“F-food? Food?”
The merchant tilted his head in confusion.
“They are pursuing us urgently, so they will not be carrying much food. But why are you asking about food……?”
Coming to my senses, I let out a deep sigh.
“What about you? Do you have plenty of food?”
Only then did the merchant grasp what we really were.
Not mercenaries, but a group of starving beggars.
“Well, um, that…….”
“Let us negotiate.”
I had no intention of attacking the merchant here. At that scale, it was unlikely that any survivors would remain, but if I acquired a taste for plunder already, the future would become difficult.
Subordinates who protested with righteous outrage, asking why I plundered an innocent merchant, were far easier to handle than those who protested greedily, asking why I did not plunder an easy merchant.
“How many are there? The ones pursuing you.”
“I would estimate…… around ten.”
Once the merchant realized I would not draw my sword on them, he let out a sigh of relief.
“Their weapons?”
“Some held swords, some had short spears……, and hammers…… I did not see clearly. They did not have bows.”
“Armor?”
“I did not have time to check that far. We only ran without looking back…….”
I looked over their wagon.
There seemed to be much cargo. The horse was old and sickly, so shabby that I wondered whether it could even move properly.
At that rate, even with a wagon, they had no reason to be faster than people. They must have fled for their lives.
There were three caravan members. One was a terrified rookie. The remaining two looked like noncombatants.
“Good. I will take the request.”
“Really? Thank you, thank you so much!”
“Our paths differ, so I cannot escort you. But I will certainly deal with those pursuing bandit bastards here.”
“H-how much will the fee be……, approximately……?”
“Four hundred Gold.”
“That is absurd!”
The merchant leaped up.
“F-four hundred Gold! Where would I get such a vast sum-”
“Then will you pay in goods?”
I gave a sly smile.
“That is even more impossible! The amount, the amount is unreasonable!”
“You think this is an unreasonable price?”
He was a merchant. If I had to make unreasonable demands and force the terms I wanted, it would have been better simply to kill him here and plunder his goods.
If there were no survivors, there would be no one to spread ill rumors about me.
“We are a mercenary company of seven. Even for a simple escort request, a company of this size could normally receive two or three hundred Gold.”
“This is not an escort request!”
“That is right. So you should pay more…… An escort request might or might not involve battle before it ends, but this request guarantees one battle.”
Of course, considering the time the request would take, this one had its own advantages and disadvantages. But the merchant was the desperate one now, so I had no reason to concern myself with such details.
“N-no matter what……, it is too much. Too much…….”
The merchant’s eyes moved desperately. He seemed to be searching for any excuse to lower the price.
It was hard to believe this was the same person who had begged for his life only moments earlier. His professional spirit was formidable.
‘Well, this is better.’
This was how a merchant should be. If he had not shown this attitude, I would have been suspicious instead.
There were even people who pretended to be merchants asking for help, then offered victims to bandit gangs.
“There, two of them! Two of them are little kids!”
“One of them is a halfling.”
“Urk!”
“And are you doubting the value of my mercenary company? Let us be honest. Can you see my armor?”
What I wore was real armor. The armor itself proved my strength.
“Did you intend to hire a mercenary in armor like this without paying even a few hundred Gold?”
“Ghhhk…….”
Unable to find a rebuttal, the merchant bit down hard on his lip.
“Besides, you are in the more urgent situation, are you not? We obviously have nothing, so around ten bandits would not bother to touch us. But your situation is different.”
“A-all right! Four hundred Gold! Will that do?”
“Certainly. And there is something else I would like to ask.”
“You want more here? Four hundred Gold…….”
“We are rather hungry, so we need to eat something now.”
“……Here? They are chasing us-”
“That is why we need to eat.”
Reluctantly, the merchant nodded.
What we had received was not a true escort request, where we followed them the whole way and protected them.
After one battle, we would go our separate ways. In that case, it was more efficient to remain here rather than waste stamina. We could eat and rest here as well.
“All right. But I will deduct the value of that food from the four hundred Gold request fee.”
“Ha, why are you acting like this? In an escort request, is it not the client who provides the food and drink the mercenaries need ‘until they reach their destination’? Think of it as giving it to us in advance.”
“Ghhhk…….”
“When the job ends, we will take a little food with us as well. Our circumstances are not good right now.”
“S-so much food…… Hah. Then let us agree now on the quantity of food you will take ‘after the request is over.’”
“Good.”
I had no intention of making an exorbitant profit either. I demanded enough food for my mercenary company not to starve until we reached the next village, and the merchant accepted.
“I think it is about time to conclude the contract.”
“One last thing. What if those bandit bastards flee simply after seeing the mercenary sir’s appearance? How will you handle the contract?”
It was a variable I had not considered. The merchant seemed more experienced than I had thought.
“Hmm……. You have a wagon. As long as you do not delay excessively, bandits without horses will not catch you.”
“But…….”
