Chapter 10: The Worst Reunion (10)

[10] 1. The Worst Reunion (10)

Inside the tent, lit by flickering magical lamps, I stood and looked around.

The hero party, their porter, Feya, and even the Captain.

Everyone who needed to be here was gathered.

I stood up.

“Now then, allow me to explain the current situation.”

I looked down at the map spread out on the table and tapped to a spot on the map with my finger.

“This is where we are.”

I slid my finger across the map, stopping on a spot marked with trees and mountains. It wasn’t far from where I had just pointed.

“And this is where the necromancers were setting up their little operation.”

Then, I pulled out a black stone from my pocket and placed it on top of that spot.

“With this barrier stone.”

Clara’s face contorted as she felt the ominous energy emanating from the stone.

“They were planning to trap us in Isphentain by casting a barrier over the entire village.”

“And?”

All eyes turned to the Captain, who had her arms crossed. She smirked and continued,

“What would they do after trapping us? Who would come to finish us off and take the cargo?”

The Captain, as always, was quick to understand.

Erasing the smile that had crept onto my face, I slid my finger across the map once more. Another spot that wasn’t far from where we were.

“The necromancers stationed here.”

“Dorian? They sure picked a tricky spot. But with our current manpower, breaking through shouldn’t be…”

I slid my finger again.

“And the necromancers stationed here.”

“….”

The faces of the Captain and the hero party stiffened. I continued moving my finger.

“Gurashi, Getra, Aimion, Ment, Salion, Zadra, Nahil, and Dorian.”

My finger drew a circle around Isphentain, returning to Dorian once more.

“The necromancers have already cornered us. The barrier was just a backup plan.”

Looking around at everyone inside the tent, I said,

“We’re surrounded.”

A heavy silence fell. The worried expressions that were etched on their faces, had turned pale.

“Is there a chance this is a lie?”

Parsley looked at me with sharp eyes. I firmly shook my head.

“None.”

I pulled out a blood-stained piece of paper from my pocket.

“When I went into the den, I found a communication device. They answered all my questions when I pretended to be a cultist. This is the paper where I wrote down all the information they gave me.”

Parsley’s face hardened as she took the paper and read it. Similar reactions appeared on the faces of everyone who read the paper.

“Just what are the Knights and the priests doing?!”

Clara suddenly exclaimed, her eyebrows furrowed.

“The necromancers have come this close to the city, and yet they’re not doing anything…”

It was a question she had murmured to herself, but an answer came nonetheless.

“I believe most of the knights have gone west for a large-scale monster subjugation.”

Irene, who had been silent until now, added,

“…The priests too.”

“…Meaning we can’t expect any backup.”

Clara, unusually deep in thought, rested her chin on her hand.

“But why would they go this far…”

*Clap!*

The sharp clap drew everyone’s attention.

“Now, now, let’s stop with the gloomy talk. So?”

The Captain, grinning, looked at me.

“You didn’t bring up this depressing stuff without a plan, did you, Vice-Captain?”

At that single sentence, everyone in the tent, except for one, gave me an expectant look.

I scratched my cheek and spoke with difficulty,

“Well, I don’t know if you can call it a plan…”

I hesitated for a moment before turning to the hero.

“Hero, do you remember what I said about shortcuts before?”

“…”

“Hero?”

Amy, who had been looking down, finally lifted her gaze. She stared at me with her clouded eyes and then suddenly stood up.

“…I’m sorry. I’ll be going now.”

…And then, before I could stop her, she turned and left the tent.

I couldn’t even think of stopping her and just stared after her, dumbfounded.

Parsley’s voice was what snapped me out of it.

“You said there were faster shortcuts to Axolotl, but they were rough, and there were too many of us to pass through. But why bring it up now…”

Parsley stopped mid-sentence, a realization dawning on her.

“Don’t tell me… you’re going to…?”

I pulled myself together and nodded.

“Yes, I plan to split up the troops.”

I picked up some of the trinkets that were in the corner of the tent and placed them on the map.

“These are the locations of the shortcuts. As you can see, most of them are in the mountains. And also…”

“…They’re all far from the villages where the cultists are stationed.”

I nodded.

“That’s right. And these are shortcuts that only the locals know about. Most people wouldn’t even know they exist.”

Parsley’s expression became serious. I continued,

“And there’s another advantage to splitting up the troops. The enemy won’t know who’s carrying the ‘cargo’.”

