Chapter 38: Mercenaries

“Wh-what the hell?!”

Hames made a fuss as if something impossible had just happened at Marcel’s words.

“The sun must be risin’ from the west, for that Marcel to…”

“…Sir Hames.”

Glare called Hames’s name in a low voice, his mouth still hanging open.

“…Sorry.”

At that, Hames’s voice grew a bit more serious.

He bowed his head, showing a genuinely apologetic attitude.

At least, that’s how it looked to me.

“As I said before, it’s fine. So, can we take on the mercenary work?”

“No problem. But…”

“But?”

“There’s one more person who came as a mercenary besides y’all. So we gotta split the pay. That still alright with you?”

One more person?

Hmm, I feel like we could handle it just fine on our own.

Well, can’t be helped. I didn’t want to waste time, so I gave Marcel a signal that it was fine.

“No problem.”

“Is that so? Good to hear. Then I oughta call that person over here. Glare?”

“Understood.”

Glare manipulated the Artifact on her wrist. She seemed to be calling the other person who’d come as a mercenary.

“They say they’ll be here shortly.”

“Did you ask? They don’t mind?”

“Yes. They said they welcome it, actually.”

“Yeah? Well, this is a strange thing.”

“A strange thing?”

Curiosity piqued by Hames’s words, this time I asked.

“Why, you curious? Super Genius Pretty Girl Yoschua Verdi?”

‘This bastard…’

Why’d he add even more titles in front?

“…Yesss.”

I forced a smile as I answered.

“Well, y’see, it’s rare, but another one of the Five Great Guilds sent a mercenary.”

…The Five Great Guilds?

“Which one, if I may ask?”

“Royal Knights.”

“…?”

Why’s my brother showing up here?

I turned my head toward the two of them and asked with my expression if they knew anything.

Deneb and Marcel both shook their heads as if they had no idea.

Then why would Royal Knights…

Just as I was showing my confusion.

Clank-clank—

The sound of metal clashing rang out.

“What, they’re already here?”

Hames’s gaze went to the entrance first, and a moment later we turned our heads that way too. Standing there was a red-haired woman clad in armor, her face the only part exposed.

“Lady Lilian?!”

Someone he knows?

‘Lilian?’

I’ve heard that name somewhere before.

“Hey, Marcel. We meet again so soon.”

“What brings you here, Lady Lilian…?”

“Why? Is it your first time seeing a High-Rank Hunter go to a High-Rank Gate? Well, I guess it would be unfamiliar to you. You never had a reason to go before.”

“That’s not what I meant—”

“Whatever Gate I go to, that’s my choice.”

Hmm, from their conversation, she seemed to be a woman with some connection to Marcel.

More than that, her face looked familiar, like I’d seen her somewhere before… but it was too hazy to remember.

* * *

‘Why is Lady Lilian here…’

I knew I felt an uneasy omen.

Lilian Draxler.

A first-division member of Royal Knights — why on earth is she here?

No matter how much I think about it, I can’t guess the reason.

Even if no High-Rank Gate had opened in Royal Knights’ territory.

Lilian is the second-highest-ranking figure in Royal Knights, right after the guild master, Wilhelm.

To the point where she acts as his proxy when he’s absent.

And that person is joining another guild’s — a fellow Five Great Guild’s — High-Rank Gate as a mercenary?

‘Did Master send her? No, that’s not it.’

I parted ways with Wilhelm cleanly.

He even said I could come back once everything was settled.

So it can’t be Wilhelm’s orders.

Then…

‘Did Lady Lilian move on her own will?’

But if that’s the case, it makes even less sense.

Even if we’re both A-Rank Hunters, I don’t have any particular ties with Lilian.

Besides, I only spent a little over a month in Royal Knights.

In that time, I didn’t form a bond with a single guild member.

The only one who left with me was Deneb.

“What, not happy to see me?”

“Well…”

Marcel felt a crisis.

What was the right answer in a situation like this?

Just as he was mulling it over—

“Lady Lilian! Hello!”

“Oh? If it isn’t the Little Master? Haven’t seen you in a while, and I run into you here?”

Deneb’s greeting caught Lilian’s attention, and she returned it cheerfully.

‘Phew, thank you.’

Saved from the crisis, Marcel let out a silent sigh of relief and offered his gratitude internally.

“Well… we left the guild.”

“I heard about Marcel, but the Little Master too?”

“Yep… so we came to do mercenary work.”

“…?”

Lilian’s gaze quietly turned to Marcel. Her expression seemed to ask, *You? A High-Rank Gate?*

“Yeah, that’s how it turned out.”

Just as Marcel answered with an awkward face—

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“…!”

*THUD!*

Lilian grabbed Marcel by the collar and shoved him against the wall without warning.

“Lady Lilian?!”

Deneb called out her name, looking flustered, but Lilian didn’t even spare her a glance.

