It didn’t seem as if the village itself had been attacked directly.
But… perhaps because the mercenaries staying in the village had been taken out one after another, the outer fields were strangely empty today.
Maybe an evacuation order had been issued, because there wasn’t a single person in sight.
As I made my way toward the village entrance, familiar faces came into view.
One of Uncle Nas’s mercenaries, and the young man in charge of the village guard—Lonton.
The moment he saw me, the mercenary’s eyes went wide.
“Wh-what the hell! What happened? The monster? Did you shake it off?”
Questions came pouring out.
Still wearing that startled expression, he approached me and asked without pause.
“Th-that. A gold-badge mercenary who was passing by… took care of it.”
“A mercenary who was passing by?”
He looked puzzled for a moment, then soon nodded with a relieved expression.
“Ah, looks like the report we sent to the guild already got through. Thank goodness.”
There was no sign that he doubted my words.
For that, I was grateful.
… I could have told him the truth, but there was no real need to.
If she was someone living in hiding, she must have her reasons.
“What about Uncle Nas?”
“……”
At my question, his expression turned gloomy for an instant, and he closed his mouth.
Then, after a brief pause, he spoke carefully.
“He’s alive. But…”
The words that followed were
heavy and quiet.
“One of his arms was completely crushed… I don’t think he’ll be able to do this work anymore.”
I couldn’t say anything.
No words came out.
The fact that he was alive was a blessing in itself, but losing an arm was, for a mercenary, practically the same as a death sentence.
He was a man who had spent his whole life relying on a sword and shield…
“Well, you don’t need to be too sad. He said he’s got some money saved up, so he’ll go back to his hometown and live farming or something.”
“Is that so…?”
“Yeah. He survived, and that’s what matters. If he can stand back up with his own hands, that’s enough.”
He smiled quietly and nodded.
“You should head in too. Your friends probably think you’re dead.”
“……Damn.”
I muttered briefly, and only then did I grow urgent.
I bowed my head without a word and hurried my steps.
Passing through the village entrance, I ran straight toward where my companions were.
After passing the buildings and arriving near the inn where we always stayed, I heard familiar voices.
They were quite loud.
The sound of people arguing noisily.
“I’m telling you, we have to go look for him!”
It was Aileen’s voice.
Anger was mixed into a tone that sounded like she was about to cry.
“No, calm down. If you follow after him and something happens to you, that would only dishonor Liv’s sacrifice.”
Baldik’s voice.
He was calm as usual, but his tone was firm.
“No, Liv is still… he still might not be dead!”
Aileen shouted, her eyes raised sharply and both hands clenched tight.
Behind them, Sileon was standing there blankly as well.
With his arms crossed, he didn’t particularly seem inclined to stop them.
That expression… anyone could tell it was the face of someone thinking, “I don’t want to go.”
… As expected, I definitely have to take that bastard with me.
Steeling my resolve once more, I made my presence known and approached them.
Step.
At the sound of footsteps, Baldik, who had his back to me, turned his head first.
Then his eyes widened with an expression I had never seen before, and he shouted.
“Li-Liv!?”
At that voice, Aileen also whipped around.
The moment she saw me, her eyes trembled and her lips quivered.
“Liv!!”
Without the slightest hesitation, she ran over and threw herself into my arms.
For a moment, I tried to step back at the sudden situation, but her small shoulders were quietly trembling.
Without a word, I lightly patted her back.
After staying in my arms like that for a long while, only then did she step back as if catching her breath.
A faint blush had risen on her face.
“……I thought you were dead.”
“…I was lucky.”
“Don’t do that again.”
“……Yeah.”
Well, it wasn’t as if I’d done it on purpose either.
In that situation, we couldn’t all die together.
It wasn’t even much of a choice; it had been something I had no choice but to do in order to survive.
But when I thought about how worried she must have been, simply saying “yeah” was probably the right thing to do.
Only after Aileen had barely calmed down did Baldik quietly approach.
The moment he drew near, he lowered his head with a stiff expression and said,
“……I’m sorry.”
“Huh? For what?”
“For abandoning you. I should have tried to find some other way.”
“No, well. It wasn’t a situation we could have handled on our own in the first place. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”
In truth, it had been almost like a natural disaster.
If there was anything to blame… it would be that damn stone, the Demon Stone.
Perhaps sensing that I genuinely meant it, Baldik’s expression finally eased a little.
“……What happened?”
“That person helped me.”
“That person? Who… Ah.”
He seemed to catch on quickly.
“You were lucky. But that person really keeps helping without asking for anything in return.”
“Actually, about that… there’s something I need to say. First, let’s all go inside and talk.”
I glanced over at Sileon.
