The Price of a Contract
“Vice-Captain Berg!”
I turned at the voice calling out to me while I was laying flowers at the graves of the fallen Red Flame members.
My adjutant, Baran, was walking toward me.
As our eyes met, he spoke.
“Captain Adam has returned.”
“...”
I nodded and placed the final flower down.
My time for mourning ended there.
“Anything special?”
I rubbed my hands together to brush off the dirt.
“Nothing. Except that the Captain is looking for you, Vice-Captain.”
Adam had left our hideout two weeks ago to secure a new contract.
I had only heard a whisper that the client was a noble.
I didn’t know who it was, what race they belonged to, or how high-ranking they were.
But I had a feeling that a fierce battle would be breaking out in the near future.
It was rare for Adam to go and meet a client in person.
The very fact that he had gone to meet them spoke volumes about the client’s status.
And high-profile clients never handed out easy jobs.
Baran handed me the sword I had taken off before entering the cemetery.
I strapped it to my waist naturally and turned around.
I asked Baran, who had begun walking beside me.
“How is the recruits’ training?”
“...”
The answer didn’t come immediately.
I glared sharply at Baran and asked again.
“The training?”
“Well... not yet...”
“What?”
Heat flared in my head instantly.
Baran continued his excuses without even meeting my eyes.
“...Vice-Captain, you have to understand...”
“...”
“The members haven’t even recovered from yesterday’s intense training yet... and the families of the members are complaining loudly...”
“Ignore them. Training comes first.”
“You have to consider the morale of the members, too! Haven’t we been training too intensely since Captain Adam left...!?”
“...”
“Vice-Captain, instead—”
“If you neglect training and casualties occur, will you take responsibility?”
“...”
“Get it ready. Handle it yourself.”
I left Baran standing there and headed toward Adam.
It took a long time for Baran to follow me.
A cool breeze blew.
I walked, slowly taking in the scenery around me.
It had been five years since we founded the Red Flame Mercenary Corps.
We had settled on the vast plains of ‘Stakpin’.
It was a beautiful place, dotted with green meadows and towering trees.
It was land we had rightfully leased from the lord who managed Stakpin in exchange for hunting the monsters nearby.
For a mercenary group with hundreds of members like us, wandering forever was too burdensome.
Settling in Stakpin was also for our own good.
We built a shelter on these plains.
Houses to rest in, stables, warehouses, graves, and so on...
As we added one building after another, our base had become a small village before we knew it.
We bought what we lacked from nearby villages.
As the village grew, many of our mercenaries started families.
They brought their future wives to Stakpin and had children.
It was possible because Adam had built the mercenary corps to be tight-knit and stable through discipline.
But sometimes, like today, families could be a hindrance.
The members kept forgetting their essence as mercenaries and grew lazy.
Of course, since the warm-hearted Adam welcomed this scene, I couldn’t openly object in front of everyone.
Carrying a faint sense of frustration, I headed toward Adam’s residence.
The closer I got to his home, the more commotion I could hear.
I saw many faces of the mercenaries who had left with Adam.
Everyone bowed their heads in greeting whenever they spotted me.
“Vice-Captain.”
“Vice-Captain, it’s been a while.”
I acknowledged their greetings with a light nod.
The crowd Adam had created was a scene of family reunions.
The wives and children of the members who had returned from escorting him were rejoicing at the sight of their husbands or fathers.
Soon, I saw Adam. He was wearing a wide grin and had his arms spread open.
“Berg!”
“Brother.”
I shook his hand lightly.
“Have you been well? Any problems?”
“No problems.”
“Good. Let’s go inside and talk. I have a lot to tell you. Everyone, go back and rest.”
He grabbed my shoulder and led me toward his residence. I applied a bit of force to make him stop.
“There’s still training left.”
“...”
Adam looked at me, then glanced curiously at Baran, who was standing behind me.
Baran and Adam exchanged a look.
Soon, Adam laughed and patted my back.
“...Let’s let it slide for today. We’ve been gone for a while, so let’s all drink and have some fun.”
“...”
“Come on, Baran, you heard me, right? Forget about the training Berg ordered, you go rest too. Let’s throw a feast.”
Baran bowed his head briefly instead of answering.
He didn’t answer clearly because he was conscious of me, but he was clearly going to accept Adam’s words.
.
.
.
I sighed and stepped into Adam’s house.
Considering Adam’s status, it was a small house, but it was large for a commoner’s home.
I hid my annoyance until Adam closed the door.
Even though I had spent seven years with him, I showed him respect when there were eyes watching.
The door closed.
A brief silence settled in.
I finally asked him, pouring out the emotions I had been holding back.
“...Isn’t this a difficult contract we’ve taken on?”
I sat down, letting my body sink into a nearby chair.
Adam shrugged his shoulders and replied.
“That’s right. It looks like it’ll be hard to get through this one without casualties.”
“Then why are you stopping the training?”
“...Hey, there are days like this—”
“Are you a Captain, or a village head?”
“...”
A moment of silence passed.
Unlike the outside, where the atmosphere was gradually brightening, the inside of the house was quiet and cold.
Instead of answering, Adam picked up one of the liquor bottles neatly arranged against the wall.
-Pop!
He pulled the cork and filled two glasses.
He handed one to me, a weak smile breaking across his face.
“...Why are you so on edge? Aren’t you even happy to see me?”
“...”
“Is it because of the kids who died in the last expedition? I told you, that wasn’t your fault.”
“...”