“You’re going to create confusion.”

Parsley said twirling a strand of her red hair, a habit she had when she’s deep in thoughts thinking.

“But wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

Parsley shook her head.

“No, let me rephrase that. For something this dangerous, will the men in your mercenary group be willing to volunteer?”

“They will.”

I naturally looked at Irene. As if she had sensed something, she already had a dark look on her face.

“As long as the pay is right.”

Irene simply closed her eyes. It seemed she could already see herself getting chewed out over budget issues.

I felt guilty, but there was nothing I could do.

We need to make a living, too.

“Then we’re left with the most important problem?”

Clara, who had been deep in thought with her eyes closed, finally spoke.

“Who’s going to transport the cargo?”

Her question was followed by a heavy silence.

It wasn’t that it was difficult to choose who would transport the cargo. The right person was already decided. Since this was the hero party’s request, they would be the ones to take on the task.

The problem was the weakness of this plan.

For this operation to work, the enemy mustn’t know who was transporting the cargo.

“I think there’s something we need to address at this point.”

The Captain stood up with an unreadable smile. All eyes naturally turned to her.

“There’s a mole among us.”

Perhaps they had already guessed as much, because the hero party didn’t show any sign of surprise.

Only Irene raised her hand and said firmly,

“It’s not one of…”

“I’m not interested in knowing who the mole is or who’s suspicious. We can deal with that later and hold them accountable, whether it’s with money or something else.”

The Captain cut Irene off firmly and continued, placing a hand on my shoulder,

“The important thing is, judging from the circumstances, there’s definitely someone among us who’s leaking information, and because of that, the plan that our Vice-Captain worked so hard on might be useless.”

I didn’t really work that hard on it…

“So, what are you suggesting we do?”

This time, it was Parsley who stood up. The Captain smiled at Parsley, who had a stern expression on her face.

“Let’s use the oldest method of keeping secrets.”

And then, Rose picked up one of the trinkets on the map. It was shaped like a sword.

“Originally… I was going to do this with the Hero, but since she’s not here…”

The Captain held out the trinket to Parsley.

“Let’s just have the mage and I be the only ones who know who’s transporting the real cargo.”

***

The next morning, I started by selecting the most trustworthy men. It wasn’t a difficult task.

When I told them that we’d be hunted by necromancers for at least a month without any support, more than half of them opted out.

And the ones who remained were the familiar faces I always saw.

“Wow! Double the pay!”

“I’m finally going to make some real money.”

“Can we drink as much as we want during the mission?”

“Vice-Captain, he’s a god!”

Familiar faces who’ve been with the mercenary group for at least a year.

I hated myself for having factored these guys into the budget.

And at the same time, I was terrified.

…Because it meant that the spy could be among them.

Among the people who I had been with for a year, with whom I had shared hardships and even entrusted my life to.

“…Now then, I’ll announce the squads that will be working together.”

Pushing aside my complicated thoughts, I took out a scroll from my pocket.

It was the squad formation chart that I had created, racking my brain to ensure that we completed the mission with minimal casualties.

“Squad 1, Baldy, Big Ears, Crabs, Rat, Pig…”

“Noooo!!”

“Squad 2, Chubby Cheeks, Limpy, Cartwheel…”

…

…

…

“Squad 10, Feya, Four Eyes, Pretty Boy, Oil Girl, Bitch.”

I put the scroll back into my arms and turned to the hero party, who had been watching this process silently.

“And the hero party will be staying together. If you have any questions or suggestions…”

“I do.”

Suppressing a sigh, I turned around.

Standing there, puffing out her cheeks, was Feya.

“Yes, Feya, what’s got you so worked up?”

“Why aren’t you and the Captain on the list?”

Right, I was wondering when that would come up.

“The Captain has other matters to attend to, so she’ll be sitting this one out.”

“Then what are *you* planning to do?”

I frowned, then sighed,

“I’ll be moving alone.”

The dissatisfaction on Feya’s face reached its peak.

“I can’t allow that.”

The looks on the faces of our mercenary members said, “Here we go again.” Feya crossed her arms and said,

“Didn’t you move alone last night?”

“I did, and I came back safe and sound, as always.”

“That’s not the point.”

Feya lowered her gaze.

“I don’t like it when you run into danger alone like that. I don’t like it. Take me with you.”

A sigh escaped my lips.

“Since when were you the Captain, Feya?”

