Contract

Contract.

The Warp Gate.

In the empire that held the vast landmass of Profanea, it was the Magic Tower's conveyance of first resort whenever one had to cross a long distance.

True, a Warp Gate's sheer size, and the burden of maintaining and repairing it, meant that outside the great cities hardly any place had one installed at all.

Even so, it cut travel time so drastically that here in the Aurelia Empire it was infrastructure no one could do without. In a crisis, if you could only buy enough time and keep interference at bay, you could even throw up a makeshift gate in the middle of a battlefield and send reinforcements through.

"Warp complete! Welcome to the great city of Contract, Hero!"

I was turning those idle thoughts over when a woman mage's voice pulled me back, and I looked around. The place was nothing like the Central Magic Tower I had just left. Beyond the windows lay a landscape wholly unlike the imperial capital.

Contract, great city of the east. Closer to Houndfell, our area of operations, than any of the other eastern metropolises, and known as the city of mercenaries.

"Hah... hahh..."

I stole a glance at Vivian, who still hadn't gotten her breath back. A trip through a Warp Gate averaged five seconds or so. Being guided onto it took longer than the warp itself, so it was hardly strange that she was still gasping.

She's still clutching that hat.

Watching her refuse to let go of it even while she wheezed, I quietly suggested the party step outside.

"Haaah... haah..."

"You really ought to exercise."

"Be quiet...!"

Out in the open she seemed to have caught a little of her wind. Vivian covered her panting mouth and snapped at me, and only then did she loosen her grip on the hat, turn away, and straighten her clothes.

"You're not even going to thank me?"

"And why should I thank you?"

"I got you here quickly, just the way you wanted. It looked like you needed help, so I helped."

At that Vivian froze, then turned her head to look at me.

"...Who asked you for help? You fussed over me for your own satisfaction, and now what—are you going to make some strange request over something this small?"

"What? Hey, what kind of thing is that to—"

Hah. I had been about to argue, and instead I just sighed. What was I even doing?

I had known from the start that she plainly disliked me. I was scratching the back of my head, thinking I had done something pointless, when Vivian said curtly:

"...And shouldn't you be the one apologizing for what happened just now?"

"Apologizing?"

When I asked what on earth she meant, she finished arranging her clothes and leaned forward, jutting toward me.

"However urgent things were, to lay hands on a grown lady's body so... so freely."

"A lady?"

When she finished, I looked her up and down. Pale green hair and emerald eyes, the marks of an elf. The sharp, feline face showed she was less childish than she first appeared, but her small stature and slight frame hid that impression. What little curve she had was the only thing that made you register her as a woman at all—less a lady, to the eye, than a girl who looked as if she had only just reached puberty, somewhere around a middle schooler's age.

"...What is that impure look?"

"Nothing..."

Thick as I could be, I wasn't about to say a thing like that outright in front of a girl, so I mumbled past it.

"So why did you run?"

An awkward silence had been about to settle when Freya broke it. She had been yawning and trailing after us without a word, and I wondered why she was suddenly like this—but it was already too late to stop her. Vivian looked at her with a slightly stiffened face.

"What?"

"Hm? You weren't running? Hat over your face, hurrying off like that—it sure looked like you were fleeing."

"Hey. Freya, enough."

The talk was obviously about to turn into a fight, so I stepped in at once and stopped her.

"What did I do? I only asked something I was curious about."

Freya tilted her head with feigned innocence, but neither Vivian nor I missed the faint sneer underneath.

Why is she suddenly like this?

I had questions, but calming the two of them came before my curiosity. I glanced at Serena. She only smiled and gave a little shrug, with no intention of moving at all. In the end I had to be the one to step in.

"Everyone has their own circumstances. There's no need to dig into them."

"Why? Isn't the Hero curious?"

"Curious or not, I think not asking is the considerate thing. Of course—"

I turned my gaze, just slightly, toward Vivian.

