episode_0092

“Human, don’t cover the boss’s mouth! Rude!”

“He’s even more rude?! What if we bring up an old story?”

“This is definitely an assault on a noble!”

“Hmph, you said he wouldn’t be punished?”

“Human, you must not use words.”

Ziena and Amy continued to bicker with me in between them. This allowed me to bounce back and forth between the two women.

Bouncing around was fun in its own way and strangely enjoyable, but it felt a little uncomfortable. The shaking and bouncing motion wasn’t bad, but it became uncomfortable the longer it continued. My mouth was blocked by Amy’s hand and I couldn’t feel comfortable in the first place.

“Wow. Ugh.”

“Hey! My clothes are torn!”

“Hmph, if you don’t want to tear it, just take your hand off!”

I tried to say that it was uncomfortable so let’s take my hand off and sit down, but no words came out due to Amy’s hand covering my mouth. Moreover, the two women moving between me didn’t seem to care what I was trying to say.

No, even when I tapped their arms and told them to pay attention to me, beyond just making noises, they didn’t even look at me as if they were just fighting among themselves.

If it stayed like this, it seemed like it would stop after a while, when the steaming whole pork barbecue cooled down. That wasn’t particularly pleasant, so I decided to use the last resort.

“Emm.”

Amy’s palm, which had become a little rough from her time as a mercenary, was covering her mouth, but I stuck out my tongue without hesitation. I saw you wiping your hands with a wet towel set on the table earlier.

“Hiyak?! Well, what are you doing! You pervert!”

“Hey, you’re a pervert?”

“If you’re not a pervert, why are you licking a woman’s palm!”

“That’s because you suddenly covered your mouth. Who wants to stop me? I told him to solve it, but he didn’t even care.”

“ugh… … .”

Amy’s face turned slightly red, as if she had nothing to say.

“Puhhuh.”

“Ziena. You sit down now too. Amy, you sit down too. What are you doing here for dinner?”

Jienna, who was laughing at Amy, nodded at my point and calmly sat down. Amy, who looked annoyed at that, also sat down in her seat.

“First of all, since it’s been a while since we’ve had a meal like this, let’s talk while eating. Stop doing useless things now.”

Since they both seemed genuine, I immediately picked up the silverware in front of me. As I cut off a portion of the whole barbecued pork and started eating it, the two women also started eating.

After filling our slightly hungry stomachs, we resumed our conversation where we had paused for a while.

As we talked over a glass or two of beer, all kinds of stories were exchanged. Things like Amy’s experience as a mercenary, Jienna’s story of working as a mercenary before becoming a slave, and the story of how I learned black magic.

The conversation that started like that continued for a long time. Giena and Amy are mercenaries, Amy and I are childhood friends, and Giena and I are slaves and masters. Because there were things intertwined here and there, the topic of the story constantly changed and the conversation never stopped.

Of course, in the meantime, Amy and Gienna continued to have an invisible war of nerves.

“Do you know how dangerous our mercenary group was back then? I definitely went looking for slime! The material I received also said it was a slime habitat, so why did an ogre suddenly appear? I just went because I heard that rare slimes with mana often appear in that area. So we were poorly armed, but the ogres came out and we thought we were going to die. There was a veteran in our mercenary group, so we somehow survived.”

“Ogre? Human, aren’t you being too pretentious? Ogre is not the name of a neighborhood dog, and it cannot possibly appear in a place where slimes live.”

“What do you say you know?”

“Are you looking down on me now, saying I am a slave, human? Although he became a slave due to a momentary mistake, he used to be a mercenary. If you ask me, he is your senior.”

“Senior? Hmph, I’ve never had a senior.”

If the two people’s gaze had some kind of physical power, they would have been able to see fireworks flying in the air – the battle of nerves was so intense.

Still, it didn’t escalate into anything more than a war of nerves, so I just shook my head and listened to the story. For a while, I was able to pick up stories about the world of mercenaries that I, a warlock, didn’t know about.

Thanks to this, a whole pig that filled a bowl, even though it wasn’t that big, was on the verge of disappearing, leaving only the bones behind. I don’t know if it was because the conversation at the dinner table felt like salt used to dip meat, but the volume quickly decreased. And, the same goes for beer. As we sipped while chatting, the wooden barrel full of beer was sloshing around on the floor.

Since it seemed like it was almost time to end the conversation and finish the meal, I brought up another topic.

“Amy. So what are you going to do now?”

“Now? What are you talking about?”

“No, what are you going to do next? You said earlier that you definitely haven’t returned to the village. Then are you leaving again?”

Amy made an “Ah” sound and nodded as if she understood.

“I’m thinking about that. I haven’t decided what to do yet.”

“Why? Are there multiple choices?”

“In some ways, yes. There are a lot of places sending love calls these days. Did I mention earlier that I was running a mercenary group?”

“… … no? It’s just our mercenary group – that’s all I said. What, are you the mercenary leader?”

I couldn’t hide my surprise, because running a mercenary group meant that one had outstanding skills. In fact, force was essential to recruit and deal with mercenaries who were closer to outlaws than free.

“Hehe… … . Somehow, it happened like that. It’s a temporary mercenary group that hasn’t even decided on a name yet, but I’m still the leader.”

