episode_0067

The name of the employer who requested the escort was Revilla.

The request was to escort the top convoy until they reached the small to medium-sized city of Pelmia, located about ten days’ journey from Vesperian.

“As stated in the request, the Eastern Expedition adventurers will be paid eight silver coins, and two for the Iron Guards. If an attack occurs and it ends without any harm on our side, we will pay an additional silver coin per person.”

The actual client I met was a middle-aged man named Rug, who seemed like just an ordinary upper-level employee rather than a high-ranking official like a director or manager.

Well, if it were a top convoy transporting highly valuable goods, it would be understandable, but this time, it was just transporting ordinary necessities and moderate luxuries. It would be overwhelming for someone as important as a director to personally oversee it.

“Um… when you say ‘ends without harm,’ is that limited to the cargo, or does it include your upper-level staff as well?”

If it’s the latter, then the additional payment seemed like mere empty talk. It sounded more like a warning not to dream of extra compensation even if a blind arrow kills one of the porters.

It wouldn’t be too difficult to protect the cargo, but it was not feasible to individually ensure the safety of the upper-level guards or the porters’ lives.

“Haha. Of course, it’s about the cargo carriage. Our employees are our responsibility. Your job is to ensure the safety of the goods.”

Fortunately, it seemed that this place, Reville’s upper level, wasn’t comprised of such unscrupulous people.

Since they assured that they would take care of the workers’ lives, it seemed that we just needed to protect the cargo.

“I see. That’s a relief.”

I smiled and stamped the contract. Hiring Eastern Expedition adventurers for ten days at the cost of 8 silver coins was close to absurdly cheap, but from the upper-level perspective, this amount was probably the best option.

If attacked by thieves or the like during the journey, it might be different, but if nothing happened, the adventurers would just be receiving money for doing nothing.

They weren’t philanthropists; they wouldn’t want to hand out silver coins in heaps to idle laborers who hadn’t done anything.

So, I will pay 8 silver as a basic wage, and I propose to pay an additional 1 silver for each attack.

In actuality, it means I will pay according to the work done.

…Does this mean we should hope for attackers to appear?

I’m not particularly desperate for money, so the basic wage doesn’t matter much to me, but I couldn’t help but think that if an ordinary adventurer took on this kind of job, they might secretly hope for monsters or bandits to attack them all the way up.

◆◆

Since there was about a day left until departure, I gathered my party members on the first floor of the inn to discuss this request.

We discussed the conditions of the request, the schedule, and the items we needed to prepare.

Gathering the party members was easy.

Friede was already staying in the room next to mine, and Amy had also decided to stay in the room opposite mine after leaving the dormitory.

So, bringing Kikel over from the other inn due to heating issues was all that was left.

“Friede, is this your first meeting? Say hello. This is Cheolpae, the warrior who will be working with us in the future—”

“I’m Kikel Greg!”

When Kikel, who had come to ‘Snow Bear’s Shelter’, saw Friede waiting at the table, he immediately expressed his admiration.

“You, a small but strong kid! I can tell just by looking! Amazing! What a name!”

He was praising her in his own way, saying that although she looked like a small child, she seemed remarkably strong.

Is it a wild instinct? It seemed as though he recognized her as a skilled individual even within Dongpae.

“Uh, th-thank you…?”

Of course, because her manner of speaking was so peculiar, even the carefully laid out praise lost its meaning.

“I-I’m an adventurer from Dongpae, Friede…”

Friede quickly hid behind me and timidly introduced herself, peeking out only her head.

“Haha.”

Amy let out a hollow laugh as if to say how ridiculous the situation was.

It seemed as though she had completely erased from her memory the fact that she had been intimidated by Kikel’s appearance when she first met him.

Don’t be too nervous, Freide. Despite looking a bit scary, he’s a kind and trustworthy friend.

We’ll have to keep moving forward together, so it’ll be difficult if you keep hiding your face like this.

Honestly, among the ironclad adventurers, there’s no party member as trustworthy as Kikel here. So, don’t worry.

I calmed Freide, who was clinging to my back, by stroking his black crow-like hair and gave a faint smile.

Kikel’s face may look somewhat fierce… well, meeting rare species tends to leave an especially strong impression.

Once you get used to it, it could be said that it’s a hundred times better than an average adventurer’s face.

Most of them were not only fierce-looking on the outside but also inside.

“R-really…?”

Perhaps the tension eased a bit from the hand stroking his head, as Freide, who had been tensed up like a stiff-tailed cat, looked up at me and slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

“Kak, kak! I see. I understand!”

Watching that, Kikel burst into laughter and spoke to me.

“Your language. Two flowers, right? Very popular, I envy you!”

It seemed like a joke about how popular I appeared with my current situation, referring to it as “two flowers in both hands.”

“That’s a mean joke. Two flowers in both hands? That’s not it at all.”

