第３５８堀：いざ潜入 (Part2)
"He doesn't seem to like it, though. He thinks it's too plain for how high-performance it is."
Narjia’s personal philosophy is that a fine weapon requires a magnificent, flashy appearance to match its quality. While I can understand that logic, Yuki prefers not to stand out, so he’s had it modified to look like an ordinary weapon. Well, there are certain hassles that come with having gear that looks too impressive, so I’m with Yuki on that point.
"Wait a minute, you with the spear—aren't you an incredible master yourself!?"
Rosetta and her mercenary subordinates are staring in stunned silence.
"Nah, I think Curse could do this much too. Right, Raiya?"
"Yeah, go ahead. Curse."
"Oh, right."
There’s no need to hide our combat prowess, so I figure we might as well show off Curse’s skills. There’s no point in being unnecessarily humble.
"Wait? Isn't that guy over there a mage...?"
Rosetta starts to say, just as Curse begins to swing his spear.
*Whoosh, whoosh... swoooosh...*
"..."
Their eyes are wide as saucers. Well, that’s fine, but...
"Your form is a bit off."
"Agreed."
"Huh!? You call that off!?"
"Indeed. He’s been relegated to rear-guard support for a while and has essentially been in retirement, so he’ll need to retrain his fundamentals later."
His axis was drifting, and his breathing was out of sync with his strikes. As Curse himself said, he’s been stuck in rear-guard support, so he’s likely lost the rhythm of the front lines. Still, at this level, he should be back to his old self after a day of practice. It’s not that he’s gotten rusty; he’s just struggling to switch gears between a rear-guard and a front-line mindset.
"Ah, I see. You’re from the Lancer Magic Academy, then. I’ve heard that mages from there can fight with weapons, too."
"...Yeah, something like that."
It’s not like they’d believe me if I said we trained on a different continent, so that’s a natural enough answer.
"Anyway, we’re done with what we needed to do here for now. We’re planning to head to the Royal Capital as is. What about you, Torneko, Rosetta?"
"Hm? Ah, I have to transport these goods, so I’m heading to the Royal Capital too. It seems safer to travel with you folks."
"We’re heading back to the Royal Capital as well. We were just out here for training today. If we train on the busy streets, it scares the civilians, you see. That’s why we came running when we heard the screaming."
I see. So this mercenary troupe was just out here for training. Well, their way of speaking doesn't seem suspicious, so I’ll assume it was just a coincidence.
"Still, I knew you guys were something else, but you seemed awfully used to dealing with monsters..."
"Ah, I thought so too. You didn't even need to scout the enemy. Why is that? And more importantly, with that kind of skill, why haven't we heard of you? Were you perhaps part of the Blood Battle Mercenary Corps that’s currently in Ex?"
"That’s right. I didn't know the Blood Battle Mercenary Corps was in Ex, but we were in a different mercenary group, so we probably just got buried in the shuffle."
"Makes sense. I know a few famous mercenary groups, but individual names don't really get out there. So, why come to the Royal Capital? You won't make much money there, will you?"
"As you can see, we’re getting on in years. I told Torneko this already, but we’re just here for sightseeing."
"I see, I see."
We chatted like that while traveling toward the Royal Capital with Torneko and the Rosetta Mercenary Corps, arriving without any particular issues.
"Rosetta-san! I heard about it. You drove off the monsters, right?"
As we approached the gate, a soldier came running toward us.
"Yeah. They were strange monsters. All of them were rotting—smells pretty bad, doesn't it?"
"...I see. It certainly does have a putrid stench. That must be rough. I’ll go speak to them so you can enter immediately."
"Thanks."
It seems she has the soldiers' full trust. With Rosetta’s endorsement, we were able to enter the Royal Capital without a hitch.
"That helped. I want to get away from this smell as soon as possible. So, Torneko, do you know of any good inns?"
"Let’s see..."
"Wait a second. Torneko-san, Mauve and the others should stay at the inn we’re using."
"Ah, that’s a good idea. If you smell this bad, you might get turned away. It’ll be easier to get rooms if you’re with Rosetta’s group. Rosetta knows where my shop is, so if you need to ask anything, come find me."
"Oh. Thanks for everything."
"That’s my line. See you later."
And so, we ended up setting our base of operations in the Royal Capital at the inn rented by the Rosetta Mercenary Corps.
"Alright, let’s go for a drink later. You helped us out, so it’s our treat."
"Oh? We’ll be there once we’ve wiped ourselves down. We might just drink until your wallets are empty, though."
"Hahaha! That’s the spirit. Give it your best shot."
Mauve and Rosetta exchanged those words before the door closed. Once it did, Mauve turned around with a dead-serious expression...
"I want a bath."
"I know how you feel, but there’s nothing that fancy here."
"Indeed. It’s just like the good old days of the adventurer life, isn't it?"
He said that, then reluctantly began wiping his body down with a wet towel. The gap in civilization is a harsh thing to deal with. Well, let’s get cleaned up quickly and contact Yuki.
His name is the Legendary Weapon Merchant!!
...No, wait, it’s Torneko.
Don't get them mixed up.