"How old are you, Baldik?"
"Hm?"
The next day at lunch.
I had woken up late and was quietly eating with Baldik, whom I’d run into at the dining hall, when the question suddenly occurred to me.
At my question, Baldik stopped chewing and looked at me as if I’d said something ridiculous.
"How old do I look?"
"About thirty? Thirty-five?"
Between the golden beard and his generally rugged face, I’d figured he was around that age.
Even being generous, mid-to-late thirties.
"You damned brat, thirty my ass! I’m still in my twenties!"
"…Excuse me?"
My spoon stopped.
"I’m twenty-six, you punk."
"Seriously?"
It was hard to believe.
He had the air of someone who’d already been thoroughly beaten down by the world, and yet he was around my age.
"Yeah, seriously. What’s with that face? You really thought I was over thirty, didn’t you?"
"…Mm, no. It’s just… unexpected."
It really was unexpected.
Baldik sighed for no reason and shook his head.
"My face just tells you how much I’ve suffered, that’s all."
That, I could understand.
A place like another world aged people’s faces quickly.
"By the way, what’s that bulging out at your waist?"
"Ah, this?"
Baldik’s gaze went to the pouch hanging at my waist.
Inside was something that had been growing more and more swollen over the past few days.
From the outside, it looked as if there were a large ball inside, protruding plainly.
What was inside was Gerangi.
It had been strangely quiet for the past few days.
It hadn’t moved an inch inside the pouch, and after this latest battle, it had curled itself into a perfect ball and hardened completely.
"It’s just… got some odds and ends in it."
"Looks pretty solid for odds and ends."
I brushed it off vaguely.
Explaining would only make things longer, and I didn’t know much about the biology of this world’s creatures either, so pretending otherwise felt awkward.
Was it even a living creature in the first place?
Gerangi.
It had been unidentified from the start, but this was the first time I’d seen it change like this.
…Was something really going to come out of it?
"Anyway, what are you planning to do now?"
"Well… earn some money and go back home, I guess."
"To that desert?"
"To be exact, it’s not the desert itself. It’s a small village next to it."
When I’d first heard it, he’d called it the Red Rock tribe, I think.
The word “tribe” kept pricking at my mind.
For some reason, it made me imagine a primitive tribe that lived with spears, but judging by his speech and habits, that didn’t really seem to be the case.
"The Red Rock tribe… Is it really a tribe?"
"Mm, I heard it used to be. Now it’s just a village. Only the name stuck around."
Baldik gave a slight shrug.
Only after hearing that answer could I wipe away the image of a jungle tribe that had been floating around in my head.
"Still, it sounds kind of cool. Red Rock."
"Yeah. The rocks really do look red because of the sunlight. Other than that, there’s nothing special."
He said that, but his expression softened a little.
A hint of affection for that small hometown seeped through his tone.
"Didn’t you say you were going to the Magic Tower?"
"Mm…"
"Why? Did something happen?"
"No, it’s not that. It’s just… there’s something bothering me."
The words that left my mouth were brief, but my head was complicated.
That ominous dream I’d had back then.
Most of the memory had faded now, but that uneasy feeling still remained like a thorn lodged in my finger.
A sensation that had sounded from my subconscious, as though warning me of something.
Had it simply been a dream, or had this body given me some silent advance notice?
"Something bothering you? Like what?"
"It might be nothing… I just want to think it over a little more."
That was what I said, but deep down, I already knew.
If I ignored this uneasy feeling I had now, I would definitely come to regret it.
"So you don’t have any immediate plans, then?"
There was a faint hint of expectation in Baldik’s tone.
"Why? Do you have something to do?"
"No, it’s just that if I want to make money now, mercenary work’s the only option. And if you’re with me, I’d feel reassured."
"…Ah, don’t tell me. You want us to do it together?"
"That’s right!"
The sight of him swinging his spoon with an embarrassed smile gave off exactly the feeling of, “I don’t know about anything else, let’s just do it together for now.”
For a moment, rather than feeling dumbfounded, I found myself feeling oddly not bad about it.
"…I’m not sure I’d be all that reassuring."
"Come on, what’s a guy who can use magic saying? In times like these, that alone gives you half the advantage."
He tossed it out casually, but there was a strange sincerity to his words.
