“There is nothing here…….”
I compared the crudely drawn map with the terrain and checked the places they had not searched one by one.
‘It might not be anything remarkable, but…….’
The treasure might already have been taken, only useless odds and ends might remain, or there might be something hidden that was too dangerous to touch.
‘Still, it is worth investing the time.’
My mercenary company was very small. In fact, I was its only member.
Even a few hundred Gold in income here would be enough to keep us going for quite some time.
“It seems as though someone is in here.”
I found a cave.
It looked as though something had gone inside, but I did not have the knowledge to determine what it was.
‘I definitely need to have a scout…….’
More important than fighting well when running a mercenary company was quickly determining whether an opponent was someone you could fight or someone you should not fight.
The weakness of a one-man mercenary company like mine was that it had far less ability to deal with such varied situations than a larger company.
That was why I could not tell whether the thing inside was a person or a bear. A few wild dogs would be no concern, but if it was a bear, I had to flee the instant I saw it.
I might be able to win if I truly fought for my life, but there would be no gain in it. Unless I had received a request, fighting a bear would bring more loss than profit.
‘Still, I should go in and take a look.’
Even if there was a bear inside, I could slip back out carefully before it woke and escape without trouble.
When I entered the cave, I could hear faint breathing.
‘It does not sound like an animal. Is it a person?’
I was relieved that it was not a bear, but I still could not let my guard down.
Unlike bears, people varied enormously between the strong and the weak.
Even in a situation where I could somehow escape a bear, I might be killed by a person without even being able to run away.
I muffled my footsteps as much as possible and went deep into the cave.
‘……Only one person?’
My night vision was not especially good. If a hunter, assassin, or bandit with good night vision was hiding inside, I would be in greater danger.
After making my decision, I lit my torch.
“Urgh!”
A sharp blade came at me. A woman’s voice rang out.
“Whose orders sent you, you cowardly bastard!”
“……Please calm down.”
Judging by the situation, the treasure seemed to be this woman herself.
‘She does not look like a lady. Is she a knight?’
She was a beautiful woman. However, considering her armor and muscular body, she did not look weak.
“Cough, huff…… I will not die alone. Come at me!”
“I do not know why you are acting this way.”
“……You are saying you were not sent here under orders? Then how—”
“I dealt with some bandits. It seemed they were looking for you.”
“Despicable men. To drag even bandits into this…… I expected it, but still.”
“In any case, it has nothing to do with me.”
“Can I trust you?”
The knight’s steady eyes glared at me as though she wanted to kill me, though one of them seemed to be blind.
“I wonder…….”
I sank into thought for a moment.
‘I roughly understand the situation. This knight herself seems to be important.’
She was an important enough knight that a noble had issued an execution order for her. If I captured and delivered her, it was not impossible that the noble would reward me.
“Trust me.”
But I had no intention of doing that.
‘It is too dangerous. If I casually accept contracts like that, I will lose my life in one stroke…….’
The chance that a noble trying to seize and kill a knight for an unjust reason would pay a reward to a mercenary with neither reputation nor power was far too low.
Nor had I made a direct contract with the noble promising a payment if I captured that knight. Strictly speaking, the noble had no reason to reward me.
‘I should play it safe. Play it safe.’
If this were a game, I might have caused a commotion with the mindset of, ‘Go ahead and use me and discard me. I will simply create another mercenary company.’ But I could not do that in reality.
“What would you like me to do? On humanitarian grounds, I can offer appropriate help.”
I would immediately refuse anything that caused me even the slightest loss, but if it did not, helping her while building some goodwill would not be bad.
“Kill me.”
“Why?”
I quickly weighed the profits and losses.
‘The armor…… It is not bad. The weapon is nothing special.’
The armor the knight wore also seemed to be quite valuable, even though it was damaged in several places.
It was too damaged for me to wear, but if repaired well, it could fetch a fair price.
There would be no real problem if I simply said, ‘Yes, understood,’ and killed her.
“One eye is blind, and I feel pain in my leg. Even breathing…… Huu, is not easy.”
The female knight looked up at me with difficulty.
“I will not be able to take up a sword honorably again…… Cut off my head here.”
“…….”
“If you…… intend to bury me, you may take my armor as payment for the funeral.”
It was not a bad deal.
Finding a shovel and digging a hole large enough for a person would not be so difficult, and the armor did not look cheap.
Still, I felt it would be a slight waste to settle for only that.
“Do you have no intention of living?”
“What am I supposed to do in this state?”
“Well…….”
Calmly, I examined the knight in the faint light.
Her condition was abysmal.
In comics, having one eye could signify the experience of a veteran warrior, but reality was different.
She would be unable to judge distance, so her accuracy would have fallen terribly.