"If it's a problem that would hurt the team, I'd appreciate you telling us."

"......"

"But that isn't it, is it, Vivian?"

Vivian stared at me sullenly, working her mouth for a moment. Then, with a faint sigh, she gave a small nod.

"...I'm doing it so nothing troublesome starts."

"Troublesome?"

"Yes. A worthless human might not understand, but I happen to be rather capable."

She said it the way one states an obvious fact, flat and perfectly at ease.

"A genius among geniuses, who entered on a talent foreign to their own and became a high ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mage within a few years. The Grand Tower Master took notice and even accepted me as a disciple. What do you expect?"

Crimson, azure, gold, green, violet, white, black, and void. Eight schools in all: Magic Towers rooted across many regions, and the Tower Lords who led them. The Grand Tower Master stood at the head of those Tower Lords. As that person's disciple, Vivian said, she had long been well acquainted with gazes full of envy and jealousy.

"You have no idea how many tiresome eyes there are. Get tangled up with them and they only waste your time—you might not even get the mission properly started. So I went out of my way. For your time and for mine, I made a spe·cial effort."

As if to say a situation like this was rare, she bit down on the word and tapped the ground with her staff. Tock, tock.

I wondered whether that was truly all there was to it, but there was no way for me to know just then. She was brushing it off as nothing, so I supposed I ought to let it go as well. There was something about the sharp way she spoke that reminded me of a small animal puffing itself up to look bigger, and on that thought we moved on. We still had a long way to go.

Contract, great city of the east. Called the mercenary city for good reason, hard-faced mercenaries wandered the streets in every direction.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Smithies set all along the roads hammered without letting their fires die down.

"Hey! That's not what we agreed! I heard the commission was fifteen gold!"

"That was if you'd moved the goods safely! Don't you see the damaged part right here?!"

A client and the man who seemed to be his mercenary snarled at each other, waving a contract.

"This place looks interesting."

"Huh? Uh... yeah, I guess it does."

While we walked, looking the streets over, Serena spoke to me—a rare thing. The smile at her mouth was the same as always, but there was nothing particularly warm about it.

"I don't see a carriage."

"Right? Our goal was a carriage to the Houndfell frontier in the first place. We can't take one that only runs inside the city."

We were searching for a carriage bound for the Houndfell Margraviate. We would probably have to reach the outskirts before we found one or two. Until then, we were catching our breath and looking around.

"It's my first time seeing it this close, and for this long."

"Yeah? If your order's right there in the capital, I'd have thought you'd seen scenery like this more often than you'd expect."

"Our elders say we mustn't be stained by the secular world, so they place all sorts of restrictions on young priests and nuns. When I was sent out on assignment I did catch glimpses of city streets, but even those lasted only a moment."

Serena's distinctive pink hair swayed as she gazed at the street, her expression sunk in a quiet wistfulness, as if she were looking back on a time a little before now. Then she turned her head slightly and looked at me. Pink eyes, the same color as her hair, came to rest on my face.

"The truth is, I couldn't say it before, but I wanted to see you, Hero, every bit as much as I wanted to see the city."

"You did...?"

"Yes. Lowly as I am, a body in the goddess's service, I had heard a great many stories of the Hero, Her apostle."

At her words I turned my head as well and quietly met her eyes. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She smiled, eyes gently curved.

Not exactly a positive kind of interest.

"...Hearing you say that makes me glad."

"Of course. I am only a humble servant of the goddess."

The more I talked with Serena, the more something about it sat wrong with me. She seemed the best socialized of them, and the one person I could actually hold a conversation with, and still. We were carrying on that exchange, laced with pretense, and searching for a carriage, when it happened.

"Myu! Look out!"

A woman's voice, and something bumped into my leg.

"Wah!"

"Oh my, dear, are you all right?"

I looked down to see what I had hit, and a child had toppled backward with a tiny cry.

Serena looked the child over with genuine concern.

"You're not hurt?"

