Volume 3 Chapter 80 Supporter Evaluation
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”Anyway, the coordination will be decent from the start!”
”Well, we will plan on doing detailed teamwork during the way to East End, or at the training ground after we arrive there. ──Serena, Sarah, everyone, take your seats. First, let’s have a toast to deepen our bond. We’ll talk more about what’s next after we finish eating.”
”Before that, Kian, can I talk to you for a second?”
Serena looks up at him with a serious face.
”What’s up?”
”I need to apologize for causing trouble for everyone while I was gone. ──Ms. Natra, Ms. Rufna, and Kian too. Sorry for leaving the party for my selfish reasons.”
”Ah, it’s okay, it’s okay. Even though we’re a party, everyone’s a free adventurer. If you’ve got a goal you can’t give up on, you should focus on that first.”
Rufna flicks her hand dismissively.
Meanwhile, Natra, sipping water tiny-tiny, looks up at Serena with a serious face.
”Doing that kind of duel and acting like nothing happened is more abnormal, I think. But once you’ve cooled down, I’d have liked you to at least report it. Next time you fight Kian, call me. I’ll help you out as much as I can for advice.”
”A duel? A fight? Kian, what did you do exactly?”
”Kian wasn’t the bad guy. It’s a long story, so I’ll skip the details, but there was a disagreement, and we decided to settle it with a fight.”
”A disagreement and a duel? Woah, Ms. Serena’s kinda wild, huh…”
”Uhh… yeah, I guess so. I don’t really care about the small stuff, and I like to just clear up ambiguous things quickly. I guess I’m kinda wild.”
”──I’m wild too.”
Kian immediately claimed that, but the women completely ignored him.
Serena and Sarah sat down, and Rufna signaled the server to bring the food.
”Ms. Serena, you’re Wolfmen, right?”
”Yeah. Up north from here, there’s a forest and cold plains where a mercenary travels using a mobile tent. Their group is called ‘Storm Herd’…”
Kian thought of Serena as quiet and not very social, but now she was trying hard to blend in with the party. She talked in detail about her life journey, sharing a lot about her past.
She went on and on, mixing in several stories from her past, making it clear to anyone who listened for even 15 minutes what kind of person Serena really was.
Even the seemingly unimportant details──like how she could hold her liquor and used to sneak honey mead while living up north, or how she rebelled against her family’s expectation of serving men by taking up the sword herself──showed surprising sides of Serena and helped Kian understand her better.
Now she was lost from her herd.
Even with a heavy heart, she lived each day with fierce determination, but she was once a wild girl, free to live life on her own terms, without being bound by anything.
She had a strong sense of self.
That sometimes made her disliked by some people, but her youth allowed her to reflect and correct her actions.
So despite her ups and downs, like attracts like, and eventually, people with similar personalities flock around her──Kian thought this vaguely.
(Well, I’m an exception, though.)
’Indeed. You are such a despicable scoundrel that this one cannot help but fall for you. Hohoho.’
When Serena finished her story, Sarah began to share about her own background, a bit less clearly, as she talked about their adventure’s goal.
Kian already knew this part.
But it was new information for Serena.
”I see, so Ms. Sarah and the others are working hard to create a home for their family.”
”Rufna and I are acting separately from Elder Sister. I swore to follow Sir Kian for life as his attendant.”
”I get it. So, Ms. Sarah has to earn money to buy land and gather companions by herself?”
”That’s how it is.”
Sarah nods while bringing her glass to her mouth.
Serena looks down at her own glass, then droops her dog ears sadly.
”It’s kind of a sad story… You’ve been working so hard in your country, then one day you get kicked out out of nowhere. Ms. Sarah didn’t do anything wrong, but you’re gotta keep working for your friends forever, huh?”
”Luckily, it seems my lifespan’s pretty long, so by the time everything’s over, I won’t be an old lady with no hope left. I’m planning to think about my happiness too… probably, anyway.”
”If I can get revenge on my big brother… no, I mean, my enemy and go back to my pack, I think I’ll go back to traveling with the Mercenary group across the land. If I’m nearby, I’ll come see Ms. Sarah. I can do jobs cheap if I have to. Here, take this card. It’s handmade, but if you go to the nearest Adventurer Guild and tell them the number and my name, you can put in a request.”
”So… it’s not free then?”
Sarah takes the card back and responds,
”Of course not. I’ll take proper payment. We should do our jobs without holding back, so we can keep things straightforward.”
”I agree. Sir Kian wouldn’t help people for free.”
”Natra, what I do is an investment in the future. I don’t do it for free.”
”Haha, see, it’s all about how you say it, huh.”
Sarah places her glass down and stares back at Serena.
”That’s all I’ve got to say. I was worried your new friend might be like Châtillon’s top Witch, but I think I could get along with you. Let’s keep being friends, okay?”
”Yeah… nice to meet you.”
It was good they finally clicked.
And honestly, Serena not saying anything stupid was a real relief.
If she had started confessing she lost her fight with Kian and got r*ped, Sarah, all fired up about justice, might’ve gone all out on a duel or something.
