’Who is Ian? I heard he was here.’
An A-rank rcenary who had co all the way from Labyrinth.
Frey’s gaze scanned the mbers in the lodging one by one.
Frey’s eyes, which had been skipping over each person, soon stopped right in front of Ian.
Even before Ian introduced himself, Frey’s eyes flickered with a strange light, as if recognizing him instantly.
Ian also took a mont to observe Frey.
A short stature that Ian had to look quite far down at.
Deep dark circles and a face steeped in exhaustion were striking.
Ian stared blankly at Frey’s appearance for a mont before speaking.
’You’ve picked up quite a lot of curses.’
After checking Frey’s stats for a brief second, Ian could also see the considerable amount of erosion and curses accumulated on Frey.
[Paranoia], [Anxiety], [Obsession with Superstition], [Nervous Breakdown], [Greed for Treasure]....
It was a state far worse than the combined conditions of his own mbers when they had just returned from the Labyrinth recently.
’Hm? You can see curses?’
Hearing Ian’s words, Frey spoke with a look of surprise.
Usually, people can only feel a sense of foreboding about their own bodies; being able to sense curses residing in soone else’s body was a fairly rare ability.
’He doesn’t look it, but is he the type with extrely sensitive senses?’
Thinking that, Frey approached Ian.
’If you have a talent like that, you should be a priest. Why are you working as a rcenary?’
Frey sat down unceremoniously on the sofa directly across from Ian.
Then, Frey spoke as if it were no big deal.
’It’s nothing once you get used to it. Thoughts caused by curses are obvious, so you can just ignore them.’
’Still, it would be better to treat them.’
At Ian’s words, Frey waved a hand dismissively with a look of annoyance.
’I’m going back in soon anyway, so when would I have ti to lift them? If I lifted every single curse one by one, I wouldn’t be able to enter even once every two months.’
’Leaving curses neglected for a long ti causes negative effects.’
’You sound exactly like a priest. You could work at the temple right now. Want to find you a job there?’
Frey looked at Ian and gave a small smirk.
It was the exact sa thing the priests or nuns she occasionally encountered always said while being absolutely horrified.
Ian didn’t say anything more than that.
She must have heard it to the point of being sick of it. Since she was a rcenary of a much higher rank, she would take care of herself.
After finishing the conversation, Frey quietly observed Ian’s appearance.
It didn’t seem like he didn’t know who she was. Ian’s attitude was quite relaxed.
’Hmm....’
Frey stood up and brought her face right up to Ian’s.
Grabbing Ian’s face with her hands, Frey peered into Ian’s face this way and that, as if inspecting a piece of equipnt.
Frey’s eyes sparkled with a strange light.
’...What should we do?’
’Let’s watch a bit more for now....’
From a slight distance away, the mbers gathered and whispered while watching Frey.
They thought about stopping her from acting strangely toward Ian, but in truth, it wasn’t the first or second ti Ian’s guests were odd people.
In the end, since Ian remained still, the consensus was to just keep an eye on things.
’Is this the whole group?’
’There are mbers left in Labyrinth.’
’Excluding those in charge of chores.’
’The main force is just what you see here.’
Frey’s gaze, which had been fixed on Ian, soon shifted toward the other mbers gathered nearby.
Rin and Lia.
Mika.
Tanya.
And her gaze even reached the fairy flying around nearby.
When Frey’s eyes turned toward it, the fairy quickly hid behind Tanya.
Frey turned her head back to Ian and asked.
’How much for you guys? For the entire rcenary group.’
’Is this an acquisition? For now, I don’t have any thoughts of—’
’I’ll give you 3,000 gold coins.’
’....’
Everyone listening was rendered speechless.
It was not a price one would casually call out for the acquisition of a C-rank rcenary group they had just t for the first ti.
Ian, who had been interrupted by Frey, shook his head casually to finish his sentence.
’I’m not interested.’
’Oh. Price negotiation? I don’t call out a price twice. Everyone regrets it and tries to co back later, but I don’t take any of them back.’
’I’m not interested.’
Frey sat back down on the sofa with a grin.
At the sa ti Frey looked at Ian with an amused smile.
Soone new opened the door and entered.
’Captain!’
’Ack....’
Frey flinched and raised her head from the sofa.
A tall blonde woman who had entered the lodging spotted Frey and shouted.
’How can you just barge into another rcenary group’s lodging!’
’Wait just a second. I’m in the middle of acquisition negotiations.’
’What are you going to do with another rcenary group! The place you acquired last ti has had nothing to do for months, so we’re just paying them base salary!’
