Chapter 2
Beneath a sunny sky, people walked along a neatly maintained road, enjoying the spring breeze.
“…The sunlight’s damn nice.”
One of them wore a distinctive outfit entirely in black—the sort of clothing those in the know called martial garb.
Despite its severe appearance, it was surprisingly practical, with cords around the wrists and ankles keeping the sleeves and pant legs out of the way.
“You said we’d arrive soon.”
A single sword was secured by a cord running through two rings attached to his waist tie.
Though fairly tall, his slender frame and lifeless, dark-circle-ringed eyes made him look less like a swordsman than someone carrying a sword for self-defense.
The man had black hair swept haphazardly back on one side and languid black eyes. He pulled a map from inside his clothes and gazed at it with a dissatisfied expression before speaking.
“We’ve been walking for two hours already. I wonder why.”
“Because Master set off without listening to the end of what the person was saying.”
Then came the voice of a girl who called the man Master in an annoyed tone.
Under 150 centimeters tall, she had beautiful, long platinum-blond hair that swayed down to her hips.
The girl had emotionless blue eyes.
Like the man, the girl wore black—but her nun’s habit gave off an even more somber air.
She carried a black coffin larger than her own body on her back, bound with chains, as if it were nothing unusual.
“The receptionist was even kindly telling you when the carriage would leave, but you just set off, Master.”
“Ahem.”
Embarrassed by the girl’s glare, the man cleared his throat and looked up at the sky.
“No, it’s just… Since you said it would be quick, I didn’t think we really needed a carriage….”
“Sometimes I can’t tell whether Master is smart or stupid.”
“…Sorry.”
“How do you manage to mistake the idea that it’ll be quick by carriage for the idea that it’ll be quick on foot…? Honestly.”
“Guh.”
Unable to withstand the girl’s continued berating, the man eventually raised both hands in surrender.
“All right. I was completely at fault, so enough about that!”
“Tsk.”
Though she clicked her tongue, the girl obediently did as the man said.
In the silence that settled again, the man began recalling what had happened two hours earlier.
That is, he had been gathering information at an adventurer guild in a village they had newly visited during their travels.
* *
“Hmm… If you need that sort of information, I know some people who might be able to help.”
After presenting his adventurer registration card, he asked the receptionist about a few things without much expectation, as always, and received an unexpected answer.
“There’s a mercenary corps with which our guild has a cooperation contract. If you don’t mind, Mr. Huey, I could introduce you to them.”
“Oh, I’d appreciate that.”
Huey was delighted by the unexpected opportunity and began listening attentively to the receptionist.
“They’re a little unusual, but they’re definitely skilled enough that even the guild headquarters sometimes asks them to resolve long-outstanding requests.”
They were not officially registered as adventurers, but had entered into a cooperation contract with the adventurer guild in exchange for the guild accommodating their mercenary work.
As luck would have it, the mercenary corps’s hideout was close to this village.
“It’s an old mansion just outside the village’s eastern entrance. Follow the river, and you’ll reach it soon… Just a moment.”
She said it would be quicker to draw a rough map than to explain the way in words.
With practiced hands, the receptionist took out a sheet of parchment and drew a map.
“Here, this is a rough map showing the location. I’ve written a letter of introduction as well, so they’ll probably accept just about any request.”
“Thank you. But is it really all right for you to do this much for me?”
Huey asked whether it was really all right for a receptionist to write an introduction so freely for someone she had met only that day.
The receptionist then spoke.
“Actually, I’m also the one who accepts requests for that mercenary corps.”
“Ah.”
“Besides, there’s no way a guild employee in this region wouldn’t know you, Mr. Huey.”
Pointing to the golden emblem engraved on Huey’s adventurer registration card, the receptionist smiled brightly.
“Hahaha. Thank you. Then I’ll come back if I need anything later.”
Huey gave the receptionist a light bow, then turned around.
“Let’s go, Lucy.”
He called out to Lucy, the girl who had been waiting behind him.
“Oh, a carriage that runs regularly to facilitate exchanges with the neighboring village is due to arrive in an hour. You could take it and get off partway….”
The receptionist hurriedly called after Huey as he was about to leave, but—
“It’s fine. We have the map.”
“Huh? W-wait. Mr. Huey!?”
Huey merely bowed again in thanks, saying there was no need to wait, and left the village just like that.
* *
After finishing his recollection, Huey noticed a rattling sound behind him and turned around.
“Oh, could that be the carriage?”
“It seems so.”
Although they had walked all the way here, they figured they could at least take a carriage for the remaining distance.