"I’ll think about it after I see the reward first."
"Sure."
Baldik didn’t ask any further.
He simply nodded and scooped up the last spoonful of soup.
I set down my spoon as well and took a moment to catch my breath.
In any case, we still hadn’t even been paid for the fighting.
I didn’t know how much the reward would be, but it was only natural that my next steps would change depending on the amount.
“Money isn’t everything, but this is a world where you have to live as if it is.”
Making that excuse to myself, I pulled out of my thoughts.
"Where did Aileen go?"
"Ah, her? She’s probably washing up behind the inn."
"Is that so? What about Sairun?"
"Him? He was drinking with me yesterday, so by now he’s probably holed up in his room."
"……"
Now that I heard that, I was the only one who’d gotten up especially late.
It wasn’t as if I’d slept well, either.
"…Then weren’t you awake pretty late too, Baldik?"
"I just woke up a bit early. I’m still sleepy as hell."
Baldik opened his mouth wide and let out a yawn.
For some reason, the fatigue on his face felt a little peaceful.
It was also a moment that made me realize this was what everyday life was like.
"Where are you going?"
"I’m going for a walk. My stomach feels heavy."
Baldik glanced at me, his spoon paused in his hand.
"Hm? This early?"
"I’ll just get some air."
He still looked suspicious, but he didn’t add anything else.
Turning his gaze back to his dishes, he muttered,
"Don’t go causing trouble outside for no reason."
"Come on, as if I would."
I laughed it off lightly and stood up.
“I should bring Aileen with me on the way.”
The atmosphere in the city was still too unstable to wander around while leaving Aileen behind.
When I opened the door and stepped out, I happened to see Aileen coming from behind the inn while drying her hair.
"Ah, Aileen. Want to come with me for a bit?"
She looked at me with slightly startled eyes, then nodded.
We kept our words to a minimum and naturally set off.
The outskirts of the city, a quiet dumping ground.
It was a familiar place I’d been to once before.
It had once been an area where thugs had set up camp, but today it was strangely quiet.
Was it because the city’s atmosphere had been unusual?
Even though I had cleared it out once, I’d expected other bastards to flood in soon enough.
Perhaps someone had started managing the place, because there wasn’t even a trace of people in that spot that had once been such a mess.
Among the roughly grown grass and dusty piles of stone.
With not a single human shadow in sight, it was the perfect place to experiment with magic.
Time to start, then.
"What are you going to do?"
At Aileen’s question, as though her curiosity had only now caught up with her, I quietly drew up mana instead of answering.
A faint vibration rose from the tip of my staff.
Droplets of water floated up from the canteen I had prepared in advance, slowly gathering into a small sphere.
The sphere gave off light as it pulsed faintly, like a heart.
I raised my staff and aimed at an abandoned wooden chair.
Once the target was fixed, the water sphere contracted rapidly as if throbbing—
[Water Prison]
Pop.
With a short, low sound, the water sphere discharged from the staff flew toward the chair.
As it flew, the sphere unfolded in an instant.
Splaash!
Water exploded outward, scattering in all directions and spreading wide.
Its shape split apart like a cast net, then curled inward around the chair.
Curving streams of water that seemed to pounce intertwined and overlapped, forming a single prison.
The spinning flow looked almost alive, and the chair trapped within appeared distorted, like an insect caught in amber.
The inside was perfectly sealed with water.
From the outside it looked still, but within, it was rippling like waves.
"…Wow."
Aileen swallowed her breath.
"You wouldn’t be able to move in there."
I gave a small nod and slowly released the magic powering the Water Prison.
As the prison dispersed like it was melting away, the chair returned to its original shape, soaked through.
"Is that magic you newly researched?"
"Something like that."
Answering Aileen’s question briefly, I recalled the spell I had just cast.
“This is better than I expected… but there’s a problem.”
First, the biggest issues were the amount of mana it consumed and the amount of water it required.
To trap a single opponent, the water in my canteen wasn’t enough, and I’d used nearly thirty percent of my mana on top of that.
If it was this bad even now that my mana had increased, I couldn’t get a sense of just how much it was eating up.
That meant if there was no water, casting it would be impossible in the first place.
“This is for crucial moments or surprise attacks, not prolonged battles.”