"Uuu... uu..."

I looked at the child worriedly as well. But she shook her head at my question and glanced around. A fallen basket lay in her line of sight, its paper-wrapped contents spilled out onto the street.

"Myu! Are you all right? Oh dear, your father's lunch has all spilled out."

"Mama..."

The mother who came running a moment later gathered the sniffling child into her arms and checked the basket. When she looked about to tidy it herself, I went over too.

"I'll help."

"What? You really don't have to..."

"She bumped into me, so this is partly on me. I should help. It'll sit easier with me, too."

With a brief thanks from the child's mother, we quickly gathered up the basket scattered across the street. Vivian and Freya didn't help, but Serena stepped forward saying she would help as well, and tidied alongside me. Did she like children? That was unexpected.

"I'm so sorry about this. Our girl ran into you first, and now you're even helping us."

"We're doing it because we want to."

In the short time it took to set the basket to rights, we talked quite a lot. The woman was more sociable than I had expected. Thanks to that I learned her name was Reece, and that she had come by carriage to Contract with her daughter to bring her husband his lunch, among other things.

"You're looking for a carriage?"

"Yes. We have business, so we're trying to reach the Houndfell frontier."

"Hmm, Houndfell... then, shall I show you where the carriages are? We just came from that direction ourselves, as it happens."

Mrs. Reece's offer gave me a moment's pause. She had come for her husband. Was it really all right for us to take up so much of her time?

"Oh, just think of it as thanks for the help! You were wandering around looking without even knowing where the carriages were, weren't you?"

I meant to refuse, feeling it was a bit much to ask, but she wasn't wrong. At this rate we would spend nearly half the day circling outside the walls.

"Then... would it be all right if we imposed, just a little?"

"Hey. Serena...!"

"What is it, Hero? When someone offers a kindness, you accept it. We have business of our own. We can't stay here forever."

"Hoho! Well said. There, you see? Just say thank you and follow along."

"...Then, thank you."

In the end we set off under Mrs. Reece's guidance, looking for a carriage bound for Houndfell.

"Coming all this way by carriage for your husband—you two must be very close."

"Mm... hehe. Well, I don't know about that..."

There was a great deal of talk along the way. Not about us—about Mrs. Reece herself, you might say. I mostly just hummed along, and Serena took the lead in asking. With her daughter Myu on her back, Mrs. Reece fumbled her way through the story.

"The truth is, my husband and I have been in a cold war for months now."

"Oh my, you had quite a fight. May I ask why?"

"Mm... he hasn't been at this job for very long, you see? That's why."

Contract, the great city known as the mercenary city. Her husband had not chosen to become a mercenary. He was a soldier serving under a lord, she said, so the work was not especially dangerous, and the pay was decent. Freya, who had been walking along in silence, asked then:

"What? Isn't making a lot of money a good thing?"

"Oh, of course making money is good. But what good is it if he can hardly come home?"

Her family lived in a small city called Rickton, roughly halfway between Houndfell and Contract as the distance went. With no Warp Gate installed, they had to rely on carriages that took a long time, and every round trip cost money, so the days her husband could come had naturally grown fewer.

"A family ought to live together, all the same. I don't mind if he doesn't earn much. Just earn the way ordinary people do, eat our stew, and on a special day tighten our belts and have a little meat. Watch the child running around. That kind of happiness can exist too, can't it?"

"It can."

"But my husband says he can't do it that way."

He was from a fallen noble house, she told us. His father had ruined the family through gambling, and so the guilt he carried toward his wife and daughter was great.

"I think he believes that if he'd only had a little more money—or if his connections had at least been solid—he could have made us happier."

"......"

"We're fine as we are. We're already so, so happy like this."

Mrs. Reece murmured that, then scratched her cheek as if suddenly embarrassed.

"Last time I got so frustrated with him, so angry, that I said something harsh."

"Like what?"

