Chapter 1: The Worst Reunion (1)

[1] 1. The Worst Reunion (1)

A story with an interesting introduction is not necessarily a good story, but every good story has an interesting introduction.

In that sense, this story is definitely a terrible one.

It all started in the shabby mercenary guild building at 3 Gat-raro Street, the deepest and most secluded spot.

“I got a big one!!”

Our Captain, as always, kicked open the about-to-crumble front door and made her appearance.

I, who happened to be going over the ledgers, let out a sigh and turned my attention back to the books.

“Hey, big bro, I think the Captain got scammed again.”

Feya whispered to me as she cleaned her sword.

I replied without even looking at her.

“Don’t pay attention to him, kid. You’re not supposed to even look at stupidity.”

“No, Vice-Captain, this time it’s really a big one.”

The Captain, who had approached me before I knew it, slammed the ledger shut. I took off my glasses and rubbed my temples.

“Captain.”

“Yeah, what?”

“What was the last job you took?”

“Hmm… I think it was clearing out an orc village?”

I could hear something cracking from somewhere. I fought back the rising irritation and spoke.

“That’s what we ended up doing. What was the original request?”

“Uh…”

The Captain’s face goes blank. In the end, it was Feya who answered my question.

“Wasn’t it clearing out a goblin den?”

“Was it?”

“It was.”

We thought it would be an easy job, so we took fewer people…

I sighed again, remembering the hell we went through then.

However, the clueless Captain just babbled on in front of me.

“Hey… That was just one time…”

“It was the same the time before that.”

I looked at the Captain with cold eyes.

“And the time before that. And the time before that. And the time before that, too.”

A simple thief raid turns into a territory war.

An ordinary pet capture turns into a large-scale subjugation.

A simple escort mission turns into a cult eradication.

How the hell did I manage to get the reward money when they were trying to screw me over.

I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat and shook my head.

“Absolutely not. No way”

“B-But…”

“I said no.”

I said firmly.

At that, the Captain started looking around at our guys, who had been sprawled out, watching this farce.

Her eyes seemed to ask, ‘You guys know how I feel, right?’

However, I wasn’t the only one who had suffered from the Captain’s requests.

They began to ignore the Captain, drinking beer, suddenly staring at a stain on the wall and contemplating the meaning of life, and so on.

The Captain eventually grumbled with a deeply wronged expression on her face.

“Hey, am I not the Captain?”

“You’re the Captain, alright. You’ve just lost our trust.”

I retorted and looked down at the ledger again.

“If there’s no work, go upstairs and approve the paperwork. You have a lot of piled up.”

And I was about to enter the hell of numbers again.

“Ah, this time it’s real! It’s a request from the hero’s party!”

Only then did I open my eyes wide and look up at the Captain.

“The hero’s party?”

***

If there’s one job that’s at the top of the popularity list in this shitty fantasy world, it’s being an adventurer.

The Empire’s administrative power is still lacking, and shit things happen in the world almost every second.

Goblins, orcs, dark wizards, demons, monsters, etc…

It’s not only difficult to deal with them with the army, but it’s also inefficient, and in reality, the higher-ups don’t even care unless it’s a big deal.

However, for ordinary people like us, it’s a real threat, and sometimes a small threat grows into a problem that threatens the entire nation.

That’s why adventurers exist.

A group of freelancers who solve big and small problems that occur sporadically within the Ea continent.

It’s unclear who started it first.

By the time we realized it, there was already a pretty decent organization called the Adventurers’ Guild, and any unemployed bum with all his limbs intact would find himself at the Adventurers’ Guild, voluntarily or involuntarily, with an old sword in hand.

And, not surprisingly, the Empire welcomed this situation with open arms.

They even went so far as to pick out the best of the adventurers and hire them. They even gave them honorary titles named after the heroes who defeated the Demon King in the past.

Heroes.

“It seems like the Captain has finally brought a decent job.”

The coachman’s whistle, followed by Feya’s voice, broke my train of thought.

“You never know.”

I rubbed the space between my eyebrows in disapproval.

“For all we know, it could be a hero imposter.”

“Hey, big bro, don’t you know that those who get caught impersonating heroes get their heads chopped off? You worry too much.”

Feya added, patting me on the shoulder.

“Besides, wouldn’t the Captain know more about heroes than we do? After all, he’s got blue blood.” (TL Note: Blue blood, aka coming from a prestigious or noble family)

“That’s true, but…”

If only the Captain was someone we could trust….

I swallowed the words that were about to come out of my mouth.

