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Published at 22nd of March 2020 08:07:59 PM
Chapter 87

Sister Solte . The mercenary has arrived . 」


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   The room seemed like it was a dining hall for the church people .

   With a long table that could fit twenty people at once, the chairs with a modest design lined up both sides neatly . Inside the room decorated with a unique atmosphere of the church, there was a single girl who welcomed Ardis and the priest .

「Thank you very much . Sorry for the bother . 」

「No, it’s not something to be thanked for . 」

   The priest with the plump ears replied to the girl’s thanks and left the room .

「Please have a seat . Sorry to have you come to such a place . 」

   The girl offered Ardis a seat .

   She is short . Enough for people to have an impression that she would get blown away if the wind blew, her pupils with a shade of red seemed be in unease .

「It’s been a while . Let me thank you again for saving me on that occasion . 」

   As Ardis lowered himself onto the chair, the girl opposite of the table lowered her head . The cherry blossom hair that was tied up behind her head shook lightly .

「I have already received more than enough appreciation that time . Rather than that, let’s cut to the chase . 」

   The girl――Solte was someone Ardis met before in the Corsas Forest . There were five students including her who had entered Corsas Forest recklessly, and were saved by Ardis and Ted and the others in the cave they hid in .

   Having accepted the request and compensated for it is more than enough for a mercenary . Of course, the one getting saved might be different . At the very least, the girl seemed to be grateful to Ardis for saving her .

   That is why Ardis had decided to hear her situation out at the very least despite his reluctance . Unlike the stuck-up brat of some noble that wouldn’t ever utter the words of appreciation, the impression that the girl had was of course much better .

「Yes」

   After a troubling expression appeared on her face because of Ardis’s words, the girl with the monastic clothing sat back down .

「I heard it from Jeanne that it’s an escort request . Don’t tell me that you’re planning to enter another forest or something? 」

「N-No . That’s not the case . 」

   At Ardis’s words, Solte panickily denied . Well, Ardis expected that it couldn’t be the case already though .

「It’s a task from the church this time . 」


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「A task? 」

「Yes . Ardis-san knows about the mines in the north of the capital, right? 」

   Recently, the Nagras Kingdom had been allocating manpower in developing the lands in the valley in the north .                                                                                         

   Since it is a land rich with veins of Heavy Metal, it is a very profitable place for the kingdom .

「Yeah, I’ve heard about it . 」

   There’s nothing to hide about, after all, it’s Ardis himself who had subjugated the demonic being, 『Bell Chaser』 that had been nested there before . The fact that mines can be built there is all thanks to Ardis, or rather, the consequences of his actions .

「There’re a few settlement there at the Heavy Metal mines now but there aren’t any churches there, there isn’t even a priest assigned there yet . 」

「Well, that’s natural . 」

「That’s why, the kingdom would send out priests and sisters from the church to the settlements regularly . And the ones to be dispatched are according to a rotation――」

   So, it’s probably Solte’s turn this time around .

「But aren’t you still an apprentice? And a student? 」

「It’s exactly because of that . 」

   Solte had a bitter smile .

   After all, Solte who was expected to be a Saintess candidate in the future are treated specially and sent to a different academy than the other sisters . It’s still special treatment no matter how you see it .

   And so, she must fulfil her tasks much earlier than the others . The others seem to think so, and she herself seems to regard it as natural as well .

「Hn―― . Being a Saintess candidate sucks too huh . 」

   Ardis said so without interest, and the girl who was the candidate smiled wryly .

「And so I’m supposed to escort you on the way? 」

「That……, strictly speaking……, it’s not an escort…… . 」

   Solte’s voice softened from the middle .


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   Even her last few words are barely audible

「Eh? What was that? I can’t hear you if you speak so soft . 」

「That, not an escort but……, a baggage carrier……」

「Carrier? 」

   Ardis’s eyes turned round at the unexpected role he was given .

「Only if it’s a baggage carrier, then you can hire another one, that’s what the priest said……」

「What? Are you going without an escort? There must be a limit to recklessness . Is the priest that guy just now? 」

「No, it’s another person……」

   Solte panickily denied .

「Umm, that…… . There’re escorts already . The church had already hired them . But……that…… . I knew it’s going to be the case ever since I’m in the church but……, the escorts are somehow……scary . 」

   It seems like Solte had already met the escorts . And it seems that they had somehow made her feel uneasy .

「Then wouldn’t request a change of personnel work? 」

   Ardis gave his suggestion but Solte shook her head .

「It’ll cause a lot of trouble changing the escorts now . But, since they said that it’ll be fine if I chose another person to hire as a baggage carrier……」

「Then why not ask those student bunch you know? They’re people you’re familiar with, right? Certainly, there was another girl in that bunch . 」

「After that incident last time, we were all forbidden from getting out of the town till graduation . 」

「Aah……, that’s how it is huh . Well, that was a big incident after all……」

   After all, the compensation to save the five students including Solte was at five hundred gold . Even if it was for some idiotic child of a noble or a Saintess candidate, it’s not an amount to be scoffed at .