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders.

Two flowers in both hands is a term used when one man is accompanied by two women. It was clear to anyone that I was a woman, and Amy and Freide were not my lovers, but close acquaintances and capable party members.

But where did he get the idea of calling us two flowers in both hands?

“They’re just… um, what should I say… yeah, friends I made since coming here. Saying that is rude, very rude.”

To be honest, it sounded like something a drunken man or someone with a loose tongue would say.

“Cough, cough!”

“Ha…!”

Look at this.

It was such a mean joke that even Freide and Amy blushed and avoided eye contact, seeming embarrassed.

What should I do about this atmosphere?

“Kak! Kak! I don’t know! Kak!”

I looked at Kikel with a look that said, “Try to make an effort,” but Kikel just burst into laughter and said he didn’t know.

◆◆

A day later, after all our preparations were complete, we set out for the Bespian Gate with Reville at the lead.

Three baggage carts, combined with baggage handlers and directly assigned guards from the top, formed a procession of about twenty people.

In addition, there were a total of ten adventurers accompanying our party as escorts.

Five spear wielders and five shield bearers.

There seemed to be a slightly excessive number for transporting necessities, but after meeting the adventurers in person, I had a rough idea of the reason.

“Did you say Hildera? Nice to meet you. I’m Bardura. This is…”

“I’m Jane. Nice to meet you.”

A two-person party of spear warriors and shield patrollers.

Seeing the honey dripping from their eyes as they looked at each other, it seemed as if they had become lovers during their adventures.

Perhaps they had taken on this task to nurture Jane, who was of lower rank than themselves.

Just as our party had chosen an easy task to promote Kikel.

“Oh my, who’s this… isn’t this Hildera? It’s been a while?”

“Oh… yes. It has been a while, Amina.”

The other party was someone I recognized to some extent even from my own perspective.

Amina, a female adventurer of spear-wielding rank. She was a swordsman who had learned swordsmanship from a retired knight in her hometown, carrying only a single longsword at her waist.

“These are our party members. Lernum, Ben, Hamil. All three are shield-bearing adventurers.”

“I haven’t seen any of them before. What about the members from last time…?”

I don’t usually remember the names of adventurers I’ve met just once, but I remembered Amina quite vividly.

Why?

“Oh, them? I got tired and let them go. They’re probably living well on their own, right?”

“…You’re still the same.”

This Amina, the adventurer, had a hobby of nurturing and raising reasonably good-looking men among shield and spear adventurers, both in dungeons and on the bed.

What did she say to me…? Something about how things are most fun when there are three men, perhaps? It was advice I didn’t particularly want to understand.

Anyway, if you get tired of it, just throw it away without any regrets as I said earlier, and live by repeatedly luring a new man to fill the party.

With such behavior, she was quite popular among lower-level adventurers, partly because she was even pretty in appearance.

As she gained popularity through improper and disorderly behavior, it would be difficult to consider it a positive reputation.

◆◆

In fact, escort missions were generally considered undesirable for adventurers.

Unlike the common dungeon exploration missions, the rewards were often vague despite the hardships.

First of all, the schedule itself was extremely demanding.

Employing an adventurer as an escort typically took at least a week, usually a fortnight for long-distance escorts.

Wasn’t this last one supposed to be a ten-day journey?

During that long journey, they had to march all day through the cold and snowy northern roads without properly bathing or resting, not as simple as it sounded.

Even the physically fit warriors would complain of fatigue both mentally and physically by evening, so how would those who weren’t warriors cope?

“Heh…heheh… What kind of request is this….”

Right away, Amy from our party was panting and complaining about the hardship.

“Hey, Kikel…? Can you carry me for a bit?”

To the extent of abandoning pride or whatever else, hoping to be carried like a pack animal.

“Creak…! Do I have to be paid for this?”

Kikel joked, shrugging his shoulders. It’s not that difficult to carry someone, but if you’re making someone do pack-animal work, shouldn’t you pay them for their trouble?

Of course, he didn’t seem to really expect to be paid. In fact, Kikel himself was feeling the strain. Having one person close by would surely help maintain body heat.

Thinking it necessary, he bought a few heat packs and handed them over, so there was no problem with the march itself, but having someone around would surely improve the condition a bit.

“Isn’t it the opposite? It’s a chance to carry an eighteen-year-old girl on your back. You should be paying me instead.”

Amy also seemed to have caught on, as she raised her chin with a confident smile and responded with the same jest.

“Me, self-conscious? Haha!”

Kikel burst into laughter.

“I understand. That’s, self-awareness? A lot of it!”

Sinking Amy with just one word, “overconsciousness.”

“What? No way…!”

Feeling hurt, Amy lightly swiped Kikel’s thigh with the staff she was holding.

Due to his thick fur cloak and scales, from Kikel’s perspective, it was no more than a child poking him.