It’s been 5 years since I started working with the Captain, and if I had to choose between liking and disliking her, I like her, but…

Honestly, she’s not exactly trustworthy.

Especially when it comes to mercenary work.

While I was lost in my thoughts,

*Fzzt-*

Suddenly, my vision went black.

“Ah, not this @#$%&$ again.”

Damn it. The voice output device is busted again.

“Big Bro, are you okay? Should I get you a spare magic stone?”

“A@#$@^%$^”

I tried to speak through the broken voice output device, but I just waved my hand. And I tapped my head a few times with my hand.

My vision flickered a few times, and though it was staticky, the world regained its color.

“A-Ah. Is it working?”

“Yes, big bro, I can hear you.”

“Damn it, I need to get this fixed soon.”

I grumbled and tapped my head a few more times.

Feya looked at me with an uncomfortable look on her face, and then said curtly.

“Why don’t you just go to a priest and get healed?”

“What?”

“Your eyes, your tongue, your hand, your leg… everything, you know. There’s a limit to how much you can replace with magic tools.”

I looked at Feya as if she were pathetic.

“Where am I supposed to get that kind of money?”

“Don’t you have any savings?”

“It all went into buying magic stones, and do you have any idea how much it costs to restore a severed limb?”

“…What does ‘severed’ mean?”

“Forget it, there’s no point in explaining to a Derin.”

I let out a sigh and looked out the window.

The carriage came to a stop, and I heard the coachman’s voice saying we had arrived. I moved my creaky leg and followed Feya out of the carriage.

And there it was, a dazzling inn.

“Wow… As expected, an inn where high-ranking officials stay is different. Shouldn’t we try renting a building like that instead of those cheap inns?”

“I’ll think about it when you guys cut down on the booze.”

I gave Feya a casual reply to her nonsense and went inside the inn. As soon as I stepped inside, a waitress in a neat uniform greeted me, as if to prove that this was a high-class inn.

I told her that we were here to see the hero’s party, and she told me she would check and left us.

I looked around and remembered something, so I looked at Feya.

“Oh, right. You wait here, Feya.”

“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”

“I heard there’s a cleric in the hero’s party.”

The church has one god, while the Derin have many. The fact that the two are not on good terms goes without saying.

The people of the Empire look down on the Derin as barbarians.

Feya must have understood what I meant, because her lips pouted.

“…There are clerics these days who don’t discriminate against the Derin.”

“But the majority of them are discriminatory fools. It’s not good to start off on the wrong foot with a client.”

“…But I’m your right hand man.”

“My right hand man is detachable, you know.”

I lightly countered her nonsense and handed her a few silver coins.

“I’ll be back soon, so go get yourself something to eat outside. Okay?”

Feya was silent for a while before finally nodding her head.

And as if on cue, the waitress reappeared. I followed the waitress, who said she would lead me to the hero party, to the upper floor of the inn.

“Please wait here.”

With those words, the waitress left me in front of a luxurious door.

I grabbed the doorknob and wondered for a moment if I should put on my mask before going in.

I have artificial eyes. I can’t exactly make a good first impression on strangers.

But then I decided to leave it.

I had already signed the contract, and I was just here to talk about the cost of the request.

The additional costs, the success bonus, the food expenses, and so on.

They’re heroes, they’re not going to be stingy with money, are they?

With that thought in mind, I opened the door.

“Uh…?”

And I let out a dumbfounded sound when I saw the unexpected faces.

A red-haired girl reading a book on the sofa.

A silver-haired woman in a white priestess’s robe.

And a blonde woman polishing her sword.

They had changed a lot, but I could recognize them.

No, I couldn’t recognize them.

They were some of the few friends I had in my life, even though we had parted ways due to circumstances.

Feeling a surge of joy welling up from the depths of my heart, I opened my mouth.

“Hey, long time no…”

“Ugh!”

And then the hero, or rather, Amy, started retching.

Huh?

“…..!”

“Haa… Haa…!”

Amy wasn’t the only one who showed a strange reaction.

Clara, the potential saintess, suddenly clutched her chest and began to gasp for breath, her face pale.

Parsley, the mage, turned white as a sheet and ran out of the room.

I stared blankly at the current hero party, my former friends, who were suddenly in a collective panic, and thought to myself,

What… What is this…?

***

The sudden chaos ended when a woman, who introduced herself as the porter for the hero’s party, appeared and kicked me out.

To me, frozen in bewilderment, she asked me to leave for today, saying that they would contact me later.