   It’s natural that they would get some penalty of some sort after that .

「This time, it’s specially permitted by the church but, since other students other than my classmates aren’t keen on fighting…… . But even if she agreed, bringing her together would be a little……」


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「And so you requested me huh . 」

「Yes . Rumors about Ardis-san had even reached the academy . 」

「I understand now . But, aren’t you just being overly conscious about it? Since they’re escorts hired by the church, there’s no way they’re some thugs, right? 」

   It’s the escort request formally issued by the church, and it was to escort the future Saintess candidate . Even the church probably wouldn’t have cheap out the compensation and hired some nameless bunch .

   Ardis’s words which suggested that he could not care less had left Solte no choice but with an expression on the verge of crying .

「I beg you . I will carry all the baggage myself . Please just come with me . If Ardis-san refuses, I don’t have anyone else to ask . There’s no time to issue another request, and there’s the last meetup before departing later today . But I’m too scared to go alone……」

   It was a girl begging with wet eyes, even Ardis couldn’t bear to refuse her outright . After vaguely agreeing to accompany her to the meetup, Ardis still reminded her that, 「It doesn’t mean I have agreed to your request . 」

   With a child who is desperately asking for his help while seemingly anxious and scared, even Ardis wasn’t that cruel to refuse her coldly .

   An hour after that, the mercenary that are Solte’s escorts arrived .

   Ardis who had accompanied Solte in the dining hall for the meetup appraised them, and thought that something was not right .

   A total of five mercenaries in the party . With a swordsman that’s smiling with a dimple in the middle, two axe wielders, and the other two who seems to be an archer and magician .

   At Ardis’s appraisal at their equipment, the fact that they’re well equipped and their actions didn’t seem like they’re amateurs . They surely have some strength backing them up .

   But the problem wasn’t that . What made Ardis’s wrinkles to appear on his forehead is that the party only consisted of young men .

   Solte is a young girl, and on top of that, she has the beauty and looks that is even the talk in the capital . And for escorts for such a person to not even have a single female amongst them is weird .

   If the escorted targets also consist of men, then it wouldn’t matter . But since only Solte is going, it’s not normal that the escort party has no females in it .

   Where Solte is heading is the mines developing in the north, and just like its name, it’s currently under development . It’s natural that they’re no such facilities as inns built yet . It should be expected that camping out on the streets is normal .

   And all of them are young men in this situation . It was almost like a situation where a lamb is waiting to be eaten up by a pack of wolves .

「You’re? ……Aah, the baggage carrier huh . Seriously, we don’t need someone like you at all . 」

   The men seemed to have regard Ardis as someone bothering them .

「Yup, there’s not much baggage at all . Why not leave everything to us, Sister-san? 」

   The men had a smile and started conversing with Solte in a friendly way . But, Ardis saw through them . Their eyes weren’t like what escort have towards their employer, but rather eyes towards prey .

   It was so obvious that even Ardis, a man can notice . And needless to say, being a girl meant that she is more sensitive to such gazes, Solte must’ve noticed it too . That’s the reason why Solte is anxious and didn’t dare to ask her female classmates to accompany her .

「Kiddo . It’s your last chance here . It’s not a playground we’re going . You might even lose your life? 」

   Towards Ardis, the man with the dimple said while exuding pressure .

   Their age seems to be around twenty to twenty-five . It’s natural that they’re treating Ardis who only looks like a fifteen-year-old boy as a kid .

「Not kiddo . It’s Ardis . I’m a mercenary too . 」

「Hmph, some runaway magician huh . Why not take off those swords that you won’t even use and wear some proper defensive gear? 」

   Looking at Ardis’s equipment, the dimple man judged that Ardis is a magician by himself .

   But at the same time, Ardis found out something as well . After the subjugation of the Three Great Demons, Ardis is kind of a celebrity in the capital . Even for people that had never met him before, they would identify the person with 『Black hair』 and named 『Ardis』 as the sword magic user .

   But it seems that the mercenaries here didn’t even react after hearing Ardis’s name and looking at the swords that can be said as his trademark . It’s highly probable that they’ve just arrived in the capital not long ago, or some party that was based in another town .

(Weird)

   Ardis had concluded as such .

   Exactly because that they’re in the capital, there’re more mercenaries here than other towns . It would be different if they’re famed mercenaries, but there’re no reason to hire these people as escorts .

   Ardis couldn’t understand what the people in the church was thinking when they hired such bunch .

  (I can’t leave it like this huh)

   Ardis sighed in his mind, and asked Solte who seemed to be afraid of the men while being surrounded .

「Then? When’s the departure? Meetup place? 」

「Ardis-san! Then! 」

   There was joy in Solte’s eyes when she heard that .

「No choice . The request as a baggage carrier, I shall accept that . 」

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