“I’m your right-hand man. I should be by your side wherever you go.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, my right hand is detachable?”

“More importantly, if you’re on your own, who’s going to replace your prosthetic leg and arm?”

I finally sighed.

“That’s exactly why I have to go alone.”

Personally, I have no complaints about my prosthetic leg, prosthetic hand, prosthetic eye, voice output device… Anyway, I don’t mind my prosthetic body.

In fact, it’s sometimes even better than my original body.

For one, I wouldn’t be able to do a rocket punch or shoot beams out of my eyes, or do a Rider Kick with my original body.

The problem is that in this fantasy world with a medieval setting, ‘cyborg’ is a very foreign concept.

Near our base, people knew me, so it was fine, but if we go further out…

Let’s just say that I sometimes get treated like an undead.

And for that very reason, I was the easiest person in the mercenary group to track down.

If they hear a rumor about an undead that walks like a human, they just have to follow it, and they’ll find me.

That’s why I’m the most suitable person to be the ‘bait.’

It was like that even before I joined the mercenary group, and even more so now.

And Feya would know that.

“B-But…”

She’s just being stubborn.

Having no other choice, I had to say what I didn’t want to say.

“Feya, it’s about time…”

“Then how about this?”

A gentle hand rested on my shoulder. I turned around in surprise, taking in the sweet scent of lavender.

Clara, who had come up to me, said with a bright smile,

“How about Rem joins our hero party?”

It wasn’t just our mercenary group who were stunned by Clara’s bombshell declaration. Parsley and Amy also had the same look of surprise on their faces.

“Just what are you talking about?”

Parsley went a step further, her face filled with irritation.

But despite their reactions, Clara simply shrugged.

“The reason Rem wants to travel alone is because his appearance is so eye-catching, right?”

A wide smile spread across Clara’s face.

“But when it comes to attracting attention, we’re no less eye-catching than Rem, are we?”

It was a truth I couldn’t deny.

The Hero, a nationally recognized adventurer.

That title alone was enough to attract people’s attention, but on top of that, all the members were beautiful women.

In fact, when I did a little digging, no, when I gathered information through legal means, their fame had spread quite far.

Apparently, there are people who recognize them wherever they go near the imperial capital.

They definitely attracted more attention than I did. A walking corpse joining their group wouldn’t make much of a difference.

But there was one big problem that made me hesitate to join them.

And, to my relief, it was Feya, who brought it up.

“B-But, big bro, isn’t he a guy?!”

That’s right.

Biologically, and psychologically, I’m a man. And even though I’ve never been with a woman because of my appearance, I have my own preferences when it comes to women.

And the hero’s party, even the porter, was composed entirely of women.

It would be a rather strange sight in many ways. I looked at Clara.

“Well, does it matter?”

Clara’s response, however, was surprisingly nonchalant.

“Surely, the vice-captain of the renowned Rose Rem mercenary group wouldn’t lay a hand on a woman.”

“W-Well, that’s true, but…”

Feya frowned, as if searching for a rebuttal. But she couldn’t seem to think of anything to say, and her mouth just opened and closed repeatedly.

I finally shook my head and spoke.

“It’s fine, Feya.”

“Big bro…?”

I looked at Clara.

Even I had to admit, her logic was flawless. It would be more convenient for both me and the mercenary group if I traveled with the hero party.

And most importantly, I had a reason to be with them.

I looked at Amy, Parsley, and Clara in turn.

“Are you all okay with this?”

A faint joy appeared on their faces.

“…”

But it was quickly replaced by guilt.

Even Clara, who had proposed this, faltered for a moment, her eyes downcast, unable to hide her dark emotions.

In the end, all I received was a silent nod. Only Clara managed a smile.

At that moment, I realized with certainty…

I needed to know why.

Why they had avoided me at first.

Why they were being kind to me now that I’m pretending to have lost my memory.

And why they felt so guilty about it.

Because they were people who had left too much of a mark on my life to simply ignore.

I nodded.

“Then, from now on, I’ll be moving with the hero party.”

And with that, I threw myself into the unknown.

…

…

…

“Rem, why aren’t you eating?”

“Eat it before it gets cold.”

“…Yes, Rem, hurry up and eat.”

And with that, my recollection came to an end, and I returned to reality.

I looked at the three women, each of them urging me to eat, their gazes filled with suspicion towards each other.

…This all happened just a few hours after we set out on our journey.

For fucks sake…