I calmed my emotions and downed the drink.
My parched throat was moistened by the alcohol.
“Let’s have some breathing room, Berg.”
“...”
“We started this work to live comfortably in the first place. Why are you so strict with yourself even now, when we’ve reached a level of success? When are you going to enjoy it?”
I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead lightly.
Seeing his reaction, I wondered if I had been too worked up.
“...”
“I know, kid. You’re like this because you’re afraid the kids will die. But let’s have a little more breathing room, okay? Rest is important, too.”
As I drank without answering, Adam gave me a playful smile.
“Do you know why you’re so sensitive?”
As soon as I saw his expression, I could guess what he was going to say.
“Not that again—”
“—It’s because you don’t have a woman in your life. Heh heh.”
“...Ha.”
Adam enjoyed seeing me fed up.
It was a tiresome thing I had heard hundreds of times.
But even I, who had been dumbfounded, finally let out a snicker at his endless laughter.
-Creak, thud!
Adam pulled a chair and placed it in front of me.
“That aside, oof...!”
He sat down so close that our knees almost touched.
“What is it?”
When I asked, Adam took a drink and settled into a comfortable position.
“But seriously, do you really have no intention of quitting the Alpha Squad?”
Adam asked.
The Alpha Squad referred to the unit that killed the leader leading a pack of monsters.
Monster packs were formed around a leader.
Once a leader was born, the low-intelligence animals nearby would begin to be corrupted and turn into monsters, drawn to it.
Therefore, if you only hunted the leader, the monster pack would scatter.
Naturally, it was the most dangerous task and resulted in the most casualties.
Like a spear that pierced deep, the strength of the mercenary corps was often determined by the ability of the Alpha Squad.
Since the Red Flame was formed, I had always taken charge of the Alpha Squad as the assault leader.
“...No.”
I gave the same answer as always.
There must have been complex reasons.
The biggest reason was likely the pleasure I felt while hunting the leader.
The reasons for that pleasure were complex as well, of course.
Another reason was the sense of responsibility that I felt I had to lead.
I didn’t want to regret it later, looking at a mountain of casualties.
Adam sighed, seemingly giving up, and asked how I was doing.
We shared a comfortable conversation for a while.
“Oh. Right.”
In the middle of our conversation, Adam lifted his glass.
“Berg. This is expensive liquor.”
He suddenly said something out of the blue.
But it didn’t take long for me to grasp his intention.
He had always fed me expensive liquor whenever he had a difficult request for me.
“...Damn it...”
I thought he gave me the drink to calm my annoyance, but there was a trick hidden underneath.
I had no choice but to blame the liquor that had already slid down my throat.
No wonder it tasted so good.
“What is it this time?”
Adam chuckled, then slowly opened his mouth.
“Before that, let’s talk about this negotiation. Actually, it was quite difficult.”
I smacked my lips, looked at the glass, and followed his lead to change the subject.
“Who was the client?”
“Do you know the Blackwood family?”
It was impossible not to know the Blackwood family.
They were a family famous enough even for a mercenary nobody like me to know.
“Aren’t they a wolf-kin noble family?”
Adam nodded.
“They’re a prestigious family.”
Personally, we were familiar with wolf-kin.
When I was in my previous mercenary group, I met wolf-kin every other day.
In the first place, I had plenty of experience fighting them personally in the slums.
Generally, wolf-kin hold honor and combat sacred.
As such, they were a race with deep knowledge of combat, and their medicine and sorcery for healing wounds were highly developed.
So, it was even more puzzling.
“Wolf-kin requested help?”
Wolf-kin, with their high pride, do not wish for the help of others.
They were the type to see danger as an opportunity, as the honor returned when they overturned a dangerous situation was just as great.
I knew many wolf-kin who had died trying to build up merit, so I was certain about this part.
The fact that they requested help meant...
“They seemed to have completely given up hope. I looked around for a bit, and it was serious.”
I downed my drink again at the shocking news.
The glass was already hitting the bottom.
Thinking I might as well drink as much as I could since it was expensive, I stood up.
I filled my empty glass and digested what Adam had told me in my head.
Questions were bubbling up.
“Are there a lot of requests from nobles lately?”
Adam continued his explanation.
“It could be because we’re doing well, or it could be that everyone is reaching their limits. It’s been nearly seven years since the monsters started running rampant, hasn’t it? Blackwood was the first to run out of strength. Like wolf-kin do, maybe they pushed the situation to that point by being stubborn.”
“Did you confirm the size of the monster pack?”
“Roughly. It seems to be quite large. This time, I’m thinking of taking the entire Red Flame.”
“What’s the situation at Blackwood?”
“They’re severely lacking in soldiers to fight, and their food supplies have hit rock bottom. I don’t think we can expect much support. Naturally, they have no money, either.”
“...?”
I frowned slightly at his words. Setting aside the danger, there was something I had to confirm first.
“Wait a minute, no food and no money?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s our payment?”
If they had nothing to offer us, we had no reason to move.
We weren’t running a charity.
We were in the business of risking our lives and collecting the price for it.
Especially for a large-scale battle where we were taking the entire Red Flame, a substantial reward was necessary.
Adam didn’t meet my eyes.
He swirled his glass and said in a low voice.
“I agreed to take it.”
“In what?”
“...”
“Brother, in what?”
He took another sip of liquor and answered.
“Neir Blackwood.”
“...What?”
Adam looked at me.
“I agreed to take the youngest daughter of the Blackwood family.”