Footsteps of the White Whale
The kingdom of White Whale's Footsteps had an extraordinarily advanced mercenary industry. If judged purely on the quality of its mercenary groups, it could even rival the Empire. The Empire surely had its share of monsters too, but there was only one reason this kingdom's mercenary trade had flourished in particular.
The kingdom's public security was poor.
In remote villages on the outskirts, starvation claimed many lives. Villages closer to the capital or those with a lord's castle fared much better... but in most places, it was rare to find anyone who wasn't going hungry.
The hometown of this body's original owner where I'd possessed it, or Mel's village, weren't all that far from the capital. Even so, the standard of living wasn't much different.
When I first possessed this body in the White Whale's Footsteps world, the guy who seemed to be the body owner's friend... didn't look all that well-off either.
He hadn't tried too hard to dissuade me from abandoning a stable life to become a mercenary. He was probably too busy worrying about himself.
That was the reality of life for most farmers here. When hard lives become the norm, it also means more people choose to become bandits.
Monsters lurked on the roads, but bandits appeared even more frequently. Venturing out on mid- to long-distance trade routes without mercenaries was sheer recklessness. To exaggerate a bit... there were more caravans vanishing to bandits than those simply going bankrupt.
That was why the small caravan we were escorting was so thrilled.
"But there are fewer bandits than I expected? We've seen monsters now and then, but..."
Mel tilted her head slightly as she spoke.
She'd grown up hearing over and over how dangerous it was outside the village due to poor security. And since she was young and pretty, those warnings had hit even harder for her.
But Mel had never actually encountered bandits. At least, not until the original story went on hiatus—I knew that much. I could easily guess the reason, so I cleared up her confusion.
"You think it's weird you've never seen any bandits?"
"Yeah... I figured they'd be crawling everywhere just a little ways out of the village. All the grown-ups said so..."
"Even illiterate bandits can tell the difference between real sword-for-hire pros and a ragtag mob trying to overwhelm with numbers."
It didn't matter if they didn't recognize us as White Whale members. Even average-skilled mercenaries could handle a bandit gang of equal numbers without breaking a sweat. And in a mana-filled world like this, that gap was even wider.
No sane bandit would charge a group of fifty trained, armed professionals.
"R-Really?"
"More importantly... would you rather take on fifty mercenaries guarding one wagon, or a dozen guarding four or five? Which would you pick?"
"Ah..."
If we were guarding over ten wagons, some greedy fool might lose his head and attack. Success would mean they could quit banditry and live off the spoils forever.
But risking fifty mercenaries for just one wagon? You'd have to say they had goblin- or orc-level brains. And sure enough, those idiots sometimes did charge us. Of course, we handled them without a second thought—not even worth remembering.
"Is this your first escort mission, Mel?"
"Yes. Has Chanyoung been on ones like this before?"
"No way. First time for me too."
"But you know so much about mercenary work! Like a veteran!"
"Veteran, my ass... I just reasoned it out within common sense. Anyone could figure this much."
"A-Anyone... c-common sense..."
Mel, whose common sense was lacking, stuttered in shock. She turned her head slightly out of sight and grinned. Teasing Mel was fun.
Worth asking her to keep me company out of boredom.
She'd felt bad about leaving the luggage to me and had been looking for ways to make it up. Just like how her exhausted self earlier kept catching my eye, now it seemed her guilty conscience was bothering her. She hadn't taken her eyes off my back for even a second.
She'd tried to hide it with sneaky glances, but I caught every one. So I'd asked her to chat with me.
Chris mistaking Mel for a guy had one pro and one con. The pro: she didn't get jealous if I got close to Mel. The con: treating her like a guy meant keeping a certain distance.
"Don't worry too much. Chanyoung's just got a mean streak with people he likes. He was only teasing you, Mel."
"L-L-Likes...?"
Mel flailed her hands in panic at Chris's words—she knew him well. If you judged strictly black-and-white, yeah, I liked her... but that left way too much room for misunderstanding. Even Mel, who surely knew it wasn't meant that way, blushed a little.
"...You're handling the rabbits, right, Mel? Let's feed 'em all together at mealtime later."
"Oh! Sh-Should we?"
Rabbits weren't just useful for White Whale's entry exam—they had other perks too. Decent emergency rations in a pinch, and handy for negotiating payments in villages. Mel was in charge of them.
Lunchtime finally rolled around, and we paused our march. Chris and I zipped back to Earth for a quick meal, then waited for Mel to finish. She wolfed it down, sorry for making us wait.