Her lungs were damaged. They might not be an immediate problem, but if a fight dragged on even a little, her lung capacity would not hold out.
Wielding a weapon, moving, and evading an enemy’s attacks all consumed stamina. There was not much one could do with injured lungs.
Her leg was damaged as well, so she could not move nimbly. I could not expect a knight’s strength from her.
Still, even a ruined knight was a knight.
Knights in this world were little different from monsters wearing human skin.
Even a tiger that had grown feeble from a long illness, gone blind, and lost all its teeth could crush a rabbit’s body with one swipe of its forepaw. That was what a knight was.
‘I think I will need her?’
Of course, as a straightforward fighting asset, she was an uncertain mercenary.
Even if she could be useful for now, she had almost no potential for growth.
She would be adequate when hunting ordinary bandits or beasts like wild dogs, but she was woefully insufficient for a direct confrontation with barbarians from the North or orcs from the Wasteland.
‘I can use her another way then.’
She looked upright and stubborn at a glance, so she would not run away easily if our side was pushed back.
If I made her a standard-bearer, she could become the mental pillar of the mercenary company.
Her body was broken, but her head was not injured. Her swordsmanship would not have disappeared, so she would be useful as a training instructor once she retired.
“Would you consider joining our mercenary company?”
The armor mattered, but so did she. My mercenary company needed her.
“……Me? Why?”
“Our mercenary company is rather small.”
“Are you saying you will hire a disabled person as a mercenary? I think the other members will object.”
“You do not need to worry about that. At present, I am the only member of the mercenary company.”
“…….”
Perhaps unable to believe me, she stared blankly up at me.
“You are telling me to sell my sword and my pride for money?”
“I will not force you. But are you not still too young to end your own life?”
“My will has been broken. I have no lord to serve and no loyalty to devote.”
“Then you have reclaimed your freedom.”
Ordinarily, hiring a member who came from the nobility or knighthood was not easy. I had expected this much resistance.
Mercenaries not only had a poor reputation, but their work was hard and grueling.
Nobles and knights were fundamentally members of the upper class. Telling them to work as mercenaries would sound only slightly less insulting than telling them to work in a brothel.
“Work with me.”
“……Promise me that we will not do dishonorable work.”
“It will depend on the circumstances, but I will make every effort.”
A mercenary’s standards could not be the same as a knight’s standards.
A knight was the embodiment of honor, someone who could devote everything to honor alone, while a mercenary was merely an ordinary person who moved for money.
“I have no intention of plundering innocent farmers or committing serious crimes such as rape and murder.”
Plunder and rape were methods that could solve a mercenary company’s problems quickly and easily.
Robbing a merchant caravan could earn vastly more money than an ordinary request, and even if wages were low or food was scarce, permitting the members to rape would easily suppress their discontent.
‘Still, it would not be good to lead a mercenary company that way…….’
More important than the Gold before my eyes or the members’ discontent was the mercenary company’s reputation.
The mercenary company would not grow merely by continually accepting requests from village chiefs. Someday, it had to accept requests from nobles and royalty.
For now, I needed to accept any able-bodied adult as a mercenary company member, but to make the company strong in the end, I would have to hire ace-class talent: knights, mages, and priests.
The mercenary company’s reputation was needed throughout that entire process. To protect that reputation, we could not commit crimes except under extraordinary circumstances.
So I could make this promise.
“Can we fight for the weak? From now on, always?”
“I think we can. The weak will have to pay us fair compensation for it, though.”
“Very well. I still do not understand, but…… If you desire my sword, I will gladly follow you.”
She held out her hand to me. I took it and helped the fallen knight to her feet.
“What should I call you?”
“……I cannot use my old name. Call me Iris.”
“Good. You may call me Kale Wagner.”
Coincidentally, I too was in a situation where using my former name was difficult. I gave her the name of the game character I had used.
“A great deal has happened, but in the end, I have met a good person.”
Her breathing was still harsh, and her steps were unsteady.
But her eyes still held an unbroken conviction.
“I look forward to working with you from now on, Captain.”
Iris was still a knight.
***
It had been a rather moving recruitment of talent. If I told this story to a capable bard, it would be moving enough to make a fine song.
But I was a mercenary, and I could not continue that romantic conversation forever.
“Excuse me, Village Chief! There are some coins missing from the pouch.”
“That, ah…… There seems to have been some mistake.”
“No, you cannot do this after I took your word for it. Fourteen Gold is not a trivial amount…… Honestly.”
Iris was looking at me suspiciously from behind. From the knight’s perspective, such petty haggling would seem dishonorable.
But I was a mercenary, and I had to collect what was owed to me. That was how I made a living.
“How are you going to compensate me for this?”
With an intentionally menacing expression, I glared at the village chief.