Since dinner was almost done, Sarah quickly explained the main thing──about the sponsor contract──to Serena before anything else could slip out.
Serena nodded once after listening and said,
”Think it’s best to keep an eye on that Merchant Guild Tigris mine or whatever. Just my personal opinion, but yeah.”
”Why do you think so?”
”Um… Well, when they come offering deals like that, don’t they usually send some draft of a contract along with it? If they’re not sending the draft, it’s probably because they want us to just listen to what they say now, but then, when we go to their office, they’ll force us to sign some totally different contract. It’s like, they’re planning to trick us or something.”
”Beats me. But yeah, not sending a draft does seem kinda shady, like they’re being a little careless or something.”
”That’s something moneyless lords do a lot. They lure the person or the proxy into their office then twist things around to get a favorable contract signed. If they sent a draft beforehand, negotiations would get way harder, so they just don’t send it.”
Serena kept eyeing the letter from Boco Halam with a tough look, then kept talking.
”I don’t really know what exactly this Adventurer support contract is supposed to be… If Kian and the others don’t know, then I think the Guild master or someone should ask around and find out what kind of support most parties usually get. When we compare that to what we’re offered, we’ll know how good or bad ours is. We’ll definitely regret it later if we don’t check. Once you start hanging around for a while, it gets hard to quit the contract, and you’ll end up stuck taking all their bad conditions while they keep giving you orders.”
”Ms. Serena, how much support money did you get?”
”‘Storm Herd’ got paid about a thousand gold coins when we worked for a decent lord. That’s about a thousand coins per month. Usually paid in goods, not money. When it was big nobles or merchants, it was both money and supplies, way more than regular lords. We have several hideouts in the northern rocky mountains, and by winter, the stuff we got each year would fill up a cave.”
”So, in our case, it’d be like getting paid 200 gold coins a year and being made to work? I didn’t really want it from the start, but well, that’s kinda sucky.”
”Ms. Priscilla is on a whole other level, I bet. She’s probably sending stuff to a famous mercenary group. The quality of the goods, considering Châtillon’s supply route, should be way better than Mr. Halam’s merchant guild.”
Serena handed Mr. Halam’s letter back to Kian, closing the matter.
Kian gave a casual shake of his head.
”Ms. Priscilla’s support is overkill for just operating in East End. I think we should turn down the proposal. Once I become an advanced-rank adventurer, and I’m ready to develop the land I got from Her Excellency, then I might start wanting her help.”
”Did you get any land from Princess Maribel?”
Sarah leaned in.
Kian swirled the wine glass, watching the liquid swirl.
”Well, yeah. It’s some remote land that no one wants to live on.”
”Huh, what kind of place?”
”Hm? It’s like…”
Just as Kian was about to surprise Sarah, the entrance to the ‘Izerland’s Jewel Box’ burst open and in walked a man with a skeletal face and another with a heavily made-up jawline.
Kian and the others, as well as the people having breakfast in the dining hall, turned to look at the intruders.
The man with the skeletal face, Friedrich, the head of the East End Adventurer’s Guild, spotted Kian through the glass and hurried over with his subordinates.
As the dining hall door opened, Friedrich shouted.
”Kian! Were you here?”
”Guild Master.”
Kian stood up from his seat.
The other 4 also rose and turned to face Friedrich.
Friedrich said “Excuse me” to the gentleman eating at the table next to Kian, then pulled out 2 empty chairs and placed them in front of Kian.
He sat in one and indicated for the man who had arrived late, the one with the makeup, to take the other.
Kian knew who he was.
Two months ago──after Oswald’s fuss──there was a new guy who became the boss of Izerland Fortress Guild.
”Sorry for crashing in suddenly. Sit down, will ya?”
”Yeah. Everyone, sit down, okay?”
”Hehe♡ Nice to meet ya, Master Kian? Been hearin’ about ya. I’m Gonzales, the Guild Master of Izerland Fortress Adventurer Guild. Nice to meet ya♡”
”Nice to meet you. Please take care of us.”
Even though he said that, Friedrich and his guys showed up with unclear intentions.
While exchanging looks with Natra beside him, Friedrich ordered his men to clear the room.
Once they’d done that, Friedrich faced them again and started talking.
”We came here today because we have a favor to ask your party. Do you know about the Bloodsucking Kind runnin’ wild in Ramsey to the north?”
”Yes, we’ve heard.”
”This is bad. So much trouble──I don’t even know where to start──. Anyway, what I’m about to say must be kept secret, okay?”
”Yes.”
”We lost contact with Rean. Neither Vestacia, Lyritisse, nor Ninini get in touch anymore. The absolute top-tier adventurer party──’Lion’s Companion’──vanished during their mission──”
”Master Kian? It’s not just them who are missing. My adorable kids── my fortress’s advanced-rank adventurers──disappeared in Ramsey too, on their way there.”
”Please, Kian…”
Friedrich reached out and took his hand.
His palm was sweaty as hell.
”Search for Rean and the others in Ramsey. Only you guys can do this now, I beg you.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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