As if he had sensed something ominous, the guy flinched slightly.
And so, with the group in tow, I entered the inn for the first time in what felt like not that long, yet somehow long enough.
After confirming that everyone had taken a seat, I quietly opened my mouth.
“I… think I’ll have to leave for somewhere far away because of a commission.”
“Suddenly? What commission?”
“Huh? A commission?”
My companions all tilted their heads at once, confused.
“First of all, except for Baldik, the two of you wouldn’t know. Beyond the boundary, we met an old woman. She was a mage, and the one who killed that monster this time… was also her.”
“A mage?”
Aileen’s eyes went round.
“Yeah. She called herself a warlock… but I’m not too sure about that. In any case, she was definitely the real thing. I received a commission from that person.”
I took out the map Malay had given me and carefully spread it over the table.
A meticulously drawn map.
Sileon peered down at it in admiration, then at some point, as if realizing something, tilted his head.
“Here, on the lower part of the map. The kingdom called Gradran in the southeast. I have to go to the Yellow Magic Tower there.”
“The Yellow Magic Tower? ……What kind of commission is it, exactly?”
At the words Yellow Magic Tower, Aileen’s eyes widened in surprise.
Just from her expression, it seemed like something had caught in her memory.
……Does she know something?
“It’s nothing special. Just an errand to deliver one item. It’s not dangerous either. Why, have you heard something about the Yellow Magic Tower?”
She frowned slightly and nodded.
“I heard about it from Sir Chad. He said that when he took part in a territorial war in the past, the most difficult opponents he faced were the mages of the Yellow Magic Tower.”
……So they really were warmongers.
Malay hadn’t called them those bastards for no reason.
Now that I had even heard testimony from someone who had experienced them firsthand, I wanted to go even less.
“……I know of the Yellow Magic Tower too.”
This time, Baldik added.
“Their bad reputation is famous even among mercenaries.”
“Really?”
“There’s even a joke that on a battlefield where those bastards are present, you’d be better off fighting with rocks in your hands.”
“……Hmm.”
Should I go tomorrow and tell her I won’t do it after all?
For some reason, the more I heard, the more my unease grew.
“In any case, I received help from her… so I can’t not go.”
“Then is that all? We can just get ready right away, right?”
Aileen nodded with a prepared expression, as if she would follow me at any moment.
But that wasn’t the purpose of this conversation.
“No. You have to stay here.”
“……What?”
Looking at the startled girl, I added,
“There’s no need for you to follow me all the way there. You also… have something you need to do, don’t you?”
Aileen hadn’t been following me around simply to stay by my side.
She had a clear goal.
Bringing down the lady who had killed her mother, and the corrupt power controlling the baron’s family.
But right now, there was still evidence she needed to gather.
Originally, once we had funds, I had intended to move with her and help, but things were different now.
The place where the Yellow Magic Tower was located was an entirely different kingdom.
The journey itself would be difficult, and above all… there were still people after her.
What if she moved with me now and we ran into her pursuers?
She would take on all the danger and be unable to gather the evidence she needed.
That would be a loss for both her and me.
So she had to remain here.
She had to stay and quietly, steadily gather the evidence for the battle she had to fight.
“…That’s…”
Aileen lowered her head.
I could feel her disappointment, but at the same time, her eyes already held acceptance.
She was someone who understood her own battle.
“I already asked the person I mentioned earlier if she could look after you for a while. Even if I’m not here, your work shouldn’t suffer too much.”
… To be honest, in terms of ability, she might be better than me.
“……All right.”
“Yeah. Don’t push yourself, and until I return… just stay safe.”
“Yes.”
Only then did she seem to harden her resolve, nodding with a slightly solemn face.
That settled the issue with Aileen.
Then next was—
“Will you go?”
“Mm?”
Baldik turned his head and looked at me as if asking what I meant.
“Where? Grocery shopping?”
“No… I mean the Yellow Magic Tower. I was wondering if you were coming with me.”
“……Hey, you brat! What kind of stupid question is that?”
He spoke as if scolding me instead.
“We agreed to work as mercenaries together in the first place, didn’t we? Then of course I’m going with you. Why are you asking something so obvious now?”
“Ah…”
This is kind of… needlessly touching.
“…Even though there’s no reward?”
“Tsk. You still have no eye for picking commissions. Next time, choose a proper one.”
“Haha, I will.”
Only then did I feel a little relieved.
In truth, traveling alone through unknown lands would have been quite overwhelming.
Having someone I could communicate with, someone I could entrust my back to, was truly something to be grateful for.
“Looks like we’ve more or less finished talking now.”
“Yeah. Then when are we leaving?”