In the face of her request, I had no choice but to trudge back to the mercenary group and get into the waiting carriage.

I was so out of it that I even left Feya in the city.

And now, two days later…

I was sprawled on the living room sofa of the mercenary group like a rag.

My prosthetic leg and arm had long since been thrown off and were rolling around on the floor, and the voice output device was rolling on the table.

I stared at the ceiling with my narrowed vision and thought,

Why did they react that way?

Of course, yeah, we didn’t exactly part on good terms.

To be precise, we didn’t even have time to say goodbye before we were suddenly separated.

Still, to start gagging?!

I was so shocked that I couldn’t even speak.

We’re meeting each other after 18 years, or 13 years, or 7 years, but can’t they at least pretend to be happy to see me again?

Don’t tell me, now that they’re heroes, they don’t even want to talk to a lowly vice-captain of a small mercenary group?

I jumped up from my spot, only to collapse back onto the sofa.

Maybe I’m being too negative.

Maybe there was a reason for them to nauseous.

Maybe they have a chronic illness, or maybe the food didn’t agree with them…

“Captain, this is the first time I’ve ever seen big bro act like such a loser.”

“Yeah, this is my first time seeing the Vice-Captain like this too.”

“Is it okay to leave him like that?”

“Well, let’s leave him alone for now. If our guys get caught causing a scene at a bar, he’ll wake up cursing.”

“Hey, stop whispering over there and come here if you have something to say.”

I was barely able to put on my prosthetic hand, put the voice output device around my neck, and spoke.

The Captain and Feya, who had been whispering from afar, scratched their heads awkwardly and approached me, asking,

“So, what happened?”

“I don’t know. Suddenly, when they saw my face…”

I pretended to make a gagging motion.

“No, no, we’ve already heard that part.”

“?”

The Captain shook her head and tossed me my prosthetic hand, which had fallen to the floor.

“What’s your relationship with the hero’s party? Something must have happened between you for them to act like that.”

“Ah, I’m curious too. It seems like you’ve met the hero party before, how do you know them?”

Feya, too, looked at me with her eyes sparkling with curiosity. I put on my prosthetic hand and leg again, my expression dazed.

“Well, we were just friends a long time ago.”

“With all of them? Were you in the same party as them in the past?”

“Big bro, you used to be an adventurer?”

“No, that’s not it…”

I tightened the prosthetic leg firmly and answered,

“How should I put it? It’s my first time seeing all three of them in one place. We met by chance when we were young and became friends.”

“So you’re saying the four of you have never been together?”

“Yes, one was a childhood friend, one was a classmate, and one was a colleague, I guess?”

As I replied, I got up from my seat.

That’s when it happened. Feya suddenly stepped closer to me and stared intently at me with a serious expression.

“I wanna hear it. Your past, big bro.”

“It’s not a very interesting story.”

I pushed Feya’s face away, which had gotten too close. However, Feya stubbornly resisted, her head held high.

“I swill wanna hear it! (I still want to hear it!)”

“I told you it’s not interesting. It’s a long story, too.”

I pushed Feya’s face away again and looked at the Captain.

“So, what happened? Did we lose the request because of me?”

“I don’t know, they haven’t contacted us yet.”

The Captain shrugged her shoulders and replied. I cleared my throat awkwardly, avoiding her gaze.

“If something like that happens… I’ll take responsibility.”

It wasn’t just something I said out of courtesy.

I don’t know the exact reason, but I’m sure this commotion started because of my personal problems.

If this is going to jeopardize the request, I’ll have to do something about it.

“Well, whatever.”

Of course, this is how she would react.

The Captain shrugged.

“Honestly, we’re not some unknown mercenary group anymore, and it’s not like the hero’s party is the only one giving us work.”

“Still…”

“And I’ve blown off a lot of requests myself, so I guess we’re even.”

Her words brought back memories of the dark past.

The time the Captain punched a client in the face… The time Feya chopped off the arm of the person we were supposed to be escorting… The time our guys were caught having a drinking party at the allied forces’ supply depot…

…Should I quit being a mercenary, seriously.

“Anyway, let’s get to work, Vice-Captain. Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.”

The Captain, oblivious to my burning insides, patted me on the shoulder with a carefree grin. I swallowed a sigh and nodded.

It was then that one of our guys came running up to us with an urgent look on his face.

“V-Vice-Captain…!”

I looked at him with a questioning expression. He took a moment to catch his breath, then said with an anxious look,

“The woman who said she was the porter for the hero’s party is here…”

I raised an eyebrow.