Chapter 7

A beginner’s wooden crossbow, then a longbow reinforced with leather. Countless blisters formed and disappeared on the fingers pulling the bowstring. Calluses firmly protruded, settling in like an extra knuckle. Whizz- Thud! It was much more fun than she had thought. Every time she hit the target Pechenik had set, it was so thrilling. Erica had naturally good eyesight. She could easily focus on distant objects. ‘This is fun.’ The shooting range kept getting longer. Not only was she good at it, but she also enjoyed it so much that the quiver never left her back. She wanted to shoot arrows even during other training times, so when Pechenik briefly banned the bow, she would sneak out at night to shoot to her heart’s content. Pechenik didn’t say anything about that either. Instead, judging that Erica didn’t need much sleep, he added nighttime sword training. Every day. She shot arrows and swung swords. Training began at sunrise, and she sweated even under the moonlight. Erica was happy. Erica’s martial skills grew rapidly. Thanks to this, she often climbed mountains alone. Today was the day she succeeded in hunting a bear for the first time. Excited, she returned to the village inn with the bear slung over her shoulder. “Baby bear~ Doo-doo-doo~ Cute~ Doo-doo-doo~“ Eager to show off to her master, she hummed a little tune. “Baby bear!” Thud-! She dropped the huge bear on the floor. It was by no means a baby bear. She saw Pechenik in the distance. Just as she was about to shout out her bear-hunting achievement. “Oh…” Erica realized she needed to greet him first. She approached awkwardly. “Master.” “You’re back early.” “Who’s that?” Next to Pechenik stood an unfamiliar man. He was even bigger than the bear. So big that the bear Erica had worked hard to hunt looked puny in comparison! “Say hello. He’s joining our mercenary group from today.” “I’m Karon.” “Hello. I’m Erica.” The bear-like man introduced himself with a gloomy and resolute expression. “I lost in a duel with Leader Pechenik, so I’ve accepted the outcome and decided to join the mercenary group.” In truth, it wasn’t a duel. A bored Pechenik had simply picked a fight with Karon as he was passing by. Naturally, Pechenik won overwhelmingly, but since Karon had held out longer than expected, Pechenik found him interesting and invited him to join. “Nice to meet you.” Rough features, a beard, and a burly physique to boot. Though one might expect her to be intimidated by the hulking man old enough to be her uncle, Erica looked Karon up and down. “Um, were your parents bears by any chance?” How did you get so big? Erica stared at him curiously. She even circled Karon to get a good look. “…?” “Nice to meet you! Come to think of it, I’m a mercenary too. I completely forgot that Master and I are a mercenary group.” “…??” The new member, Karo, felt that something was seriously wrong. What kind of mercenary group forgets that they’re a mercenary group? Had he made a mistake in hastily signing the contract to join based solely on Pechenik’s swordsmanship? As Karon’s eyes trembled with anxiety, Pechenik patted him on the back. “Don’t worry. We just haven’t started mercenary activities yet. Our cute founding member has been focusing on training until now.” “I want to show this off.” The cute Erica dragged over the bear she had hunted. It was a huge bear, four times the size of the girl’s body. An arrow was lodged in the bear’s forehead, having hit its mark in one shot. “I split its head in one go.” “Cough! Cough!” Karon choked and coughed. The small, cute girl who looked like a squirrel had quite a rough way of speaking. “Can I skin it myself?” “Of course.” “Yay~“ Erica unhesitatingly drew her dagger. Pechenik watched her fondly and nodded. “Erica.” “Yes.” “I’m thinking of gathering about ten mercenary members and taking over the Southern Guild. What do you think?” “I don’t know what that means.” “I’m planning to take down the head of an organization.” “I’ll do it!” “You can’t yet!” “Tch!” “Hey, what’s with that disrespectful look you’re giving your master right now?!” “I’m going to do it!” Erica was growing up with spirit. After bringing in Karon that day, Pechenik began recruiting freelance mercenaries, one by one. Mercenaries who met Pechenik’s sky-high standards were extremely rare. “Nice to meet you.” “I look forward to working with you.” The mercenary members who occasionally joined were all highly skilled individuals. They had diverse personalities and abilities, but all were overwhelmed by Pechenik and showed him respect. And then- “Introduce yourself. Can you do the duck dance? I can drink beer while doing a handstand.” “…What’s with this kid?” They were secretly afraid of the quirkiness of young Erica, who was always attached to Pechenik like a keychain. Dangters, a major southern city. Befitting a city with developed commerce, the streets were bustling with people. Day or night, the lights in the central district never went out, creating a nightless city. In the center of the square was a fairly large inn. Operated by the Dangters Merchants Association, it had excellent security and was well-managed. The facilities were good enough that even lower-ranking nobles occasionally stayed there. However, if there was one drawback, it was that being in the bustling area, it was noisy day and night. It was so loud that people with sensitive hearing could hardly sleep. “Sigh, it’s too noisy.” Shurin, the healer, came down after unpacking on the second floor of the inn. The first floor was a restaurant. ‘Should I change inns? The ones in the back alleys have too many thugs though…’ It couldn’t be helped. Shurin shook her head and sat down at a table. The food she had ordered in advance came out quickly. She took a spoonful of tomato stew and found it reasonably tasty. The restaurant was bustling with customers. The tables were very close together. This was to accommodate as many guests as possible at once. “…did…?” She could overhear the conversation from the table right next to her. “Erica, do you think you can make it until we reach the sea?” “Yes! I’ll do my best. This is so much fun.” It was a father and daughter with a neat appearance. Calling them neat was an understatement—they had extraordinary looks. Shurin kept glancing sideways at the next table. She was squinting so much her eyes were about to cross. ‘Are they nobles?’ The father was a handsome middle-aged man with an aristocratic air, while the daughter was so lovable from head to toe that one might mistake her for a fairy. Surely, they must be nobles secretly experiencing commoner life in Dangters. Shurin was pleased with the pleasant sight. After all, good-looking and cute people were the best. As she was thinking she’d like to observe the presumed noble father and daughter a bit longer- Whoosh-! Suddenly, the girl extended her hand, holding a fork, and stabbed at her father’s neck. Clang! Almost simultaneously, the father deflected the fork, his expression unchanged. Only Shurin, who had been watching, was startled and dropped her utensil with a clatter. “Erica. At this rate, there’s no progress. We’ll have to increase the intensity of dawn training.” “I would have succeeded if this restaurant had knives.” “Blaming your weapon is a bad habit.” “How can you say that when you won’t buy me weapons? How long do I have to keep using wooden swords I carve myself?” “Until you can touch even a single hair on my head.” “Ugh.” The small girl, who barely reached her father’s waist, was hissing and clenching her fists. What kind of conversation is this? What just happened at the next table? Shurin blinked her eyes several times. Then a shadow fell. A large man sat down in the chair opposite her. “Mind if I join you? There are no seats left.” Since he sat down before Shurin could answer, she had no choice but to allow it. As she was glumly lowering her head to eat her tomato stew- “I’m Karon.” The man introduced himself. Since there was no reason to ignore him, Shurin greeted him back. “I’m Shurin.” “I know. You’re quite a famous herbalist around these parts, aren’t you?” “You don’t know at all, do you? I’m not an herbalist, I’m a healer.” “Isn’t it the same thing?” “It’s different.” “I see. Well, why don’t you join our mercenary group for now?” “…?”