“In Royal Knights, you always weaseled out whenever High-Rank Gates came up, and now that you’ve quit, you’re challenging one again? Does that make any sense? Are you messing with me? And why is the Little Master here? You planning to take her along? Are you insane? Trying to bring a D-Rank Hunter into a High-Rank Gate?!”

Lilian spoke without pause, her voice filled with rage, not giving him a chance to explain. Marcel thought her anger was completely justified.

After all, she had been risking her life closing dangerous High-Rank Gates, while he had been taking it easy with the same treatment.

And now he suddenly leaves the guild and heads for a High-Rank Gate? There was no bigger ingrate than that.

…As for the Little Master, he had nothing to say. He wanted to emphasize Verdi’s strength, but she was dead set on hiding it, so he was effectively the only High-Rank Hunter in this party.

From Lilian’s perspective, he must look like a weakling. So her reaction made sense.

Honestly, Marcel wanted to commend Lilian’s restraint for not throwing a punch first.

The atmosphere at the scene turned quite chilly with the clash between A-Rank Hunters.

To break them up, at least another A-Rank Hunter would need to step in.

Fortunately, Marcel and Lilian weren’t the only ones there.

“You two gonna keep fighting?”

Hames, who had been acting lighthearted except when apologizing, glared at them with narrowed eyes and spoke in a cold voice.

“This is our turf. If you’re gonna make a ruckus, I’d appreciate it if you took it outside.”

“…My apologies.”

Knowing that causing a scene here would tarnish not just herself but the guild, Lilian reluctantly stepped back.

Marcel quietly straightened his rumpled clothes.

“So what’re you gonna do, Ms. Lilian? Still gonna do the mercenary work?”

As the tension eased, Hames returned to his flippant demeanor and asked.

“Of course I am. I have no intention of backing out now. I’m not a deserter like some people.”

“…”

This time, Marcel didn’t smile.

But that was it. He had no intention of rising to a cheap provocation. He was used to this treatment. He just needed to let it slide with a sigh.

Still, if he let it out in front of Lilian, she might flare up again, so he was about to swallow it internally—

“Mr. Marcel.”

Verdi, who had been quiet the whole time, called him in a small voice.

Marcel silently turned his gaze to her. For some reason, her face was beaming with a smile.

“You held out well.”

Verdi’s single remark was incredibly reassuring to him right now.

A girl so much smaller and so much lower-ranked, a D-Rank Hunter.

But that was only her appearance.

To Marcel, Verdi’s presence was like a pillar, bigger and stronger than anything else.

He could rely on her, lean on her. It was because of her that he had mustered the courage to challenge a High-Rank Gate again.

And so—

“Yes.”

He could answer with an easy smile.

* * *

While Marcel and Lilian were arguing, I’d been thinking about who Lilian was.

‘Ah, I remember now.’

It came back to me. It was when a Dungeon Break occurred in a Gate that the Royal Knights had taken charge of.

We’d set up a negotiation table with the Royal Knights over compensation, and that’s where I got into a fight with her.

The Guild Master was keeping quiet, but out of nowhere she slammed the table and stood up, and just started—

—“Hey, you crazy bastard! That’s enough! Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused the Master?! Is money that important to you? More than people’s lives, is money what matters?!”

…Yeah, she spouted that kind of bullshit. Remembering it pisses me off.

As if nobody else had it hard. The Gate where the Dungeon Break happened was an A-Rank Gate. I came into it with my own resolve, you know. Do you think closing an A-Rank Gate is easy? And if I hadn’t come, what would have happened to that brother your Master cherishes so dearly?

And that’s not all. The Five Great Guilds have a treaty with the Hunter Association, so each one is responsible for their own territory. Not only did they fail to clear a Gate that appeared in their own zone, but a Dungeon Break happened on top of that—do you think the public would just let that slide?

They must have been torn apart over that incident. Maybe the name would have changed from the Five Great Guilds to the Four Great Guilds.

To them, I was practically a savior.

I was so pissed off I almost overturned the negotiation and leaked it to the press.

—“Please, just this once, hold back, senior.”

That guy begged me that much, so I held back.

But now I’m suddenly angry again?

‘Ugh, forget it, forget it.’

I let out a low sigh.

It’s already in the past. In the end, I got paid properly too.

And if the negotiation had fallen through back then, an opportunity like this wouldn’t have come.

Deneb and Marcel wouldn’t be here either.

“Before we head into the dungeon, I need y’all to promise me one thing.”

“A promise?”

“You never know, right? While I ain’t lookin’, another pissin’ contest might break out. I dunno about here, but if y’all do that in the dungeon, people’ll really die.”

Whoa, what’s with this guy? He’s only saying things that make sense. Despite his rough appearance, he’s got a cautious side too.

‘Well, he is an A-Rank Hunter in his own right.’

He probably didn’t climb up here carelessly.

“If anyone breaks this promise, they will bear full responsibility for any consequences.”

Hames dropped his clumsy dialect and spoke. His demeanor carried a certain weight to it.

“Understood.”

“…Got it.”

The two answered at the same time, and with that, we became day mercenaries for the Crescent Guild.