I was traveling with people from the academy."
I hesitated to give my family name. I'd learned that revealing my noble status could earn me hatred.
This woman didn't seem the type, though.
Her gentle smile and soft eyes paired with a body that looked incredibly strong. She was the first muscular woman I'd ever seen.
"Jeanie. What a lovely name."
"So is yours, sis."
Maybe it was because she'd saved my life, but my affection for Anelia deepened beyond words.
"Looks like you got separated from your group. That could be trouble. Do you remember where you last saw them?"
"No..."
"Then come with us for now. If I speak to the leader, he might be able to help."
"Really? Thank you so much!"
"And it looks like we should rescue that snake soon. Kenta seems pretty furious. Keeps calling him the sworn enemy of his butt."
Anelia and I exchanged pitying looks at Kenta and Rai.
The two were still locked in a violent contest of strength. A bloody battle with no actual blood.
"Rai's tough. That much won't even faze him. He needs to be tenderized every once in a while, so don't worry about it."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Take away his strength and there's nothing left of him."
I could at least offer up Rai to the person who had saved my life.
Shaaak! Let go! Let go, you bastard!
"Achoo!"
Master, did you catch a cold?
"Sniff! Someone must be talking about me."
I'd hitched a ride on one of the Shabel Mercenaries' supply carts when they set out before dawn. I kept sneezing and wiping my nose.
What do you mean?
"They must have noticed I'm missing by now."
That makes sense. They do roll call every morning.
Chaos had probably broken out. A student had vanished overnight. I was especially worried about the knight commander, who was responsible for the safety of the entire group.
"Hehe."
You say that, but you sound pretty pleased with yourself.
"Just imagining the knight commander panicking right about now... yeah, it feels pretty satisfying."
The cart rattled violently, nowhere near as comfortable as a proper carriage, but the open view made the journey far more pleasant.
The sun was rising in the distance. It was an impossibly clear, beautiful day.
"Sis! Anelia, sis!"
"What is it, Jeanie? You can call me comfortably."
"Okay, Anelia sis."
Whether the delegation was worried sick about my disappearance or not, I was completely absorbed in trailing after Anelia.
She was an incredible woman.
Her beautiful silver hair, like captured moonlight, grew more mysterious the longer I looked at it. Her sun-kissed bronze skin radiated pure health. But what I admired most was her strength—the kind that let her kick men around like they were nothing.
She was a type of woman I'd never encountered before.
The mercenary group was full of rough-looking men, yet none of them dared treat Anelia carelessly.
To them, she wasn't a woman—she was a comrade-in-arms. How cool was that?
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
"...Sis, you're so cool."
Anelia held a high rank within the Shabel Mercenaries. In a mercenary group, strength was the only thing that mattered.
"Thank you."
Her strength excited me, and for the first time, I vaguely resolved to become stronger myself.
I didn't know if every mercenary group was like this, but the Shabel Mercenaries seemed to be mostly good people.
Their leader happened to be on a transport request to Bailan and kindly offered to take me along.
It was all thanks to Anelia's persuasion.
In my short ten years of life, she was one of the rare people I genuinely liked.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
"It's fine. The road to Bailan is long, so rest and conserve your strength. Tell me if you need anything."
"Sis... why are you so kind to me?"
"Because you're a child, Jeanie."
It had been two days since I got lost and joined the Shabel Mercenaries. I was steadily making my way toward my original destination.
I was incredibly lucky.
In this harsh world, it was fortunate enough that a mercenary group had helped and accepted me. Even better, their destination matched the delegation's.
Judging by their route, I would most likely reach Valen, the capital of Bailan, before the delegation did.
There were two main ways to travel from Sharan, the capital of Dmitry, to Valen. One was to take the long detour around the massive Dragonia Mountains that separated the two countries. The other was to cross the mountains directly, which was rough but much faster.
The detour took about fifteen days. Our delegation, with all its carriages and slow pace, had planned for around twenty.
Crossing the mountains, however, could be done in as little as seven days. The Shabel Mercenaries had taken an urgent transport job and were cutting straight through.
Even crossing the range, they were only traveling along the outskirts where monsters were fewer. Experienced mercenaries like them could reach Bailan in seven days without much trouble. For me, this was an unbelievable stroke of luck.
"It won't be comfortable, but please bear with us a little longer. You'll reunite with your group soon."
"It's fine! This is actually fun. When else would I get to travel with a mercenary group?"
"That's a relief. You're a brave one, Jeanie."
"I'm not the type to get discouraged!"
The other mercenaries treated me like extra baggage, but Anelia was always kind and checked on me often.
She even felt guilty for not being able to deliver me directly to the delegation. What a genuinely good person.
"If it weren't an urgent request, I would have searched for your group..."
"I told you, it's really fine! Just getting me to Bailan is more than enough to be grateful for!"
"Still... if anyone does anything strange, you must tell me right away. Understand, Jeanie?"
She seemed uneasy about leaving a small, young girl like me among all these burly men.
A mercenary group was essentially a collection of rough, dangerous people. It was definitely an unfamiliar environment for me.
"Everyone's been nice to me!"
"That's good to hear. I did warn them not to be rough with you, but I was still worried."
There was exactly one person who treated me roughly.
The one stronger and higher-ranked than Anelia—the ruler of this mercenary group. Shabel himself.
I wasn't sure if it was normal to name your group after yourself.
Anyway, Shabel, the leader of the Shabel Mercenaries, frequently put me to work.
"Hey! You there, kid!"
Just like right now.