“I will chase them off thoroughly.”
The merchant let out a deep sigh.
“In that case, will you not continue to escort us as we travel……?”
This had probably been his goal. After being attacked once, he had no choice but to realize how important a mercenary escort was.
“The village you are going to is one we already passed through. There are no requests for us to take, and it would throw our route into disorder. I cannot do that.”
“That is unfortunate. Then…… I will trust you. Let us conclude the deal.”
“Give me two hundred Gold as an advance.”
“……An advance too, here?”
“If we cannot trust you, we will have no choice but to fight beside you.”
In truth, that was the standard way mercenary companies fought. You eyed each other alongside the caravan guards while saying, ‘You die first!’ and only began really fighting when the front line seemed truly about to collapse.
But there was no need for that kind of contest of nerve just to catch around ten bandits. In the first place, there did not seem to be any caravan guards who could die in our stead.
“A-all right!”
“Good. The deal is concluded.”
I received two hundred Gold from the merchant. Before long, he took out food.
“The sun seems about to set, so let us camp here. We will gratefully eat the food you have given us.”
After thanking him, I took the dried fruit, salted meat, cheese, and bread the merchant handed me.
The six mercenaries stretched their necks out as they waited for me, like baby birds waiting for their mother.
“I brought food!!!”
“Waaaaaaah!!!”
When I shouted, every mercenary cheered at once.
This food was worth that much.
***
I put water and a very small amount of seasoning into the pot we had borrowed and boiled it.
After breaking hard bread into pieces, I put it into the pot with the salted meat.
“Mmmmmm…….”
Dana gazed at the pot with ecstatic eyes.
“Now…… Can we eat now? I think we really can this time?”
“No. The bread will still be hard. You must not break your teeth. We have no money to spend on treatment.”
The preserved food in this world was vicious to a degree beyond what could be called human food. It was not an adjective normally used for food, but it fit all the same.
The salted meat was salty enough to scoff at any talk of ‘modern people’s sodium intake,’ and the bread was hard enough to be used seriously as a blunt weapon. Sometimes, when things were urgent, it really was used that way.
To make it edible for people, one needed water, fire, a pot, and patience.
“Blech, sour!”
As they waited, the mercenaries chewed dried fruit. It was certainly tasty too, but it could not compare to the stew sending out its savory smell.
“Let us eat!”
At my signal, the mercenaries each grabbed roughly carved wooden spoons and rushed at the pot.
It was delicious. Perhaps it was because we had eaten after a long period of hunger, but it was such a warm, happy meal.
A gentle fullness enveloped the mercenary company. Dana’s round, swollen belly was very cute.
“But Captain! Why did you use that cool way of speaking just now?”
“What way of speaking?”
“You know, lowering your voice and talking all formally…… Were you trying to look cool?”
“Half of it, I suppose?”
“Really?”
After confirming that we were far enough away from the merchants, I answered in a quiet voice.
“They don’t know me. Pretending to be a mercenary with as much experience and skill as possible helps build trust.”
“Oooh……. That is amazing!”
Beside me, Iris smiled brightly.
“I was impressed as well.”
“Why you?”
“You did not yield even a little before the merchant. In fact, did you not turn a profit?”
“Well……. To be honest, this is a fair deal.”
For hiring a mercenary company of our size in an emergency and sending us into battle immediately, it was a cheap price.
The merchant’s expression had gone a little sour, but that was not because the merchants had made an unfair deal. It was merely that, by the nature of their profession, merchants could not help reacting sensitively to even a slight loss.
“In the village, did we not receive one hundred Gold for killing six bandits?”
“That is different. When it comes to bandits, two gangs of about six bandits each do not become twelve bandits simply by joining together.”
A bandit gang of around five was, in truth, a bandit gang only in name. It was no different from a group of wanderers.
They wandered from place to place, committed banditry, hunted and gathered edible grass as we had, then began fighting whenever they saw a target worth robbing.
“At that size, they will have discipline. They will probably have a leader, and there will likely be veteran bandits with some experience among them.”
“I see……. Still, I was a little envious.”
“Why?”
Iris’s expression twisted slightly.
“When merchants said this or that to me……. I was usually the one who took the loss.”
“Ah.”
Since she had been a knight, she must have suffered exploitation by merchants in many ways. Iris did not seem like someone who could threaten a merchant by browbeating them or negotiate shrewdly, either.
“In any case, we have eaten, so we should prepare. If you have rested enough, get up. Formation…… Let us arrange the formation again.”
“We are doing that again?”
Ember waved her one arm about and complained.
“It cannot be helped. I do not want to make you do it either, but you will not become proficient without this much practice.”
“Ugh…….”
“I’ve said it repeatedly, but on a battlefield with blood flying and weapons swinging back and forth, you must remember the orders I give. Anyway, line up again!”
“Yeees…….”
I began training with the mercenaries again.
Training to make them stand in the correct positions and follow my instructions.