Ian and Airi sat facing each other across a table.
A mont later, a contract was placed in front of Airi.
A rcenary group application form and an employnt contract. To Airi, who had been working alone all this ti, both were unfamiliar objects.
There had been a bit of a commotion where the atmosphere turned slightly awkward while introducing her to the mbers, but anyway.
Since Ian had already decided to accept Airi as a new mber, the two of them finally sat at the negotiation table after various twists and turns.
Ian spoke first toward Airi, who was sitting with her head bowed low.
’Now. Read it over and sign here.’
Ian handed several docunts to Airi.
Airi cautiously took them and stole a glance at Ian.
Was it really okay to take the words ’read it over’ so literally?
She was a slave; wouldn’t he get angry if she read it in detail and tried to pick at the conditions?
Thinking so, Airi picked up a pen imdiately, but flinched in surprise at Ian’s remark to read it carefully, hurriedly apologizing before picking up the contract.
Airi slowly read through the contract she received from Ian.
Reading the contract thoroughly several tis while gauging Ian’s reaction, she checked in detail if there were any strange clauses.
After re-reading it several tis, Airi, convinced that the contents of the contract were strange, looked at Ian and asked cautiously.
’I-Is this for real...?’
’It’s a real contract.’
Could he have brought the wrong contract? Or was he trying to lure her into an even bigger trap? Thinking so, Airi looked at the docunts and Ian with suspicious eyes.
It was because the conditions were too good.
What Ian gave Airi was the sa contract as a regular mber.
However, Airi was currently bound by a slave contract. There was no need to match the sa conditions as a regular mber. Even if he offered the lowest conditions, Airi was in a position where she had no choice but to accept.
Considering the typical working conditions of a slave, what Ian offered was an absolutely nonsensical contract.
’It seems the amount is wrong....’
’That amount is correct too.’
From Ian’s perspective, unless it were the very early stages, saving a bit on one rcenary’s salary in the current state was an amount that didn’t hold much aning.
If the salary was too low, even a slave’s satisfaction would drop, and there was no reason to do that just to save a few gold coins.
But from Airi’s perspective, it was a substantial amount.
Setting aside her position as a slave, it was a condition that would make anyone’s mouth hang open even across an entire rcenary career.
Airi couldn’t easily set aside her suspicion and deliberated for a long ti.
However, no matter how much she thought about it, what choice did a slave have? Even if there were so ulterior motive, she would just have to endure it.
In the end, Airi signed the contract and application form Ian offered.
’The paperwork is finished. I’ll get your rcenary plaque swapped at the guild later.’
’Y-Yes....’
Now, for the two years bound by the contract, she was in a position where she absolutely had to work here.
Ian packed the docunts and stood up from his seat.
Airi also stood up from her seat, following Ian with an awkward face.
Ian turned his gaze to the mbers who were staring intently at this table from nearby and gestured toward them.
’Well then, shall I introduce the mbers?’
’Eh, uh....’
An introduction. Did that an those self-introductions she had only read about in books weren’t just a fignt of imagination but actually happened in reality?
While Airi stood frozen with that thought, the mbers who had stepped aside during the contract filled the lounge again.
’This is Rin, and....’
It was the first ti in a while a new mber had joined.
The mbers all gathered in the lounge, each introducing themselves one by one.
Airi muttered to herself, trying to morize the nas she heard while flustered.
She looked panicked as it was her first ti learning so many people’s nas at once.
...Since she had the [Poor Communication] trait, which made it difficult to build rapport from the start, it would likely take so ti to get close to the other mbers.
It was a problem that ti would solve anyway. It was just slow, but if left long enough, the affinity would eventually fill up.
After the brief introduction ti ended, Airi asked Ian in a small voice.
’By any chance... do I, work as part of a party?’
’Since it’s a rcenary group, of course you have to move together.’
He planned to assign Airi the role of the long-range attacker for the first-string party.
At the ntion of a party, Airi trembled, her body shaking.
’I-Is there no work I can do alone....’
’Alone?’
When Ian asked back after hearing Airi’s question, Airi spoke while cautiously gauging his reaction.
’Scouting, gathering, or even sothing like cleaning....’
’First of all, you can’t pay off your debt in two years just by cleaning.’
’T-That’s true, I suppose....’
No matter how little the salary mattered to him, he couldn’t have her clean after paying such a cost.
At Ian’s answer, Airi also nodded with a dejected expression.
’And as for the rest. Who does those things alone?’
’I... do them alone....’
Airi answered Ian’s question while watching him warily.