On top of that, maintaining the shape required me to continuously feed mana into it.
It wasn’t a spell that ended after a single cast, but closer to a sustained-type spell.
Even so, its effect was certain.
In terms of restricting movement, it was optimal for stopping highly mobile enemies.
I didn’t say it out loud, but several combat situations where I could use this spell were already forming in my head.
In the end, there was only one problem.
To use it properly, I always needed to have enough of two things: water and mana.
"……I need to find a way to replenish water."
Even after murmuring that under my breath, no clear answer came to mind.
In truth, a few solutions did occur to me.
But every single one of them was crude, relying either on luck or brute-forcing it with my body.
For example.
Carry more water containers.
→ I’m already lacking stamina. If I add more luggage, that’s basically suicide.
Secure a water source nearby, like a river or well.
→ How many situations would give me the leisure for that? Especially in the middle of a fight.
Only fight on rainy days.
→ As if the weather would arrange itself for my sake.
Like that, every option was completely unrealistic.
If I absolutely had to choose, carrying more canteens would be the most practical method.
“Damn it, I guess I need to build up my strength.”
With arms like these, there was no way I could run while carrying a few more canteens.
A sigh came out on its own.
If I really were an RPG protagonist, something like this would have been automatically resolved.
But this wasn’t a game. It was reality, where I had to scoop up water myself and fight with it.
After finishing the experiment and returning to the inn, I saw two familiar figures talking with someone in front of it.
Baldik, Sairun, and a soldier standing before them.
As if he had been waiting for us, the soldier sensed our presence and turned his head.
"Ah, I was looking for you. A message has come from the Mercenary Guild."
At the soldier’s words, Baldik turned his head.
"A message? For us?"
"Yes. They say rewards will be issued to those who participated in yesterday’s wall defense. They are currently calling each group in order, and I was told your turn would come soon."
Sairun’s eyes suddenly sparkled.
"Oh, so it’s finally time for that…"
"Don’t get your hopes up."
Baldik grumbled and patted his lower back.
I exhaled softly.
It was news I’d been waiting for.
How much were they going to give us?
At this rate, even the walk to collect the reward made my heart beat a little faster.
The three of us walked together toward the Mercenary Guild.
The headquarters located in the city center seemed to have been used as a temporary command post during the battle.
Instead of mercenaries, armed soldiers stood guard at the entrance, and once we entered, the walls inside were covered densely with battle maps.
Seeing the wall we’d fought on yesterday drawn like a diagram made me feel strangely odd.
"This way."
Following the soldier’s guidance, we moved deeper inside where desks had been set up. Instead of a young receptionist, an older administrator was rifling through documents before raising his head.
"Name."
"Liv."
When I answered briefly, he nodded and checked something in the documents.
"Liv, Liv… Mm, that mage? You’re Liv?"
"……Yes."
By now, most people in the city probably knew I was a mage.
It wasn’t something I could hide even if I tried.
I hadn’t wanted it to spread like this, but I had openly used magic during the battle, so it couldn’t be helped.
All that remained was to take that into account and be careful.
"I heard that thanks to you, the collapse of the front line was delayed a little. You worked hard."
Then his hand moved toward a box placed beneath the documents.
The faint sound of metal clinking rang out, and the next moment, a pouch of considerable size slid in front of me.
"The branch manager said to take good care of you. Total payment, twenty silver coins."
"…!"
My eyes widened slightly.
This much… was far more than I had expected.
It was an amount one would usually have to complete several escort missions to gather.
The sound of the silver coins clinking against one another inside the pouch somehow felt cheerful.
"Next."
The administrator shifted his gaze to Sairun, and I quietly stepped aside.
"Looks like they gave us quite a lot, no?"
Baldik, who received his payment next, muttered softly, and I nodded.
"Yes. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much, but this is…"
But in one corner of my heart, a strange feeling remained.
In the place where countless people had fallen, a few silver coins were what remained.
Was that really all there was?
Not that I could say it was wrong.
After staring into the pouch for a moment, I raised my head.
"…Still, for this amount, it’s not bad."
"Then I suppose you’ll have to make a decision now."
Baldik smiled meaningfully as he said it.
Come to think of it, there was that conversation from earlier.
His proposal that we work as mercenaries together.
Now, it was my turn to answer.