“She said she’d stop by around tomorrow… so leaving the day after tomorrow should be fine.”
“Perfect. I heard Nas’s group is holding the funeral tomorrow too. It’d be proper to help out before we go.”
Ah, I should also stop by and visit Uncle Nas while he’s recovering.
Just as the conversation was gradually coming to a close,
a voice suddenly cut in.
“No, no, wait a minute!”
“Hm?”
“Why are you talking without including me? Shouldn’t you ask me too!?”
Sileon suddenly barged in.
“Hm? What, do you have something else to do?”
“Huh? No… I don’t, but still, my opinion—”
“Then stop being annoying and pack your things.”
“What the hell is this…!”
At Baldik’s words, Sileon repeatedly thumped his chest with an aggrieved expression, as if the world had ended.
… That’s his lot in life, I guess.
He should have spoken more nicely and behaved better on a regular basis.
Leaving behind Sileon’s scream as he grumbled and eventually got smacked, I approached Aileen, who was still sitting silently with a complicated expression.
“Liv.”
She raised her head.
Concern still lingered around her eyes, and her lips were half-pressed together.
“Is there something you’re worried about?”
She hesitated for a while, then slowly shook her head.
“No. I just… wanted to go with you a little longer.”
“……So did I.”
I said with a faint smile.
“But what you need right now isn’t to stay by my side. It’s to finish what you have to do.”
Aileen pressed her lips tightly together and gave a small nod.
“……Yes.”
“The person who’ll be looking after you—she’s an incredible mage too. I’m sure there’ll be something you can learn from her. …Though I’m not too sure about her personality.”
“Really? I’ve never seen her before, so…”
“What kind of magic she used, you see—”
Carefully, I described the scene from that day, when she had faced the monster.
The crimson magic circle, and the air that had trembled.
Even the wave of mana that had pierced straight through the black form in a single strike.
After hearing my explanation, Aileen’s eyes widened in admiration.
“A mage like that… is living hidden away in a place like this? She really does sound like a witch from a fairy tale.”
“…Baldik said the same thing.”
Aileen’s face, which had been smiling without a care for a moment as if imagining what a witch might look like, soon filled with worry again.
“…Do you think I can really manage on my own?”
“If it’s the you I’ve seen, then you can. And like I said earlier… you don’t have to overdo it.”
I added quietly.
To begin with, time was on our side.
The moment that gravely ill baron collapsed, half of Aileen’s victory had already been decided.
Of course, if she failed to secure enough evidence, his wife might nitpick every little thing and watch for an opportunity, but…
She must have known that too.
“Actually… I’ve made something of a plan.”
“Have you? What is it?”
“I’m thinking of continuing to work as a mercenary around here. Actually, when we stopped by the information guild back then, I asked them something too.”
“You did?”
This was the first I’d heard that she had stopped by the guild that day.
I had thought only Baldik had gone.
She must have dropped in and come out briefly, so I hadn’t noticed.
“Back then, the name in the hidden letter… ‘Allowin Feldrick.’ I asked about him.”
“Oh.”
I’d said I would investigate him someday, and then completely forgot.
Still, it was a relief that at least Aileen had remembered.
Originally, we should have begun investigating the person called Allowin Feldrick, whose name we had found in the Black Hand hideout.
But after getting swept up in one incident after another, that plan had naturally been pushed back.
To begin with, if Malay was right, we would even have to reconsider going to Mondark.
“But they asked for one gold coin. So I just left.”
“For that much… you should have told me.”
“…It’s my business. It’s only right that I look into it with my own money.”
Her tone was firm, yet somehow gentle.
She wasn’t stubbornly insisting for no reason, nor was she trying to force herself to shoulder everything alone.
“Now that I have some time… I’m going to try earning it with my own strength.”
I nodded lightly and said,
“All right. Just… don’t take on anything too dangerous.”
“I understand. I’ll only do small jobs, like before.”
“If so… that’s a relief.”
While Aileen and I were talking about this and that, Silen approached hesitantly from somewhere, clutching his head.
“Ah, it hurts… Brother, I think you need to take a look at this.”
“What is it?”
He tapped the map we had unfolded earlier.
“This map. Well, it seems pretty old.”
“Does it? How old are we talking? Can’t we just use it roughly and go?”
Honestly, maps in this world were all over the place.
The drawing styles were different, the roads were different, and I’d even seen maps where entire mountains had vanished.
From that perspective, this map was among the more detailed ones.
“No. Looking at the place names and the shapes of the borders… I think it’s at least five hundred years old.”
“…Huh? Five hundred years?”
For a moment, I turned my head in disbelief.
A map from five hundred years ago.
This was way beyond something we could just glance at and use, wasn’t it?