Huey and Lucy flagged down the carriage as it approached at a brisk pace, but soon had to let it pass with deeply disappointed expressions.
“…It’s just ahead?”
“Since we came all this way, it feels a bit wrong to take a carriage just to ride comfortably for a few minutes.”
The two continued walking, taking in the isolated mansion the coachman had said was just ahead.
After walking in silence for about ten minutes, they saw an old but orderly mansion, as though an abandoned house had been repaired and put to use.
A wall stood around it as if guarding the grounds, and ivy climbed over various parts of the walls beyond it.
It was a three-story mansion with a pale-purple roof and gray walls cracked here and there.
“It’s okay to just go in, right?”
“That’s why it’s open.”
Huey hesitated before the wide-open front gate, while Lucy looked at him as if he were pathetic.
The two of them were just about to step toward the mansion.
“What, guests?”
From a spot hidden by the wall came a girl’s voice, accompanied by the sound of a broom sweeping the ground.
At the voice, Huey and Lucy turned their heads and stared in astonishment, their eyes wide.
And for good reason.
Aside from tight-fitting black pants that ended at about mid-thigh, she wore a single sheet of black cloth that made one wonder whether it could even be called clothing.
A girl who seemed to have only just shed her childish air stood there, leaning against a broom.
She had put her head through a hole in the center of a long piece of cloth barely wide enough to cover both shoulders, then let it hang down.
She had tied it together around her waist, so that it could just barely serve as clothing.
It was so exposed that it was almost refreshing, leaving her sides and armpits bare, along with part of her generously sized breasts.
The girl was wearing such a bizarre outfit.
However, the two had not been startled by her clothing.
“Pervert? Gah.”
Lucy hurriedly covered her mouth, as if the word had slipped out before she could stop it.
…Let’s amend that to one person.
“Are you picking a fight?”
The beautiful face of the red-haired girl with a short bob, ruby-red eyes, and antenna-like strands of hair—
It crumpled with irritation, as if she had heard Lucy’s voice.
“Can’t you tell by looking? You think I’d be able to wear proper clothes in this state?”
She casually tossed aside the broom she had been leaning against and spread both arms as if to show them.
Indeed, as she said, it looked difficult for her to wear ordinary clothes.
The upper arms of both limbs were clearly human, but below them was something that could never be called human.
Large wings boasting red feathers occupied the place where her forearms and hands should have been.
“Even this is hard to put on, so every day is torture.”
This time, she continued complaining while looking downward.
Her legs were covered in red feathers around the knees, like her arms, and from there down they resembled the reverse-jointed legs of a bird of prey.
They were made of a smooth yet sturdy, metal-like material and ended in sharp, hook-shaped talons.
“Anyway, you’re guests, right?”
Despite her complaints, the girl asked again with a sigh, as though she had already grown accustomed to it.
“Ah, yes….”
Huey had been staring blankly at her until Lucy poked him in the side several times, finally bringing him to his senses.
“My name is Ren.”
The girl who introduced herself as Ren told them to follow her because she would show them around, then started walking ahead.
“So, what brings you here? A request? Information?”
She added that, unfortunately, all the members were away at the moment, so a request might take a little time.
“We went to the adventurer guild to gather information, and they introduced us to you….”
“So it’s Mari again. Okay. Got it.”
When Huey mentioned the receptionist at the adventurer guild, Ren nodded as if it were a familiar occurrence and stopped at the entrance to the mansion.
Ren stared at the round doorknob for a moment, then sighed and extended one leg.
“Ugh. I keep telling them to replace this knob.”
-BANG!
“Ren!?”
“Master.”
Huey was startled as Ren suddenly kicked the door, while Lucy tugged on his sleeve and pointed at something.
“Ah.”
Only then did Huey remember that Ren had no hands with which to turn the knob.
“…Sorry. As you can see, I’m kind of a mess.”
With a bitter smile, Ren used a wing to shove the door open as it slowly swung inward from the impact.
Following Ren inside, the two were amazed by the mansion’s immaculate interior, which could not have been more different from its exterior.
“Wow.”
“It’s cleaner than the guild building we saw earlier.”
“I’ll show you around inside later, so come upstairs for now.”
While Huey and Lucy admired the interior, Ren moved toward the central staircase and called out to them.
“This way.”
After reaching the second floor, Ren walked straight down the hallway and stopped in front of the room at the very end.
“Ah, come to think of it, I forgot to say this.”
Before opening the door, Ren smiled brightly and spoke.
“Welcome. To the Esras Mercenary Corps.”