’I-I.... I took those kinds of requests alone too.’
’All the way to C-rank?’
Airi nodded.
He had wondered why her stealth was so high, and it seed it was the result of wandering around alone all this ti.
’Eh....’
’From the very beginning?’
And the mbers who were listening nearby all stared at Airi with shocked faces.
They had thought the comnt about not having an affiliated rcenary group during the introduction just ant she wasn’t currently part of one. It ant she had been solo from the mont she beca a rcenary until now.
She was a loner to an extre degree.
It was certainly impressive to have operated alone for this long. But seeing as she ended up a debtor because of it, one had to wonder if it was impressive or foolish.
But putting that aside, everyone felt a great deal of interest at the story of her reaching C-rank alone.
Everyone crowded closer around Airi.
’How did you do the promotion exam?’
’I, I took it about 8 tis, and sohow passed....’
’What kind of way do you do requests alone?’
’T-That.... That is....’
Surrounded by the mbers and facing a barrage of questions, Airi hurriedly grabbed Ian’s sleeve tightly.
’U-Um.... Can I just, go to the quarry instead.’
’...No.’
Ian left Airi among the mbers in the lounge so she could get a bit closer to them.
Airi was subjected to conversation while letting out pathetic whimpers, as if she were surrounded by a pack of sharks.
＊ ＊ ＊
Self-introductions.
Small talk and tea ti.
And then the following welco party.
After finishing all those thrilling events she had only read about in books, Airi finally reclaid her solitary ti.
’Sigh....’
Inside a bathhouse where thick steam was rising. Finally alone, Airi sat there with a weary appearance and let out a quiet sigh.
She had almost entered the bathhouse together with the others.
Still, by making various excuses and delaying, she managed to find an opening and quickly slip in alone during a vacant ti.
Alone in the quiet bathhouse, Airi finally cald her mind and composed herself.
She felt a bit dizzy after doing several months’ worth of conversation all at once today.
Having finally recovered a bit of energy by being alone, only then did the appearance of her surroundings enter Airi’s sight.
The bathhouse inside the guild’s base. It was a place that was quite well-decorated externally as well as having bathing facilities.
...The facilities are incredibly good.
This was Airi’s impression after belatedly checking the facilities of the bathhouse she had entered in a rush.
Airi, who had always stayed in the cheapest inns to save money, had entered a building with its own private bathhouse for the first ti.
The facilities are even better than a public bath. Do only the people here use this?
When her thoughts reached that point, Airi only then realized that the rcenary group she had joined was no ordinary one.
It was an incredibly wealthy rcenary group.
At this level, it must surely be a famous rcenary group....
Airi, who was poorly inford about rumors, could only speculate like that.
Airi, who normally had no one to converse with, had almost no chance to hear rumors about famous rcenary groups.
Occasionally overhearing conversations from the next table while eating was the limit of the rumors Airi could hear.
...Co to think of it, I feel like I might have caught the na Ian rcenary Group sowhere?
Airi carefully splashed hot water on herself while thinking such things.
To be able to use such a facility alone was a very luxurious experience.
...I thought it was a strange rcenary group.
Airi quietly recalled the appearance of the Ian rcenary Group she had seen so far.
...Isn’t it a strange rcenary group after all?
Such a thought occurred to Airi as she pondered for a mont.
Except for the Master, Ian, all the rest were won.
No matter how she thought about it, wasn’t it inevitable for a strange suspicion to arise?
It was while Airi was looking around the bathhouse facilities a bit leisurely with those thoughts.
The sound of soone walking could be heard from outside the bathhouse.
’Hm? Is soone inside?’
’...!’
It was Ian’s voice.
Airi did not answer those words but quickly scanned the area, finding a place to hide and concealing herself in a corner.
She hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was just Airi’s instinctive behavior to avoid people when they approached.
’No one? I’m coming in?’
Ian, hearing no answer from inside, opened the door cautiously in confusion.
He felt sure there had been a presence inside, but there was no one in the bathhouse.
If there was no one, he had probably misheard.
Thinking it was just as well, Ian entered the bathhouse.
Keeping her presence hidden, Airi, who had poked her gaze out ever so slightly from behind a pillar, discovered Ian, who had entered the bathhouse.
Ian... seed to be intending to bathe.
Well, what other reason would there be for entering a bathhouse.
A panicked, naked Airi hid her body more thoroughly behind the pillar.
Actually, she just had to answer that she was inside, but....
Evidently, that was not an easy thing to do.
User Comments
0 comments from readers