When I teased if she wanted me carrying her after she choked, she slowed to a normal pace.
The rabbit sack was loaded in an empty spot on the merchant's wagon. As promised that morning, we went to feed them—with dried grass they loved.
Were these truly wild rabbits, not domestic? Crammed in a dark sack like that, you'd think the stress would kill them, but they were lively as ever.
"Ugh... Knowing we'll kill them someday hurts my heart..."
"Didn't see you hesitate chopping goblin heads last time. Sympathy for rabbits?"
"Th-That's different... I've been taking care of these rabbits myself, so I've grown attached..."
"Wait, is that why you skipped the rabbit meat last time?"
I stared at her in surprise. Mel nodded shyly without a word.
On Earth, sure, people might balk at eating a pet rabbit they raised. But in this starving world, someone this naive was rare.
Yet Mel had passed up a prime protein chance. Even though she'd grown up hungry like everyone else in the original story.
"Chanyoung? Isn't eating them the weird part? Even my subspace... er, the 'chickens' I raise give me pause."
"R-Right, Bennett? I'm not the weird one?"
"Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't touch rabbits I raised either. Can't help it if others eat 'em."
"See, Chanyoung? Even your g-girlfriend agrees!"
Chris, a modern Earth girl unfamiliar with this world's hardships, sided with Mel. I had no urge to argue—I'd never raised pets, so I couldn't fully get their feelings.
"Now that you mention it, no need to eat the ones we're attached to. We're not broke. Hit a village, and we can eat meat all we want."
"Oh! Right! Chanyoung, we've got gold coins! Two of them!"
"...You forgot about them, didn't you?"
"..."
For days after getting the gold, she'd checked her pouch every thirty minutes to make sure it hadn't dropped. Lately, she'd eased up, so I'd thought she was getting used to carrying big money... turns out she'd just plain forgotten.
I gave her a pitying look.
"I-I didn't forget..."
"Don't lie when it's obvious. And quit pulling out the pouch so much. You'll really drop it."
"Y-Yeah, maybe. Got it!"
"You... uh... never mind."
"Don't swallow your words like that! It feels like you were about to insult me—finish it!"
"...You really wanna hear?"
I hardened my expression and lowered my voice on purpose. Tension crept over Mel's face. She gulped a few times, pondered briefly, then shook her head, giving up on hearing it. Her face crumpled into a pout.
It cleared up when I said I was joking. Mel was naive, sure, but not worth insulting. She never bothered anyone.
The three of us fed the rabbits and chatted until the mercenary group set off again.
*
Average building heights were impressively high. Most were only two stories, but that meant two stories was the norm even by kingdom standards—a big deal for a small nation. You could tell this was the capital.
The standout was the four-story building right at the village entrance. Stone up to the second floor, wood above—probably an addition. And that tall structure was our first stop: the mercenary guild headquarters in the capital.
"Whoa...! The capital! So many people!..."
—Whoosh! Whee!
Mel gawked wildly around her. She whipped her head so much, I worried for her neck. Like a kid at an amusement park for the first time.
Put harshly, a country bumpkin. But her reaction was understandable. Civilization felt half a level higher here. People's clothes screamed leisure—not just for warmth, but style. We mercenaries were probably the only ones without embroidery.
"Your hobby's embroidery, right, Chris? You could make a living without fighting."
"Who knows how much we'll earn? And I wanna keep hobbies as hobbies."
"True... turning a hobby into work flips everything upside down..."
I got what Chris meant. Not just the hassle, but losing a hobby entirely.
—Then, thank you so much!
—When your caravan grows tenfold, hire us officially?
—Haha! If we do that well, we'll hire White Whale for sure! At full price!
—Sounds good. Nice connection.
—The thanks are ours.
With our entry into the capital, the escort job wrapped up. Janet returned from finalizing payment with the caravan, a small coin pouch in hand.
"As you all know, this payout's so low even fifty of us splitting it is awkward. Let's save it for weapon and armor repairs?"
No one grumbled at Janet's call. Rumor had it White Whale's vice-leader regularly disclosed expense records.
Thus, the fee went into group funds.
Our goal was the guild, but first: lodging. Delaying till night risked no rooms and street-sleeping. Mercenaries, mostly long-time road warriors, knew priorities.
As expected of the capital—even two hours before sunset, many inns were full. But with so many around, we snagged rooms easily.
We regrouped at the village entrance, before the guild doors, and finally stepped inside.
I looked forward to the meeting ahead. Up on the top floor of this building would be that man—the leader of the kingdom's largest mercenary group, guild master, the one who fit the title "immortal" best.