"If I only say what I remember... 'Do you really think we'll be grateful if you do it that way?' 'That's all for your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠own satisfaction. How can a person be so selfish?' Things like that. It drove us even further apart."

Myu, carried on her back, began to fuss, and Mrs. Reece patted the girl's back and smiled bitterly.

"Pathetic, isn't it? If one of us had apologized first, it never would have come to a fight like this."

"No. That isn't true. You only had different opinions. You're family to begin with. You can't always get along. Times like this happen."

"You think so?"

At my words she nodded, as if satisfied.

"Still, I've lost now. I'm going to cheer him on."

"Won't you feel hurt?"

"He isn't trying to live well all by himself. He's working hard for us. The least I can do is support him. And apologize for the harsh things I said before. If I hadn't said them in the first place, it never would have come to this."

Mrs. Reece looked at the lunchbox in her hands as if it were some precious treasure. As if it were the only way to make peace with her husband.

"And my husband can hold his head up at work, can't he, knowing he has such ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a pretty daughter and wife?"

While we talked on like that, the carriage for Houndfell we had been aiming for came into view before we knew it.

"Thank you for guiding us."

"Not at all. I was the one who enjoyed getting to talk like this!"

I offered a light farewell and looked at the party. Serena, having spoken with her even more than I had, gave a warm thanks. Vivian, who had clearly been listening with interest while pretending otherwise, sniffled and ducked her head as if she knew nothing about it. Freya's face was blank. The carriage, fortunately, was due to leave soon, and so we boarded the one bound for the Houndfell Margraviate with good timing.

"Goodbye! See you next time!"

We sent her one last greeting and watched Mrs. Reece grow smaller and smaller. She was a truly bright person.

About two hours had passed since we left Contract. The carriage was running without incident. Serena kept her silence through the jolting, as if in meditation, and Freya snored without a care. I sat and tended my gear.

"This is why worthless humans are a problem. Using such a crude means of travel..."

"Vivian, unless you're going to cast Teleport for us, be quiet."

"The one who told me to save my mana was the Hero."

The only one who would not stop talking was, unexpectedly, Vivian. Even after I spoke, she went on grumbling—that her backside hurt, that the seat was hard, and so on. Using a carriage had been unavoidable. Houndfell was a domain on the scale of a city, but unlike Contract it had no Warp Gate. Of course, if we borrowed Vivian's power, a distance like the one between Contract and Houndfell might have been simple enough...

For this mission, I have a feeling we need to be saving our strength now.

The Empress had called it something close to a simple investigation, but once I looked at the details, the conclusion I reached was that it was dangerous. We might end up in a real fight. I had confirmed things only through our stats; the party's skill, and our teamwork, still weren't aligned. Better to preserve as much strength as we could. That was my thinking. I was working the sword until the blade shone smooth when—

"...Hero. Hero."

"I know, Vivian. It's my fault, so just stop talking."

"No, that isn't it...! Look over there!"

There was a clear urgency in Vivian's voice. She usually spoke in nothing but that cold tone, but this was not the first time I had heard her sound like this. It was the same as what I had heard before, at the Magic Tower. Wondering what could be wrong, I raised my head—and at the sight before me, my face went rigid.

Monsters filled the sky. Their bodies were like stone statues, so that from a distance one might have taken them for peculiar sculptures and passed on by. I knew their name very well.

"Gargoyles."

"G-gargoyles, all of a sudden? H-how are they even here...?"

"Hm? However close we are to the margraviate, monsters shouldn't be rampaging on a scale like this."

Perhaps it was the noise. Freya, who had been trying to sleep, and Serena, who had been meditating, both had their eyes open now, staring at the scene before us. The gargoyles were on the move with all manner of monsters clutched in their arms, and the direction they were flying was a small country village just ahead—a place without even a proper wooden palisade, looking only peaceful. And some of them...

"They're heading for Contract!"

"Hero. Monsters are closing in on that village, too."

We stood at a crossroads.