I nodded my head slightly in response to Amy’s shy yet oddly proud appearance. Whether it was swordsmanship, magic, or anything else, achievement varied depending on talent, so there was nothing that prevented him from becoming a mercenary leader just because he was young. Of course, older mercenaries are not necessarily veterans and powerful, so it is not impossible for Amy to become a mercenary leader and lead the mercenary group.

“That’s amazing. But what is a love call? Who is calling?”

“You know that you are also a noble and a lord. When fighting a territory war, it is possible to invite mercenaries belonging to the territory to participate. Usually, it is done by guilds made up of mercenary groups, but there are also cases where only mercenary groups are recruited separately. Sometimes it is simply to expand power, and in the case of small territories, it is difficult to attract guilds, so mercenaries are called in.”

This was a story that Viscount Deputy heard from Count Carbone during a territorial war.

“ya… … . So Amy, do you think your mercenary group is pretty good? If love calls come from all over.”

“Hehehe, I’m kind of good at it.”

Amy smiled as if she was pleased with what I said. However, that smile did not last long.

I want to say “, but… … . Actually, the reason I get so many love calls is not necessarily because I have good skills.”

“It’s not because of your skills?”

“Oh, don’t misunderstand that. Even though I am a female mercenary, I am not active in any strange way. What I’m saying is that things are a little complicated right now. I’m trying to bring in mercenaries from all over the country.”

When I first heard that there was a competition to attract mercenaries, I was puzzled. There are good things about having a lot of mercenaries, but there are also downsides, and I couldn’t help but wonder when I heard that there was competition to attract mercenaries.

“These days, there are a lot of places preparing for territory battles. It certainly wasn’t at this level until last year, but there are signs of movement here and there to prepare for territory warfare. So, in order to secure mercenaries in advance, we are gathering mercenaries rather than guilds.”

“Preparing for territory battle… … ?”

The mention of preparing for a territory war reminded me of what Levs had said before Amy came. As I used the expression ‘beginning’, the moment I ordered items to be used by the royal guard flashed through my mind.

What he meant was that the royal family clearly intended to support the royalist faction by producing a large amount of weapons through me, starting with arming the royal guards. It was not impossible to say that the main reason for Viscount Deputy’s victory was the weapon I created.

I thought that not only would I make significant profits in the future, but the name of my Smith Skeleton would spread widely. For no reason, the corners of my mouth trembled and I couldn’t help but smile.

Drurr.

Thanks to Amy’s unexpected information, I took my mind elsewhere for a moment, and suddenly I heard the sound of a chair being dragged and Amy came towards me.

“That’s why. Andrew, do you ever plan on hiring our entire mercenary group?”

Amy approached me with a bright look in her eyes, asking if I would hire her mercenary group. It also looks like it’s clinging to me.

“What are you doing, human!”

However, before anyone could say anything about Amy’s actions, Jienna made the first move. Gienna got up so hard that the chair fell over and hurriedly took Amy away from me.

And, the war of nerves between the two women began again.

“What are you doing! I’m just asking if you’d like to hire our mercenary group!”

“Don’t be funny! Then why are you exposing that obscene human body to the boss!”

“Ugh, it’s obscene! I was trying to talk quietly because it was an important topic, right?”

“Who knows who will be fooled? We have already figured out that humans are trying to achieve what they want by seducing the boss with their bodies! You are so lewd and lascivious, human!”

“… … Seduction with your body? There is something else to say to a girl! When did I do that? Your mind is more lewd and lascivious! I guess someone isn’t a slave elf.”

“No, do you think all slaves did that?”

“Hmph! Wouldn’t it be obvious if a female elf became a slave?”

“It’s not obvious! I have never given my body to a man yet! Human, you think like that because your thoughts are as lustful as your actions!”

“This!”

I let out a deep sigh as I became nervous about hearing information that I shouldn’t have heard. If things continued like this, it seemed like they were going to fight and grab each other’s hair, so I immediately threw honey balm at the two women’s heads.

Just right! As a sound was heard, the two women, who were feverish, looked at me with teardrops on their faces. He looked at me as if asking why on earth he was hitting me.

“Both of you, stop saying weird things. apologize to each other Neither of you did anything well.”

“Chiiit… … !”

The two women, covering the spot where they had been hit with honey with both hands, pursed their lips at my words, and eventually apologized to each other, seemingly giving up. “I’m sorry,” he said, saying his words and actions were excessive, and quickly acknowledged and apologized.

“It looks like we’re both pretty drunk, so let’s go home for today. Amy, let’s stop talking about what we were talking about tomorrow.”

“Ugh… … . Okay.”

No matter how much beer you drink, if you keep drinking it, you will get drunk. In particular, Amy, who drank beer whenever she felt thirsty while talking, nodded her head with a slightly frowning face.

After making an appointment with Amy to meet again tomorrow, Ziena and I returned home. First of all, since they were in a master-slave relationship, they were living under the same roof.

However, since the room that was originally used as a storage room was given over to Jiena, only the roof was the same, so we were not staying in the same room.

“Ziena. Rest well and see you in the morning.”

“Yes, good night. Boss.”

Jiena bowed her head and went straight to her room, perhaps because she was embarrassed. I left Jienna’s door, which quickly closed with a squeak, and headed to my room.

However, the moment I entered my room, cleaned up briefly, and was about to go to sleep, the door opened with a squeak.

“Uh… … . president. Well, I’m scared of sleeping alone today… … .”

What I could see through the open door was Jiena holding one of her pillows in her arms.