The blonde individual, who appeared to be a mber of Frey’s rcenary group, strode over and grabbed Frey, who was now shrinking into the sofa, and picked her up.
’Wait a minute, my treasure sensor is going off here.’
’Get that treated soon too! I’m going crazy because you keep touching every treasure chest you see. Before I put a mana seal on you and admit you to the temple.’
The rcenary, after finishing her lecture to Frey, belatedly noticed Ian and gave an awkward smile.
’Our captain was rude, Captain Ian. Don’t pay any mind to what this person said.’
’Ah, yes....’
The rcenary walked away carrying the limp, flailing Frey under her arm.
’Whew....’
Ian let out a sigh.
eting such a person so suddenly without any ntal preparation had made even Ian a little nervous.
Watching the backs of the guests who had left like a whirlwind, the mbers gathered around Ian and asked belatedly.
’Who was that?’
’It’s an A-rank rcenary group.’
’What? A-rank?’
At the word that the person who just visited was an A-rank rcenary, everyone looked back at the door they had left through with bewildered faces.
’Why would an A-rank suddenly co here?’
’I told you the Kraken appeared. Back when they thought it was a real Kraken, they must have called them urgently from Labyrinth.’
But when they finally arrived in a hurry, they must have heard that the incident was already resolved.
That’s likely why she sought Ian out.
Ian checked the object Frey had secretly tossed to him before being dragged out.
While no one was watching, the object had flown quietly and landed accurately in Ian’s pocket. It was Frey’s business card made of gold.
’...Does she an for to visit her personally later?’
’I should have gotten an autograph....’
Hearing that it was an A-rank rcenary, Rin muttered with a look of regret.
＊ ＊ ＊
’Whew, ho sweet ho....’
After finishing the long vacation, the mbers arrived at the guild house and all plopped down.
It was a week where they truly experienced that one could get exhausted from playing.
Without even the energy to organize their luggage, they sprawled out on the sofas in the base’s lounge where they hadn’t sat in a long ti.
’...Did you have a fun vacation?’
’Ms. Louise? You were awake.’
A slightly gloomy voice spoke to Ian.
Ian, startled, turned his head to see Louise trudging up from the basent.
Glancing at the sprawled mbers, Louise spoke toward Ian.
’While you left with such unreasonable work.’
There was a very solid edge to her words.
In fact, he hadn’t intended to go on such a long vacation.
Because various circumstances had arisen, it beca a long vacation that far exceeded the original plan.
’Let’s go together next ti.’
’No, I hate those kinds of places so I wouldn’t have gone anyway, but....’
Louise shook her head in distaste, perhaps just saying it for the sake of it.
Louise, who had a typical alchemist’s personality, didn’t particularly like such places.
Even if she hadn’t had urgent research to do, she probably would have rejected the offer to go to the sea.
Instead, Louise smiled with a face even darker than usual.
’Hehehe.... I’ve completed it.’
A small potion bottle was held in Louise’s hand. The potion sloshing inside was a color familiar even to Ian.
’This is it, right?’
’You finished it!’
Ian quickly took the potion bottle. It was the exact potion he had ordered.
In terms of performance bonuses, it was a potion that contained efforts worth 20 gold coins. Ian’s exhausted expression brightened instantly.
’We can go straight into production then.’
’Production?’
Louise, who had asked with a puzzled face, realized she had asked a stupid question.
Well, he developed it to use it. There’s no way he only needed exactly one sample.
’Ah, right. How much will you need?’
’As much as possible.’
Louise blinked while staring at Ian.
’From now on, continuously, as much as you can make. The more the better.’
Whew....
Of course, he pays a lot of money.
But this is really too much.
Louise, letting out a small sigh, narrowed her eyes.
Louise was not Ian’s subordinate.
Although Ian was an investor who put in a lot of money, they were ultimately in a partner relationship.
...Of course, generally, an investor’s influence was powerful, but this ti she had been as patient as she could be.
Louise, thinking she absolutely had to say sothing, was about to speak.
’Ah, right. I stopped by the guild before coming. They said a shop space beca available.’
’A shop?’
Louise paused.
’The shop that was originally near the clock tower is expected to open up, so I decided to contract it. Let’s go look around together later.’
’My shop? In the Clock Tower Square?’
With a look like she was under a hallucination spell, Louise asked blankly.
’Yes. They said a spot on the first floor happened to open up.’
’On the first floor?’
’I thought you’d need a laboratory and a place to stay, so for now, I put a hold on the entire building. Let’s see it in person and decide how much of it to use.’
’....’
Louise silently returned to the basent.
User Comments
0 comments from readers